Guard Duty

You know what's really annoying? Trying to do guard duty with the drapes closed! Mom and Dad have been leaving the drapes closed on the big picture window and the patio door to help keep the cold air out during the day. Sounds like a good excuse doesn't it? It's not! It's hard to know what's going on outside if I have to wiggle through the drapes and then the shears. It's really annoying.

Sasha and Gunnar can get up on the window sill and walk because they're little. They are able to walk along the full length of the window and I can't!
Personally, I would think Mom should continue with her morning routine of opening the drapes for me so I can better guard my house. How intimidating is a little dacshund and a huge cat? Not as intimidating as a black lab!!!! Sheesh!

Thanks for sending nice words to Mom. She's doing much better the last couple of days. She says she feels okay enough that I can tell you what happened. You see, 1 year ago this Friday was the day her Mom died. I hated her mom because she was mean to my mom and she didn't like me. She thought my Mom was stupid for adopting a black lab because "labs are the dumbest breed." We all know the woman was WAY off, but I'm not going to get into that right now. Whenever she was around I would growl at her. Anyway, Mom didn't think the anniversary was going to bother her so much because her Mom hadn't spoken to her in over 2 years when she died. Sunday when the Christmas cookies turned into a disaster Mom was already kind of messed up in the head so all she could hear in her head was her mom telling her how she had screwed up and that she should have used her recipes since they always worked for her. Then Mom, Dad and Grandma started talking about what to do for Christmas dinner since the oven is pretty much dead and that got Mom thinking and of course made her sadder. Monday weird little things kept setting her off. Thanks to some very nice emails from Jamie (Sunny and Scooter's Mom) she figured out what was bothering her so much and why she was avoiding talking to people about what was upsetting her so much. Even though my mom's mom was really mean, Mom still loved her because she was her mom and she does have some good memories, especially around Christmas. This is actually the 4th Christmas Mom has had without her Mom and for some reason this one has been the hardest. The first 2 were when her Mom wasn't talking to her, then the 3rd was the one right after she died. This is the first Christmas that it's real for Mom that her Mom is really gone. Mom feels free now that her mom isn't around to tell her what a horrible person she is anymore, but deep down Mom had hope that her Mom would all of a sudden realize what a mean person she was being and apologize to Mom. It hit Mom pretty hard at the beginning of the week and combined with the confusion of how she was feeling, we were all very worried about her. Mom wants me to tell everyone thank you for your friendship and support and hopefully after we get through Friday, everything will be back to normal just in time for Christmas. Mom and I both are sending big hugs and thanks to Jamie. You helped Mom figure out what was upsetting her so much and that made her feel lots better.