Happy New Year!

Car Conversations

I was driving Moose home from swimming yesterday. Out of the blue he asked,

"If you want to go to heaven when you die, why do they put you even further down?"

"Your soul is already gone when you're buried. The instant that you die, your soul is gone. It's not there at the funeral home or in the coffin or at the cemetery."

"So if you die in the emergency room and they use those paddle things to bring you back to life, does your soul come back or do you get a new one?"

(Pause) Cue the sound of my brain rattling.

"If God knows everything that's gonna happen, then He knows that you are not going to die and your soul is still there. You don't get a new one."

"Bummer."

Fun Monday - Christmas Most Recently Past

Sayre is hosting this week and she wanted to know two things -

What was the most touching, wonderful part of Christmas for you this year?

AND
What was the craziest, stupidest, funniest part this year?

The most touching and wonderful part was opening the gifts and seeing my grandson get EVERYTHING on his list (short list, folks, don't get real excited). He was really happy to get his football and also to see his mom after she got off work.

The craziest, stupidest, funniest part? I work in retail so there are more instances than I can list. One that stands out though is the little girl, probably about 5 years old, throwing a full-out, on the floor, screaming temper tantrum because her Dad wouldn't buy her a toy. I tried to smooth things over by pointing out that if her Dad bought her everything she wanted, it would make Santa's job awfully hard. She countered by telling me that if her Dad would buy her everything she wanted, it would make Santa's job easier because he wouldn't have to bring her anything. Yep, a future lawyer in the making, I think.

Merry Christmas (better late than never)

Merry Christmas to one and all, a little late, I know, but still very heartfelt.

We had a lovely Christmas here. Santa actually brought Moose everything he wanted for Christmas. Of course the child's list was only 3 items long and only one of those large, so Santa had it fairly easy this year.

The rest of us made out like bandits, as always. We then went out for dinner (thank you, sweetheart) and then to see Marley and Me. What a good movie! Of course, Juls and I had already read the book so were crying in advance. Moose is reading the book currently in his classroom and about 1/2 way through started telling me that they were leaving things out.

Other news - we have changed Charity's name. It just never quite fit and Shorty could never remember it. We mostly ended up calling her "little dog, little dog" but have finally settled on Bonnie - long for BonBon. She is much improved, as you can see from this photo.

and this one

Life in the Beef? Capital of the World

My daughter and I have recently had several interesting restaurant experiences. The town I live in is "the beef capital of the world".

I ordered the taco soup last week at a restaurant we frequent. The meat looked just a little odd. Juls asked if it was ground beef. The waitress said that it was. OK.

Then she came back and said that it was turkey ground beef. Turkey ground beef? Yep, turkey ground beef. Not a problem for me but Juls doesn't eat ground turkey, let alone turkey ground beef. We were hysterical and our waitress never did seem to realize that ground beef cannot be made of turkey. Ground turkey can, but ground beef? Methinks not.

Then tonight, while we were out looking at Christmas lights, we stopped at Mickey D's. I asked for a double cheeseburger and the voice in the box told me that they were out of red meat and that I couldn't have a double cheeseburger. I asked him what my options were and he started the list.

Grilled chicken sandwich
Filet of fish
Chicken Nuggets
Quarter Pounder
Homestyle


Excuse me? You are out of red meat but I can have a quarter pounder????

I have occasionally wondered about the source of some restaurant's ingredients but seriously, in the beef capital of the world, I cannot get beef ground beef or a burger made with red meat?

I am afraid. I am very afraid.

Latest on Charity

Just a quick update on the pup. Charity finally had an actual turd (yes, I know it's disgusting, but we actually cheered like it was the first time Moose used the potty on his own) on Thursday and went to the vet on Saturday to have her stitches removed.

She no longer has ribs showing and is beginning to act like a dog instead of a victim. She is venturing forth from her den and is interacting with the other dogs who are still not sure that she IS a dog. This is actually a good thing since they are not jealous of her and I have told them that she is NOT a squeaky toy.

The vet decided that she was healthy enough now to have her immunizations so all in all, it was a terrific vet visit.

I know all of this because Juls told me. I was in bed puking for the last 3 days...lol.

Charity evidently begins at the vet's

Charity.

Charity is still not well although she is better than she was. Her prolapsed rectum was put back where it belongs but her digestive stuff is still not right.

I took her to the vet this morning and horned in on Holly's eye appointment (scratched cornea, should be fine) because she smelled like death.

Charity has no temperature and is still trying with everything she has to become well. The person who owned her before I acquired her should someday suffer as this poor pup has. We located the breeder who owns her mother.

This puppy, who the vet judged to be 7-8 weeks old, based on her size and development, was born on July 23, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. She is almost 5 MONTHS old! The breeder, who kept the puppies with their mom till they were 3 months old due to their itty-bitty-ness, was in tears. The puppy weighed more when she was given to her previous owner than she does now.

I have shed tears over this baby and am trying desperately to not get TOO attached, as her prognosis is still guarded. She sure is a little fighter, though.