…… catch up.

Here are my pics from December. If you hated going to your Aunt Mildred’s house and looking at her vacation pictures from the Ozarks, you’d best skip this post.
Don’t say you weren’t warned.

I’m going to post most of these without comments because …… well, I have a high regard for your level of intelligence.
Mostly.

This is Gracie sleeping next to my stuffed raccoon (I love you, Angel!).  As you’ll see later, she has a love/hate relationship with it.

These pictures are from an old inn/restaurant the women’s club went to the day we went to Goodspeed Theatre to see “Holiday Inn”.  I thought it was a very cool place.

A few of the houses in town:

On the way home we watched the movie on the bus.  🙂

This was a protest after the police were cleared for killing Eric Garner.  It got bigger as it approached Columbus Circle.  Had I known about it earlier I would’ve joined them.

See?  Love/hate.  She didn’t know that I was in the room:

“What, me?  Nothing.  Nothing at all, why do you ask?”

My friend, Lisa, came for a visit.  She’s just a wee bit in love with Gracie.  She seems to have that effect on people.  🙂

One of her very favorite toys …… a pooper scooper (UN-used!).  She loves to show it who’s boss.

This is what she wears when I take her out in the cold:

This was Sting’s show, and he was in it.  It was just kind of “eh”, but it was cool to see/hear him.

BTW, that’s him in front.

And that’s him left of the red head.  Your left, not his.

This was a 1,000 piece puzzle that Daughter #3’s boyfriend and I put together.  Cool!

Our first snow!

First haircut.  She absolutely LOVED it!  (Can you see the sarcasm actually dripping here?)

Waiting for the elevator before a walk.

I have no idea what she did to earn that.  Or how she stole it.

Another trip to a vet, this time here in NY.  She got another antibiotic and FINALLY beat that kennel cough.

I gated the tree to keep her away from the pine needles …… because she’s more goat than dog.  It ended up being essential to keep her from eating the presents.

Daughter #3 multi-tasking with two babies.

Son #2 playing with Little Bit.

My favorite picture from the entire holiday:

Haircut #2 with a real electric razor.  She loved this experience JUST as much as the first.

Doggie jail.  And her, trying to eat her way out.  Fierce AND part goat.

The Museum of Natural History:

A cool-looking fire station:

The morning I left for California this was the temperature.  That night it got down to 9.  Degrees.

Daughter #3 sent me this picture of Gracie in her lap, with the caption, “How long till my mom comes home?”

A belated Christmas present.

Columbus Circle

Pooped at the end of a typical day:

Heat escapes from the head, right?  🙂

In a mall.  See, it’s not just me.

That’s all of the pics.
For now anyway.
If you’re still with me …… you should find a good book.
Seriously.

OK, I need some advice.  So don’t start that book quite yet.
Gracie has a serious case of separation anxiety.  It’s really bad.  She seemed to be getting better before I went to California and now it’s worse than ever …… and I came back!!  I thought they were supposed to feel better when you do that.
Now I can’t leave a room without her right at, or on, my heels.  Or whining if she can’t jump down to follow me.
I haven’t gone out as much on this trip because she screams when I leave the apartment.  And I do mean scream.  It’s ear-piercing.
How do I get her over this?  Is there a magic pill or injection for it?!  (Notice that I didn’t say “bullet”).
OK, I know there’s no pill or injection, I was joking (and I still didn’t say “bullet”).
If you’ve experienced this, or know someone who has, please give me some advice.

And, on a completely unrelated topic …… getting older sucks.
Remember how I used to have so much trouble with my right shoulder, until I had surgery?
Well, now my left one is hurting like a …… let’s just say it’s very painful.
And here’s the thing:  I didn’t do ANYTHING to injure it!!  Except for sleep on that side.
No kidding.  One night while I was sleeping (I’m a side sleeper but I switch from one to the other throughout the night.  Yeah, I am SO well-rested every morning.  Dang, there’s that dripping sarcasm again!), it started throbbing.  And it hasn’t stopped since.
So I haven’t been able to go to a barre class or play tennis since December, before the stupid sciatica hit me.   And we just got up a group of women to play tennis each week.

I’d like to scream but I don’t think it would do much for Gracie’s anxiety.
Or help my shoulder.

Well, it’s time for me to get ready to walk down to Times Square.  I’m going to see “On the Town”.
After taking something that’ll help my shoulder withstand carrying a purse, which only has a wallet and a water bottle in it.
And, hoping that the show is entertaining enough to off set the complaints that might be filed due to the blood-curdling screams that’ll be coming from my apartment.
Wish me luck.
🙂