Reasons Not to Turn to Drink on Valentine’s Day

Ah, Valentine’s Day. A day filled with gorgeous blooms, gourmet dinners, sweet confections and fine wines. Oh, and love.

Maybe your day didn’t have any of those. Maybe you don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. Maybe you don’t have a special someone to lavish gifts on even if you felt so inclined. Maybe the lovely souffle you painstakingly slaved over fell flat. Or burned.

But just because the day wasn’t fabulous doesn’t mean you should turn to drink. You won’t find the comfort you seek in the bottom of a bottle. In fact, you will likely make things worse.

Still need convincing? Here are several reasons NOT to pick up the bottle tonight.

 

You may find yourself unsteady on your feet.

 

You may care less about your appearance, even to the point of losing articles of clothing. This can be embarrassing in public.

 

You may have trouble forming complete sentences, or slur your words.

 

You may find yourself feeling drowsy, and fall asleep in an inappropriate place.

 

You may find you are becoming more and more dependent on the bottle, and have trouble controlling when and how much you drink.

 

All good reasons NOT to drown your sorrows in booze this Valentine’s Day.

But drown your sorrows in chocolate? That’s another story.

The Secret to Invisibility

This short conversation took place yesterday morning when I asked Veronica to throw something away.

V: “I already did.”

Me: “Are you sure? Because I didn’t see you do it. Do you want to check and answer again?”

V: “You didn’t see me because I turned invisible.”

Me: “Oh, really? That’s pretty amazing.”

V: “Yeah, I found something you can do to turn invisible, and anything you are carrying turns invisible, too.”

So there you have it folks. If you need the Secret to Invisibility, look no further than my 4-year-old daughter. She is now accepting requests to share said secret – for a small fee, of course. Fruit Snacks are preferred.

How We Fell in Love with Greyhounds

As some of you know, we recently lost both of our beloved greyhounds to bone cancer. And I realized that I have never really posted anything about them before! So, to remedy that, this is how we became greyhound people.

When Paul and I were married for not quite a year, we decided to get a dog. We did our research, and quickly became interested in greyhounds. They were so much fun to watch at the local racetrack, and from all accounts made great pets once retired. We found a local adoption program and over the course of a few weeks chose a gorgeous white and red boy to bring home.

 

Photo credit: Arizona Adopt a Greyhound

Racn Talladega, or Dega, seemed like the perfect dog. The epitome of dog-dom, if you will. When they walked him in from the kennel, we felt like we had won the lottery. Such a handsome boy, so sleek, so soft, so calm. We changed his name to Deja Vu, just Deja for short. It took a little adjusting to get him used to living in a house. He needed to learn to use the stairs and the doggie door. He had to get used to that weird spinning thing on the ceiling. But overall it was a very smooth transition.

Because Paul and I both worked full-time at this point, he spent all day alone at the house. He started digging a little in the backyard, and we figured he probably needed a pal to keep him company during the day. When we picked him up, we had heard that his brother was also available for adoption. Deja was such a well-behaved, well-adjusted dog already we definitely didn’t mind the idea of another one like him.

So we called back to ask if Deja’s brother had a similar personality, and to see if we could adopt him also.

“Oh yes,” we were told, “they are exactly alike!” Perfect! We arranged to pick up Racin Rockingham, or Hammie, at the next adoption night and asked for a picture so we could see what he looked like in the mean time.

 

Photo credit: Arizona Adopt a Greyhound

Hmm. Definitely white and red, but why is he all dirty? And why is his posture so different? Probably just a bad picture, right?

So we went to pick up Hammie, just three weeks after we brought Deja home. We waited for him to be brought out from the kennel just like before, though it seemed to take longer this time. A lot longer. But finally, Hammie arrived! All wet. Because he had to have a bath. Because he got so anxious in the kennel, he went diarrhea all over himself. Great.

We kind of gave each other a concerned look, but he was so sweet and affectionate from the first that it was easy to overlook the fact that he already seemed NOTHING like Deja.

 

So Hammie came home, too. And really, the transition wasn’t so bad. He settled in really well and the two of them became best buds.

But that’s just the beginning of the story.

12 Days

With 12 days left until Christmas, I thought it was time for a couple of Christmas projects. I told the girls that if they did their chores really well this morning, we’d have time to do some fun things in the afternoon. And lo, they cleaned up! An early Christmas miracle.

 

This is stage one of our first project. I will have to finish stage two later – when there are less kids jumping around. Can you guess what they are?

 

Then, on to cookies! We decided on Gingersnaps today.

 

Diligently rolling the dough balls in sugar.

 

But ready to pause for a photo-op.

 

Or a little goofing off.

 

There was a lot of “tasting” throughout the process.

 

The finished product! Some of them anyway. It wouldn’t be Christmas baking if we didn’t at least double the recipe, right?

It turned out to be a productive afternoon. Hope your preparations are going well, too!

St. Nicholas Day

We missed St. Nicholas Day last year because Ari was a tiny, tiny baby. But Veronica still remembered the popcorn balls of times past. So this year shoes were selected and ready.

 

Yes, they picked their own. I thought putting them by the fireplace would be fun. Until I saw how dirty it looks in the pictures.

 

Jacinta was too interested in her treats to give a smile.

 

Or maybe just too tired.

 

I wish I had a caught a picture of Veronica’s face when she spotted the treats. Her two hands flew to cover her mouth in utter surprise and delight. She doesn’t do emotion halfway.

 

Yum! Breakfast of champions! Or maybe saints.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

One

I can’t believe it’s already been a year since this little bear arrived. She has been such a blessing for our family, a true gift.

 

Happy Birthday, Ariadne!

Say Cheese!

I think we all know that the more children you are trying to photograph, the harder it is to get a picture where they are all simultaneously looking at the camera, not to mention smiling.

Which is why I’ve dubbed this photo, A Small Miracle.