So hard to believe that Christmas is but a memory. It came and went too fast and I thoroughly enjoyed my five days off. I want five more days!

I guess I shouldn’t complain. They were five awesome days. And I got a Nook for Christmas. It’s AWESOME. I love it. Much more than I think I’d love the Kindle. I can play music on it and share ebooks with fellow Nooksters. How cool is that? Hm. Now I just need to know someone who has a Nook so we can swap ebooks.

The first book I bought was Nora Robert’s Blood Brothers. I started reading it right away and I have to say I really like the book. I really like reading the book on the Nook. heh Sounds like Dr. Seuss, almost. You can add your own wallpaper and screensavers to the Nook, too. Man got me an 8 GB microSD card to go in it so I’ll have ample room for all the books I desire. I had no idea I would love it so much.

I got some other cool things but nothing really compares to the Nook. However, Man gets major Man Points for buying me shoes – the right size and everything – for Christmas.

My dinner came out great – the meat was perfect. And the cake was delish. My roasted potatoes didn’t work out so well so I ended up mashing them. But that was okay. The mashed potatoes came out creamy and yummy.

Saturday, Man and I decided to brave the mall to get to the movie theater. It was HORRID. I told him I would NEVER do that again. However, we managed to park (about a mile away) and make it to the movies. The people inside the mall were jackasses for the most part and the line in the theater was painful. So we left, did some light shopping, and tried again about a half hour later. The line was much better, we got our tickets, popcorn and drinks and settled down in our seats.

We saw Avatar in 3D and it was amazing. I loved every minute of it. The storyline was a bit complex and heavy at times but overall, it was a good story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tonight, the Man has to run out to see his daughters so I’m going to hang around the house and start taking down the decorations. The tree is dying and it’s time to say goodbye.

I’m sad! Christmas is all about this major build-up and then it’s over in such a short amount of time. And we have so much to cram into that one day that it seems like you hardly get to enjoy it before *POOF* it’s over.

New Year’s will be quiet. I’ll have the kiddo and the Man and I are going to be hanging around the house, watching the ball drop. Perhaps I’ll make some sort of New Year’s finger foods for dinner. I certainly don’t want a full-blown meal because we’ll be doing that on Saturday at my mom’s. OH yeah, we have one more Christmas to go.

Happy Monday!

By the way – I upgraded WordPress to 2.9. Seems it has a glitch and won’t let me schedule my posts until the new version comes out or a patch. Soo… I will be posting live. It’s rather inconvenient but hopefully they’ll have it fixed soon.

Hope everyone has a fantastic and joyful Christmas!

Here in North Texas, we got a shock today – it snowed! We got about 2 inches and it’s still coming down even as I write this. The wind is gusty and my chimes are going nuts. I love it! It’s perfect for a Christmas Eve inside with a fire in the fireplace, a pot of chili, and a glass of wine. All with the Man.

Here are some pictures I took of the day. And below that are my Christmas goodies. Enjoy!

 
On the front porch, here is the lamp and some garland.

A snowy leaf

The bird feeder – and the birdies are hovering

 
The front yard

Thumbprint cookies!

Chocolate chip cookies

Red velvet cake with cream cheese icing

I got all the baking done yesterday AND the house cleaned. The cookies came out really good. The cake remains to be seen since we won’t cut into it until tomorrow.

I paced myself, though, so I didn’t kill myself with cleaning and cooking. I’d clean, then bake. Then rest. Then clean, bake, rest. That was the cycle. So by the time 6 pm came along, I was feeling  just slightly tired. And very productive! I’m so glad I took the day off from work.

Today we’re going to church and then the kiddo goes to his dad’s house for Christmas Eve/Christmas Morning. Then back to me that afternoon for dinner and presents.

I also have to marinate the meat today and get it ready for roasting on Friday. Mmm. I can’t wait.

And that’s pretty much it for me today. Short post. I hope every has a magical holiday.

Sampson thinks he’s a present. LOL This was before there were gifts under the three. I think he’s upset he can’t get under there anymore.

Since I was inspired by Devon and Lara, I’m baking today! About 6 dozen cookies and a red velvet cake. I haven’t done holiday baking in forever so I’m really looking forward to it. Man asked if that was fun. I said YES! He looked at me like I was weird. So I pointed out that he enjoyed mowing the lawn and what was fun about that?

I think part of my blog problem was that I upgraded to 2.9 and for some reason, it made something wonky. Hopefully it’s working now but I’m going to publish this post immediately.

Tonight I’m making manicotti for dinner. I’d make chili but the high today is supposed to be 72. Tomorrow the high is 45. This weather is crazy and it’s wreaking havoc on our sinuses. We’re all coughing/sneezing/sniffling and it’s NOT a cold. It’s allergies! Thanks, Texas.

Anyway – short post today. I’m off to get started. I have to clean house, too, and I forgot to buy batteries so I’ll have to go to the store today which makes me want to chew my own foot off. I stopped at Kroger yesterday on the way home and it was a madhouse. Can’t wait. [end sarcasm]

Have a jolly day, all!

I posted yesterday and scheduled it to post and IT DIDN’T POST. STOOOOOOOOPID BLOG! But, it’s up now should you wish to read about my busy weekend.

Anyway… went Christmas shopping with Man last night while he shopped for stuff for his childrens. The mall was busy, of course, and it was also BOILING inside. WTH? It was still only in the 60s outside. Not, you know, the 30s.

Our weather has been wacky lately. It’s warmed up a bit. The nights aren’t as cold. And it’s wreaking havoc on my sinuses! It feels like my nose is on fire. And I’m sneezing. Blech. Hopefully with the cold front comes through tomorrow, it will be better. We’re supposed to have plummeting temps in the 20s at night and barely get out of the 30s for the daytime highs. Perfect for Christmas weather!

And today is my last day this week at the office and then I’m off. I’ll be baking and cleaning house. I also promised the kiddo we would decorate that gingerbread house that’s been sitting on the counter for 2 weeks. Bad Mom! So that’s on the agenda for the next few days.

I can’t believe Chistmas is so close!

Okay my blog is acting WEIRD. I posted yesterday – I swear! SO I’m going to try again…

Hey I’m over at Pop Culture Divas today talking about my favorite Christmas movies. Stop on by!

Whew!! What a hectic few days. I can’t believe the weekend is already over but at the same time I’m relieved the weekend is over.

Friday night, the kiddo coughed until nearly 1 am. I finally got up and rummaged around for some cough suppressant. I had given him some Children’s Ny-Quil but it wasn’t working. So I made him prop up on pillows and then gave him the cough syrup. I don’t think he’s sick – just has some sort of strange winter allergies. We’re all feeling a bit that way, so there must be something in the air. We’re expecting a hard freeze on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so hopefully it will kil whatever is in the air.  

We lazed around the house Saturday morning. I like those mornings. But we all finally got dressed and went out separate ways. Man had things to do and I had a few errands to take care of. I have this light bulb in the closet with a pull chain. I managed to rip the pull chain right off on Saturday. So it was off to Lowe’s for a new light.

Took the kiddo with me and we picked up a nice but inexpensive light with a pull chain. I also decided I’d had it with the ugly vent fan/light in the bathroom so I bought a new one of those. I started to wrap it up, put it under the tree, and put a tag on it that said it was to man, from Santa. But I thought that might be kinda mean so instead I handed it to him. He was actually a little excited to get a new vent fan. And me too! For obvious reasons. It happens when you share a bathroom with the opposite sex.

So anyway, finished up at Lowe’s and then went to Walgreen’s for a few last minute gifts. I was pretty excited to see they have every gift card under the sun so it was one stop shopping. Got some small tins for cookies, too, and some other miscellaneous stuff I needed for Christmas.

Got back home and SIL came by. She had most of her Christmas presents shipped to my house to keep her teenager out of them. So she came over, drank coffee, chatted and wrapped gifts.

Man got home from his venture and then we headed to Rosa’s for dinner. We stuffed ourselves on tacos then watched the Cowboys-Saints game. It was a fantastic game.

Of course, I was tired from being up late the night before so I crashed during the second quarter. Woke up in time for the second half of the game. It was a good one and the last 2 minutes nearly gave us heart-failure. The Cowboys ended up winning, though, and we were relieved.

We managed to get up early on Sunday because we had to go grocery shopping. I had a very long list, too, for Christmas dinner and baking things. We managed to get just about everything except for a few minor things. We spent an hour and a half in WalMart. At least it wasn’t that crowded yet.

Got home, unloaded, made lunch, went to Kroger for the remaining items. WM was out of red food coloring and almond extract (Devon – you’ve inspired me to bake thumbprint cookies!) and red currant jelly.

Two groceries stores was about two too many yesterday, let me tell you. But we got everything. But the tenderloin is going to be nice (or at least I HOPE it is… cross your fingers I don’t screw it up…).

Man put in the new closet light and it works beautifully. Then he changed out an outlet in the kitchen that never worked right. Now it does. Love it!

Got all the laundry done. Cooked hamburgers on the grill. Watched some more football and part of the Santa Claus 3. Good times.

And that was it for the weekend. I had planned to get the house cleaned but ran out of time. I only work Monday and Tuesday this week (WOO) so hopefully I can get some cleaning done in between baking cookies and a red velvet cake.

Still hard to believe it’s the week of Christmas! Happy Monday, ya’ll.

Here’s the cat, enjoying some winter sunshine by the tree. Now that there are presents around it, he can burrow under it like usual. I think he’s rather put out about that.

I’ve been ignoring my blog lately. Poor, lonely blog. I’ve just been busy and in the evenings I have so much to catch up on, the last thing I want to do is blog.

I will try to do better.

People who have more than one child are saints. Seriously. I have no idea how they do it. I can barely handle one and that one sometimes makes me want to rip all my hair out.

So on Tuesday, the kiddo had a dentist appointment. I had to pick him up from school early. Went to dentist and got a great report – no cavities! Yay!

As it turns out, the kiddo left his binder at school. With all his homework in it. Which meant he couldn’t do any homework on Tuesday night. So guess what? On Wednesday night, we did two and a half hours of homework. Spelling, science, math, coloring. He was so slow at coloring, I made him finish it before I’d give him his dinner (mean Mom). And then he was so slow at everything else, it was 8:30 before he finished it all.

And then he’s started coughing. And sniffling. Great. I’m trying to doctor him now before he gets a full blown cold (or – worse – the flu) but I don’t know if I can avoid it. Hopefully it’s just something in the air. I feel the same way but I know mine is allergies. I really don’t want to have a sickie on Christmas. That would be a total bummer.

Incidentally, I can’t believe Christmas is NEXT WEEK. Who allowed it come to so fast? I still have presents to wrap and a dinner list to make and STUFF to do. And tonight is the parent meeting for basketball which starts right after the first of the year. Blech.

Okay that’s it for me. Happy Thursday, ya”ll!

1. Never go to the Lancome counter in Macy’s looking for AN eyeshadow. Because odds are you’ll come out looking like a movie star (i.e., after getting a make-over) and you’ll have dropped a small fortune buying said eye shadow.

For the record, that all came about because (a) I was bored with my current make-up and (b) Man was bored with my current make-up. I had planned to buy new eyeshadow anyway, but Lancome was unexpected. The girl who did the make-over made me look great and I wasn’t “overdone” either. Very subtle shades. I looked in the mirror and wondered who that person was looking back. So even though I spent a wad of money, you know what? I deserve it. I got a bonus and I should spend it any way I see fit.

2. When trying to look awesome at the Bass Hall wearing four-inch heels, it’s wise to pay attention to how you’re walking down the granite steps. Missing a step, nearly falling into the back of you man, and sloshing wine over the rim of your cup, drenching your hand, your coat and your handbag, is NOT cool.

We had tickets to The Nutcracker this year at Bass Hall. I’d never actually be inside and have always wanted to visit it since it’s construction completion. So Man said if I’d buy the tickets, he’d take me. I was so excited when I saw the ballet coming. I wore a nice red shirt and nice black pants. The thing about the pants, though, is they’re very long so I have to wear tall shoes with them. Never having been in the performance hall, we decided to look around. I nearly killed myself on those steps. They’re very slippery anyway and not conducive for stilettos. I think the thing that was the most awful about that moment was spilling the wine. On my suede Coach handbag. NOT happy about that. The good thing is, I got it off immediately. The really good thing is it doesn’t stink like wine. And THANK GOODNESS it was white wine and not red.

Overall, it was a good weekend. I also got my hair done by my Stylist Extraordinaire. I even went complete with gifts in hand. I gave her a bottle of my favorite wine, a small box of chocolates and one of my signed books. She’s a lot of fun and makes the long salon visit bearable. Plus my hair looks great.

We slept really late on Sunday. Well, late for me. It was nearly 10 before I rolled out of bed. I cleaned house but there’s still so much that has to be done. I need to sweep the front walk, rake leaves, scrub toilets, clean sinks, scrub the shower. I *thought* I was done Christmas shopping but it turns out there are still a few folks I need to buy for. At least they’re gift cards. That I can handle and it’s easy shopping and a no-brainer.

Went out to dinner with Man and his son, who’s visiting for the holidays. I stuffed myself silly at Texas Roadhouse. Then came home, finished laundry, wrapped gifts, and did other little miscellaneous things. There are no presents under the tree! It really looks like Christmas now.

And that’s about it. The weekend is done. And I’m sad. I love my weekends. This week is going to be truly hectic. The kiddo has a dental appointment on Tuesday. I STILL need to get to the post office to mail a ton of packages. I need to get to the bank. All the normal errands that never seen to end. I’m really looking forward to a long weekend with the family. I plan to do a whole lot of NOTHING.

Happy Monday, ya’ll.

Things I love/hate about Winter

Let’s start with the positive. The things I love:

• It’s cold so snuggling up is a great way to get added heat from your significant other. And other bonus things!
• Hot chocolate/coffee/hot tea. Mmm
• Crock pot stew
• Chili!
• Long holiday weekends
• Christmas!

The things I hate:

• It’s cold
• Wearing a bulky coat in the car is annoying
• Trying to put a should bag over said bulk coat is annoying
• Dressing for outside does not always means you’re dressing for INSIDE
• If you work in a drafty building, the temperature inside is only 10 degrees warmer than outside
• It’s cold
• Have I mentioned it’s cold?

I can’t complain about snow cuz… well, we don’t get that here.

The evenings get away from me and then the days go so fast, I can’t keep up. Can someone slow things down a bit? PLEASE? I need about 45 hours in the day.

I will post more later. Promise.

Whew! I’ve been busy.

Jury duty really threw a monkey wrench in my day on Monday. I was stuck there until nearly 5 pm. We were required to report to the courthouse at 9:30 and of course I was early. They kept us waiting in the drafty hall sitting on hard benches until around 11 when the decided to dismiss us for an extended lunch. I met Man at PF Chang’s and we had hot tea and soup and it was great. It was very cold outside. He had to get back but I had another hour to kill so I went to the bookstore and wandered through the shelves for a while. Walking back to the courthouse was awful. Directly into the cold, damp wind.

More sitting on hard benches and we finally got inside to the selection process. It was a civil case – one person suing another for fraud. Two and a half hours (and a full bladder! all that tea and, oh yeah, we stopped at Starbucks, too…I was DYING) later, they put us back into the hall for selection. More waiting. More standing. More sitting.

Back in the courtroom, they picked their six people. The trial would last until Thursday but the rest of us got to leave. And since we were at the old courthouse, we had to walk to the new courthouse (about six blocks away) in the cold, damp air again to get our checks. Man came to pick me up and take me back to my car. He was awesome about that.

Left there and went directly to Wal-Mart because I forgot some things when I was shopping on Sunday. That happens when the store is a complete zoo and I have to herd an 8 year old. And of course, everything I needed was all at opposite ends of the store. I spent more time walking to get things than getting things.

Checked out. Got home around 6:30. Ate dinner. Wrote out Christmas cards (still not completley done). Then I parked on the sofa until after the 10 pm news. Man and I crashed hard. I was exhausted! Amazing how sitting and waiting can wear you out.

But I did catch up on my reading. Read through 55 pages of the new WIP and made some notations on where I am, where I’m going, and what needs to be changed. I’m also reading Beginning Joomla! and while it’s not exactly the most riveting reading, it is informative and interesting. It’s something I have to learn for the job and I figured since I have to learn it, I may as well try and apply it to my own website (it’s a content manager).

I think I’m just about ready to start wrapping Christmas presents. It’s been very cold here – and is supposed to be for the next few days. It’s been in the 30s at night and not getting out of the 50s during the day. It really puts me into the spirit of the season. Man and I have tickets to The Nutcracker on Saturday and I’m REALLY looking forward it. That and getting my hair done. I’m sick of seeing these gray roots.

And that’s about all I got today. It’s already Wednesday? Where does the time go? I have about 15 packages to mail today. The post office is going to hate me. Maybe I’ll split it up into two or three trips so I’m not an annoying person.

Happy Wednesday!

Thank goodness. But now I have a ton of stuff to catch up on.

Happy Tuesday!

I got called back to jury duty for this morning. I’m not picked on a jury … yet. But it’s damned annoying that I have to go back today. Don’t they realize I have lots of work to do back at the office? ;)

I did go in Friday afternoon for half a day. I was so wiped out by the time I got home, though. All that running to/from the courthouse and then I had lots to do when I got to the office. Lots of running there, too. Even now as I sit here and think about Friday night, it’s kind of a blur. I don’t remember much from that evening. Sad. I must be getting old.

I was supposed to bake a cheesecake for Saturday night but I just didn’t have the energy. Instead, I made chili and got way too much cayenne pepper in it. Wow. It was too hot for me to eat.

Instead, I got up early Saturday morning and started laundry and made coffee and baked. The whole house smelled like lemon cheesecake and coffee. By 11 am, I had two loads of laundry done, the cheescake done, ant the floors vacuumed. I decided I was going to get everything done I could since I had a Christmas party that night.

Man went out in search of the perfect house lights and the kiddo and I went to Macy’s to mail his Santa letter. While we were there, I finished up my Christmas shopping. Yes, I’m done! Except for a few minor things that I can pick up at the grocery store and of course the stuff for Christmas dinner. And I’m really pleased with myself this year. Not one present bought on a credit card. That feels really good.

Anyway, so the kiddo picked out presents for his grandparents and his dad and I was very excited to see them all on sale. We did manage to get all our decorations up this weekend, too. The house looks great! Even the cat thought it was great to get everything up. He’s especially fond of the tree. He likes sitting under it and he thinks the tree skirt belongs to him. And all the shiny-pretty ornaments on the bottom.

Last year, he broke several of my gold Christmas balls, so this year I got smart and bought a bunch of plastic ones that go on the bottom of the tree. That way, when he decides he wants to play with them, he won’t hurt himself and I won’t have to clean up broken shards of glass. It’s win-win for all of us. Here he is enjoying a spot of sunshine under the tree.

So Saturday night was the chapter Christmas party. I came home with two slices of cheesake, some ham and these delicious cake balls. Talk about a sugar rush! The cake balls were divine. I think I could gorge myself on them. I also came home with a $15 iTunes gift card – wahoo! I’m trying to decide how I’ll spend it.

Sunday morning I had to perform surgery on the coffee pot. I have one of those Cuisinart with the grinder on top. Apparently, it was clogged with grounds because all I was getting was hot water. So I used a straightened paperclip, a spoon and paper towels to clean it out. It felt so MacGyver. We finally got the grinder to work again, though, so HOORAY! I’d hate to have a $200 coffee pot go to waste because it was gummed up with gross grounds.

Kiddo and I went to church Sunday morning for the annual Christmas Cantata and it was wonderful as usual. There’s something about a full choir and orchestra playing/singing Christmas hymns that will give you goosebumps and make you tear up just a bit. Plus the children’s choir was just precious.

Got my Christmas cards done – or most of them. They’ll be in the mail today. Got most of the gifts together and ready to be wrapped. Went grocery shopping. Forgot seveal things so I have to go back (and it was a total zoo at the store, too; all sorts of brainless people wandering through the aisles and blocking them like they were the only ones alive).

Lots of things to get done Sunday and – POOF – the day is over. The weekends go too fast. And we’re inching closer to Christmas and New Year’s. I’m not ready for it to be 2010! Okay, maybe I am just a teensy bit.

Happy Monday, ya’ll.

This has been the longest week. It’s tough getting back to work after a long holiday. Especially a good long holiday where every day is just enjoyable. I’m so ready for this week to be done and over.

This morning, though, I will be trapped in a very large room with lots of other people who have been called to do their civic duty – jury duty that is. I resent I was called AGAIN. I swear it hasn’t even been 12 months since the last time I was called. I distinctly remember it because it was butt-cold and I walked from the justice center back to the office – about six or seven blocks – and I froze my ass off. I was so cold I actually ran the rest of the way while my face was frozen and my hands and feet were numb.

This morning we wake up to flurries – yes, again! – and it’s butt-cold again! I am not amused, Tarrant County. NOT.AMUSED.

Yesterday was a tough day for me. I was very out-of-sorts for various reasons. Then I discover my mail list that went to the printer had about 250 missing zip codes. And of course I find out with an hour left in the day and I’m trying to cram it all in before I leave because, as I said, I have to be in jury duty this morning. I manage to get it all done and leave the office later. Which meant picking up the kid was late and getting home was late. Which meant dinner was even later. And almost a disaster. I usually time everything just right so it’s all done at the same time but I was having an off-night.

Man sent me a text and told me he had to stop for gas, so I decided, as I’m attempting to cook dinner, I’m going to make him a pot a coffee with fresh ground beans in my fancy coffee pot. I pour the water in, start it. He gets home, pours a cup of…hot water. The beans never ground! Which means their stopped up in the grinder. sigh Finally we eat dinner and Man makes a real pot of coffee. But as I’m doing the dishes, I knock over his cup and spill his coffee. At least I managed to get the dishes done without breaking one.

Then it’s time to quiz the kiddo for his test tomorrow and all of a sudden it’s time for him to go to bed. I mean, seriously? Where does the time go? It’s like I blink and the evening is done.

I did work on the book a little last night. Mostly some brainstorming and figure out things. Since I’m stuck at the courthouse today, I printed off lots of pages to read from the beginning and see just how sucky it is (I’ll let you know). I figured I may as well make use of my time. Plus I really need to see how the story is progressing. It feels like there is a lot of missing description and emotion.

So I’ve decided to stop fretting about submitting/querying right now and just focus all my attention on this new book. I don’t think the entire draft will by done by January 1 since I’m slowing down the process and going to do a write/edit sort of thing. But that’s okay. As long as the book gets done by Spring, is polished and ready to submit, that’s okay by me.

At least it’s finally Friday! And tomorrow night I have a Christmas party to go to. I’m really looking forward to that.