Good Bye 2012

Another year has passed. It really is true that they go by faster every year. The older I get I'm not sure if I get any wiser but I do know that I'm less interested in looking back, but more interested in looking forward.

And I'm not much for making resolutions because I will just end up frustrated or disappointed so I found some resolutions I can get behind.
























I was telling a friend earlier tonight that 2013 will be The Year of More Laughter. I hope you will join me!

Happy New Year Friends!

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Shack Wacky

Shack Wacky - Cabin Fever - Stir Crazy..........whatever you want to call it - today I've got it. It snowed for most of the day and the wind blew it around. Just enough to fill in my yard and keep me trapped. My snowplow guy is MIA. It's driving me crazy for 2 reasons. First I like to be here when he comes so I can move the cars around and second (and more importantly) I'm TRAPPED.

Not that I need to go anywhere, I just like knowing I can.

I spent the day eating. I tried reading but honestly, I'm having some trouble getting into The Hobbit. I might break my rule, skip the book and go right to the movie. And there was absolutely nothing on TV today. Nothing! It got so bad after supper I even went outside and shoveled some.

I can't even focus enough to hook but I think I will try to force myself.



I don't do Shack Wacky very well :(

The Hobbit and a Post-Christmas Goose

I've been catching up on my reading this week. I have finally finished The Hunger Games Trilogy and just started The Hobbit. We are expecting a big storm tomorrow so the kindle is all charged up and ready for a day inside. I always like to read the book before I see the movie.

I went visiting this morning. My friend Terri called last night and told me to hurry up and visit so she could take down her tree. And yes, there was "special" coffee. I swear between the two of us, when we get together, we keep the Keurig and Bailey's companies in business!

As I arrived I stopped to chat with her hubby in the garage and I was greeted by one of her two large dogs. All of a sudden I let out an ungracious squeal.



Lincoln had snuck up behind me and........well......I got a Christmas Goose! I tell you, it was a borderline violation!! Lol. He looks so innocent. Yeah, right!

I have a little hooking done. I will show you tomorrow. Now I think I need to visit the "storm snack food" bag. I made an emergency food run today. Lots of cookies and potato chips on hand :)


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I'm getting a little weary of the holidays.  If I lived alone today would be the day I would put everything away.  But then Mom's best friend arrived this afternoon for a visit, bubbling with holiday spirit.  When she took off her boots I had to run for the iPhone and take this pic. (That's what bloggers do, right......take strange pictures) Lol
I should say, I doubt she wears stuff like this everyday but she always makes an effort to try and reach Mom.  She did smile and she talked a bit so I would say the funny socks were effective.  Plus, I didn't know what to blog about today so it was win-win!
I have started playing around with a new rug project.  And wouldn't you know it, I'm in trouble already.  I began hooking the letters and it doesn't feel right.



Luckily this is a long narrow piece of linen, so I've turned it around and I'm trying a different letter style on the other end. Then I can decide which side I like best.
There's a nasty case of turkey overload here. Tomorrow I need to think up some kind of alternative.  Remind me again why I bought a 20 pound turkey for 3 people??  Oh, and sadly the last of the birds-nest cookies are gone.  Sigh.....
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Test

Posted twice and POOF.  Frustrated!   Ignore, just testing :)

Joys of the season

Well, we have survived the holidays. Wish I could say the same for my waist. Days of non stop eating have taken its toll, but who cares!
Christmas Eve was a steady stream of visitors all day and evening. Luckily they were spread throughout the day so we were able to enjoy everyone. By the time the last group left we were over-tired and silly.
One of the gift bags had this guy poking out so we put him on the floor and pushed the button.



He sings a silly Christmas song and his ears flap to the music. Being half exhausted, Auntie and I found this to be hysterical. Mom and Millie however were less than amused. We got the double stink eyes - which made it even funnier!

Another gift created another round of giggles. All you bloggers out there will appreciate this. Thank you K & J



I'm not going to post pics of the rest of Santa's goodies, except for this beautiful Royal Doulton figurine. She is so delicate and pretty. After the decorations are put away I need to find a perfect spot for her




I've been enjoying my time at home. Mom had a rough day yesterday but is doing OK today. I think we all needed a few days of quiet.

Thank you all for your comments, emails and Christmas greetings. You have added to my Christmas blessings.


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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our house to yours



May you find yourself in the middle of Santa's Chorus line

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One more sleep

Tonight it's fun to reminisce about the magic of christmas past. The excitement you felt. The wonder of Santa Claus. How did he get all around the world in just one night? And how did he get into houses without chimneys? And do reindeer eat carrots?
It was fun to Believe. Christmas is all about magic and wonder. I still believe. Yes, every time I hear a bell ring I know an angel just got wings.

Merry Christmas to you all.


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Christmas Eve Eve

It's getting closer. I get just a little bit more done every hour. The groceries are all bought and the guest of honor arrived at the house today. All 20 pounds of it




Lets see....20 pound turkey - 3 people. Sounds about right eh! Good thing we like leftovers. It will be turkey fiesta for the next week. Lol

All the deliveries are done except for one which I will do tomorrow morning, over a special coffee.

Even Millie is getting excited. She graciously (not really) posed for her annual Christmas portrait tonight.



Awww, isn't she sweet.......

Merry Christmas Eve Eve


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Wrapping it up

Well not much done since my last post. I have had a headache since Thursday night. It finally seems to be gone as of this afternoon. I guess this old gal can't keep up with the holiday pace.

Tonight I'm finishing up wrapping and gift bagging for deliveries tomorrow. I'm meeting friends for lunch Christmas Eve and I've ordered us a special treat for Christmas Eve dinner. Looks like its all coming together.


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Checking it twice

The countdown is dwindling. I have made my list and I'm checking it twice. I've yet to formally hit panic mode but I have been scurrying about town the last few hours. Yesterday as I was lounging around watching the snow, baking a few gingerbread cookies, sipping a special coffee, and laying in a relaxing late afternoon bath at 4:20pm......I suddenly remembered I had a hair appointment at 5pm - A long appointment (you ladies know what that means)

So at 7pm I jumped out of the salon chair, all freshly colored and dashed to the movie theatre to meet friends. We saw Playing for Keeps with Gerard Butler. Typical Chick Flick, but it was a night with good friends, popcorn buckets drenched in buttery topping, and shared kit kat pieces and licorice. Not bad for supper, eh!

Today after dropping Mom at Alzheimer's Day Care I continued to scurry. First the bank, pharmacy, quick visit to Flow Boutique, then coffee with Deanne. Delicious French press coffee and I managed to get the last piece of Harry the Printer's famous ginger pumpkin cheesecake. Deanne blogged about it here:
http://blog.hookingrugs.com/2012/12/ginger-pumpkin-cheesecake/
And yes, it was very tasty. The chunks of candied ginger on top....perfect!

Another couple of stops for odds and ends and dare I say it......I think all that is left to do is wrap and deliver. (The grocery store doesn't count. I'm sure I will be there at least 5 more times before the big day)

I borrowed this list from Facebook. It made me giggle.



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Snow...and being a Sucker

Winter has arrived, wet and white. (Bah Humbug). And I fell victim to a charming young man this morning :). A little background - we've never had much luck with neighborhood kids being around to hire to shovel snow. Last year 2 young lads knocked on the door to shovel the front walk. Our house has almost no front yard so the front walkway is about 10 feet. They wanted $20......EACH!! Lets just say I shoveled my own walkway.

So this morning there was only about an inch of snow down and this sweet faced little boy knocked on the door. He was so polite and I'm a big sucker for a kid with manners. I asked him how much if he cleaned off the back steps and did the short path to the mailbox. His reply...."it doesn't matter ma'am, whatever you want".

Well, he had me right there. There really wasn't a need to shovel but I went into my pocket and gave him $12 for literally 5 minutes of work. Auntie was laughing at me. But he was just so sweet and polite. Then I told him to come back next time it snowed.

It's kind of funny because it was still snowing and now his work is covered by more snow than when he was here. But it was $12 well spent because he made me smile.







However I should note, not everyone was smiling today. Miss Millie is not a lover of much about winter. But she looks cute




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Being Jolly

The social aspect of the holidays kicked into high gear this weekend. Saturday was the annual L. Family and Friends christmas party. It starts at 4pm and ends whenever. This photo was just one corner of the food. The other side of the kitchen had chowder, chili, rice, meatballs, sweet and sour pork etc. So needless to say nobody leaves this house hungry!!

When I got home I had to prep for today's party - family cookie exchange in a town about an hours drive from here. So, after 2 trips to the grocery store (reminder, check that you're not out of eggs before starting to bake) and a failed frosting attempt - I finished the cookies at 11pm.

My cousin hosted a lovely afternoon. She had the big beautiful real Christmas tree. It made me miss a real tree - the smell and the charm of it. But then I remembered the work of it and how satisfied I was a few days ago when I put those 3 pieces of pre-lit magic together and was done in 5 minutes.

So, inspired by my 2 parties I came home and finally got around to decorating my tree.



Christmas is officially on. The tragic events of a few days ago in Newtown should remind all of us to enjoy our time with family and friends.

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I blame Martha

When did the holidays get so far out of control? The hustle and bustle, the pressure to buy, buy, buy and the pressure to have everything just perfect? I'll tell you what I think.......I blame MARTHA
You know it's bad when women are rolling in the aisles, fighting over the last packet of glitter or gold leaf paint!
I'm not going to feel shame because my Christmas table won't look like this

And my gifts will NOT look like this

I watched Ms Perfect on a talk show earlier this week. She "supposedly" had created a beautiful winter table setting - all from downed trees that fell on her property during hurricane Sandy. Yeah, when a 100 trees blow down on my property, my first thought is "Grab the saw, glue gun, and glitter and let's make wooden placemats and polar bear center pieces with glitter". Pfft! Whatever. I have a suggestion where she can stick that glue gun!!
So ladies, lets stop letting the Ms Perfect's of the world make us feel inferior and lazy for not going completely friggin overboard and ending up like this

It's OK if your tree looks like this

Martha......stuff it! It's family that matters.

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Christmas spirit

Despite my best efforts at maintaining my inner Grinch......somehow, somewhere, sometime........that sneaky Christmas Spirit is creeping in.

Tonight my workplace hosted the Chamber of Commerce Christmas Mixer. It drew a great crowd and was an opportunity for us to show off our new Town Hall. Now that I'm home, I wish I had taken pictures. Dang it! But imagine a decorated lobby filled with people, great food, wine or punch and a staff eager to give tours of the building.

I had fun. I felt festive. How the heck did that happen?? I guess if the Grinch can do it, anyone can ;). (And the fact that tomorrow is Friday doesn't hurt)





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It's gone

Here today, gone tomorrow.  The snow that is.  Well, also my good mood and my cheery disposition.  (haha) 
To put it bluntly - Today sucked!  From every angle.  So, I am restraining myself from a crappy post about any of that.  Just popped in to say I am still alive.  It is just before 8pm and I am in the office.  My Christmas tree is still naked in the corner.  Shopping is still not done.  Nothing (and I mean nothing) is wrapped.  The box of Christmas cards is still unopened and mocking me each time I pass it.

So, a great big BAH HUMBUG and to all a good night :)

It's here

So, no more fantasy world for me about having a snow free winter. We received our first blanket of snow today. (Bah humbug)



And I also lost my Girl Scout badge of honor for being prepared. I'm always prepared. Even over prepared. If they are forecasting a storm, I've got it all covered. Food, water, candles etc.

Until today! Instead I chose to bury my head in a deep bucket of winter denial.
I left for work and all was normal (nice and bare). Then, before I finished my first coffee I looked out the window and that white crap was falling!!

Did I have my snow brush out? No
Was I wearing gloves to brush off the windows by hand? No
Did I have a full tank of gas (for weight)? Nope, in fact the low fuel light was on.
Was my footwear appropriate for walking through a snowy parking lot? Noooo

First came the snow, then ice pellets, then rain. Big friggin mess. Not a big winter fan! Can ya tell? Lol

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Meet Ginger-Bob

I don't know what got into me this weekend. I started a project and finished it (completely finished it, I might add). I'd like you to meet Ginger-Bob



I hooked a couple of rows of border around it and then used the remaining wool for the backing. He's kind of cute eh! Here's a pic of the back



I even got the Christmas tree up and in a small Christmas miracle, all the lights worked! Now before you get all excited, it isn't decorated. (Yet.) But it is standing in the right spot. I think that puts me more than a full week ahead of last year.

Some more presents were bought, cards were addressed, cheese balls consumed. Things are coming together. I saw this on the Internet and thought it was a good reminder for the next few weeks



Have a great week

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Run, run as fast as you can....

"....you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man." It all started this morning when I stopped in at Flow Lifestyle Boutique for a chat and coffee. When asked what kind of coffee I wanted, I said "surprise me". Gingerbread coffee!! Mmmm

So when I got home I must have still had gingerbread on the brain.



This little guy ended up on my frame. Don't worry, I am planning to re-hook his eyes. I just happened to have a piece of red yarn beside me and was too "busy" to get up and look for some other wool. He looks like he drank too much last night and has seriously blood-shot eyes! Lol

I've started the background so hopefully it will be finished quicker than the Santa crows. (Which is still 50% unfinished)

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I made it

I know Wednesday evening there was some doubt I would make it to Friday. But here I am!! Your comments on my last post made me laugh. For those of you who thought the evening sounded fun.......it wasn't. (Well it was funny, but definitely not fun). It's never a good sign when you are hoping the birthday cake is laced with a bottle of Valium.

Today was full of meetings and the day was ending with one particular meeting I was dreading. Not a great way to end a Friday. And then (by some psychic miracle) my phone beeped late in the afternoon. "Glass of wine after work? Happy hour at The Pub?" In lightening fast speed I responded "YES".

So the girls met, we toasted to the weekend and discovered if you ordered 2 bottles of wine at Happy Hour you get free nachos. SWEET!

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Buckle Up

I think you better buckle up -- I feel a Rant bubbling up to the surface!

Have you ever tried to herd cats? That might give you a tiny glimpse of my evening. Some "genius" decided to have a family/friends birthday dinner. I'm not "allowed" to say whose birthday it was (but she lives in my house and its not me or Mom)

So there was me and 3 cars full of seniors.
10 seats at the table. Also 10 different interpretations of what time one should arrive for a 6pm reservation. P.S. the answer is 6pm!!! (Sigh)
9 opinions on where we "should" have gone. (Well, 8 really because poor Mom doesn't care)
8 opinions on what they wanted to order, that was NOT on the menu
7 times I attempted to time-travel to another place. Any-other-place
6 times the waitress exchanged or replaced something at the table
Lalala 5 mini nervous breakdowns (all mine)
4 times someone dropped something on the floor. (Spoons, pieces of food, napkins)
3 times I crawled under the table to retrieve something.
2 times I prayed for patience. (And by patience I mean alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol)
1 time we do this. Seriously - never again!!

I might start this version of the Advent calendar tonight. Hmm, Dec. 5th, so I need to catch up!! Lol



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Monday

Ahh Monday, sometimes you are a harsh witch. Today I spent the day (the entire day) in a strategic planning session. It wasn't a bad day. It was just so long. And being Monday, it felt even longer. Sooo very long.

Just in case you missed my point, it was a long day. Lol. OK, enough of beating that dead horse. I finally feel like hooking again tonight. For the last week I've been knitting, with no desire to hook. But with no DWTS to watch on Monday nights now, I have no excuse not to finish this rug.

I don't have much to report today. It's mild and raining and it doesn't feel much like December. But it sure did feel like a Monday ....






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A small town Saturday

Today was just one of those simple, small town kind of days. Looking at the calendar, I should be caught up in a flurry of a thousand to-do's. But for whatever reason, I'm not. Instead I'm just trying to keep it simple.

This morning I fueled up at a Church breakfast. The Immanuel Church isn't my church but it is in my neighborhood. It's one of those great little old neighborhood churches of days gone by. Although their congregation is small, they are a mighty group of workers. They've been holding lots of events lately as they need a new furnace. And they cook a mean breakfast.....Mmmmm



Then I browsed a bit downtown. Truthfully I seemed to socialize more than shop. Which is a good thing because it means that more and more people are shopping downtown instead of out of town at the big malls.

Although we have yet to have any snow, we have had 2 days of double-digit minus temperatures. Brrrr! I've developed a "special relationship" with my heated car seats ;). (Really)

Tonight I had to run in to the office for a short time. For a few minutes I felt myself grumbling about being there on a Saturday night. Then I heard something. My office building is next door to a large church. My church. The carol bells play at certain times each day. I sat there listening to Hark The Herald Angels Sing play on the bells. I looked outside and saw Christmas in a small town.







I was reminded that I was grateful to have a job and and office to go to when many do not. I am grateful for my little town.

And the cherry on top tonight is I'm watching my all-time favorite movie "It's a Wonderful Life". Who doesn't love George Bailey?

Have a great evening

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Everyday Angels

Sometimes we get busy and forget to stop and look around. When we take a moment to pause its easy to see there are angels everywhere. Today was Mom's Adult Day-Care program. The women who work and volunteer to run this program are angels. Not only to our family, but to the other participants as well.

It can't be easy. There are a dozen clients, each at various stages of the illness. I know just from what I've seen at drop offs and pick ups, it can get a little hectic for everyone. But these Angels never show a single sign of frustration. Always upbeat, smiling and cheerful. It always inspires me to know that I can entrust Moms care to them for a day.

Today at the pick-up, things seemed a little more chaotic than usual. But even in all that, they took the time to fill me in on the day, what she ate, and even a funny story. I'm not sure if this makes sense, but it kind of put my day back in perspective. It makes you appreciate the simple little things we often overlook.

On another note, I've been thinking of trying to spruce up the blog. I have no ideas....yet. But I just think I've let things get a little stale. And when I logged in tonight I noticed I lost a follower :(. I know it's silly. I remember reading someone else's post awhile ago about losing followers. She said she likes to imagine they died so it doesn't feel so much like they left her on purpose. I don't know why but that made me giggle.

Just in case you were wondering, I really appreciate each and everyone who comments or even just reads my babble. I've encountered quite a few Angels through blogland. Thank You :)


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Awaiting the end of November

Or more specifically Movember. Are you all familiar with the Movember movement? In case you're not, it's a unique fundraising effort for the cause of fighting prostrate cancer and general awareness. Participants stop shaving for the month of November and grow a mustache. It's become a big deal around here. Even some ladies have signed up and stopped shaving their legs for the month. (Don't worry, I donated money instead of going "furry"). Nobody wants to see that! Lol



Sounds good, right? Except for weeks now half the men in this town look like creepy 1970's bad porn stars. I'm not kidding! And for many it appears they are under the mistaken illusion that they look hot. For the record guys, there's no rule that says you can't trim them. (Or remove the remnants from your last meal!!)

It's almost the end of the month. Shaving day is just around the corner. Hallelujah !
Not everyone can wear a "stash" like Tom Selleck



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