Help Us Neuter Stryker's Family That we Rescued

The Pups 2+ Years Later....(May 18, 2012)


Here we are 2+ years later! we still have ALL of the dogs! Well, Sadie, the Sister of Stryker was fur-ever rehomed by a wonderful family in Jacksonville though!But we still have the little 3-legged Snaggle-toothed Chihuahua, Cesar, who has become an absolute Diva (is there a Male term for 'Diva'? LOL). We ended up keeping ALL of the dogs, Ranger (aka Buddy) and Rusty (aka Red) & Scout (the young guy who we didn't think would make it through the night) and they are ALL amazing. Each in their own way. Anyone who has animals knows the different personalities that each one possesses which make him different than another. They are funny, sweet, loveable, loyal, silly & smart. Though not a week goes by that I don't miss my Stryker - it has taken 3 to fill our home with all of what he had!There was point after all of the initial, very expensive vet bills, shots, licenses, medicines, heartworm treatments, special diets, etc that we considered possibly having to re-home 1 or 2, but HOW? How do you decide WHO you can let go to another home and HOW do you possibly EVER separate them? I think that they would be devastated! It was horrible enough the day we took Sadie away, they searched for her for days. So, knowing we cannot split them up - especially Rusty (Mr. Caretaker) from Ranger (Mr. Goofball) the chubby, silly, piggy guy who is now over 70 pounds and thinks he is a lap dog AND THEN you cannot separate Rusty from Cesar as they are so close and protect each other AND THEN you cannot ever re-home Scout probably because he is such a nervous wreck all of the time and needs special patience and attention and looks the most like Stryker and is truly, my little buddy. I believe that the cats would even miss them all!! So what does one do? - you keep them ALL!We did our 2nd stinit of vet visits through January and February and everyone is doing unbelievably well! Rusty is the only one who has turned out to be Heartworm positive and it is probably because he was out in the elements on that farm in Jacksonville with NO proper vet care at all for 5 years! But everyone else, thankfully, has come up negative!No more of any of the worms which they had all been Dx with every worm existing; hookworm, pinworm, etc. We are all great!Now the big part has arrived - which Daddy has argued against profusely - the neutering! Da da daaaaa!!! But it is truly healthier for them all and really a relatively simple procedure. I have spent months trying to procure Vouchers, FREE programs, Humane Society programs and various others which will not be named here. Scout and Ranger will be quite simple. Rusty, being HW+ will be a bit more costly as he needs more extensive labs and bloodwork and treatment to make sure that it goes safely for him.So, please, if you are able to, make a small donation to the pups it WILL be so greatly appreciated!!! Any money that is raised above and beyond the cost of neutering will be donated to Bradford County Paws in Jacksonville, where we originally obtained Stryker from Kristie & Cecil and Pet Pal Rescue here in St. Petersburg who will be performing the procedures!!THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO HELP US! CHRISSY & ZACH & THE GANG!!



(ORIGINAL STORY POSTED DECEMBER/JANUARY 2010)
The Story Behind It All- How We Ended Up With 4 deserted dogs and a 3-Legged Chihuahua! (oh, plus a cat and a kitten)

The Story Behind It All- How We Ended Up With 4 deserted dogs and a 3-Legged Chihuahua! (oh, plus a cat and a kitten)THIS IS THE STORY FRON DECEMBER 2010We lost our 2 ½ year old Border Collie/Aussie Shepherd, Stryker, at 6:30 AM on 11/26/10 to Cardiac Arrest after a day and a half fight. This day after Thanksgiving couldn't have been worse. He was THE BEST dog I ever had. Smart, funny, loyal, sweet, kind, gentle, cuddly, fun, talented, loveable, silly, shy, a true "gentleman". Stryker had thrown up a bit earlier in the week and his appetite had lessened and he looked a bit 'sulky'. On his way out the door to work Zach noticed at a quick glance that Stryker's eyes looked a bit yellowed, so he made plans for a visit to our vet later that day, Wednesday 11/24/10. The vet ran some bloodwork, gave him a shot of antibiotics, ran IV bag through him - didn't see anything crazy alarming but stated that he was definitely going through something so no food or water for 24 hours, rest. See how he is responding tomorrow, Thanksgiving day, re-visit Friday. If he gets worse, at all, take him to Emergency Vet Clinic. Needless to say thatâ??s where we ended up by 2 PM on 11/25/10. Bloodwork showed positive for a sever Pancreatitis attack which 95% of dogs make it through. However, X-rays showed that Stryker was born with an abnormally small liver. Due to this fact his body put up a heck of a battle but it just wasnâ??t enough to get him through the Pancreatitis attack. We learned a lot in this one night and we know that we did everything that we could to save him. We had given him an awesome 2 years since we adopted him. Perhaps, had we known about the smaller liver or had been aware of signs of Pancreatitis we could have done more so this never would have happened to him â?? we felt like we had let the poor guy down! Yet $2,000 laterâ?¦.the money saved up for our new tile flooringâ?¦we still had to look at burying our Best Buddy.We had adopted Stryker in December 2008 from Kristie at Bradford County Paws (www.bcpaws.org) . We had to put to sleep our Aussie Shepherd/Golden Retriever, Duke, that year after a bout with liver cancer. In November we started looking on-line on Petfinder.com deciding if we were ready to adopt a pup. Were we even ready to have another one? When we found him and read his story, we knew that he was the one. Timid, shy pup had been adopted out twice to families with small children and both families brought him back â?? he was weird, too shy. Well, he could come to us and we would give him all the space that he needed to open up to us and trust us. Stryker was living with his Foster Mom and his sister Sadie was there too but the Foster Mom could not keep both of them. Kristie from BCPaws and the Foster Mom brought him to us all of the way from Jacksonville and from that day forward he was the best, most talented, sweetest dog ever!!Since we had stayed in close contact with the foster family, the save group people and 2 of the other owners that had adopted Stryker's other 2 sisters we had to make the dreaded call about his dying, though some knew already thank you to Facebook. But more, we wanted to share our knowledge about the undersized liver and share what we had learned about the subtle signs of Pancreatitis. If we had let Stryker down by not being vigilant enough we at the least owed him THIS much, to spread the word to others and to the owners of his relatives.These contacts are specifically what led to the discovery of what was going on with the people who owned Strykerâ??s Mom and Dad. It was as if Stryker was sending messages to us through his dying. The save group in Jacksonville had contacted them to let them know and the horror rolled out from there. He had "lost the property to foreclosure", "they were not living there anymore", "he goes out and throws them dry food when he can", "he was going to call but couldn't find their number", he thought that "Animal Control was coming out to pick them up".to die. No, he left them there to die. And that is the story of how we ended up with Ranger, Sadie, Rusty & Scout. And we have a very long, expensive road ahead of us. But what were we supposed to say "no?" -please. Anyone that knows me or Zach knows THAT would NEVER happen.Add this to the fact that I just had a hysterectomy on 11/29/10 and am still recovering. Add this to the cat we adopted from Animal Services in 2005 and the kitten from the Save Our Strays just one month ago! (had we of known...)Add this to the year we are coming to an end of; in April our family's 13 year old Yorkie, Katie, was attacked on her leash in our own front yard (while standing right next to Stryker) by an unleashed Pitbull that someone had out for a walk. It ripped Katieâ??s chest cavity wide open and we had to have her put down. Zach had to fight off the Pitbull and got bit in the melee but he did manage to get Katie from the Pit's mouth so she wasn't ripped to shreds. He sat on the full grown Pit for an hour until help arrived, literally. We tried to spread the word then about the leash law here in Pinellas County, Florida and about people being more responsible for their pets. We even spent $150 to have a sign made about respecting the leash law and to raise awareness - someone stole it from our front yard. That Pitbull owner ended up getting HER dog back and has now moved away somewhere with it. We moved on....In May we rescued Cesar from a save group in Citrus County, Florida. Zach fell in love with him and he was a "little old soul". He is a 7 year old, snaggle-toothed, THREE-legged, long hair chihuahua - oh yeah, that cannot bark! He came from a puppy mill in Missouri somewhere. He was used as a breeder dog and had no dental care so he is missing half of his teeth and gets around great on his three legs! He can't bark because they shove steel rods down the throats of the "yappier" breeds so they don't have to listen to them bark! He had NEVER lived in a house, only a crate. But, he is a riot. We figured that we could at least give him a few more wonderful years to enjoy and love! Well, now he is spoiled and rules the house in his Argyle sweater! What amazes me is the brilliance, resilience and braveness of these animals! ALL of them. They have not lived in homes but yet they never have "accidents" in the house, they were neglected and starved but the are not ferocious or snapping the food out of our hands-they just take it gently, they were mistreated and abused by humans yet they show us love and kindness. SO, THIS IS HAS BEEN OUR YEAR & THIS IS HOW WE ARRIVED TO THE POINT WE ARE AT!!Much love to you all, my friends! Chrissy XO

So, I missed a blog update at the end of my first 30 days, unfortunately! And here I am, with only 51 days left on my 90 Day Challenge! Feeling super and down 13 pounds! I really need to do my measurements again soon. I have also discovered enough energy and determination to be doing P90X exercises with my Fiance. We are now on day 12 and going strong. I'm still very week and my abs need a tooon of work and need to lose much more tummy fat. That is a very frustrating area of my body for me.But I am doing it and I am sticking to it religiously. I was even out of town at a work conference this week and we did our P90X in the hotel room and small gym at the hotel! Yay me!

My breakfast shake has on a regular basis consisted of 2 scoops of the ViSalus Sciences Vi Shake Mix, one banana, one TBSP of all natural peanut butter, 2 TBSPS of Vanilla Dannon Light & Fit yogurt and 8 ounces of Organic Unsweetened Almond Milk. Yummy! And it keeps me quite full until lunchtime. I am also still using a newly discovered product called PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter which has 85% less calories than even the All Natural Peanut Butter!This is going to cut my shake calories down even more! Which wasn't that high to begin with!! I'm psyched! Check it out at: http://store.bellplantation.com/4-Pack-of-1LB-Bags-of-PB2-Powdered-Peanut-Butter-p/1lb-pb2-04.htm



Yesterday we attended a super Shake Party and meet and greet in Tampa/Brandon/Riverview area! We met Nick Sarnicola, Co-founder of viSalus and he spoke with our group about the amazing growth and numbers that ViSalus Sciences has seen in this last year! We had the pleasure of meeting a number of Ambassadors in ViSalus, as well as a couple of husband and wife teams that are now 4 and 5 star Ambassadors! It was very neat to hear their financial stories and very motivating! What an impressive, interesting,and super nice guy Nick Sarnicola is!

As i have mentioned before, I began on this 90 Day Challenge for my health, it was all about getting healthier, feeling better, BEING healthier and getting back into my 'skinny' jeans. But now, after using the product for a bit over a month and truly seeing how amazing it is and going to the Challenge Parties and hearing other people's testimonies and success stories, I am amazed and excited! I am thrilled to be involved with such a great group of people and to have found such an incredible product that has a company that stands behind what it does. They give you everything that you need to succeed! All you need to do is use the product, feel great and tell people how great you truly feel!

So...here I am, Day 39 of the 90 Day Challenge. I have lost 13 pounds and am down more than 2 inches and so far with hardly ANY work I have made a small amount of money AND I am getting this month's product for FREE!!! How fantastic is that? And, I'm having fun!! I feel better physically, my mood has transformed incredibly, my energy is phenomenal and NO MORE BRAIN FOG! Wow! Yeah, I can keep doing this for a long while!

My fiance started 2 weeks ago and has already lost 9 pounds and is down one entire belt notch, legitimately! Not bad for a guy who won't even touch vegetables! Now he is even eating hummus with fresh mushrooms and pita bread!

Well, that's it for my 5 Week Update! Our 'team' is on the run right now. Time to make things happen and really start to 'Shake It Up'!! Our team mate Laurie Harris is running to become an Ambassador this month and I am going to support my promoters to run to be Rising Stars!! Lovin' the Vi Life! Catch ya next week!!

Click on photo below to be connected to my Body By Vi website:

From Blogger Pictures

I hope you will enjoy the sharing and please feel free to check out the product on my site as well as e-mail me with any questions or ideas or request that I mail you a FREE sample! Get a group of 3 people together and schedule your own shake party and you can get your next month's product for FREE! CONTACT ME!! XO Chrissy

3 Weeks Down!!...Feeling Awesome!

So, I hit a bit of a low spot last week and was feeling a little discouraged but I didn't give in to anything. Just decided that I would find some more determination deep within myself and find a way to kick things up a notch! 'Rise To The Challenge', you might say! I also decided to have my 2nd shake at dinner since we have been busy running arounded each night until late and I find myself starving and eating too much because it's 8 PM, which is way too late to eat! So within only 3 days of doing that I lost 4 more pounds!! And this is even considering that I am eating a very decent and satisfying lunch during the afternoon too! I love it! My food even is tasting better and I find myself CRAVING eating HEALTHY foods. Which, I must say that I have always been a good eater, I love my veggies and make good food choices but this is an actual craving for GOOD food.

My breakfast shake has on a regular basis consisted of 2 scoops of my ViSalus Sciences Vi Shake Mix, one banana, one TBSP of all natural peanut butter, 2 TBSPS of Vanilla Dannon Light & Fit yogurt and 8 ounces of Organic Unsweetened Almond Milk. Yummy! And it keeps me quite full until lunchtime. I have also just discovered aproduct called PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter which has 85% less calories than even the All Natural Peanut Butter!This is going to cut my shake calories down even more! Which wasn't that high to begin with!! I'm psyched! Check it out at: http://store.bellplantation.com/4-Pack-of-1LB-Bags-of-PB2-Powdered-Peanut-Butter-p/1lb-pb2-04.htm



Friday night we had a fantastic visit from Royal Ambassador in ViSalus, Mike Craig and were thrilled to be able to hang out with him for business discussion afterwards late night on the waterfront in St. Petersburg. What a motivated, interesting, nice guy! Thanks for all of the pointers Craig! I have loved getting to hang out with him as well as our 4 Star Ambassador Heather Guzzino and learning some of their business ideas and just their view on spreading the word about how fantastic this company and the Body By Vi product line is!

When I began on this 90 Day Challenge it was all about getting healthier, feeling better, BEING healthier and getting back into my 'skinny' jeans. But now, after using the product for a bit over 3 weeks and truly seeing how amazing it is and going to the Challenge Parties and hearing other people's testimonies and success stories, I am amazed and excited! I am thrilled to be involved with such a great group of people and to have found such an incredible product that has a company that stands behind what it does. They give you everything that you need to succeed! All you need to do is use the product, feel great and tell people how great you feel!

So...here I am, Day 26 of the 90 Day Challenge. I have lost 8 pounds and am down 2 inches and so far with hardly ANY work I have made a small amount of money AND I am getting my next months of product for FREE!!! How fantastic is that? And, I'm having fun!! I feel better physically, my mood has transformed incredibly, my energy is phenomenal and NO MORE BRAIN FOG! Wow! Yeah, I can keep doing this for a long while!

My fiance started last week only doing a shake a day and he has already lost 5 pounds-this week he is swtching to 2!! and our friend Ginger started last Tuesday and was only doing a shake a day and has lost 3 pounds!!

Well, that's it for my 3 Week Update! Lovin' the Vi Life! Catch ya next week!!

Click on photo below to be connected to my Body By Vi website:

From Blogger Pictures

I hope you will enjoy the sharing and please feel free to check out the product on my site as well as e-mail me with any questions or ideas or request that I mail you a FREE sample! XO Chrissy

2 Weeks Down!!

2 Weeks Down!
Posted by Chrissy. April 14, 2012

Wow! Can't believe that it's been TWO weeks already. What a whirlwind! Between the people that I have met through becoming involved in ViSalus and the positivity of the 90 Day Challenge - it's almost infectious!

I'm feeling great and I have so much energy it's hard to believe. I also have noticed a huge decrease in my craving for sweets and I cannot eat as much when I do sit down for a meal. My mood has been much better and more even and my "brain fog" has cleared! It's amazing! Plus, I am making money while I'm feeling better and working my way toward my BMW!!

I held my first Shake Party last night and it was a great success. Looking forward to our Party tonight with Guest Speaker, 4 Star Ambassador, Heather Guzzino! Should be enlightening
Tags: 90 day challenge, body by vi, visalus, mood, energy, brain fog, fun, bmw

Day 4 and Day 5...Still Going Strong And Feeling Awesome!

This post will be for Day 4 AND Day 5! Super weekend. Tons of energy and sleeping well. Mood is fantastic! Still not experiencing that afternoon 'slump'. It's wonderful and I am not starving myself.

Have started working on some new recipes. Got my Mother-in-Law to try a strawberry cheesecake one for her dinner Saturday night and then she placed her order for some of her own! We used Unsweetened Organic Almond milk (only 35 calories), fresh strawberries, Body By Vi Shape Mix & 1/2 a package of Jello Brand Fat Free/Sugar Free Cheesecake flavor yummy! Then I whipped up a Banana- Peanut Butter one and sent it over to our Uncle Jay, he will be my next victim! :)

I decided that this product is an investment in my HEALTH. Not only am I making it a business venture for myself but I am on the road to being healthy. After the past 4 years of struggling with the Thyroid issues and the auto-immune Thyroid disease Hashimoto's, and the weight issues and the achiness and fatigue - I AM OVER IT! This has also increased my vigilance over the years regarding WHAT I am putting into my body...not just carbohydrates, sugars, proteins, calories, etc....but also hormones, soy products, gluten, nasty stuff that can harm the body and cause you more problems with inflammation, fatigue, IBS, etc. The Body By Vi Shake is Gluten-free, Lactose-free, contains non-GMO soy protein AND it's Kosher!

My best friend is battling breast cancer right now and it is an estrogen driven cancer (which can be made worse by soy intake) and I also know that soy can have some very negative affects on Thyroid function, my next study is into this topic. The wonderful thing that I HAVE discovered is that Body By Vi Shake contains non-GMO soy protein and out of ANY soy product, this is the safest. More to follow on this.

So, Day 5 on my 90-Day Challenge (day 10 on using Body By Vi Shakes), and still not having an issue with using a shake product like Body By Vi as a meal replacement. I honestly am a little surprised. I have to admit that I was concerned that I would not be able to do this but I am finding that I actually LOOK FORWARD to my shake at breakfast and lunch! And then when I prepare a super tasty and healthy dinner not only do I get full faster but I also think the food tastes more delicious thyan normal! It's great!

Cannot wait until tomorrow when my 1st Promoter Package arrives and next, my business card!! Woo Hoo!......Guess What!?....just got my UPS notification! My box is here! YAY!

Click on photo below to be connected to my Body By Vi website:

From Blogger Pictures

I hope you continue to follow, enjoy, share and learn from these blogs! Also,please feel free to check out the product on my site as well as e-mail me with any questions or ideas! XO Chrissy

Day 3....super energy, positive things all around!

Sorry folks! I will have to write a double blog tomorrow! Had an awesome day today all round and need to go snuggle and relax my mind for the night!

Good business tips learned today and I also learned a lot more about the company and product. updates to follow tomorrow!

had my 2 shakes for breakfast and lunch. Even zach enjoyed a banana and peanut butter shake for breakfast AND he tried out the Neuro 'brain energy' boost supplement powder at our meeting. My lunch was like a yummy orange cremesicle shake. Smart dinner of steak, broccoli, sweet potato and a couple of homemade crab stuffed mushrooms! Yum. Got full very quickly. My energy is off the charts!

Night all! Off to bed with my Man, my pups and the kitties! More tomorrow! Lots to share!

Day 2...More Energy & New Recipes

So, I slept great last night and could not wait to make my shake and enjoy it this morning!! I had energy all day today and did not even feel that afternoon 'slump'. I also had to start all of my details for the '90 Day Challenge' which included measurements, weight, before pictures, etc, etc. The FUN stuff! LOL.

Enjoyed setting up my business page on Body By Vi as well as my Facebook business page. Already following some other newbies on the Visalus network. I also printed out all of my sheets for selling and set up an awesome Business Binder!!And I ordered my Business Cards!

Loved my breakfast shake again of a banana, the Body By Vi shake mix, organic light vanila soy milk, Dannon Light & Fit yogurt and peanut butter! I think this is my favorite! Lunch was Body By Vi shake mix, soy milk, bananas and strawberries. Enjoyable and filling but I'm still hookd on the banana & peanut butter!

Anyway, we enjoyed a great dinner out and I noticed that I couldn't eat as much food. But I did enjoy a blackened tuna steak. My spirits and mood are high and my fiance says that I sould like an infomercial for Body By Vi! I just want to share the shake mix with everyone I know, I want to see if others will feel better drinking it like I do.

I did get my first customer today....it's my Mother-in-Law to be but that still counts, right!? I can't wait to see how she feels on the Body By Vi shake since the lady lives on Hershey Chocolate bars, apple fritters and Snickers! I'm always teasing her.

I'm off to cuddle with my Honey and drift off to sleep. Looking forward to a great weekend busy and restful at the same time. Tomorrow my Upline group is having our business training meeting and my fiance and I are going to teach them all about blogging and Facebooking!! My promoter package won't be here until Tuesday but I'm getting a package of Body By Vi shake mix from my boss tomorrow....he got me hooked so he can keep me stocked up! LOL

Recipes to be created over the weekend! Working on a strawberry cheescake one and another pistacjio idea!....See you tomorrow!!

Click on photo below to be connected to my Body By Vi website:

From Blogger Pictures

Well, I hope you will enjoy the sharing and please feel free to check out the product on my site as well as e-mail me with any questions or ideas! XO Chrissy