Thursday Thirteen – Strike a Pose

(Image courtesy of Gabrielle)

So, just for something different, here’s a little bit of photoblogging for you.

1. This is Max. He’s my doggie child. As a mom, you can understand why I would NEVER make him pose this way. Clearly, this is the work of his father.

2. This was also Duty’s idea. Yes, we really did have little tuxedos made for the dogs. He’s holding Oliver, his much loved and now in heaven doggie. Poor Max. The things we Duty make(s) him do.

3. We also have cats (three of them, to be exact). And even though she looks fierce in this picture, Lucie is my most lovey kitty of them all. She lets me hold her in my arms like a baby as long as I’m petting or loving on her. But do not get in her way around food time. OY! She has a 24 hour internal clock that apparently goes off 23 1/2 hours into it and she will stare my ass down if I don’t acknowledge that it’s food time. I feed her mostly to get to leave me alone. Duty gets all passive/aggressive and forces her to stop meowing for the count of ten before he puts her food down. It’s a stupid game he plays and I have to leave the room. I mean, just feed her and move on! :) (We argue about this often. Can you tell?)

4. This is a cute pic of Justin and Lucie taken last weekend. She loves him and just crawled right up there on his chest. By the way, you’d never know from this picture that Justin is almost 6 feet tall and a maniac out there on the ice (hockey player and all that). Since he’s our fake boychild, he has inherited my tender heart. (Don’t tell his mom, though. She might resent my taking credit for it! heh)

5. Speaking of “Jostin” and his tender heart, this chick right here had him wrapped around her bitty finger. NG said “Emma loves her some Justin” heh He played hide-and-seek with her, pulled her around the pool in a big float for over an hour and was generally at her beck and call all weekend. “Jostin” is her man.

6. A motley crew, indeed. This is my family all together last Christmas. And I love this group of people with all my heart. They make all our holidays fun – whether we are tossing biscuits at each other, ripping open packages really, really fast (in no order) or standing at Lauren’s bedside rubbing her toes and saying goodbye, we are all in this together and I love them dearly.

7. Speaking of family, this picture was painted by Christine, my niece (Lauren’s younger sister). She’s been an artist since she was old enough to hold a crayon. Isn’t it lovely? And guess who gets to put it up in her living room? MEEE!! YEY! (In the pic above, she’s the one in the white shirt with the long hair in the back row on the left)

8. Speaking of Lauren, this is a picture I gave her for Christmas 2004. It was exactly the picture I saw of us in my meditations and the title of it was “Soulsisters”. Mary gave it back to me after La passed away and it holds a place of honor in my living room.

9. This picture is from our trip to France in November. It totally made me laugh every time I saw it because it reminded me of something Eddie Izzard would come up with. The minute I saw it, I had to drag Lauren into the hall to see it too. I didn’t have to say a word. She knew it was Eddie through and through.

10. While we were in France, Duty, Mary and her son Joe were adventurous and went to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night. It was raining and cold (November, it was) but according to them, it was just fabulous to see. Me? I’m content with looking at the picture and saying “oh, how pretty!” and staying warm.

11. It doesn’t get more exciting than this, folks. This is (ta-da!) my refrigerator! It has pretty colors on it.

12. Duty and Max in the snow. Even if he does put funny glasses on Max and covers him with a blanket and says “Go for a ride?” just to watch that poor dog freak out, he really does love that dog. (And note Duty is wearing MY mittens. But shhhh! He has gender issues so don’t mention it, K?)

13. This is me about 8 years ago. And yes, I’m holding a baby AND a Playboy magazine. I have both a maternal side and a sensual side (both gone now, apparently). But I like the pic. I look about as cute as I’m gonna look in this life.