Christmas Cards Galore!

December has been full of anticipation as Milton and I eagerly await all of our doodle holiday cards arriving in the mail!  So far in our doodle card exchange, we have received 36 cards out of the 49 total we are due to expect.  Cards have arrived from across the United States - Alabama, California, New Jersey, South Carolina, and many more; we are creating a doodle network!  The cards are cute and interesting because oftentimes the proud owners will state their doodle's or doodles' type and age, just like any other member of the family.  Here is a quick glimpse of our collection:

A worthy use of our new wine rack

Granted not all of the above cards are solely doodle cards, but it does make for a rather nice display.  I feel like my circle of friends has greatly expanded...!  Initially I was quite happy with Milton's card that we developed at Costco, but the below cards are some of my favorite too!

A big fellow!

This dog reminds me SO much of Milton - size, curls, goofiness!

Two doods from New Orleans

Lindsay and Leo - our local friends!

That is certainly a beautiful collar/wreath that dood is wearing!

So far this year "Mr. Milton" has received more cards than Jeff and I combined!  All of these doodle cards make me feel less crazed for sending out a picture of our dog for Christmas.  Although, I still argue that he is the best sole representation of our family!

Puppy Photo of the Week

Our little doodle family is officially moved in!  It is hard to believe but after weeks of packing, painting, and about eight solid hours of moving on Saturday, we are here.  The house is beginning to come together, especially now that our furniture has arrived, but we still have a laundry list of items to tackle - paint three more rooms, fix the fence and gate, paint the trim outside (not in the too near future!), and so on and so forth.  Regardless, it feels very good to be "home" for the Christmas season.

All of the men who helped in the move - Leroy, Jeff, and of course the Milt

I know what you are all thinking...  Did Milton get to ride in the 17-ft. U-Haul?  Sadly, no.  We opted not to buy the insurance, and Milt can be a bit distracting on the road at times, so he only got to watch the hours of packing and unpacking.  That was not quite as much fun but still provided some amount of viewing pleasure!  Welcome home, Milt.

Christmas Finery!

The day after Thanksgiving, when the Christmas season officially kicks off, Milton likes to begin sporting his festive holiday attire, and since the Milt is a dog (I hate to admit it!) that means his Christmas collar! 

Fancy, huh?

Milton has been strutting around pretty proud of himself and getting lots of compliments on his flashy candy cane collar!  He likes to look good, especially since Momma and Daddy don't take him to a groomer...  This particular collar was handcrafted by the talented Julie at MiboCollars.  Julie is one of my "Internet friends," as Jeff likes to call them, who I met through Doodle Kisses, and she is the proud mama of two doods - Boomer and Milo.  MiboCollars offers a wide selection of fun holiday and everyday prints too!  This collar was actually a steal at only $14; Milton has decimated his other collar playing rough and tumble at daycare...  Since I am a big fan of holiday decorations, especially window clings, I plan to decorate the Milt all year long from now on!  Here is a close up:

Visions of sugar plums dance in his head.

Don't mind the blue paint - Milt was just helping out around the house yesterday...

If you feel the strong urge, like I do, to adorn your pup as well (it's fun!), check out Julie's shop at:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/mibocollars?page=2

If you haven't bought that special four-legged pal a Christmas present yet, here is your chance!  Julie might even include tasty pumpkin milk bones with your order, as she did for me.  Since we are all set on Christmas, the next holiday on my list is Valentine's Day.  I think the Milt can easily pull off some pink hearts, although Jeff might protest a bit.  Oh well... Milt is a Momma's boy!

As Dull as Watching Paint Dry, Literally...

All my life has been lately is paint/grade, paint/grade, paint a LOT, and grade some MORE!  This old house is an awful lot of work.  It seems to have come at a bad time when I have endless stacks of multiples of 94 papers in the crush of work prior to Christmas vacation.  It hasn't even felt like Christmas around here because Jeff and I have been working so hard.  We have not dabbled in the traditional Elf viewing or seasonal shopping outings.  We have been moonlighting as painters in the evenings and the weekends, often staying at the house until 2 A.M. on Friday and Saturday nights!

Milt likes to lie on our drop clothes and chew what he can find.

What's the rush?  Our apartment lease is up January 7th, and we have very few weekends to accomplish everything especially with travels to both Louisiana (to drop the Milt with his grandparents and later pick up), as well as New York to visit my family.  We feel the pressure.

Milton likes to take his rightful spot in front of the fireplace

For our color scheme, (as I like to explain it), we are going with sun (yellow) all throughout the house, sky (bright blue) in our bed and bath, and grass (mint green) in the guest bed and bath.  Picking the exact shade of paint that I had envisioned was more difficult than I would have ever thought.  The yellow is too pale and the blue is too bright, and hopefully when I pick the mint it will be just right.  After a few weeks though, I am certain the walls will just fade into the background.

A temporary declaration of love in the kitchen

Painting is not cut and dry in our household.  Jeff is absolutely fastidious with the details.  Here are the steps of painting for us per room, and we are painting 10 rooms total!:  spackle all the cracks, texturize the cracks, sand the cracks, tape the important parts, edge around the important parts, roller the walls, return for edge touch ups, return for roller touch ups, sweep, scour floor for drips and clean.  When I think I'm almost done, I'm not because Jeff the Taskmaster creeps in and spots something that needs a little more work...  Oh, joy.

The outside looking in

While we paint, the Milt can be in the room if we are prepping or working up high, but when the rollers come out, the Milt is banished to the outside which he is not too fond of.  To think that this doodle now has his very own yard, and all he wants to do is scurry back inside with his Momma and Daddy.  At least he gets to bark  at the neighbors a bit while he's out there, so it could be worse...!

Puppy Photo of the Week

Some of you may recall last week's post of Milton's new found freedom of sleeping outside of his "cage" throughout the night.

Daddy really, really liked this pair.

After this late night/early morning incident in the dark, Milton's privilege has been rebuked.  What a doodle...

A Dollop of Humor!

Recently we have been allowing Milt to sleep in the free wild outside of his cage.  Thus far, it has worked out pretty well.  Each evening, on my side of the bed, I place all the bed throw pillows which encourages Milton to sleep right by my side, of course, where he belongs.  He remains there for the majority of the night, unless he is a bit hot or restless and will wander somewhere else in the room.  There is also the occasion when Jeff gets annoyed by Milton's travels, and he pens him back up.

Milt's bed

The other evening I woke up in the middle of the night, and when I looked down, Milt was not by my side.  I checked under the bed, by Jeff, and in front of the door but no luck.  I'm easily alarmed, so I ran down the stairs and started calling out, "Milt! Milton!".  All of a sudden, I heard the pitter patter of my doodle's feet, and I looked up to see him staring down at me like, "Whaaaat, Momma?"

As I stumbled back upstairs, I was dumbfounded over where Milt had been hiding.  As I gave my doodle, a couple of good pats before crawling back into bed, I noticed that his belly was a little bit wet.  Our Milton had been sleeping in the bathtub.  Oh my doodle...!

A Gingerbread House for Christmas!

Jeff and I finally bit the bullet, and we bought a YARD for the Milt!  Ok, we bought a house...!  As the post title alludes, why is it a gingerbread house?  Well, take a look for yourself.

Do you see the resemblance?

This is why one of the first things I have done in my early attempts to decorate is place my telltale holiday window clings smack in the middle of our kitchen window overlooking the sink.

It is a perfect match!

We finally decided on this house after many, many months of searching.  Jeff and I chose this charming home for a number of reasons.  First, the house is located in a very central area in the heart of Dallas.  It is still close to both of our jobs, Milt's daycare, and my yoga studio.  Second, I really wanted a period home with engrained character rather than something crisp and modern, although new can be nice too.  I just tend to always be a bit old-fashioned, and I like to drag Jeff along on my whims!  The Milt needed a yard, and this home just so happened to have one!  The last, and probably most important point, is the price was right!  The house should retain value, and despite having an endless laundry list of to-dos, we think we can make it beautiful and ours.

A close-up of Momma and Milton

Milton is proud of his new home.

I do hope Milton realizes that this house is his Christmas present!  It is certainly ours too.