We've had Patton for over two years now and boy have our rules changed in that time! I can only hope that it is harder to bend the rules with kids than it is with our pup. I saw this and immediately related.

Dog Rules

1. The dog is not allowed in the house!

2. Okay, the dog is allowed in the house, but only in certain rooms.

3. The dog is allowed in all rooms, but has to stay off the furniture.

4. The dog can get on the OLD furniture only.

5. Fine, the dog is allowed on all the furniture, but is not allowed to sleep with the humans on the bed.

6. All right, the dog is allowed on the bed, but ONLY by invitation.

7. The dog can sleep on the bed whenever he wants, but NOT under the covers.

8. The dog can sleep under the covers by invitation ONLY.

9. The dog can sleep under the covers every night.

10. Humans must ask permission to sleep under the covers with the dog.

And yes, this is a picture of him on our couch. He was never allowed on furniture until we moved to PA. But now, that is the only way he can see out the window. When we're not home, he likes to watch everything going on outside, and of course, be a ferocious guard dog!

Christmas Recap

Christmas seemed like it took forever to get here, and now it's gone! I plan to relish in the remaining days of vacation though with some long walks, leftovers and maybe even some snow.

My parents came on Thursday and left this morning, at the threat of snow for tonight. With all of these hills and winding roads, it can be intimidating at first. I showed them the way out of town, but not before a pit stop in the Strip District for them to load up on real northern Italian meats. That is stuff you just can't get down south.

It was a fun few days! Mom and I did a tour in the Cathedral of Learning at Pitt, we went to the Strip, watched a Steelers game, Billy showed Dad some rigs, did some shopping, checked out PPG place and the big tree, walked to Grandview Ave and took Patton for a hike on the trails. The only thing we didn't do was ride the incline down to Station Square! I'm sure there will be a next time. I think Pittsburgh exceeded their expectations. I think a lot of people(including myself) picture Pittsburgh as a run down old steel town, and some parts are, but there really is a lot to do here and some parts of the city are new and pretty.

Christmas was awesome! Check out the mess:

The biggest surprise and most awesome gift was a sewing machine. I sewed a bit when I was younger, and some of it came back to me when I took it out for a trial run. I wish I had it last week so I didn't sew our curtains by hand! I have no idea what my first project will be, but I'm sure through YouTube and Pinterest, I'll find something to start with.

We all know Patton is happy Christmas is over so he doesn't have to listen to those Christmas bells for another 11 months!

On a slow day last week, I was perusing Pinterest for Christmas cookies and was all excited until I got home and got realistic. My kitchen is probably smaller than your bathroom, and I don't have a dishwasher. Thus, dreams of cookies crumbled. Turns out, that all is well because at work, there is seemingly a never ending pile of cookies. Yesterday I had four...okay, 5, but only admitted to four and my coworker said, "FOUR, really?" Luckily, when I got home, the stars had aligned and Patton was walked and Billy was already cooking dinner, so the shame got me to run. Bonus - I saw a reindeer/giant deer with antlers! So weird, because we live 1/2 mile from the city, surrounded by a river. I thought about getting close and taking a picture, but chickened out.

Two more wonderful things are that Mom is coming with cookies AND Billy received a smoker for Christmas, which takes the cooking load off of me and it means less dishes! Yes, I now think about what I'm making in terms of how many pots/pans I will need to use.

It's going to be almost 60 degrees today. What the heck, Pittsburgh? Where is my white Christmas? Me thinks that won't be happening, which is fine because four people, plus a dog the size of a person in our less than large living space without being able to get out would not be good.

Tomorrow is the last day of work until January 3rd and this break will be glorious!

I tried to sleep in this morning, but Patton will not let that happen! I took him out and then went back to bed, but he just sat there and stared at me. So needy!

I have a lot to do anyway, like clean the house, go to the post office, buy some more makeup bc someone or some DOG knocked it off the counter yesterday and broke my eyeshadow. Things between now and next week will go by so fast, especially at work. Which is why I asked Billy for the house cleaning service I saw on Groupon yesterday but he said no. Ugh!

I keep laughing at the very funny gift I found for my FIL at Urban Outfitters last night. I guarantee he will think it is hilarious and keep sending us pictures of the sentences he makes. He has a mustache and apparently no one has seen his upper lip since 1980.

Mid Week Musings...

I read an article in the newspaper about how Duquesne is doing their students a disservice by not supporting a student atheist group. Perhaps the author did not get the memo that this is a Catholic institution and harboring a group of atheists doesn’t not really jive with the mission.

I saw the Lowe’s pulled their advertising from the new TLC show, All American Muslim. This was supported by Glenn Beck…who has a new reality show about a father training his family to live off the grid in case of economic/natural disaster. This led me to connect the dots about how this also crossed Billy’s mind and told me over dinner this weekend about his “off the grid” plan as well. After I spit out my food I was laughing so hard.

A student emailed me to ask if I knew if Penn State used the same chemistry book as we do. How on earth would I know that?

Another student stumbled over saying Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to me and then explained the stutter by saying he was so used to saying Happy Hanukah. To who? Again, with the Catholic university…

So far I have received only 4! Christmas cards. C’mon people!

I don’t think this is as good as the Jimmy Kimmel prank on kids and Halloween candy, but this is pretty good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4a9CKgLprQ

6 more work days!!

This morning....

I had to cut a knot out of my hair...

I somehow got my hair elastic around my ankle, and UNDER my tights...

It was 18 degrees...

But there are only 8 more working days until my 11 day break!!!

I'm not late to The Help party, because I read the book last year, but I did just watch the movie and I highly recommend it. The book actually helped me follow the movie a little better because some of the character's names are similar and could be a little confusing. It was about 2.5 hours, but it didn't seem that long. Even Billy really liked it!

I asked him to pick up the movie from Redbox on his way home last night as restitution for me having to walk Patton twice in the cold rain yesterday. And it was COLD. I even wore tights under my pants yesterday...and didn't change out of them when I put my sweatpants on to walk the dog. No one cares what you look like here, as long as you're warm. Reason #486 why I love Pittsburgh.

So after the movie, we called my MIL since she is the once who gave me The Help. She had just bought a 10foot Christmas tree and hasn't put it up yet. The image of this is so funny to me, because she lives by herself right now...how on earth is she going to get a 10 foot Christmas tree up? I don't know if I could have gotten our 6 footer up on my own! Ohh she makes me laugh sometimes.

Today is a Catholic holiday, so I don't have to work...and I plan on finishing/putting a big dent in my Christmas shopping! We're in full swing now...yesterday I received my first Christmas cards in the mail and mine are on their way!

It finally feels like Christmas! In Florida, it never quite felt like Christmas because it was so warm. But now...with our tree(a real one!), decorations and a chill in the air, it feels like it should! We drove around forever looking for a tree, and finally gave up. Just as we were about to head home, we found them right at the bottom of our road. Duhhhh.

Patton officially hates Christmas though. He howls at almost all Christmas songs, so I had to change the station and he keep stealing out ornaments off the tree. So far, we have only had one casualty. He was also crying when we were trying to put lights up outside today. That was a complete fail, btw. No lights outside for us.

Billy asked me for my Christmas list and I really had a hard time thinking of things. A couple of years when I gave him a list, he bought everything on it! I gave him specific instructions not to buy everything on it this year though! I was hesitant to put these on, because $48 seems expensive for mittens. But I would wear them for several months...and they are very pretty!