Our "Ski Lodge" and Important Lessons About Dogs and Red Wine

Another short weekend has come and gone. Sitting back and reflecting on the weekend leaves me with a couple of fun/interesting memories.

We live about 1/2 block away from a longtime closed, newly re-opened sled hill. Girl has practically been living there after school and all day on the weekends. The girls have been storing their sleds, discs, and toboggans on our front porch instead of schlepping them all the way home and then all the way back to the sled hill every day. This has been a lot of fun for us. A house full of kids coming in to warm up, borrow some of Girl's socks if theirs have soaked through, have hot chocolate, wait for rides...it feels very warm, cozy, and comforting.
The kids were with Ex this weekend. Ex picked up the boys at about 5, but Girl and her friends were still at the hill. Not two minutes after ex pulled away from the house (LATE, of course) Girl walked in. She had a friend with her who was just frozen. She had gone to a friend's house right from school and had not brought anything to change into. She had on her coat, hat, etc...but all she had on her legs were the pajama bottoms that she had worn to school under her uniform skirt. Girl gave her something to change into and some hot chocolate to warm up until her mom arrived.
After she left, PC was running to the store, so he took Girl and dropped her at Ex's house. No sooner had they walked out the door did three MORE friends come a-knocking. They didn't have any cell phones on them and needed to call for rides. So, they hung out for a bit and warmed up til their parents arrived. This is really becoming fun, to be perfectly honest.
PC and I had planned a party for Saturday evening with a few friends, so late Saturday morning we set out to the store to get provisions. When we came home, the sleds were gone from the porch ( I thought this rather cute, since the kids are technically with their father this weekend). About an hour later, Girl and several of her friends, and their little brothers, came in doing the snow-walk. PC and I were making cookies and foodstuffs, so the girls came in and helped while the boys watched a movie. It was very nice having Girl and her friends for a few hours while she was supposed to be at her father's....teee heeee teee heee.

FINALLY it was grown up time and our guests were arriving. Well, my hyper dog ( 8 or 9 y/o yellow lab), was in desperate need of a mani/pedicure. SEVERAL of our friends seemed to glom on to the idea of doing her nails that evening. All was going well, but we would have to pet her and play with her after each nail to give her a chance to forget what was going on. I had been in the other room changing the music or something. When I came back in the kitchen, KH & KC were working on the front claws, so I set my wine (beaujolais, of course) down on the kitchen table so that I could assist in calming the spaz---I mean dog. Well, Dog jumped, I moved, arm swung and NAILED the wine glass. I, obviously, got the brunt of it. The back and the front of my khakis were just covered, as was my sweater. KH got some on her sweater, KC got some on her beautiful light silvery-white crepe shirt, the walls, cabinets and stove were splattered, this morning I found MORE in a place I never would have expected. The best, though, was the dog. Picture this furball of a yellow lab with purple streaks across her...almost like zebra stripes. Oh, it was funny.
The lesson learned here bears repeating, even if it is painfully obvious: When clipping a dogs claws, do NOT bring red wine in the room even if you think you're putting it in the safest possible place. My pants have been in the upstairs tub soaking in cold water and Oxy clean since Saturday night. I think tonight they'll be going in the washer. GOD I hope they come clean!!!

Does anyone else have any red wine disasters to share?????