Vintage Memorabillia

I just bought these cute little S&P shakers on Ebay. These are the same exact shakers that my grandparent's had in their kitchen when I was a kid. Actually, they were my grandfather's idea. My GF was quite a character. He LOVED crafts. He was always tinkering with something! I loved going over to their house to play with all the crap he had there. He would make dolls, toys & games for us while my grandma would make clothes for the dolls & costumes for us. He would make our piñatas & party favors when we were kids and he also made a few for my girls. Our birthday cards were always handmade by my grandfather. Nothing fancy, just made with love. Both my Mima & Pipo were the best!

Like I said before though, my GF was a character. When I saw the movie Big Fish, I was like "OMG, it's my Pipo!" He would come up with all these wild stories that up until this day make me wonder if they were true or not. He was mischievous at times as well. One day we arrived at their house and he's whispering and tiptoeing around because my Mima was asleep on the recliner. He goes into the kitchen and comes out with a pot & a metal spoon and starts banging them. Poor woman literally flew off her chair. But we were rolling on the floor. It was all about making us laugh. I miss them both more than anything and I am so blessed to have had them both.

Now back to the original purpose of this post. My S&P shakers. My GF would sit them on a shelf in their kitchen. First thing that I would do when I walked in their house was go look at them. Why? Because if he was mad at my Mima, he would put them back-to-back. I thought that was hilarious! One time he was driving and Mima was complaining about something. He said, "The minute I get home I'm putting them back to back! Then he said to me "Don't let me forget" I didn't. Actually, I ran in and moved them myself. So now, I have my set. They sit on a shelf in my craft room. Every time I look at them, it takes me back to my grandparents. To all the love and laughter that was their life and they so generously shared with me.

Right now they are kissing. But Danny better not get on my bad side though!

I nneed a better spam filter!

Remember this? Well I just wanted to post my latest. I usually just hit delete. For some reason they don't go to spam, but whatever. Sometimes I do read one, since I have no lifejust to get a chuckle. I am loved!

My Dear Loved one,
Calvary greetings in the name of the Almighty, Getting your contact was not an easy task because since I am not computerliterate, I ordered an expert to seek a fellow very far away and he went to the institute of International Business toapply before i could reach you. I shall make every detail simple and available to you as you progress with the work Ihave requested you do for mankindI am Dr. Magareth Arthur, married to Sir. Frederick Arthur an English man who is dead; he died in a train bomb blastin Spain when he was going for his medical check up in 2005.Please copy and paste this Internet link for moreinformation on the incidenthttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4340881.stm
When my late husband was alive he deposited a large sum of money in an escrow account in a Security Finance Companywhich were derived from his vast estates and investment in capital market.Recently, my Doctor told me that I have limited days to live due to the cancerous problems I am suffering from. Thoughwhat bothers me most is the stroke that I have in addition to the cancer.I need you to help me in fulfiling my husband obligation which I am presently unable to fulfil.I will brief you more on your swift reply to my personal email address: drmagareth000@gmail.com
Sincerely Yours,
Dr. Magareth Arthur

Huh?

I've been known to do some weird things in the name of fixing a mistake beauty(or at least look respectable). But nothing like this. I was watching Ellen today and she had this lady that is the author of The Black Book of Hollywood Beauty Secrets. She was telling people to put sardines on their eyes to make your skin glow, kitty litter to exfoliate and avocado for shiny hair. While she talks about this she is putting it on herself! When she was done, she had kitty litter on her nose, avocado on her hair and this stocking thing on her leg to lift her butt! Oh and by the way, since I know ya'll are writing this down for future use, cheese pizza is an alluring scent to the male species, it increases blood flow to a certain organ. Soooo, go ahead and dab a little on your neck! Your significant other will love you for it!

Never Say Never....

First of all, I want to talk about a little something that happened today. Danny & I went to Panera for dinner last night. I hung my bag on the chair, had my yummy dinner, then walked out without it. Today, I planned on staying home and vegging the entire day. But I had to make a quick run to the grocery store because I realized that we did not have eggs. So I start looking for my purse. Can't find it anywhere. I start freaking out and I remembered that I took it with me. I call Panera and ask the guy if anyone had turned in a purse last night. He put me on hold to check. He comes back and tells me that someone had turned one in this morning. Great, I said. It's probably mine. Then he tells me that someone had already claimed it.

Well, you know, something in his voice bothered me. So I got in my car and drove myself there. I asked the Manager and she goes to the back and comes out with.my.purse! I could literally feel the realief flow through my body. Now, I'm not saying that the guy was planning on keeping my bag, yes, I am but whateverbut he just did not sound right at all. I'm a pretty good judge of character face to face. I can normally tell when someone is lying to me. And it just sounded like he was lying to me. He wouldn't have become a millionaire with my $2.43 but he could have done some major damage with my credit cards!

Anyhoo, my bloggy giveaway generated 234 entries. My poor blog is a bit over heated. Poor thing is only used to about 3 visitors a day. Everyone has sooo many neat things that they want to do in their lifetime! Here's to everyone being able to accomplish their dreams.

My winner is comment #16

doodlebugmom said...
Maybe random will pick me! (ok probably not, but I will play anyway!)I would love to spend an autumn in New England, touring all the historical places. And build my dream house.Linda - if I win, leave me a comment on my blog.
at 12:44 PM

Well, whaddaya know! Linda is one of my 3 regular readers! Yay!!!!!!

This has been fun! Until next time!

Giveaway break... Sorta

We interrupt your regularly scheduled giveaway hopping program to tell you aboout another... GIVEAWAY! Sheila at GoVisit Hawaii is hosting another fun giveaway. Head on over and take a peek. While you are there read up on all the wonderful information that she has on her site. I'm hoping to get back to Hawaii soon but just in case it's longer than we plan, this will help us pass the time.

And just because I think this is so cute:

Now back to the show!

Bloggy Giveaways!!

***Comments Closed. I will announce winner on Saturday***

It is once again time for the massive Bloggy Giveaways Carnival. For my giveaway this time, since I know ya'll can't get enough of Christmas,

I have put together a little package of stuff.

Who needs Valentine's Day anyway????

For a chance to win, all you need to do is leave a comment. Not just any comment though. "Hey", "Hi" or "Pick me" won't work this time. I am going to make you work for it. Just tell me what one thing you'd like to do or place you'd like to visit before you die. I'm all about my Life List and I am currently working on accomplishing my life goals. Thing is that my list keeps getting longer because I am afraid that maybe when I'm done with it all, it's ok to go. :)

Anyhoo, this drawing is open to bloggers & non bloggers, but you must leave a way for me to contact you should you win. I can only ship to US & Canada. Since I don't have a cute kid to pick a name out of a hat for me. And since my girls would more than likely roll their eyes at me if I asked them to, my winner wil be chosen by Random.org on Saturday, Feb.2nd. I will contact you and post on my blog. One entry per person.

So you want me to stop yakking and tell you what's up for grabs? Like I said, it's a collection of Christmas Stuff. Here is a picture:

Making Memories Vintage Snowflakes Ornament Kit

Includes: 6 preglittered snowflakes, 6 Ribbons, 18 self adhesive gems, 3 self adhesive metal charms, & a sheet of rub ons.

Pack of 12 sheets Holiday Paper Plus Matching Envelopes and Card Attachments

Light Blue & Snowflakes

Pack of Red, White & Green Cards & Matching Green Envelopes

Plus Matching Card Attachments

Finally, I am also including a Jim Brickman Christmas Romance CD

In total this prize package retails for about $50.

But, it can all be yours if the Price is Right your name is drawn!

Have fun bloggy hopping!

I'm soooo lucky!

I must be the luckiest human being in the world! Every single day I get notice in my email that I have won a lottery. Or that some kind soul in Nigeria or in the UK has left me a gazillion dollars just because. These oh so kind strangers in the UK generally greet me in their email as "Dear beloved in Christ". This one poor lady has "limited days to live due to the stroke and cancerous problems"[sic] She wants to donate 17.5 million pounds of bullsh*t to me!!! How exciting is that???

In the last week or so, I have also won a brand new BMW 5 Series,
M Sport Saloon car and a cash prize of £250,000.00 GBP. That of course is in addition to all the other cash that I have been awarded.

I'm off to buy out Target!

Morphed

I'm sure that this would scare the beejezzus out of Miss Eva. Just knowing what could possibly happen should she gain weight! Man! My face has sure gotten quite round! I remember when I had cheekbones like that!



And while I was playing around on that site, I did this meter thing. Which scientifically proves that my girls look more like me!

Giveaway Heaven

First of all, I want to point you all in the direction of an awesome Valentine's Giveaway. Not only is it chock full of yummy scrap goodies but included in this awesome prize pack is an assortment of Godiva Chocolates! Yummo! I can hear my thighs putting up a fight. NOT! Hurry over and get a closer look at all the loveliness.

I also wanted to let you know to get ready for another HUGE Bloggy Giveaway Carnival hosted by Rocks in my Dryer. I will once again be participating and offering up a giveaway of my own. This is quite fun and I normally find a few more blogs to add to my addiction! It all starts January 28th, s mark your calendars. You can read the guidelines here.

Rest in Peace Sweet Juju

May 12, 2003 - January 19, 2008

They are not gone who live in the hearts of others

I'll Lend You A Child
by Edgar Guest

"I'll lend you for a little time a child of mine," He said.

For you to love - while he lives And mourn for when he's dead.
It may be six or seven years Or twenty-two or three,

But will you, till I call him back, Take care or him for Me?
He'll bring his smiles to gladden you, And should this stay be brief

You'll have his lovely memories as solace for your grief.

I cannot promise he will stay, Since all from earth return,

But there are lessons taught down there I want this child to learn.
I've looked this world over In search for teachers true,

And from the throngs that crowd Life's lanes, I have selected you.

Now will you give him all your love, Nor count the labor vain,

Nor hate Me when I come to call to Take him back again?"
I fancied that I heard then say, "Dear Lord, Thy will be done,

For all the joy Thy child shall bring,
The risk of grief we'll run.

We'll shelter him with tenderness, We'll love him while we may,

And for the happiness we've known Forever grateful stay.
But should the angels call for him Much sooner than we've planned,

We'll brave the bitter grief that come And try to understand."

Got Gout?

Danny does. He went to urgent care on Thurs. because his foot was bothering him and was swollen. They told him that it is gout. I thought that was an old folks thing. They told him that he has to stay off of it for at least a week. Which means he also can't go to work. That sucks. Not only moneywise, but it also means that he will be whining & complaining in.my.hair for at least a week!

We had outdoor, lotsa walking plans for this weekend. The Art Deco Festival in S. Beach plus we also wanted to go to Everglades National Park to act like tourists. Both outings scrapped. Maybe I'll rent him one of those electric buggy scooter thingies for old folks. He can zip around knicking peoples heels and honking the horn. Nah, I'm not bitter. I just like my heels, and between the scooter thingies and the stroller commandos, pretty soon I will have just bare bones back there!

I hope everyone his having a nice weekend.

Kitty Eyes?

Not sure if these are real or photoshopped. Looks kind of photoshopped to me. Either way they sort of freak me out! I have seen all these, so I wouldn't be surprised if Sanrio added this to their ever growing product line!

Eye Candy

We have been in this house for 5 1/2 years. We bought straight from the builder so we have been slowly making improvements to the house. I might post before & afters soon. We have hired a stream of "professionals" along the way. From carpenters, to painters, to landscapers. But none of those that have come to work here look remotely like any one of these:

Left to Right: Carter Oosterhouse, Trading Spaces
Marc Bartolomeo, In a Fix
Rib Hillis, Extreme Makeover Home Edition

Can someone please tell me why our guys always look like Jed Clampett????

A little bit of this, a little bit of that and a little rant!

“Far away in the sunshine are my highest inspirations.

I may not reach them, but I can look up and see the beauty,

believe in them and try to follow where they lead.”

-Louisa May Alcott

I have yet to make an attempt at any of my non-reslutions resolutions! At least I didn't make any resolutions, so I don't have to feel guilty about not keeping them! But I do need to do something about losing some weight.

Plus, it looks like we will have to cut back on some things. This college thing is waaaay too expensive. We only have to pay 25% tuition due to Kat getting 75% Bright Futures Scholarship. But between our portion of the tuition plus the astronomical price of books, we average about $700 out of pocket per semester. Plus guess what? Kari starts college this year too. On top of that, taxes & insurance are through the roof. And can someone explain to me how in the world we used $500 in electricity in December????? FPL is driving me to drink! We are rarely home. I don't run the dishwasher. We have HE Duet washer & dryer. The A/C runs only when we're home. PLUS we don't run on fuel, they have a freakin' power plant. I see us in the poor house!

Rant over.

I did finally get all my holiday decorations down and put away! Yay for me! Actually, I need to give a double yay to my daughter's boyfriend who actually helped Danny with most of the work. It's nice to have a man servant another guy around to help with the heavy stuff!

Please don't forget to keep the Avery family in your prayers. Julian is nearing the end of his journey and hopefully he is at peace and not in pain. I have been folowing his story for a while now, and it amazes me how I have become so attached to a little boy that I have never met. The one thing that I definitely will not cut back on unless I absolutely have to is our St. Judes donations. It's only $19 a month. I would like to think that if it comes to the point when we can no longer afford it, that maybe I can donate my time. But knowing myself, I'm sure that my heart would not be able to handle it. It takes a special kind, and I know that I am not it.

No stinky Hubby in '08

Although I am sure that ya'll are quite bored with my Target talk, I must confess that my annual massive hoarding continued today. I say annual because I normally only Target hop when they are at 90% off after Christmas. Maybe someone can benefit from my posting all the stuff I got. Yeah, I got a bunch of holiday stuff but I also got a bunch of stuff that is not holiday-ish at all. For example, I bought ladies wallets for .99 and nice wood jewelry armoires for 2.99. Check the kids clothing and scan all holiday looking stuff too. I also got tons of scrapbook/card crafting stuff. Forget about the 4pk of linen napkins in my faborite color, burgandy, for .79 cents. My best score was deodorant! Who would've thought that I would get so much joy out of deodorant. I bought Danny SIX twin packs of Speed Stick with earbuds bonus for freakin' .50 each! Oh the the joy! It's a thankless job. But I'm sure that Danny's pits will thank me! :)

So another day has passed and my tree is still up. I pulled the plug on the lights so I wouldn't be called the lazy neighbor. D works tomorrow, so it probably won't get done till Wednesday. Hopefully. Now I'm off to find a place to store my new crap!

Let the holiday continue!

I had every intention of taking down my Christmas decorations today. I did. Truly I did. But as always, I got distracted.



Yesterday, I spent $19.21 on about $200 worth of stuff. At Target of course. So today, Danny wanted to go see if there was anything left. After he twisted my arm, I agreed! I'm such a good wifey! Anyhoo, I found a bunch of hidden stuff today. This makes me very happy. In total, today we spent about $40 on $400 worth of crap stuff. We bought a bunch of coffee creamers for .17 cents. Most of it is going to the station though. I can't even buy gum for .17 cents! Practically everything I bought was between .09 and 1.69.



Maybe tomorrow we can take the stuff down. Or we can just leave it up till Christmas.

Raining Lizards!

This is from the Miami Herald.
It rains iguanas at Bill Baggs park
Posted on Thu, Jan. 03, 2008

By TIM CHAPMAN
tchapman@MiamiHerald.com
TIM CHAPMAN/MIAMI HERALD STAFF

Wednesday night's bitter cold came like a giant Sominex for the tree-dwelling iguanas of South Florida.
When the temperature falls below a certain level, the large green lizards drop out of the trees and litter the ground.
They aren't dead. At least a lot of them aren't. It is as if they are in suspended animation, said Robert Yero, park manager at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne.
It was raining iguanas at Bill Baggs Thursday morning. There were a couple underneath buttonwood trees and a third beneath a sea grape. All were about 30 yards from the beach, in the coastal hammock.
''We have found dozens on the bike path after a major cold snap,'' said Yero. ``When they warm up in the sun, they come back to life.''
Yero isn't too fond of the comatose critters. They are exotics from Central and South America, brought in as pets and then released to the wilds by their owners when they got too big for the house.
They munch on the foliage, literally nipping in the bud efforts to revive native vegetation.
''They really are taking over,'' Yero said.

Yuck! All those who know me know that I DO NOT like lizards of any kind. Small brown ones are all over my yard and I hate it. Big green ones are worse. Fortunately, I haven't seen any big ole iguanas in my yard but my husband snapped these pictures of one on one of our trees out back. I would not feel bad at all if they froze!

Oh, and if you are ever in Miami and go to Fairchild Tropical Gardens... although the place is beautiful, you will run into a ton of these! Triple yuck! They look like dinosaurs and some are easily 0ver 5 ft long.

Bunch of Pea Brains!

We get service from Orkin every 2 months t prevent creepy crawlies from living in my house. I pay the guy when he finishes. Apparently, I inadvertently made the check out for 90 cents less. Well, so far I have received TWO statements for 90 cents! The idiots have spent 41 cents each time to mail a 90 cent statement! Plus the paper used for the bills and the envelopes! The guy comes next week, they're gonna get their freakin 90 cents! It's not as if they don't charge an arm and a leg anyway!

Brrrrrrrrrrr

Ok, I know that I shouldn't be complaining. Especially after Melissa tells me that it's in the 20's and it is 6 degrees for Linda in Wisconsin! Holy Macaroni! As it is, we are currently at about 47. From 91 to 47 in one day. And it's supposed to get down in the 30's over night. I am in my jammies, under my down comforter, contemplating bringing out my electric blanket while sipping hot chocolate. With marshmallows, of course! So could you imagine what would happen if we ever got below 20???? The coldest that I can handle comfortably is about 60 or so. Guess I will have to stay in Florida forever! Or maybe Hawaii....

It is January isn't it?

This was the temperature when we got in our car today! Notice the a/c is on full blast. But a cold front is supposed to be coming through, and tomorrow, I should be complaining about the cold! Ya know, I'm all about complaining!

I so want to take all my decorations down and get my house back in order! We probably won't get around to it till the weekend though. At least I took my decoration off this blog. That's a start. Right?

We went to Knaus Berry farm yesterday afternoon to get some yummy cinnamon rolls & milkshakes. Then we took a break at the mall and then went to dinner at Flanigan's. I do love their ribs, but for some reason, I have not been very hungry for food lately. I guess that's a good thing.

We spent a quiet evening at home last night. We watched the ball drop, then went to bed. Happy New Year to us old farts!

Today, we did more of the same. Being the fatties that we are, we spent a better part of the day eating. First we went for lunch at Cracker Barrel. One biscuit stuffed me. Had a bit of my roast beef and yummy mashed taters and gave Danny the rest. Although, I do love this place, I hope that I don't get my appetite back! We drove around for a bit then we went to Robert is Here. Yes, that is the real name. It is a fruit stand that sells all types of yummy produce, plus all types of jellies, sauces and flavored honey. They even have Moonshine Jelly. I've never tried it, but I get a kick out of the name. It doesn't take much to amuse me! I shared a yummy key lime shake with D, and brought home some produce & Mango Butter.

This old man was sitting in an antique car in front of the fruit stand. I stood and stared for a while since he wouldn't move. I thought he was dead. But he finally twitched a bit and all was well. I wonder if they pay him to sit there? An antique in an antique.

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"

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