Happy New Year!

As 2013 comes to a close I am quickly nearing the end of our annual two week holiday break at work as well. In our last team meeting we talked about setting a goal for the break, and mine was to complete at least one sewing project. Technically I did, but it was no where near as complicated an item as I was aiming for. But I may still make it, I still have the rest of today and tomorrow to work on a black wool skirt. Even if I don't complete it, I won't feel bad because I have been busy working on something every day and have not just been sitting on my behind watching TV. I also cut out a blouse to start sewing next after the skirt is finished. Gotta keep the momentum going!

One of my other goals was to stay active, and walk at least every other day. With only two exceptions I accomplished that. Walking more is part of a larger goal of improving my health that I have been working on all year. I am working to get healthier and fit in admittedly small but sustainable ways. I am trying to be more realistic about what is going to work for me long term so that I don't end up giving up like usual if I don't see results right away.

I have never smoked or drank, food has been my vice. It has been hard to admit it, but I gained weight from eating partly as a way of building a wall around me, literally and figuratively. Part of that whole issue is that I am also working very hard to stop the self-defeating internal dialogue that I have had going on for years. That is a much harder battle to fight, but I'm trying. In that vein, I decided to treat myself to some flowers today to ring in the new year and bring a little color & cheer into my life. Here's to a Happy & Healthy New Year in 2014!

Buddies

This was featured on Huffington Post, and it is truly so sweet.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

classic Calvin and Hobbes

The Duplex

Stray Cat Takes Day-Old Puppy Off The Streets...from The Huffington Post

The pictures are from an article published today on The Huffington Post by Alexandra Zaslow. 

Earlier this year, we wrote about the interspecies love between a cat called Lurlene and a pit bull puppy called Noland.

Now, six months later, the Cleveland Animal Protective League, the organization that rescued the pair, has won a $25,000 grant from the Petco Foundation's 'Holiday Wishes Grant Campaign' contest.

A humane officer from the APL had stumbled upon a day-old pit bull covered in fleas in a Cleveland garage, Cleveland.com reported.




When the officer couldn't find his mother, she took the puppy to APL.

The team decided to place Noland with Lurlene, who had also been taken off the streets and had recently given birth to four kittens.

Molly, Noland's mother, was discovered later that day looking anxious and famished. Her owner, who was later convicted of animal neglect, had her chained up behind the home.

Since Molly was unable to care for Noland herself and he'd been getting along so well with Lurlene and her kittens, they decided to have the puppy stay with Lurlene's family in a foster home until he was old enough for adoption. He would occasionally go back to the shelter to play with his mom.

"Noland blended in with the family so well, he was even found using the litter box a few times," Judy Hunter, APL's director of development, wrote to Petco.

Eventually, he was placed in a foster home with puppies his age where he learned how to be a dog.

Sharon Harvey, APL's director, said their story encompasses all of APL's values, including "learning from them about the power of forgiveness and unconditional love and acceptance. And when you get right down to is," Harvey told Cleveland.com, "that's really what it's all about, isn't it?"

HAPPY FESTIVUS!

I marked my calendar so I don't forget next year