Our Girls !!

Dave and I always joke about being DINKS, (double income, no kids). But the truth is, we actually have four, (count 'em - 4) children still living at home. And they are unfortunately are the four most spoiled girls you would ever want to meet. So I figured it was time to finally write about our "girls". First, there's Gloria. Actually, her birth certificate has her registered name is Duchess Hannah Glory. But, that too much name, we just call her Gloria. She's my little girl, but she pretends to be daddy's girl, when he has a treat. After she gets her treat, then she's done with dad and back to mom. I got Gloria when she was just 6 months old. She will be 10, on 11/19. And yes, she's really that BIG. She likes to eat, just like her mom and dad. Actually, she has hypothyroid. And even though she take meds, she still has a problem with her weight.

Then there's Rowdy Reba, and boy does she ever live up to her name. She is just "spring loaded" as Dave likes to say. She just turned 7 in January, but she's going on 1 year, mentally. I always tell people that she's my little ADD (attention deficient dog). Just a bundle of energy and then some. And she is totally devoted to Dave, unless he's not around then she's also a mama's girl.

These two have to also share the house with Callie Sue, our tempermental "princess" of the house. Now this is one animal that has her dad FULLY trained. When Dave comes home from work each evening, she starts yelling at him for her nightly treat from the top of the stairway landing. And, she doesn't stop, until he goes upstairs and retrieves the treats from the drawer and gives her an acceptable number. Then she starts to purr and curls up to be petted. At night she crawls into bed between Dave and I and gets as close to Dave as she can and stretches out to get next to his warm body. I jokingly tell Dave, "she would marry you if she could" Before Dave and I started dating, Callie wouldn't have anything to do with any of the men I dated. Dave is the only guy that she likes. Callie will be 8 yrs old in July - I got here when she was only 4 weeks old, and yes she's really that big.

Then there's the oldest and smallest of all the children, Tonie, "the tial". Tonie will be 12 years old in July. She was just a little 3 month old baby when I got her as a birthday gift. She tries so hard to talk, she can make kissy sounds and whistle, but that's all she's ever been able to learn. That the last couple of years, she really warming up to Dave. She starting to take food from him. But I'm still her mom, and the one she's bonded to. Every morning, I open the curtains, turn on soft radio music, give her fresh food and water, and talk to her and stroke her feathers. She is so loving.

So there you have it!! Poor Dave, sharing the house with 5 females - all fighting for the position of "High Princess". All of us after him on a daily basis for his attention and affection and treats. It takes a very special man to marry a woman with this many pets, to accept them into his home, and love them the way he has. And I would like to publicly say THANK YOU, DAVE. We ALL appreciate what you do for us. Everything from picking up the dog poop, buying cat litter, breaking up dog fights, buying frosty paws and vanilla ice cream to the wonderful back rubs and tummy rubs. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU - WE ALL LOVE YOU.

Gretchen's Birthday - Las Vegas

We survived our quick trip to Vegas. We left just a little before noon on Saturday and got home at noon on Sunday. Lost a total of $16.00 between both Dave and I on the slot machines, but on the bright side we now have a new photo of us to remember our trip to Vegas...

Jazz Junior Basket Ball

Yesterday we went to see our grandson, Ian, play Junior Jazz Basket Ball. This is his 2nd year playing and this year he is 100% better then last year, and we are so proud of how well he is playing. His team won 24 - 18, and Ian is very good at defense.

Now, I have to have my heart broken, because we were supposed to take him next week to see "Walking with Dinosaurs. But, because Dave's sister-in-law is turning 50 today, and our sister-in-law in Phoenix is insisting on doing a family dinner in Las Vegas for Gretchen, next weekend. Dave went ahead and book a hotel and airline tickets without looking at the calendar, (like I told him to). He purchased the tickets to "Walking with Dinosaurs" 3 months ago, and we wrote it on the calendar and promised Ian.

Now, I have to go to Vegas, to have dinner with Dave's family, and I am going to have a miserable time. We bought Gretchen a lovely $50.00 green milk glass bowl to go with her milk glass collection, and I know that Jeannie will just give us grief about not doing "over the hill" "turning 50" birthday stuff for Gretchen. I don't think you always have to make fun of people during their birthday. She made a comment about how we should send funny "Getting Old" cards to Dave's brother Rob for his birthday and not just nice cards. I would rather stay home!!! I am not at all happy about the waste of money!! And these are people that didn't even remember Dave's, (their own brother), BD, we've gotten no card, no call, no acknowledgement from any of them for our birthdays, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year, Zilch. I usually don't complain on the forum, but lately I am so feed up with other people trying to control my life, and yet do nothing for us but take take take. Maybe it's the winter weather, maybe it's the headaches from hitting my head in the fall over Christmas - I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting old and cranky.


One of the few things that still make me smile.

A QUICK SNAPSHOT OF OUR YEAR IN REVIEW

We've had a blast this year and we're looking forward to 2009. We rang in 2008 with our good friends George and Tammy McGowan on New Year's Eve. Went to Jazz Festivals in Vegas, downtown Salt Lake, and Phoenix. Took a 2 week cruise to Alaska. Went to County Jam Festival with George and Tammy in Grand Junction, Colorado, Took a quick trip to England. And relaxed for a week in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It's going to be hard to top this year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Even though I have quite a few different nativity sets, this year I decided to set up the newest one. Dave and I purchased this set in May 2008, during our trip to Alaska. We found it in a gift shop in Denali National Park, and I just fell in love with the rabbit skin pelt, the little Eskimo figurines, the polar bear, the husky dog and the seal. I love how they all are watching over the little newborn. We have it sitting under our Christmas tree and every night when we turn on the Christmas tree lights and light the menorah, I look at the set and smile, (remembering our trip to Alaska). My wish this Christmas to everyone is that you will remember or find something wonderful and good in your life, that gives you a smile. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.

Happy Chanukah & Merry Christmas
I got my new 2009 Honda Civic GX today. It is an all natural gas car. I know, I know, I will be able to fuel it forever without visiting a gas station. It is silver with gray interior. No power driver's seat which is a good thing because I was tire of replacing fuses in the Saturn. The CD player will play MP3 CDs and it has an Aux input for an iPod (or whatever). I am moving the 10-CD auto changer that Barb got for me, and Sirius satellite radio that Jared got for me to this new car. It is so quite but gutless. When I step on the gas pedal it looks at me and says "Just a minute, buddy." I'll just have to get used to it. It has an all digital dashboard that has a cool blue color.

Our Cabo MEXICO vacation trip

Well we finally got a chance to have a real, (relaxing), vacation this year. Not one where we were up early every morning running all over to catch all the sights, but a real vacation where we could just sleep in and take long naps in the middle of the day and be lazy bums. IT WAS WONDERFUL! We went to Cabo San Lucas, MEXICO the day after Thanksgiving for our annual week long vacation trip, (during the day the temps were in the high 80's and in the evenings it was in the low 70's). This year we did not plan anything in the way of activities, we just decided to relax. On Sunday, we took a sunset sail cruise. There were only 9 people on our boat and everyone is in a very laid back mood, and it wasn't a party boat - Very nice.

On Tuesday we took a large catamaran along with 12 other people to Saint Maria Beach and Snorkeled. Afterwards they had a B-B-Q on the boat for us. On the boatride back to Cabo, we saw two whales. It was a little early for the whales, but those with cameras got great photos.

On Thursday we wondered into town and visited the lion exhibit and had our photo taken with the baby lion and tiger. They were so adorable!! I may have to use this photo for our Christmas card!!

The rest of the time, we just swam in the heated pool that was only 20 feet from the front door of our little casa, ate good food, and relaxed. We made a few more local friends and had laughs. Now we have to work hard and get ready for our return trip to Cabo the first of May 2009, with our friends Tammy and George McGowan. We hope to get in some deep sea fishing on that trip.