Blue Christmas

More like a blue spring, actually, but it's my Christmas Wish so we'll go with it.

Most of you probably read Joanna's blog so you know already that her Clue is pregnant by Ch. Pecan Valley Draco. Much happy dancing here as I am crossing my fingers hardcore that Clue will have a special little blue kid for me when all is born, counted, weaned and evaluated.

Despite my own admonishments to myself about not getting my hopes up sky-high, I've already circled the Maine shows in Union as her (or slightly less preferably his?) show debut, and I have eight possible names jotted down on a growing list, along with another list of items I'll need for the new baby. I've weighed rearranging the bedroom based on the need for a baby crate, and casually mentioned that maybe we could forego the dining table in favor of an ex-pen in that kitchen corner. This last was met with a gimlet stare from the hubby. I may need a Plan B. I stood in Pet Quarters staring at the baby collars and debated which color would look best on a blue merle. (Is pink too girly?) And convinced myself that whatever I get I'll need a matching leash, because color coordination is important.

I've so far managed to not email Joanna for hourly updates; cyber-stalking is not attractive. 'Til the due date anyway... (I kid!! kinda...)

*ahem* As I believe I've mentioned, I have Issues.

Please, Santa? I've been a very good girl this year...

I have Issues

Issue #1:
It started innocently enough. I decided I would bake Christmas cookies for folks this year rather than going the cheesecake route. This necessitated expanding my cookie collection beyond one Scottish Terrier and one dog biscuit shape because, while cute, they didn't so much shout "Christmas." So I bought a three-pack of holiday cutters. Then I found a package with 6 mini holiday-themed cutters, and I bought that too. Then I decided that I need big ones and small ones of each shape so I could make those cook jam-filled cookies with the cut out top, so I wandered into the cooking store downtown, and

Yahtzee!! LOTS of cookie cutters. Typical holiday shapes, tourist-trap-buy-this-stupid-thing-for-someone-at-home stuff like lobsters and moose. And also, a Labrador Retriever. Which gave me the idea to do a cookie-themed bag for the kennel club Christmas party and Yankee swap. (Cookie mixes, biscuit and lab-shaped cutters, dog cookies, a little booklet on baking your own dog biscuits, and two Yankee Candle holiday votives in the Christmas Cookie scent.)

Then the next day, I decided that I needed to add a Lab to my own collection, so I went back for another. And then I got to wondering if I might find more dog breed cookie cutters on line. And boy DID I! All of which leads me to...

Issue #2:
I am clearly a conformation snob. Because, when I saw this corgi cookie cutter?

The ONLY thing I could think of was: "Oh my God!! What a HORRIBLE top line!!"

Yeah. Issues.

Another Cardi Claus sighting

Cardi Claus made a stop at my house yesterday, courtesy of Cindy McDonald from Foggy Bottom Cardigan Welsh Corgis. How cute is this?

The "body" of the reindeer is a jar that contained dog cookies that were, if the canine delirium was any indication, completely delicious. There was a cute ornament for the tree, and some also-delicious chocolates. There are several more dog cookies remaining this morning than there are chocolates, I'm compelled to admit.

Since I had the camera out, I decided to get some pics of the critters. This one is my favorite:

This seems to be the season for running around like a chicken with its head cut off, hence no posting in the last couple of weeks. Bad blogger!! Still have a few little gifts to pick up, and a marathon baking session planned for this Saturday, followed by hubby's office Christmas party. Frigging whoopie. But I suppose that means I don't have to cook dinner.

Aw, HELL no, sista!

Don't you love reading some of the articles by so-called "behaviorists" who claim things like "dogs don't feel guilt" and "they are not anticipating consequences, just reacting to your body language," and stuff like that? I wonder sometimes when I read these things if the writer has even a passing acquaintance with dogs.

Case in point: About half the time, Elli will come into the bathroom when I turn off the shower and pull back the curtain. She's convinced that corgi tongue is a much more effective drying method than a towel. (Yeah, not so much.) But it's an on-again, off-again kind of thing. Ian, on the other hand, never comes into the bathroom when I'm showering. Because he just never knows when I might snag him and decide to bathe him. Best not to take chances.

But yesterday, when I pulled back the curtain, Ian came strutting into the bathroom. He walked over, stood with his front paws on the tub, and looked up at me. And I immediately asked, "What heinous thing has your sister done?"

Because it could not have been ANY clearer if he had suddenly started speaking English. That look plainly said, "Mom, Elli's doing something she's not supposed to, and I want no part in any of that. You need to address this situation." Good corgi!

Sure enough, I towel off and go out to the livingroom, to find Elli chewing on one of the Christmas decorations that I had apparently placed too low on the shelves. Bad corgi! True to character, SHE didn't feel any guilt over what she was doing, but Ian anticipated the scolding to come and wanted to make sure that I knew he was not a party to the destruction.

Yeah. He was clearly "just reacting to my body language." Uh huh.

What other gems have people read from some of these articles?