I want to go home for Christmas. Right Now :(

I am so homesick and ready to go home it is not even funny :(

Christmas Time?

I realize that I have not been placing a whole lot of emphasis on the fact that it is now the holiday season. To be honest I think it is because it does not feel very Christmasish to me here. We put up the cottage tree this weekend and it helps but I don't think it will really feel like Christmas until I am at home. Oh well.

So since I am being such a Grinch I thought that I would link you guys to the funniest Christmas web site that I have found thus far. It is all about sketchy Santa's and the pictures are hilarious.

Enjoy ....

SKETCHY SANTAS

Happy Birthday Bogey! Take Two :)

Happy birthday mommy! Today we are celebrating my super amazing mothers birthday which yes happens to fall within the same week as my fathers which was always fun growing up. Mommy is quite the jet setting rockstar and got to travel last night in high style all around Richmond in the Shaggin Waggin checking out all the fun lights and hanging out with her cool kid crew. I am sure you had so much fun Mom and I wish that I could be there with you to play but I shall be home very soon and there will be many toasts and adventures. I love you very much and hope that you have a fabulous birthday and are celebrating the fact that you don't look a day over 37 :)

Baby Tiny Bogey Baby. So freaking cute!

Mom and Uncle Hugh in what I am sure was quite the fun portrait session :)

Beautiful MEG.

Mirror mirror on the wall I have the most beautiful mommy of them all!

Mommy taking me out on the town to celebrate my 21st birthday. She has always understood my need to dress up and get all fancy :)

Bogey looking picturesque on our vacay to Prince Edward Island. She looks like something out of a postcard.

Kisses on the deck of Legends Brewing Company as the sun sets on Downtown Richmond. A perfect pair, delicious cupcakes and yummy microbrews. Life can't get much better than that.

WICKED! Our trip to NYC will long be remembered as the weekend the redheads took Manhattan and had way too much fun. Thank you again mommy for such an incredible trip!

Jonny giving mommy her dirty old woman painting :) Just kidding this is one of Jonny first nudes and mom fell in love so he gave it to her as a mothers day gift. I completely forget this boys name right now....

Happy graduation day! Mommy and grandpa after graduating from Ursuline.

Happy Birthday Bogey! Two years ago today mommy and her crew celebrating the big 50 in style. This was a great surprise and tons of fun!

Jonny loves mommy oh so very much. He smooches to prove it :)

Very bestest friends forever. Well in three day spaces at least :)

Cassada cake! My mother had introduced my to yet another delicious confection that you can only get made correctly in Cleveland. Wench :)

The tale of Anna

Alright so here is the puppy update. We found her owners and now I am crushed :(
Turns our her name is Anna and she is a repeat runaway offender according to her family.
The problem lies in the fact that I had fallen completely and totally in love with her.

I don't even like dogs, dogs don't really like me but this dog did. I refuse to call her Anna because that name just does not seem to fit her. I was going to call her Ginger. Sigh. It was not the fliers or the online ads but rather the call to the local SPCA that gave us the number of the puppies real true owners and my heart sank. I did not want to give her back. Which puts you in quite a moral pickle because even if the owners are negligent and let her run away all the time she still belongs to them. So I could not make the call I made Gus do it because I did not want to be the one responsible for sending her away and he is still technically the man of the house and has to do the hard stuff. I told him to add though that we wanted her if they didn't.

We can't have a dog. Gus wants a dog desperately but we are just getting our acts together and it would probably be irresponsible to get one at this stage in our lives. They require alot of work and love and money and are a big commitment. I know all this but I think destiny had other plans. I mean the puppy literally showed up on our front porch. She is cuddly and lovable and sweet and perfect.

So Gus called me back and said that the owner had literally called the universes bluff and that we could have the dog if we want her. Apparently this woman has lots of kids and 'Anna' is constantly running away and causing her headaches and she has been thinking of giving her up for awhile. Despite all of my reservations I was almost psuedo begging her to leave the puppy with us. It was like something out of an orphan adoption movie. She was admiring what a nice house we had and what a lovely couple we were (according to our digital picture frame) and it seemed like the deal was sealed. She was all set to give Anna a better life, but then at literally the last moment reconsidered and decided she wanted to give her another shot.

Now I am sad. A puppy is impractical and exactly what I don't need right now but so was Gus Diggs in the beginning and that turned out for the best. Maybe we had to move to Murphysboro to find our perfect puppy. Oh and for those wondering the puppy and Henry got along splendidly. They weren't exactly the fox and the hound but not for the reasons you would think. The puppy was terrified of Henry, as most dogs are. Henry can hold his own and won't take any crap from any animal. Small dogs included.

So the lady took my information and said she would talk to her husband and they would think it over. It would be easy to get wrapped up in thinking about vet bills and buying food and how we would take care of her when we traveled but for now all I can think about is her curled up in a ball in our front window waiting for me to come home :(

Look what followed me home....

Soooo this little bundle of joy showed up on my doorstep last night when I was heading out to pick up Herman from school. She was wandering around in the deserted street and had found her way up to our door step. Obviously she is adorable and I petted her and told her so and began to search around for an owner, or even another human being on the street. Finding neither I decided to just let her continue her roaming and got into the car however she decided that she was going to get in with me, and then not get out....

Instead of abandoning the poor pup she went for a ride to SIU with me where Gus was very happy to meet her. But we have no idea who she belongs to. She has no collar, no tags or identifying features. We have put up fliers and an add on Craigslist because I am sure she is being missed by a lovely family somewhere.

For the time being though she is bunking with us because the weather here is freezing, miserable and wet and inside with us she is at least dry and safe. Has anyone else ever been in the situation and if so what did you do? We are open for suggestions. She is absolutely crazy precious and cuddly and well behaved and sweet so I can't imagine she is not a beloved house dog but I am at a loss....wishful thinking that we will get this lovely girl home safely.

Little baby so and so. We don't know her name but she responds well to 'puppy'.

She is so flippin cute....

Happy Birthday Bogey!

Soooo as you read above today is my totally amazing fathers birthday and I just want to give a huge happy birthday shout out to the most amazing dad in the whole entire world. It is absolutely killing me that I can't be there to celebrate with you guys in Richmond but freeze a tiny piece of carrot cake for me :)

Dad I am going to be honest and say that I have no idea how old you are today and besides you would probably not want me to put that on blast on the Internet anyways right? But I truly hope that this next year is incredible. You are the smartest, bestest most amazing dad ever and I love you oh so very much. Just picture me in the background singing all loud and off key just for you. Happy happy biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirthday! Muah