12/30/2019 Monday

I get that! I have strong feelings about shared responsibility around the home, too. Ron will ask what I want him to do to help. I tell him. Then he will respond with, "You need to make me a list." I counter, "No, YOU need to make a list. If you need a list to remember what I ask you to do, that's on you, not me." However, sometimes it's just easier to write the damn list! LOL! It's a hard thing this shared responsibility thing. It never feels equally shared, no matter what, but I think that's just a normal part of life. If it's not working for you as it is, then yes, you have to figure out ways to make it work better.

Oh, and yes, being a guest who brings a single dish is the BOMB! It is a most freeing feeling. At Thanksgiving I usually make the stuffing/dressing for Ron's family and I make the gravy when the turkey comes out of the oven. My work is done! It's pretty awesome!

Ron's sisters are good about assigning dishes to everyone to lighten the load. Our Jones family Thanksgiving meal is an honest to God elegant pot luck. Exquisite dishes made by many hands. Something to mull over.

"RIP. Here lies Peps who was smothered under a massive pile of puppies. But what a way to go!"

Hey, at least this current litter will be gone by the time the next litter is born.

You are puppy crazy but you clearly love it! I wish I could sit with a litter of puppies whenever I wanted (but I would probably freak at the work, LOL).

Weight? Who the hell knows- not me-not till Jan 2 (and it probably will not be pretty, but that's ok.). Bonnie, I agree that 10 #s or so seems doable and not so scary. On the other hand,,,,it's not ok. ****

On to fun stuff- Who would rep me on the big screen? In my head: (the outside wannabe)-

Realistically:

Ruth Gordon (who was a phenomenal actress) is more the "inner" me.

Ann, that cartoon commentary you posted is SO on the money. Christmas growing up was all about my mom. Dad did the grunt work, but Mom made it happen on every level. She planted in me the joy of holiday and tradition in general, but some of it (Easter Bunny cakes, for example) - Seems like when doing becomes an obligation instead of joyous gifting of self through giving...I'm still into Christmas, but.....Today, I began making ( the, yep, you guessed it- the traditional) New Year's Eve homemade eggnog and ground raisin filled cookies, I discovered I was out of raisins.... So- I put the dough in the refrigerator and casually announced that if some raisins did not magically appear on my pantry shelf, I guessed there would be no cookies to go with the eggnog. We will see how this goes down- so far, no raisins ...Oh well.

Devon- Thank you so much for the Welchie input. "Hard wired energy", Good Lord, yes. We are so lucky to have fields to tramp through. So much to investigate- tall grass thickets to burrow into looking for unsuspecting varmints, and so on. I would love to let him off a long lead, but am afraid his eyes and nose will carry him off after who knows what and he will get lost. Kurt is truly sharing in the seemingly constant work involved. We are motivated by the notion that intense work on the front side training will avert hell to pay later. Your comment on size made us curious---so weighed and measured-- 14 #s and 13 inches at the shoulder at 8 months. Question- about how old will Swann be when we must deal with more than keeping his undercoat brushed out?

Diane, I would be interested in the WW PDF you offered on the FB post. Color coded plans? Points and free foods? Everyone seems so, is the word, excited?...hopeful?

New Years resolutions- Seems like 2019 was the year of seeking to find Normal. Unless the miracle of epiphany occurs in the next 40 hours or so. I wil be still,

Yours searching......

Haha, I've always wanted to be Diane Lane, but I'm probably more Cloris Leachman.

Love your post, Bonnie. Love it, love it!

Normal? What's that?

BTW, is your casting Ingrid Bergman? Whoever it is, she's gorgeous!

Despite Swann's hard-wired predilection for shenanigans, he's an extraordinarily handsome thing.

She is, well and indeed, Ingrid!

Is there anything better than Ruth Gordon in Harold and Maude?

Maude: Oh, Harold- That's wonderful. Go love some more.