Happy New Year!

Ok, so I'm a little late. Maybe a lot late. There are still SEVERAL people I have not managed to get Christmas presents mailed out to yet. December was ... well... rough. To put it mildly. Finally surviving Birthday Week from Hell, we were then faced with colds, flu, ear infections, sinus infections, back to colds again. Then there was the water heater blowing up. And the wind storm, that brought down an amazing amount of tree branches, not to mention a very large eucalyptus tree that split down the middle, one half across the bike path behind our yard, and the other across the fence that keeps small children from falling into the culvert. And I forgot about the sprinkler system that required having all the valves replaced. While Murphy had a lovely Christmas, I was barely conscious and spent several hours at the not-so-local clinic, where I was kindly given several prescriptions which due to the holiday were unable to be filled until the next day; no small inconvenience considering the size of the headache I had from the flu (extra, extra, extra large, with a bonus serving of OUCH). Thank God that Peru was able to handle most things until I became somewhat functional before he got the worst of his bout.

So now we're all recovering, and I'm trying hard to catch up on all the things I'm behind on; the Breed Swap, the aforementioned Christmas gifts, the housework, and of course, work. Did I mention the business consultant that's turning the company inside out trying to make us more productive and more profitable? Looking over my shoulder at every step? And did I mention that I have a miserable cold, AGAIN?????? Sigh. But it's all small stuff, thank God. We'll get through it.

Tomorrow I'll try to post some pictures of the yard from the wind storm. They don't show the true extent of the mess, but it'll give you an idea. And some of Murphy and his presents. He's pretty darn cute!