December Almost Over

Wow, it's been a long December/Christmas season! I'm glad it's almost over and life can get back to normal or at least what we call normal. My whole family came down here for Christmas and it was spent going back and forth between our house and the condo my sisters rented on Clearwater Beach. The condo was enormous so we had Christmas day and dinner down there. We also went to Disney's Hollywood Studios on the Monday before Christmas. It was very cold and windy that day but we all bundled up and had a fun day. Some of us took a little excursion on a boat which took us to a little island that the girls could go shelling. My brother-in-law and nephew went fishing and caught quite a few fish, so we took that fish to Crabby Bill's and they cooked it up for us. Very yummy! We also ate at Post Corner Pizza twice (almost as good as OP pizza back home). ANYWAY, we had a good time, Molly enjoyed having her cousins, and Grandma & Grandpa here. Especially Grandpa, who, when he found out Molly's friend Kerstin got a Razor Powerwing for Christmas and Molly didn't, went to Wal-Mart and bought her one for an early birthday present (her birthday is in April). We also went to the new Japanese Steakhouse for dinner because Molly bet Grandpa earlier in the year that if the Minnesota Gophers won against the Iowa Hawkeyes that he would have to take her to lunch. If the Hawkeyes won against the Gohpers she would let him take her to lunch (love how that works, huh!). So Grandpa suggested the Japanese Steakhouse, good thing a new one had opened up just a few miles from us so it wasn't busy and we got right in. Everyone loved the slippers I knitted, I even have a couple of more to do that I couldn't get done before Christmas. All in all we had a good time that went by too quickly. Everyone's plane arrived and got home safely only a couple of delays that didn't last too long. I'll have to post pictures when I get them downloaded from my camera. Hope you all had a safe and happy Christmas too. Happy New Year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas to all my friends, family & internet friends!
I hope you are able to share this day with friends & family and those you love the most.
I hope your Christmas is filled with joy, peace & happiness!
Love
Deb

Crazy Dog

What a crazy dog, reminded me of when my dad would have to shovel or snowblow a path for our dachshund who wouldn't go potty in the snow. She would also stay out too long and freeze her little paws and stand there and hold one paw up and whine until you went to get her.

It also reminded me of all the bad weather going on in the midwest and east. Glad I live in Florida and don't have to deal with all the snow, ice and cold that they are right now. Hopefully all my family makes it down here, of course they are trying to fly out today and tomorrow from Iowa and Illinois. Crossing my fingers that they make it out and all in one piece!

Holiday Spectaular and Night Parade

So sorry I haven't updated in a while, been busy trying to get my house ready for company. Last week was so busy with dance that I am now able to get some things done around here. Monday and Tuesday were practice at the auditorium where the show was held, so basically you sit around there while the girls practice all evening. The dress rehearsal was a mess, at least that is what I heard from my husband who took pictures. All other parents weren't allowed to see it so that we could be surprised. Wednesday night for the performance it came off without a hitch. They had to change a few things the night before since some of the dancers weren't getting on stage because of the quick costume change. So all went well, I did however see that Molly came on stage at one point without shoes. Claimed she couldn't find them after she had taken them off earlier to put on tap shoes. Oh well, I went back at intermission and she had found them. Grandma and her sister Pat had come along and they both enjoyed the show. Pat couldn't get over how much Molly smiled and hammed it up on stage. Here are a few pictures from the performance.

How can you tell her you don't want to do this again when you see that smile on stage!

During the dress rehersal they had some issues with the glasses and wigs, was fixed for the show.

Then came the New Port Richey night parade, our dance studio was having a float in the parade and said anyone who wanted to walk along would be welcome. So Bill said Molly could do it, I had said earlier that it would be a "stay at home" week-end, ya right. Anyway, we had to be at the studio by 4:30 Saturday afternoon to get costumes and learn some choreography that they would be doing down the street as they walked. Then get the kids up to the start at 6:00 to line up then the Parade doesn't start until 7:00 pm. We buddied up with another Mom and she took her daughter and ours to the start of the parade. We found a place near the end of the parade since no one that we talked to had actually been to the parade or been in it to know what they do with the kids at the end. At about 7:45 the kids walked pass and Bill followed them to the end so that he could snag Molly and her friend. The girls then came back and watched the parade for another 45 minutes, and it was only half over! They were tired so I called the friend's Mom and let her know we were heading back to the studio (our designated meeting place). She said she was sitting at the beginning of the parade and there were still 4 floats to go. Man that was a long parade. I'm glad we left when we did, Molly was wiped and we hadn't eaten supper yet so we headed over to Buffalo Wild Wings and didn't get home till 10:00. Molly had fun though so she wants to do it again next year. Yea for me! There were several Moms walking along and one of them took pictures, ours didn't turn out so I'm glad she took several. Here are a few of Molly.

Cats in Sinks

Although this looks like Tux, it's not. He does however like to lay in the sink and would LOVE to have the water turned on!

That Darn Dog

So, who else has a dog that destroys things? Hmm...Anyone???
Well, our dog Maggie who is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, ten years old, diabetic and blind decided to destroy two coolers. Here are a few pictures as evidence.

All that brown stuff all over the coolers is the dried blood
This is the culprit, Maggie. This picture was taken when she was younger, but just as naughty.

It was the Friday when I got my new refrigerator and we had been living out of two huge, heavy duty coolers for a couple of days and she had only sniffed at them a couple of times. She had been alone with them a few times also including 3 or 4 hours on Thanksgiving. So Friday comes and we spent all day home working on Molly's science project. The refrigerator comes in the afternoon and we put all of the food from the coolers into it. It was getting close to dinnertime and we didn't have anything to make so we went to a restaurant close by. We were gone maybe an hour, the dog had been fed so she wasn't hungry but I guess she was pissed off.

We return home to find our two coolers destroyed, blood smeared over both of them and a bag of ice out and melted all over the kitchen floor. The blood was from where she scratched her nose and probably her mouth from all the chewing. It looked like someone died and fought long and hard not to die. The thing that got me was there wasn't any food left in either of the coolers, here they had been sitting out for 3 days and she didn't touch them, go figure!?

Tub Shark

Da Dum, Da dum, da dum...look out, it's the tub shark! (that's supposed to be the jaws theme)
For those of you who don't know what a "Tub Shark" is, I'll give you a hint. It's black and white and purrs.
Our tuxedo cat (appropriately named Tuxedo) thinks that the tub is his personal water dish and bed. When ever we go into our bathroom he runs in there behind us and jumps in the tub hoping that you will turn on the water for him. He sits there with only his eyes and ears peeking over the top of the tub. He is a goofy cat and is obsessed with water, ever since he fell into the pool one evening.

A couple of years ago, I was sitting in the family room with the sliders open to the lanai (a screened in pool enclosure for you northerners). The cats like to go out on the lanai when it's nice weather and lay out there or chase and catch lizards (that's another story). All of a sudden I hear the scrambling of claws and a splash. I think, great...now I have to go into the pool and save the cat. Just as I went over and opened the screen slider, in races this wet mop and dives under the bed. AHHH now I have to pull a wet mad cat out from under my bed. He's growling and hissing the whole time but I get him out and into a towel to dry off. Ever since then he loves to play in the dog's water dish and play with the water out of the faucets. I thought cats were supposed to hate water. Anyway here's a picture of our very own tub shark!