I may have redecorated, but it didn’t last long. We got home from my mom’s on the 28th and I redecorated that day as I unpacked all of the new (& SO cheap) purchases. It looked great, but Christmas was over and I was sick of it so it was all packed away on the 29th with the tree & ornaments to follow on the 30th. I’m still really glad I did it, though, because now it’s all put away properly and ready for next year. November 1st, baby! Down with Halloween. I’m so glad our Thanksgiving is early here so we can get out the holiday goods early – I’d hate to go through all of that work for just a few weeks because no matter when we decorate I want it gone by New Year’s Eve or whenever we get home from my mom’s.

For our New Year’s celebration this year, we decided to devote ourselves completely to the children (duh – story of our lives and we love it) so we threw a “Noon Year’s Eve” party for them and their friends (and, therefore, my friends). We had about 18 people here including us, and just ate some delicious potluck food, played, wore party hats & blew party horns. We did a countdown to noon and then screamed and kissed and hugged. It was all wrapped up by about 1:30 and the rest of the day was ours to clean up & hang out as a family. Once the kids were in bed, the Big Guy and I watched the Flames game as we do every New Year’s Eve, drank hot lemon water and relaxed. We headed to bed shortly after eleven because Bella had been up crying three times already so we just took her in with us. I was technically up well past midnight (thanks to my new toy) but the BG and Bella were snoring beside me by then.

New Year’s Day brought some great friends from out of town for brunch (have I shared my fruity french toast recipe with you? Because OH, it’s freaking amazing.) and then as we were about to head to my school to play in the gym another friend from out of town called and they were on their way over so we didn’t end up leaving the house all day.

I don’t really believe in resolutions simply because it’s time to buy a new calendar, but I do intend to drink more water and more hot lemon. Whether it’s a new year or not. And I still don’t have a new calendar. So there.

Yesterday we went tobogganing in the park behind our house, went to a live performance of Robert Munsch stories and then went to the school so I could check out my room before Monday and BG and the kids played in the gym. By then it was time for supper-bath-bed, thank goodness. We were beat. Then it was time to tackle the 10 bins of Christmas crap that covered our basement floor after being shoved down there so we could entertain upstairs. It’s all away until next year now, and if I ever get time to wash the cat hair and crumbs off the floor it will almost be habitable.

We took all three animals to the vet over the holiday. Thai is fat, Mavi has a yeast infection in his ears and Chloe has thyroid cancer, hypothyroidism, her body is eating her teeth, and a bunch of other things. Oh, the joy of loving animals. They get old too quickly. Thai and Mav are 6 and Chloe is 14, so nothing is out of the ordinary. The vet’s recommendation for Chloe is that she get $400 bloodwork soon-ish, and then we cure her cancer with radiation at which point she’ll go into isolation because she’ll be radioactive. If the radiation didn’t kill her, the isolation surely would. Her life expectancy with treatment. Average of 3 years. Without treatment? Average of 3 years. So, I think the decision is to love her and keep her happy as long as we can without major interference. As it stands, she eat & drinks, pees & poops, plays, purrs, and is as happy as ever. She just drinks and pukes a little more than she used to. She’s 14. I’ve had her since she was 8 weeks old. I don’t need to make her suffer. It’s a hard choice not to do a bunch of treatments, but at 14 I just don’t think it’s fair to her to make her uncomfortable in order to extend her life by maybe a few months. As I said, she’s happy & seems perfectly healthy right now and my gut tells me she’ll be that way for a while. If not, we’ll deal with it when the time comes. And when the time does come, how the hell do you explain euthanasia to children? Gah.

On that lovely note, Happy New Year! May 2010 bring you peace, and many many hugs.

Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart. -unknown