Ho Ho Ho!

Saying that my dogs bark a lot is an understatement. They woof when they're happy, when they're bored, when they're anxious, when they see a leaf flutter down from a tree. Unfortunately, their barks sound exactly the same if they see a squirrel in the yard or if an axe murderer is lurking at the door. There have been several times when I have been in the shower and have heard them frantically barking, so I jumped out, threw on my clothes and ran to see what was wrong...only to find out that the neighbor's cat had dared to step into their line of sight, or that the guy down the street was hanging his Christmas lights on his porch. This morning while I was showering, the dogs went nuts again. At first I ignored them, figuring that it was probably just a sparrow or something equally ridulous that had them all riled up. But the barking continued and even grew in its intensity, so I sprinted out of the shower and into my clothes and opened the front door, decent but dripping wet. It was the Dell delivery guy! Kevin ordered me a brand new laptop for Christmas! This will be my first laptop that wasn't a hand-me-down from his company. It is really thin and light and it's red--so cute! I called Kevin at work and shrieked in his ear for a few minutes to say thank you. He asked what I planned to do with it first, and without hesitation I said I want to create a slide show of all the animals who are up for adoption at the animal shelter where I volunteer. There are tons of fundraising activities coming up over the next couple of weeks, including gift wrapping at Barnes & Noble and pet pictures with Santa at Petsmart, so maybe playing a slide show of the shelter's adorable homeless animals (on a festive red laptop) at these stores will help to get a few of them a new home for Christmas!