Hope your day is wonderful and bright! This lovely Christmas Carol is brought to you by FailBlog. Enjoy!!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
About that list.....
Finishing working today (6:00 p.m.)
Work all day tomorrow (6:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.)
(I'm here....head cold and all)
Get 2 gifts for nephews
Finish getting gift things for sister
Double check my stocking stuffers
Buy some stocking stuffers for my daughter
Get pies
Get cheesecake
Get gift for work party tomorrow
Pray daughter's gift gets delivered to work via UPS TOMORROW by 6:00 p.m.
(currently tracking the Fed Ex web site....estimated delivery time is 3:00 p.m.)
Feed myself
Feed my animals
Sleep
Did you notice the status of "sleep"? My family left yesterday for my in-laws. I was home alone last night. I don't do well being home alone. I can't justify marking the whole item off the list because I didn't really get enough sleep.
So here's to Christmas Eve! And here's to my plans of not having anything to do today! And here's to that plan being shot down 2 weeks ago!
Merry Christmas Eve!
Work all day tomorrow (6:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.)
(I'm here....head cold and all)
Get 2 gifts for nephews
Finish getting gift things for sister
Double check my stocking stuffers
Buy some stocking stuffers for my daughter
Get pies
Get cheesecake
Get gift for work party tomorrow
Pray daughter's gift gets delivered to work via UPS TOMORROW by 6:00 p.m.
(currently tracking the Fed Ex web site....estimated delivery time is 3:00 p.m.)
Feed myself
Feed my animals
Sleep
Did you notice the status of "sleep"? My family left yesterday for my in-laws. I was home alone last night. I don't do well being home alone. I can't justify marking the whole item off the list because I didn't really get enough sleep.
So here's to Christmas Eve! And here's to my plans of not having anything to do today! And here's to that plan being shot down 2 weeks ago!
Merry Christmas Eve!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Still left to do....
Here's my list. We'll see how I'm doing this time tomorrow:
Finishing working today (6:00 p.m.)
Work all day tomorrow (6:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.)
Get 2 gifts for nephews
Finish getting gift things for sister
Double check my stocking stuffers
Get pies
Get cheesecake
Get gift for work party tomorrow
Pray daughter's gift gets delivered to work via UPS TOMORROW by 6:00 p.m.
Feed myself
Feed my animals
Sleep
And all of that before 7:00 a.m. Christmas morning....while the stores are still open....while my head is pounding from the head cold from hell....by myself because my family left to visit in-laws while I work tomorrow.
It's the Holiday Season!!
Finishing working today (6:00 p.m.)
Work all day tomorrow (6:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.)
Get 2 gifts for nephews
Finish getting gift things for sister
Double check my stocking stuffers
Get pies
Get cheesecake
Get gift for work party tomorrow
Pray daughter's gift gets delivered to work via UPS TOMORROW by 6:00 p.m.
Feed myself
Feed my animals
Sleep
And all of that before 7:00 a.m. Christmas morning....while the stores are still open....while my head is pounding from the head cold from hell....by myself because my family left to visit in-laws while I work tomorrow.
It's the Holiday Season!!
Looking even more like Christmas....
As promised, albeit a little late (so sue me), here is the pictorial story of my annual decorating-the-mom's-house.
It's a big job. I'm not gonna lie. I would never be able to do it alone because there is a process of getting tubs out of the attic that takes more than one person. My brother used to be a part of this annual tradition. We had lots of fun, but oddly enough I discovered THIS year that he actually hindered the progress of this whole event. He would get sidetracked as he carried tubs in to the house and I would be left stranded in the attic awaiting his return. I usually had to yell his name out a couple of times....and he would magically reappear at the garage door.
This year I had my son, my daughter and her friend helping me. I pretty much completed the whole process in a day and a half.
So this is the start of it all. Me. In the attic. Grabbing Rubbermaid tubs to hand off to whomever is "lucky" enough to be helping.
And the lucky person this year was my son.
And once all the tubs are down....this is what I am faced with.
And if you look very closely at that picture, you can see my mom sitting amidst the rubble. In her chair. Where she belongs for this entire process. Hey! I have a method and it doesn't work if my mom wants to change things up all of a sudden. You know, like help me. No, I'm not a control freak. It's just that my mom....well...forget it. Just trust me. She's more help just sitting and enjoying it all come together.
Trust me, people.
Here was another helper...best helping by sitting in that chair looking cute.
Here's a picture during the unpacking/repacking process. Repacking? Yes. When you see the finished product you will understand that it is like moving my mother every year. Things have to be repacked to make room for the unpacking. Make sense? If not, catch up. I need to move on because these pictures are making me tired reliving it all over again.
Here is Sashia, my daughter's friend, helping decorate the tree.
She helped decorate my tree, too. I got in trouble for moving a couple of ornaments to fill holes. I left my mom's tree alone...well, except for the ornaments they left when they got tired of the whole decorate-the-tree process.
My mom has a lot of ornaments, people. Like this dandy little number. I just had one question for my mother: Why?
We hung it on the tree. To be thrown away after Christmas. Maybe. If my mom doesn't catch me.
So after all the blood (literally...I scraped my hand) sweat and tears (I said I scraped my hand) these pictures are the final results of our labor.
See my mom in that last picture? She didn't move the entire time. I'm joking. Sort of. She did get dressed out of her pajamas.
Now there are also some wonderful stories to go along with many of my mom's decorations. I promised my sister I wouldn't tell one of them. Oh, wait. I didn't promise. She just simply asked me not to. But she did turn 50 this year and probably won't remember asking me anyway.
So I give you the Triptych. This is the early works of my sister....who tolepaints BEAUTIFULLY....but wasn't *quite* there for this rendition of the birth of Christ. Notice the detail on the angels' eyes. Or lack of detail. They are really just black blobs. My sister loves this piece of art she created so many years ago. Not really. But my mom does. And so it gets displayed EVERY YEAR much to the dismay of my sister.
In all fairness, here are a couple of her other pieces.
Another fun thing in my mom's house are the santa hats for the clocks. My mom has clocks. A lot of clocks. You can't really remove them from the decor for Christmas...nor would you want to...so we just decorate them all up. I'm not even sure who started this, but we are still using the original hats created for them. I think they are looking a tad ratty. We should probably make some new ones or spruce these up next year.
And there are just some things that will never be tossed. Ever. Despite their smell, condition, or sheer uselessness they will be around until the end of time. Or until they fall apart. And sometimes, as evident of the earlier photo of the ornament, even then they will still remain in my mother's stash of decorations.
This is one of those things.
This is a little, tiny santa box with matches in it. It has been around at least as long as I have. I always remember this little guy being around. He is handled with great care when packing him back up every year. He is tattered. But he is loved.
But these? THESE? They are coveted by me. I simply love them. If I was told I could only have ONE Christmas decoration in my house from now through eternity it would be these. They are packed in bubble wrap, newspaper and a flexible piece of styrofoam-like material. They will be mine when my mom is gone. This is understood. Well, by me anyway. And that's all that matters, right? Right.
Behold the Wisemen.
My mom made those guys YEARS ago. They are ceramic, handpainted, fragile, wonderful, beautiful and mine. Did I mention those will be mine? Yeah.
My sister can have her triptych. I'm taking the Wisemen.
It's a big job. I'm not gonna lie. I would never be able to do it alone because there is a process of getting tubs out of the attic that takes more than one person. My brother used to be a part of this annual tradition. We had lots of fun, but oddly enough I discovered THIS year that he actually hindered the progress of this whole event. He would get sidetracked as he carried tubs in to the house and I would be left stranded in the attic awaiting his return. I usually had to yell his name out a couple of times....and he would magically reappear at the garage door.
This year I had my son, my daughter and her friend helping me. I pretty much completed the whole process in a day and a half.
So this is the start of it all. Me. In the attic. Grabbing Rubbermaid tubs to hand off to whomever is "lucky" enough to be helping.
And the lucky person this year was my son.
And once all the tubs are down....this is what I am faced with.
And if you look very closely at that picture, you can see my mom sitting amidst the rubble. In her chair. Where she belongs for this entire process. Hey! I have a method and it doesn't work if my mom wants to change things up all of a sudden. You know, like help me. No, I'm not a control freak. It's just that my mom....well...forget it. Just trust me. She's more help just sitting and enjoying it all come together.
Trust me, people.
Here was another helper...best helping by sitting in that chair looking cute.
Here's a picture during the unpacking/repacking process. Repacking? Yes. When you see the finished product you will understand that it is like moving my mother every year. Things have to be repacked to make room for the unpacking. Make sense? If not, catch up. I need to move on because these pictures are making me tired reliving it all over again.
Here is Sashia, my daughter's friend, helping decorate the tree.
She helped decorate my tree, too. I got in trouble for moving a couple of ornaments to fill holes. I left my mom's tree alone...well, except for the ornaments they left when they got tired of the whole decorate-the-tree process.
My mom has a lot of ornaments, people. Like this dandy little number. I just had one question for my mother: Why?
We hung it on the tree. To be thrown away after Christmas. Maybe. If my mom doesn't catch me.
So after all the blood (literally...I scraped my hand) sweat and tears (I said I scraped my hand) these pictures are the final results of our labor.
See my mom in that last picture? She didn't move the entire time. I'm joking. Sort of. She did get dressed out of her pajamas.
Now there are also some wonderful stories to go along with many of my mom's decorations. I promised my sister I wouldn't tell one of them. Oh, wait. I didn't promise. She just simply asked me not to. But she did turn 50 this year and probably won't remember asking me anyway.
So I give you the Triptych. This is the early works of my sister....who tolepaints BEAUTIFULLY....but wasn't *quite* there for this rendition of the birth of Christ. Notice the detail on the angels' eyes. Or lack of detail. They are really just black blobs. My sister loves this piece of art she created so many years ago. Not really. But my mom does. And so it gets displayed EVERY YEAR much to the dismay of my sister.
In all fairness, here are a couple of her other pieces.
Another fun thing in my mom's house are the santa hats for the clocks. My mom has clocks. A lot of clocks. You can't really remove them from the decor for Christmas...nor would you want to...so we just decorate them all up. I'm not even sure who started this, but we are still using the original hats created for them. I think they are looking a tad ratty. We should probably make some new ones or spruce these up next year.
And there are just some things that will never be tossed. Ever. Despite their smell, condition, or sheer uselessness they will be around until the end of time. Or until they fall apart. And sometimes, as evident of the earlier photo of the ornament, even then they will still remain in my mother's stash of decorations.
This is one of those things.
This is a little, tiny santa box with matches in it. It has been around at least as long as I have. I always remember this little guy being around. He is handled with great care when packing him back up every year. He is tattered. But he is loved.
But these? THESE? They are coveted by me. I simply love them. If I was told I could only have ONE Christmas decoration in my house from now through eternity it would be these. They are packed in bubble wrap, newspaper and a flexible piece of styrofoam-like material. They will be mine when my mom is gone. This is understood. Well, by me anyway. And that's all that matters, right? Right.
Behold the Wisemen.
My mom made those guys YEARS ago. They are ceramic, handpainted, fragile, wonderful, beautiful and mine. Did I mention those will be mine? Yeah.
My sister can have her triptych. I'm taking the Wisemen.
Monday, December 22, 2008
What do you get
when you cross a busy holiday season with busy work schedules with an annoying head cold thrown in for good measure?
A stale blog. That's what.
I'll be updating with pics of my mom's Christmas menagerie tonight. Pinky swear. But while I am here I'll send out a belated "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to my nephew, Derrick and a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to my nephew, Tyler. Hope your days were wonderful!
Until tonight....
A stale blog. That's what.
I'll be updating with pics of my mom's Christmas menagerie tonight. Pinky swear. But while I am here I'll send out a belated "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to my nephew, Derrick and a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to my nephew, Tyler. Hope your days were wonderful!
Until tonight....
Monday, December 15, 2008
24 years...
what have you been doing for that long? Have you even been alive that long? =P How many children have you raised? How many careers have you started/ended/started/ended? How many places have you lived? Where have you traveled? How many times have you changed your underwear? (Hopefully at least 8,768....to factor in some leap years)
Maybe you have retired.
Maybe you had a child. Or 3. And maybe you have graduated one or all of them from college.
Maybe you've had 3 or 4 different cars....one that's actually 24 years old and has become a "classic".
Or maybe.....you've been married 24 years.
Happy Anniversary, Troy. I love you more now than I did when we were young and beautiful (name that song, country music fans). Here's to another 8,768 underwear changes.
A quarter of a century next year. Let's do something large. *kiss*
Maybe you have retired.
Maybe you had a child. Or 3. And maybe you have graduated one or all of them from college.
Maybe you've had 3 or 4 different cars....one that's actually 24 years old and has become a "classic".
Or maybe.....you've been married 24 years.
Happy Anniversary, Troy. I love you more now than I did when we were young and beautiful (name that song, country music fans). Here's to another 8,768 underwear changes.
A quarter of a century next year. Let's do something large. *kiss*
Friday, December 12, 2008
It's lookin' like Christmas...
in my house. Finally. It's only been 3 years since I put my decorations out, so rummaging through my Rubbermaid tubs and moving boxes was *like* Christmas! I had forgotten about so many of my wonderful little things.
Here is Troy's Nutcracker collection. I started a tradition with him about 10 years ago to buy him a Nutcracker when I was Christmas shopping. Some of them mean more and have a bigger story than others....but he loves them all.
I suspect I may love these particular nutcrackers more than him. Maybe. Just maybe.
This is my newest purchase. I just love it. So much so that I bought one for my bff, Linda, too.
This is an older piece of the collection. I made him and he is about 3 ft. tall total...with about 1/2 of him being his hat and the other half being this face with his curly beard. I made him in my pre-scrapbooking days when I actually used to sew. With a sewing machine. Hmmm. Wonder where that dusty thing is?
And no decoration pictures would be complete without the tree. Even though the tree itself is incomplete. Sort of. I'm missing a tub from all the moving. It contains, besides other things, my tree skirt and my angel tree top. But the Old World Santa will have to do for now....and the kitties would probably be dragging the tree skirt all over anyway.
As an extra side note, please pay no attention to the dark spot in the middle of the tree. It represents an area on the tree with non-functioning lights. We are going through them one-by-one. It's fun. But doesn't really lend to the Christmas spirit and attitude. So we're taking a break from it for now.
I have many more decorations, but I'll refrain from picture overload. Besides....I'm getting ready to leave in about an hour to go decorate my mom's house for her. And if you think I have a lot of decorations? Just wait until I upload pictures from her house. It's a job. 2 days. And it doesn't lend to the Christmas spirit and attitude while I'm in the middle of the job, but it does make my mom extremely happy to sit and look at all of it when I'm finished.
And that's all that matters.
More Christmas spirit next week!
Here is Troy's Nutcracker collection. I started a tradition with him about 10 years ago to buy him a Nutcracker when I was Christmas shopping. Some of them mean more and have a bigger story than others....but he loves them all.
I suspect I may love these particular nutcrackers more than him. Maybe. Just maybe.
This is my newest purchase. I just love it. So much so that I bought one for my bff, Linda, too.
This is an older piece of the collection. I made him and he is about 3 ft. tall total...with about 1/2 of him being his hat and the other half being this face with his curly beard. I made him in my pre-scrapbooking days when I actually used to sew. With a sewing machine. Hmmm. Wonder where that dusty thing is?
And no decoration pictures would be complete without the tree. Even though the tree itself is incomplete. Sort of. I'm missing a tub from all the moving. It contains, besides other things, my tree skirt and my angel tree top. But the Old World Santa will have to do for now....and the kitties would probably be dragging the tree skirt all over anyway.
As an extra side note, please pay no attention to the dark spot in the middle of the tree. It represents an area on the tree with non-functioning lights. We are going through them one-by-one. It's fun. But doesn't really lend to the Christmas spirit and attitude. So we're taking a break from it for now.
I have many more decorations, but I'll refrain from picture overload. Besides....I'm getting ready to leave in about an hour to go decorate my mom's house for her. And if you think I have a lot of decorations? Just wait until I upload pictures from her house. It's a job. 2 days. And it doesn't lend to the Christmas spirit and attitude while I'm in the middle of the job, but it does make my mom extremely happy to sit and look at all of it when I'm finished.
And that's all that matters.
More Christmas spirit next week!
If you love FREE STUFF....
like I love free stuff, then RUN, do not walk, to this site:
Is it even possible to "run" on the computer? Like, do you just have to click the mouse faster or something?
I stumbled across this the other night and am giddy with excitement about the prospect of winning something. Anything. I try hard to win things all the time on The Pioneer Woman but have yet to be successful.
Seriously, all you have to do is leave a comment to be entered. There are other things you can do to increase your chances....which, if you're like me, you need all the extra chances you can get. I do not win prizes, people! Although I will say I won a FABULOUS door prize at a crop (read: scrapbooking geek) I went to in August. For all the crops I've been to and never won, this one made up for it. Thanks, Lesle!!
So run over for your chance to win free stuff!! GOOD LUCK!!
Is it even possible to "run" on the computer? Like, do you just have to click the mouse faster or something?
I stumbled across this the other night and am giddy with excitement about the prospect of winning something. Anything. I try hard to win things all the time on The Pioneer Woman but have yet to be successful.
Seriously, all you have to do is leave a comment to be entered. There are other things you can do to increase your chances....which, if you're like me, you need all the extra chances you can get. I do not win prizes, people! Although I will say I won a FABULOUS door prize at a crop (read: scrapbooking geek) I went to in August. For all the crops I've been to and never won, this one made up for it. Thanks, Lesle!!
So run over for your chance to win free stuff!! GOOD LUCK!!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
I need a bailout...
I really, really want to spend more money on Christmas than what I actually have. Do you think if I just go ahead and over extend myself and go on a buying spree that I could fly to D.C. and ask the government for a bailout because I mismanaged my personal finances?
Yeah. Solid idea.
Form from List of The Day
Yeah. Solid idea.
Form from List of The Day
Friday, December 5, 2008
I just don't *get* high profile fashion
Seriously. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE clothes. I loved them a lot more when I was the size of my daughter, but I do still get a thrill out of wearing a fresh, new skirt to work or sporting a cute new shirt to wear to the movies.
But this?
I don't get it. I like hats. I do. I wear them a lot in the summer. But this looks like a very bad quilted version of Droopy Dog.
Of course, there is always this lovely selection. You know, if you want to look like a ram.
Then there is this. Oh, my.
And this. For the nature lover in all of us.
This lady just dug herself all the way to China....and popped up out of the ground.
This could be me....if I happened to go fishing with my husband and his cast got away from him. You know, if he need a lure this big.
I guess the world of high profile fashion is just going to have to get along without me. At least in the hat department. I'll stick with my Target $4.00 baseball caps, thankyouverymuch.
**all images (with the exception of Droopy Dog) came from the fashion site PopGloss. Enjoy your trip down the high fashion catwalk!
But this?
I don't get it. I like hats. I do. I wear them a lot in the summer. But this looks like a very bad quilted version of Droopy Dog.
Of course, there is always this lovely selection. You know, if you want to look like a ram.
Then there is this. Oh, my.
And this. For the nature lover in all of us.
This lady just dug herself all the way to China....and popped up out of the ground.
This could be me....if I happened to go fishing with my husband and his cast got away from him. You know, if he need a lure this big.
I guess the world of high profile fashion is just going to have to get along without me. At least in the hat department. I'll stick with my Target $4.00 baseball caps, thankyouverymuch.
**all images (with the exception of Droopy Dog) came from the fashion site PopGloss. Enjoy your trip down the high fashion catwalk!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
A post every day in November...
would not have been possible without the extra effort put forth by my daughter while I was out of town....where internet access is at a premium and extremely difficult to find.
And there was Black Friday Shopping to do, people. I had my priorities.
But Lindsay did well. I'm a little worried about her spelling. But I've been worried about her spelling since the 4th grade. She just doesn't spell well....plus I don't know how much of her jargon was on purpose and what was truly a mistake. But it was fun. I know I enjoyed reading her nonsense when I returned as much as some of you did. She was a good sport.
And for being a good sport she'll get a Christmas present or two or seven.
Thanks for all your support for the month. I have to tell you....it wasn't easy even when I *did* have internet access.
Posting the drawing winner in five...four...three...two...one....
And there was Black Friday Shopping to do, people. I had my priorities.
But Lindsay did well. I'm a little worried about her spelling. But I've been worried about her spelling since the 4th grade. She just doesn't spell well....plus I don't know how much of her jargon was on purpose and what was truly a mistake. But it was fun. I know I enjoyed reading her nonsense when I returned as much as some of you did. She was a good sport.
And for being a good sport she'll get a Christmas present or two or seven.
Thanks for all your support for the month. I have to tell you....it wasn't easy even when I *did* have internet access.
Posting the drawing winner in five...four...three...two...one....
AND THE WINNER IS....
(drum roll while Cody draws the name....)
KIM!!! YAHOO!! Kim listed this post as her favorite from the Looney Bin.
I'll send your Starbucks card out to you tomorrow, Kim! Thanks to everyone who played along...including my sister who now has to actually purchase Troy's Christmas gift.
KIM!!! YAHOO!! Kim listed this post as her favorite from the Looney Bin.
I'll send your Starbucks card out to you tomorrow, Kim! Thanks to everyone who played along...including my sister who now has to actually purchase Troy's Christmas gift.
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