Random Post

Baking Bread for a Friend

Hi! Thanks for stopping by! I wish you were here. I'd pour you a cup of Harney's Valentine Blend Tea so you could enjoy it with me on this cold, snowy day. It's a Chocolate Rose Flavored Black Tea and it is really good! A sort of Dessert-in-a-Cup drink with no calories. A good thing these days. The boys are napping, a wonderful break in the day for this Mommy. It so rare for them both to sleep at the same time!

**We're still working hard at simplifying things around the house. I'll be posting on some of those things, like cleaning and cooking later this week as I can.

**I have been doublely blessed in the last week to have received the Blogging Award "E for Excellent" from two readers! I will post more on that as soon as I can get all the links up and running. Many thanks to Joanne and Donna. Wow! *blush* I never expected that!

**I know that a few of you have also recently started your own blogs. I'll link to those soon, too. Shan---Can you email or comment leaving your blogsite address? I thought I could get there from your comment links, but can't. Too bad I didn't discover that before I'd deleted your email. *sigh*

**Also, I was asked about Abner. That's a hard one. When Dumpling was about three weeks old, we surrended Abner to the Airedale Rescue people. It's still hard to write about. Yup, I'm crying. We had Abner for almost seven years, and we loved him. We still do. He was a wonderful dog, but became too much to handle with two little ones. He was an 80 pound dog with a strong will of his own.

Once the babies starting arriving, our time with Abner was reduced dramatically. He was spending more and more time alone in the yard, or the basement. He needed to be around us more, but he was too big and fast for the little guys. We realized that we just couldn't be the family he needed anymore. If the boys were older, that would be one thing, but they are just too little and too easily hurt. It wasn't worth the risk. He wasn't aggressive, or mean, but he could knock over Pumpkin and not even notice.

We knew we didn't want to send him to the pound, so we called the Airedale rescue folks. Hopefully, he's in a new family with lots of room and having a blast. Sadly, they have not remained in contact with us as requested to let us know where he is. We wish we knew. We hope it's a better place than we could give him at this time.

In some ways, I think it may have been easier to have had him pass away. If your dog dies, it's not usually your fault. You can miss him, but know that there was nothing more you could do. Giving him away because you can no longer give him the love and attention he needed can just make you feel like a failure. Sometimes, though, it's all you can do. Life changes.

**On a happier and completely unrelated note: the new tea cozy works great! I stuffed it with batting when I made it to help it insulate the teapots. It works so well that it keeps the tea hot, not just warm, but hot for three hours. How great is that!

Sorry--I know that was a completely abrupt change of topic, but I didn't want to end on a totally down note. Also, please excuse any typos. I'll proofread later, but need to go now and do some chores before the boys wake up.

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