2007 in a Nutshell

This year has flown by! Once again I have managed to avoid hospitals this year. We have all done really well in the health department actually. We have not had to make significant donations to our docs!

My Kat became a legal adult. OMGee! She graduated from high school and started college. The latter is slowly putting us in debt!

Kari got her learner’s permit but has had zero time behind the wheel. She is so not interested in driving. Period. Came out just like her mommy! She would rather be driven around!

Danny & I knocked 2 things off from my “Things to do before I die” list.

First, we went to a taping of The Price is Right. Before Bob retired. I’ve been wanting to do that since I was about 7!

We also went to Hawaii! We had an amazing trip! And it was soooo worth going to the poor houseevery penny.

I’ve made more “cyber” friends, than “real life” friends. It’s all good!

I finally got a car that I really like! Call it my mid-life crisis car, I don’t care!

Resolutions for 2008? I think not. 2007’s were broken by February as predicted!

I hope you all have a happy & healthy 2008!

Egg Donor

I wasn't going to post about this because I was afraid that it would be read by someone that it shouldn't. But quite frankly, right now, I could care less.

I played Santa this year for the first time in many years. Yeah, my girls get presents. But we haven't actually had a believer in the house in a long time. My nephew stayed with us this Christmas because a) my brother had to work and b) because his mother had better things to do than to spend the holidys with her child! Let me stress that this woman has never spent a holiday with him. She has never taken him trick or treating. Never taken him on vacation. Oh, and the tooth fairy does not go to her house. He is simply a tax benefit to her.

My brother is a flight attendant and got stuck working from the 22nd - the 25th. He picked my nephew up when he arrived from a trip on the 19th. Then dropped him off at my house on the 21st. Why am I telling you this? Well, today is the 28th and his mother egg donor has yet to call him! Or call anyone to see if he's ok. Almost 10 freakin' days! The worst part is that he called her today to see if she was going to pick him up. She told him no. Because her car is not workin! Huh? My brother has to go back to work on Sunday. Guess who the child is spending New Years with? Yeah, my bother could easily drop him off at her house, but we worry that she will leave him home alone so that she can go out and party! He spends 95% of the year with either my brother, my mom or me. Yet she has primary custody because she is the mom, and I use that word loosely!

She has missed all the milestones in his life. She has been blessed with a beautiful & loving little boy and she takes him for granted. Yet there are many out there who yearn for what she has and can't have.

Ok, I'll step down from my soapbox now!

No Longer a Granny!!!

I am a big girl now! I can bowl! With one hand! I don't have to do it granny style anymore. I don't have to worry about my fingers tearing off my hand when I let go of the ball. Oh, and I don't have to wear funny looking shoes that have bee worn by a gazillion strangers. I can even bowl barefoot. Wii rocks!

Feels like I have been on my feet for 5 days straight. My body is killing me! We had Christmas Eve dinner at my sister- in-law's house. Then Christmas was spent with family & friends here a our house. Yummy ham & lots & lots of sweet! Yeah, my brief aversion to sweets is over! Thing is that between my Bakingpalooza, the stuff I had to make for the 24th, then getting ready for our little shindig, and of course cleaning up after.. my body feels like it was run over by a mack truck! Even today. I finished cleaning up yesterday, then vegged for the rest of the day. Plan on doing a little of the same today!


We got a Wii, so that's going to be fun. I'm not a gamer, but some of the games are quite fun! Plus some of them give you quite a work out.


I got my mom & my uncle a photo book from MyPublisher.com. It was a big hit. I used photos from my grandfather's scrapbook ( I guess that's who I get it from) which someone recently brought back from Cuba. These photos range from about 1920 or so til about 1950 or so. The quality of the pictures is not the best. Time does that unfortunately. But the book turned out beautifully! I highly recommend My Publisher. It's super easy to work with and the service is quick!


I also have been keeping up with sweet Julian. I am so happy that he was able to enjoy Christmas. My heart breaks for him & his family. He is such a brave, sweet little boy. An inspiration to all of us. Please pray for him and his family. I am so happy that they got their Christmas Miracle. Mimi shared a sweet video of her king! If the link does not work, his care page is JuliansWorld.

Scrap Goodies!

Ok Ladies, here is a contest that is for stuff that I will actually use! Check out Jody's, (Iowa Geek), fabulous giveaway! I love scrap goodies! Head on over, check it out & tell her I sent you! Good luck!

Never again!

That is what I say every year after BakingPalooza! My body hurts, my feet are swollen and my love of sweets is forever gone. I spent the ENTIRE freakin' day in the kitchen! Six different types of cookies, brownies, rum cakes, merengues, & Chocolate Pretzels. PLUS 4 batches of Creme de Vie. The recipe is below. this is not your typical egg nog! The calories are quadrupled I'm sure! Then I pour into these little frapp bottles (which look waaaay cuter in peron) to include with the treat plates. All this in an effort to make my friends fatties like me!

Creme de Vie

1 can condensed milk

1 can evaporated milk

6 egg yolks

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup rum

I make a simple syrup with the water and sugar but I add a cinnamon stick and lemon rind as well. Beat the yolks till creamy and then add the condensed milk. Then add the evaporated milk little by little. Once the syrup is cool add to the egg & milk mixture. Add vanilla & rum.

Keep in fridge. Serve in tiny cordial glasses A little goes a long way!

You can always add mmore rum if you like. I just don't like an over powering rum taste.

WW: Baby Powder Edition

Victim

Culprit

For more WW participants, stop by the official WW Hub or 5 Minutes for Mom

Stuff Collector

I have admitted in the past that I am somewhat of a hoarder. To an extent. I LOVE me a good bargain and sometimes when Target has their 90% off, although I may not need something at the moment, I will probably need it eventually. So in my cart it goes. Then it's time to find a place to store the stuff. Beacause unlike typical hoarders, I can't stand messiness.

I also hoard scrapbook suff. Tons of stuff that I have not created anything with in ages! Especially since I have discovered a new love. One that I will share with ou after the holidays.

So, aside from my hoarding. I actually collect stuff. Stuff that is actually not considered part of my hoarding crap.

I collect decorative eggs. I've been collecting eggs since around 1997 or so. I get a new one at least once a year. I tried to get Danny to buy this one for me, but he refused. Cheapo! Here is my curio with my eggs. Cleaning it is a pain in the a$$ chore, but it has to be done. I took a picture from the side so I would not come out in the pic.

I also collect magnets from the places we trave to. This is the refrigerator in the garage.

I have also started collecting 2 other items wthin the last 2 years or so.

Small boxes & perfume bottles.

Even Danny collects something. He always picks up a shot glass or 2 when we travel.

He just does not have a place to display them yet.

So, what do you collect???

Welcome to Our Home!

This year I cut back a bit on our decorating a bit. We are having the exterior of our home painted, so the exterior is not decorated. And at this late date, it definitely will not get done. If we go through all that trouble, dagnabit, it will be up for at least a month! They have been painting for the past 2 weeks and they still are not finished! I'm not upset... really. We also usually put up two 3ft pre lit trees in the family room, but the stupid lights burned out on one completely and the other is 1/2 & 1/2 so I didn't want to deal with fixin' that.

So, without further ado...

This is our big fat fakey tree. I just noticed an empty hole on it and it is really annoying me! Can't see it by just looking at it but is very obvious in the picture. As soon as I am done here, I'm gonna go fix that!

These next pictures are of my foyer area. I didn't decorate my door this year either. This has been a very slow year for Christmas cards. Must be the increased cost to mail. Notice my fakey poinsettias. Hey, at least I can't kill those! Plus when I first got them, Danny asked if I had watered them! So they must look somewhat real.

Here is my staircase. I'm using my little camera, so the pics are not that great. I'll try to take new ones later. We don't have a mantle, so our stockings are hung on the staircase with care.

And finally, some of my tabletop stuff. Actually just 2. I also have a really cute fiber optics village thingy, that was one of my great Target deals at 90% off, but I can't get a good picture of it. The nativity scene is a musical snow globe and the other is on my coffee table, those candles have never been lit!

Thanks for stopping by!

And I hope you have a very

Happy & Healthy Holiday!

Let the baking begin!

It's time for Bakingpalooza here in my house. The actual baking wll not get done till Wednesday of next week. But the headache preparing starts today. First stop, the grocery store then another stop at the baking supply store because my grocery store sucks! Then over the weekend I start making a huge mess in my kitchen and get all my cookie doughs ready & in the fridge. I also make about 5 gallons of egg nog. Actually it's the cuban version of egg nog, with a french name (creme de vie) & gazillion calories. Then I will make about 1000 french meringues, just because I need something to do with all the left over egg whites.

Finally, on Wednesday, I will get everything baked, wrapped & distributed on Thursday! Oh, I also have to try everything to make sure tht they are not poisoned. :) And when I finally get my kitchen back in order, it's time to start all over again because we are having people over on Christmas day! Here is a picture of 1/2 of last years Bakingpalooza, click on it to zoom.

Perfect Fitting Jeans?

The ladies at 5 Minutes for Mom are holding another contest. This time, it's for something that I not only want but I also totally need! If you read my post about having to always alter my pants, you know what I mean! Plus, since I am currently at a size that I have never been, it would totally rock if I could win this. If only for the simple reason that I don't have to try on jeans at a store and cry in the fitting room.

So what is the prize you ask? Well, they are giving away $200 to spend at True Jeans. The jeans - and the jean fitting experts - come to us! We simply enter our measurements, and the computer lines up all the best jeans for us. True Jeans carries all the hottest denim designers and each pair is listed with a rating for how well they will fit us. All we have to do is pick. So head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom and enter!

My eyes hurt!

I may be blinded for life! It always amazes me what some women wear in public. If, and I stress IF, they can pull it off, fine. If they are young & fit, they can get away with it. Then you have what I see all too often. I'm talking about the "more mature" set. And I mean "more mature" than me. Lets put it this way, my grandma "mature". They go out in their daisy dukes, with their saggy bellies hanging out over the waist band, donning their high heels & bright red lipstick in the middle of the afternoon. Oh, and you can't forget the belly ring hence the reason for the belly hanging out for all to see.

I'm all for feeling younger than you actually are, but puleeze!!

Since I am evil and I am going to rot in hell for my evilness, and since I carry around my camera anyway, I thought that I would share with you my friends.

There are days that I wish that my purse camera had better zoom, and today is one of those days. You probably can't really appreciate the total effect but it's the best I could do. You can't see all the belly dimples and since it's from the front, you can't see the thong stickin' out from behind. By the way, Danny was with me and he was cheering me on in my evilness. So we will at least burn in hell together!

And just for fun, here is one from the fair earlier this year:

In my next life...

I sometimes find myself saying "In my next life, I will..." Not that I am unhappy with my life as it is but there is always something that you wish you could change. No one is perfect. At least I don't think so. Although, I believe we all strive towards perfection.

I will share some of my "In my next life..." hopes.

I would love to be just a couple of inches taller. Not because I do not like being a munchkin barely 5 feet tall, but I hate spending soooo much money to hem my pants & skirts! But, if I can't be a bit taller at least I would like to know how to sew.

In my next life I hope to come back with less of a sweet tooth. I LOVE sweets. It was ok when I was younger and could live on cake & cookies, yet still weigh under 100 lbs when I got married. Not anymore. One cookie goes straight to the hips. And the thighs. And....

I would also like to not be such a pansy! I would love to be able to do so many things, but I am just too chicken . I just got on a plane for the first time ever only 2 years ago. I have missed out on ALOT. In my next life I want to be a brave adventurous soul!

Finally, in my next life, I hope to have the same family that I do now. The same reat husband & wonderful kids. A little bit healthier wouldn't hurt. And I definitely do not want to go through a loss like this EVER again. Yeah, what doesn't kill us, makes us stronger. But those things practically did kill me.

So, is there anything that you would like to change about yourself? Just for fun of course, not going against any religious beliefs.

A day late...

Yesterday was Danny's birthday. He spent it at work. So today we went out for his birthday dinner. Instead of going to one of our tried and true, we decided to try some place new. New to us anyway. So we tried it. Next time we will go to one of our old faithfuls. We went to Buca di Beppo. It wasn't bad but we have had waaaay better. For good Italian nothing beats the mom & pop places. These chain restaurants just don't cut it! The place is super kitschy and the pope room is pretty scary. But while there, we realized that we had just found our hurricane bunker. The place has no windows!

Anyhoo, Happy forty freakin' first Danny! We are old farts!

Oh, and it's time for my annual warning public service announcement!

So behind!

In the past, I would be done with my holiday shopping by October. I have progressively gotten worse at getting this done as the years have gone by. I have been doing most of my shopping online lately. Mainly because I HATE going to the mall this time of year. For some reason the holidays bring out the grinch in people. It all starts the minute you pull into the parking lot and that first idiot cuts in front of you to steal your parking spot. It gets better when they decide to ram their shopping cart into the back of your ankles. And the icing on the cake comes when you are waiting to pay and you have to watch the person in front of you cursing out the poor cashier simply because the poor girl did not have larger bags.

So yeah, the point is, I'm way behind. Probably because we don't have to play Santa anymore. I decided to at least try to get my Holiday cards out by tomorrow and ship the gifts that need to be shipped. Finish buying the few gifts that I have yet to buy. Send out my holiday check to St. Judes. And get ready for my eatingpalooza bakingpalooza in 2 weeks.

Another Edition of: In Search Of...

It is time once again to look into what brings people to this blog. In Search Of... Part I, really had me wondering about the type of people that reach my blog. Even by accident. Pretty scary! Especially the person that googled "How to get rid of Lissete"!

I get alot of people looking for information about "Frog Poop"& "Submarine Races". I would just like to say that I am not an expert on those subjects. And for the person who asked f frog poop is good for you, did you try it? Has it improved your health? I have also been getting tons of people looking to "Fix a bad perm". Honey, if you find a fix, PLEASE let me know!

So without further ado...

"I hate polaroids!"
Ok, thank you for letting me know. I'll be sure not to use a polaroid camera next time I take your picture.

"tapping right foot sexual passes"
I just don't know what to think of this one. Maybe it's some sort of new pick up technique?? Is tapping the left foot not attractive?

"men are like parking slots the good ones are usually taken"
Yes, I agree. I have a great parking slot though!

"im feeling sick 2x"
That's not so bad. Let me know when it's 3x

"car damaged in home depot parking lot"
Hey! Mine too! I feel your pain! Unless you're the one who hit my car and took off, then get off my blog!


"i just vegged"
I do that all the time! Probably why you were led to my blog huh?

"the jetsons makeup machine"
I want one too! Have you found one? How much??


"Why am I soooo hot?"
Now, do you mean hot? or HOT? If it's just hot try dressing more comfortably. Or maybe, if you're my age it can me hot flashes. But if you actually mean HOT as in smokin' hot and you need to google an answer to your conceitedness, then it's probably just your imagination! Get a new mirror. Or on the other hand, let me borrow yours.

And finally, another one that I don't understand...

"images of girls bladders exploding"

No comment.

Do you hear what I hear?

I always joke that my favorite Christmas carol is "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" but I have just found another one to add to my list.


Seriously though, I particularly like "The Christmas Song" especially when it's by Nat King Cole. For some reason, it reminds me of my dad. I also like "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas". Luther Vandross rules with this one!

The year that I was born graduated from High School, is the year that "Do they know it's Christmas" came out. All my big hair favorites came out for this one!



What is your favorite Christmas song???

Lazy to the 10th Power

I hate housework, that is no secret. But I throw a fit & kick & scream hate when my house is messy. Fortunately, we have a lady that comes in every 2 weeks to do the major stuff. But I still vacuum every.single.day. Once we have to cut back on stuff, she will probably be the first to go. Hopefully that won't happen any time soon. But just in case, I got a new toy. I'd like to introduce you all to Rosie.

Remember my dream of living in the Jetson's house? Well this is as close to it as I will ever come. Yep, now I don't have to vacuum every single day. Rosie will do it for me. PLUS, she goes under all my heavy a$$ furniture that only gets vacuumed about 2x a year since it takes a small army to move. Today was the beginning of her probation. So far so good. I can just sit back and watch TV accomplish other productive tasks while she vacuums. But did I do that? No! I followed Rosie around! Gotta make sure she's not slackin' ya know! As of right now though, looks like we will be very good friends!

Christmas Tree & Kettle Corn

The day is absolutely gorgeous today. The weather is great and a road trip to Naples was in my plans for today. Drive up with the top down, enjoy a beautiful day by the water, some shopping, some lunch and drive back home. Well you know what they say about the best laid plans. Danny had to go in to work. Overtime. And unfortunately, we need the money.

So instead, I attempted to clean our pool deck. Didn't quite work. I need to either rent a pressure cleaner or hire someone to do it. The latter is probably the better option, as Danny doesn't really have the time.

Then I decided to try to decorate out tree. Unfortunately, I am. as most of you know a bit vertically challenged. Plus that ladder scares the beejezus out of me. So I decided to wait for D to get home. I can decorate 2/3 of the tree on my own, but the top is impossible. That ladder weighs a ton!

Since all my attempts at doing productive things backfired on me. I decided to just veg in front of the TV. So I popped in a dvd and popped some kettle corn. I love this stuff! Not exactly like the fair. But very good none the less. I even get pieces of crunchy sugar which makes me oh, so happy!

Hopefuly, D won't get home too tired and we can finish the tree. My living room is full of boxes and fake pine needles. It's driving me nuts. I hate clutter!

So are your decorations up yet? Is your tree real or fakey like mine?

Here's an easy way to make Kettle Corn:

1/2 cup unpopped kernels

1/4 cup veg oil (or a bit less works ok too)

1/4 cup sugar

Heat oil over medium and add 3 kernels. Once these pop, add the sugar and let it melt a bit and stir. Then add the rest of the kernels, stir s they are all covered, put the lid on the pot and shake over medium until you don't hear alot of popping. Dump in a bowl and add a bit of salt.

Plop yourself in front of the TV and enjoy!

* I use a stock pot

Thanksgiving

Well, our 1st ever non-traditional Thanksgiving wasn't bad at all. Actually, it cost less than a "traditional" meal would have cost. Meaning me buying all the ingredients, using up my electricity, then on top of that having to clean up! We went to Texas de Brazil, a rodizio restaurant. A carnivores dream. I had filet mignon & garlic mash, plus tasted a bit of practically everything. Talk about non traditional! I also only had one diet coke as they bring out the tiniest bottle that I have ever seen and charge $2.50 for it! I took a picture but you really can't make out the size:

Then I had this:

Heaven on a plate I tell ya! It's cheesecake with fudge on the bottom & caramel on top! Yummo!

And, just for fun, here are my girls being silly:

For the record, the place was packed! And we thought that we were going to be the only ones there! I hope everyone had a great day yesterday. Did an of you go out to the madness that is called Black Friday???? Not me!

Motherisms

I just got this by email. Thanks Nancy! And since I have nothing better to post, I decided to share with ya'll! You're welcome...

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE: "If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."

2. My mother taught me RELIGION: "You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL: "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

4. My mother taught me LOGIC: " Because I said so, that's why."

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC: "If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT: "Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

7. My mother taught me IRONY: "Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS: "Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM: "Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA: "You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER: "This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."

12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY: "If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"

13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE: "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION: "Stop acting like your father!"

15. My mother taught me about ENVY: "There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION: "Just wait until we get home."

17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING: "You are going to get it when you get home!"

18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE: "If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way."

19. My mother taught me ESP: "Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"

20. My mother taught me HUMOR: "When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT: "If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

22. My mother taught me GENETICS: "You're just like your father."

23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS: "Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"

24. My mother taught me WISDOM: "When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

And my favorite:

25. My mother taught me about JUSTICE: "One day you'll have kids, and I hopethey turn out just like you!"

We're Elves!

For some weird reason, I enjoy doing this!
Yes, I do have a life. But during my down time, I have to find a way to enterain myself!

I'm probably just unleashing my inner elf!

Check us out!

Leave Santa Alone

Santa Claus banned from Ho Ho Ho
By Renato Castello, Sue Hewitt and Andrea Burns
November 11, 2007 12:00am
Article from: Sunday Herald Sun

SANTAS working in shopping centres across Australia have been banned from bellowing "ho ho ho" because it might frighten children.
Recruitment firm Westaff, which supplies hundreds of Santas around the country, yesterday confirmed the edict.

Westaff national operations manager Glen Jansz said the company's Santas had been urged to tone down their use of the "ho, ho, ho" phrase. "

The reason behind that is we find that in some cases the little kids can get a little bit scared of the deep 'ho, ho, hos' and we ask them to be mindful of keeping their voices to a lower level," he said. "

And kids are probably more inclined to understand 'ha, ha, ha', than 'ho, ho, ho'."

Thirty trainees at a recent Santa course were instructed to replace the traditional Christmas greeting with "ha, ha, ha".

A Santa veteran of 11 years told the Sunday Herald Sun the instructions were clear: "No 'ho ho ho'.""We were told to say 'ha ha ha Merry Christmas'," he said.

Two Santa hopefuls reportedly left the course after the edict. Family Council of Victoria spokesman Bill Muehlenberg described the ban as "nonsensical". "Potentially any big guy in a red suit with a white beard is scary but I don't think him saying 'ho ho ho' would damage a child's psyche.

"Let's just concentrate on the kids having a good time." A survey of Melbourne children yesterday found universal support for Santa's "ho ho ho".

"It's silly, we love hearing Santa's laugh," said Briony, 8, of Mitcham.

"It doesn't frighten me at all. It's what Santa is supposed to say," said Byron, 9, of Melton.

Yesterday in the Bourke St Mall, Santas appeared to be ignoring orders to stop the 'ho ho hos'. David Jones's bellowed to a delighted group of children and rival Myer's Santa also kept up the jolly tradition.

Early Thanksgiving

We will be having Thanksiving Dinner tomorrow. We're not even having turkey. We are having ham, which is fine with me. This is the first time EVER that we do not have our regular family Thanksgiving. My parents and my brother & nephew are going to freeze their butts offColorado Springs to visit my other brother & his family. I wish we could go too, as we haven't seen them in over 2 years. I have another brother who is staying here but will probably go to his in-laws. Plus Danny, may be working that day.

We will probably end up at a restaurant. I always felt sorry for people who would go to restaurants for Thanksgiving. I don't know why. I just figured they didn't have family to have a big family dinner. This year I will be one of them.

So yeah. Tomorrow is our dinner day. I give thanks every day that I wake up to see another day. I am always thankful for my family, our health and the life we have together. So in reality, Thanksgiving is everyday.

Pointless post. Just my babbling.

Shop Therapy

We took a short road trip to the new Ikea store in Sunrise. Just for a litle looks see. Needless to say, Danny is counting his blessings that this tiny little store is not right around the corner from us.

The place was packed at 11 AM on a Tuesday. Like I tell Danny, people don't work. Betcha that's what they say about us too!, he says. At least we didn't have to park n the over-flow lot and take the Disneyesque shuttle. Weekends must be a nightmare. I like the store, butI will not battle the masses, risking life and limb for a plastic spatula! It's bad enough that I almost lost an ankle to the commando shopping cart lady! I hate to see her driving on the highway

Happiness is:... Giveaways!

5 Minutes for Mom is hosting a fantastic Christmas Giveaway! They will be posting several contests until Nov. 24th so be sure to check with them daily!

Also, Kailani at An Island Life has several contests going on. One in particular that I would love to win, is an inspirational sign from Prim & Proper Sign Shop.

I would choose this one: Hurry on this one though. Contest ends on the 13th!

Kailani also has a contest for $50 worth of jewelry from Lisa Leonard. She specializes in hand stamped jewelery which is sure to please anyone on your holiday list. Or you can be selfish like me and keep it for yourself! I LOVE this one:

And this one:

Hurry on this one too. Be sure to enter before Nov.15th!

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day. You wouldn't know it by reading the newspaper though. No mention there. Front page news was about Miami Ink. Definitely more important than honoring our vets! I'm sure that it will get more coverage tomorrow since it is the day that it is observed. But it's not about the sales, or the day off work or the 3 day weekend. It is about remembering the sacrafices of millions of veterans and expressing our appreciation for their service.

So on this day, and every day, I thank you.

Vicky's Got A Secret!

Well, I have yet to discover the "look gorgeous" secret, but I am quite happy with this deal!

Let me start by telling you the total of my order. I paid $16.91 including shipping.

Now for the good stuff.

I got this sweater for my daughter:

No, her b00bs will not hang out like that!

Then I entered code GIFTSET and got this:

Then I entered code SHINE and got this (or similar):

I then entered I entered code SHADE4 for a Gift w/ purchase Lip Gloss!

And Finally I entered code FA78137 for $5 OFF!

How fun is that!!!!!

Then I called my mom and had her do the same exact same thing for my other kid! Now they each will have 3 extra presents under the tree!

NYC Marathon

The 26.2-mile course travels through all five boroughs of the city,

starting on Staten Island and finishing in Manhattan's Central Park.

This year, 39,085 runners started the race. Paula Radcliffe,

of Great Britain, who had a baby just 9 months ago,

won the women's race in 2 hours, 23 minutes, 9 seconds.

I guess my 15 minute mile on the treadmill is not very good at all! Even if 15 minutes per mile was adequate, there is no way on earth that I would make it non-stop. I figure that for every 3 miles I would need to stop for say, ... an hour. Gimme a break. I just had a baby 17 1/2 years ago for crissake!

Winner

OK, I have to do this earlier than I planned because we are not going to be home until late tonight. So I have just deleted the Mr. Linky and am drawing based solely on comments. Counting down from the 2nd comment since 1 & 2 are the same.

The winner is:

Amy Grant Bayliss

Thanks to all who played along! Good luck with all the other giveaways!

Until next time......

Organizing Chaos

I have spent the last 3 days trying to organize my craft room. It's a never ending battle. I have also been removing pictures from those evil, picture eating sticky photo albums. I have over 25 years worth of pictures that I have peeled off. Most have survived some got a bit torn but nothing really bad. They come off curled, so I have to flatten them out.

I need to put them all in order now. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't very diligent about dating the pictures. So, here I sit, trying to figure out my kids ages in the photos. You know how hard that is??? I am guessing based on outfits, missing teeth, hair length, etc. Fortunately the birthday cakes have numbers so I can more or less figure out that entire year based on the above mentioned details.

So yeah, my dream is to scan them all & scrapbook them. My reality is that I'll be lucky to just organize them in a nice picture box and scrap a few. Geez, I have a gazillion pictures! (The picture above is only 2 years worthof pics). But after losing a bunch during Hurricane Andrew, I at least want to scan my favorites. This narrows it down to 1/2 a gazillion!

TWO!

That's how many trick or treaters came to my door. Technically, there were 3 but 2 were together. So only two knocks on my door! The streets were deserted! We get les & less each year. Granted, there is a threat of a Tropical Storm. But it wasn't even drizzling! Sure is not the Halloween that I remember from when I was a kid.

I purposely buy the type that I don't like, so that I won't be tempted. So now I am stuck with 2 huge bowls of candy!

So how was your Halloween??

Another HUGE Bloggy Giveaway!

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*************I have a winner**************

It's time for another huge bloggy giveaway!! Head on over to Shannon's @ Rocks In My Dryer to join in the fun! Last time there were over 400 hundred contests to enter. They will go live on Monday, October 29th so be sure to check back then. I am posting my giveaway now, in case I forget or get too busy on Monday.

My little giveaway for today is the following:

For all you crafty people out there, I am offering up Punch Your Art Out & Punch Your Art Out 2. Both copies are new and ready to be put to good use. I will probably be posting a couple more giveaways before the week is up so check back soon.

Now for the details.

* Please be sure to post a comment and sign the Mr. Linky so that I can have a number record. I will be using Random.org to pick the winner. Only one Mr. Linky entry per person please.

* This giveaway is open to both bloggers & non-bloggers. If you do not have a blog, be sure to leave a valid email addy so that I can contact you.

* I'm sorry but at this time, I can only mail to US addresses.

* I will draw a winner on Saturday, November 3rd @ approx. 5PM.

So have fun visiting blogs, meeting new friends & maybe winning a prize!

If you have a chance,sign my guestbook at the bottom of the page.

Meet the Jetsons!

I used to watch The Jetsons religiously when I was a kid. I wanted the moving sidewalks, the tv phones, the robot maid. I wanted to be zoomed up to my living room in a clar plastic tube thingy. Even now, I would love that instant dressing, make up & hair machine. Oh & that instand food machine too!

I wanted to live in that house! That's not unusual for me though, seems like I generally suffered from "home envy". I also wanted to live in the Brady House. I don't think it had anything to do with the house itself though. Except for the Jetson house of course.

It probably had more to do with the family & way of life portrayed in the shows. Not that there was anything wrong with my family. Quite the contrary, I had a great family & a great childhood. I had both my parents & 2 brothers. But I was always fighting with one brother. And you never saw that on TV!

I even at one point wanted to live in the Walton's house (g'night John Boy) or the Ingall's house. For crissake. "Little" freakin' house on the Prairie. Walking a gazillion miles to school & back. No indoor plumbing! But, they never fought! Just for the record, we were not scarred for life due to our constant bickering. We both get along. Now.

Anyhoo, I just went off on a tangent. The point of this post is to see if you had seen this. That it may actually be around in the near future is quite scary. It was fun to imagine as a kid. But now, knowing how it is to drive in a metro city & being very familiar with road rage, I'm not too sure. What do you think???

Oh and here is a funny video from my YouTube addiction.

Halloween Costumes

Dawn over at Because I Said So! just posted a really funny post about Halloween Costumes. Funny because I can totally relate. I remember the boxed costumes of the 70's although I only had a store bought costume once. All other halloweens, I had my costumes lovingly handdmade by Mima (grandma). Each was original & guaranteed to be te only one like it. The one time that I did have a store bought plastic costume was one time when I wanted to "be like everyone else" and have a msk to stick my tongue out of! Who would have thunk that i wouuld ever want to be like everyone else!

Be sure to visit Dawn, she is one funny lady!

Giveaway Fun!

Ok, I've been meaning to post some contests that I have come across but I just keep forgetting. So, here goes. Remember, someone has to win right?

First off, the girls @ 5 Minutes for Mom are giving away this super cute pink camera from Casio.

The Casio Pink EX-Z75 digital camera is specially bundled with a camera case with pink stitching and a pink ribbon-clad lanyard to show support of the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF). How cute is that? And for a great cause too!

Hurry and check it out before Oct. 26.

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Next up, we have Sheila @ Go Visit Hawaii. She is giving away another great Hawaii prize pack. She has awesome & helpful information for anyone who is planning a trip to Hawaii or just dreaming about it.

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Finally, Shannon from Rocks In my Dryer is hosting another ginormous blog giveaway party. It all starts on October 29th. The Dog Days of Summer was a blast and I'm sure this one will be too! I'm already looking around to see what I can give away! Hope ya'll will join in the fun!

Days Like These....

Days like these make me happy that I have big girls! There are days that I find myself wishing that my girls were babies again. This usually happens when I see some cute kid somewhere or I happen to hold a baby. But then, there are days that I am so glad that they are not babies, or even toddlers. I am glad that they are self sufficient young women. Today, is one of those days..

I still feel like crap. My throat hurts. My bones hurt and my body is sore. I can't stop coughing. I have been in bed for the past 2 days. Had my girls been younger, that would not have been the case. Sure, I still would be sick. I would still feel like crap. I could feel like I were on my deathbed. But, I would still have to get up and tend to the girls. Unless, of course, Danny was home. He has always been a great daddy & hubby. If he was not at work he would tend to the girls and their needs. Still does. But now, even when he is at work, I can stay in bed and not have to worry about my kids not eating or being bathed. I don't have to help with homework or get them ready for bed. They do that all on their own. PLUS, they bring me my water and my meals. To.my.room.

Tomorrow is another day. When I feel better, I will miss not having little ones again. I will miss that the girls really don't need me as much as they used to. That they can, basically, make due on their own. But at the end of the day, I am still their mom. And if I had to, I would get up in a heartbeat and do whatever they needed me to.

Sick

I rarely get sick. I've been feeling something coming on since we got back. Yesterday, I started coughing and feeling achy. We went to Carrabba's for my birthday dinner, although I didn't really feel like going out at all. Went to bed and didn't sleep at all because my throat was killing me!

The one time that I don't take Airborne before a flight and I get sick! Coincidence? I'm not sure anymore. I wonder if that stuff actually works?

Anyhoo, I need to feel better by Monday. I have not been to Target in over 3 weeks! I need my Target fix! I'm sure that I have missed out on some awesome deals! : )

In other news, I went to pay Danny's Amex today and I see 2 charges for airline tickets. LA-Minneapolis and MN-LA. Both while we were in Hawaii. According to the AMEX guy, quite possibly when we had dinner before we left on our trip, the waitress swiped our card on a personal swiper and was able to use our account. Thief! And to think that we tipped her over 20%! He suggests that we always watch when they swipe our card. SO we now must get up and follow our server when they swipe our card. Then we must explain that it is not personal but we really can't trust anyone anymore. Sad. Really, really sad.

Another Year Older

I woke up today and realized that I am 41!

Ugh! I'm buying this for myself!


Anyhoo, I was going to catch up on the blogs but I would be lying if I said that I would. So, I will just start from today on. It would be an mission impossible to try to play catch up. I've already seen a few contests up, and I will share those later. I was so happy to learn that Rachel also won a pair of Ryka sneakers from their giveaway! I love giveaways!

Ta-Ta for now!

Dead Tired!

That just doesn't fully describe how my body feels just about now. My internal clock is totally discombobulated. We got in on the Red Eye yesterday@ 6:30 AM. Since we are too poor & cheap to fly 1st class we were stuck on a 3 across row. I ALWAYS have to sit by the window, that leaves poor D in the middle. If we are lucky, no one will sit in the aisle seat and I can lay down and sleep the entire way. We weren't lucky. I barely slept. I got a crick on my neck and my body hurts. But we are home. Safe. I'm with my girls. And I'm sleeping in my own bed.

I actually woke up at 1:30 PM today. It's a beautiful day out, but I am indoors. In my pj's. Trying to catch up on the gazillion shows that are on my DVR.

We totally enjoyed our entire vacation.

For the record, we were away for 20 days.

We visited Los Angeles, Maui, the Big Island, Oahu & Los Angeles again.

I got on 6 planes, 1 tiny propeller plane, and a freakin' helicopter!

We travelled from LA to Hawaii on Hawaiian Airlines

. That is officially my all time favorite airline!

Customer service, on time, planes... everything!

We went through a total of 6 different rental cars.

Stayed in 6 different accomodations.

And took 3122 pictures.

I won't bore your with all the details. Just share some of our pictures. Most are scenery.

The ones with both of us are usually the double chin, taken at arms length type.

Maui

Big Island







Oahu

And finally, because Danny truly believes that this street was named after me:

Aloha!