Next year.....

I really don't make serious new year resolutions because I don't keep them...usually after January 5Th I don't ever remember what they were! But things always run through my mind this time of year of stuff that I am going to try to do better next with next year. Like:

Eat more vegetables..I don't eat nearly the 5-6 servings a day like your supposed to! As a matter of fact..I would like to eat vegetarian at least two days a week.

Slow down..half the mistakes I make are because of going too fast or acting without thinking!

Exercise enough to make it a habit...ha! This one will be tough; I'm sure I won't keep it!

Learn to make jewelry better and to be more creative!

Volunteer my time somewhere. Something I always want to do but never had the nerve, I guess. One of the downfalls of a extrovert!

Do more cooking from scratch...or actually..do more cooking. Period. I have a zillion recipes that I want to try.

Be more positive.

Be more frugal.

That's just a few of the things I'm thinking about. It feels good to have a fresh start every year.

Tomorrow we are having a small New Years Eve party...just some family members. Should be fun. At least it will keep me up until after midnight!

Have a very Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of my blog friends.
My life has been enriched this year for knowing you all.

Christmas Eve Stuff

Well, after an emergency visit to the dentist this morning (at 7:30..thank goodness my dentist is also my brother!) I managed to get my Christmas goodies made.

Puppy Chow



Peanut Blossom Cookies



and a Tiramisu Bowl



Can I just stop right here and say how much I HATE making cookies? I really don't have the patience for it anymore! All that mixing and taking little scoops to roll balls! Then you gotta roll the little balls in sugar and line them up on the cookie sheet, not to close and hope they don't stick...blah blah blah......! And after all that they never come out right for me anyway! Half of them are rejects for one reason or another! Please!! I would rather make a cake, or bars, or a trifle or anything but cookies!!

So we are going to my youngest brothers house tonight. To Rich's nieces house tomorrow and then on Sunday we will have the kids here for Christmas brunch. Last year we had brunch the day after Christmas too and it worked out very good. That way they can spend the time with their in-laws and don't have to worry about going to two places. Works well for all of us!

I still have some wrapping to do. I have been fighting a cold all week so I think after I finish wrapping, a nap may be in order before the festivities tonight.

Hope your Christmas Eve is going well.

Dog waiting for Santa

This is just too cute not to share!



I love when he eats the cookies!

Sunday Stuff

Finished my Christmas shopping today. At least, everything I'm going to buy! Thank goodness for gift cards is all I have to say! Now all that is left is the baking. I am only making Puppy Chow, peanut butter and kisses cookies and a Tiramisu bowl. Should be able to do it all on Christmas eve without any problems.

Hope I didn't just jinx myself by saying that!!

I don't think I mentioned the fiasco involving the flowers for my mother-in-laws funeral a while ago. To make a long story short the flowers that I had ordered to be from the family arrived at the funeral home after the funeral had begun and were not even a casket spray. So my mother in law had no flowers on her casket! Repeated phone calls at the time of the funeral were only more frustrating because they were closed and I kept getting the answering service!

The next day I wrote them a long complaint letter and sent them a picture of the flowers we got. It took a few weeks but someone from the flower company finally called me on Friday. She was very apologetic and could not have been nicer. The best part was that not only did I get a full refund of my money, but yesterday we received this:



So I forgive them!

Snowy Sunday

Well, it had to happen eventually! We have been getting steady snow all morning and a couple of inches have already accumulated. I took these pictures out the front door a few minutes ago.





It's not extremely cold out so the snow is wet and heavy. Good "packing" as we used to say; not that I'm going out there to make any snowballs or a snowman anytime soon!

I worked my last 4-day week. Now I will start working in transcription on Fridays. Transcription is what I used to do when I first started working for U of M and what I went to school for. I just don't like doing all of that typing 5-days a week. This will be perfect because it's only one day and it's off site, which means I don't have to travel all the way to the hospital and deal with riding a bus! Plus I will probably make more money than before due to the incentive, which is what they pay you per line for typing. Win-win!!

I will be taking a week or two off in January. Rich is having surgery to remove a small portion of his colon because he has a large polyp that can only be removed surgically. Thankfully, it's not cancer but has high potential to become cancer if it's not removed. He will be in the hospital for about 5 days and off of work for several weeks.

He was teaching me how to use our little snow blower the other day and I decided to write the direction right on the thing because I knew I probably wouldn't remember a thing he told me!



Pretty ingenious if I have to say so myself!

Hopefully I won't have to use it though. I'll probably just shovel if I need to unless we get a ton of snow..then I will be forced to use the thing. If Chris lived closer to us I would ask him to come over but he lives about 35 miles away and that's just too far to ask him to come and clean the driveway! Although he would if I needed him too!

Last night we had Rich's sisters and their husbands over for dinner. We had a great time and I got to drink lots of Asti and eat too much!!

I better go. I want to make a quick run to JCPennys and get a little Christmas shopping done. I haven't bought a single thing yet! Every year I get slower and slower!!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Christmas Decorating

Thanks for all of your comments on my mother-in-law. The funeral went pretty well except for a little problem with the flowers that I ordered to be placed on the casket. To make a long story short they arrived to the funeral home late and they weren't even the right ones! Last time I ever order flowers online!

I almost have my Christmas decorating finished. I usually have it all done within a day or two after Thanksgiving. I'm a little slow this year.

We decided to put the Christmas tree in front of the door wall this year. It saved us from having to jack a bunch of furniture around and I think it looks rather nice there.





These wreaths were made by my kids in when they were in elementary school. Chris's on the left and Shauna's on the right. I hang them every year on the french doors leading into the family room.




We're having Rich's sisters and their husbands over for dinner next Saturday and then probably Shauna's boyfriends parents the following week. That is all of the holiday entertaining I will be doing this year. It's nice to have a little break because I usually have either a huge family Thanksgiving or Christmas every year.


I leave you with a picture of my great-nephew Dominic at Thanksgiving. He's so cute I could just eat him up!