Christmas 2010

This is what it looked like on December 22, 2010. The dry creek behind our office was almost overflowing. Chunks of the bank on the other side kept dropping into the raging torrent. A few more days of this and the parking lot on the other side will be floating downstream, cars and all.











Here's my Christmas at my cousins' house:

What a wonderful day! Family, friends, food.....and a new cousin, Bunny Lucille!



This is Clancy. He's 13 now. No, he doesn't have a pony tail. That's the back of Cailin's head. She's standing behind him, but it does sort of look like he has long hair that way, don't you think?









Electronics keep kids and other relatives occupied in the living room while I hang out in the kitchen hoping someone will let ME taste the food. That last picture is my Aunt Joelle (Uncle Jason's sister), Cailin and Clancy. Cailin got a Kindle for Christmas and she can play games on it AND read books.

I got a really neat T-shirt for Christmas. It's white and has sleeves (for cold weather) and says "I WOOF you!" on the back. I LOVE it. I also got a chocolate (the kind I can eat) pretzel. I would definitely win a pretzel eating contest. "Now you see it...now you don't!" is my mantra.

Merry Christmas to all....

Mary-Margaret

I LOVE Christmas Cards!!

This is from my very good friend, Lisa Bryant. I wanted to show her how much I appreciated her card. First thing I do with a card is "READ" it!!




Then, I taste it (the only signature I recognize is taste!) and I truly digest the meaning of the writing inside. A got a little piece of the card stuck to my tongue and you can see I was able to dislodge it successfully.





And here you see that I truly enjoyed the entire card. Yum!

Thank you, Lisa and family. Mom says "Thank you!", too. She was able to put all the little pieces in the envelope so I could "read" it again later.

Happy New Year, everyone!!

Love, Mary-Margaret

Rain, rain! Go away...! (or ET Phone Home)

Here's me, all hunkered down in my carseat. I know it's dangerous to drive in the rain and even though I have a carseat I brace myself with my hand, in case Mom has to come to a fast stop.






Even better, I skootch down in my car seat so I'm protected on all sides in case of an accident. Problem is, I can't see out all that well.








Oh, heck. Hoodie on, protective mesh all around. I'll poke my head up a little to see what's going on. Mom starts laughing at me, saying "ET...Phone Home!". Who's ET again??????

I think I'll ignore her. Not nice to sniggle at my expense, I say. I never say a word when she wakes up in the morning with her hair sticking out every which way. Nope! Not me.

I was just kidding about wanting the rain to go away. Actually, I think it's kinda kewl. All sorts of new smells to enjoy.

Love to all..


Mary-Margaret

Christmas Miracles

This started to put Mom in the Christmas spirit for the first time this year. This was sent to us by our good friend Bobbie who is a rescue lady. It's one of the nicest Christmas videos ever.

Thank you, Bobbie.

Wishing everyone peace and goodwill ...

Mary-Margaret

Seeing Santa or "Thumbthings" not right here!

Every year we go "see Santa". Some years are better than others. This year, I could tell right off that he was an imposter. See if you can spot the biggest giveaway. I am FIVE now...and I've seen a few "Santas" in my life. I'm very discriminating in my Santa tastes.




Rascal and Yogi were waiting their turn to give the imposter their Christmas lists.








Mater, the pit bull, was squirming to get away from "Santa", too. I should add that Mater was very polite and seemed to be attracted to me. I was flattered, but I told him I already had a boyfriend.









He tried to "make nice" with me while his elves were fussing with the camera and the printer, but I just turned by back to him. Everyone kept asking what I was upset about, and if I could have, I would have told them "Check out the left thumb?".



One elf asked Mom to approve my picture before they put it into the frame. Mom scrinched up her nose when she noticed that the pup wearing my dress had a green and red bow on, was black and white, and was very tiny. "That's NOT Mary-Margaret!", she said. "That's Bella!". I helps to know everyone's name. THIS is Bella. She's only eleven weeks old. We have the same designer.

I made friends with Annie and Pugsley while we waited in line.



Out in front of Petco there were so many pups and kittens in cages. I felt really guilty about my lot in life. I was one of the lucky ones. I got adopted when I was just a baby and me and my mom are totally committed to each other. Some kids aren't so lucky, and their humans can't or won't take proper care of them. They give them to a rescue place, like "LEAF" (Lake Elsinore Animal Friends) where maybe they'll be adopted. Maybe? I don't want to think about the alternative.

Me and Mom don't need anything for Christmas. Really! If you want to do something nice, go buy a bag of kibble or cat food and take it to your local shelter. Take some of those old blankets that you've been meaning to get rid of. Or towels. I put all my baby clothes in a bag and we're going to take them to LEAF. We'll call next week and see what else they can use.

Hoping you all have a happy Holiday season, and that you truly enjoy the gift of giving.

Love, Mary-Margaret

Meeting old friends...and Santa, too!

Remember my teacher, Miss Lois? Back from when I was a young puppy in school? Well, guess who I ran into at Miss Marilyn's Puppy Day Spa, hmmmmm? Yup! It's Miss Lois and her two pups, Oliver (the black one), and Kinsey (the brown one). They go to Miss Marilyn's, too.

I got to play with all my friends today AND with Oliver and Kinsey. We really got along well even though they're just a tad bigger than me. Madison was feeling a bit under the weather which makes me sad. She's taking steroids for her "condition" (I don't think I should discuss other people's or Pup's medical conditions here out of courtesy to them), but it's affecting her figure. She used to be really slim and proud of it, and now she's rounder than I am. I love her for who she is inside, though, not how she looks. We took a long time saying good-bye today. We didn't really want to leave each other, that's what good friends we are.



Here's me after being styled. I decided to look slightly down and to one side instead of directly at the camera. I learn this stuff from people in my family and I think they have something there. Yup! I like how this picture turned out. My hair ribbon is bright Christmas green to match the ribbons on my new Christmas dress (on sale at Vons for only $7.99). Mom says maybe we can go see Santa tomorrow. I hope we get one whose shins don't show and who has a beard that stays in one place. Maybe Petco? I liked their Santa from a couple of years ago when I went there with my Uncle Rudy. He was like the real thing.

About Mom...in case you were wondering...her face is still throbbing and she's popping those pain pills every four hours. She takes the antibiotics every 6 hours. The swelling is pretty localized now, but the pain won't go away. Monday is when she gets her root canal. Big whoopeee, she says.

Sorry to bore you. I know I should be writing about MY life and not my mom's but she's a pretty big part of my life AND she's the one who feeds me, drives me around, and changes channels on the TV for me. I figured I'd give her a paragraph tonight for anyone who cared.

That's it for now. Thank Dog it's Friday!!

Love,

Mary-Margaret

Mom is smiling here!

Believe it or not this is about half the size that her head was this morning. She's feeling everly so much better. This morning tears were just flowing down her cheeks and she couldn't even talk. Dr. Bishay drained the abscess and she was fine for a couple of hours and then it got even worse, so she went back and he unplugged it and it's staying unplugged until Monday when she gets her root canal.

Between pain pills, antibiotics and swishing salt water in her mouth she might just be all better pretty soon. Tonight she plans on making up for all the sleep she lost last night.

In case you forgot, this is what she looked like a few days ago. Note the symmetry? Color? Eyes going in same direction?



Love you Grandpa. Talk to you tomorrow, ok?

Your Grand-doggy and Field Agent in Temecula...

Mary-Margaret

PS - Every body has bad picture days. Here's mine (posted to make my mom feel a little better):

Dear Grandpa...

Hello! It's ME, Mary-Margaret!!

Mom asked me to write you and tell you that she can't talk. She has a really bad abscess in her #6 eye tooth and it is pretty much swollen all the way up to her eye socket and she can't smile or anything. She says not to worry because she has an appointment with her regular dentist tomorrow, and her emergency dentist took an xray and gave her a prescription for some antibiotics and now she's home and on pain pills, too. So she's quiet AND loopy. As long as she doesn't forget to feed me my supper I can live with it.

I probably shouldn't mention this now but....the dentist and both ladies in the dentist's office asked my mom "Where's Mary-Margaret?". Yeah...that's the truth. They knew me but not my mom. One lady even said if mom had just told her that she was Mary-Margaret's mom, they'd know right away who they were going to see.

So...there you have it. She says to say "sorry" about not being able to talk but that you'll understand and maybe even sympathize a little bit with her predicament. Maybe. I do. I'm being very good and loving and not bugging her.

Oh yes...and I should tell you that the garage door is being weird again, but it's got a really long guarantee so she's going to call the garage door company to come out and fix it. It "hiccups" and stops before it opens or closes, and she has to hit the button over and over before it finally does what she wants it to. Stoopid door.

She's going to go sit in her chair and try to stop hurting now. She just put a bunch of ice cubes into a wet wash cloth and she's holding it on her face. I don't think tonight is a good night to hop into her lap and ask her to share her supper, do you?

We love you, Grandpa.

Your Grand-doggy...

Mary-Margaret

Little Jordan and Rescue Ink

Every life is a miracle. God bless little Jordan! And God bless the people at Rescue Ink!

Amen

Mary-Margaret