To puppy or not to puppy????....

...OK, so that's not the question really.....WHAT puppy is the question.

I've been asking and begging, begging and asking, but have realised that I won't be getting a Macy II or a Sierra............so I've resumed my search on this side of the world.........

This is what I have always wanted....

...but they need more than I can provide. Weimaraners need space. I have none. I could give all the love, attention and exercise but they need so much more. Boo for me :-(

So....my second choice, a Westie (West Highland Terrier). Aaaaaawwwww! Such an amazing dog. Period. And perfect for me. They need a good amount of regular exercise....great. But they don't need wide open spaces like the Weimies do. There's plenty puppies available. Do I bite the bullet?????????And then there's this little guy...this photo was sent to me with a 'happy new year' message from my friend, who knows I'm thinking about puppying-up. Does this mean I should be going for a dachshund? Or is this a MinPin???? Who cares....the cuteness sells!

Oh dear. Decisions, decisions, decisions.........

Doesn't the cuteness about kill ya?!

Let the world stop turning
Let the sun stop burning
Let them tell me love's not worth going through
If it all falls apart
I will know deep in my heart
The only dream that mattered had come true
In this life I was loved by you
- Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Happy holidays!!!

Wishing the blogging world a fantastic holiday season and a happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous 2010!!!

I've been so busy recently that I've hardly had time to check emails let alone surf my favourite websites.
But last night something pretty wonderful happened which I wanted to share because I'm just so proud I could burst!!
My brother has not had a haircut in 20 years. He has had dreadlocks that went all the way down to his bum! From time to time over the years he has talked about cutting them off but he finally made the decision a couple of months ago to do it and raise some money for charity. We set the night for 6th November and arranged to do it in one of the local pubs, then we set about spreading the word.
He chose two charities to split the proceeds between. One is an organisation that provides at-home palliative care for dying cancer patients and support for their families, and the other is the local school for children with disabilities and special needs, which is severely under-funded by Government.
Over the intervening months we have slowly been raising money. We didn't really know what to expect. Friends and family were very keen but it has been hard economic times for everyone. We were pleased when we reached $400 and thrilled when we reached $4,000.
Last night about 200 people gathered in the pub and I was stunned to learn that the total funds raised was at $18,000!!!
We had a blast....auctioning each dreadlock to be cut off and different parts of his beard to be shaved...lots of jokes and funny stories! AND.....by the end of the night we had raised over $40,000!!!! AND we still have some donations to come in as a lot of my brother's freind's employers pledged to match employees contributions!
It was a hard thing for my brother to do. He is known by everyone as Dready so he has felt a little as though he was going to lose his identity a bit. And he was very nervous as we began last night! But I am proud beyond measure, of him, and of such supportive friends, and such a generous community here. We began this thinking that if he could just raise a couple thousand dollars it would be something, it would be a couple of thousand more than the charities had before. What happened though is that he will be able to give each of these charities a considerable amount of money by anyone's standards! Money that they can DO something with to REALLY make a difference.
I am SOOOOO proud of my brother! <3
Here's a link to the video......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeqD1pdVIj0&feature=player_embedded
Since he is refusing the new nickname 'Dimples' he will still be known as Dready!

Alba Gu Brath!!!!!

Some good news out of Afghanistan for a wee change.
I grew up listening to The Band of the Black Watch Brigade as my Father would play his records (uh, yes, vinyl LPs!) every Sunday morning after church and the house would fill with the thrilling sound of bagpipes and drums and battle marches while we cooked brunch.
So proud that my countrymen are more than pulling their weight over there and I hope they ALL get home safe and sound ....
Helmand Blog - Afghanistan: Scots soldiers smash Taliban bomb-makers' stronghold

Where did the summer go????

Wow. It's nearly October. Things will start to cool off soon and then it's a rapid decline all the way to the New Year. End of summer parties will make October fly til Halloween, then it's my birthday, the World Rugby Classic, Thanksgiving and before you know it the succession of Christmas parties, and Christmas itself, has you sitting there on the 30th wondering what to wear tomorrow night and thinking, "Hmm, didn't we JUST celebrate New Year??"

So what have I been doing all summer?

Well, mostly this....

But I also did this.....

in order to see stunning scenery like this......

Ah, New Zealand! I will be back one day....and maybe I'll never leave next time....

Excellent random thoughts....

To mark my return after a lengthy absence, here is a list of random thoughts on life that was in my inbox this morning and really made me chuckle!....especially since it made me realise that I'm really NOT the only one!!

- Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public, I feel like a kid on Christmas morning that just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

- I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello?
Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

- More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

- I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

- Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realise I had no idea what the f*** was going on when I first saw it.

- Have you ever been walking down the street and realised that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going?
But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

- I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

- Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong.

- There is a great need for sarcasm font.

- I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

- How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

- I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

- I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

- Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

- How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

- Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

- I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

- Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

- I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

- Bad decisions make good stories.

- Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem ..

- You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

- Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

- There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

- I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

- I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this.
It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room.
Will we still be friends after this?'

- I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

- As a driver I hate pedestrians and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

- Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

- I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.