New Year's Eve

Finally! Snow! I'm so happy about it. Everything looks so wonderful after it snows. I can't believe it's taken this long to snow! As of right now, we have 5 to 6 inches on the ground. It's still snowing like a mo-fo. The redneck neighbors are already driving up and down the street on their snowmobiles. Maybe this means a good start to the new year?

We got a new phone. I don't know if you can see it, but it's between the shredder and lava lamp. It's hard to see because it's camo. Just blends right in. Our other one bit the dust, so I let DH get this one. The rings on it is ducks, bear, elk, loon, etc. Right now we have it set on goose honking. It's pretty cool to see the dogs when it rings. Their ears perk right up. Man, I need to dust!!

DH and I are spending a quiet New Years at home. Enjoy, everyone! See ya next year!

Favorite Christmas Memories

I thought instead of re-hashing my Christmas for the 500th time, I'd share some of my favorite pictures. This is my Dad holding my niece. Isn't she darling? She's 9 months old.

This is my niece again. She crawled over to the presents, hoisted herself up, and started digging into them. Her brother wasn't too happy about it since the one she's holding is his. After I took a couple of shots of this, he took it from her and hid it.

This is my nephew, blowing out the candles from the birthday cookies for Jesus. Yes, normally it would be a cake, but my aunt decided to make cookies this year instead.


This is my whole family. SIL, brother, nephew, mom, dad, niece, me and DH. This is also the time I realized I either need a new camera or I have to get this one cleaned. Nice spot on my mom's face.

This is my cousin (who hosted Christmas) and her 8 month old daughter showing us how she can walk. Yes, it's a camo dress, but it was cute. She's got a couple of pounds on my niece (the daughter, not my cousin) and I think that's why she can walk now and my niece can't. Plus, she could sit up first too. She's got cheeks that you just have to pinch!

This is a wooden plaque made out of a picture of my Grandpa (Dad's dad) when he was bear hunting in 1952. He died when I was 5, so I never knew him very well.

The one thing I didn't get a picture of was all of my cousin's on my Dad's side. My Grandma wanted a picture of all of us. She then proceeded to tell us how much she loves us and gave us our inheritance. She knows she's not going to be around for much longer and wanted to make sure we all got it and she could see us enjoy it. It was very moving, much more so than I could ever write here. This is the same Grandma I posted about who's 95. We all bawled. I'm so glad they took the picture first!

Overall, a great Christmas. We're celebrating with DH's family on Saturday.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone! No, this isn't my house. I just thought it was cool. Tomorrow we do the big celebrating. We go to my brother's house around noon to open gifts with my immediate family, then go to church where my parent's got married, celebrate with my Mom's side, and then go to my Dad's side. That's just Christmas Eve! Christmas day we will spend at my in-laws. We're doing the gift thing with them on Saturday, my sil and her bf are in Florida with his family this weekend. Hope Santa brings everyone what they want!!

P.S. This is my 50th post! Yea me!

My Elfamorphosis

Hey, I just made a total elf of myself. Check me out by clicking the link below.http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=71fd5c990514d0e9f7c9daaG06122118

95 years and counting....

Tomorrow is my Grandma Florence's 95th birthday. 95. I can't even imagine it. I can't fathom how much change she's seen. World War I, World War II, the Cold War, invention of the TV, Movies, Cars, Airplanes, Computers, the Internet. The list goes on and on. When I was born, she was 65, so she's always been "old" to me. I've never had an extremely close relationship with my Grandma, but I do cherish every minute I've spent with her. She's now got ALS and emphysema, but is still living in her house. She's got a life alert necklace and has someone come look after her a couple times a week, but mainly she's still living on her own. If we ever had to put her in a nursing home, she'd be done for. I really wish that I would be able to have her meet my kids, but as the years go on, it seems less and less likely. I do hope that if I get to be her age, that I have as much strength, determination, and will as she does.

Happy Birthday, Grandma. I hope you continue to have a great life! I love you!

Damn the switching back and forth!

I downloaded IE 7.0 last week. DH wasn't happy about it and said that our bank stuff wouldn't work now. I guess they had sent him an email or something about it. So, I reverted back to 6.0. Guess what? Blogger wouldn't work for me. And DH said he liked 7.0 because it was faster. DAMN the DH! So, I'm back on 7.0 and everything is okay. Thank God.

I had a good time this weekend. Finished my Christmas shopping with my friend Linda. Got groceries after a long time trying to eat everything we had left in the house. Slept about 13 hours on Saturday night. Got laundry done yesterday. Good weekend.

This is a layout I did of my friend Tex who I met over 14 years ago. It was his 30th b'day last Monday, and I didn't have enough time to put this up. Anyways, he's the guy in the upper left picture. We met at a Youth Gathering in New Orleans in 1992. We've actually kept in touch all these years! He's a great guy who's now married with a baby boy. So, happy belated birthday Tex! Here's the second page of the layout:

And, yes, that skinny girl in the red shirt in the middle of the pins is me, circa 1992.

Official 2006 Christmas Card!

Here is the official 2006 Christmas card for our family this year. I made the signs in the picture, and had a grand plan of having the dogs sit in front of the decorated fireplace looking all cute with the signs around their necks. Needless to say, I then woke up and realized that they would not be up for any of that! So, I went with plan B, waiting until they were good and tired and placing the signs in fron of them. Actually, almost every Christmas card I've sent out with them on it, they've been in some state of sleep. It's easier that way. In case you're curious, Orion is on the left and Baron is on the right.

Am I First, Bonnie?

I just got back from my friend Bonnie's Scraproom unveiling. Believe me, it was worth the trip! She's got everything so cute - she should go into scrapbook decorating! Her house was also very cute and cozy. And her hubby, Greg, was the best host with all that estrogen in there!! I didn't take my camera (stupid me!), but here's a couple of pics of the gift bag she handed out.

Thanks again, Bonnie. Everything was wonderful!

Weekend Productions

Even though it seemed like I did more talking than working, I did get a lot done this weekend.

Here are some boxes I made for my co-workers. One of them loves Elvis, so I made one especially for her. I made some Christmas trees that I got from Crafts Direct for $1.

I decorated some barrettes for my niece.

I finally finished my "C"!! Now just to hang it up in it's place of honor....

Here's some of the details on it:

From the top of the "C" - hubby and my initials.

From the side of the "C" - est. 2000 - the year we got married.

Overall, it was a great weekend. There's about an hour I could have done without, but otherwise it was a blast. I don't think I've laughed that hard EVER!!

Too Nice?

Sometimes I’m too nice. Last night, I went to Target to pick up some pictures. There was only one pack there, but I could have sworn I had two to pick up there. I asked the lady behind the counter if there was another one. She checked their computer and said that there was one on there, but she couldn’t tell if it was the order I just picked up or another one. She reprinted them for me, but they took a long time. While I was waiting, I realized that I had sent the pictures to Wal-Mart, not Target. So, instead of admitting my mistake and telling her that she was wasting her time, I just sat there waiting for my pictures. After about FIFTEEN MINUTES, I decided to just leave, so I told her I’d come back for them. I never did. Why, oh why, do I sit there and waste my time, trying to save face?!?? Maybe it’s the whole Upper-Midwest Passive Aggressive thing.

I’m going scrapping this weekend at a retreat house in WI. It’s near my hometown, so I think my Mom is going to stop by. Actually, she better, since I have stuff to give her. It’ll be fun to scrap all weekend. I have to get some things done for Christmas, so hopefully I’ll be motivated and get everything done. I’ve already ran out of Christmas Cards (I made 60 of them) so I need to make more of those. I need to come up with a better plan for next year with those. Maybe I’ll do them digitally and just have them printed out. This whole cutting and gluing thing is getting to be a bit much with so many cards.

I’m trying to make the day go faster. I just want to leave to go scrapbooking, but I can’t leave yet. Damn the used up PTO!!

Have a good weekend. I’ll probably post Sunday.

I've been Tagged!

Okay, Bonnie, Here I go!!

A - Available or single: Neither (aren’t they the same thing?)
B - Best Friend: Todd, Karin, my bitches (sorry, did it say one?)
C - Cake or Pie: Pie
D - Drink of choice: Mt. Dew
E - Essential item you use everyday: Computer. Need it for work and to update this thing.
F - Favorite color: Green
G - Gummy Bears or worms: Gummy Worms
H - Hometown: WI
I - Indulgence: Shopping and Scrapbooking
J - January or February: January – my DH was born then. Oh and Linda too.
K - Kids & Names: Orion and Baron. Furbabies count too!
L - Life is Incomplete Without? Naps and Scrapbooking
M - Marriage Date: June 24, 2000
N - Number of Siblings: One brother
O - Oranges or Apples: Oranges
P - Phobias or Fears: the boogieman
Q - Fave Quote: Bitches! Oh wait, that’s not really a quote!
R - Reason to Smile: My niece and nephew
S - Season: All of them. I get sick of one and then another one shows up
T - Tag 3 or 4 people: Linda, Tara, Nancy
U - Unknown Fact about Me: I can’t roll my tongue
V- Vegetable You Don't Like: Green Peppers
W - Worst Habit: Nail biting
X - Xrays: Mainly have had cat scans, but some xrays too.
Y - Your Fave Food: Cream Cheese Wontons
Z - Zodiac Sign: Aries – April 4

Thank God for your Blessings

My Mom just called me here at work to tell me that my Aunt and Uncle had a fire at their house last night. Luckily, they were not hurt. The smoke detectors were working and woke them up. I guess one of their cats was killed. If it would have been last week, they would have been out of town and their house would have burned down. They think it started in the bathroom because of faulty wiring. My Aunt just had new carpet installed and had redone their kitchen (the bathroom is right off the kitchen) in the past year. At least they were okay. My other Aunt and Uncle have an apartment that is fully furnished and not being used right now that they can live in until they are able to move back in to their place, which is so lucky.

No matter how stressful your Holidays have been and will get, just remember that it’s the safety of your friends and family that truly matter. Things could always be worse.

Party!

Yesterday was the TCS Christmas party. It was really great to see everyone and celebrate the holidays. If only we could figure out a way to do the gift exchange before we get there! :) I was able to get a huge part of my Christmas cards done, so that was nice. I'm hoping to finish them up this week. I'll try and post one when I'm done.

My parent's are coming up for dinner tonight. It's really strange because they only ever come to my house for some reason - there's really not a reason for this visit. They think it's too far to my house, since I live over an hour away. I don't think they realize that it's the same distance from my house to theirs as it is from theirs to mine. I told DH that it feels like their coming over for an intervention or something, and he said that he was thinking the same thing. Hopefully it's just dinner and that's it.

Thanks for the great day today, bitches!

Well, I'm glad I got that figured out...

What Drug Are You? Your Result: Heroin You enjoy feeling light, floaty, and airy, almost saturated with happiness. You like to not give a care in the world and like to concentrate on only one thing at a time. Ideal Jobs: Artist, Musician, Counselor
LSD/'Shrooms
Marijuana
Methamphetamine
What Drug Are You? Create a Quiz

Christmas Decorations

Most of my Christmas decorations are up, so I thought I'd post one of my favorite decorations.

This is my nativity set. It's Willow Tree by Demdaco. I love their angels, and decided I'd love to have the nativity set too. My Godmother has gotten me most of the pieces the past couple of years for Christmas. Finally I was able to complete the set last year. I love how simple everything is and how "crafty" the pieces are. My favorite has to be the camel, which is on the far right hand side. It's so cool. It even has a chain for a rope hanging off of it.

It's sad that I can only display this once a year!!

We don't have a Christmas tree up this year, and didn't last year either. We got an electric fireplace for our living room a couple of years ago, and now we don't have room. I'm not too happy about it, but it's the way it has to be for now. I'm hoping to get my house collection up soon. I'll try and take a picture of that when it's up too.

Say What?

What American accent do you have? Your Result: North Central "North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
The West
The Midland
Boston
The Inland North
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Thought this was funny. Try it out and post your answers!

This sucks. I'm at work right now. I should be shopping. Who doesn't give their employees the day after Thanksgiving off? Obviously my employer. I LOVE shopping the day after Thanksgiving. It's so much fun. But now I'm sitting here at work writing in my blog. If I had a second of time off, I would have taken it today. I guess this is a good reminder to not use all of my vacation before now. And, yes, I will bitch about this the day after Christmas too.

Well after all of my whining and complaining, this weekend turned out good. I watched most of the Office season 2 on Friday night, and then went to my hometown on Saturday. Went to the best italian place for dinner and then went to my alma matter for a play. They did Crazy for You. It was spectacular. I was really jealous, though, because they never had an auditorium when I went to school there, even though we had a great music department and had a lot of people involved in the local theater scene. This all happened because we (and the people before us) were good and strived to be great. It would have been nice if it would have been us up there, but it was nice that the next generation was able to have it and make good use of it. I did figure out that the kids in the play were in second grade or younger when I graduated. How depressing!!

I had a great time with my nephew and niece this weekend. I tried to get my niece to walk and say "Auntie Cole", but it's hard when her only word is "mama". My nephew wanted me to hang out with him all the time and even told his mom that he loved his Auntie Cole a lot. Doesn't that just melt your heart? Glad I sucked it up and didn't miss it.

Heard from DH on Sunday. They've gotten a couple of bucks and some does. DH said he got a really small doe, so hopefully he'll get something else too. A big buck would be nice. But not big enough that he wants to get a mount or something. I really don't want that in my house.

Took Baron into the vet on Saturday, he's got another ear infection. $108, antibiotics three times a day and ear drops twice a day isn't my idea of fun, but I don't want him suffering any more. Plus, I think it can make them deaf if you don't take care of it, right?

Well, another week at work. Only 5,000,000,000 until I retire. Too bad I only have Thursday off this week. I'm going to miss my shopping!!

Well, I'm feeling a little better than I did when I posted last. Hopefully this up-turn will continue.

Very excited about the mail today - got the Office Season Two on DVD!! And CSI Season Six. CSI is for DH for Christmas. We have the other seasons too. I'm going to watch part of the Office before I actually watch the Office tonight! How cool is that!

I also had something funny happen at work today. I had to set up a laptop for a school district that is buying a computer program from us. One of the bags had these strange "International Symbols" on it. I actually found it so funny, I scanned it at work!!

First of all, the bag wasn't big enough to fit over your head - let alone while singing. Second, is it okay for the baby to have the bag on their head when they're not crawling? I don't think the bag was even big enough to fit a newborn's head in. Plus, the bag had two small holes, making it almost impossible to suffocate even if you could get your head in it. No, suffocation isn't funny. These pictures are!! Oh, I even made copies of this for a bunch of people in my office, they thought it was so funny!