Oh, how I love Christmas...

I cannot believe that it is already a week before Christmas!! How fast this year went!! Seriously. I am sitting here as my husband works on his computer, looking at all the lights on the tree, pondering on all of the blessings that have made up this past year. Christmas and all it's sights and smells warms my heart. Somehow, staring at the lights of the tree and letting yourself get lost in the glow takes you to another world. I can't explain it, but it's one of the things I look forward to all year. This is our first "official" Christmas together and I can't help but want to savor every moment. I think I annoy Frankie sometimes because I try so hard to make it special, but I can't help it. It's what I do. I don't want to miss out on a chane of possibly having a new tradition. So I try and make everything a tradition. lol. One thing that we are definetely going to make a tradition is our Christmas Open House! Only a few showed up (cuz we only invited a few!) but it was nice. As the years go by and when we have a bigger house, we hope it will grow. We love getting together with family and friends, especially at Christmas... it too warms my heart.

Such a wonderful time of year.

pat pat pat

Yes, i am patting myself on the back, thank you very much! I am officially finished with school for the semester. Done. Completed. Terminado. De Finition. It feels so good! I feel very accomplished with my 4 A's and 1 B. Check this out... I was the highest grade of the class in both Science lab and English! At the start of the semester, I really had my doubts, but I am realizing that I am smarter than I thought!!! What do ya know, I am smarter than a 5th grader! lol.

I am gearing up for my Spring classes that start January 12th, for which I will be taking not 1, but 2 speech classes (since everyone knows what an awesome public speaker I am!). Adding to the list will also be Humanities and 2 Education classes for which I will spend 50+ hours in different elementary classrooms doing activities and tutoring. Fun!!!

For now, I am grateful to my husband for giving me this incredible opportunity and for putting up with me during my stressful times. He was there for me when I was crying my eyes out over my stats problems, slamming books, staring blank at the computer, or reading poems to him that I couldn't figure out on my own. I do work best when under the gun, but I am not fun to be around during it. Just ask my mom.

Anyway, I am just so excited and pretty darn proud. Thought you'd like to know. heeheehee.

Happy Solutions

No more sadness :) We found our solution for our crazy girl and of course we are keeping her. She is still a wild beast but we are fixing the fences and found a good place to tie her up that still gives her plenty of freedom. Plus, a great nighttime solution that she is now loving. I couldn't bear the thought of her being out in the 37 degree weather that has been our nights, so my husband and I have a new bedtime routine. Like clockwork, I open the back door, he lays out the blue tarp and hauls in the cubby while I unchain sam and toss the ball a few times. Once he has the cubby lined in front of the door with the gate open, He calls to both dogs who go running and have nowhere else to go but straight into the crate, where I have layed warm blankets and a toy. I shut the cubby door behind them, Frank slides it back, I close the back door and put a mat between the door and cubby. Frank scoots the cage next to the door, holding the mat in place and I pretend the dogs are birds and cover the cubby with a sheet. They now know that the sheet means nigh-night time and instantly they are quiet and lay down. They literally sleep in there for about 9 hours without a sound to get out or anything. They love it in there and they love being warm and cozy! Come nightfall, Sam knows it's time to come in and lets us know. Anyway, we've got it down to a science now and the whole process goes rather quickly... may seem a little extravagent for a dog, but what are ya gonna do... she's our child and we love her. Yes, it turns our little house into a maze, but hey, it's a great laugh and makes for fun memories!