becca is back in america!!! it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside to think about her sweet self here in california (albeit far away northern california...). now everyone i know is back from the clutches of dark, dangerous latin america. sister alex suprised the hell outta us (well---she didn't suprise ryan or melissa who were both part of the grand master plan) on thanksgiving day. apparantly when i saw her i just stood there waving my arms around in an ungainly manner exclaiming "oh..oh...oh..." while katelyn peeked out around my back in a terrified way. i have no recollection of this occurring however. i just remember seeing her big blue eyes sparkling in her tan face. that was poetic huh? i shore is poetic.
scruffy had a dove-egg sized bladder stone removed the other day and now she has to wear a clear plastic cone round her head for two weeks. she looks like scruffy the cosmo-dog now. moon doggy. scruffleupagus the astrodog. poor girl. her normal running, barking, jumping self has been severely hobbled. her cone-head is now too large to get out the doggy door and she is dependent on us daft humans to figure out that she needs to relieve herself and take her outside. i'm sure it's all quite annoying for her. but (don't tell anyone this) i find it somewhat morbidly humourous sometimes. like yesterday, i dropped a crumb of coffee cake on the floor and she went for it as would any dog, but the cone didn't let her get her mouth to the floor. she fought valiantly, which did not get her the desired crumb but did make her resemble one of those portable dust-buster vacuum cleaners. in a dog-like way. high hilarity. ok--enough about surgery dog now.
i have been christmas shopping at least four times and i have succeeded in buying not quite four presents. my mom is the most difficult to buy for, of course. if i had a trillion dollars it would be a breeze. speaking of trillion dollars---i'm going to win money. i've been doing internet surveys like they're going out of style. i will win. i will win. i will win.
and speaking of christmas pressies--ms. katie and ms. lindsey will you please please be somewhere with a post office around december 25th? i can't imagine how bleak it would be without family and a christmas tree AND presents! let me know as soon as possible; i have a feeling the indian postal service is rather snail-like (considering i just now recieved your lovely letter katie-----dated early november!). i really need to learn to write without using parentheses and erratic punctuation. i annoy myself. i need to learn to write period. i'll do that tomorrow. but for now--i must away to research/buy more christmas presents. i love presents. i love giving them. i love getting them. i love wrapping them. i love unwrapping them. i love the suprise. i love shaking them and trying to guess what is inside. i love trying to decipher my parent's insane coded labeling system. i love family and hot chocolate and holly and good cheer and santa claus and snowflakes and peace and goodwill towards men. i personally don't have much goodwill towards men but i love it when other people have it. it's nice. i pretty much just love the holidays. too bad i work retail over the holidays. nothing like working in a clothing store during christmas to bring out the worst in people. my oh my. and nothing like christmas sales to bring out the selfish un-present-giving part in myself. bah humbug.
on that scrooge note--i depart. i hope this post has warmed all the cockles of all your hearts. where, i've often wondered, where does the word cockle come from?