Day One

It's the first day of 2012 and I am happy to welcome the clean slate of a new year. I headed out yesterday to my friend Donna's where we watched Mary Poppins and Muriel's Wedding, and in doing so we missed the countdown to the New Year. Funny how time marches on whether you are watching an awesome comedy from the early 90's or standing in Times Square watching the ball drop. Either way we welcomed the end of 2011 and look forward to making fresh memories in the future.

The dogs, as always, accompany me everywhere I go. If it wasn't for people who allowed me to bring my crew to their homes I certainly would get out a lot less. I love spending time with my dogs and that's a fact. If I can't take them with me I often experience split attention and in some cases guilt for having left them behind. I don't feel this when I'm at work, because that is necessary, but if I'm not working it means my time is my own and often the choice I make is to spend it with the dogs. Undoubtedly this makes me crazy but I don't mind being crazy if it means the dogs are happy and I am happy. Boy is just happy to keep his feet dry on the asphalt.

The dogs had a lovely romp at Donna's where there is a large landscaped lawn for them to run around and explore. It's bordered by acres and acres of trees which we sometimes venture into but the ground is very wet and the dogs spent enough time getting filthy just in the yard near the house, although the bordering trees got a little attention from Cora who thought bark was not just a noise dogs make.

She also worked on her listening skills to no avail. She doesn't follow commands any better with her ears like this than when they are 'normal'. However, when your Momma is Leeloo 'normal ears' are relative. And yes, this is in fact Cora, not Leeloo - a easy mistake someone made since I too have had to double check a couple times to see who I was yelling at.  

There's the Momma - hiding in the trees as usual. Much too busy to stop and pose for me, there might be renegade squirrels afoot and Leeloo is on the case.

And there again is the Boy and his Boobles - inseparable. He takes his ques almost exclusively from Leeloo and if I want to know where he is, I just need to find Leeloo. It's quite rare that he will adventure without her which isn't always good news since Leeloo isn't well known for staying out of trouble.

Neither is Esme. She sticks close though and her trouble is more of the getting dirty and making noise variety. Hopefully, assuming one day her new suit arrives, one of those problems will be rectified. Maybe we'll have her new suit by this time next year because that one is just plain horrid.

And so, despite arriving home to a house with no heat and no internet due to a power outage, 2012 has come in with little to complain about. January 1st is almost over and if the worst to happen is that we spent 3 hours snuggled on the bed under layers and layers of down comforters while I read a good book and didn't have to vacuum we'll be very lucky. Let's see what else 2012 can throw at us ... chances are it's nothing a little down, a good book and the company of adoring dogs can't fix.