Looking Back at 2016

The year 2016 was quite eventful for our family.  Some happy and some not so happy.  But either way, change definitely gets harder the older one gets.  And older we are getting.

In January Rich and I took off on a road trip to Phoenix, Arizona.  Something on Rich's bucket list has been to attend a Barrett Jackson Auto Auction.  He crossed that one off while in Phoenix.  We didn't make the actual auction but we did get to the first preview day and saw all the beautiful antique cars that were for sale.


Another item on his list from as far back as childhood was to go to Carlsbad Caverns.  He got to check that one off too.





We took  a day trip to one of our favorite places, Sedona, Arizona.  We also had two days in Tuscon where were able to visit an old friend.



In February I came to the  realization that I was old enough to join the Southlake Senior Citizen Center.  It was strange being there since my mom was a long-time member and some of her old friends are still there.   I got brave and joined their Tai Chi class.  My first class was pitiful!  I was so out of balance, mostly due to my fake knees, that I had to hold on to something for most of the one hour and had to sit and rest frequently,  Much to the shock of the other students and instructors I returned and every week got better and better,  So much so that after about 4 classes I was standing and participating in the whole class without sitting.  Rich decided to join and today we are still going every week and loving every class.  My role model is our 77 year old Chinese instructor.

In June we checked off another item on that bucket list - a two week land/sea trip to Alaska.  We went with good friends who were celebrating their recent retirement.  We flew into Fairbanks where we spent the first two days on our own prior to the tour.  The tour began in Fairbanks followed by a glass-top train trip and an overnight stay in Denali.  Then a bus trip to Anchorage for a day continuing to Seward to get on the Norwegian Sun.  The second week was spent eating and relaxing on the ship while seeing some of the most beautiful sights in the world including the Hubbard Glacier.  We had stops in Icy Strait Point, Sitka, Juneau and Ketchikan.  After we got off the trip we stayed in Vancouver for 2 days before returning home,  It was the trip of  a lifetime!

Now here is where the change part comes into play.  James made the realization at his work that things were not looking good for his future there and decided after 10 years it was time to look for another job.  Good jobs in his field of aircraft maintenance management were not very plentiful in our area so he started to broaden his horizon.  He ended up accepting a Director of Maintenance job with a company in Delaware.  Which of course meant uprooting his family to the East Coast.  It was exciting for them to move to a new part of the country but devastating for the family they left behind.
Having grown up in New Jersey and Pennsylvania Rich and I knew we would not be moving back to the cold weather.  So late last summer we had a very tearful goodbye.

Some of you may or may may not know that our oldest daughter Cindy has suffered with the disease of alcoholism for many years.  Late in 2015 she was arrested for her 3rd Texas DUI which is a felony.  She was in jail then miraculously was sent to a wonderful women's recovery center instead of a long jail sentence.  She has been there for 5 months and faces at least another 4 or 5 months before beginning a long probation term.  And also as some of you may not know, our youngest grandaughter Daphne was born to Cindy who was not able to care for her.  Jennifer and James have been raising her since she was 7 months old.  Lovingly Cindy signed over her rights so Jenn and James were able to adopt Daphne.  The final adoption took place in November and they are now officially her family.

In October Rich and I took another trip, this time to Palm Springs, California.  We both love that part of the country and enjoyed 5 days of total relaxation in the sun.


About 3 weeks after returning from CA we embarked on a 3500 mile road trip to see the kids for Thanksgiving.  We spent night one in Vicksburg, Mississippi before traveling to our first main stop of 4 days in Destin Florida.  We had heard a lot about Destin but had never been there.  We loved the white sand and blue water.  We left there for one night in Lumberton, NC.  From there we went to Burke, Virginia where we spent 2 nights with my cousin Kathy and her husband Linwood.  I am an only child and consider Kathy to be my sister.  We had a great visit and got to see her daughters and their 3 kids.  We left them on the final leg to Pennsylvania to spend a week with Jenn and family.  We loved where they live - right in the heart of Amish country.  The rolling hills and farmland were just what we remembered from living in PA.  But the cold was a little to much for our liking.  We had a great visit and a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Kathy and Linwood were also able to make it for dinner.  We had our Christmas with the kids since we knew we wouldn't be seeing them.  We again tearfully left them for a long 2 day ride home.

As soon as we got home it was time to decorate for Christmas.  It was a little difficult knowing it would only be the two of us.  It was sad without the kids, Cindy being away and my mom no longer here.  But I love Christmas and all the decorations and refuse to let the sadness ruin that.  So I put up 3 trees, a multitude of decorations and Rich lit up the outside of the house.  Christmas is a time to celebrate and be happy and not a time to feel sorry for myself.

A few weeks after arriving home we were able to have our first and second visits with Cindy which went very well.  She is doing well, looking good and hopeful for the future.  We just want the best life for her.

A week before Christmas we had a party for the members of our antique Ford car club.  I cooked for a week and had quite the spread.  That is something I really enjoy doing but don't get to do often.  We had about 15 people attend and had a great time.  We have been blessed to have found such a wonderful group of friends.

Rich and I were slated to usher at the 4:00 service at church on Christmas Eve.  As I was handing out bulletins to people coming in I started to get visions of black spider webs in my eyes.  We decided to leave church and go to the ER to be on the safe side.  After a battery of tests to rule out a mini stroke and a day and a half in the hospital I was finally released late Christmas Day.  Some of the webs are still there and I will be seeing my opthomologist ASAP.  I came home and between the two of us we cooked our prime rib and Yorkshire Pudding dinner and were able to relax for our late Christmas celebration and dinner.

We always stay at home on New Year's Eve and this year will be no different.  It will be a time to look ahead at our new adventures for next year.  Right now we have one Carribbean cruise planned and undoubtedly a we will take number of trips to PA (not by car!).  We are in the beginning stages of planning another bucket list trip for 2018 - a week on the Big Island in Hawaii continuing on for another week in Tahiti and Bora Bora to stay in a glass floored hut.  We have to continue to check off that bucket list while we still can.  One never knows what the future will bring.  We will continue to take our Tai Chi classes and will try to get more physically active (on my part).

I hope all of you have had a great year and wish you nothing but the best for the coming year.  Happy New Year!

My Favorite Sewing Tools

My husband spends a lot of time in the garage restoring his antique car.  That garage is full of every tool imaginable.  Well, my sewing room is just the same.  I love tools and gadgets!  I comb through quilting catalogs and go to sewing groups at local stores where I learn all about the latest and greatest must have tools.  I'll talk about my favorites.

First and foremost is a rotary cutter and cutting mat.  I have had them for years but when I was making clothes they weren't really practical for cutting out patterns.  Once I got into quilting and smaller projects I started using them more and more.  I have 4 cutting mats of varying sizes and numerous cutters since it is usually easier for me to buy a new one than to sharpen the old one.  I guess I need to invest in a rotary blade sharpener.  Here is a picture of one of my smaller mats.  I have a really large one on my cutting counter.  I use them all.

 Next are my quilting gloves.  They are really stretchy and have rubberized fingertips.  I would never be able to "free motion quilt" without them.  When you sew the "feed dogs" under the machine and the pressure foot pull the fabric through the machine.  When you "free motion" you drop the feed dogs and use a pressure foot that doesn't actually touch the fabric.  I am the one moving the fabric while the needle remains in the same place.  The gloves help to push and pull the fabric creating the stitches.  It is now one of my favorite things to do once I took a class and got over being intimidated by the process.  I've only accidentally stitched the glove once!

Good scissors and a measuring device are a must.  Normally I would say that a really good pair of large fabric scissors would be a good investment.  For me I hardly ever use mine since I no longer sew clothes and use the rotary cutter.  If you are making clothes, yes they are important.  The duck bill scissors and nail scissors are great for applique.  When doing that you have to cut away excess material while not cutting the fabric underneath.  They are invaluable when doing applique work.  The pink ones have real sharp points and are spring loaded.  These are great for snipping thread ends real close to your work.  The slide measure is great for almost anything and this one is also an aid in drawing circles.

Miscellaneous accessories are very useful.  The metal measuring guage is really handy especially for 1/4 seams (commonly used in quilting).  The little red clips are great when doing binding around a quilt and much better than pins.  I buy a small package almost every time I am in a quilt store because one can never have too many of these.  The curved safety pins are used when stacking quilt layers together so they don't move prior to quilting.  I also like spray basting for stacking too.  I do make mistakes so a good seam ripper is essential.  This one happens to be handmade by the husband of a lady I know from a quilting club.  The sassy scissors are just plain fun but also very sharp.  And the sixth finger is one of my new favorite tools.  It is great when feeding something small under the pressure foot and you need something to push with so you don't sew your finger.

I have a ton of embroidery thread spools and got real tired of loose thread hanging all over the place.  These fun thread peels are great for taming all those loose ends.  And the bobbin holders are also quite useful.  I do try to keep it full of wound bobbins.  I love the colors!  The are sold by http://smartneedle.com/product/peels-spool-huggers/.  

Marking pens.  I always thought that it was considered cheating if you marked a design on your fabric prior to free motion quilting.  Not so according to the instructor I had.  So a good marking pen that disappears is a must.  This same instructor used Frixion pens and I fell in love with them!  They come in a variety of colors and write like a gel pen.  When you want to get rid of the marks you just have to hold a hot iron over the pen marks (without actually touching them) and you can literally watch them disappear.

My sewing table is chock full of all these tools but I use them every time I sew.  Hopefully you have learned something.

Cutting it Up

Last year I asked Rich for a Brother Scan and Cut for Christmas.  As he almost always does when I ask for something for Christmas he got it for me.  Such a good guy!  I really had no idea why I needed this but at the quilting store where I attend club meetings they talk about how great it is all the time.  I think the owner could sell ice to an Eskimo.  She certainly made me want one.  For those who don't know what this is here is a picture and description.

As I usually do with something new I read up and watch video tutorials.  I finally got up the nerve to actually take this thing out of the box and use it.  My first project involved cutting out fabric for an applique project I was making for a friend.  Prior to cutting fabric you must iron on a heat sensitive adhesive to stiffen the fabric.  I am not fond of heat adhesives and neither is my embroidery/sewing machine.  But I have learned to use a lite adhesive which is a little friendlier to my machine needles.  This project involved cutting a lot of pieces which it did very well.  I am still not sure I couldn't have done it with scissors just as fast if not faster but the pieces were cut out perfectly.  Here is that first project.  As you can see it involved a LOT of cutting.  I gave this to friends who had just retired and camp a lot.

My machine came with a rhinestone kit.  I LOVE bling so I knew this was something I really wanted to play with.  It involves cutting small holes in a thick felt-like fabric that form a pre-loaded design.  Once all the holes are cut you pour loose rhinestones or crystals on top and spread them around with a special brush.  They all fall into the holes right side up.  (Some of mine did need a little help with a pair of tweezers.)  A piece of special heat sensitive tape is put on top of all the rhinestones then placed on a shirt.  You then iron them on to the shirt.  My first project turned out great but my stones keep falling off.  I have since purchased a teflon ironing sheet which I think will help the next time I try this.

The next projects involved cutting out heat transfer vinyl for shirts.  My first attempts resulted in the total destruction of expensive glitter vinyl.  After going back to more tutorials I finally got the hang of it.  Some vinyls are cut face up and some face down.  Some patterns are cut with a normal image and some the image has to be reversed.  And vinyls differ in thickness so a lot of test cuts have to be made.  But if I just slow down and think about what I am doing this is now my favorite thing to do.  The intricate patterns take a lot of "weeding" out the pieces you don't want.  It's a little time consuming but worth it.  They are my favorite designs.  A friend from my sewing clubs turned me on to a shop in Dallas that sells the supplies really cheap and they have a great selection.  Thanks Phyllis!  Here are my latest creations.

I am always on the hunt for inexpensive but good t-shirts.  I have found my favorites come from Walmart believe it or not.  I can't wait to wear the pumpkin shirt as it is my favorite so far.  I have worn the others and they wash well.  I love the cruising themed ones too as we cruise at least once every year.  And I envision a few new shirts for Christmas.  Of course the machine is just the start of the hobby.  There are lots of tools involved it it too.  And of course sheets of glitter!

Happy cutting!

Hatch Chilies - Yes It's a Southern Thing

It it hatch chili time!  Being a Yankee I of course had no idea what a hatch chili was. Here is a quote from www.melissas.com.

It's no secret why everyone is obsessed with Hatch Chiles. Named after the original growing area in Hatch, New Mexico, authentic Hatch Chiles are truly a Southwestern favorite. No other chile is prized more than this variety which grows in the Hatch Valley, just north of Las Cruces. The valley, which stretches along the Rio Grande’s southern-most bend before crossing into Texas and Mexico, is covered with row after row of these green leafy chile plants for most of the summer. Chefs say that the intense sunlight and cool nights in this valley result in a uniquely flavored chile that's unrivaled by any other. Hatch Chiles have a meaty flesh and mild-medium heat making them ideal for use in Chile Con Queso, Chile Rellenos, and Chile Verde. But it doesn't just stop there. You can also try roasting and using them in salads, soups, stews, dips, and sandwiches. For even more great ideas on how to use this incredible chile, purchase a copy of Melissa's Hatch Chile Cookbook.

 After 25 years in Texas I finally succumbed to the excitement last year and discovered how good they really are.  Central Market, one of our gourmet grocery stores, has a yearly hatch chili festival.  They roll out large grills to their sidewalks and roast them there on the spot.  They come in hot and mild but I am still eating the mild ones.  Half the things in the store are made with hatch chilies.  It's quite the festival.

 

Last year a friend told me how to roast them on the grill then freeze them.  When ready to use you would just wash off the charred bits and chop them for recipes.  I did that and it worked great.  Except when I am in the middle of a recipe and want chilies I am usually too lazy to go through that process.  Plus they are really cold to work with when they are still frozen (I almost never plan ahead).  So this year I bought a container and used a few in a recipe (below) then peeled, removed the seeds and chopped the rest and froze them in ice cube trays.  I now have a bag in the freezer ready to add to a recipe with no fuss.  Yay me!

Now for that recipe.  I started making this soup recipe for pot-luck meals when we lived in New Jersey.  Of course then I used canned green chilies.  What did I know!  I just made a pot last week using fresh hatch chilies and it makes a huge amount.  We had one lunch and I was able to freeze 5 more lunch size containers.  I once calculated the calories and it came to about 770 a serving so it's not something to want to have often.  But it is a real treat when you do need some comfort.

This recipe is really good using the hatch chilies.

Quilting for a Good Cause

Today was a nice cool rainy August day in Texas. Now those aren't words we usually say here as it is usually 100 degrees and never rains this time of year. But it was the perfect day to get around to a project that needed attention. My favorite quilt store in Grapevine, Must Love Fabric, participates in a national program called Project Linus. It is an organization that hand makes blankets for critically ill children.  Here is the link if you are interested in the program.  www.projectlinus.org.

Must Love Fabric has a very organized program.  There are people who donate fabric for the quilts, others who piece together the quilts, some who do the actual quilting and some who put on the binding.  I am sure there are those who do all those jobs but I am not one of them.  Maybe when I get better at quilting.  On Sunday afternoons they have a group that gets together at the store to work on the quilts.  I might consider joining them once football season starts and now that the grand kids are no longer here on Sundays.  They have a box in the store that contains pieced quilts complete with batting and backing for volunteers to take home to quilt.  I did that a few months ago and finally got the nerve to actually quilt it today.  I procrastinated because I really dislike large projects.  I have a large sewing room but it is very crowded and I am intimated when it comes to big projects.  I am also not very good at them.  But the girls at the store said it was the perfect opportunity to practice my free motion quilting.  And I do need practice with that!  It actually wasn't too bad.  Not perfect, but I turned out OK.   I will return it to the store this week for someone to bind.  Next time I will do the piecing since I really need practice in that area too.  Meeting up corners is tricky, at least for me.  But I felt good to be able do something useful.  This store contributes about 200-300 quilts a year to this program!

This store also has people who make dog and cat beds that are donated to animal shelters.  They have a collection box for fabric and batting scraps.  This is great because most sewists have a hard time throwing away even the smallest scraps.  Now I just save them in a bag and take it to the store.  Nothing like a good recycling program!

Here is a link to this favorite store of mine.  It is owned by a woman who lives in my neighborhood.  She started out in a little rickety house with uneven floors and this past winter moved up to a wonderful store front.  She refers to the old shop as "the little shop of horrors". http://www.mustlovefabric.com/ 

Keeping Busy

The last two weeks I have been in need of a little occupational therapy to keep my mind off the fact that Jennifer and James and our 5 grand kids moved 1200 miles away to Pennsylvania.  At the rate I am going I will be able to use up a lot of my fabric stash.

This weekend I started 4 new placemats and finished them today.  Mind you I don't actually need new placemats because I have a zillion of them but they are one of my favorite things to make.  Instant gratification is something I really like and placemats fill that order.

I started with a bundle of fat quarters that I fell in love with a few months ago.  I loved the fall colors so kept them for a fall project.  If you don't know what a fat quarter is it is 1/4 of a yard of fabric that the stores make from leftovers and have available for quick purchases.  They are my favorites and I almost never enter a fabric store without purchasing a few.  My favorite store offers a deal where if you buy 6 you get one free.  Who could resist that??

I hadn't actually used my sewing machine for embroidery much lately so I decided to put a pumpkin applique in the center.  I need to do more of that because watching a sewing machine sew without actually having to touch it is quite therapeutic.  If you doubt me, go to a sewing store and ask for a demo of an embroidery machine.

If you look closely at these mats you will notice they are each a little different.  They are all made using the same fabrics, just in a different order.  I realized after adding the first orange border that I did not have enough fabric to make them all identical.  I had to do a little creative piecing to get all 4 made.  I already had the fabric for the backside in my "stash" just waiting for a good project to come along.  The only extra fabric I needed to buy was 2/3 yard of the binding fabric.

A few months ago I took a one day class on free motion quilting.  I put what I learned to good use on these.  The center white block is "stippled".  That is the absolute best for taking your mind off troubles.  Normally a sewing machine "pulls" the fabric through the "feed dogs" and "pressure foot".  With free motion you use a special foot that doesn't actual touch the fabric and you drop the feed dogs.  You are the one driving the fabric around to creatively quilt your piece.  Special gloves with rubber fingers are a must for this.  That's how I quilted the entire mat.  Lots of therapy there!

Now a "real quilter" would probably never think to top stitch the front side of the binding.  I HATE hand sewing and will avoid that at all costs.  So I sew my binding to the backside then wrap it around to the front and top stitch.  My project - my way!

I hope you enjoyed this little "lesson" and maybe learned something about quilting.  Writing is also therapeutic so I will probably doing a lot more of it.

Working on Me!

Five weeks ago I began a low carb and exercise journey.  The last visit to my doctor showed that my A1C blood sugar numbers had spiked.  They have been the same 5.6 for years but this time jumped to 6.4.  If you know anything about blood sugar those are not high numbers but the spike was concerning.  My doctor thinks it was because my blood tests were done right after the holidays and you all know how many goodies I make every year.  She didn't want to change my medicine just yet so told me to watch my carb intake and we'll see in April how the tests go.

Having a lapband meant that I couldn't eat bread (gums up the system).  But I did discover years ago that if I toasted it, including rolls, bagels, English muffins, etc., I could eat bread with no problem.  My favorite food is potato chips, especially with dip.  And of course who doesn't like candy and chocolate!  Well, those days are over!  In the last 5 weeks I have not had bread of any kind, no pasta or rice, no potatoes or potato chips, no cookies or cake, and no candy.  I have actually gotten to the point where I don't miss those things anymore (on most days anyway).  The most carbs I eat are on the mornings I have a Chobani Flip yogurt for breakfast and my coffee creamer.  And that's about it!  Other mornings I just have a hard boiled egg for breakfast.  I replaced the ever present candy in the candy dish with nuts.  And my salvation are Parmesan chips that I make every week.

Now one would have expected a huge weight loss after all that.  Not so much!  I have only lost 6 lbs.  But I will keep on this road to see what my blood sugar levels are at my next appointment.  And now it has become a habit not to eat those foods.  I doubt if I will ever go back to eating a lot of carbs.

Five weeks ago I also decided to join the town's Senior Citizen Center.  It's in a beautiful brand new building with lots of amenities.  They have an exercise room with 2 treadmills, 3 recumbent bikes, 2 weight machines and free weights.  Believe it or not I have gone almost every day for the last five weeks (except for weekends when they are closed)!  I alternate between treadmill and bike but my favorite part are the Tai Chi classes on Thursday mornings.  My first week was quite pitiful.  Tai Chi helps balance but if you have poor balance to begin with it is very challenging.  And I had to sit down about every 5 minutes in the hour-long class.  The second week I only sat 4 times and did a lot better.  This week everyone in the class commented on how good I was doing and how much longer I lasted, only sitting once or twice.  Last week Rich decided to give it a try with me.  His first week was just as bad as mine but he returned a second time and likes it too.  We found some Youtube videos that we project onto our TV to practice at home.


When I was rehabbing my fake knees one of the exercises was deep knee bends.  I really struggled with them and still do.  Last night something told me to try doing it again before I went to bed and guess what??   I was able to bend so low I actually sat on my heels!  I haven't been able to do that for about 10 years. And I got back up again! I guess something is working (probably the bike).

I don't know who turned on the switch in my head to do this and keep doing this but I like it.  I feel a lot better and have much more energy than I used to.  We are planning a trip to Alaska with friends and I really want to be able to enjoy it and do a lot of sightseeing.  That's my goal right now.

Simba's Story

My name is Simba.  I am a Great Pyrenees.  The name was given to me by my first family - a really nice family with 4 kids.  Unfortunately when I was six months old they had some hard times and found it really difficult to take care of me.  They put my picture on Facebook and my new mama, who spends a lot of time there, saw me and fell in love.  Who wouldn't fall in love with this picture (left)?

My new family brought me home that night.  They also had a 15 year old Golden Retriever and a 21 year old cat. I was so excited to have some other animals to play with.  They weren't quite as excited - especially the cat!

Mama and Daddy decided I needed some professional training so they sent me away to doggie camp.  I was gone one week then came home for a week.  I went for another week then home for 2 weeks.  That was the last time I saw my new friends.  While I was gone for my third week of training they both got sick and had to be euthanized.  My new family was devastated but glad to have me for company.   As far as that training went, it was OK but I am bred to be"an independent thinker" and tend to do what they ask only some of the time.  But they still love me!

My trainer said that I needed to be crate trained.  Mama and Daddy tried that when they went out a few times but I didn't like it one bit.  Here is how I showed them:

They finally gave up and started leaving me lose in the house when they went out.  I only ate a few things while they were gone.  Pillows and remote controls were my favorites.   I am a smart dog, though,  and have learned that if I am good they will praise me and give me a treat.  It pays to be good while they are gone!

My new yard is much bigger than my old one and it has trees, bushes, a cement pond and squirrels to chase.  I love being in my yard.  But in the Texas summer when it is too hot I don't stay out too long.  I prefer the air conditioning.  The best part is when the 5 grand kids come to play with me.  I love watching them swim and sometimes we will all gather sticks and branches together,

Great Pyrenees dogs are bred to be livestock guardian dogs.  Well, they never got me any other animals to guard (that stuffy HOA would not like that) but I do have chores to do around the house.

I have to pre-wash the dishes

I have to keep the bed warm for Mama & Daddy every night

My most important job is to guard the couches

I am a really smart dog.  I know that because Mama and Daddy tell me that all the time.  Here are some things that I know for sure:

1.  It is not time to get up in the morning until Daddy turns off the alarm.  Once I hear those beeps I know I can get out of bed.
2.  When I do get out of bed it is time for breakfast and a glucosomine pill.  Once I have that it is time to go out and not before.
3.  My Mama likes to sew.  Anytime she mentions the word "upstairs" that is my cue to go help her.  I like to climb the stairs right next to her to see who can get to the top first!   She also has treats in the desk drawer and I nudge her until I get one.  That's the only way she can get anything done.

4.  My humans like to eat a meal in the middle of the afternoon.  I will ask to go out while they are eating because I know that when they are done it is nap time with Mama on our bed.  I don't want anything to disturb that!

5.  There is something in the living room that makes a "bonging" sound all day and night.  When it is daylight and it bongs 3 times I know it is time for my dinner.  I will immediately get up and lay down in front of the pantry door.  That's where the food is kept.   Daddy will get the hint that it is time to feed me.
6.  After dinner it is time for one of my chores - dish cleaning.  Sometimes Mama sits at the table too long to suit me and I will sit in front of her and whine until she gets up to let me do my job.  Sometimes she just doesn't get the hint!
7.  Once the sun sets I know it is time to relax - its almost time for bed.  I love hanging out with Daddy on the couch.  It is so comforting.

8.  I just recently learned what "go potty" means.  It means that my humans want me to go out about 7:00 every night to go to the bathroom.  If I do that I get to stay in for at least 12 hours (yes I can hold it that long!) undisturbed. 

9.  After a few hours of couch time with Daddy he tells me it is time for bed.  I don't always get up and follow him because I know that its not really bed time until he makes that beeping sound on the alarm again.  Once that is done I will get up and go to bed. 

10.  I leave just enough room in bed for Mama every night because I know I have to share.  But once she comes in the room and closes the bathroom door I can relax and stretch out in her place too.  It's fun seeing what a hard time she has trying to move me out of her way.  I love my Mama and like to sleep on her feet all night!

Well, that's my story!  Life is good.