Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Pray for the babysitter!

We have gotten Tony a babysitter to come see him three times while we are in Menard for the holidays. Last night, while Tony was laying in between me and BJ in bed purring with that plotting look in his big evil eyes, it occured to us that it would be just like Tony to do something so horrible to the baby sitter that we would end up with a lawsuit against us. I should have had the lady sign a contract that said, "I will not sue you if your cat tries to severe a limb or scar me for life in any other manner."

Of course, Tony was on his best behavior when the babysitter came yesterday to meet him and get her instructions. But things still managed to get out of control. This time it was Gus. With his Old English Sheepdog genes strongly in place, Gus feels the need to bark loudly and extensively anytime a visitor (in his mind "a wolf") comes into our home (in his mind "the perimeters of our flock"). He actually made the babysitters three year old daughter cry. Fortunately, the mom just laughed at how funny looking Gus is. I'm pretty sure his comical cuteness gets him out of loads of trouble.

I'm leaving today on a Greyhound to go see my parents and help Mom with the pre-holiday preparations. I've left a note with BJ in which my P.S. reads, "Don't forget to baby talk to Gus 5 to 10 times daily. And, please, don't kill Tony." I've got to make sure Momma's little boys are taken care of.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Thoughts on marriage, honesty, and the blues

I hate going more than a week without doing a blog post, so I just sat down to do one since today makes a week. Unfortunately, I found when I set in front of this headache-inducing screen that my life has not been filled here lately with the funny or touching moments that compose the bulk of my blog posts. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, but I think it is best to be honest when one has come upon a rough patch in life. It is nothing to be frightened of. I just have a temporary case of the blues. It is a mere fact of life that the road is full of little dips, or perhaps canyons that one must search for a bridge to cross. I would say I am seeking out safe passage.

Of course, as I have stated before on my blog, God does not give us more than we can handle, and we can often handle more than we had counted on. Yesterday, for the first time in months, I walked into the office and told BJ exactly what I wanted/needed. For him to not play games with the guys tonight. For him to spend time with me. No I don't know what we will do, but I don't want you playing with the guys. It was so simple, and yet it took more courage than I have felt I possessed in months. We spent a wonderful evening playing Yatzee and watching reruns on TV since reruns are all that we have with the current strike. Though a far cry from the romantic images of marriage we picture when we're single, it was a lovely evening due to the mere fact that it was a product of honesty. It is so difficult to be honest with those we love, but the reward of making ourselves vulnerable is a deeper, richer relationship. Thus, I learned a little lesson in life that perhaps would have eluded me if it hadn't been for a nasty case of the blues.

Friday, December 07, 2007

A Cozy Christmas Corner (i love alliteration)

BJ and I have decorated our house, and I must say, it is charming. We have a homemade advent calender from my Mom, homemade stockings I made last year, and homemade ornaments that I made after we moved to Frisco. I've always wanted a homemade Christmas, and this year really is all the way homemade. I'm giving homemade apple butter for presents to extended family and BJ's colleagues, and I've made all of our Christmas cards out of scraps of decorative paper I had in my art room. Here's a picture of our tree (it is not homemade) that we got the other day at Lowe's. (Notice: Gus is trying to drink the tree's water. This is what happens when you have an OCD dog who has an obsession with water.)

After decorating the tree, I decided that we should get some family photos. Tony was outside, so I settled for just us and the dogs. Somehow, though, the dogs were not in the mood for family photo time, which is extremely inconvenient when you're using a timed camera sitting on an ottoman. Here's our first attempt:

And our second attempt:

Can I just say my dog has gotten huge. I mean HUGE. We never got a good portrait, but oh well, this is probably more true to the general chaos of our household. I still thing Gus is awfully cute in these pictures.