All Manner of Pressing Issues

A couple of weeks ago Richard and I made gingerbread houses while watching The Holiday, eating gingerbread cookies, and drinking eggnog! We had a lot of fun. I made a huge mess on our table with my icing and finished my house really quickly (the mess and speed are not related). RH  was very meticulous about his and took longer. The first two images are of Richard’s house and the last two images show my house.

We are picking up our puppy on the 26th! We had a little date night Saturday night and Richard took me to PetsMart and we bought a few things. We are getting our crate from a friend who has a Westie and never used the crate. I am so excited about our puppy. I am still devouring books and other articles in an attempt to gather the best information about puppy training. I have a list of questions for our vet, too. I have also knitted 2 sweaters for her and am currently working on a third.

Our puppy will go with us to my parents’ for our family’s Christmas celebration. I am eager to see how Delta handles meeting her. Delta doesn’t like small dogs. She specifically doesn’t like small, white dogs–which is exactly what our puppy is. I have high hopes of Delta and our puppy becoming the best of friends. We’ll see if that works out. When Delta was a puppy there was a black lab in our neighborhood named Marley that Delta loved. Delta climbed all over Marley and bit her ears in an attempt to get Marley to play with her. Delta and Marley even had sleepovers and shared doghouses. Marley tolerated Delta’s puppy days and they were the best of friends. Marley died two years ago this spring. I think that Delta owes it to doggie-society to allow a puppy to be her friend since Marley was so nice to put up with her!

I’m a little late getting the garland up on our balcony this year. I put it up last weekend and then this weekend Richard plugged the lights in for me. He somehow hooks them up to the light on our balcony so I can turn them on and off from the switch in our kitchen. Impressive, huh? I saw a house a few years ago where they had twisted a strand of colored lights and a strand of white lights together. I really liked the way it looked, so that’s what I do on our balcony. I guess I could take the torches down until the spring/summer, but I just haven’t gotten to that yet!!

How on earth am I supposed to decide between these three sweet little things?? Are they not just absolutely precious? And the thought of one of them being mine tickles me pink!!!!

We have changed our pick-up date to either the 31st or the 1st. That will give the puppy another week with her siblings and her mom and give us time to get our ducks in a row to bring her home. To say I am excited is a complete understatement. Right now in my lap I have four dog training books from the library as well as a copy of Marley and Me that I picked up at the grocery store last week.

When I am wanting something special to drink, but don’t feel like leaving home to go to Starbucks, I opt for a Chai Latte. This is not my drink of choice from Starbucks, but I love the version I make at home. It hits the spot every time!