First time Dot held her and Boyfriend got to see her.
December 26, 2006 at 1:00 p.m. our lives changed forever!!!! OMG, we were both petrified when we arrived near Baton Rouge, Louisiana (a mere 250 mile drive!) to behold our Bella.
She is so tiny, it is staggering to think of caring for her. When she barks, she sounds like a squeaky toy. She nearly mews. When she bends in her food dish to get a bite, her hind end comes up in the air; she looks like she is performing in a circus doing a handstand! She is very expressive with her paws. Tim was certain last night he had already taught her to shake hands!
We have been watching the Dog Whisperer's DVD so we will know how to properly train her. Sad to see how we have done it all wrong with every dog we had.
She has definitely bonded to both of us. She loves being curled up in our necks. She finds TT's unshaved holiday face very interesting to lick. Her tongue is as smooth as a baby's bottom, so I am sure he feels like sandpaper to her! Fun to hear him giggle!
I made the little papoose today, because I had errands to run and she cannot bear to be in a basket, cage or bag (Dot got me a fancy designer doggie carrier purse for Christmas!). As soon as I pop her in the papoose, she snuggles in and stops squeaking/mewing!
While I was getting my manicure, she curled up in the papoose, stuck her head inside and slept!
Puppy love. . . she definitely has grabbed our heartstrings!
So, did you all have a Merry Christmas? More on that later!
P.S. After having her for a couple of days, I have decided she is too fancy for a simple name, so am calling her by her full given name, Isabella! She likes it better, too!
Traditions can anchor us to the joyful memories of past family gatherings. I shared our tree trimmings. Tomorrow we will all have stockings. Yes, that's right, the four of us adults have to have stockings hung by the armoire with care. . . filled to overflowing! TT and I since becoming Catholic have been going to the 4:00p.m. Mass. Our Bishop is officiates that service and we would not miss being in his nurturing presence.
My Christmas brunch is a tradition. Every year, I may add something new, but there are certain foods that must be on the table.
Tonight, the table is set and much has been prepared for tomorrow's feast. The traditional dishes are:
Holiday Strata- a breakfast casserole of french bread cubes, milk, eggs, cheese, sausage and spices. Baked it becomes a crusty, cheesy delight, the breakfast version of a great macaroni and cheese. I hope my family does not notice the veggie/soy sausage! I am making exception to my vegetarian, no-dairy lifestyle for Christmas Day, but I just cannot eat dead rotting animal. My eldest sister actually introduced our family to the Breakfast Strata. Over the years, we had many happy gatherings at her home. So this anchors me to my childhood.
Cranberry Kuchen with fresh Whipped Cream- An orange flavored single layer "cake" topped with cranberries cooked in sugar and orange juice, then baked. Oh my, it is a tangy, delicious morning sweet.
Texas Caviar- moving to the lunch side of brunch is this great salsa type dip for tortilla chips made of black eyed peas, chopped tomatoes, avocados, green onions, white corn, cilantra, red wine vinegar and more.
Fresh Fruit Tray- lovely assortment of fruits. This year, I am adding Devonshire Cream as a slightly sweet dip. I'll let you know if that makes it to the "Traditions" list or not. Devonshire Cream is something else my eldest sister made for me, served with scones and tea, of course.
Veggie Tray- I may be the only one who eats brocoli, cauliflower, carrots and celery on Christmas Day, but I have to have something out of the garden daily. I am adding red, yellow, orange and green peppers for color and a store-bought (horrors!) Ranch Dip to the platter tomorrow. Maybe the Ranch will help more of the veggies to be eaten.
Mimosas- A client gave me a lovely bottle of champagne and I have freshy, pulpy orange juice or cranberry juice to top off the stemmed glass of sparkly.
Asssorted homebaked cookies, fudges and candies- Ha! This year, they are all from my caring friends/clients. With "The Move Out of Salon", I hardly have had time to sleep, much less bake.
Pumpkin Pie with fresh Whipped Cream- usually a mere leftover from Christmas Eve dinner, this year I baked the pie just for Brunch. I made one for Thanksgiving and Boyfriend loved it. TT has always bragged on my Pumpkin Pie so when Boy loved it, TT and I decided he was a keeper! More later on his other attributes.
Assorted crackers, cheese balls, dips- again a cheese ball and homemade pepper jelly over creamed cheese were gifts.
Hot Coffee with fresh whipped cream- that is a yummy, fun tradition. Feels so luxurious to plop that cream into the steamy cup and watch it slowly melt.
Hot Tea- my sister has been a tea drinker for years. I have just begun to love the ritual of tea. I usually have a pot both morning and evening. Herbal only, as I am caffeine intolerant.
Lemon Water- Nothing can be plain on Christmas morning, not even the water!
The Kids will arrive at 11:00. We will probably take four hours (or more) to leisurely eat, talk, laugh, and open gifts. We open everything ONE AT A TIME! Every gift has a story.
That is another tradition. . .
Merry Christmas to all!
Last night, with the help of TT, Dot, Boyfriend, Assistant and Friend, I am moved out of the old salon. All my "stuff" is at the new salon, waiting for me to organize. I start work again January 2.
The last few weeks were so tough that I felt no sadness moving out. I will miss my close friends a lot. And I will miss the general comraderie I felt with the whole staff. Sadly enough, I am thankful to be away from Owner. He made sure he was as unloveable as possible. Funny, he had said, "You want to leave hating me." I didn't want to.
I still don't. I just feel very, very sorry for him. Always the victim. And always the hero. In his eyes. For the sake of Christian ethic, I won't put into print how he is seen. His hold over his staff is fear. He really showed his colors with my co-worker who got kicked out because after offering him a five-week notice, he demanded she sign a nine-week contract or leave.
That move lost him five weeks of rent and his respect level plummeted into sub-zero.
I don't give up on people very easily. Most of the time, I could see the good in him and even focus on it. I don't believe he premeditatively injures people. He just does. His acid, sarcastic, sexist remarks sting deeply. He laughs and thinks he is so funny. He only amuses himself.
After ten years, I had to admit that he just is not going to change. And the environment was just too toxic. I have to work hard. And I am going to have to work for many years. So why set myself up for unneccessary stress?
Onward to New Salon! New Owner (R from now on!) took all of his staff, including Assistant and me and our spice (plural for spouse??)to a resort. We stayed in elegant condos, had a beautiful "Evening in Tuscany" themed dinner and open bar and brunch the following morning. Our cost? Tipping the valet attendants!!
On top of that, R read the most touching meditation to us from the Old Testament and a devotional about knowing the Blessings that are from God. Dot, Assistant and I were very teary. R knows how to nurture. He understands his power as the owner, that he is like a father and his troups need his affirmations, his blessing, his enthusiasm, his compassion, his leadership.
He still loves doing hair. The salon is a huge part of his life, like it is for the rest of us. He even says, when he has been able to solve a problem for us, "Who's your daddy???" What love.
I know who my Daddy is. He has undergirded me all my life. He led me to Old Salon and blessed my socks off there. And now, He has led me on to New Salon. I feel like my weary and very lonely soul will be healed by being in the company of this caring leadership.
Hope burns very bright in my heart.
I read tomorrow Hebrews 10:5-10. Thanks be to God for all.
I want my mommy and daddy to come pick me up.
I had to take a photo of a photo 'cause I do not know how to transfer a photo from an email to Picaso, but here she is. We pick her up a couple days after Christmas. Hopefully, we will have most the salon work/painting/move complete so I will have a few days with her before I have to return to work.
We are so excited to have a new baby in our family. She is a Teacup Shih Tzu. As of this photo, she is about 7 weeks old. She will weigh 5 pounds at full adult.
We are naming her Isabella Antoinette.
Isabella is Spanish for consecrated to God.
Antoinette is Latin for priceless.
We are calling her "Bella".
Can you believe it? Hehehehe. She is just too cute.
Decorating the tree is always a time of reflection for me. We do not have a "designer" tree! Nearly every ornament has a story.
The angel is from my parent's collection. My favorite Christmas carol was "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and I loved this little tutu clad angel. (Now my favorite is "O Holy Night".)
My eldest sister gave me the egg manger scene when she was in college and I was a single digit! I loved everything she did for me. Not only did she give me really cool gifts, but she always wrote me letters. Can you imagine how special that made me feel? I am in awe that forty some years later, I still have this fragile treasure.
Someone close to our Dot nicknamed her "Peanut", so when we saw this little guy at a craft show, we added him to her ornament collection. I love that she lets us keep him and his brother. When Dot was taking care of Mother, we all learned that Mother's first husband called her "Peanut", too. That made these little guys even more dear!
When Dot was four, I was trying to tough it out in my miserable first marriage. We were so poor, it was stupid. Of course, he could drink every night. . . Anyway, we made these clothspin soldiers and angels to adorn our straggly tree. Remember, Dot and I both love a craft project, so it was a fun endeavor. I look at them with gratitude for how God has bountifully provided for us compared to those meager days.
The snowman and angel were made by Mother's industrious hands. The craft is called "rug hooking", kind of using fabric to "paint" a picture. Mother loved sewing and handling fabrics (see where Dot and I get it?), so this was a delight for her. She used to love telling me she had become the "Happy Hooker"! It was funny because she was a very moral and proper woman. I don't think I ever heard her say a cuss word.
The skinny Santa and Mrs. Santa were also from my parent's ornaments. I always loved them because both my parents were slender and they acted jovial about Christmas!
The beautiful cross is from my middle sister. She and I share in Catholic faith. As our priest said last week, Christmas is really more about welcoming Him everyday into our lives and rejoicing that one day, He will return. So we celebrate not only His birth, but the joy of His life in and around us.
One of my Dot's many talents is playing the piano. She also is a fabby ballet dancer, ballroom dancer, knits, sews, cooks and gives the best natural manicure in town. I stand at the tree and remember her recitals and the times she would bounce into my room, "Mommy, come here, I want to dance for you." Her beauty would make me cry.
Do you love the fishy hairdresser?!! And next to her, the paintbrush teddy bear? How thankful we have been for the simple service talents God gave us to provide for us and our family. Through our clients, our lives have been full of the kindest, smartest, most helpful people. Hard for Tim to have the door closed to his profession. He was one heck of a painter and hard worker. What he does today, he still does with all his heart. That's just who he is.
When we lived in Michigan (until I was 14), we had a oil furnace with the registers in the floor. Mother would set these angel chimes so that every time the furnace turned on, we would hear the sweet chimes.
Mother loved beautiful china, glassware, table linens. She just did not like to cook!! On some vacation, she found these Christmas dishes. Apparently they were quite costly. Always an at-home mom, she was extremely thrifty and respectful of my father's hard work as an accountant. So, she passed the dishes up. Daddy was forever telling her, "If you like it, just buy it because I don't want to hear you kicking yourself for months because you didn't!!" Like Tim, he was very generous. Seems Daddy bought them on the sly! It was a glorious production bringing these beauties to the table each year.
When the wrapping paper is tossed and the dishes are in the dishwasher, Christmas is about love. The love of the Father for His children and the love of His children for each other. And so, the dressing of our tree anchors my heart to that love.
Merry Christmas, dear blogger friends!
No, I have not dropped off the face of the earth! I am a horrible blogger friend as I have not visited anyone for a month.
What have I been doing?
1) Working a million hours a week. We are so slammed, it is wonderful, but I am tired at night.
2) Getting ready for Christmas, tree, shopping, wrapping, and all.
3) Trying to put together my decor for the new salon room, which I will be there working on January 2!!
4) Making a place and plans for our new puppy who will arrive December 27!!! (More on her later!)
5) Still going to spinal decompression appointments every morning around 7:45. The good news is, it is working!
6) Eating vegetarian and no dairy or eggs. Lost nine pounds in the nine weeks since I stopped smoking and stopped abusing alcohol!!!!
7) Enjoying feeling HAPPY since I listened to Tim and got on this hormone lotion from the health food store!!
8) Thankful for the privaledge to be a reader at our church once a month! I still shake before I go up there!
So, dear friends, I have not forgotten you. I just am a bit out of fuel by the time I get home! I hope you all are happy and healthy!
