Thank you, everyone. A friend told me this morning that she once hit a dog very hard, and he turned out to be okay. I recalled reading years ago about cats' extreme flexibility. Maybe that helped. I hope so. Vicki, what a sad story. We always see turtles crossing roads this time of year. One spring I drove past a fairly big one, and pulled off the road to walk back and get him off the road before he got hit. I wasn't far from him when a Corvette came along and ran over him. It looked to me like it was intentional. That turtle had a lot of tears shed for him.

I do believe that dogs live "in the moment" but I also believe that they remember enough of crappy former lives to truely appreciate wonderful new lives. We have six rescues (yorkies) who were either abused, neglected, or otherwise traumatized. It is so wonderful to see them come out of their shells and become ... DOGS. ((hugs)) to you!! I can just imagine how anxious you were, until you got Ellie to the vet. I'm so glad she's feeling better.

Thanks, ladies. Yes, it's a lot of fun and it seems like the ladies are really outdoing themselves every year. I do have an idea for next years ornie, in fact I have almost everything I need to make them. I saw on FlickR some ornaments that look like those candied fruit slices, you know the ones you see in the nice candy stores, they look like a slice of orange, or lemon, lime, etc. They make them in citrus colors and red.... well, these were felt, 2 colors in each one, like dark green/lime green or dark yellow/bright yellow, etc, and covered with "sugar", which was a square crystal glitter. Simple, but VERY CUTE. I was thinking of making a set of 3 for each lady. I bought all the stuff to make them in case my ships didn't turn out. So I'll be making those, and I won't wait until early December, either! lol bRAT Kat- those are his little mittened hands you're seeing, ya perv! lol It's not a good photo, I realize that. He is absolutely the most charming, old-fashioned little guy, we all flipped over him. The 2 girls on either side of me, their guys had glittery felt shoes- mine has plain. I told them their little guys were gay. lolol And their little scarves are so cute, a tiny button holds it in place. He is perfection. I recommend these kinds of parties to everyone. What a great way to get together, have lots of fun and good food and be creative AND get a huge assortment of ornies. Oh. I don't do a tree anymore, I'm sad to say. Too many cheesy cats in this house that would tear it up. I keep some of the ornaments and share some with friends. I have a lovely assortment in boxes! lol Thanks, WC, about the cat. I hope to hear from the vet this morning that I can pick him up. Fingers crossed!

I have several of those in my house, I need to go buy some refills now because the ones I love most are only available at this time of year. Fresh Balsam it smells so wonderful. I see they have them on the website again so time for me to stock up. OH boy they have the 2pack refills on sale for $6!!!