Snow Days

   What a great morning! It is Wednesday, my usual day off, but I have a whole bunch of pluses today. My son has the next few days off from school and my husband has decided to stay in bed late today. This is better than a Sunday!

   Last night, Mother Nature dumped a good six inches of heavy, wet snow on us and the only thing we plan to remove is a large area for the three dogs to do their thing. You know, sell hot dogs, square dance, whatever their thing may be.

   The other big plus is that on Amazon.com, I was rewarded with a wonderful review of my short story "Last Bus to Nowhere", Yay!!!!

   Tomorrow, which happens to be the fine holiday of Thanksgiving, we will spend the day with family. This holiday has never been one of my favorites for some reason, which is odd, since I am a huge, I mean, HUGE food person. I love food! Thanksgiving though, I just want squash, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. That stuff I can cook every day of the week.

   To all of you who love and live for tomorrow. I wish you a very Happy, Healthy Thanksgiving Day. Enjoy your families and drive carefully! Have a Happy One!

Dog Day Afternoon

   My son has always wanted his own dog. We have had two dogs for many years now and they love him very much but he wanted a dog that went nuts when he came home and slept in his room. He wanted one that mainly belonged to him.

   So last year, a friend told us that they had gotten a puppy and there was quite possibly one more available. I mentioned to the friends that if the puppy didn't have a home we would take him. The next day, I received a phone call at work from my husband asking if I told them that we wanted a puppy. I said "yes" and then wondered why he was asking. He then informed me that our friends had gone and picked up the puppy and brought him straight to our home. My son was ecstatic and the puppy was immediately named Butch.

   Butch is a cross between a Yellow Labrador and a Beagle. He has the lab length and muscle but has the height (little legs that are duck footed) of a small beagle. This mix gives him the appearance of being kind of like a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

   He is one of the most loving, happy animals I have ever met but has the brain of a sunflower seed.

   I was working on the computer one day and Butch had gotten in to trouble for stealing rawhide bones from the other dogs. He kept trying to take the bones but kept getting into trouble. Finally Butch gave up on the bones and decided to find something that only belonged to him. He found the cone that he wore home from the vets when he was neutered. He walked around the house with it in his mouth for awhile and then disappeared somewhere.

   I got ready to go to work and wanted to take the dogs out before leaving. Out comes Butch, happy as a clam, with the cone on. I laughed so hard and then took the cone off and hid it. Later that day, I received a phone call from my son, asking if Butch was OK? I had no idea what he was talking about but my son explained that when he arrived home from school, Butch was wearing his cone.

   Now, if truth be told, Butch thinks he is a boy. He has no idea that he is a dog! He wants to spend every waking moment doing everything that my son does. Which is great, that is why we got the dog but sometimes it doesn't work out right.

   The other night, my son decided to go into the hot tub. Butch was outside running in the back yard. When he saw Harry in the hot tub he ran over to see him and then jumped into the tub. See, Very Smart!

   He is a good boy (dog) and as I said "the most loving and happy dog, I have ever met."

Have a great Sunday!!

Sims Medieval

  On Sunday, my son and I took all of our old games (DS, Xbox 360, etc) over to Game Stop and traded them in. What a great time we had! We were able to trade in over 60 games and made a small fortune in store credits.
   I made the mistake of buying the game Sims Medieval! Ever since I came home with the game on Sunday, I have put every free minute into getting through the tutorial. You can't turn the tutorial off, you have to play through it. So last night after work and dinner, I made it my quest to finish and actually play the game.
   Problem is, I haven't gotten anything else done. I truly wish I wasn't addicted to games! Will write more later, if I actually stay away from the computer long enough to clean my house. Hope you have a great day!

Water For Elephants

   One of my absolute favorite books of all time is Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen. When I worked at Borders Books as a salesperson, this book was just the best pick for men and women alike. It was so easy to talk about because the story flowed so beautifully and made you feel every emotion deep within your bones.
   It is the story of a young man, who is studying to be a veterinarian during the depression. He has finally made it to the final exam when he is notified that his parents have been tragically killed in a car accident. Being so distraught, the young man, leaves his home town and hops on the first train that comes by.
   The train turns out to be a circus group full of wonderfully colorful people and amazing animals. He joins up with the circus and is asked to be the circus vet. The story is intricately woven delving deep into the hardships of this nomadic band of people.
   One great aspect of this book is how the story is told. It is narrated by the young man and the same man some seventy years later.
   I love this book so much that when the movie was released, I was afraid to go see it thinking that like most movies the director and producers would destroy the book. So this morning, as a treat to myself, I rented Water For Elephants on pay per view and was very surprised to find that they did a good job on it. They stuck to the story except for a few changes here and there and the actors did a fine job portraying the characters.
   I will stick to my opinion though, if you have not read the book or seen the movie yet, PLEASE, read the book first. It truly is a great story.