Christmas is coming, isn't it?

I seriously need to stop procrastinating! I must must must get the decorations out, the Christmas tree decorations, the lights for outside, finally got the wrapping paper out today, have three million gifts to wrap and many to send by mail...

I'm really weird about it this year - it just doesn't feel like the holidays to me. Thanksgiving was like a month early for me and now Christmas is about 2 months early! I don't know why my brain is not registering that it is actually December the 10th, but it's just not jibing in my peabrain that it is REALLY going to be Christmas. In two weeks. 14 days. AArrrrggghhhhh!!!

This is what my dining room table looks like right now:My husband and I went out yesterday afternoon and bought gifts for 13 kids who are in the care of The Department of Child and Family Services (formerly DSS). Our lovely neighbor who works for the post office in Peabody does this each year with his fellow co-workers. They organize this toy drive for over 1000 children. It's pretty amazing. Anyway, we have great friends who either gave us money to help buy the 13 gifts we bought, and then there are 14 other gifts that other friends bought themselves that will also be delivered to the needy children.

It's a good thing to do and makes me feel a little bit happier for these children whose lives have been turned upside down and had to be removed from their homes. Sad, but most times the very best thing for these kids.

On a flowery note - take a gander at the Thanksgiving flowers STILL looking pretty on the table up there! Amazing!

In other flower news, the Amaryllis that I bought at the grocery store on November 22 bloomed this morning! SO pretty:
Can you see the other 3 flower heads that are forming? So this guy is going to give be a quadruple bloom! Sweet!


I also had to buy this irresistible little poinsettia the other day:
I love the dusty pink color of this.

And, my other amaryllis is coming along nicely:
He's a nice shade of green now and has grown about an inch since I brought it up from the basement!

I have to run now...Am on my way for a consultation with my doctor. She just changed locations so I have to re-establish myself as a patient by meeting up with her for an initial consult. Sounds like someone's trying to make some easy $$$, right?!!

Later, my friends!

Ciao.

Christmas is coming, isn't it?

It's snowing

ON MY BLOG!!

Do you like? I saw this on my friend's blog and had to race out and get it for mine!

I'm getting in the holiday mood - my husband and I are buying gifts today for 13 kids in the care of the State of MA as part of a toy drive organized by the Peabody post office.

We do this every year and it's a great way to give some cheer to children who have not had much to celebrate...

Happy Holidays!

Back to more flowery type things soon...

Animals of YouTube sing Deck the Halls!

This is totally adorable and worth the almost 3 minutes it takes to watch it!

Enjoy!

Remembering Lady

Today is the 3rd anniversary of my sweet doggie, Lady, going to doggie heaven. It was quite easily the most terrible day of my entire life.

Here she was in 2002, in her heydey:
She's with her brother, of course, in the kitchen, OF COURSE! She was a terrible beggar, fat, impulsive, anxious, barked too much, was WAAY territorial of Koty and the house and was generally an embarrassment!! And MAN, did I love that dog! My husband also adored her - she was not an easy dog to love if you were looking from the outside, but her incredible sweetness and devotion for my husband and me just melted away all of her terrible traits!

In that photo she is 9 years old and Koty is a mere 3 years old! Crazy!

Fun times on the boat:Koty and Lady were inseparable. They just bonded the very first time we all met and that was that! Love at first sight for all four of us!

They loved to "help" us when we went fishing!


They loved to hang out together inside or out:


It was most difficult when Lady's health started declining...This picture was taken a day or so after her prognosis of cancer of the spleen, lungs and just about anywhere else you can imagine inside her; taken in April of 2007:


Here she was still kicking in July of 2007:

And this is the last picture of her we took. This was the middle of September in 2009:It's funny how just looking at this picture you can tell she is not well. Dogs get a distant look in their faces when things are not copesetic.

She lasted almost 3 months more after this shot was taken, but she was SO skinny by that time, I just couldn't bear to take pictures of her looking so little and frail. It was a painful, very difficult time for our little family and I still cry over losing her. I know she died when she really needed to go...It was amazing - the vets and specialists that saw her x-rays and ultrasounds saw how sick she was inside - so sick that unbeknownst to us, they had given her maybe 5 or 6 days to live when we took her in in April. Her only symptom was that she didn't want to eat her dog food anymore.

So, I resorted to fixing her steak or chicken or hamburgers or anything that seemed to appeal to her on that day. I spent literally that entire time from April to December devoted to her every need! We got her acupuncture which really seemed to stimulate her appetite; we had her on good pain meds; and we would run out to Wendy's to get her hamburgers or the deli down the street for their steak tips which she really loved! My husband and I literally did everything in our power to make her feel happy, comfortable and secure and VERY loved.

The vets were amazed that she lived for so long...Our main vet tells our story to others in similar situations - that there really is something to be said for the power of doing nothing (no heroic surgeries or steroids or chemo which may or may not have given us more time with her)...It was the power of love alone that kept her going despite her illness.

I love you Lady. And I really miss you.

Monday Monday, laaa laaa laalaalaa laaaaaaa

Remember that song? Now you will be singing that in your head! You're welcome.

So, aside from the fact that my dumb back continues to plague me (reaching down to rub my dog's belly today, there was a distinct "TWEAK" and the muscles on the lower left side of my back screamed at me "Don't you DARE move one more inch or we will make it so you will not be able to breath without excruciating pain!"So, I listened. I got myself back into a more postured pose and am now trying to sit such that my back will not be bothered.

It's really ridiculous what has happened in the last few months to me. I went from being able to literally do just about anything, to being a namby-pamby who has to be careful during the simple act of petting my dog. Ugh. Hate this! Worse part is that I still have to decorate the garland that I hung around my neighbor's door. That should prove to be an interesting process since I can't bend or twist or reach!

You want to hear something gross? It snowed here. Actual flakes falling from the sky. Luckily the sun is out, as well, so these were just passing little flakes that didn't stick or anything, but STILL! It snowed! Yuck. Officially YUCK.

As I mentioned in my last post, I worked as a guide for the Christmas in Salem - a home tour where decorators do up these houses in a grandiose fashion and make everything all pretty and Christmassy and nice. Well, I was stationed near the front door in this little hallway and had to repeat seventy-leventy times my schpeil about the photos on the wall, the pulley-system doorbell that is original to the house and also this stuff called Anaglypta wallpaper that is also original to the house which was built in 1874.

It was a rather unthrilling gig, but I did my part and I'm glad it's over! Then last night we had a special dinner that my husband's 16 year-old brother cooked for us - a Japanese hibachi type feast! We had fried rice, stir-fried veggies, shrimp, chicken and steak. I don't eat steak - I swore off red meat when I was 18! So I didn't try that part of it but everyone was VERY happy with the meal! Delish!

In planty-type news, my Thanksgiving flowers continue to flourish! Alstromeria are good like that - they last forever, so I love to use them...Here's the scene in the dining room:
That's Koty under the table there. He loves that spot.

Here is a better shot of the table and decorations:
I'll have to switch everything out to Christmassy things this coming weekend - we're putting up the tree on Sunday evening! Yaaay!

Also, I bought this amaryllis a while back from the grocery store - just looked back and I got it on November 22, so two weeks ago. Anywho, it has grown three feet and is getting ready to flower! Can't wait for that:

I am always interested when I see plants leaning toward the light. It never ceases to fascinate me! Hey, it's winter and it's New England - I gotta enjoy the little things, you know?!!

I had forgotten that I also had been resting another amaryllis bulb in a dark area near the basement stairs. I got it out a few days ago, so I gave it some water and it is now sitting in the living room:In just those couple days, the emerging leaf is turning green green - it was as white as could be when I first found it! This bulb is great - I rest it twice a year and then it flowers twice a year for me, as well - once in the summer and again at this time of year. I've had this guy for like 4 years now! I get so attached to my plants, it's ridiculous!

My little miniature fig is doing well in his new location:


The eggplant is still growing!


And last for today, the grape tomato plant that I transplanted is still holding on:
It's not really growing, but it's not dying either, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens!

Ok. Must go. Have to walk the doggies and then grocery shopping and then chiropractor appointment and then we're going to see a movie at 3:50 today to waste some time in anticipation of the big Patriots - Jets game tonight! BIG game for us!

Hope you all have a fabulous week!