Day Off

The Monday after Christmas was our work holiday so I was off. Rich had to work so I had the day to myself to run some errands.

I did  something I've never done before. I took back a few gifts that we received from my son and daughter-in-law. Normally I don't like to do that but they included the gift receipts and it was stuff that we were never going to use so I figured it was no big deal.

The first place I went was to TJ Maxx. If your not familiar with that store, it's sort of a outlet where you can get name brand stuff for a lot cheaper. Everything from clothes to accessories to household goods. I usually don't shop there because I never seem to find anything I like. So of course, when I returned the gift they only would give me a store credit. I walked all around the store looking and was about to give up when I spotted this nifty thing

It happened to be the exact amount of my store credit, too, so I bought it.  Now being vertically challenged as I am (5 ' 1") this stool will come in pretty handy in my kitchen. And the best part is it stores under the sink.

No more dragging one of the dining room chairs into the kitchen when I have to reach something!

Next stop was Kohl's where I purchased this rug:

I love it! Apparently the cats do too because they've been laying on it ever since and being dark brown it shows every single cat hair!

Oh well!

In some sad news, my coworkers mom passed away late Christmas Eve. So sad but her whole family, including her seven kids were able to be there with her, one daughter from California. I know what she's going through.

Looking forward to a long weekend; not looking forward to putting all the Christmas decorations away!

Happy New Year!

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with family.

This is how I ended up displaying my grandmothers and moms old ornaments.

See the little crochet covers on the candle holders? Those are wristlets that my grandmother made for me a long time ago. They are too small for my wrist but I thought they looked cute here!

It was a feast of Italian food! For some reason I only got pictures of the pizza

We had mostacholi and Italian sausage too!

Then there was the sweets table.

Gah! There was a bunch of goodies left over, too, and no one wanted to take their stuff home! So Rich and I spend rest of the weekend in a sugar coma!

I did buy this little cake for Brad for his graduation.

Since there was no one around at the bakery to write on it I had to do it myself!

I'm no cake decorator but I think Brad appreciated it!

All in all it was a nice Christmas spent with family!

Merry Christmas Eve

It made me feel better that I am not the only one not in the Christmas spirit this year! I feel better today, got good sleep last night and now am ready to get my holiday on!

It wasn't too bad working yesterday. It was pretty slow and laid back but still I didn't get off until 4:30. They had a pot luck and here is part of the food that we had...it was all over the department!

Sorry for the blurry pics but I was trying to sneak pictures before someone saw me!

We had our secret Santa at work, too. This is what I got from mine:

To go coffee cup, cappuccino mix, note pad with my initial, Christmas socks, and a fleece pillow. That pillow is actually a blanket folded up and tucked into a little pillowcase. Great stuff!

After work  Rich and I grabbed some dinner and then went to the grocery store for the food I need for tonight. Luckily I only needed the makings for puppy chow and mostacholi so I didn't have any trouble finding anything. Talk about putting off until the last second! It was packed from the parking lot to the checkout lines!

Tonight is a feast of Italian food...mostacholi, home made deep dish Sicilian pizza, home made Italian sausage and a bunch of sweets! Oh, I think we'll throw in a salad somewhere too.

I'll be posting pictures of the feast for sure!

Merry Christmas to you all!

Well.....

To say that I have been in a funk lately is putting it mildly! I have never had such a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit as I have this year!

So let's see what have I been up to....

Had my SIL's Judy and Jackie and their hubbys over for dinner last Saturday. That was very nice. We always enjoy their company!

Managed to get my Christmas shopping done at the last minute...good thing because my original plan was to take tomorrow off and finish up then. Unfortunately, my coworkers 89-year-old mother is in the hospital in intensive care and not doing very well. So she obviously can't work and that leaves me. Oh well, how much can I complain about that? I feel bad for her. This is a rotten time of year to lose your mother. 


Christmas Eve is at our house this year! I love having it here because the house always looks so nice decorated and I love that everyone gets to see it! We'll do our usual gift exchange. We usually just buy a gift for a female if you're a female and a gift for a male if you're a male. Then we draw numbers and when your turn comes you can either pick a gift from the pile or steal someone else's! You always want to be last number because then you get your choice of all the gifts! It's a lot of fun!!

About 5 or 6 years ago we did a white elephant gift exchange. That was fun too but some of the gifts were a little lame, (like a hinge..really) so we discontinued that. This was mine then:

which I still love to this day! One of these days I'll find something creative to do with it!

Let's see what else....Shauna's boyfriend Brad graduated from college last weekend. I am happy for him and even happier that Shauna won't be driving up to see him every weekend anymore. It was only a hour trip but still....her kitties missed her!!

We probably won't be seeing our kids on Christmas day. They have lots to do with their in-laws and I don't want them to feel obligated to come over here. I would love to continue the tradition of Christmas breakfast but it seems to be too much pressure for my son and daughter-in-law. That's OK I'm easy. They will come over early on Christmas Eve before everyone else gets here and we'll exchange gifts then!

Maybe Rich and I will go to the show! We did that a few years ago and actually really enjoyed it. This year I want to see "We Bought A Zoo" so maybe that's what we'll do.

That's all for now.

We are doing the Secret Santa at work again this year. I'll be back tomorrow to post my loot!!

TGIF!

I am so glad that it's Friday, more than the usual. This has been a busy  and stressful week at work..and it was only 4 days because I had Monday off to get the microwave fixed!

Speaking of the microwave, it's all better and back in it's perch above the stove. I won't go into the details but lets just say that it was a total rip off and I am writing a scathing letter to GE for charging a ridiculous price for very little labor!

After I got my million dollar microwave fixed I went to the Goodwill store to see about adding to my small Christmas tree collection. I picked up these two beauties:

The one on the right is a glass tree with removable ornaments. It was brand new in the box! The tree on the left is a silver musical tree. It spins slowly around and plays "The Twelve Days of Christmas" It's a little tarnished but that just adds to it's character! So cute! Plus I got a pack of three little tree ornaments! All for $5!

Did I mention how much I love Goodwill?

If anyone is looking for a good book I highly recommend this one! One of his best I think!!

Got a busy weekend coming up! Two parties to go to and I have barely started my shopping!

I'll be back on Sunday to tell you all about it!

New Perspective

Well, since I have had a chance to sleep on it I've decided not to paint the stairs after all.

Seems that they need to be sanded a whole lot more than we did before and so that's what were going to have to do.

After the holidays, though. I'm just going to have to live with them for now. We are having company but it's just family and they don't care!

So I spent today doing this:

Christmas tree collection. 

Mom's village

Family room tree

Living room tree

Banister...think it will attract attention from the ugly stairs?

These are old, old ornaments that belong to my grandmother. I have lots more than this and need to find some way to display them all.

I got this liquor bottle idea from  a craft show a few weeks ago. They were priced between $15-$25 depending on the size.

I just took a bottle we had and drank the rest of the gin in it. Then I stuffed a small light set inside and wrapped this little decoration on top. It looks really good sitting here in the kitchen.

(I didn't really drink the gin. Only because I didn't have any Squirt to put it in! The bottle was almost empty and I just dumped it down the drain.)

Tomorrow I took the day off work. I have to get our microwave fixed. It's amazing how many pots and pans you use when you don't have a microwave!

Then I have to get my hair cut because me and Loreal Light Golden Brown have a date sometime this week!

Have a good one!!

Epic Fail

Well, I blew it!

I should have known that those stairs would not stain well due to too many nicks and scratches but stubborn me had to go ahead and try anyway!

Pardon my French but they look like shit. See for yourself.

I am so disappointed but even more I am so mad at myself for thinking that I could get the staircase to look like this:

You can't get a silk purse from a sows ear or whatever that saying is!

They're just to damaged.

So its either replace the treads (not flying with Rich) or paint them.

Guess what I'm doing next weekend?

Crap.