Random Things

So, a new year has started, and while it doesn’t seem as though anything has changed from last year, a few things actually have. Some big events last year were Sam and Cary’s wedding, moving to the Engineering department at work, Reyna’s epilepsy diagnosis, the birth of Baby Dexter, Gee-pop’s death, Ganna’s 90th birthday, and completing my Master’s program. Niko joined the family in November, Reyna’s seizures stopped in October, and just last week we lowered her dose of Phenobarb again. While 2007 wasn’t a perfect year, I have to say that the good out-weighed the bad. And that works for me.

Now, on to the randomness...

After nearly three very long and painful years, I finally completed my Master’s program on Christmas Eve. Yes, Christmas Eve. I don’t know what idiot decided that December 24th was a good last day of class, but I guess it worked out to be a good Christmas present to myself. Of course, I could have done without the stress of the last week of class being the week before Christmas, but it was better than starting a week or two later and having the class finish in mid-January.

As part of the Christmas preparations, the dogs went to the PetsHotel on the 23rd. This meant that the cats had the run of the house for a couple of days. Late the 23rd, Mikey finally noticed Niko, but didn’t do anything other than stare at him. In fact, none of the cats seemed particularly interested in Niko, except when he would go off on one of his chirping tangents. And then they would all stare intensely. The morning of the 24th, though, Mikey got bold and decided to investigate. I had tied the doors to Niko’s cage shut, so I wasn’t too worried about him. Mikey was very gentle, though, and he and Niko seemed to hit it off.



As usual, the animals did very well for themselves this year. Everyone, including Niko, got treats and toys. Being the strict Mommy that I am, I’m doling out the toys and treats on a limited basis, so that they last more than a week or so. The cats have been playing with some mice they got from Uncle Jeff, and Niko has been dancing under the disco ball he received from Uncle Jeff. The dogs enjoyed a stuffed toy they got from their Grandma and Paw-Paw, up until tonight, when Reyna enjoyed it so much that she ripped it apart for the squeaky. I’m amazed it lasted this long, really.


Shortly before Christmas, Duncan brought in his red bouncy ball that he got from Dante and Mia when he was just a young pup and showed off some of his fancy ball-handling skills.


My company shuts down for the last week of the year (which I love), and so I wrote out a list of things that I needed to get done during the break. A lot of stuff around the house has been on hold while I was in school, particularly the last 18 weeks. I didn’t get nearly as much done as I should have, but I did accomplish more than I actually expected. I can live with that. After all, if something has already waited nearly half a year, another week or two shouldn’t make a difference.