...just excitement!

Our New Year's Eve plans are coming together, and I'm so excited! Our youth group is heading to Ottawa to celebrate with friends up there, so Emily, (Abigail is in Norway), Mirielle, Benjamin, Adrian, Sonja, Jon, Char, Cam, will be heading north, spending the night, having brekky and dinner up there before heading home New Year's Day evening. So Ashley and the girls will be either coming here, or Margaret and Wulf and Paul and I will be heading over there, and we'll have our own little party! I am heading out in a bit here to get some party horns and hats. Wulf and Elise won't really understand, but Anya will like ringing in the new year. Shh, don't tell her, it won't really be midnight ha.

Our friends are having a gathering, and yes, it's a little hard not to go, but we will have some fun anyway.

And on New Year's day, one of our besties is turning...63? Not exactly sure, but we are heading up to the restaurant on the lake where you get the chicken wings, one free for each year of age. I love this place, I order the haddock and bring home half of it. And with friends, so fun!

Anyway. Yesterday we painted at Emily's. She has a big old house in town, with beautiful vintage woodwork, which we took pains not to splatter. She has two adjoining living rooms, we painted both of those, and it looks so nice! We finished up, and had wings and pizza, then put the furniture back. It was a good day.

My girls are on a late schedule, a teenager vacation schedule. They stay up playing SIMS, then sleep in. They are going to be in for a world of pain when they have to get up for school again next week.

I am not watching Anne on this school break because her mama is a teacher, so I don't have to get up in the morning either. Last night I could NOT fall asleep, it was one a.m. the last time I looked. When I finally did, I had good sleep, but woke up at seven, and rolled back over. That is so nice to be able to do! I didn't get out of bed until 8:30. That's late for an old lady!

The new year is upon us, and I have thoughts and dreams of hoeing things out, minimizing, losing fifty pounds, getting another job, so I can pay for my travel addiction. I want to replace the tile floor in the kitchen, fix the hot tub, and renovate near the door, putting the pantry in the laundry room. So I just need time, money, help, and the motivation to last longer than the first week of January.

You want to know what's sad? When your dog starts to get old. Suri is seven and a half. Suri has a bad hip anyway, she was hit by a car when she was little, and had to have the hip bone, where it goes into the hip socket, totally removed as it was shattered. Muscle fiber replaced the bone, and went into the socket, and she is a little wobbly, but it worked. We have measured the dog chow and tried lower carb formulas, because she tends towards portliness. She has a few little white hairs on her chin, too. She is the nicest dog, with the kindest face, she is definitely part people. She is a hungry dog, she does a little dance-y twirl when you're setting her food down for her. She counter surfs when no one is around, if you leave a sleeve of bagels or a loaf of bread within her reach, she will consume the entire thing. She behaves like an angel when we're here, of course, whereas Sunny would be more likely to swipe a toddler's snack from the coffee table. She won't just take it when the child is sitting here, but she watches and swoops in for the unattended, and gobble and crunch. Suri is more well behaved. They are both part of the family, and as much as I hate the dog hair and the rainy days of wiping them off, and the way they hog the couches, I love them so much. They just make it a home. The other day, I mentioned that when these two are long gone, I would like a small dog, a portable dog, one I can bring to Target with me in a little doggy purse. Then I felt bad for even planning, because how can we bear the loss of these two, how can we? Never mind, we won't think about it.

Anyway. Time for coffee #2, then maybe I'll rouse those girls out of bed...