Happy Birthday to Mr. BigA!!
Happy Birthday!!! Hope you can come and visit some time soon. Your cousin can’t wait for you to teach him to play Hockey!!!
Have a great day! You are too cool for school!!!
So…the question is asked…”Are you now the person that you thought you would be twenty years ago?”
*chuckle*
Interesting question, don’t you think? I mean, it would be really hard for me to say. I was such a silly girl with silly ideas about what was important. All I can say is, whatever I was thinking at 25 could not have remotely measured up to what I have been blessed with now. I try not to look back. Not because it was bad. Not because it was good – but because I can’t change it. There are a number of things from that time in my life that I am proud of and many decisions I made that I regret. I was living a life that in many ways would not be representative of the person I am today.
I don’t know what it was along this journey that influenced my direction and brought me to be the person I am today – except to say that I took things a day at a time. It wasn’t all smooth sailing. Bad things happened. Even tragic things happened but there was always laughter and joy along the way.
When I do look back I try to focus on the people and experiences from a position of gratitude. I am grateful for those friends and people who influenced my life and for everything they taught me. I am also grateful that the mistakes I made taught me to pick myself up and keep going.
But today, I am most grateful that I can look back and laugh at myself.
Have you met our lovely labrador retriever, AnaBelle?
She’s 9 months old and lovely or not she’s a menace.
To be fair, I know that lab puppies are known for their chewing. I know this because every time that I have contacted our vet regarding something else that she’s chewed or ingested, he laughs at me. ”Well, you do have a lab.” Funny how that doesn’t seem so funny to me at the time.
Our laundry room doubles as her kennel. This puppy has quite discriminating taste and has managed to do her own decorating in “her room” over the past 7 months. She’s made it quite clear that the textured ‘monterey drag’ finish on the walls is not acceptable to her. To provide evidence of her dislike for the wall finish she managed to carve out portions of the wall including the drywall. Once a small chunk of drywall is removed she begins to peel away the paper. But her decorating activities have not stopped there.
It’s clear that she is not fond of stainless steel front loading appliances. We have identified her signature gnaw marks on the doors of both the washer and the dryer over the past few weeks.
Our previous beloved lab, Bogey loved to wolf down his food. Since this can be deadly for big dogs, we decided to get one of the elevated dog dishes for him. We found one at Orvis a few years back and purchased the wooden one they had in the store. As you can see here from the picture, our loverly AnaBelle has made it clear she wishes for something perhaps more feminine in design.
She’s chewed through her puppy pillow, which rang in at just over $400 in emergency vet bills. She’s chewed through her most recently acquired dog bed that I managed to repair…albeit only temporarily. I noticed that she’s been working on that one again. She also managed to chew up the rug that used to be placed on the wood floors just on the other side of the kennel “gate”. She was able to coerce that rug under the gate and made short order of it one afternoon. It was an old rug but it certainly didn’t deserve that! The kennel gate has been the recipient of her signature teeth marks. So, I won’t begin to list the numerous “indestructible” puppy chew toys we have had to throw out.
We have to keep her in the kennel during the day while we are at work. This is primarily due to my fear that her decorating preferences will be brought to light in by showing me how much she despises the furnishings in the remainder of the house.
This was apparent in our most recent incident when Chris woke up one morning and told me he thought one of the pillows might need a repair. There was down fluff all over the bed. After further inspection I found that it was not a pillow that was leaking feathery down everywhere. Apparently AnaBelle decided that the down comforter on our bed was not to her liking and she chewed up one corner of it which was sort of tucked in the sheet when we went to bed. Once it was pulled out from the tuck…the fluff was everywhere.
She’s currently banned from the master bedroom where I have replaced the down comforter with something more fluffy and higher thread count as well. She attempted to rest there a number of times since I replaced it on Friday.
Brat.
The monkey can get cranky. See what I mean?
Maybe it’s because I stuck the camera in his face. *evil grin* He should be used to this by now. He’s cranky because his birthday is soooooooooo far away. Yeah, right! We know that in a blink of an eye it will be June. Well, maybe not a blink of an eye…but close enough. He’s concerned that all the good toys will be gone by then.
My birthday was awesome! The weather was absolutely beautiful - 65 degrees and sunny. Honestly, it could have been warmer for me but I am not complaining. I was born in January in North Dakota! I’ve spent the majority of my birthdays in Minnesota where the temperature might only tempt heading above zero so 65 degrees in January is fine with me! woo HOOO! I love TEXAS!
Hubby grilled steaks and asparagus for dinner. He also sauted some shroomies to top off the steak. Prime rib-eye steak. YUMMM! And, there was birthday cake. It was great!
And, (slight pause) I got my iphone!!! It’s too cool. I am afraid to touch it until my invisibleshield thing gets here. I don’t want any scratches on it at all. I didn’t add texting. First, let me say I don’t text. Seriously, I was never good at learning new languages and to be honest it takes me forever to text. I just get frustrated and end up calling. I don’t get the hype. While we were in the store, the salesperson asked me about it. I told her that I don’t text. Even so, she thought it would be a good idea for me to add the ‘basic” text plan…something around 5 bucks a month for 200 texts. I told her I have recieved them, I have sent a few but I am just not a “texter”. I told her that December was probably the busiest ‘texting’ month I have ever had. After checking my account in the month of December – a whopping 11 texts for about 3 bucks she agreed that I probably don’t need the text plan. Note – it’s better just to email me. Maybe someday my brain will evolve to understand and my motor skills improve to text…but don’t count on it.
I know, I know….I am spoiled. But it’s a ‘good’ spoiled. And with that…I am off to work. Have a great day!!!
This year we opted for the relaxing New Year’s eve, hanging out at home and avoiding any hassle’s in the New Year’s Party crowds…even if it’s family friendly. Seem’s this choice was well received by all…
We hope your New Year’s Celebration was Safe and Happy as well.!!
