I fell in

I know, people, I fell in a monster amount of work and couldn't get out. These are a few things that kept me from going glassy-eyed and slumped over my desk, but not in any particular order. One, my girls! Andrew got me the strapless dress for my birthday and Greg surprised me with the blond doll and the other outfits. I'm feeling mighty spoiled. Note: I repainted the red wig doll's make up, fancying myself a 'professinal' since I know my way around paint and brushes. Its much harder than it looks.

Two, Paloma, a Mourning Dove we rescued from death by Paddy (our loving, yet murderous gentleman cat). We found this bird on our back porch, freshly hatched and looking scraggly. We took pity on her and brought her in and proceeded to try and figure out what kind of bird she was. At that point, she had a few pin feathers and was mostly covered with fluffy down. Our detective work included comparing beak shapes and local bird varieties and sizes, till we finally agreed on 'dove'. Sheila fed her baby bird food for weeks until she could eat seed. Now look at how she has filled out! We moved her out of quarantine to join the other birds and now she is very happy and makes the sweetest cooing sound. She is also remarkably soft, so much so that it is tempting to squeeze her little body hard like Lenny, from Mice and Men.

Ok, here is three! I took my sister-in-law Jenny shopping downtown and we stopped in at Tops (a delightfully well-stocked shoe store) and I found these lovelies! They are from Seychelles and remind me of something a pirate queen, or steampunk girl might wear....yes, its love. And yes, they hurt after a few hours.

The last and best, would be the awesome visit with Jenny (Greg's sis) and Anne (his mom) who came for Thanksgiving. It was nice to catch up, feast and run around town. We went to the Grove Park fancy pants spa and hotel to look at an exhibit of gingerbread houses. It was really amazing what folks can do with dough and sugar.

It was nice to relax and watch some t.v., we picked up Hancock and watched food network mostly. I really liked Hancock, it surprised me and made me love Will Smith even more. I really want to see Twilight and Secret Life of Bees, but I'll have to put in more hours before I earn it. Now the house feels a little bleak with Jenny and Anne back in Cincinatti. Azalea is running around chatting up a storm about when is grandma coming, where is Aunt Jenny, why is it just YOU and daddy? Yep, its back to the grind.