Curse my finely tuned sense of impending doom!!

If you called me up this evening and asked "So how was your day?" my answer would have been a resounding "It sucked!!"

It's been bitterly cold for several days now, which is no big deal in and of itself. However, our sump pump has been running constantly since we had a big rainstorm last week. Logic would tell you that when it's this cold out, the groundwater would freeze, but noooo, not at our house. It keeps merrily filling up the sump pit, and getting pumped out, every ten minutes, like clockwork. Plus, because the groundwater level is so high, it's screwing up the graywater system for the washing machine, and some of that water is backwashing into the sump pit. I've had to be careful about the amount of laundry I do, to keep things working okay.

Anyway, for a few days now, I've been bugging Corey about the sump pump. I just had a feeling something was going to go wrong, like the outlet pipe outside would freeze up and cause the pump to burn out. He kept telling me not to worry about it, that all would be well. Last night the pump started making funny noises when I was downstairs, so I really started worrying about it. Of course, this was around 10pm so there was nothing we could really do about it. I unplugged the pump for an hour or so last night, to see how fast the pit filled, and it filled up pretty quickly. I got nervous about flooding the basement, so I plugged the pump back in and went to bed.

Then, this morning started off with a bang. Milo woke up at 5:30 with a bad dream about his room turning into a skull or a skeleton or something. I calmed him down and went back to bed. Corey got up a few minutes later and got ready to leave for work. Right after Corey left, Milo asked me if it was morning yet. I said not really, because it was only 6:15 or something. He went back to bed, and I fell back asleep. Around 7:00, I hear "Mommy....I'm naked in my room," from Milo. That got me out of bed pretty quickly, and when I checked on Milo, yep, he was naked. I asked him why he was naked, and Milo told me that he had wet his pants, so he took them off. I checked the pants, yep they were wet. I asked him why he didn't go to the bathroom in the bathroom and he said "Because I told you, my room is a skeleton." I guess he was too afraid to come out of his room. Why he didn't call me to come get him is beyond me. I cleaned Milo up, got him dressed, and gathered up his wet clothes for the washing machine. I decided to wash his sheets and blankets also, since I wasn't really sure if he wet the bed or not. Right there is three loads of laundry, because I also had another load of towels to do. I get the laundry going and go on about the morning business of feeding the animals (including Milo:)), and getting ready for the day. Along about the third time I came downstairs to deal with the wash, I realized I hadn't heard the sump pump run in a while. I went to check the pit, and it was way full of water, and the pump was dead as a doorknob. I immediately thought "I KNEW IT!!!!" and got all frustrated.

I went upstairs to call my dad for advice, and while I was talking to my mom, the phone disconnected. I blamed her phone for the troubles when I called her back. My dad wasn't home, so I decided to call Corey at work and tell him what was going on. Not that there was anything he could do from there, but at least he would know what was going on. The darn phone disconnected again, two seconds into that phone call. It was our phone being on the fritz, right when I stinkin' needed it the most. Thank goodness my cell phone was charged and had current minutes on it, so I used that to call Corey back. Corey called his dad, who came over to take a look at the situation.

By now I was seriously aggravated because I was in the middle of doing the laundry when the stoopid pump quit, so I couldn't even finish rinsing the load that was in the machine. I thought that the sump pipe had frozen outside, like I predicted, so Iwas doubly irritated to the point of being furious. I was having a very hard time controlling my emotions, and of course, Milo picked right up on that tension and started acting up. At first, it was just a million questions about what I was doing staring at the rising level of water in the sump pit, but when I gently tried to redirect his attention to something else, Milo got all crazy and loud and yelling, so I just gave up trying to think about anything rationally and took Milo and the dogs outside to play for awhile.

Then Grandpa Bob and Grandma Carolynn showed up. Grandpa Bob helped me disconnect the hose outside, and lo and behold, it wasn't frozen!! I did a double and triple-take, and then felt guilty for being so angry at my dear hubby, but yet relieved that the problem was most likely the pump itself. Bob took the old sump pump out of the pit, and we trekked off to Lowe's to buy a new one, while Grandma Carolynn watched Milo at the house. I almost croaked at how expensive the new pump was, but what else were we supposed to do? We came back home, and Bob put the new pump in ten minutes flat, and we were back up and running again. Woo hoo! Water is again merrily rushing into the sump pit, and being pumped out every 10 minutes, like clockwork, and a little more frequently if I overload the drainage situation by doing too much laundry.

All this action, and Milo and I were only half an hour late for his friend Autumn's birthday party this afternoon. I couldn't believe it; I thought for sure we weren't going to make it. Milo had a great time playing with Autumn and all of her cousins, and I took advantage of the opportunity to just relax and not have to think about weird water problems for a couple of hours.

So to summarize the crap that I dealt with in the course of the day:

1. Milo's nightmare
2. Milo's wet pants
3. Too much laundry
4. Sump pump broke
5. Phone broke
6. Couldn't finish laundry
7. Wild monkey kid from his being overtired and picking up on my emotions
8. PMS

Yep, I would say this day goes down as one for the record books, at least in my record book. But, as Annie says, "The sun will come out tomorrow!!" I certainly hope so!!

Fun in the tundra

We don't let a silly old thing like subzero temperatures keep us from playing outside! We pile on the layers and run around outside like nutcases, despite the fact that our lips freeze to our teeth. Well, at least, Milo, myself and the dogs do this. Corey and Monet have the good sense to stay inside.

We actually had a half inch or so of snow on Thursday morning. Milo was so excited about the snow that we went outside around 9AM (which, to me, is beyond early, it's still night time, in my book. A morning person I am NOT.) and stayed out until after 11AM. We got the sled out of the shed, since the ground was actually all the way covered with snow and not just sort of dusted with it. I dragged Milo around on the sled for awhile, while the dogs ran amok. We made snow/dirt angels and tried to build a snowman but the snow was too powdery. We threw lots of snow at the dogs for them to chase, and shoveled half the backyard and the driveway. I had the brilliantly stupid idea of putting the harness on Lily and hitching her to the sled, to see if she would pull it with Milo on it. That didn't work; Lily was terrified and wouldn't move. Then I put the harness on Quinn and hitched him to the sled. Quinn took one look at the situation, promptly bit the rope in two, and took off running. Milo got a good laugh out of that.

Today we were back outside again for more frozen fun. It was a lot colder than yesterday and most of the snow has blown away, but we were still out there for about an hour, getting our ya-yas out. Not so early in the morning though....I don't think we made outside today until around 2:30 or so in the afternoon.



Is that Milo, or the Michelin tire man? His snow clothes are very puffy! Although mine are just as amusing: my mad bomber hat with the earflaps (fur flaps folded down and buckled under my chin for extra cozy warmth, thank you very much), Corey's insulated carhart overalls, an insulated jacket, gloves, scarf and big brown boots. There is no picture of me....hmmm...I'll have to remedy that in the future :)

Lily in her fuzzy coat.

Quinn in his Superman coat, um, I mean, cape.

The Michelin tire man goes for a ride on the swingset.

Don't let them fool you

Things in our house are rarely this peaceful. You know it's cold outside when both Monet and Lily curl up with Milo for warmth. Normally they are doing their best to stay away from him! I guess they figured nobody else was sitting still at the moment, so this was their only chance. Normally Milo is chasing one or the other (or all) of the animals around the house, laughing his evil gnome giggle, and saying "But I was just going to pet them!" when we yell at Milo to stop bothering the cat or dog.

Our little genius

Milo now has his very own computer, thanks to the kindness and generosity of Mister Don. We brought it home this afternoon, and set it up in the living room. I installed a couple of games on it, and right away, Milo started using it like an old pro. He's only played on our computer a couple of hours before this, so he picked up all the necessary skills immediately. I went outside to clean up after the dogs (what else do I ever do out there??) and when I came back in, Milo was playing a different game. He was still in the same program, but he figured out on his own how to get back to the menu and choose something else to do. Brilliant, I know!!

Milo entertaining himself on his very own computer. He used it, mostly on his own, from around 3 this afternoon, until after 7:30 tonight. We only took a break to eat dinner. Pretty much all I had to do for him was change out the CDs!

Little. Yellow. Gnomish

After the monsoon ended on Wednesday, we had a huge puddle in the backyard. So of course, being the mud magnet that he is, Milo made a beeline for it the second I let him outside. Quinn was right behind him, because Quinn is one water-lovin' dog. (Lily was outside too, but she stays as far away from water and water-related activities as she possibly can.) I figured, what the heck, it's not too cold outside...besides how dirty can they get? What a mistake. Who knew how much fun you can have with a dog, a Flintstone car and a gnome-sized kid?

Milo was soaked to the waist after splashing around, and when he took his boots off in the house, a small lake came out of them. He was a good boy and listened to me when I asked him to please disrobe in the kitchen, to keep the mud bath to a minimum inside the house. Milo went right into the tub afterward, and all the clothes went in the washing machine. His boots I just rinsed out and hung upside down. I wish I could have put Quinn in the washer also, but alas, I just had to towel dry him the best I could :)

The Olympic Spin Event

Milo's friend Autumn loves to do the sit-n-spin as much as Milo does. When Autumn comes to visit, she usually brings her spinner. How the two of them do this for so long, is beyond me. We get dizzy just watching them!

Milo's Mad Dance SKills

Milo loves to dance! This is a kid who will dance for anybody, anytime. On New Year's Day, we were in Lowe's, waiting in line, and the cash register girl the next lane said hi to him. Milo said, "You wanna see me hula?" and proceeded to do the hula-hula right then and there for her. She didn't know what to make of it, but I was laughing so hard, I was crying.

Milo decided he needed to boogie to Ragtop Day the other day, and wanted his big guitar and his little Guitar Heroes guitar, so he could play the music along with Buffett. I was in a nostalgic mood, so I set up my record player that afternoon, and played Milo some music from my wild youth. As a result, Milo learned how to do the Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. We must have Time Warped about 5,000 times that day. He added the wooden spoons for extra fun.

By the way, the concept of records is fascinating to Milo, and to the dogs. The dogs both sat in front of the turntable and watched it spin around and around. I cannot imagine what they were thinking. Milo just thinks records are cool because they are so big! And black! And he's not allowed to touch them!

Christmas videos

As promised, the Christmas videos. We took a lot more than this, but they're pretty much all the same, so this is a fair representation of the joy that Santa brought to our house that morning.

Timber!!!

I finally got around to taking the Christmas tree down yesterday. As you can guess, it literally fell down in the process.

Milo was sitting on the couch watching me take the last of the lights off the tree. Then it was time for me to get underneath the tree and loosen the screws in the stand. I thought that I did it so if the tree toppled, it would fall against the wall. WRONG! It fell over, pinning me underneath it, and slopping water all over the floor in the process. How typical, you know?

Of course, I couldn't get out from underneath the tree. I told Milo to go to the cellar door and holler for Corey to help me. So Milo yells, "Daddy. HELP!!! Mommy's trapped and needs your help!" I can only imagine what thoughts went through Corey's head when he heard that. He came running upstairs, saw me, cracked up laughing, and lifted the tree off me so I could get up. I'm glad he was home when that happened, otherwise who knows how long it would have taken to extricate myself. It wasn't so much that the tree was heavy, it was just so spiky! I didn't want to lose an eyeball trying to wriggle out from underneath it.

Christmas is officially over, and it certainly went out with a bang :)

Guess what Lily ate today

You'll never guess what she got into today. We were gone for less than an HOUR, a quick trip to Lowe's and back, and I thought the dogs were safely locked in the kitchen and occupied with their chewies. WRONG.

They were still in the kitchen, but apparently Lily decided she was bored out of her skull, so she chose to unravel the small area rug we keep by the back door. Now the rug has a large bald spot right smack in the middle of it. I don't think she actually ate any of the yarns (fibers, what is the word for long pieces of carpet thread??) because the unraveled pieces seemed to all be still attached to the rug. I cut them off, shoved them up Lily's nose and yelled at her good. Milo scolded her too, by just repeating what I said, which was mostly "OOOOOO. You are A BAD GIRL. DON'T EAT THE RUG, you idiot!" (I must sound an awful lot like Yosemite Sam when I'm hollering at the dog. All I would have to do is throw in a "darn fur-bearin' varmint. My biscuits is burnin'!") Lily skulked around the house for a half hour or so, and then forgot about the whole thing. When I mentioned it to Corey, Lily heard me say "rug" and went into her belly-up groveling pose. I would have forced Lily into time out outside today, but it was way too cold.

To make my day complete, later, when I was scraping up the frozen poopsicles out on the patio, the handle broke on the shovel. At least I didn't step in dog crap, or drop the shovel in dog crap, when the handle gave out. That particular shovel was always short. I think the handle had broken before and had been reattached. It came with the house, and was probably the same shovel the previous owner used for poopsicles. Now the shovel is really stumpy!

Resolutions

I don't generally make New Year's resolutions, because usually I forget about them by Jan. 2. However, this time around I've thought about it for awhile, and decided there are two things I need to change in my life:

1. Improve my posture. Holy cow, I never realized how swaybacked I was until I was looking at a picture of myself from Thanksgiving. No wonder certain upper chest body parts of mine are sagging to my knees! So I will try to sit up straighter and not slouch around like an orangutan so much. Heh, as I type this, I realized that I was practically lying down in the chair, I'm so slouched out.

2. I will not use my credit card anymore. Thankfully, we don't have any actual interest bearing credit card debt, because we pay the bills in full, every month. I realized though, that I use my credit card like a magic cash tree all the time, and don't really pay any attention to how much it adds up, until I have to pay for it. I bet if I knock off the credit card usage, we'll have lots more cash at the end of the month. I'm going to try it, just to see what happens.

Happy New Year!!

Let me be the first to wish you a happy, healthy 2009, and a year full of laughter and love.

Our New Year's Eve plans are...well, I'm sitting here at the computer, so you know we're not doing anything exciting. Corey had to work something like 28 hours today (it seemed like that anyway) and he has to go back to work early tomorrow morning, so he has no energy. Me, I'm up past midnight half the time anyway, with insomnia, so staying up late is no big whoop to me.

I know...I've been away from my blog for a WHOLE WEEK. Just winding down from Christmas and getting back in the groove of everyday life, mostly. Christmas is exhausting, to say the least!

Christmas Eve and Christmas day were lots of fun for Milo. Corey had to work late Christmas Eve, so Milo and I did all the getting-ready-for-Santa stuff before Corey came home. We put out cookies for Santa, and made sure the present was where Santa could find it, and went outside and sprinkled seeds and carrots for the reindeer to nibble on. Then, after supper, Milo and I sat at the kitchen table and made lots and lots of construction paper snowflakes for Santa. Milo was so proud of his. I'll bet Santa's tree was smothered in those snowflakes when he took them home for Mrs. C to hang up. :)

Milo finally went to bed around 8:30pm on Christmas Eve. We gave him 15 minutes of getting-drowsy time, and then I sneaked out the front door with a string of jingle bells, and jingled my way around the house, and made sure to make extra noise outside of Milo's bedroom window. I tiptoed back in, and asked Corey if Milo said anything. Corey said that Milo didn't say a word, so I stuck my head in Milo's room to see if he was still awake. He was, and had the blanket pulled up around his ears. I asked Milo if he heard anything, because I was downstairs doing laundry, and thought maybe I heard Santa go by, but I wasn't sure. Milo said, "Yeah, Santa went right by the house. We have to get in bed so he comes here!!" I said okay, and kissed Milo goodnight. Five minutes later Milo was asleep, so Corey and I could run around doing all the Santa evidence: eating cookies, opening the present, leaving a note, picking up the snowflakes, and of course, leaving lots and lots of gifts under the tree.

Santa was here!!

Christmas morning we were all up by 6:30 am, and Milo was most impressed by all the stuff under the tree. Every present that he opened, Milo said, "It's perfect, it's just what I wanted!" We were starting to think we could have wrapped up a pair of dirty socks and said it was from Santa, and the kid would have been happy. Anyway, Milo got everything he wished for, because he was such a good boy: Lots of Transformers, especially Bumblebee, the Speed Racer remote control car with a guy inside, a space station, Legos, a Wall-E robot and a Hess truck. Then we were off to Grandma Carolynn and Grandpa Bob's for breakfast and more gifts from Santa. Besides, Wall-E, Milo is into Buzz Lightyear right now also, so Santa thoughtfully left Wall-E's girlfriend, Eve, some Buzz toys, and some Batman toys at their house. (He got a Batcave. That is so cool! We play with it lots, and use all kinds of action figures for the bad guys. Bionicles from McD's make really good bad guys, if you're interested.)

After that, we were off to Grandmom and Grandpop's for lunch, to see them, Aunt Heather, Jordan and Mister Don. Santa left yet more Transformers stuff at their house, along with the Wall-E movie! Jeez, the kid really did have an in with Santa this year. Then we were home in the afternoon, and we opened up all the toys and made a huge mess in the living room and watched Wall-E while Corey cooked us a fantabulous prime rib for dinner. All in all, it was a really good Christmas, one of the most fun for me, just because of how much Milo enjoyed himself.

Then, this past Sunday another Christmas miracle occurred: I took the outside Christmas lights and decorations down. This is an unheard-of happening; usually the lights stay up until at least March, and some of them have been out there since last year. It was such a nice day on Sunday that Milo and I decided to take advantage of the weather and spend a couple hours outside. We took down everything we could reach, and left the way-high lights for Corey to tackle. I'm terrified of falling off the ladder, so anything that was more than six feet off the ground stayed up, which were the lights along the roof and up at the top of the tall pine tree in our front yard. By the way, I was out there in a short sleeved shirt and jeans, no jacket...at the end of December, in NJ. (and today it's windy, cold and snowy) Bizarro! While I was taking the lights down, Milo was pulling all the seeds out of the flowers in the front flowerbed and planting them throughout the front yard. We will have some interesting landscaping come springtime.

There are videos of Christmas Day, but I haven't gotten around to downloading them yet. They will be coming soon, I promise. I know you're breathless with anticipation :)

Oh yeah, for Christmas dinner's dessert, I made a totally awesome coconut cream pie. I am way proud of my mad pie-making skills. Who knew I had it in me?

Keep an eye on the sky

Keep a lookout for Santa! You can track Santa as he goes around the world at www.noradsanta.org

Have a wonderful, merry Christmas!!

Led Zeppelin are guitar superheroes

Milo's new favorite band is Led Zeppelin. He's always kind of liked them, but lately, every time we're in the truck, it's "Can we listen to the Zeppelin, Mom?" That's cool with me, although I would much rather listen to the Buffett, myself. Lucky for Milo, I have a bunch of Zeppelin CDs. (more on that later)

We had a very adult conversation the other day while we were cruising along, listening to the Zeppelin. Milo pointed out that Zeppelin plays different music than Jimmy Buffett. I said, "Yep." Then Milo went on to say that there is a lot more guitar and it's different than Buffett also. I said "Yep." I asked him why he thought the music was so different. He said because there's more guys in Zeppelin playing guitar. I told Milo he was right, and then I told him that also, Jimmy Buffett's songs are all basically only three or four simple chords, repeated over and over. That's why they're so darn catchy. Zeppelin, on the other hand, plays really complicated chords. So Milo said "Does that mean the Zeppelin are like guitar superheroes?" I said, "Yep, pretty much." He was most impressed by that info.

So anyway, here's the funny backstory to Milo's love of Led Zeppelin. I have always tolerated their music but never really liked it. Then, when I was pregnant with Milo, instead of having cravings for food, all of a sudden I developed an intense and devout love of Led Zeppelin. I went out and bought the entire collection in a box set, and listened to it constantly, for months, the whole time I was pregnant, when I wasn't listening to Jimmy Buffett. Then, after Milo was born, I could have cared less about Zeppelin again. Hearing all that while he was in the womb must have warped Milo's mind, because now he loves Zeppelin too!

Milo's current favorite two Led Zep songs:

Black Dog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdlg3Q0NzJo

The Immigrant Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwG8WXYAHR0

You should see that kid rocking out in the backseat of the truck when those are on. It is stinkin' hilarious! I'm so glad he likes cool music and that we're not stuck listening to the Wiggles or Raffi on an everyday basis!

You'll never guess where Milo gets his hair cut

Today Milo got his first big boy haircut, in a real........hardware store!!! At least that's what he told everyone when we went to the grocery store afterward. Of course, he really got his 'do done at the barbershop in town.

While we were out and about doing errands, I decided on a whim that Milo was going to get a 'real' haircut, because he needed one badly, and I didn't feel like wrestling with him and the clippers at the same time. I took Milo to John's Barbershop and let him spend a while watching a couple of guys get their hair cut. Milo was mostly interested in the big chair, and kept saying to me that he wasn't going to get his hair cut today, because he was a little bit nervous about it, even though I promised to let him have a donut for lunch if he did do the haircut. Then Milo spotted a backgammon game table, and asked me if he could play that. I said, "Sure, if you let the guy cut your hair." That did the trick! They had a special chair for little kids that looks like a fire engine, with a steering wheel and a bell that he could ring. Milo sat in that chair like a statue (except for the hand that was ringing the bell) and let the guy give him a very nice grown-up haircut.

I'm glad we got that first one out of the way, now I can take Milo there whenever he needs to get his fur trimmed, and he'll know what to expect. And yes, I did let him have a donut with his lunch, and Milo also got a lollipop from the guy. Plus, he got major props when we went to the grocery store, and all the ladies in there noticed how handsome he looked. Milo is a celebrity at Daddy's store, let me tell you. He's like Norm on Cheers used to be, when we walk in the store, there's always a big round of "MILO!!"

The only downer about the whole haircut experience is that I haven't had my hair cut by a professional in so long, I forgot all about the tip. That was the first question Corey asked when he got home tonight, too. Dang it. So I will put a couple bucks in an envelope and stop by the barbershop tomorrow. How embarrassing. The barber must have thought I was a total Scrooge!

you won't believe it

Two wonderful things happened today:

1) Lily and Quinn were left home alone for a few hours, and did not escape the kitchen and did not attack the tree. Marvelous!

2) Milo got yet ANOTHER letter from Santa! Holy cow, is that kid ever in good with the big guy!!

try, try again....

Call me crazy, but Milo and I put the rest of the ornaments on the tree today. I was seriously tempted to leave the tree mostly naked after the Lily incident....but I knew I would regret it later if we didn't decorate the tree. Normally, I go for the 'less is more' approach on the tree. We have tons of ornaments, but we don't usually use them all. Milo had a completely opposite goal in mind. He insisted on using everything in every box I took out for him. Little did he know that I had more boxes still in the attic, full of the fragile and older ornaments. I looked at the tree after Milo went to bed and decided to hell with it, it's all going on there. I went upstairs and got the rest of the boxes, and put as many of the ornaments as would fit, in the higher regions of the tree. I would have to say the result is the most decorated tree we've ever had!


The tree...before being truly decorated, and after the Lily incident. Kind of sparse, but a look I could live with :)

And after we were done with it. This blue spruce doesn't know what hit it! The angel at the top of the tree is the one my family always used when I was a kid. She hasn't seen the light of day in at least 15 years, but for some reason, this year, she just seemed right for the tree. Too bad I cut her head off in the picture!

It's great to be friends with Santa!

We've been so busy hanging around with Santa and getting ready for Christmas, at this point Milo thinks he's a close personal friend of the big guy. Just last week, Milo received this letter from Santa, complete with stickers, as proof that Santa was listening when we went to see him at the mall. One of Santa's elves, named Aunt Heather, helped Santa with writing the letter and decorating the envelope.

And then of course, we had our magical night out with Santa last weekend, in which we visited Santa, followed the Christmas Parade AND saw Rudolph way up in the sky. Here's the photos as promised....

And to top it all off, yesterday, this card came addressed to Milo. I didn't know anything about this one. We didn't sign up for anything or tell Santa our names when we were at the tree lighting last week, and had no idea that Santa really could track us down and mail us a letter. Imagine my surprise when I opened the envelope for Milo. Of course, I burst into tears, because of the magic of it. Milo just said "Wow, cool!" And look: It's signed IN INK!!! That's how you know it's for real!

And last but not least, while we were wrapping some gifts today, Milo decided that he had to wrap a present for Santa, since Santa is so nice to him. I told Milo to go in his room and find something that Santa might like. First Milo came out with Oliver Bear, who is Milo's bestest friend and most beloved toy. I thought that was unbearably sweet, and explained to Milo that if he gives Oliver to Santa, that means Santa will keep him. Milo said "Oh!! I'll be right back," and rushed into his room to find something else. He came back with another toy that he likes a lot, but not nearly as much as Oliver. Milo proceeded to wrap that one in scraps of wrapping paper, and topped it off with a bow. Then he saw that I had been writing out labels for the gifts, so he wanted to make a label for Santa's present too. No way could Milo's kid writing fit on a regular gift tag, so we made one out of a big piece of wrapping paper. Milo was so proud to put the wrapped present under the tree, so Santa will find it on Christmas Eve. Don't worry, there will be cookies for Santa, too, along with carrots for the reindeer.

Hmmm...what do Christmas ornaments taste like?

Apparently, this is a question that Lily desperately needed to answer while we were away at work today. I knew I should have locked the dogs in the kitchen this morning, to protect the Christmas tree from Lily, but I didn't do it, in the vain hopes that Lily would behave herself.

And so, we came home to this vision of destruction. Thank goodness she only ate the ornaments, and not the lights too. The ornaments were of the plastic variety, and somehow, she managed to not eat the hooks or the strings, so we're not too worried about Lily's insides.

Milo was very sad when he realized that Lily ate one of his favorite green star ornaments. I'm just glad that we only put on a few ornaments as a test run, to see how the dogs would do. All in all, Lily ate or destroyed about a dozen of them.

Life with that dog is always interesting, to say the least! For the rest of the holiday season, she and Quinn will be safely locked away in the kitchen whenever we go out. God only knows what she'll find to destroy in there....

Don't lie still in our backyard

Or the vultures will get ya! The other day, we were outside with the dogs, when I happened to look skyward and see a bunch of vultures lurking in the neighbor's tree. I was worried for Monet, since she's so fat and slow, but they weren't the least bit interested in her kitty carcass. They didn't go after the neighbor's tiny dog either. I guess moving animals are too much to deal with.

The vultures hung around for at least an hour, and they were creeping me out the whole time. I suppose that there was something tasty in the field behind our house, because the duck hunters have been actively shooting away back there.

And yes, every year when the duck hunters set up their blind, I'm tempted to go back there and put a sign up that says "It's wabbit season." Although if they're not into Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, they totally wouldn't get the joke!