Awwww, you guys, all the kind words about sisters and stuff… It’s so hard, isn’t it? I can’t fix it. I just have to keep writing and sending and praying and laughing and hoping…

That’s a huge, cement birdbath in the center there, with what looks like about 2 1/2 ft of snow on it.

Peculiar prairie dog population popping up in back yard.

That there is Snow Bliss. Really wish that kid’d cheer up…

 

Yesterday I decided to get in on all the snow fun. Yike.s. We had 2 to 3 ft drifts the whole way down our formerly-known-as-picturesque-winding-tree-lined-driveway, heretofore known as friggin-football-field-length-ridiculous-OVERKILL-backbreaking-daggone driveway. From hell.

I’m looking into having the house moved about 50 yards closer to the road this spring. Front yards are overrated anyways… Anyone want to submit a bid?

My husband started shovelling from the road, I started from my minivan, the plan was to meet in the middle. HAR!!! By next TUESDAY, at the rate HE was going! Mr. Analpants was practically scrubbing the blacktop with a toothbrush, he had it shoveled so SPOTLESS and SQUARE EDGES, I swear he had a laser level out there, getting a straight line, and WIDE…  he was shovelling the whole width of the driveway, instead of just enough for the car!!! And all the way down to the blacktop, and then I swear to God, if the man had had a shop=broom out there, he would’ve SWEPT any shard of remaining snow from the surface!

Me, I was back by the minivan, hauling ASS, I mean I had snow FLYING, I made a path just as wide as my car, and just deep enough that I knew the car could handle what was left over, onaccounta I have something called “Action Traction”  or “Active Tractive”, or “Penis Envy Peel-out” in my car, I forget what it’s called, but it can handle a few inches of snow, no problem.  Also, just for fun, I couldn’t find a snowshovel at first, onaccounta my husband had them all down by the road, thinking I would want to work WITH HIM, HARRRRR… so I was using a boat oar, and paddling my way down the driveway! That shit works too, do not discount the power of an oar… Also, technically, snow IS water…  So I’m tearing it UP, and I measured using my fortuitously sized 12″ boots, I made it 33 ft out in the time it took him to make it 20 feet! (I am NOT competitive!) And he was moving about 40 lbs with every scoop, compared to my oar technique! And the only way I know he was moving so slowly  is that he started croaking from the road “Hon…croak….I..need…..w..w..water…” So I had to take him out a vat of water, and when I saw what he was doing down there, with all the anal-retentiveness, I gave him WHAT FOR, and we then had a healthy debate on snow-shovelling philosophies, meaning, we cussed at each other for a while at the end of or driveway, mostly in jest, but also, sorta pissed-off/joking, because it was hard work, and seemingly impossible job, and his back was already hurting from digging out his friend’s driveway the day before (he had to go home with his friend, Jeff, after work, because the roads were too bad for him to get home. Took him 2 days to get home, and he had to get pulled out of the snow 5 times on the way!)… so we’re down there debating and cussing and generally wasting time instead of shovelling, and I look over, and there’s my nice neighbor lady, out shoveling her sidewalk, which means she heard us, every word, and there’s no explaining, heh heh, um, this is just how we jag around… heh heh… sooooo… oh brother… oh well, that’s us…

I think I may have told him to shut the F up about 4 or 5 times, (in a totally funny, kidding, amusing, loving manner)as he critiqued my “line” or my technique… Because, honestly, when you have 200 ft of driveway, and 2 to 3 ft deep snow, you don’t worry about lines and edges, you just MOVE THE SNOW, that’s it and that’s all. He just doesn’t understand that. You have to get all the way down the driveway, and THEN  you worry about cleaning up edges and stuff. You have to get down the driveway so that you know you CAN get down the driveway, so you don’t lose heart, you don’t lose your will, your drive, your FAITH!!! (that there’s my condensed version of my snow-shovellin’ philosophy. Yer welcome. I got plenty more where that came from.)

Here’s the truth of the matter, and my husband was kind enough to be honest about it: He looked over at Bruce’s driveway, and he had to get HIS driveway just as clear of snow as Bruce had done. Now, I’m gonna tell you, I already KNEW this, because I know men, I knew it, but for him to actually ADMIT it, well, that is truly… truly… there are no words for it, my husband is just… wonderful, and a big stupid LUGNUT, all at the same time…

Eventually, and just when we started finding our groove, and believing again that we might actually make it… this was 2 HOURS of shoveling so far, and we were about HALF WAY… (onaccounta I had pulled my husband over to THE DARK SIDE, and we were hauling ass and leaving a couple inches of non-consequential snow behind…) that’s when my neighbor motors over in his BACK-HOE OF DESTINY AND SALVATION.
Sigh. It was a beautiful thing. He made short work of the rest of the driveway, including the turn-around, which, I had already informed my husband, I was NOT participating in digging out the turn-around, as it is a LUXURY, not a necessity.

I’m just happy to be participating, truth be told. Because a year ago, I would not be out there, working and cursing alongside my husband. I just wouldn’t have cared enough to help him. That’s the truth.  I have a new-found appreciation for him, that comes with being aware, being present. It’s new to me, appreciatin’ him, so I may not always get it right, but… let’s just say, I’m getting a much higher percentage of it right.

Thanks, ya’ll, for visitin’ and for the supportz and stuff…

Haven’t heard from that particular progeny, since I sent the letter DAYS ago… but last night, when the snow storm hit, and husband wasn’t making  it home from work NO-HOW!!!, he did call her and make sure she wasn’t out in that mess, which of course, she WASSSs, she was pumping gas into her car!!! so he had her text when she was safely in out of the nasty conditions, hellooooo, can you say “State of Damn EMERGENCY”… so she texted and he asked her about letter, and she said she’s writing me back, sooooo… I am tickled. Because no matter what her letter says,  we are communicating and the doors IS O-PEN, baby, and that’s all I need. That’s it. I am easy.

In other news, the snow… God, I’m so sorry there are 80000 people in Allegheny County alone, without power.. but the snow it soooo beautiful it makes my heart to HURT. We lost power around 1:00 a.m., But were cuddled up in a pile on the livingroom floor, as usual, under 42 down comforters, and not unlike the Indians, we had animal hides to warm us, although our animal hides still contained the actual animals… Poppy was cooking us from under the covers, and even Tex decided to cuddle, he must’ve been cold, because usually he sleeps by the back door, but last night he was all up in our bid’ness…  We ended up in fuzzy robes, slippers, hats, AND scarves. Even Zack! We looked like those kids from Polar Express. Especially Zack, he has a fuzzy plaid robe from my friend, Mary’s son, Garett. Usually he needs convinced to wear it, but not this morning…

Going out to feed horses was something I will never forget. Or at least, I never WANT to forget, which is why I’m writing it down…  We got almost 3 feet of snow in our back yard, maybe because of wind, but it is DEEP, and I have to trudge thru, carrying a 5 gallon bucket of water, which, HARRRR!!! I am such a farmer! There’s no way to carry something like that in any natural way, hanging down at yer side, when the snow is up to your hips! So I just sorta lugged it along on TOP of the snow, spilling most of it on the way and laughing my ass off… Tex and Poppy came out, which, wow, great disadvantage to be 4-legged in this particular instance… Tex had to trudge through with his FACE, and Poppy just sorta SWAM behind him in the “path” he created… She practically disappeared under the snow, and kept popping up and down, snow all over her face, and Tex snorkeling through and snorting and snuffling, and me dragging that bucket behind and spilling grain out of the bowls and laughing hysterically…  I could see the kids inside the sliding glass door, losing their minds with laughter!! Holy shit. That was some good stuff.

Been getting the numbers down here lately, besides the two daughters in 6 months time, we are also down by 2 frogs and 1 male cat. Which, I miss the daughers, but the frogs and the extra cat…not so much. I gave two frogs to Garett (I’m spreading the frog joy, is what… We still have our largest frog, I hear they can live up to 20 years) and I asked Beane if she wanted Mary’s cat a couple weeks ago… Not to complain, but DEAR GOD, it was becoming an issue around here, 3 male cats, oh sure, in the beginning when Mary asked could we hold onto her cat for a little while, as she was moving into public housing and it would take some time for her to get cat declawed and shots updated so she could have him in apartment…. ohhhh sure, the cats acted like, no big deal, they totally ignored each other in the beginning… They are liars! Because it became a VERY big deal, when they started pooping in my bedroom, in my sanctuary! And spraying the coats hanging in the laundry room! And peeing in my SHOE BINS under my bed!!!  And the all-night cat fighting and chasing and squalling…  And my old cat, I still don’t know what really happened with him, but last month he started looking all scrawny and scraggly and boney, I don’t know if it was  stress from all the cat fights  or what.. But he was looking sick and in need of the vet… He’s better now though…

So I texted Beane with an offer (after clearing it with Mary). Beane really wants a dog, but she is living with boyfriend and boyfriend’s father. I’ve met the dad, he’s great, I love him, he’s taking good care of my girl, she has gained her weight back and her blonde hair and she looks like my Beane again. She’s still smoking, but at least I know she’s eating, and taking her meds, and has a Dad figure, looking after her… it’s not perfect, but it’s better than before. Plus, the Dad also has epilepsy, so she has someone to talk with about it… I don’t know if they do talk about, but… anyways… So she wants a dog, she’s a dog person… but if she got a dog and then they got good jobs and got an apartment… and most apartments don’t take pets, I’ll give you one guess, because one is all it will take, whom do YOU think will end up with that new dog? You want to lay odds on it? Yeah. I need another dog here…

So I started thinking… Beane needs something to cuddle and to call her own. The Dad has a cat, but it’s half feral, and won’t let anyone pet it. Beane loves to pet stuff… So I thought, Lucky is a temporary cat, right? He can provide Beane with something to cuddle, and she’s not obigated if it doesn’t work out, and hopefully, eventually he will revert back to MARY, and this will  buy us some time on the whole DOG issue…

I am brilliant.

Took her two weeks to figure she wanted that cat. She texted me on Wednesday morning., out of the blue.. “Michael says I can have the cat”, and mamma pajama, I was on her doorstep in 3 minutes flat, with Lucky in a carrier, Lucky’s enclosed litter box, 75lbs of kitty litter, and a 25 lb bag of Lucky food! And it took 3 minutes only because I held back for two minutes, not wanting to appear… eager. HAR.

The best part is, my daughter invited me in for tea. We sat and we talked and we laughed and we even cried a little. I finally met the man who’s taken my daughter into his house and his heart, and I’m so relieved… Mom had met him and my husband, so I knew he was nice, but I just couldn’t get myself to… just… it’s hard for me…

Beane just looks so much like Beane again…
The gauntness and the bones the dark hair are gone. So is the harsh, toothy, fake smile.  Shiny blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes, healthy arms and legs… And her voice and her hugs… Things are still unresolved, and there’s major problems between my two daughters, MAJOR, and it hurts my heart so badly that they don’t have each other right now,  and all I can do is keep the lines open, keep it flowing, keep the doors open.. and light candles, crystal blue for Beane and sparkling teal for Dani, and pray… for sisters… daughters… friends..

Franki and Zack are venturing out into the snowy wonderland, I gotta get some pics! Power has been returned to my house… yeah… in some ways that’s metaphorical…  

Flower Childe takes flight

  Dear Dani,

 Thanks for the letter, jelly bellies, and especially the chocolate rooster and pineapple, they made me laugh out loud, even while my heart was breaking. Sorry, it was. You have broken my heart, exactly like you’re supposed to, and exactly like I broke my own mother’s heart, I’m sure… It’s so damndedly, sublimedly (I’m making up words) painful. But necessary.

 Know that wherever you are, and whatever you’re doing, I am hoping and praying for your safety, happiness, and success. And by success, I mean that you are able to enjoy what you’re doing, you are helping people, you continue to be the sweet, sensitive person you’ve always been, and that you find the means to travel wherever you want to go. But especially Greece. When you end up in Greece, THEN we will know, you have truly made it. ha. I’m lighting a beautiful aqua-colored candle right now, just for Greece…

 I’m going to talk about you in this paragraph, and you’re not going to like it, I never like it when my mom talks about me, in makes me squirm because she always says great stuff, and I think yeah right, you have to say that, you’re my mother, and plus I don’t always like myself, so it’s hard to hear good things said about me… But when I say this about you, it’s because it’s true, not because I’m your mother. This is what I really think of you, daughter or not: You have a gift. It’s a spark. A goodness inside. You may think, no, I’m not good, I have EVIL thoughts… I know you think that sometimes… but it doesn’t take away from what’s inside. That sounds like a cliché, but there’s no other way to say it. If you are able to keep that good, clean, sensitive, caring part of you, it will take you far. People gravitate to that. They seek it. They will want to help you get along in this world, because they get something from talking with you, they get an energy. By now you think I’m nuts, but I don’t mind. Someday you’ll understand, if you don’t already.

 I have three other things to say to you. I actually have 4,552 other things to say to you, but I am trying to keep it simple. The first thing is this: LOOK AHEAD. You should keep a sum of about $1300 in the bank, for car emergencies. What a coincidence, that’s precisely what you have in there now! Haha I am clever. Keep it there, Dan, forget you have it, it’s yours, absolutely, and we can get my name off it immediately, but you have monthly insurance and stuff will need repaired, tires, and $36 annual registration. The car will need replaced eventually, so be prepared, you will need money for a car payment, probably within the next couple years… save up! Reliable transportation is COOL.

 Secondly, you’ve told me you will make $100 an hour when you complete your apprenticeship. That is good. That’s really good. But be aware, you make that much because you will have $75 an hour in expenses. It’s called overhead, rent, taxes, self-employment tax, supplies, and health insurance. You will be self-employed, and with that comes a big GOB of extra responsibility, and an extra added bonus surprise TAX. You will not have a nice little computer-generated tax-figure-outter-and-payer. At the end of the year, you do NOT want to find out you owe 32% of what you made to the I.R.S. Educate yourself on this before you go out there. P.S. Unfortunately, I am not exaggerating on the 32%. P.P.S. Being on top of your taxes is COOL.

 Well, those two things were kinda… depressing and mundane. I have to end with something upbeat: I wish someone had given me this nudge. The third thing is a fun thing:

Open up an account for Greece right now. Put $60 per month into that account, EV-ER-Y month. In 3 or 4 years, you will have enough to sail your little butt across that impossibly blue water, and wash up on that ridiculously white beach… and explore the horrendously quaint, picturesque villages, the cobblestone streets, the smells, the sounds, the women in babushkas…ohhh, it’s all so….Greek. That candle is burning, girl! You will be shocked how fast 4 years pass, and if you don’t have money saved to travel at that time, you will look back and remember this advice and you will REGRET not following. There I cursed you. Now you have to make it to Greece.

 

Love you, Dani, proud of you, excited for your life and your potential! Stay sweet, keep your nose clean, nurture that internal “sparkle”, and don’t fu#$ up your car or your license. Make good choices. Our door is always open to you, if you need anything, but I gotta tell ya, I’m moving Franki upstairs, so you can crash in the gameroom anytime you need to, or the garden shed, or the Elm St annex… Hey, at least I’m not turning your room into an ELVIS room like my mom did! Hahahhahhahahaaaaaa… Okay, okay okay I’m done talking… Sigh.. I’m never done. More of the same to follow…. Might as well be truthful…

 

 Love,

Mom

 

Following a chip

This is what Poppy looks like when someone is holding a delic-i-ous potato chip, somewhere off to the right…  Her left, your right…

Now more GLITTER

The FAM descended upon us this weekend, at which time much fun and revelry did ensue…forth-with. And stuff.  Plus GLITTER!!! My sister and I made up a list, “Dawn and Andrea’s Big Weekend of FUN + GLITTER!!!”, and then didn’t we work play our way through most of it! I was totally okay with not completing the list, THIS time, because I’m not yer typical Virgo, not all hung up on perfection and stuff.. Perfection ain’t my baaaag, baby. (that’s my Austin Power’s impression) I’m from the School Of Good Enough. HAr!

My sister and I think so alike, we actually put items on the list, AFTER we did them, so that we would have even MORE to cross off! Brilliant! Hey, you just folded a load of laundry! Put that on the list! Cross it off! WOO HOOT!!!! We are rockin’ this LIST,k man!!

The only things we didn’t do was visit Cousin Donna, and touch up my roots. But like my sister said, Cousin Donna doesn’t even know she was on the list, so she won’t miss us! THat just isn’t right.. 

This is what we “accomplished”:

1. Salvation Army- actually we REALLY did this one, we went to Salvation Army TWICE in the same day, because the first trip wasn’t fulfilling enough.
2. Library- for movies and crafts books, and HAR and DOUBLE HAR, cookbooks! You would find this amusing too, if you knew me in person. Al.so my sister, because we were raised by the same not-so-much-cookin’ mother. We did, however, attempt a Weight Watcher’s potato and asparagus frittata, which is a fancypants, Italian way to say “Open-faced omelette with weird vegetable, and not enough cheese, butter, or TASTE”. We quintupled the recipe, I think,  because we had frittatas EVERYWHERE! I filled up the bathtub, and then both sinks, and then the horse buckets, and the shoe bins, and we still had more crisping up in the frying pan! World’s largest frittata! We shoulda called Guinness Book and set a world record. And then we could cross THAT off our list!
3. Monkey bread. Made it. Ate it. Check.
4. Dad’s hair cut. This one I deferred to my sister. I’m not so confident in my barberin’ skillz these days, ever since I cut that hole in the side of Dad’s head, and he had to wear a ball-cap for weeks. To hide the scab.
5. Rollicking game of Clue. Or, not so rollicking, depending on whom you ask. Zack was not thrilled with how much my sister and I goofed around and laughed throughout the game, particularly when he mispronounced things so SPECTACULARLY, “It was Col-oh-nohl Mustard, in the Bill-ee-YARD room, with the LEED pipe”. Now I ask you, would you not HOWL at that?! Are we not human?! If  you cut us, do we not bleed?!  He got so mad at us for laughing, my sister had to then give him permission to laugh AT US, at which time he rose up and roared from his toes, “HYEEENAS!!!”, like it’d been boiling inside him for DAYS, that one word, HYEEENAS!!! We had been SERVED! And then we laughed our asses off at that, and he got mad again.
6. Recycling. I rode alone on this mission. Loaded up 2 months worth of recycling, drove all the way to the township building, only to discover that it wasn’t Recycling Weekend. There was no one “manning” the truck. So I created my own Recycling Weekend, and manned the truck myself! Dumped my stuff and RAN! I couldn’t imagine a world where I would have to turn around and drive home and take my recycling BACK into the house, so I broke the law. Or the ordinance. Or at the very least it was bad manners.
7. Laundry. Dishes. Feeding of the menagerie. In other words, business as usual.
8. Rollicking game of Slamwich. It’s a card game where you build sandwiches out of pickles, hardboiled eggs, bacon, and jelly. Or something. I never quite caught the premise. Which would explain why I lost so resoundingly. Or did I win? I still don’t know.
9. Watch the first 5 minutes of a movie and fall asleep on the floor. This is actually nothing special, I do it every day, but my sister put it on the list so we could cross it off.
10. GLITTER STUFF! Mom bought us each the complete set of Martha Stewart Essencial Colors Glitter Set for Christmas. Please do not hate. I am a rich woman, it’s true. I have Tourmaline, Verdelite, AND Feldspar. And if I want to stick it all on a rooster, well, by golly, it is within my rights… as a Glitterer:

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The unfortunate dinosaur was Zack’s. He doesn’t want it back.  And why does that rooster have an EGG? It didn’t occur to me until now, that is definitely a rooster laying an egg. A Lapiz/Lazuli egg, according to Martha.

11) Video for Dar. This was actually #1 on our list, but it’s the last thing we did. Mostly because we couldn’t figure out what we wanted to do, and we couldn’t commit to anything, until my sister was almost ready to leave, and so out of desperation, you know, often comes… inspiration? There was definitely PERspiration involved. When we were done, that is.  So, it’s not my story to tell,  but I don’t think she would mind if I tell you this much: This is my best friend. This is my Go-To girl! And she’s has been undergoing treatment for breast cancer. I haven’t written about it here, because it’s not for me to write.  It’s more than the elephant in the room. It’s the… breast cancer, in the room. Okay, that’s all I’m going to say about that fer now. Dar is good, she’s doing well, and if you have time in your day to pray for peace and the cure, if you are so inclined, we can all use a prayer… 

So here is how the video came about. I was back in my room, putting away a basket of clothes. My sister stuck her head in the door, wearing that pink flowery rubber bathing cap, and a bit of pink boa around her neck. I made some sort of choking loch ness/godzilla sound at the sight of her. And then I pulled out every bit of pink in my closet, threw it in the middle of the bed, and the Wild Rumpus began!

We had more fun putting on our outfits than should be legal.

Mom started bringing fabric up from the sewing shelves… putting up some sort of back-drop, and I’m all… MOM! WHAT!!! Why do we need a backdrop, we are just going to do our funny dance! And she’s all, well, the boys can blow bubbles here.. and here… and she’s standing on the KITCHEN COUNTER, stapling old curtains TO MY WALL, and I’m standing there in my stupid hat, telling her she has lost her mind. My sister was much more diplomatic about it. She usually is. I think I shouted at one point, MOM! Do YOU want to be in this video?!!!

I’m kidding. I totally shouted that,  but was joking, because she was being such a frustrated director/idea man.
And then turns out, the boys DID get into it, Zack put on a PINK hat, popped his head out the side and I thought I’d lose it! Never! Never would I dream my very macho little man would put a PINK item of clothing on his macho little man body! And then my nephew, who is even MORE manly than my son, he pops his head over the top of the Very Necessary Pink Backdrop, and he’s got a purple scarf with pink roses wrapped around his head! It was that thing again, where we go from ridiculous to sublime! It’s becoming the status quo around here…

And then the music started, and this is it, and if you can believe this, this is absolutely unrehearsed, unchoreographed, unplanned, and very very pure, raw, nature, God-given talent here, please take special note of small ROBOT GIRL in foreground:

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Baby it’s cold outside…

Took down Christmas, but am reluctant to let go of snowy sparkle just yet…

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Dickensian snowman, found in Giant Eagle parking lot by Husband and Franki! His base is a little busted, apparently someone maybe picked him up at Salvation Army, I’m interpolating here, and maybe they got him out into the parking lot and accidently dropped him while loading him into the car… and then they thought OHHHH POOOOOOOHHHH, he’s RUINEDDDDDD!!! So they just left him there in the snowbank, they gave up on him!!!  But they still somewhere down deep in their heart they kept alive some small hope, hope that some kindly soul would come along and take pity on our poor, bedraggled, decidedly yellowed, little man of snow…and that person was Franki…

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Some red stuff I like… That’s my china doll from VietNam, Uncle Bud brought back for me.. He’s travelled with me a looooong ways…

And here’ s my walk of shame, this is cluttered, I know, and I could’ve at least taken a minute to de-clutterify… but sometimes I think, Why lie? Why pretend this isn’t what my house looks like 94% of the time…

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And of course, the requisite Poppy Pic:

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Mmmm… fuzzy butt…

I keep coming here and starting posts, and I get about 3 sentences in, and then I write this long string of FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDGE!!!! and I give up and slink away again…

I can’t write right now, I’m all jammed up. I even tried an adventure in friggin’ Facebookland, ya’ll! HAR!!!! I felt like some kind of …. like I was whatshisname, Yosemite Sam, trompin’ around, stompin’ and huffin’ What the SAM HILL’s goin’ ON in HERE, what in tarnation IS this place?! Facebook is a strange land… I saw stuff I don’t wanna see. I saw people from highschool even, and DA’yEM, those people got OLD!! And BALD!  

Shit. I don’t need to see that. I just don’t get FB, you can try to explain it to me, but I don’t get it. I’m not bitter about it either, I’m not angry, I’m not disappointed that it didn’t work out… I’m just sorta…. mildly befuddled… I don’t get it. I hope, hope, hope, if you’re on FB and you like it and it’s fun connecting with people and it’s rewarding and it feels good, that’s wonderful, that is fantastic… , but  me personally… I don’t understand. Maybe I didn’t stay around long enough… I don’t know.

I’ll just stick with what I know.

I can’t construct rational thought…. it’s late…

Look who got her ears all up and perky!!! She did it! I knew that she could! I was so worried, I thought we got one of those defective-type floppy-eared Bostons…  But we got a perky one! Straight up like a bat! Also, you will notice a mysterious, or not so mysterious pee-shaped stain on the rug next to Tex’s left haunch… hmmmm… whom do YOU suspect?

This is what’s happening beside me right now:

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there’s something about having a warm baby hippopotomus in your bed… that snores AND farts… Yeah… she’s got ALL the attributes of her breed…

I guess I should make some sort of New Year’s statement… except I’m distracted by the purple and the red in the picture above, and all around me on my bed… mmmmm… puuurrrrpleee…

This past year has been the most significant in my adult life. I think it may actually be the FIRST year of my adult life! Crud. That is depressing. But I grew up this year. I slayed some major dragons in my life. It wasn’t easy, and the job is not done,, it’ll never be fully done, oh crappy crapppp why do I have to slip into metaphorical-speak here… It’s just the nature of the beast, I guess…  But my eyes, my heart, and my mind are open now.. That part’s not metaphorical. I am wide awake.

Hubs and the kids are out in the kitchin, crashing about, doing dishes, arguing, fussing, discussing the Chinese new years, chickens, roosters, pigs….  Poppy took a huge DUMP in my bathroom, and then ate it, (I told you she has all the attributes of her breed..), so my room reeks of steaming dog shit…

 I will have to pause for reflection another time…

Happy New Year, though…

Still more Christmas 2009

Cole, about to suck his toe!

Poppy meets Gizmo.

A girl and her Mogwai. Gizmo shipped all the way from Hong Kong!

Be sure to scroll down, for some reason I can only put 3 pictures in each entry… frustrating!

more christmas 2009

Franki and levitation wand

The inlaw’s Christmas photo. I’m wearing the traditional Christmas Robin’s egg BLUE shirt ha ha ha…

Flower Childe and Marilyn. Tin sign for her tattoo shop wall…

The Other Side of Christmas 2009

Beane and Cole, Beane looking like Beane again.

All the grandkids got copies of the newspaper, the day Obama won, from Grandma.

ObiWan, in his new Snuggi.