counting the days...

and trying to hold them back with all my might! This is the first year in the history of my life that this close to Christmas I have yet to wrap a single gift. Let's just let go of the notion that anything that needs to be mailed will arrive anywhere by Christmas. There, I feel better already (well, no, I don't, but maybe if I say it often enough...). Today I finally got our Christmas letter written. Tomorrow I'll work on getting them printed, and then there are envelopes to address... Okay, that was whining and I'm not going to do that.

Good news--Dooley is much better, back to his spunky, feisty self. We had a re-check at the vet this morning and he got the all clear sign. He still has a heart murmur, what is called "degenerative valve disease," and I've got pictures and everything to understand it all. He's got one more medication (blood pressure), and I will now be medicating his little self twice a day for the rest of his life. Hopefully that will be a long time yet. It's frightening to consider how bad he really was when I got him to the vet, but at least he let me know in no uncertain terms that he wasn't himself. We're a good team, Dooley and me.

In the meantime Rigel grows by literal leaps and bounds. He's got such long legs! He's trying to get the hang of good behavior, but he's still got a ways to go. Sigh. Nothing in the house is safe, but he's so cute that it is hard to stay annoyed with him for very long. I'll need to try a photo shoot this weekend to get updated pictures of him for the record.

I'm rambling, so off I go into the holiday whirlwind!