Christmas - Part II

Saturday morning Dean & I went to Bayou Pigeon to Dean's cousin Deborah's house. All the cousins were there & as usual, a ton of delicious food! I thought Sam's Mrs. Claus outfit was sooo cute.


Emma wasn't feeling good & had just woken up from her nap in the car.


We played a rousing game of hot potato!! This is Cody with his mawmaw Deb.



Sam was just chillin'!

Santa even made an appearance!!



We had a lot of fun & everyone got good presents! This is Dean's Godchild Lexie with her Coach purse.


Dean has about a million ice chests but he doesn't have one like this!



It's for the pool! The ice chest is in the middle & all around it are cupholders! This will get a lot of use if it ever warms up & stops raining!!!

Sunday the only thing I did was clean out the pantry & cabinets in the kitchen. I had quite a pile of stuff to donate.

Yesterday, Mrs. Joyce & Mr. Andrew came over with our niece & nephew, Camille & Drew so we could give them their Christmas presents.



It was very difficult to get everyone to cooperate for this picture. I'm glad it came out the first time!



We still have a couple of gifts to deliver but for the most part Christmas is over. I plan to take down all of my decorations & trees this weekend. I'm going to miss not having my big tree to look at.

Til next time....

Christmas Catch Up

Things have been a bit crazy & I haven't had time to blog since before Christmas. We started our celebrating with Christmas Eve Mass followed by dinner with some friends at Ruffino's. This was our first time to try Ruffino's & it was very good. Santa even made an appearance!


That's me, Amelia-Ann, Santa, Alexandra & Sheri. This guy was obviously one of Santa's helpers because he was on the skinny side. This isn't the greatest picture because I was using my phone & the lighting was dim. After dinner we headed home to have dessert with some other friends.

Dean & I exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve. He gave me a Coach purse, a Victoria Secrets gift set & a raft for the pool. I've been wanting this raft but didn't know that it existed. I can sit up & read while my butt & legs are in the water & it has a cupholder! What more do you need?? Here's my purse.


Dean cooked a huge pot of gumbo for Christmas dinner & our families came over. We all got lots of nice gifts. After all the hoorah over me & my sis-in-law buying my mom the same thing (a digital picture frame), my mother-in-law & sis-in-law got ME the same thing!


It was too funny! I'm just really happy to know that people listen when I talk. Thanksgiving Day I mentioned that I wanted one of these for when we have parties!

I also got these wine glasses from my parents.


Now I just have to get Christmas dishes to go with them! Maybe I'll use the money they gave me to get some.

This was one of my favorite gifts.


My nephew Logan, gave me this. It's all pictures of him & in the center of the frame is an iron "L". I already have it hung up.

Logan had fun opening his presents & playing with the paper!




The other kids had fun too! This is my cousins Dylan & Brooke.


Can you tell not everyone wanted to take this picture? At least I got somewhat of a smile out of Brendan & Scott's always happy!


Toodles for now & Part II of Christmas coming up....

Frustrated Much??

Only a half day left of work & then a 4 day weekend! I'm so excited. I don't know what I'm going to do once I have to work a 5 day week again. In less than a month we'll be boarding a boat for our very first cruise. I'm very excited. It's 7 days & we have a balcony in our room! Then it will be back to working 5 days a week for awhile with nothing to look forward to. We don't have anymore trips planned. I guess I need to work on correcting that!!

Yesterday at lunch I went to Bethdale's. There was an ad in the paper advertising that they had all of their Christmas stuff 50% off. I got several things. I could've bought more but I refrained. I really like the stuff they have but it's not somewhere I'd shop if the stuff wasn't on sale.

This is the Christmas Cross I found. I thought it was so pretty with all the little scenes in it.



I really like this little Holy Family.



We had stockings but not any holders. I was really excited to find these that go with everything so well.



After the last couple of days, I'm really hoping for some peace!!!



I LOVE these little "guest towels"! They don't take up much space!



I also bought a couple of big gold ornaments that I added to the garland around my front door. I would've liked more but they only had 2 gold ones left. I think I've run out of room inside for anymore decorations!

Yesterday afternoon I found out that me & my sis-in-law have gotten my mom the same thing for Christmas. That's just lovely. So now I'm keeping the gift for myself & I have to find her something else. I'll be shopping at lunch today & if I can't find anything I'll be shopping after work. I've never shopped for gifts on Christmas Eve Eve & hopefully, I'll still be able to say that! This should be interesting. I had figured out another gift & I checked with my sis-in-law just to be sure & I'm glad I did because she got my mom that too! UUUUGGGGHHHH! I think I've come up with something else. We'll see. This would be why I need some peace!!!!
Later!

Who Dat & Rats!

Yesterday, I needed to go to CVS to pick up a few things so I went on the way to get my hair done. Imagine my surprise when I'm checking out & there's a stack of Zhu Zhu Pets by the register. I don't know much about these except that my friends little boy wants one & they're nowhere to be found except on eBay. Of course hot toy on eBay a week before Christmas = A ridiculous amount of money to get said toy. So I bought one. Allison is very excited about my purchase. Now, I don't understand what all the commotion is about. This thing just looks like a stuffed rat but whatev! So, while I'm sitting with foil all over my head Allison sends a text wanting to know which rat I got. My response is "the orange one", she says "is it Mr. Squiggles?". Ummm, don't know. Seriously, WTH? They have names?? Thankfully, this information is not so important to Allison that she makes me go to my truck with foil in my hair to see. I think she realized if she asked me to do too much the price might go up from $9.99! So then she wants to know if they had accessories. OK, WHAT?? The rats have accessories? I didn't see any of those. Well, then I think about it & realize that my little cousin Brooke may want one. She got one for her birthday & it was the only gift she was interested in. So, a text goes out to her mom Leslie which results in a frantic phone call wanting to know where in the world I am that I'm able to buy the rats. I fill her in & what does she say? Do they have the accessories? Good grief. Once my hair was done I went to the CVS in Baker & got more rats & low & behold they had accessories. There's a carrying case & blanket, a bed & blanket, a car & garage & some sort of twirly ramp. I got all of that. I'm wondering if I could pick a street corner somewhere & sell this stuff out of my truck for a premium?? This is my stash.


After the Zhu Zhu ordeal I went to mama's. She had Logan & he'd just woken up from his nap when I got there. Perfect timing! He's so fun! He thinks his Tante is hilarious!!!!


Last night was our friends Christmas party. They live next door so that was great. No travel time & when you get tired you just walk across the yard & go to bed. They had a DJ that we had a lot of fun with. This is me & Courtney either before or after Brass Monkey!!!

This is Kitzia, Me, Suzy, Courtney & Sheri somewhere between Tricky & Sweet Caroline!!!


I've learned that iPhones take better pictures than Blackberries.
While at the party it was brought to my attention that one of my neighbors who has a little girl (she's an only child) has 2 pet RATS! Why Why Why??? This is completely stressing me out. The kid is like 8. All I can think of is that they're going to get loose. Crawfish & frogs in the pool, armadillo's in the landscaping & raccoons hanging out are one thing but I CANNOT HANDLE RATS!!!! This is just really disturbing to me. I just really have to question the sanity of a person that buys rats for their daughter & good grief, what little girl wants rats as pets???

Today Dean & I had visitors. Allison was coming over to get the Zhu Zhu's. She brought Cael, Amanda & Bode along with her. Cael was intrigued with all of my Christmas decorations. Magic the Elf even made an appearance which was hilarious! I always love to see Cael because this kid LOVES me! I don't know why but he does. When he got out of the car he came running at me like he was going to tackle me & gave me the best hug & a kiss! He's so sweet!!


The boys were in a trance watching Finius something or other on TV.

We're watching the Saints game. They're losing at the moment but it's still very early. I have to say it's kind of nice to watch a game & not have the added stress of worrying about how our fantasy team is doing. I hope they win but I'm still not fully convinced that they aren't going to do something Saintly to blow everything they've accomplished this season. And what's all this "Special Edition of Thursday Night Football"? Why can't they just say "Saturday Night Football"??? It's ridiculous.


Who Dat!!!

Stick A Fork In Us

No Thugs is done! It's official. After starting the season with a bang our inexperience & ineptness kicked in & we lost 5 in a row. It wasn't good. Most of the games weren't even close. Just when I thought I knew what I was doing I find out that the lineups can be changed at the last minute as long as who you're changing hasn't played. Apparently, EVERYONE knew this but me. If Sean Peyton hadn't benched Carney, I still wouldn't know. So needless to say we didn't make the playoffs. Looking on the bright side though, we didn't come in completely last. That's something right??

Today is a sunny day. Finally! Seriously, I think it's rained at my house for like 2 weeks straight. Not to say that I haven't enjoyed the rain, at least at night, because sleeping while it storms is great! BUT raining on the way to work & having to deal with the traffic & an umbrella & trying to keep my hair from getting messed up isn't fun. A lot of that rain was wasted too. I haven't been getting in any naps on the weekends so I wasted some great sleeping weather. Of course today isn't a perfect weather day either. It's soooo windy. I didn't know about the hurricane or I would've put my hair in a ponytail. I had to run out at lunch & pick up yet another Christmas gift. I'm finished now. Aside from my hair needing to be cut & the wind I'm currently sporting my sunglasses as a hair accessory! It's a good thing I got the whole hair appointment thing worked out (I had an appt., then it was rescheduled, then I was going to cancel but it was rescheduled for when I needed it so now I'm going Friday morning). I'm not sure if I could take much more of this. While I was at the mall I looked around for something to wear to the Christmas party we're going to Friday night. I found nothing! Now, I have things I could wear but I wanted something new & sparkly & Christmasy. I didn't think that was too much to ask. What I discovered is that apparently the economy is not in bad enough shape to have the $90 tops on sale. That's all I could find & I haven't completely lost my mind yet. I have a couple of things to wear if it's not freezing cold. I'll just have to see what it's like tomorrow night.

On my way home from work I got my nails done. I guess if I don't have anything good to wear to the party at least my hands will look good. I would love for this to be a really relaxing experience but I spend the whole time stressing out over what the people are saying to me. I THINK I got a free set of gel nails instead of the regular ones as long as I promised to come back for my refill. This place is fairly new. I've never been there before but it's on my way home from work. I liked it a lot because the guy that did my nails & the chick doing the pedicures didn't really talk to each other so I didn't have to listen to their language (which isn't a pretty language at all, I'm just saying) or worry that they were talking about me. He even gave me coupons when I left. I think he recognized that I wasn't a regular like the other people that were there. I don't really care about the reason I'm just happy to have a coupon for my refill!!!!!



I love the way they look! Maybe I'll make this a regular thing.

If you've been wanting/trying to poof your hair check out this video!
http://brodyfrancis.blogspot.com/2009/12/hair-poofing-101.html

From Squirrel People to Circus People

Wow! I didn't realize it had been a whole week since I posted anything. It was a really busy week. Wednesday night was the first meeting of the "real book club" that I'm a member of. I was anxious to see what everyone thought of that awful book. Surprisingly, just about everyone enjoyed it. That makes me a little nervous. If they all liked it there's no telling what other weird books I'm going to have to read! We discussed a lot of books & then decided to let the person that's hosting the next get together choose the next book. Well guess what?? Yep - the lady that picked A Dirty Job is hosting next time. She picked Water for Elephants. Soooo we're going from squirrel people to circus people!! Aren't circus people just a step up from carnies?? I'm leary of this book. I've heard people talk about how great it is but I just don't know. I'm just not interested in circus people. The next get together is January 27th so I don't really have a lot of time.

I only worked a half day Thursday. When I left work I went & did some shopping. Thursday night I went to dinner with my friends, Sheri, Jackie, Dawn & Wendy. Wendy & her family are moving to Jacksonville next week so this was our farewell dinner. This is Jackie & Wendy.



Dean & I both took off Friday. We went & did a little shopping & then I started wrapping presents. I went next door to Amelia-Ann's Christmas party. I had a lot of fun! We had hot chocolate & snacks while all the girls made gingerbread houses & played the white elephant game.

Here are the girls.



The girls really enjoyed the game. There was a lot of stealing going on!!!



After that party we went to Central for my office party. My friend Aaron & his wife Brandi hosted it. They have a new house & it was very nice. We play the white elephant game too. Dean got a Snuggy & I got a bag full of Avon bath & foot stuff.

Saturday I wrapped somemore & then hosted the "Worst Book Club Ever" party. We had a great time & had great food as usual! I made a crab dip that I had for the first time Wednesday night at the other book club party. It's sooooo good & easily the easiest thing I've ever cooked. All you do is take 2 cans of crab meat (not the lump crab meat, the cheap stuff) & mix it with a 2 blocks of cream cheese & bake it. I add some sort of cajun seasoning & that's it. Everyone thought it was really good.

This morning I taught Sunday School. We had a few new kids this week. Not the best behaved bunch but we still had a good time. It's so funny how the Sunday School lesson leads to the most random conversations from these kids! I wrapped & wrapped today & I can finally see the end of the pile!!

Have a good Monday!!

Oops I did it again!!

It's already Sunday night. What a bummer. The weekend goes by much too fast. I had a scare Thursday. While I was at work something weird was going on with my left eye. I could see but everything was distorted & had jagged edges. My first thought was my retina was detaching. I called the Dr. & they told me to come right in. By the time I got there I wasn't having the problem much anymore. They dilated my eye & checked it out. Everything was fine. I was having what's called an Ocular Migraine. They don't last very long & the symptoms are very similar to a detached retina. My Dr. tells me that I'm more inclined to have a detached retina because of my "severe nearsightedness". Joy joy. Something else to look forward to. So the rest of the day I could see out of one eye & one eye was all blurry. It pretty much drove me crazy. I went back to my mom's to wait for it to wear off enough for me to drive. Lucky for me all this happened during the week that mama had Logan so I got to spend the afternoon playing with him. I thought this pic was funny because he's never this still when he's awake!



I just thought this one was adorable!!!



Friday night the girls were supposed to get together for dinner at La Carreta to celebrate Vicki's birthday. We had to cancel because the weather was so bad. There was rain, then sleet, then snow!



I know it doesn't look like much & a lot of areas got much more than we did but I was still very excited. I put on my new rubber boots & traipsed around in it with the neighbors for awhile.

Saturday morning my mom & I went shopping. I didn't buy anything except these.



Yep, I did it again! I said I wasn't going to buy any shoes for awhile BUT I've been looking for this style & every time I find some they have a white sole & I didn't want that. So not only did these have the grey sole but they have FUR!! How cute is that? I wore them today & they were sooooo comfy! I always say looks before comfort & functionality but I love it when I find cute & comfy shoes!!! Some of you may wonder what Dean said when he saw them, he just rolled his eyes!

After Mass yesterday I picked up Brooke & Dylan to come spend the night. We stopped at McDonalds & then went home & played Wii. This was the first time I'd played & it was so much fun. It's definitely good exercise too. We boxed, played tennis & bowled. It's really amazing how real it is. Just as in real life when I bowl I have a natural left hook & my ball barely gets to the pins because it rolls so slowly. It was fun anyway!! This afternoon we went to Skate Heaven for Brooke's 5th birthday party. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

Unfortunately, it looks like No Thugs is done for the season. After a strong start we're on a 4 game losing streak. It hasn't been pretty. I think we'll do better next year because now we know what we're doing!

Later!

My Christmas Tree

Kelly at Kellys Korner Blog hosts Show Us Your Life on Fridays. This week is Christmas Trees. I love, love, love Christmas & spend a lot of time on my tree. These pictures aren't the greatest because I was still decorating as of last night & only had time to take pics with my phone.

This one is with the lights on last night.



This one with the lights off this morning.



I must have been holding my phone funny because the tree is NOT crooked. We spent a lot of time getting it straight.

This is my tree topper. I got it on sale one year the day after Christmas.



I have a vision of what I want my tree to be & it's not quite there yet. Maybe next year. Always something to strive for!!

This year I also put up a small tree in my kitchen but I forgot to take a picture of it.

Merry Christmas!!!

More Shoes!

I was so excited when I got home from work yesterday. I had a package. I LOVE getting mail & packages. Not bills & stuff but fun mail, like Christmas cards & checks. Speaking of I haven't gotten any Christmas cards yet. Anyway, this particular package was Christmas gifts I'd ordered for someone but it's still a package. Then at about 8:00 the doorbell rang. It was the UPS man. I really LOVE UPS packages. This one was for me!



The color doesn't show up really good in the picture but they're brown & the part that says Skechers is a shimmery bronze color. I love them!!

I'm still not finished decorating. After a quick trip to Hobby Lobby this afternoon I'm hoping to have everything done. Then I can move on to wrapping presents. Not to mention I have a huge backlog of stuff on the DVR. I can't watch stuff this week because I haven't watched last weeks. Just a never ending cycle.

Toodles!

My Own Personal Elves

Once again my day didn't go as planned. I think I do better when I don't plan anything. We went to Mass at 7:00 & did our grocery shopping. I needed to go to Bed, Bath & Beyond to get a tablecloth. Dean decided to go with me. He wanted to get a pair of shoes so we went to Shoe Station. I'm still so surprised that he initiated the trip there! Of course while he's looking I found a pair of fabulous boots!

They were on sale for $29.99 plus we had a 20% off coupon. I also found these.


Actually, Dean found them. I was looking at the yellow ones & they didn't have my size but I have the best husband in the world & after he said "I can't believe I'm about to do this" he pointed out the pink ones in my size!! I LOVE the pink ones & would much rather have them than the yellow ones. Wooo Hooo!! They were marked down to $16.50 so with the coupon I got them for $13.20! The regular price was $28.00. Sounds like a deal to me.

They also had a really cute pair of Skechers. I've been wanting to get a pair for awhile to have for the winter. Again, they didn't have my size. I can't figure out if they're sizing shoes differently or if my foot has started growing again because I'm having to get a half size bigger now. When I got home I ordered them online. I'm really going to try & refrain from buying shoes for awhile.

Before we came home we stopped & ate at Chili's. It was really good but I ate too much & didn't feel like doing anything when I got home. I finally started decorating & then my elves showed up. Meet Amelia-Ann & Claire.


It was great! They were a big help.




It was so nice not to have get under the tree to put the skirt down! The elves were a lot of laughs too!






The only thing it cost me was Dr. Pepper & a few games of hide & go seek. Luckily, one of the elves had to go to Mass & that ended the games. Otherwise, we may have ended up in the ER & that would've been embarrassing! I'm really out of shape. I'm pretty sure it's going to be rough in the morning when I have to get out bed.

My elves were serving a dual purpose, they helped decorate & they also harrassed Dean about buying me a puppy. Amelia-Ann has an ulterior motive for this, she wants a puppy & her dad hasn't given in yet. I'm not sure who's going to win that one. It doesn't look like either is going to give in anytime soon.

Later