I caved

Last Friday morning I was watching the morning news. The SPCA pet of the week featuring a dog named Frank came on. It caught my attention because one of the BILs is named Frank. He seemed like a nice dog. I told DH who rewound so he could see the dog too.

We have been talking as a family about the possibility of getting a dog. More in theory then in reality. We thought about getting a Lab puppy but DH heard horror stories about Lab puppies and quickly changed his mind.

Next thing I know DH had shown the boys the video of Frank and Saturday afternoon we were off to the SPCA to check him out. A went to lunch with her aunt & grandmother but she said we could check out Frank without her. It was a good visit. He barked at another dog once and that was it. He didn't jump all over the boys. He loved to chase the ball and actually returned it to have you throw it again.

So we came home with a dog. After a day of debate, we're calling him Frankie. Aside from intestinal issues that required a trip to the vet (covered by the SPCA, thankfully) and my carpets getting cleaned (not covered by the SPCA, but needed to be cleaned anyway), he's been a great dog. Kids are in love with him. I think he'll make a great addition to the family.

FRANKIE!

A's Dragon

Last weekend Sister#2 was in town for a visit. Saturday night she threw a party in honor of the Chinese New Year. There were red envelopes filled with money. There was food, lots of food. The kids dressed up in costumes & did a lion dance. She decorated with tons of red lanterns. A&E drew posters to hang as decorations. A drew a picture of a dragon based on a picture on one of the red envelopes.

My mother came down to see the decorations and loved A's dragon picture. She had a quilting class this week. She had to choose a picture, blow it up big and use it to create an applique quilt. She decided that she had to make the dragon.

Tonight she stopped by to show us the result of the class. It turned out great.



She is going to turn it into a wall hanging and frame the original picture and give them A.

I heart diet coke

I adore diet coke. It is a magic elixir, it is ambrosia. If it were alcohol, I would be an alcoholic. I'm addicted to the stuff.

I have known for quite sometime that diet coke probably isn't good for me. I've read lots of web sites that show the brain cancer and other bad effects that can come from drinking diet coke. Despite all of that, I love the stuff, it is so good.

Still, it has been nagging at me. I knew I needed to quit the diet coke. I decided to make a start and cut back on my intake. For the past month or so, I've had one diet coke a day. (Well, there have been the occasional slip where I've gone out to dinner and had multiple refills, but for the most part, I've stuck to one.)

Finally, I decided that Lent would be the perfect time to break my diet coke habit. In the last week before Ash Wednesday, I indulged in all the diet coke I wanted. Tuesday night I popped open my last one, a 12 ounce can. After I opened it I realized I should have driven to the store and gotten a big 20 ounce for my last one.

It has been almost 48 hours since my last diet coke. I'm not jonesing. I don't think about it constantly. DH opened one this morning, and despite giving him a hard time about tempting me, I didn't have any urge to punch him and down his diet coke. I didn't feel angry that he gets to drink a diet coke and I don't. That's good. Last night I was cranky & tired. I could blame it on the lack of diet coke but, honestly, I'm cranky & tired most nights at 8:30. Putting the children to bed just wears me out.

I've given up diet coke for Lent before but I popped open a can and chugged as soon as the Easter egg hunt commenced. I'm hoping that this time I will give it up for good. We'll see.

Fun in the snow

The kids and DH had a great time playing in the snow on Friday. It is almost all gone, there are just a few patches here and there. It was fun while it lasted.

Pictures of our snowstorm.

snowed in

We've been without power since 9pm. It's about 55 in the house right now. Kids and I camped in front of the fireplace. I thought about going to my sister's house but realized we were locked in by the electric gate that wouldn't open. I'm ready to strangle the boys who have been talking and whispering and not shushing so I could sleep since 5:30am. I'm so glad I didn't live in pioneer times. I wouldn't have survived or I would and my children wouldn't.

Snow Globe

Today was like living in a snow globe. It started snowing around 3am and it hasn't stopped yet. It wasn't normal dry icy Dallas snow. It was big heavy wet snow like I remember from my years at ND. So far over 7 inches of snow has accumulated, setting a new record for DFW. I know that is nothing compared to snowfall around the country, but for Dallas, it is a blizzard. This is the second significant snowfall in Dallas this winter. Crazy!

Funny enough, the kids had school today. They were not happy about not getting a snow day when it was actually snowing. Luckily for them, they already cancelled school for tomorrow. The temps are going to drop into the 20s and the slush on the roads will freeze. I don't want to be driving in the morning. I'll wait until it hits the 40s and all of this winter wonderland melts.

B didn't have school today so he got to enjoy the snow and we're getting our money's worth out of the snowsuit we bought for the ski trip to Canada last spring break.