Sunday, December 27, 2009
Merry Ho, Ho, Ho!!!
We spent Christmas Eve here at my house, with my sister C and her 2 children (who were 1-1/2 hours late), C's boyfriend T and his son R, and my mom. Our neighbors stopped by to say hello and deliver some gift cards - you were ALL WAY TOO GENEROUS! I have a lot of shopping to do on my week off!
We went to Christmas Eve Midnight Mass at 10:30pm. (Does that bother anyone else like it bothers me? Even the Pope celebrated Midnight Mass at 10-something pm. That really ticks me off!)
On Christmas Day we woke up, I put the ham in the oven, all 13.89 pounds of it, we showered and waited around for DSD M to come up from her mom's. We went to my sister-in-law's house where we watched them open their presents - they were late this year! Then we snacked on bagels and cold cuts for a quick 1/2-hour and Jack and I and M returned home by way of my mom's to pick her up, and we opened presents, then ate dinner. M's fiancee S stopped by en route to his dad's house so we got to celebrate with him, too, for a little while.
Santa was very good to me - lots of little presents, with many to open, just the way I like it! I don't want one big present that ends the day as soon as it begins! I'd rather get a bunch of stocking stuffer gifts, all wrapped and put under the tree for distribution and unwrapping, so that Christmas lasts a long time!
Come back and visit in a few days, when I post my pictures!
Miss you all and wish we could have celebrated the holiday together!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Christmas Paperback Trees

http://wendysmedley.typepad.com/possibilities/2009/11/kayla-aimee---sample-lesson.html
1/2 an Hour to Christmas Vacation
I never took a vacation like this until last year. It was the first time I was off the entire holiday season with Jack, the first time EVER, actually. And I LOVED it! I really liked not knowing what day it was 'cause I didn't have a computer in front of my face 8 hours a day. I liked trying to figure out if I had to be anywhere that day 'cause I didn't know what day it was!!!
I'm so looking forward to having to arrange my day around Live with Regis and Kelly, The View, Dr. Phil and all my evening shows, Castle, Criminal Minds, CSI New York, The Mentalist, America's Funniest Home Videos, Extreme Home Makeover, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers and Sisters. And I hope to be in front of the TV often enough to watch any episodes of HouseHunters I may have missed, and to find out exactly when they're airing What Not to Wear. Say Yes to the Dress is another favorite.
I know. You're disappointed in me. No Public Television, no History Channel (unless there's something good on) - just lots of junk TV and HGTV and TLC. For variety we'll throw in some Food-TV and Discovery, and who wouldn't want to watch something on ABC Family?!
Don't worry - Ms. Book Addict has a stack of books up at the lake just waiting to be read, and I hear some scrapping projects calling my name.
But I have to admit, I'm looking forward to rotting my brain - nay, I'm planning to rot my brain from tonight at 4pm until 8:30am Monday, 01/04, except for a few hours daily of actual thinking and planning (just so I don't forget how!).
Might even try a couple of recipes I've always wanted to try...
Well, it's 3:36pm and I have to go and work for the next 24 minutes!
More over the holidays! Happy Christmas to All!!!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Two-and-a-half more days...
The doctor had told me to wear it 2-3 weeks. I went with 3, to be safe. Yesterday and today, it really feels good - a bit stiff, but less painful and I seem to be walking more normally.
I finally got a tree - 7-1/2' and artificial, but it's not.a.pigmy.tree!!! I was so tired of small live trees to replant at the lake or my little 5' tree... I'm a Christmas person and I wanted a Christmas TREE! Not a Christmas bush!
I'm in the midst of decorating it - will post pictures when I have them!
We'll be at the lake over the holidays - I'm off from 12/23 until 01/04 (YAY!) and will be shopping for a laptop, using a borrowed one in the meantime! So I'll be online over the holidays!
Well, gotta run! Toodles!
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
BORING!
I'm still limping.
I'm nowhere NEAR done/started with my Christmas shopping.
OH!!!
We bought a Christmas tree last night, so I'll be doing some decorating this weekend!
AND we went to the N Family Christmas Party this past Sunday. The 50th year in a row (I've only been going for about 15 years...)!!! One of the cousin's sons put together a slide show, about 150-200 photos of the family dating back to the early 1900s. Considering the youngest aunt is 80, YOU do the math!!! There were photos of her as a baby, and photos of her parents when her oldest sibling was born!!!
I swear. I could have sat for five hours and watched that slide show! I only wish there were 500 MORE photos for me to look at!!
Remember way back when, I mentioned that I was working on a Christmas photo album, sort of a scrapbook of December? (Or at least, I THINK I mentioned it...)
Yea, right. No way. I've printed out all the prompts. I've not taken a single photo, except for maybe 4 or 5 at the party. I have to take a picture of my decorated limping shoe, too, and start - better late than never, right???
Well, gotta run and do some more online shopping - if I don't get it online this year, you're most likely not getting it at all!!!
Friday, December 04, 2009
Have you ever???
Have you ever.....
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Been to Key West, FL
4. Vacationed in Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/Disney World (both of them - lucky me!!)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo or played a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Gone rollerskating
15. Adopted a child
16. Gambled in Vegas
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (when I was younger, that was the ONLY way I took a sick day!!! Now I have to waste them when I'm actually sick!!!)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon (yea, right!)
28. Worked at a Cannery or Welfare Farm
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Played an instrument (does it count to have taken piano lessons for one month?!?)
32. Been on a cruise (several!!!)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Acted in a play or performed on stage (in elementary school)
38. Been to Italy
39. Gone river rafting
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke (and I never will!)
42. Seen ‘Old Faithful’ geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Gone water skiing
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Been to Japan
50. Rode a horse
51. Gone snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Sailed a boat (not sailed, exactly, rowed and motored - does that count?!?)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Surfed
57. Started a business
58. Visited the Great Wall of China
59. Lived in a foreign country
60. Delivered Meals on Wheels or Served at a Soup Kitchen
61. Snowmobile or snow skiing - I went snow skiing once, and that was enough!
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Gone ice skating
67. Bounced a check - I was in college
68. Flown in a helicopter - no, but I really want to!
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy - I have my stuffed bear and my stuffed leopard from my dad
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar - yes, but I didn't like it!
72. Knit, crochet, sew, or quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job - yes, they closed the company down
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone - I'm wearing my special, attractive boot right now!!!
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle - not a speeding one...
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper or been on TV
86. Visited the White House
87. Been stung by a bee
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Sarah Ferguson, Nancy Reagan, Ann Margret, Donald Trump, Danielle Steel, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Vanna White, Richard Simmons, Jackie Collins, and a whole bunch of famous authors)
92. Joined a book club
93. Had to put someone you love in Hospice Care
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Eaten sushi - California roll, only, and I didn't like it!
99. Won the lottery - not the MegaMillions, well, not yet anyway! But a few dollars here or there!
100. Read an entire book in one day - just one??? Heck, yea!! That's easy!
Pick Me, Stephanie, Pick Me!
Oh, would I just LOVE to win this contest!
Stephanie Howell is a mom, a scrapper, and a military wife. She's a good person, a good mom, a good wife. I've never met her but do you want to know how I know? I read her blog, http://stephaniehowell.typepad.com/.
This week she's doing a contest, along with 10 other awesome bloggers, to give away a Craft Desk from The Original Scrapbox (oh, would I love to have one of those, too!).
By blogging about it, and in turn, letting you all know about the contest, I get a couple of extra entries! Hope it works!
The other bloggers who are participating, by the way, are:
http://lifeaslou.blogsome.com/
http://www.vanillajoy.com/
http://priscillastyles.blogspot.com/
http://capadiadesigns.blogspot.com/
http://craftymakes.blogspot.com/
http://nicholegiles.blogspot.com/
http://auntiethesis.blogspot.com/
http://parkcitygirl.blogspot.com/
http://lovelylittlehandmades.blogspot.com/
http://elizabethkartchner.blogspot.com/
Am off to post my contest entries!
Monday, November 30, 2009
One down, nine to go...
Jack's Aunt Anna died last Monday. Because of the holiday and traveling issues (a lot of her family had to come from Texas), they delayed the wake and funeral to Friday and Saturday. My first thought was that although we'll miss her and it's terribly sad that she died, and sadder still that it's over a holiday that her family has to deal with this loss, she's finally with Uncle Nat and maybe, just maybe, she's not so cranky anymore. She's been one unhappy camper for the last eight or nine years, ever since her husband died. She missed him something fierce. So now, even though we've lost her, she's back with Uncle Nat and she's finally happy again.
Anyway, the wake was Friday night. We went to the lake and came home early to shower and get ready to go and pay our respects. That night I asked Jack to wake me at 7am so I'd have time to shower and get ready for the 8:30am service at the funeral home without rushing. I overslept. I'd like to blame Jack and say that he didn't wake me after the alarm went off (which I ignored 'cause it went off at our usual 5:50am and he shut it off), but he says he woke me and I said, "Okay, just another minute" and proceeded to sleep another 20 minutes or so.
I got up and when I realized how late it was I started scrambling and somehow I was taking a step forward with my right foot at the same time that I was pulling the bedroom door closed toward me. OW! I went right to my knees!
But being the trooper I am, I powered on and showered, dressed and drove to the funeral home. We went in separate cars 'cause Jack wasn't going to go to the repast after the cemetary service, and I was. By the time he changed his mind and we were en route in two cars to the repast, I was realizing that my shoe was feeling a bit tight. I sat down at the restaurant, ate a good meal, socialized with the cousins, and when we were leaving around 2:30 or 3:00, I decided it would be a pretty darned good idea to visit the Immedicenter and have them look at my toe.
I'd always hoped to hear "Congratulations, it's a girl!" rather than "Congratulations, you have a broken toe!"
But after three x-rays, it was confirmed. I broke my toe. And as I'm sure we all know, you can't do anything for a broken pinkie toe but buddy tape it to its neighbor and hope for the best. So I'm taped, and she did give me a very attractive black boot to wear for two to three weeks. I'm stylin' now!!!
Anyway, other than that, Thanksgiving was nice. Mom was home but spent the day with my sister at said sister's boyfriend's house. Just to play with her head, I told her we were all waiting dessert for her, and why didn't she ask C or T to drive her to my SIL's house? After a VERY brief moment of silence, she said she knew I was pulling her leg and she moved on... Well, I thought it was funny!
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday - lots of family, food and fun, and (private joke to come!) I sure hope your oven worked and your pies remained intact!!!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Happy Turkey Day, in advance!!!
- Thanksgiving - November 20-something
- My birthday - December 18
- Christmas Eve - December 24
- Christmas Day - December 25
- New Year's Eve - December 31
- New Year's Day - January 1
I start at Thanksgiving weekend - writing out Christmas cards and decorating the house. And it really doesn't ever stop until it's time to take the decorations down on Valentine's Day. (Just kidding, although some years my fake tree has stayed up for quite a long time into January simply because of time constraints...)
I'm almost never in a bad mood in December - how can I be? I love the cold, I love snow, and I love Santa! And December has all three, most of the time! This year the weather has been a bit strange - it was almost 60 degrees the other day - who knows whether we'll get some winter weather or not this year - I hope we do - but I'm afraid Santa might be wearing Bermuda shorts as he comes down our street this Christmas Eve!
Well, gotta run - time to start the cooking!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!!
