Saturday, December 31, 2011

Time to check-in

Early this year I posted my goals:

New goals
1. This years garden will be fabulous.
2. I will have chickens.
3. Learn to compost.
4. Read more
5. Run more.
6. Reduce house hold clutter by 50%
7. Take family to the snow.
8. Visit 3 state/national parks with the kids.
9. Keep strong with eating and feeding my family healthy.
10. Get Sonny to sleep in his own bed.

Here's my after birthday check-in without my list of why I didn't.

1. We had a fabulous garden. Spinach, corn, tomatoes, squash, kale, carrots, peppers, egg plant, soy beans, bush beans, apples. I grew a lawn my kids played on all year!

2. My chickens names are Sally and buff brahma and Blacky a black Cochin. I love my girls.

3. I can compost! I tried multiple ways and finally stuck with worm composting. It's stink free! Highly recommended. My compost also breads mealworms that are my chickens favorite treat.

4. Read more only happened on-line. I have read up on company after company to make sure what I'm offering in on-line shop my conscious can live with. This year I'll still have this goal.

5. Run more only happened once. That was more than the year before. This year run will change to bike more. I think it's easier maybe????

6. I have rid my house of so much to make it look like I have never touched it. This is my #1 goal for 2012.

7. I officially took the kids to the snow. I wont be doing it again. I hate snow!

8. We went to zero national parks. Still high on the list for 2012.

9. We still eat home cooked food. I just added a second crock pot to the line up and got silicone pans that allow us to do more with our roaster. Still lots of room for improvements.

10. Sonny sleeps with me and I move him. Does that count?

My personal opinion of this year. I can do better and I will. There's a whole new list of goals for 2012 I can't wait to start.

Happy New Year!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Garden dreaming

I think I have a true sickness. My yard looks sad in the fall and winter. A lot of my hard work has ended season and I have cardboard all across my beds to help prevent too much unwanted vegetation growing. My chickens do have half as many grubs to dig up and all my cloth diaper laundry is being hung inside unless a good sun bleach is needed. Then I may even hang them in the fog and rain.

I have six pots on my front step where the sun hits these short winter days. I have greens, spinach and kale seedling growing away. My lights I hang in my garage are in my sons room keeping his turtle warm this winter and I have high hopes of a new house and yard for this years summer garden.

I find my self paging throw Territorial Seed Company's Spring 2012 catalog with an areal shot of my dream homes back yard. Reading ideas, planning a shed with a desk for Lovely Eco Chic to work from while out in the yard with my children, my chickens and my garden. A place where I can even sew.


The yard extends beyond the picket fence.


I should be cleaning my current home. Sending out resumes so I can work for someone? Oh well.... Dreams for now.



Sunday, November 27, 2011

Where have I been?

We first should celebrate soccer season is over. Marysa and Joey added their fourth trophy and Sonny his first  to our crowded fire place mantel. This usually means more time for family and the family blog.


After a series of falls and a year of numbness I blew up at my doctor. I told them I'd take my chances with the pain. I needed to have a reason and not be treated for the symptoms any longer. Off the meds I'm a little emotional. I can feel the right side of my body again. Surprised my issue is with my bladder. Close to complete paralysis cause by my nerves not communicating out of the injured area of my back. Good news is I don't have to jump in to more meds. My body can take up to six months to self rehab and there is a remote control device they can add to my bladder to improve my quality of life if we need to go down that road.

My little on-line shop is fun. Not an over night success and I'm patient. I'd rather see the cloth diaper service side take off. Me trying to help instead of taking. Warren of coarse reminds me no one goes in to business not to make money. I hear my sisters voice saying to him before we got married. Because of her heart......it's so big and she's a giver. Don't hurt her. So who knows I may make it or not in business. I can tell you I feel successful I have made some great friends.

Now all the blah, blah blah is over.............

Cool blogs I want to write.

  • Mountain View Sanitation District is super cool.
  • There are vegetable gardens popping up EVERYWHERE!
  • Meet Turtle 10
  • For a change I like what Contra Costa County has been using my tax dollars for.
  • Are  the birthday parties ever going to stop?!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Twitter Potty training Party

Come share with all us parents what works for your little one in the first step closer to being a big kid.

This is our first party ever. Hopefully it will grow in popularity to weekly.

I have Three great prizes for this chat. Ecoposh trainer, Flip trainer & Fuzzibunz Ticklefree Trainer.

The "offical" event page is found on Lovely Eco Chic Facebook page to RSVP how ever leaving a comment here you'll be there willalso enter you in the drawing.

Event time is Wednesday 7pm PST

Where:Twitter
hashtag #pottylearners

Friday, November 4, 2011

Ruby's Red Wash Review & Giveaway



This product is amazing and the brains behind it is wonderful too. Ruby's Red Wash gets the blood out. It's the bleen' truth.

With that said let me tell you I experiment with everything. I have a need to know. This is what I know about RWW.


  • First people are scared to try it..... I can't understand why? Anything that makes my life easier I'm all for it.  The microwave, washing machine, toilet paper.
  • It's great for all blood stains not just menstruation. It works on blood on sports uniforms, blood from nose bleeds, from the fluke accident were you slice your thumb open cutting while cooking. Saving what ever you bled on. Towel, shirts, under ware, sports uniforms.
  • It's not bleach or even OxyClean. It's not going to change the color of the cloth the stain is on. RWW is micro organisms.  Like in yogurt only the kind that attach themselves to blood and only blood. Completely biodegradable. Eco-friendly.
  • It's easy to use now or later. Rinse, saturate stain, soak and rinse. You don't even need hot water.
Our tests were on postpartum bleeding, premenopausal bleeding, bloody nose on a cotton t-shirt. It came clean every time. The only problem we came across was old blood stains that have been washed and dried already a few times.

As a mother of five, three who are rough boys and love to take me into the ER with cuts, keep me fully aware of the amount and size of bandages I have on stalk all the time. I am trilled to have a product where at least I don't have to buy new cloth because the old close the stain didn't come out after soaking in OxyClean.  I have two girls that will be changing really soon as well. Believe me they already have favorite jeans and panties. I sure would like for them to keep them and their pride.

You may not run out and by a bottle today for what ever reason is holding you back even though you really might think about changing your mind. Let's have a giveaway.

The rules:
You must comment each of your entries.

  1. You must follow on Google Friend Connect so I can tell you you're the winner. +1 Entry
  2. follow @rubysredwash on twitter +1 entry
  3. follow me on twitter @pinkradish +1 entry
  4. Become Ruby's Red Wash friend on Facebook +2 entries
  5. Tweet about it. No more than 4 times a day 2 hours between tweets +2 per tweet
  6. Post it to Facebook +4 entries

Bonus entries
  • Buy something at Lovely Eco Chic and leave a comment on your check out you'd like a free sample. + 10 entries
  • Tell us how the sample worked for you on LovelyEcoChic.blogspot.com Ruby's Red Wash informational page +15 entries
With that said..........

Dates of the Giveaway are 11/4/11 - 12/9/11 Winner will be posted here and contacted by e-mail. I use random.org to choose winners.  12-9-11 9 PST you will be notified who won. You have 48 hours to respond.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!





Monday, October 31, 2011

Eggs-- Which comes first?



If you been following along. I have chickens. They are now laying hens. Today it's official I have my first dozen eggs that are truly farm fresh. That is of coarse if farm fresh and backyard fresh are the same.

This is my fun experiment I did with a few eggs and a few kids.


First the eggs. One if from my girls and one is labeled "Farm Fresh" These eggs were gathered or bought at approximately the same time
The store bought egg outside is larger. I have no face to match with this egg.
This is Blacky's egg.
This is Blacky
The store baught egg insdide is thinner.


Than Blacky's free range grain feed egg shell.

Ok I am in love with my hen. This is where you'll get some cold hard scientific evidence what egg tastes better.

These are my testers.


Declan I will eat everything including hand sanitizer.

Sonny.... Can I have a treat. No not grapes...How about a cookie?

 
Joey's that's disgusting do I have to eat it ?

Marysa .. It's good but it would be better with garlic.

This is the test. My perfect microwave eggs.

The egg to the left is Blacky's eggs. The egg on the right is from a faceless Donner.

This is Blacky's egg yoke beat with a splash of 2% milk. Nice and smooth.

This is the faceless yoke beat with a splash of 2% milk. Notice the glob of yuck.

Blacky's egg after 40 seconds in the microwave tasted by each kid except Joey who backed out at the last minute.
Declan, Marysa and Sonny loved this egg. Marysa thought this had to be store bought.


The faceless egg after 40 seconds bubbles and fizzed and tasted good but it was no Blacky.


So I am happy to say my girls lay eggs tasty enough for my children and I know what they girls egg and know it's healthy enough for this Mama of 5 to approve.


Next test will be baking..... No clue when but a good idea. :-)




Sunday, October 16, 2011

My period

I joined in on a monthly Period Chat on Friday hosted byYou ARE Loved. I met her on twitter are few months back and think some of my stories might help others.

Of my five children two are girls. They are in the fifth grade and are going through some changes. As the Mom I want to do this right. For me it was horrible and for them it doesn't have to be.

I started my period at about twelve years old. It was about a month after I got a box of period products in the mail from my parents insurance company. My Mom gave me the box and that was it. There was no talk. The box had a brochure in it that included some information but I wasn't sure what it was talking about.

One day I was on a bus coming home from school in my new white pants. I got up to get off the bus and a kind woman handed me her newspaper and told me to cover my rear walking off the bus. I didn't ask questions and did what she said. My stomach had been hurting all day and couldn't imagine what I was covering up.  The woman saved me from being teased by the kids who were on my bus. I started my first period.

I got home and searched for my box. There was dry weave pads with wings. Not very many so I wrote a note and placed it on the back of the toilet before going out to babysit two boys. My night babysitting was rotten. The boys were wild, I couldn't focus and set the stove on fire. Yes I caught the kitchen of the house on fire. I got it under control and cleaned up. The parents kept me as the sitter for years. No hard feelings but I was sick.

My mom put a bag of maxi pads on the back of the toilet. They were huge! I was a girl, small. I did not know how often to change them. I layered them in my underwear because I didn't want to leak on my pants again. Walking out in to our family room my dad told me I looked like I was walking with a corncob shoved up my butt. It was such a bad first experience.

My periods lasted for weeks. They were heavy and gross. I stopped smiling and started hiding in my room. By the time high school came around I was cutting school whenever I had my period. My end of the year report card showed I missed classes 154 times, My parents were called to the school and I was given the option of going into a program at my high school called Start Now or to be transferred to Olympic High School. I school for 'bad' kids. I was signed up for Start Now. I had four classed with the same kids for the remaining three years of high school. My mom was called when ever I missed a class. I still cut class I just got smarter about it. I had stacks of blank papers with my Mom's signature on them. I used them as needed to excuse my self from class and I made up work. My grades stayed good.

I had a friend Freshmen year who showed me that her Mom had tampons. We both tried them out. Cardboard tubes. They were hard and we didn't know that the cardboard was not suppose to be left inside our bodies. Now I know how lucky we were in not getting TSS from that experiment. I didn't try a tampon again until my sisters wedding a year after I graduated from high school. One of the bride's maid told me how to use it.

At nineteen I read that birth control could make your period lighter and went to Planned Parenthood for a prescription. They discovered I was very anemic. I was given iron pills. My periods got lighter the birth control pills made me neurotic. I stopped the birth control and found out that calcium, magnesium and zinc would control my period cramping fro a school nurse who was the first person I ever talked to about my period. It worked for the most part.

I got married at 22. We never used birth control. I was never at risk of being pregnant. I had my regular- irregular periods. At one point it was so heavy I had giant purple blood clots pass. I thought at this point it had to be a miscarriage. I went to a doctor. The doctor thought I had one of two things happening. endometriosis or my ovaries were swelling to the size of racket balls when I ovulated.  I was going to be tested. I was 24 at this point and dealt with a painful heavy period for twelve years in the dark.

The test I was going to have involved filling my uterus with a blue radioactive serum on the first day after my period. I didn't have a regular period. In fact it was March and I hadn't had one since passing the blood clots Christmas shopping. I called my doctor and asked if there was something I could take to make my period start so I could get the test over with. There was but they had to make sure I wasn't pregnant. My home pregnancy test was negative. My blood test from a week earlier was negative but they wanted me to do one last pregnancy test before I could pick up the prescription. This test said I was pregnant.

OMG! I was pregnant. I delivered a 9.3 pound baby girl in December, two weeks before my 25 birthday. I was given a depo shot for birth control. It worked great for two years. No periods. No worry. Then I started to get horrible leg pains and I had to stop my shots. The period did not come back heavy and was more regular. I was on a mini-pill that was better than my pill experience before and when my husband and I got divorce in 2003 I stopped birth control all together. My periods were still irregular but not ever as heavy as when I was a teen.

I got remarried in 2005. In 2006 I found out I was pregnant again. I carried this baby for twelve weeks and lost it. I had a post part um bleed for almost 6 weeks. I was told not to try and get pregnant again for six months. I didn't try but I got pregnant again giving birth in February 2007. The post part um was short. A few weeks and here it is 2011. I  had maybe two periods since. I even got pregnant and had another baby 2008 with out a period in between. This time it's an IUD keeping me from a regular period. I do have monthly moods and occasionally bloating or spotting but no period.

Here I am a mother of these beautiful girls who will be women soon. I am frantically trying to find the easiest way to help them with this change in their life. Since my experience was not that ideal. In fact it was crappy. Chats on Period talk are invaluable to me. Parenting classes on how to talk to your preteen and in the works and anything I can do to make it fun we try. My oldest went to see a teen doctor who thinks it will happen soon. We prepared by making a game plan, sewing cloth pads if she doesn't like the feel or disposable pads like me and lots of girl talks.

I can only pray she'll stay close to me and feel good about asking questions and talking to me. No one should have to grow up into a woman in the dark like I did. It's kind of funny now, my sister has a daughter two years older than my girls and for the first time I can ever remember we talked about our periods and how she grew up in the dark too. It's nice to have her here going through at least this part of growing up as a woman together. Knowing I'm not alone in wanting for my daughters to walk into  the light as they grow up..

Monday, October 10, 2011

A down side to adoption

As you know I adopted my nephew. He's my brother biological son. When my brother came to me and asked me to take his son I made him a promise. The promise was to protect his son. I do fiercely.

My brother growing up was my hero. He was cool and wore a leather jacket and was my rock star. He's eleven years older than I am. As I grew up I learned that the "rock star" I idolized lifestyle was changing him. Now that I'm graying and a few of his hairs have disappeared I still love my brother I just can't hold him in the same lime light I did as a forth grade girl.

My brother is a good person who has a sickness. He's addicted to alcohol. As part of my promise to him and my nephew, now son sometimes protecting Joey means protecting Joey from my brother. My brother in his mind drinks to stay alive. Every time I see him drinking or drunk it hurts.

I have this beautiful strong willed boy in my life that I am terrified will take his first drink one day. I talk open and honest with my son about drugs, alcohol and addiction. When my brother shows up on my front steps unplanned I turn him away. My brother holds back his tears, I get soft with my voice and hold back mine. I turn and tell my son there are rules we follow for his safety and try with every ounce of strength I have to not look in his eyes and show him I'm sad and angry.

The truth is my heart is broken. It has been since the first time my brother let me down. It wont heal since the alcohol has taken away my hero. I worry. I worry about him. Homeless, the people he finds on the street that he shares his life with and who he might bring to my house. This is our safe area. It's hard sometimes to feel safe when he brings by a "buddy"????

I keep moving forward holding Joey's hand when he'll let me. I stopped crying over spilt milk years back. Now I stay strong because there is no other way. I just wanted to share it's hard sometimes.... even when your heart tells you, you are doing the right thing.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Baby Joey

I love this kid and haven't even met him. Maybe because I love his Mama as a close member of our family. The only person I 100% trust with my own babies. Help men welcome Joey and congradulate Deanne who is sure to win the Worlds Best Mother award.

My own fear is my son Declan is deeply in love with Deanne and my not want to share his woman. :)



Friday, October 7, 2011

Needles

Have I ever mentioned I hate needles? I do. Okay maybe not all of them. Sewing machines are okay. The ones I hate usually can be found at the hospital. I hate having blood taken, receiving a shot, getting an IV etc.

With all my distaste for those horrible little needles I really fear the big ones. The epidural at all three of my births was not comfortable. In fact the last one didn't even work and I gave birth natural by surprise. Yet I still got to feel the burn as the fluid entered my spine, the bruise on my back and and a lovely numb thigh.

I still went back for an epidural for my back pain. Yep a shot right at C4 that did nothing for my pain except add a six week long headache. I was told they probably nicked my spinal column.

Here I am again going to let them do a spinal tape on me. A test with a 70% chance of being right.  You maybe wonder why bother?

I have spent 10 months on the bench. No hiking, no bike rides, no roller coasters, no bouncy houses, no soccer. First it was pain my doctors could explain. Weak core muscles, a large sway in my lower back from poor ergonomics and giving birth back to back several years after a hernia surgery. I lost a bunch of weight, built up my abs started feeling less pain and more numb.

The doctors ruled out spinal reasons and passed me off to neurology. I had two MRIs and a crazy test where they measured how fast my vision is processed by my brain. The MRIs 85% right in ruling out MS. The vision is 50% right and the spinal tap I'll be having tomorrow morning is 70%. All of it is 100% worth it if they can make everything go away and give me back my life.  Help me decorate with something besides white medicine bottles that should be making me feel better.

That's the last needle in my back ever I hope. One more MRI and a psychiatric evaluation by my request, since a lot of the medicine I take are antidepressants and seizure controllers. All with their own sides effects that I'm now second guessing.
These should be my last two tests and I want answers.

I'm told it's not that's easy. I just want to know, have this nightmare end and get back to living how I want to.

I hate crying when I think I'm alone or holding back tears at my appointments. I hate sleeplessness nights that come night after night. I hate to feel manic because I can't focus on what I hear or see. 

Most of all I hate feeling hopeless, sad and alone.

I pray they gives me an answer with tomorrows tests and gives me something I've been missing back to me. HOPE.

Monday, October 3, 2011

What it takes to be Soccer Mom

Mom of 5 here with tons of volunteer hours at soccer. My three older kids have been or currently are soccer players. This year we may be able to add a forth soccer player for our soccer family. In my personal experience soccer is the best kid sport you can participate in. We play for AYSO in Pleasant Hill, CA. They have an everyone plays 75% of the game rule. This means to me that my children will have at least three hours of active exercise every week. With the TV and video games it can be challenging to get my children to exercise.

What having so many kids means I have the responsibility to encourage them to live healthy. Soccer brings the active life style and it boosts their self esteem. We have had some awesome volunteer coaches. They do fair job of making sure each child learns the game and has a chance to learn the game playing offence, defence, throwing in and taking kicks. My son Joey all though small for his age plays an tough guard with fierce protection of his team's goal but is not limited to that position. He was given a chance to play a position to make a goal. That is a huge motivator to keep playing.
Each team has two practices a week. They last an hour and a half to two hours. Games in our age groups last about 50 minutes. There are usually 2 games a week for half the season.The season usually starts in August and ends close to Thanksgiving. As Mom I can't do it alone. I work. My husband takes the kids to week day practice and I meet him there. I usually referee the weekend games. I referee up to four games on some weekends. The teams get points for my volunteered hours. This pays off for the team when playoffs come around. The teams with enough volunteer points can move on the the championship games if won. If not enough points a team that earned them and may not have the same winning stats may move on. This is the only part of the league I'm not happy with but understand since most parents want there kids to play but aren't as involved. I want my kids to have every chance they can so I'm out doing everything I can to make sure those doors don't get in there way.
I am proud to be a Soccer Mom.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Looking for testers





I have been making some super cute diapers. I have no babies to test them on. If you like to be a guine pig for me post a comment or e-mail my store info@lovelyecochic.com. I'm looking for boy and girl babies under 30 pounds that would be able to give me detailed feed back on Fleece covers, pocket diapers and AIOs. I'd perfer to keep cost down on mailing so for now U.S.A addresses only. Don't leave your address in the comment. Thanks Mary



Saturday, September 24, 2011

Potty training on the go

Declan had to pee. Port-a-potty was nasty. I tried to get him to pee on the tree. He tells me no Mommy trees are for hugging.


Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The trouble has begun

This is Joey. There has never been a co-worker, day care provider or teacher that hasn't said what a cute kid. I love those dimples and his big brown eyes.

Joey knows he's cute. He thinks he looks like Justin Bieber or is the Justin Bieber of his elementary school. I even caught him comparing his reflection in the TV to one of his sisters Justin Bieber posters. I can say as his mother I don't see it but they are both very cute boys.

Here's where the trouble begins. For the most part Joey is a boy. He plays with boys, he's tough like a boy and he doesn't like girls. All boy right.

This morning I found out why Joey's ego is so big about his looks. When I dropped him off in front of his school there was a group of maybe five or six third or forth grade girls. Joey opened the back door of my van and I no longer was mom but I was *Joey's Mom*. The girls all vocalized an ahh he's so cute. Joey was for a moment Justin Bieber. I asked Joey who his fan club was. Joey turned a cranberry shade of red and said stop it Mom and ran away from the care. I have been laughing all morning about it.

It's official the girls have noticed him. The trouble has begun.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Small talk

Today is our big soccer day. Three of my five kids are playing this year. Declan is my sidekick as I game hop. By 1:30 my buddy is overdue for a nap. I often look for distractions to keep him from going loopy then grumpy.

It just happens that someone near this soccer field has goats. Declan and I are talking about the sounds they make. Rrrr is not a goat sound but maa is.

One of our team dads is listening along with us. A conversation starts about how the new brush clearing trend here in the bay area is renting goats. He makes a comment on how there are a lot of was to clear brush but goats are the most environmental.

Most of you know I own chickens. My comment stirs up a chat that left me feeling good. I mention that I my chickens save me money by keeping the bugs out of my backyard.

A mom from the other team went on to ask me a million questions about having urban chickens. Everything from cost, to amount of poop. It became a team parent sideline talk. I think if nothing else got a few people to think about alternate ways to live with a beautiful yard besides pesticides and chemical based fertilizer.

I should have name dropped lovelyecochic.com for a potential sale. But I'm still in the consumer frame of mind. I carry some pretty cool alternate ways of lower cost of  yard improvement. No chicken coops yet.....



Friday, September 16, 2011

A personal look into raising 3 active boys.... OK 1 super active 2 mellow. I'll be honest it's about my black eye.

Just about a week ago I had a super packed weekend of fun. OK maybe not but I'll share any how. I have three boys. Joey who is 10 and a hyper kid gone fabulous student and the apple of his parents eye (all my kids are actually) Declan is my potty training two year old and Sonny is my HOLY COW is he a boy kind of boy.

The first task of the weekend was a soccer game. Declan played nicely with his older sister Marysa. Joey played his game and Sonny ran the track with Mama (me) trailing him. If your a blog reader you know I'm going through testing for MS. One of the symptoms is get weak. As refreshing as it is to exercises I get over heated, then weak and I took a dive at the gas station.  Followed by a oh so fashionable walking cain. To Joey's disappointment my cool new cain did not come with a top hat.

Read about our bunnies in a future post. Just keep in mind they are two weeks new and a second water was needed for their out side play area. I piled four of my five posse members into ye ole Mini Van and we headed for Petco. Petco has the cutest little shopping carts. Joey took the lead in the Junior shopping cart Derby. Close behind was Sonny and his nitro burning burning funny cart. Straight at my knees. I put my foot out to protect myself when the oh so stylish metal Shopper in Training flag ramrodded me in my left eye socket.
(This is not the actual Shopper in training cart but I like visual aides. This looks similar to the cart I lost the fight with.)

A Petco full of people watching in horror as blood spilled out of my eye and my two year old made it for the door. I yelled grab him and I ran as fast as I could out the door catching Declan in the parking lot. Great timing to make your escape kid. I walked back in the store was given a insta ice pack and paid for my bunny goods. Marysa whom I often refer to as my rock or little Mama took hold of Sonny and got him in the car as Joey assisted with Declan. We had the quickest trip EVER to the ER where a doctor and two nurse glued my eye socket back together taped me up and sent my wild crew and I on our way.
This is me the next day.

I stayed home from work. My kids back at school.  My week no boys was awful. Yes I missed them with my entire heart as I sat at home healing but mostly it was awful since I was blind. That's right six days of one dilated eye ball. Everything close up was doubled and everything far away was blurred.
This is me the morning I was told I should go back to work. Notice the difference in my pupils. I was granted the weekend off returning to work on the following Monday.
Monday Morning. Yes I have to agree I sport a black eye well.

To my surprise not a lot of people asked me what happened. The people who did where usually strange men in grocery stores or gas stations.

Here is my eye now. I close up yep you can see it but over all I think I recovered nicely.

Petco has not lost my business. The employees in the store were fabulous about helping me. I did not attempt to collect any kind of compensation however I did ask for my medical co-pays to be covered. Petco's insurance company called me. They were kind and concerned and covered my costs. I know that is how things should be. Props when deserved I am happy to give.

Sure the post wasn't about my boys but my four year old given black eye