Counting Down and Crossing Off...

I think a week out is a good time to start the countdown. This time next week our "company" will be here and we will be in full Christmas mode.

This weekend I've tried to just stay busy. Luckily there was plenty to do. I tried to keep the tv off and the Christmas carols on Pandora streaming.

Friday night was difficult. You want to get information but you don't really want to watch. It's just so tragic. The brave teachers and staff at that school in Connecticut were incredible. We practice lock-downs at school every so often. Of course since this happened at a school I try to think what I might do if this were to occur at my school. I decided I'm not really as prepared as I should be. With my luck and with this current job I would probably be walking the halls anyway.

Let's face it, there are so many things wrong here. First, this guy was obviously mentally ill. No person, no matter how evil, could mow down all these little children unless he was sick. Second, why did this guy's mother own an assault rifle. Why does anyone who is not in the military, need an assault weapon. I get people's rights to own guns, but an assault rifle? No matter how much investigation there is into this matter, it will never make sense, never.

So, I've been keeping very busy this weekend trying to remain distracted. H and I made a long list of things we wanted to accomplish and he was a great help! He got the tree up and the lights on and some of the ornaments on too. We are saving the rest for next weekend so Quinn and Amber can finish. He also unpacked my Snow Baby ornaments for me and got them all set up.

What was I doing during this time?

Baking cookies.

Decorating cookies.

Putting cookies on plates.

Also getting Tyler's package ready for the mail. What do you buy for the guy who has everything? He'll just have to wait until December 25 to find out!

I also managed to take both pups for a walk this weekend.

Zoe got to go on Saturday and Charlie went on Sunday. Charlie got his own Gentle Leader so now they don't have to share.

Zoe's walk was uneventful but Charlie had 3 run-ins today. One of the run-ins was with a woman walking 3 pugs! They were all going crazy. Thankfully I didn't fall down and we were able to finish our walk.

I also managed to get a couple other things done like laundry and cleaning my aquarium, picking up dog waste, filling my bird feeders, getting my hair cut, shopping at Target early Saturday morning, but I don't have pictures of all that exciting stuff.

There is still so much more to do. I haven't wrapped one gift yet and I even have a few more coming in the mail still. I'm pretty sure that everything will be here by Christmas day! Plus this week I have my staff Christmas party, the school parties, a cookie exchange, lunch with my ESL girls and bowling Friday night!

Oh, and I almost forgot. Scott is moving back in tomorrow. He has had a problem with his roommate that can't be solved and he can't stay there. H is taking off a half day tomorrow to help him move his stuff back in. Looks like we will have a full house for Christmas.

Have a good week!

Christmas Prep

Christmas prep is well underway. The Saturday after Thanksgiving H got all the outside decorations up. It looks great out there! I will have to get a picture soon. Maybe once I get the candles in the windows.

The inside prep has been a little slower. I did get my kitchen tree up last weekend, all but the popcorn and cranberry garland which is a bit labor intensive so I haven't gotten to that yet.

Last weekend I also started my annual Christmas letter. Squeezing all the news onto a front and back page was a bit challenging but we finally managed to get it all on there. H showed me a couple Word tricks I didn't know about. Yesterday and today I have gotten most of them printed off, Christmas cards addressed and they will go in the mail sometime this week probably.

Also this weekend I managed to get my Snow Baby tree decorated. It had been sitting next to the vase of sunflowers on the sofa table in the foyer for almost two weeks. I don't have all my Snow Babies out yet but I'll work on that this week maybe.

Last Monday morning at 5:45 we got a phone call from Scott. He said he had been sick and throwing up all night and needed to go to the emergency room. I quickly got ready and picked him up but instead of the emergency room we headed to the urgent care. After a quick exam, blood tests and blood sugar, it was determined that he was in DKA (Diabetic Ketone Acidosis)and the Dr. freaked out a little saying Scott had to go by ambulance to the hospital. They were able to put him right in a room at emergency and continue with fluids. That's pretty much all they did all day, fluid bag after fluid bag. The frustrating part was that when his bag was empty I would have to go search someone down and sometimes it would take an hour to get someone to help us. Around 4:00 that afternoon they finally gave him some clear liquids to see if he could keep anything down. He did and then at 5:00 a nurse came in and said the Dr. had decided to keep him overnight. What really ticked me off was that the Dr. never even came in to see him. By 8:30 he was upstairs in a room and H and I were able to go home. The next morning I went to work and Scott was to call me when he was discharged. The Dr. didn't come in until after 11:00!! Scott told them he wanted to check himself out but the nurse told him if he did that then his insurance would cover anything! I picked him up around 12:30 and took him home so he could rest up and be ready for work the next day. him

Friday night was bowling. We are in second place right now. Behind the first place team by 4 points. We took 3 points Friday night and so did they. We all bowled fairly well and could have had 4 if we hadn't lost the second game by just 3 pins! All of us opened in the 10th. Bummer.

I've started something new this past week. After talking to H about sending Charlie to a doggie boot camp, I decided it was ridiculous that I walk every day (nearly) and my dogs have to stay home because they are so wild and ill-mannered. On Thursday, after work, I decided I would give it a try and see how bad things really are. I'm embarrassed to say I haven't walked either dog on a leash, other than 20 steps from the field to the car, in over 2 years. Well, there was that one time a month or so ago I decided I would give it a try. I didn't even get two houses away. They both saw the neighbor's dog and started going crazy, pulling me, barking. I could hardly hold them back. I was out of breath and had to turn around and go back home.

Thursday went a little better. I remembered I had this handy dandy tool called the gentle leader. It's a special head harness that works much like a harness for horses. Supposedly where the head goes the body goes. Plus I decided to just take Charlie by himself. Let's just say the first 1/4 of the walk didn't go that well, for Charlie. He bucked and jumped around like a bucking bronco. Toward the end of that 1/4 his nose was on the pinkish side from scratching at his "gentle leader". He finally gave it up and started walking nicely. Toward the end of the walk he saw another dog, a huge trigger, and while he barked and jumped, I still had him under control and we walked away after a few minutes of acting like a total a$$.

Since Thursday we have had two more walks, yesterday and today. I would like to say they have been better but they were pretty much the same. He is nothing if not hardheaded. It takes him a while to get it. He still thinks he has a chance to be a jerk. I have remained calm and steady, mostly. There was that one time where he was acting like a total a$$, jumping and barking at another dog and started getting under my feet and almost tripped me. He got an extra jerk and a little louder NO for that one. When he heels, he does it really well. When I stop, he automatically sits.

Zoe has only been on one walk. Hers was shorter and pretty good. She doesn't have as many bad habits but then again, we didn't see any other dogs. She doesn't act like she wants to kill them, she just screams and it sounds like she's been hit by a car. We had none of that yesterday, thank goodness. Of course, we didn't see any other dogs either.

That's about all the news for the past 2 weeks. We are counting the days (13) until we get to see our little sweetie! We are all going to have such a nice time celebrating Christmas, baking cookies, sledding (if we ever get some snow) and resting up!

Have a good week!