holiday update

Okay, okay. I guess I should make an update.

Our Christmas trip was fun, sicky, cold, very social, warm, frustrating, fulfilling, stressful, relaxed, and many other things. We missed snow by less than a day 3 times (it snowed before we got to Virginia but then melted before we got there, same with Dallas, and it snowed right after we left Virginia...DAMMIT). Camping out on the floor at Tim's brother's house was not as bad as expected, especially after we moved into the guest house with my sister-in-law and her husband and cranked up the heat (unbeknownst to the host, but you just don't freeze your guests. You just don't.). I enjoyed spending time with Tim's sister a lot and had a great time with her and Walt. Tim's brother tried. He's just not a very social person, which isn't good when you have 7 guests for a few days. They made tons of yummy food and we all exchanged fabulous gifts. We also were only without one of our sleeping bags for one night, until the airline found it.

Dallas was more of the same but with less people and less luggage. This time the airline lost all our luggage until the next day. I remembered why I usually carry on my toiletries, especially contact solution. We went to the Dallas World Aquarium which is just FABULOUS. Really, anyone living close to Dallas really needs to check it out. Tim also was nice enough to hook up their dvd player (which they got for xmas LAST year). Well, after he hooked it up (which took awhile because their system is wack), we found out that the crappy dvd player didn't even work, so we went with my dad to buy a new one. Tim and I have been working on a dvd of wedding and honeymoon pictures to give to our parents, so we got to give them a sneak preview. Hopefully we will finish that up soon.

The saddest part of my trip was seeing my doggy. He's a dachshundt and is named Oscar Mayer. He turned 17 on December 27. Which is OLD for a dog. REALLY OLD. And it showed :/ He now: is mostly blind, is mostly deaf, has a heart murmur, has kidney stones and other kidney trouble, is missing most of his front teeth so he has trouble eating, and has arthritis so bad in his hind legs that he can barely hold himself up. My parents have to carry him out to the backyard for him to take care of business. When my parents leave the house, they often come home to find him wandering around lost because he got up and didn't know where he went. He bumped into walls, furniture, people while we were there too many times to count. He is taking pain meds so he isn't really suffering, but boy is it hard to see. That will probably be the last time I ever do see him. I sat down with him and petted him a lot and said a nice long goodbye before we left. :(

The only picture I have here is one of him opening a xmas present a few years ago:

I will have to find better ones to share. My next post will be of knitted presents, but it will be another couple days most likely.

burbs said:

Awww.. Oscar Mayer looked so happy to get the box of goodies! I remember my dog when she was 16, she needed a lot of help too. Even though she needed all that help, she was always the same dog, willing to smile (she smiled her teeth for whoever she liked), and wag her tail. :)