I KNOW... I KNOW... I KNOW!!!

it's been forever and a day... i'm fully aware, thank you.

so... really, it's been an insane time since the last time i posted:
1. My dad went into the hospital a few days before Thanksgiving.
2. My dad got out of the hospital on Thanksgiving Day.
3. My sister's dog, Sophie, my neice dog, was in a tragic accident and died (one of the saddest days in my entire life).
4. My dad went into the hospital the friday before Christmas.
5. My sister's friend, Leslie, found a dog.
6. My dad got out of the hospital this past Thursday (20 days later).
7. My sister adopted the dog found by Leslie. His name is Tucker, and he's ADORABLE!!
8. Jay's dog, Bear, died. He was one of my favorite dogs. :(
9. My church is falling to pieces.
10. My friends are insane (not a good insane, but a bad one).

So there are 10 things that happened to me over the course of my absence. The explaination may take a while for a few of them, so brace yourself!



Dad's hospital visits:
Very stressful time. The weird one was the time he was in the hospital over Christmas. Diana and I went up to the hospital on Christmas morning, in our PJs and wearing our Santa (and his elf) hats, and opened our "stocking" gifts. After we finished with that, we went home and spent the day lounging around and went to Mark, Alison, and Emily's for a non-Christmas Christmas get-together. it was a way weird Christmas. We ended up doing our big family Christmas on New Year's Day, even though my dad still wasn't home. we opened all of our presents on New Year's Eve though, as we waited for the ball to drop in Times Square. Then we watched New Year's Around the World until it was time here! Then, i fulfilled our tradition, that my grandmother started such a long time ago, of sweeping out the old year sweeping in the new one... i know it sounds weird and all, but it's tradition for the youngest female in the house to do it, so i did (we also made the bacon and eggs out of white chocolate, m&m's, and pretzels that she used to make). so that's pretty much that in a nutshell.

The Dogs:
So, Sophie died on Dec. 14, while we were having our chocolate party. i'm not going into detail other than she was hit by a car, and died pretty much immediately. It was one of the worst days of my life. I still can't get images from that night out of my head.
Leslie found Tucker, my new nephew, about 2 weeks ago. He's so adorable!! He's mostly yorkie, but he was so thin when she found him, and he wouldn't eat until friday night. I got to take him to his vet appointment to check for a microchip and everything, and he officially became a member of that family yesterday! He's a little over a year old, so he decided to make his birthday on January 6, 2007, because January 6th was the day Leslie found him.
Bear died yesterday. It was very sad. Jay told me Friday night that Bear had a very short time left, and we all knew it was going to happen, just not so soon. Bear was one of my favorite dogs. He was so loyal, and loving. While he didn't like being picked up at all (sometimes not even by Jay), he would let me pick him up sometimes, which was very surprising.
Here's a little bit about the kitty that died over this time as well... Trina. Trina was my aunt's cat, who was about 6 monthes older than me. Mellie had to put Trina, her 19 year old cat, to sleep a few days before Sophie died. She was just so old that it was just better for her that way.
All three pets are buried in Franklin, at The Nest, right next to each other in the orchard.

The Church:
Lots of drama, and i don't feel like explaining it.

The Friends:
A few of them are making really bad decisions, and there's nothing i can do about it. It sucks, but i just have to be there for them when the bottom falls out.