Anneliese

Each dog that I have owned has had their own very unique personality. Anneliese is no exception. In fact, if anything, she has one of the most interesting personalities.

Anneliese can be fierce. She can be shy. She can be silly as anything and then the next moment quite loving. She is smart, athletic and determined. All of this and yet she still has such a good nature that makes her a wonderful member of our doggy family.

Now here is the little thing that she, and only she does, that makes her even more precious!

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When Hubby is sitting having his breakfast in the morning, or his dinner at night, Anneliese sits in front of his table and as you can see, she rests her nose on the table rung and waits and watches, in hopes that he will see her adorable face and find a smidgen of food for her!

It is just the cutest thing I have ever seen and each time I see it, it makes me quite happy that we kept this little girl!

Anneliese is a little love!

Strangers?

A package arrived today from my friends in Sydney, Australia. Two surprises were inside for me. I was thrilled because I didn’t expect this. After all, I have never personally met Bernie & Louise, but we have become friends by sharing our lives on our blogs.

It’s a strange thing, isn’t it, how close you can become to people that you have never met, but read over time.

I started thinking about this as the day went on. You see, as we write our blogs, and share our lives, our sadness’s and our happiness’s, we do develop friendships that are not stifled by the miles that separate us.

What a wonderful thing that is.

You learn so much about about other countries, traditions, cultures and see the most beautiful pictures too! But best of all, you begin to understand that as different as we all are, we share some very basic things.

The love of our families and friends. The enjoyment of the world around us, and the beauty of the nature where we live. By sharing these things we see just how much we are alike.

So if you are a stranger reading me for the first time, welcome!!! I hope you will take some time, read more and check back.

And for those of you who already know me, thanks for being such good and faithful readers.

There are no strangers here, just new friends!

The Day After

I woke this morning with that groggy, achy, “been up too late the night before”, feeling. I tried pulling the covers over my head in the hopes that the dogs and Hubby would ignore me and let me sleep, but between Hubby preparing to go skiing, and the dogs jumping up and down on the bed, I finally gave up and got up.

It was cold this morning and I quickly put my big, fluffy bathrobe on and my warm slippers. I staggered to the kitchen in search of coffee, and after pouring it in the cup and adding some splenda and cream (fat free of course!), I sat down in the family room feeling ready to go back to sleep.

Hubby was rushing about, acting 20 years my junior, rather than 20 years my senior, as he gathered all the things he needed for skiing. With a kiss and a wave he was off, and I sat here looking at 4 forlorn faces (the pups) and decided that we needed something energetic to bring us all around.

I put on my Christmas present copy of “Mama Mia”, and though I didn’t really watch the entire thing (I actually started moving, doing some cleaning), I listened to it and sang to it.

I stopped working in the late morning, long enough to go and get the mail and pay our taxes (Merry Christmas, ho ho ho!!!), before returning and finishing up.

Hubby was home shortly after noon and we had the leftover appetizers for our lunch.

The day was rather anticlimactical after all the preparation for the “big” day. Still it was a nice day as I looked back at a wonderful Christmas day with Hubby, Mandy and M.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree…

Ever notice that it is nearly impossible to get a good picture of your Christmas tree? I mean, I took this picture the other day and although it looks interesting, it lacks the magical quality of the tree with the lights blinking and bubbling at night.

I sit here in the evening, and I look at the tree and I see how lovely it is, in fact I think it is the prettiest tree we have had in a few years, and I smile.

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But in the picture it looks too bright and just not right. You’ll have to trust me on this. The tree looks beautiful and definitely brightens my family room up.

Maybe putting a filter on it would make it even more magical. What do you think?

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The fun part was actually decorating it. Taking out the ornaments that I have collected over time or were gifts. I remember each and every one. Like an old friend. Little pieces of the past. I have put together a few that are my favorite.

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This is the Angel that has been on the top of my tree for 22 years. I love her very much and I think you can understand why.

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This is a gingerbread man that Uschi gave to me a couple of Christmases ago.

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This little guy is just the cutest thing. Makes me think of the children’s cartoon “Chip and Dale”.

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This was one of the first ornaments that I bought when Hubby and I got together. As you all know my husband is a real apple grower.

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This is Snicker and Doodle. It made me laugh because my favorite cookies are Snickerdoodles! The recipe can be found in my archives under cooking!

The last few years I haven’t put up a tree because of the puppies and then I was worried that Arnie would use the tree as a….well let’s put it this way, Arnie hasn’t seen a tree that he hasn’t wanted to water. My solution for this was to put up my old artificial tree. Surprisingly I am thrilled with it! And Arnie? Well, let’s just say he doesn’t care for artificial trees!

So the tree is up, the presents wrapped and the food for Christmas Day purchased. I’m ready and life is good.

Pass the hot cocoa, please!

Pfffft!

We have had 2 feet of snow in the last few days. Yep, that’s 24 inches of the wet white stuff. Normally this isn’t a big problem for us. Hubby goes out and plows at various intervals, keeping our driveway clear and safe and easily navigable.

However, our big, fabulous, snow blower died the other day, leaving Hubby with a much smaller, and less effective blower to do the drive. Needless to say, the driveway is not pristine, and is not easily navigable without 4 wheel drive.

I’ve told Hubby to go and buy a newer one so that once the good one comes back from the shop, but he can use that one  and I can use the one he will buy now.

But…..he hates the thought of spending money. I told him that if this winter is like last winter we better get the machine.

For those that do not recall, my driveway is 500 feet long and to get to my house it is all down hill. Naturally this means that to get out of here you have to drive 500 feet up hill under somewhat treacherous conditions!

Tomorrow he will blow the driveway again with the older machine. You see besides the 24 inches of snow that we got, we’ve also had 36 mile an hour winds blowing this stuff around.

I do love winter, but I like it best when all the machines are working, making the clean up easier to deal with.

Are you ready for Christmas??

Christmas, Snow & Shopping

I woke early today and watched the newsman announce that we would have a dry morning before a good snowstorm began in the early afternoon. I thought to myself that this might be a good time to go off and do the grocery shopping and the last minute Christmas shopping before the flakes began to fly.

I went in and sat on our bed and woke up Hubby. I asked if he also thought this would be a good idea, then, I let the dackels in to kiss and jump on him until he was wide awake.

We both dressed and put coffee into a thermos and off we went.

No sooner had we gotten to McDonalds, where Hubby was getting a Sausage Egg McMuffin, than the first flakes of snow began to fly. By the time we drove 10 miles south and stopped for gas it was really snowing. I thought perhaps we should abort the mission, but Hubby assured me that it was actually a great thing because the stores would be empty and we would be able to get a lot done.

And we did! In fact at one point Hubby insisted that I try on some nice clothes for me. Since I have no dress up clothes I really need something pretty, yet dressy to wear when/if we go out.

I found a pretty suit. It has black slacks and a bright blue jacket and fits like it was made for me. But what really amazed me, was the size! (Size 8!)

Hubby found a few things he liked, we replaced a frying pan that had lost its ability to remain non-stick and through all of this, we remained calm and un-phased by the fact that it was snowing like crazy outside!!!

We went to the grocery store and bought all that we will need for Christmas (except the vegetables) and after we schlepped it all to the car and drove home we worked putting it away.

December Snow

Hubby is currently out trying to snow blow the driveway, and it is still snowing. The weather man said today that it is now the wettest year in our state’s history!

Meanwhile, Hubby just came back in and informed me that we have another foot of snow out there (it is still snowing), on top of the 12 inches we got yesterday! Even Fritz doesn’t want to go out!

Me either. Glad I got my stuff done today!

Snow Baby

Friday night we had a big snow storm. I think when all was said and done we had about 12 inches of snow! Hubby dragged out the ancient (and currently not working well) snow blower, and unhappily cleared the driveway, twice! Arnie took two steps out the door and pooped and then turned around and came back in, and Greta took three steps, did her thing and came in looking quite indignant!

But we had one family member who was dancing with delight.

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Anneliese!

She raced out the door, jumping from one pile of snow to the next. She tunneled,

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she ran like a wild girl,

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licking the snowflakes, the mounds of snow and almost laughing at the winter weather.

The other dogs stood, gazing at her with shocked eyes. How could she possibly be enjoying this cold wet stuff? But she did. I swear at one point she actually stopped, looked back at them and grinned.

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She has been going in and out all day and staying until her little doggy lips turned blue (what do you mean dog’s lips don’t turn blue?), before returning to the warmth of the house.

Saturday night I thought for sure she would be exhausted. However, she isn’t and I think if I opened that door one more time she would be out and running around in the snow again.

I may not be thrilled with the snow, but for Anneliese, this is a dream come true!

Happy Birthday, Mandy!!!

Today is the day I gave birth to my daughter, Mandy! What an exciting and special moment it was. I remember seeing her for the very first time and my heart immediately filled with love for her.

She is an incredible, bright and fabulous woman and I am so pleased, not only to be her mother, but also her friend.

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!!!