Midnight mussings

Actually, it's almost 2 am and even though I'm so incredibly tired, my brain won't shut down to sleep. No matter how hard I try, after tossing and turning in bed for a few hours I usually decide to get on the computer to try and lull myself into some sort of unconscienceness. Good time to blog, I guess!

We were hit with yet another snow storm and I spent about two hours trying to dig out my driveway. Every part of my body aches, even my fingers. I must say, though, that I accomplished my goal and we have a clear driveway....until the next storm hits!

We have these three little dogs that claim a part of our family. Lexi is the matriarch and rules the roost. We've had her for about 11 years now and she's starting to show her age. She doesn't like the puppies much and only barely tolerates them most days. Then we have Lucy and Ella. Now, Lucy is a cute shih tzu baby that is totally obnoxious. Ella is a maltese that was given to us by a friend. The two younguns are enough to drive anyone nutso! Anyway, the story I've been working up to involves the babies. While I was out shoveling to China, or so it seemed, the babies were out romping in the snow. Ella, being pure white, was being a stinker and ran over to the neighbor's house and proceeded to get lost in the snow. I couldn't see her for nothin! I hollared and whistled. I couldn't see a single fluff of snow movement. At least, not until the neighbor came out to do some shoveling of his own and Ella went bonkers. She has the most ear piercing, shrieking bark that just makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. The poor guy didn't know what hit when she finally bounded out of the snow drift and onto his walkway. What a little brat! Afterall, she was the one trespassing! It took some more yelling and chasing with the shovel before I finally got her back into the house where she promptly shook all of the snow off of herself and onto my hardwood entryway. Needless to say, she got locked up the rest of the afternoon. That'll teach her! Yeah, right!!!! (Made me feel better anyway.)

Jake has been potty trained since the age of 3 (and a half) but has this small bladder issue that creeps up every now and then. He has this distinct little dance that he does whenever he's on the verge and we've affectionately named it the pee pee dance. Well, the other day he started in with a little jig and I told him to hurry and get to the bathroom before he had an accident. His response? Oh, I'm just moving around, I'm not doing the pee pee dance this time! What a character! That boy makes me laugh, most of the time. He had such anger issues when we first got him, probably stemming from his past experiences of abuse, neglect, abandonment. That first year was a tough one but he's gradually grown out of his fits of rage and has turned into quite the little entertainer. For awhile there I didn't know if he would ever truly be happy and once in awhile we see glimpses of that anger but we've learned the techniques that calm him down. Most of the time we are able to avoid the complete meltdowns, thankfully! He's still as stubborn as ever, but the pleasantness outweighs the tough times. I can't begin to imagine our family without him! He's taught me so much about patience and unconditional love. He's my big guy and knows how to melt this mama's heart.