Believe it or Not

We had been fortunate to find very kind patient groomers for Riley. He's not exactly well-behaved for them - hard to imagine! Last time he went, a new employee was supposed to call and tell me he'd be ready in 15 minutes, but what he told me was that Riley was ready. I try not to leave him there any longer than is necessary (for their sakes) so I headed there right away. He saw me and flipped out. The next 10 minutes, I'm not sure how his groomer got anything done with him, but he looked great. I couldn't convince them that he'd crash when he got home, but sure enough, this is Riley about 30 minutes later. I sent it to them on Facebook as proof that he does stop moving...once in a great while.

O Christmas Tree

"The little lights aren't twinkling."

"I know Art, and thanks for noticing."

Christmas Vacation

For the past several years, I've held my breath when plugging in the Christmas tree, always fairly sure that the pre-lit lights will have lived out their usefulness. This year was no exception. But all the little lights came on! I was impressed, this being the tree's 8th Christmas. A week or so after all the decorations were on, I noticed a few branches were dark. We bought one of those light test/repair guns, but no luck. A few days later, another branch joined the darkness. Then a few more. It was beginning to look like Christmas might be a little dark at our house! About half of the lights made it until Christmas day, and David filled in some dark places with additional strings of lights.

Not wanting to get rid of the tree, I spent about 4 hours on one of my days off after Christmas with a pair of wire cutters and a trash can, cutting out all 600 lights. By next Christmas, I'm sure I'll be glad I did it, but that sure isn't a fun task. No more pre-lit trees for me!

A Very Mickey Christmas!

I was about 19 the first time my parents and I went to Walt Disney World in FL. We had a great time, but I think I remember Dad saying that it was the last time he was going to go. We've been back several times since then, the fourth in December. (And believe it or not, they've been a couple more times!) He's still saying this is the last time, but I'm not entirely convinced. I had to leave David at home to work...and because he refuses to set foot in Orlando. I missed him, but we still had fun! I was just going to be in Orlando two full days, so I got to pick my favorite 2 parks to visit - isn't it great to be an only child! I chose Epcot and Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM). Our Epcot day, there was a light rain falling in the morning. It didn't bother us, and it certainly kept the crowds down!
We got to ride more and do more of the attractions than we'd ever done because there was hardly any wait for anything.
We stayed long enough to see the fireworks and the glowing globe in the center of the lake. I love the big Epcot ball at night!
The next day we headed to Hollywood Studios. The weather was much better, and the crowd was a little larger. Dad wants us to believe that this was our rental car. :)
We had a great time at Hollywood Studios too. The lines were a little longer, but still not too bad. I was disappointed to learn that not only is the Golden Girls house no longer on the Backlot Tour, but it may be GONE! So sad. The light display was SPECTACULAR! When the lights first came on, the waiting crowd all breathed a collective "oooh." The history of the light display is pretty interesting. You can read about it here: http://www.wdwinfo.com/holidays/osbornelights.htm

I headed home after a fun-filled two days, and Mom and Dad got to continue their vacation in peace. ;) I had a great time! Guess time will tell if Dad will go back to Disney or not.

Four Years on the Wedded Bliss Road

Time to catch up on this much neglected blog. I only managed 39 posts in all of last year. Maybe I'll do better this year - I'll shoot for 40 posts. ;)

Since I last checked in, we've celebrated our fourth anniversary, I went on vacation with my parents, we celebrated Christmas and New Year's, and enjoyed a visit with our friend who moved to Ohio. We'll soon be headed to Illinois for David's niece's wedding reception.

December 8, David and I celebrated our 4th anniversary. He brought me these beautiful flowers that look a lot like my wedding bouquet, and we had delicious beef burgundy for dinner.

For little favors at our wedding reception, we gave our friends and family a red ball ornament with our names and wedding date on ribbon tied on as a hanger. Not a Christmas has gone by since that someone doesn't mention that they thought of us when they decorated their tree. That always makes me smile. As we were getting the Christmas trees out of the attic this year, I saw a box of Christmas stuff that I don't normally get down. I sent it down the attic stairs to David, figuring I should go through it and decide what to do with the contents. What to my wondering eye should appear, but about 8 more boxes of those very ornaments! If anyone breaks theirs, we've got replacements handy!