Happy New Year's Eve!!

Repeat after me..."This is only a movie. This is only a movie." Or maybe it IS possible that the things that you do that ANNOY most people could be ENDEARING to someone. Now THAT would be a soulmate. I don't know...I mean, I can be pretty annoying. :) Anyway besides all the Hollywood "fairytaleness" of it, it is still my favorite New Years Eve movie scene or What I also like to call - One last good cry for 2010!...

I will now go listen to some Michael Buble songs...... :)

How's the Weather where You are at?

It's snowy here!

Meet Barley. He's one of my boarders.

Besides Blue, he is my favorite Gentle Giant

Isn't he HANDSOME!

He's a house dog, in a VERY NICE house!

He's always so soft and fluffy.
 
I've been told that with St. Bernard's there are two TYPES. 
The dry mouth and the wet mouth. Wet mouths are the ones that are very drooly. I used to have a boarder that was a wet mouth and I had to constantly give him new "fresh"  bowls of water. I had to scrub them with soapy water each time to "cut" through the spittle. GGGGGaaaaag! Something about "spit" in that LARGE amount just gags me. I would also have to put down extra towels in his dog run to absorb it up or it would puddle up and create a treacherous slick. And you definitely don't want to "wipe-out" in a pool of spit.
But apparently Barley is a dry mouth. He isn't drooly at all.
*******************************************************************************
Sometimes I think about getting another BIG dog.....for Blue of course. Someone his size, or close to it. I know that right about now you are thinking - WHAT! She already has a houseful!..................... I just think about it when I look at Barley...

Or any Golden Retriever. Well, not any Golden. I had my Maddie for 12 years and I vowed to never get another Golden because she totally and completely broke my heart when she passed away. She was a beautiful Red-Gold. Some people thought she was an Irish Setter, she was that Red. I felt like no other Golden could compare to her and it wouldn't be far to the dog....even if I tried not to, I'd compare. But maybe....If I got a BIG BLOND GOLDEN boy....

Or maybe I'm still not ready. Maybe a Collie.

I wonder why you never see many Collie's?

I read up a little on them and they are supposed to be FANTASTIC dogs. Remember the Lassie movies!? I have never seen one all the way through. As a child I would try, but end up running from the room in tears. Even that old TV Lassie show had me sobbing. Hmmmm.....
Anyway! Remember the photos of my Ralphie awhile back, sitting in the tree, trying to get that squirrel?
Well, the snow has really cramped his style! It's filled up the space where he liked to jump into.

So now he's using the picnic table....

He wants that squirrel BAD!

Sunday, The Day after Christmas.

I'm spending the day in the company of my animals. A day of reflection.

I'm thinking back over the year and looking forward to the New Year.
I plan on writing up some "goals" rather than resolutions, but not today.
Today will be spent doing nothing...(well, I might rearrange some furniture...I love doing that!)
I had a wonderful Christmas starting with Christmas Eve's dinner spent with my Step-Mom and her family.
I had a nice drive home (we had to take 2 vehicles) and my sister and I had some rare one on one quiet time to just talk. It was such a tranquil evening, driving home through the silent streets as the snow was softly falling after a loud happy dinner with toddlers running about.
Christmas morning started with a wonderful surprise. The neighbor on the south side of my home (not the one I complain about, he's on the other side) well, her daughter had come over to snow-blow her driveway and when I went outside, I discovered she has also done my sidewalk  and the walkway up to my stairs and the end of my driveway so that I could get my car out. The snow is almost a foot deep so I REALLY appreciated her doing that kindness.
Christmas was spent at my sister's home where we opened gifts next to a crackling fire, sipping on Chambord and Champagne. My sister has to be one of the world's greatest Moms. She takes such care in making a safe and magical home. I think that maybe the fact that we lost our Mom when she was just 11 yrs old makes her strive to create the warm and loving home that she missed out on. She has 3 girls that appreciate and treasure every small but important thing that she does for them
Many gifts were handmade and tears of joy were shed. My brother-in-law is half Chinese so they decided this year to make a traditional "from scratch" Chinese dinner. I helped make eggrolls and pot-stickers. (YES! some of mine fell apart!) but it was very nice. He spent so much time in the kitchen, cooking way too much food. LOL! We ate until we couldn't move.
Later, I came home and tried to send out some Season Greetings before I snuggled up with some of my furry babies for a long winters nap. :)
Oh! and one of my gifts from my sister and her family was....a camcorder!!!!
Ha! I'm so happy! Once I figure out how it works I will be posting live action of Blue!
A Perfect Christmas! I am so blessed.

LET IT SNOW!

We are supposed to get A LOT of snow tomorrow! They are saying to wait until the afternoon to travel.
Of course I have to go out into it because I have to work in the morning! But I found this cute video that seems appropriate! Enjoy!

I'm feeling....

so tired.

I bet a lot of people out there are feeling the same way just about now.
We are SO busy at work. A lot of dogs coming into Board for the Holiday and also a lot of old dogs passing away. I won't go into it because I have already cried several times today but it happens every year at this time. I guess the cold weather is too much for them (even though they have all been indoor house pets) but all week long it's been a horribly sad time. I have such a headache (and heartache) from crying. One of my regulars passed and I won't go into it now but I felt like he was one of my own............

Also, I think I might have Tourette's Syndrome. The other night when my dogs were being SUPER ROWDY, I turned to yell "STOP"! at them and instead I yelled "START". What the Hell? I AM losing it. My mind has started to go. But I guess that's not Tourette's. The syndrome isn't yelling the wrong word, it's yelling the RIGHT word.

So I guess that sometimes I wish that I DID have Tourette's.

I finished my Christmas shopping today.

I actually pulled into the store parking lot and drove right back out. There were so many people! I went to another store and ended up going back to the original one. People were EVERYWHERE! I tried going down an aisle and this "adorable" little girl was standing in my way singing a little song. Her Mom just ignored me and the little one just looked up at me like, "Too bad! I'm not moving!" so I said something like "Excuse me Honey"...I'm not a big "kid" person, I know, I'm awful. My instinct is to stick them in the cart out of the way of mean cranky people like me...But then I went down another aisle and there was a different little kid that wasn't doing a darn thing wrong and her Mother was yelling at her to "Shut UP"! yeah, my Tourette's almost kicked in then. The woman kept saying the kids name over and over again. Her full first name and middle name "COURTNEY SHANNON", "COURTNEY SHANNON" SHUT UP! and I just wanted to yell at the Mother "YOU!-SHUT UP" but I didn't since I don't really have a Tourette's problem.

As luck would have it, the same mean mom was ahead of me in line. She kept saying to the little kid. That she had BETTER be GOOD or SANTA wouldn't come. And the little one just stood there looking at the chewing gum packages. Like she must be used to these rants. So as the Mom was digging out her gloves and grabbing her packages, and as I was being checked out, I said to the cashier. "Boy! I feel SORRY for that kid! Poor little thing!" the cashier looked a bit mortified as I just looked at the Mom. She looked at me and while I didn't say it (and I wish I had) I gave her a look that I hoped said "Yeah, I'm talking about YOU!

Do ya wanna pick on someone your own size!? " She looked away and I wondered to myself why little kids who aren't doing anything but being a kid have to grow up with someone so hateful.

 But like I said, I'm not really a "KID" person.

Tis the Season to be Jolly!

Grumble, Grumble.

Where's the Waffle?

It's one of those quiet Saturday mornings. Bright sunshine bouncing off the snow and coming through the windows. Just the sound of the TV in the background as I read my emails and catch up on my favorite blogs. My dogs are snuggled up on both the loveseats...Blue is cuddling up with his little stuffed whale.

Twinkle is snoozing on Mimsy.

While the house is so peaceful, I get up and drop a BLUEBERRY WAFFLE in the toaster. As it toasts, the house is filled with a warm fragrant smell of blueberries. Yum.....

I take a moment to carry some laundry upstairs. I hear the sound of the toaster popping up and I come back down. I walk over to the kitchen counter and look at the toaster. No waffle!? Did it pop up and spring onto the countertop? No. Is it on the floor? No.
I turn, and see Blue sitting at the back door....Hmmm, I wonder where that waffle is.

I'm Glad SOMEONE is having FUN in all this SNOW!

Yes, That's Ralphie chasing after Blue!

They just burst out into the snow and raced around in HAPPINESS!

Then Ralphie turned and saw Jimmy with the TOY!

and it was ON! (They can do this non-stop!)

"The Victor!"

(He does usually win!)

Isn't he cute with his new haircut!

I finally found someone who can groom him and be kind and gentle with him while he's being "rowdy"!

We went back inside right after this photo...you can see the cold was getting to everyone especially when Ralphie starts holding up his feet.

We had an onlooker again. UP in the tree behind an old nest.

When I took his photo he flew off and settled into the trees that are further out.

Just a tiny dot up in the trees.

I kinda feel sorry for him.

It has to be hard to find food in all the snow...

but I also feel sorry for his "food".

My Vintage Phone

So I had a vintage phone out in my booth, this isn't an actual photo of it but it was very similar to this one.

preciousnupitals.com

After work I drove out to see how my sales were doing at my booth. The old guy that runs the desk said that things had been really slow. I told him that it didn't look like anything of mine had sold since I was last in and asked what my sales were so far. (I've got another $70.00 to go to make rent, fingers crossed!)

So he told me that I didn't need to drive out and check if I didn't want to, that I could just call. I said OK and Thanks but I had come out in hopes of finding things gone and that I would maybe need to rearrange things.
Then he asked me if I had a "vintage phone" in my booth and then handed me part of a tag.
So it seems that someone had stolen my phone. He said that piece of tag was laying on the floor and he didn't see my phone so he walked all around the other booths to see if it had been misplaced but found nothing. He was very apologetic and said that he tries to keep an eye on people but sometimes when it gets busy it's hard to do so. He said it probably was someone with a big purse.........

shoplifting sign for thetherapist

Bummer..............kinda makes me ANGRY!

This is WHY I Don't Put up a BIG Xmas Tree!.....

I'M taking a BREAK from Online Xmas SHOPPING for an

IMPORTANT  ANNOUNCEMENT!

The other day at work I received a Green Pixie!
I was lucky enough to have won the giveaway over at http://kaeriefaerie52.blogspot.com/ Karey was celebrating her 100th Etsy sale!
(I had Karey send her to my work address) and the kitties had to see what was in the package. She was an instant big hit!

Little Bug and Scooter checking her out!

I think she's looking a little bit nervous of them! Maybe cats and pixies together aren't the best idea!?
I quickly put her in a safe place.
I have a niece that is all about Pixies, Fairies and all things Magical and she would make a wonderful Christmas gift....
(If I'm able to part with her!)
Thanks so much Karey!

WARNING ! ! !

Bah Humbug Alert!

HEY! I warned you!

I'm feeling overwhelmed.

I haven't bought one Christmas gift yet!

(OK! I have 2 for a gift exchange dinner but those don't count because my sister picked them up for me.)

I didn't even put up outside lights this year!

No wreath on the front door.

Is it too late?

I feel like it's too late.

I didn't decorate the house because it's a mess.

I have half done remodeling projects.

Maybe I could drape twinkle lights over paint cans.

I could sprinkle glitter over the dust.

I've let everything kind of slide while I was working on things for my booth.

I have projects all over the kitchen table.

I thought I could spray paint something by holding it out the back door.

It's 22 degrees out.

But a burst of wind blew the spray back in and now my eyeglasses are speckled

and the floor inside the door has a faint color of turquoise.

But Hey, I'm going to tile that...SOMEDAY.

I took all my found/upcycled items out to my booth and picked up my first check!

$20.63!

OK, yes I spent more than that on Xmas decorations for it but....

At least I didn't have to pay THEM!

I stopped at Target to get some dog food that was on sale.

They are HIRING.

Maybe I should have done that with my time instead.

One of my friends told me that if I hadn't spent the cash for the booth, and the framework and the decorations and the paint and all the things I've bought at the thrift shops or Estate sales....

that I could have put that time and cash towards tiling my backsplash and working on my house.

I told someone else about her statement, to which SHE replied -

"Yeah, I too wondered why you did the booth thing"

At least my Bloggers friends understand.

The other night, I was so upset that I didn't work on a damn thing.

I just sat and watched TV and brushed my dogs.

It was actually nice.

One of my best friends told me that I create my own stress.

Maybe she's right.

Maybe I need to stop spending on art supplies and "treasures".

Maybe I need to just STOP trying to find a way to make cash,

and just SAVE some.

And as John Lennon said -

"Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans."

Yep, today is the 30th anniversary of the tragic murder.

30 years ago.

Sorry for the downer post.

Christmas in LeClaire, Iowa

Yesterday I went to LeClaire, Iowa for their Christmas Walk with my sister and my nieces. I live in Illinois on the border and across the river is Iowa. (Where I work.) and up the river about 20 miles is LeClaire. It is also the hometown of "American Pickers" a cable show that I have never seen but one that everyone tells me I would enjoy, but...I don't have cable, I feel like I watch too much television as it is! And then again, there's my blog addiction!

My sister and her girls begrudgingly let me take their photo and grumbled "Are you going to put this on your BLOG?'
To which I replied - "Probably!"

It had snowed at least 4 inches so it added to the ambiance.

There was the sound of the CLIP CLOP of horse hooves and the JINGLE BELLS ringing from their halters.

I was so busy taking photos that I didn't realize that I knew one of the passengers until it was passing me and she was waving! She's one of the managers at the Humane Society.

We always like going to Grasshoppers and getting a SMOOTHIE but apparently the economy hit the drink maker and her Smoothie Bar was closed down.

It was fun stopping in all the shops to see what they had. But I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. All the shops except "ARTWORKS" and "PRIMITIVE COTTAGE" had items that were obviously ordered in from some mass-producer. I loved "ARTWORKS" which was stocked full of original work. That shop really got my creative mind working. "PRIMITIVE COTTAGE" had a lot of nice handmade and vintage items and my sister bought a few items. As we were shopping there I heard my name called out. I knew one of the co-owners! She and a friend had started up the shop together and her husband was manning the register. I knew her from the vet clinic that I work at. Actually I am the one that named her dog though I'm not sure if she's aware of that. You see, a Golden Retriever had been brought in by Animal Control that had been hit by a car.

photo from -

http://www.almostheaven-golden-retriever-rescue.org/

 Unfortunately the damage was so extensive that he lost a back leg. After he healed (and no one came forward to claim him) Tammy and her husband adopted him. At the clinic the girls were calling him different names and I finally said "Why don't you call him Trooper because he's been such a trooper through it all!" So the name stuck. And I got to say we all have joked that we wonder what he would be like with four legs because he's an energetic maniac on just three! 
Ha! Funny how everything seems to come back to dogs or cats! :) :) :)

Just before it SNOWED....

The trees were filled with little birds.

Yes, Birds, those are not leaves, the trees are bare.

Everywhere.

Where did they go now that it's snowed?

HE'S BACK ! ! ! !

I knew that eventually he would come back. He's returned for the last two winters.

It hasn't snowed yet. The sky had started to get dark and eventually it was just cold rain. But he's back.

Sitting there, waiting. Sometimes he will bring a friend or two. Or maybe they aren't friends at all, but competitors. Waiting for a small animal, a little mouse or rabbit to run across the field. So he can SWOOP down and grab his meal with sharp claws!

 Or maybe a little dog in the play area?!!!!
That's why I always stand close to the little ones and never leave their side.