To All My Blog Friends!

May 2009 bring you much health and happiness!
Thanks for a fun blogging year!

This Post Brought to you by the letter.....

There's a fun meme going around that I thought I would participate in. You are assigned a letter and you have to list some favorite things that start with that letter. At my request Donna at Cottage Days and Journeys assigned me the letter R. So here we go:

Rainbows: I really love rainbows and don't see them nearly enough. They always remind me of God's promise in the bible.

Relatives: Of course, what would life be without family?

Reading:I love to read and always have at least one book, sometimes two going at the same time!

Rings: Rings and actually any kind of jewelry. I love to look at it and sometimes buy it, but I seldom wear anymore than my wedding rings, my mom's ring and earrings.

Roses: I love to look at them and to smell them, but can't grow them for the life of me!

Ravioli: My very favorite Italian dish which I only get once a year at Thanksgiving when my brother makes it!

Rabbits: We always have at least one rabbit that hangs around our back yard during the summer.

Rays: Like from the sun coming through the clouds. We call them God rays!

Radio: How would I ever drive to and from work without the radio?

and last, but not least:

Rich: He's my favorite husband!! Ha Ha!

Well, Donna thanks for the letter R. I hope I did it justice!!
If anyone wants to play along, just leave me a comment and I'll assign you a letter!

Christmas Day 2008

Tuesday was the final Secret Santa. This was my gift:



A strawberry scented candle that smells so good that I want to take a bite out of it!

I was lucky enough to have Wednesday off which was a good thing because we had 20 people over Wednesday night. I made a really good Christmas punch with cranberry cocktail, lemonade and lemon-lime soda. I thought I would have a bunch left over but it was pretty much gone.

Chris and Marissa came over early to exchange gifts because they were spending Christmas day with her father. Shauna and Brad came early too so we all got to open gifts before the rest of the family arrived. I got them all travel cases with samples of soap, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, q-tips, sunblock and mouthwash. I figured they could use them when we go on our cruise next month. We got a lot of nice gifts this year.

I did almost blow our house up because I stupidly turned the burner on the stove without making sure that it ignited, which it did not filling the kitchen with gas while we were sitting in the family room. The weird thing was that Rich and Shauna both heard someone knock on the front door and when Rich went to check he noticed the gas in the kitchen. There wasn't anyone at the front door, either. God watches over you even when you don't watch over yourself, you know?

So lots of family and a few friends were here and we had a blast eating and laughing and just having fun!

This morning Shauna came over and we opened more gifts. Then Rich made us breakfast. After Shauna left we went to see my MIL and then to dinner at my SIL Jackies.

It was a nice day. I am glad the holidays are winding down and now I can put my full concentration on the cruise, less than a month away!!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Secret Santa Day #3

This weekend I not only finished my shopping, I got everything wrapped too! I love gifts to be wrapped! Notice I didn't say I love to wrap gifts? That's because I really don't love the actual wrapping process, but I think opening gifts that are wrapped is a lot more fun than just pulling them out of a bag! Anyway, here's the result of my hard work!


They're on the bed in the spare bedroom instead of under the tree because the cat's wouldn't leave them alone!

Today I got this for my Secret Santa gift:



It's Jasmine scented lotion and body spray and they smell really good!

Tomorrow is our Christmas luncheon here at work. Anytime I don't have to make my lunch in the morning is fine with me!

I still have a lot left to do for Christmas Eve. I am going to try to get the majority of the baking done tonight and tomorrow night, so on Wednesday all I have to do is make the mostaccholi sauce, clean the house and make the breakfast for Thursday. Not too much, actually but I'll probably be my usual stressed-out self!

Lastly,


my poor camera has a boo-boo! It suddenly stopped communicating with my computer. I did drop it from my desk to the carpeted floor, probably about 2 1/2 feet so I don't know if that caused it or not. Everything else works just fine. Anyway, It's still under warranty, so I have to ship it off to the Canon Service Center in Illinois and hope they will fix it for free.

These pictures were taken with my old camera, which does a pretty good job, too!

Secret Santa

We started our Secret Santa at work yesterday. I really love this gift exchange we do every year. It's a lot of fun and not at all expensive. We give one gift a day from the dollar store for 3 days, and on the fourth day we give a $5 gift.

Seems not everyone sticks to the $1 gift rule, though. This is my gift yesterday:



This adorable little frame must have cost more than a dollar! Anyway, I love it!!

And this is my gift today.



A Christmas mug, hot chocolate and some Hershey's kisses. See? More than $1 I'm sure!

It snowed like crazy today. I had a slow ride to work,and then I parked in the patient parking structure because I did not want to deal with cleaning the snow from my car after I got off. On the way home, the roads were snow covered but not too bad. It didn't take me too much longer than normal. I hate driving in the snow. It's pretty to look at though. I need to take some pictures to post. It's supposed to snow again on Sunday.


Looks like we'll have a white Christmas this year!

I still have some shopping left to do which means that I will be going to the mall on Saturday! I will be getting a early start for sure!

Clenching my Way to Christmas

Busy weekend.

Saturday I had my teeth cleaned and my dentist (who so conveniently happens to be my brother!) took impressions to make me a bite guard to wear when I am sleeping. Too many nights I wake up with my teeth hurting or with a headache from clenching my teeth during the night. Taking my stressors out in my sleep, I guess!

After my appointment we met Chris and Marissa for lunch and then went back to their place to say hi to the dogs!



This is a picture of Lou taken last summer. He's scary looking but really sweet! They have another dog but she was too scared to come out of her kennel!

Did some more Christmas shopping later. I'm still not done! This has been a slow shopping year for me. Plus I still have to wrap what I did buy! Sheesh!

Sunday I bought a new light for the dining area. I really liked it so of course it was too long for that area. Anyone six feet or taller would have hit their heads so I had to take it back and get a shorter one that I don't like as well, but it is growing on me. Thursday they are coming to finally finish the last of what needs to be done, just in time for Christmas eve.

I am so glad to be done with this kitchen!!

Brenda Photo Challenge-Christmas Decorations

This challenge is brought to us by Kim of Caffeine is Life

Thanks, Kim! This was a easy one!


These wreaths were made by my kids when they were in grade school. Of course, they are probably my most cherished Christmas decorations!

This ornament was given to me by a friend when I was big into garage sales!

The dining room table..simple but pretty.


This is my newest decoration. I love his hat with the little bird on it and the snowflake hanging from it!

TGIF As Usual!

I am so glad is it Friday again. My coworker took the day off and someone else called in sick so we are short here at work. Luckily it's not too busy.

I really would like to get my Christmas shopping done this weekend. I have a dentist appointment at 10:45 Saturday, and we are meeting Chris and Marissa for lunch afterwards. Then we really have to do some touch-up painting in the kitchen and put one more coat of stain on the stair nosing. Oh and somewhere in there I need to clean two bathrooms and get the laundry done!

I am still trying to decide how much baking to do for Christmas. I usually make a few different kinds of cookies, Puppy Chow and some kind of a cake. We are hosting the family this Christmas Eve so I have to make mostaccoli too. Anyway, I need to decide what to bake, make a list and get the ingredients this weekend. Shauna is making a pie that she made for Thanksgiving that everyone loved so maybe I'll just stick with Puppy Chow and a couple different kinds of cookies.

Next weekend we are going to see these guys with my brother and his wife. I love them and can't wait! It should be a awesome concert!

That's all for my exciting life right now. Oh yeah, I had a cystoscopy and everything is clean, no cancer recurrence. It's almost one year since my surgery and so far so good!

99.9% Done!

Well, the kitchen is finally finished, except for a panel, some trim and a electrical outlet, everything else is done.





So nice to have a double sink again. Actually, so nice to have a sink period!

We had to return the original pedestal sink we bought for the 1/2 bath because it was too big. I don't like the smaller one as well but I can live with it. It still makes that bathroom look bigger not having a vanity in there.



Everything just came together nicely. I am pleased.

This weekend I am going to do some serious Christmas shopping. I can't believe there is only 20 days until Christmas and I don't have a single gift bought! Of course, I am a good marathon shopper and have been know to get the majority of my shopping done in one trip!

The rest of the weekend I plan to finish cleaning up and decorating so I can take pictures and be prepared for the photo challenge next week.

Kitchen and Mom's Village

I got a nice surprise yesterday when I left work. There was a voice mail that the counter top was ready and going to be installed the next day. So I called to confirm and today they installed it!


It looks just like I pictured it!

It was about a week-and-a-half earlier than I expected it. They said it was because they work faster for the holidays, but I suspect the real reason is the economy and they just don't have much business these days. For whatever reason, I'm glad they finished it so fast!

We are still waiting for a few pieces of trim which should be in next week. In the meantime the builder is coming on Thursday to install the toilet and sink in the half-bath, the microwave and stove, the dishwasher, garbage disposer and faucet, a couple of electrical outlets and a light.

I'll have a kitchen for Christmas!

Last night I put Mom's village up. This is very special to me because my mom made it and each piece has her handwritten initial on the bottom. She used to put it on a large board with snow and people and even a little ice rink made of aluminum foil! I don't have anywhere in my house to put something like that, so I just put it on my fireplace mantle.



Having that village in my house every year sort of keeps her spirit with us during the holidays!

Quick Weekend

Man, that was the fastest four days in history! I can't believe it's already Monday.

Thanksgiving was very nice at my brother's house. We had home-made ravioli which is a tradition for us on Thanksgiving. So between that and the turkey and stuff and dessert, I was way too full and uncomfortable all night! But it was nice to see everyone, as usual. I felt bad for my daughter, Shauna because she had a migraine and did not feel good. She ended up leaving early. She made a really good sweet potato casserole, though.

Friday I spent the day trying to clean up the mess a little so I could do some Christmas decorating. No shopping for me! I hate the crowds and people are crazy!! Can you believe that Wal Mart in New York?

Saturday morning I took Marie to breakfast for her birthday at Wolfgang Puck in the MGM Grand casino. They have the best pancakes I have ever tasted! They we played video poker for a while. She ended up being up $35 so we cashed out and left! Got the tree put up in the family room.

Sunday I went grocery shopping and finally got the tree decorated.

Today I am back at work and hoping they show up to do some more work on the kitchen. The counter top is not ready yet but they can put the bathroom back together at least. It's funny how spoiled we get. Having to go up or down stairs to use the bathroom is getting old! Anyway, I am anxious for it to be done, especially because we are having 20 people over for Christmas Eve!

That's all for now. I plan on putting up Mom's village to night. I also am determined to walk on the treadmill every day in December! Ha!