NEW STARTERS

When I was younger, vacations were romantic in nature. Then there were the children and they became fun with trips to Disney, renting cabins in the mountains or beach house in Florida with the family. But when they became older, vacations were more adventurous and we were able to take them to exotic places but I have to admit....the one this past December encompassed it all; romance, fun, and adventure.

However, when we got back, I was holding Paros and Annabelle while Jim got Bayou. They were afraid to get him so the owner said he would do it. All I know is he came back into the lobby empty handed and Jim said they just let him out lol. He said Bayou walked slow toward him like he ruled the cell block!! Omg. Our little monster puppy :/ We are used to this and understand but Paros was wet and reeked of urine. I was a bit concerned about him being wet and cold so I took them home to bathe them that day, only to find he was sore with what felt like a bite mark on the side of his face under his ear.

I had to wait a couple of days to allow him to let me shave there and see what was going on when I came down with a rash across my face so I ended up Christmas eve night and Christmas morning in the ER looking at the vending machines saying "Look, honey! Christmas dinner." I only found that funny because we had a blast and celebrated Christmas early. The laughing ceased when Paros bite mark became abscessed and so we both were on antibiotics for the past 2 weeks :((((( I have to take him in and see where to go from here although it is doing better and he will let me clear it a bit and lightly touch it.

I assume they were stressed at the kennel and Bayou went to attack him like he usually does Annabelle and me :(  What appalls me is they just hosed down the kennel with him in it and failed to mention of any incidents. I just hope I won't have to take him into the specialists in Memphis.

Even though we had a blast in Central America and the islands, we won't be going anywhere without our dogs. Paros is my treasure and reason to come home. He is my heartbeat and I would give the sight on my afflicted eye that developed a skin disorder due to the stress of that mess for his well being. I know I'm not the only one who has found the love of their dog to be the greatest joy that this life has brought them. Their love is loyal and true and they are dependent upon us for their care so the sacrifice is a nominal price to pay.

Other than that, the only stress has been ATT right before the trip, and there was a several hour delay (about 7-8) boarding the ship due to a fog. Glad they are safety minded but a bathroom would have been nice after all the shops around Tampa had closed. I also like how they sailed beside another ship along the whole journey and they really set us up well. The balcony was huge and we had a blast back and forth with housekeeping and their 'towel critters' :D  They would all run to our room with their boss to show what we would leave them each day and we tipped them extra not only each day, but including the gratuities in our fare along with an extra check and cash in the animals paws :)))))  I even bought a book about creating them for my granddaughter and left them creations I do with my silk ribbons not listed in their book ;)

Lots of correspondence, bills, finishing off doctors, cleaning, and unpacking to do so hopefully I can talk about the good stuff when it's all clear like how my hair got caught in the window latch and opened the plane window lol, or the monkeys and birds that would come to me and crawl on me, the 3 cloud formations shaped like hearts, 2 shooting stars, and how beautiful the ship was with it's new renovations and chapel.

As for the New Year, I love how the world brings in the new year with their firework displays. It was touching to see the marine united with his wife at the rose bowl parade too on New Years day and our healing. It's a good start :}

TO OTHERS, WITH LOVE

Our 11 days of Christmas blessed us with soooo much but hearing the news while out of the country about the mall shooting, how McAfee was allowed back over here, then the shooting of young innocent children in Connecticut, another shooting at a hospital wounding 4....I was ashamed and embarrassed somewhat to be from this country.

So with such a tragedy as this, in lieu of a posting about our trip, I will only leave these photos until Christmas is over. I pray for comfort at this time to the parents of these children, other children to feel safe again, and the troubled youth afflicted by whatever traumatic experiences that cause them to do such things to be able to obtain help. Being an NRA member, I am for modification of gun laws. Raised to respect firearms and lock them up (and needing them for country, rural, and hunting purposes), I don't see a need for assault type fire arms.

Till then, I hope this Christmas brings us peace and love above all things and hope to become a mentor for troubled youths at the very least.

CHRISTMAS LISTS

I don't know why it always seems soooo slow to reach Christmas through the year and then when we hit the month of December....it's magically accelerated at an alarming pace. And no wonder everyone starts decorating before Thanksgiving. It gives them more time to do that along with the shopping, cmas cards, mailing gifts, dry cleaning, hitting parties, and heaven knows it takes us 3 days to do a tree around here since I have to unwrap each ornament but not this year! With opting to do a vacation in the Caribbean, I decided to forego the tree, candles, garlands, etc. and just throw some wreaths on the outside of the house and tie a red ribbon around the afghan hound standing on my mailbox :}

Did get a lot done like the dry cleaning, some packing, rental car, house sitter, kennel reservations, and even hit my first Christmas party etc. but I feel like Stan in Southpark :l  Eeeeeewwwwweeetttt :P  Lol....I'm not sure how I feel about spending a warm Christmas in the Caribbean. It's been 15 yrs since we were alone on one without dogs, kids, grandkids, friends, working, or something :l  Who am I going to sing silly songs to and skip with?!?

I don't even know what my reviews on it all will be yet but just hope all will be good on the home front. Hoping they don't raise our taxes in congress because it's been nice to have the extra money to update things and take the extra trips :} I do know I will miss the grandkids beaming with happiness, worry about the dogs, and I was impressed with how my son-in-law and daughter made them attend each dinner seating so we could all be together on our cruise with them this past April :)  It was hard chasing them down on the ship though with the shattered arm on pain meds to watch them play and get photos of them :/

So we will dance, have our private flight with tropic air over the great blue hole, and heaven knows what else. I think we will just 'wing it' most days and really enjoy not having a list of things to do! :D  For now, I already started my 'January's List' on things to resume or pick up :}