Christmas is over, the kids have returned to their homes and I miss with them with all my heart.  
I love when they are home if even for just a little while.  

This year we also had Eric's 1 year old Golden Doodle and what a treat he is, goofy and curious, smart as he can be and man, can he bound over tall couches, chairs and garden plants like you've never seen!  In all his craziness and love of stealing away with socks, shoes, tissues or paper towels, he never stole one thing off of the Christmas tree!  I must have praised him a hundred times for leaving the ornaments alone...even his favorite felted snowman.  Our "Olden" Retriever doesn't care much for other dogs, let alone a young upstart like Buddy but they both did a remarkable job getting along for the week that he was here.  Buddy loves her like crazy and wants nothing more than to lick her face and play with her but she'll have none of that!  
Poor Buddy just didn't understand, but he kept on trying!

We're now faced with the realities of having a very senior dog; her legs began to fail about 8 months ago and have sense gotten much worse, to the point that they fail her most of the time after we help her up to go out or walk to her food/water dishes.  We knew the time was coming a few months ago and I'm afraid we will have to make the decision sooner, rather than any later.  Sophie has been with us most of her 16-1/2 years and I often wonder if her siblings have lived as long as she has and if they had just as much personality as she has had.  What a pleasure she has been and what she has given us can't be measured.  She was a great companion for the kids, and for me since they both went off to college and moved out on their own, a superior Frisbee player and the most resilient dog ever.  She has had two major surgeries, the last one at 13yrs, and she handled them both like a champ.  We know she isn't enjoying life at this point and our wonderful Vet told us we would know when it was time.  He was right, that time is here but it's so hard to actually make the decision to let her go.  
Is there anything that makes it easier?  I don't think so.  
Just memories, photos and videos that will keep me laughing and crying for years to come.

Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year!

See you next year!

Boy, it's been a whirlwind month!  Lots of orders went out and still coming in, wrapping gifts, decorating the house and oh yeah...a pesky hacker drained my checking and savings accounts.  What the hell is wrong with people?  I guess we're just nameless, faceless sources to tap for them to buy more hacking equipment and software.

Somehow they can get your card number and make a copy, allowing them to order from online companies at will.  No red flags went up at the credit union through all of this so I'll be looking at some other sources of account protection.  As per usual, if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.

Just a heads up, watch your account closely, especially this time of year.  I didn't watch mine close enough and they took every penny we had.  Hopefully all will be resolved by the end of the week; fingers crossed, positive juju sent out into the universe and prayers sent.

Till then, I pick up my daughter at the airport tomorrow, have some last minute gifty things to buy, on credit, ugh, and food for a family dinner on Sunday.  

I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe and hacker free holiday!  Merry Christmas & Happy Chanukah to all.