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A place for everything—well, at least some of the things.
Posted by doggonedmysteries
We’ve collected Bull Terrier figurines for twenty-eight years but have had no real way to display most of them. Nearly all of them I’d carefully wrapped in bubble wrap packed them in boxes and stashed them in our attic. We kept telling ourselves that one day we’d be able to unpack them and set them out in a curio cabinet or something. I don’t like clutter, things scattered about on bookcases and tables, collecting dust, and, with OUR DOGS getting broken.
Yesterday, on a whim, we went bargain shopping. We managed to find a bargain basement priced curio cabinet. A local high-end furniture store is going out of business and has a huge sale going on. (Who can resist that?) This morning our curio cabinet arrived, much to our surprise, we really didn’t expect it for a few days since they had to bring it in from one of their other three stores. Dear Hubby and a neighbor went and picked it up. I woke to find our new cabinet all set up except for the glass shelves. They left that to me. (Smart men!)
Unfortunately, it didn’t take me long to fill it and I think there are still a few stray Bull Terrier figurines hiding in the attic. However, it looks wonderful. Instead of clutter, I have a beautiful cabinet filled with our lovingly chosen Bullies. We purchased most of them at dog shows where I was showing our dogs, so they all have wonderful memories connected to them. A few were given to us by dear friends. One little one is very special to me since my baby sister gave it to me two years before she died and I’m glad to be able to see it every day now.
Posted in Dog related, hobbies, Misc, My blog
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, gifts, Home, Humor, Life, Love, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
Christmas Eve
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Rain has poured down on us all day and yet the icy snow remains in the yard. Last night’s freezing rain coated everything in a thin sheet of ice. I stepped out on the porch to look at the neighborhood Christmas lights reflected from every surface our block. It was a festive sight.
I’m happy to be snug at home this Christmas. I spent too many of them in the past far from my home. Where I was, I didn’t feel all that welcome and I missed Dear Hubby something terrible. A couple times, I was stuck in some distant airport waiting for a flight home.
So tonight, I’ll count my blessings while I snuggle with DH and the pups and we enjoy our movie marathon and pop corn.
A younger sister who was the strongest person I ever knew blessed me with her love every day of her short life.
A father who was loving, kind, and compassionate blessed me.
A mother who understood and always told me to be myself and be proud of who I am blessed me.
I will always love and miss them.
My Dear Hubby is a blessing to me every day.
My wonderful aunties and cousins are truly a blessing.
My dear friends old and new are always a blessing.
Have a wonderful Holiday dear readers for you too are a blessing to me.
Posted in Holidays, In memory of..., My blog
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, gifts, Home, Humor, Life, Love, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Snow, Writer, Writing
Always check for uninvited guests
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Many years ago, when we still put up a Christmas tree, we’d go to a local tree farm and cut down our own. Getting a tree at a Christmas tree farm guarantees that you get a fresh one. However, every now and then, you might bring home some uninvited guests.
Almost everyone remembers National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. One of my favorite scenes is when Chevy Chase tangles with the squirrel that had stowed away in the Christmas tree. We didn’t have a crazed squirrel but we did find some uninvited guests in our tree one year.
While hanging the lights on the tree I came across two odd looking things stuck to two of the branches. I showed them to Dear Hubby and he knew what they were. He clipped the twigs off, took them outside, and tied them onto a couple of hedge branches. “People pay for those egg casings,” he told me when he came in.
“They what?”
“Those were Praying Mantis eggs.”
“Oh, neat!”
Had those objects stayed in the warm house, several thousand, tiny Praying Mantis would have hatched out of them. It’s definitely not as dramatic as a wild and crazy squirrel stowed away in your tree.
I’m glad we didn’t have thousands of teensy bugs running around the house for Christmas.
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, gifts, Home, Humor, Life, Love, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Snow, Writer, Writing
What’s the worst gift you ever received?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Dear Hubby and I no longer exchange wrapped gifts. He doesn’t have the energy or strength to go shopping and I hate to shop. Instead, we think of things we like to buy or do and we go out together and buy or do whatever.
On our first Christmas, DH surprised me with a pair of diamond earrings, they weren’t large, they weren’t fancy, but to me they were the crown jewels and I loved them. To this day, I’m seldom seen without them.
I think it was our second Christmas where he made a mistake. He listened to his mother about what gift he should buy for me. Maybe some people would love to receive a new vacuum cleaner, but cleaning items have never ranked a place on my Santa’s list. Cleaning is work. DH never made that sort of blunder again.
Since that second year fiasco, he has managed to buy me brilliant and insightful gifts, gifts that have brought tears of joy to my eyes. The best of them weren’t expensive they were the gifts that proved he’d been listening to me during the year.
Now you tell me what was your ‘worst’ gift ever?
What do you want for your holiday gift?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
What I want you can’t wrap in gift paper and put a ribbon on it.
I’d love to have my husband the strong and healthy man he once was.
I’d love to have more energy, time, and patience.
I’d like a clean house. Not to have to battle the fierce killer dust bunnies that crawl out from under the furniture from time to time. Not to find love notes written in the dust on the coffee table. I’d like the interior of the house painted, the fence damaged by some cruel hand fixed.
I’d enjoy easily cleaned floors that were not ancient cracked wood, vinyl tiles, and worn thin area rugs. Furniture that I didn’t have to cover with throws to make it presentable.
I want a muse to whack me over the head and keep me writing each day.
I’d like to have my car last for at least ten more years.
I’d like to be able to pay each bill as it comes in and not have to decide whom we pay this month and who has to wait.
I’d like to thank everyone who drops by to read my simple blog.
Happy Holidays!
Toys to torment siblings and parents
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Toy commercials are rampant now that Christmas is fast approaching. I admit I do get a kick out of some of the toys they are advertising. There’s a dinosaur robot that cracks me up, and I keep telling Dear Hubby, “I want one.” Of course he tells me no. He knows me too well. I’d probably use it to torment him and the dogs.
Every year there are toys for the child who is into espionage but now they are almost as sophisticated as what the CIA has to use. Hey, kids how about using a toy to listen in on your parent’s private conversations? We’ve just the thing for you. There isn’t an older child around who wouldn’t appreciate having little brother or sister able to spy on them. Let the beatings commence.
Another brilliant gift idea, night vision goggles, exactly what every budding burglar needs to have.
Hey, I’m that evil person who gives children gifts of xylophones, drums, and things (like Leggos) that have many tiny pieces. I don’t have to live with the noisemakers or stepping on those little crippling pieces of plastic. Nor do I have to listen to the howls of the older child when they catch a younger one spying.
My kids have four legs and fur. They’re happy with tennis balls and dog cookies.
The mother-in-law gift
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Every year about this time, I begin to notice more gray hairs appearing at an astonishing rate. Why, you ask. It’s time to nail down Dear Hubby and actually go and buy a Christmas gift for his mother.
For the thirty-five years we’ve been married I’ve spent the months between one Christmas and the next on the hunt for the woman’s next gift. It never fails, I think I’ve found her the perfect gift but when I tell him about my discovery, he shoots it down like a twelve point buck in deer season.
Now it is again looming too close and I’ve resorted to torturing him nightly for ideas. Thank heavens for a mailbox full of catalogues.
“Honey, take a look at this lovely gift basket full of soaps, lotions, and creams. Do you think she’d like it?”
He peruses the page I point out, he scowls, and he answers, “She’d never use any of it.”
“Why not? I’d enjoy a gift like that.”
He grunts and says, “She only uses one brand of lotion and soap.”
I sigh and pick up another catalogue. “What about this great fruit basket?”
“Nope.”
“Oh, come on everyone LOVES fruit baskets.”
He removes the catalogue from my hands and tosses it aside. “She doesn’t.”
I sneak another catalogue out of the pile on the coffee table and flip though a few pages. “Here! She couldn’t possibly find fault in this. It has expensive chocolates, fancy cocoas, cookies, and dark chocolate covered nuts.”
“You forget. She can’t eat nuts.”
Bang.
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Fiction, gifts, Humor, Life, Love, Mother-in-law, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
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