A Suggestion

Please if you're one of the few people that still write checks when you're in a store, PLEASE don't wait until the cashier is finished ringing up all your stuff & tells you the total to BEGIN writing the check. I'm asking as a fellow shopper who tries very hard not to hold up a line. Back in the day I worked at Sam's. That was before debit cards. It was everyone's pet peeve to get that person in their line. It annoyed everyone. Not to mention it slowed down your transaction speed.

Why do I bring this up today you ask?? Because I went to Michael's at lunch. Yes, I know. I spend entirely too much time there & at Hob Lob. I can't help it. I'll show you what I got later. Possibly tomorrow. Anyway, as usual the lines in Michael's were RIDICULOUS! I was in line but there was a refund going on & I could see it was going to take awhile so I switched lines. Everything was moving right along until the cashier gave the lady her total. She proceeded to take her checkbook out of her purse & I knew. Crap! Honestly, I didn't know people still wrote checks when they were in a store. I wouldn't have been so annoyed but like I said I was at lunch. I don't have all day. I tried not to get too aggravated. I'm the first to admit I have less than zero patience but I'm trying. It would just be nice if everyone would just be a little bit more considerate towards everyone else. I think the world would be a better place. OK so that was my little public service announcement for the day. Moving on....

Karen at Karen at Home  & Shannon at Webbisodes are hosting an ornament exchange. It sounds like a lot of fun & I love ornaments & getting mail. Check them out if you want to participate!

Toodles!

Christmas Wreaths

I've been  a wreath making machine!! I wanted to be through with all of them by this time but tendinitis delayed me. I just started with plain green wreaths, rolls of ribbon, shatterproof ornaments & about a million picks from Hob Lob!

This is for my friend Allison. She's a little wild & crazy & she let me go with a not so traditional color scheme.

I think it totally fits Allison's personality. I thought I may have gotten  a little carried away but she claims to love it! I know it looks funny across the bottom but that's just because it's sitting on the floor & the bottom is smushed. I like to use 2 different ribbons to make the bows but I couldn't find a lime green ribbon that I liked so I just used 2 different silver ones.

This one is for my friend at work Stan & his wife Renee. They're hosting our dept. Christmas party this year & are getting the house all decorated. 

I have to make another one like this because they have double front doors. It's the last one I have to make & I hope to get it done tonight. One whole room in my house is a total mess because all the stuff for the wreaths is spread out all over the floor.

This one is for my friend Vicki.

She liked the monogram I did for one of the fall wreaths so I added it to this one. I just bought the particle board type letter at Hob Lob & I painted it white & then added silver & red glitter glue. I see now after I took the picture that I need to fix the bow but you get the idea.

This one is for Wendy. Her & Vicki both chose silver & red. I did different things with each of them so they wouldn't look exactly alike.

Another smushed bottom. It just occurred to me that I could've hung them on a bedroom door with a wreath hanger & taken a better picture. Too late now. Anyway, you get the point.

I also made one for my mom but the picture I took is on Dean's phone. She already has hers hanging on her front door. It was done in red & gold.

I'm linking up with Susan at Between Naps On The Porch for Metamorphosis Monday. She always has tons of  good stuff to look at on her blog!

I'm also linking to Kristin's Tuesday's Treasures at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Toodles!!!

Gobbled til you Wobbled??

I did! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did. Dean & I went to his parents house for lunch. Several of Dean's cousins were there, along with his niece & nephew, maw maw, aunt & uncle & my parents. I'm  usually not a big Thanksgiving food fan but this year I was really looking forward to it.

This was just some of the goodies! We had a fried turkey, a pork roast & a beef roast along with all kinds of sides. Everything was soooo good!

This is Dean's cousins' baby, Emma. She's so cute!

Emma & her mama, Cassie.

What would Thanksgiving be without a little football?? Cody is Emma's big brother & he loves playing with the big kids. I think he's attempting to tackle our nephew Drew.

I love this picture! The expression on Cody's face is so funny.

Our niece Camille getting in on the action.

 Baby Sam (another cousin) wants to play. She's too cute!!

Have you noticed how everyone's dressed?? Shorts & t-shirts. Yep, it was like 80 degrees.

The kiddos really like Bingo!

Emma wasn't too impressed with the Saints game!

I spent my Black Friday at work. It was very quiet because most everyone was off but I was really busy & the day flew by. Friday night our friends were in town from Alabama so we had dinner with them at TJ Ribs. It was DELISH!!

Donna is a friend I inherited when I met Dean. She was a baseball buddy & we were in each others weddings. Her boys, Sean & Brian are so cute! This was our first time to meet Brian.

Everytime someone held up the camera Brian made a funny face!

Please excuse my hair. This do is called "having to work on Black Friday & it was storming & the wind was blowing 40 mph so I didn't fix it."

That's all for now!

Toodles!!

More of the weekend!

Saturday Dean & I went to my parents. There's a "store" called Lancaster House that we were going to. It's actually a home decor wholesaler that opens to the public once a month. They have lots of stuff at great prices. Back when they first opened they were in a warehouse & it was either ridiculously hot or freezing cold. They moved to the old TG&Y (that's a blast from the past!!) building. I've bought a lot of things there over the years but I hadn't been in awhile. Me, my mom, my sis-in-law Lydia & nephew Logan  all went. It was a mob scene. People were everywhere. I picked up a couple of Christmas gifts & a fish for myself. I forgot to take a picture of it. It's currently out by the pool. Which incidentally is almost swimmable again. It was 85 degrees yesterday. Today it's 80. Seriously. If it would just get a little warmer we could swim. The weather people claim that we're going to get lots of rain beginning tomorrow night & the temperature is going to drop throughout the day Friday & get cold. I'll believe it when I see it. Back to Saturday. Before we left to go shopping we played with Logan.

 He immediately went for the "button" on my brace.

This one makes me laugh. When I take out the camera he wants it. I'm leaning back trying to take the picture & he just keeps coming at me trying to get the camera. Apparently, this was hilarious to him!!

He LOVES to go bye bye. He's blowing Dean a kiss in this pic.

After lunch we went home to watch the LSU game. It was close but they managed to win. This Saturday is the last regular season game. We play Arkansas in Little Rock. This game is always very interesting. Who knows what will happen. This weekend determines the fate of a lot of teams.

Back to the weather. Sunday we put up the outside Christmas decor. It was soooo hot!! I was sweating. Now I don't like cold weather BUT I'd rather not sweat putting up Christmas decorations. We were also attacked by lady bugs. I swear I never saw a real ladybug until we moved into this house & now there's a ladybug season! They're EVERYWHERE!!!!

On a somewhat related note I just got this Breaking News Email from one of the local TV stations, "The National Transportation Safety Board says the lack of a bird strike-resistant windshield contributed to the January helicopter crash near Morgan City that left 8 people dead.". BIRDS ARE DANGEROUS!!! See why I don't want them around????

Toodles & HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

All Things Christmas!

Well that 3 day weekend flew by! It also flew by without me taking a nap. I honestly can't remember the last time that happened. I left work a little early Thursday & made a Hob Lob run. Yes, I know, I think I have a problem. I've been to that store entirely too much lately. I also had a really strange experience. I walked up to a register, didn't have to stand in line & the cashier spoke English. WOO HOO!! Seriously, this NEVER happens. When I got home Dean had the big tree up & all the lights were working. It's pre lit but you just never know when something is gonna go wrong.

Friday morning we got up bright & early & went to Sam's. Thanks to my brother Scott, we have a business membership & can get in early before the crowd. Have I mentioned how much I love Sam's?? This trip I found a pair of Bandolino jeans for $15. I didn't think they'd fit because that would be too easy but they do!!! I even picked up a couple of Christmas gifts & some ornaments. Just what I need, more ornaments. Problem maybe?? We made a few other stops & got the majority of our Christmas shopping done which was FAB!! For lunch we met Dean's parents at Mike Anderson's. Speaking of FAB!! LOVE LOVE LOVE Mike Anderson's!! Best seafood ever! Thanks Mrs. Joyce & Mr. Andrew!! Once we got home I started decorating. Oooh I have to interrupt myself. I just got an email that New Kids On The Block are coming to Lafayette in June!!! WOOOOO HOOOOO!!!! I LOVE NKOTB. This is the big tour with the Back Street Boys. I can't wait!!!! Tickets go on sale in a couple of weeks so now I have to find a connection to get good seats. Anybody know anyone that works at the Cajundome???

Moving on. I got a good bit of work done on my tree Friday night. I made a confession Friday night. As I mentioned earlier I think I have a problem. A Christmas problem. I have A LOT of Christmas stuff & ornaments. I think it's time I cut myself off. I hate to do it but it's gotten bad. Here's a sneak peek of a portion of my "stuff".

My house was the biggest mess. Thankfully, I finished the tree Saturday & Sunday I moved on to the smaller tree in the kitchen. I'm not finished with it but we were able to put the table back in it's place & pick up a bit. Yesterday, we got the stuff around the front door outside done & I worked on a wreath. I was up to my eyeballs in wreath making stuff. This is just some of it.

I was able to finish the wreath for my friend Vicki. Pics to come later but I like how it turned out.

On the bird front. One of my friends, Mrs. Carolyn suggested I get some fake rubber snakes to put on top of the places where the birds hang out. Well, I've been looking & all I can find are rubber snakes that are  fluorescent colors. I'm thinking the birds will even know they're not real. SO, if anyone knows where to get  regular looking rubber snakes I'm all ears.

Speaking of the birds. I know. Really, I am going to stop talking about them BUT all this started because they poop on everything. Well, guess what Dean found on the patio by the pool Thursday??? RABBIT POOP!!! Now I don't mind a cute little rabbit hanging out & lounging by the pool but couldn't it do it's bunny business in the grass???

Toodles!

Public Enemy #1

Or maybe just Traci's Enemy #1!!! I know everyone is sick of hearing about the birds but they obviously know how much they annoy me & are enjoying it!!!! I've talked about the birds here and here & multiple other times I'm sure. So yesterday morning when I was locking the door I saw something out of the corner of my eye & when I looked up it was a stupid bird & it went swooping by & scared me half to death. Fast forward to last night. Yesterday was Dean's birthday & we went to Flemings for dinner. When we got home Dean was unlocking the door & I told him about the stupid bird from earlier & he said "it's sitting on the speaker now". I look up & sure enough there's a bird up there. Lovely. I went inside & got my camera. I thought it would be gone but nope, he was still there.

Now, since when do birds just sit there & look at you when you're 2 feet away?? What kind of stupid bird is this??  Fast forward to this morning. When I'm leaving for work I looked up & the bird is STILL there. He wouldn't look at me this time. I'm wondering if maybe I blinded him with my flash last night. Either that or he's laying eggs up there. Whatevs.

So back to last night. We went to Flemings for dinner. BEST STEAK EVER!!! We've been a few times before & it's ALWAYS been fabulous. It's on the same scale as Ruth's Chris & Sullivan's but to Dean & I there's no comparison. If you have one near you I highly recommend it for a special occasion.

Today I'm leaving early & I'm off tomorrow. Very excited about this. Dean is going to get the Christmas trees put together & I'll decorate all weekend. Tomorrow we plan to do some Christmas shopping.  It should be a good weekend!!

Toodles!!!

Annoyed

I know it's been awhile since I posted but this stupid brace is cramping my style. I can type with it but much slower than my normal speed & I find that after spending a day at work on the computer my hand is tired. It doesn't hurt bad but it's definitely different from the weekends when I manage to stay off the computer. So that's what I did this weekend. I only got online to check my fantasy football scores. I did look at Facebook & check email from my phone. I mean who can go a day without Facebook right?? Suffice it to say the brace is annoying.

This weekend was rather slow. Friday night I hosted "The Worst Book Club Ever". As usual we had a lot of fun. We ate & chatted. I've noticed a developing theme at these parties. We talk less & less about books at each one. Normally, there's a lot of book swapping going on but that even slowed down this time. I know I'm up to my eyeballs in books. Aside from my Nook, which I love by the way. If anyone is thinking of getting one for Christmas I highly recommend it. Anyway, aside from my Nook I have a stack of books from my MIL that I'm trying to get through. I planned to do a lot of reading on the ride to Disney but Amelia-Ann informed me that she's going to bring board games for us to play. Not sure how that's going to work out.

Saturday, I did a little Christmas shopping. I was able to pick up a few things before I got too aggravated. Traffic was annoying, the one handedness (I don't think that's a word) was doubly annoying. Something that I didn't think about was signing the credit card receipt. Yeh, my signature looked like a celebrity autograph &  I had several funny looks. Whatevs people. No shopping trip is complete this time of year for me without some sort of decorations. I picked up a couple of things at Hob Lob & Michael's. After my shopping trip Dean & I went to Mass & then to dinner at Monjuni's. It's one of my favorite Italian restaurants. I had the vegetable lasagna. Soooo good!! Then it was home to watch football & listen to LSU on the radio.

Nothing too exciting this weekend but I am excited that I have a short work week this week. I'm off Friday. I hope to get all of my Christmas decorating done this weekend.

Toodles!!

Outdoor Wednesday at LSU

I told y'all about our day of tailgating Saturday. Here are some pictures that I took. A big tradition at LSU is watching the band march down the hill. One of our friends has a prime tailgating spot so we watched from there. A lot of you may not know but LSU's mascot is Mike the Tiger & we have a live Bengal Tiger. He rides in a trailer down the hill, into the stadium & around the field during pregame. Well, sometimes he does. He lives in a multi million dollar habitat. Apparently, it's made him a diva because on a regular basis he refuses to get in his trailer & nobody makes him. This week we played Alabama & I guess he even knew the importance of the game because he cooperated. Here he is.

These are the LSU Golden Girls

The Flag Corp

The Golden Band From Tigerland is how the LSU band is known.

The police are on horses to keep the crowd back.  There are over 100,000 people on campus & a large number are intoxicated. If the po-po wasn't there I can assure you there would be multiple fools attempting to march with the band.

There they go.

I had to include this picture again because I love it so much!

I'm linking up to Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamers.

Toodles!!

NO MORE BIRDS!!!

The doves are done & so am I! Thankfully, Amelia-Ann & Claire, my 12 yr. old neighbors helped me & we finished last night. I've mentioned that my hand has been killing me due to the doves. At least I think that's what it was. I thought it was on the mend because it didn't bother me much over the weekend. Apparently, that was because I didn't do anything that even resembled work. Needless to say after a full day of work Monday my hand was killing me. This afternoon I went & had my neighbor, Matt check me out. He was a trainer in the NFL & now has a company that fits athletes with braces. After twisting & turning & pulling he determined that I have a big long word that basically means tendinitis in another big long word that is the tendon that runs between my thumb & index finger. Lovely.

This is what my right hand/wrist looks like now. Matt has this cool little machine that looks like a food dehydrator. He put the brace in it, heated it up & the brace softened. He put in on my hand & molded it to fit me. Apparently, I need to wear this thing for 2 weeks. By wear it he means have it on all the time & if I don't have it own I'm to ice it. Ugh. What a pain. He said the alternative is to go to the Doctor & have him give me a cortisone shot. I don't do well with needles so I'll be wearing the brace.

That's all for now because it's difficult to type with this thing. I blame the birds.

Toodles!

Roll Tide????

I think not. LSU 24 Bama 21.....

This was one of those weekends that I needed to come to work to rest! I love those but the weekend just flies by. We started off Friday night with company from Texas. Our friend Kevin & his son Max were in town for the game so they came to our house for dinner. We've had our first cold snap so Dean cooked a big gumbo! What's really weird about this weekend is that as busy as we were we didn't eat out once! That NEEEVVVVEEEERRRR happens.

Saturday was game day. LSU vs. Bama. This is always a huge game but now especially since Saban took the Bama job. The weather was going to be good so we decided to tailgate. We left about 9:30. It was BEAUTIFUL!!! In the 60's all day & sunny. Just about perfect weather. Our plan was to go from tailgate to tailgate visiting friends all over campus. We started out at D-Mill's (that would be short for David Miller). We met David back when he played baseball for LSU. 

David & his wife Jessica & Dean & I. This reminds me that I must take a picture of my ADORABLE shirt that I bought Friday.  My cup of blueberry lemonade is blocking it! Trust me when I say I was all blinged out!

After a stop at Deep South Tigers we moved on to our "fancy friends" with their chandelier hanging from their tent.

 How cute is this??? She made it from an old light fixture, spray paint, Christmas ornaments & the feathers were an LSU wreath that was hanging on the door of her LSU room at home. It fit perfectly. We had Mimosa's here. Ole Miss just thinks they're the fancy tailgaters!!

We stopped at another friends tailgate party to say hey & found this guy.

I'm guessing the majority of you don't know who that is. It's me with Gary Sheffield. If you're a Major League Baseball fan you know him. He was in town for a baseball banquet that was held Friday night. He & his wife were both really nice. We chatted for a bit & then moved on to the next party!

We went to my work friends party. We didn't get to hang out with them for very long because it was getting close to game time & they all needed to go into the stadium.

This is Stan & Renee & Dean & I. Again, the drink is covering my really cute shirt! After this we had to make the trek back to our car so we could get home for kick off. Living where we live is ideal for game day tailgating! We're 3 miles from the stadium so we didn't miss a play.

Scott, Lydia & Logan came over to watch the game with us. Logan never stops moving.

It's virtually impossible to get a good picture of him! He was all decked out in his LSU shirt & hat.

Logan loves his lawnmower. Notice the sippy cup of ice tea. He pushed the mower all over the house with the cup like that. It fell off a couple of times & he immediately put it back on the mower & took off. HAHA!

At one point we looked up to find him like this.

I've said before he's a daredevil. After the game, which by the way, LSU WON!!! Woo Hoo!! We did not see that coming. For those of you that don't know, Les Miles is a moron. Yet, he continues to win despite that fact. Shocking. Anyway, after the game Scott & Lydia went to dinner for their anniversary & Dean & I kept Logan.

Here we are trying to get him to look at the camera. Epic fail.

  Speaking of epic fail, do you see those mums??? I CANNOT keep them alive. I don't understand.

FINALLY! He's looking at me but no smile. I guess I can't be too picky. We had so much fun with him. He kept us laughing all night!

Sunday, my neighbor had what she called "Holiday Market at The Mitchell's". The idea was to help us with our shopping since we're all going to Disney the week before Christmas. Things got a tad bit out of hand & there ended up being 9 "vendors" there & about 80 "invites" went out to people in the subdivision. Thankfully, all of those people didn't show up! There was a nice turnout & I was able to pick up a few cute gifts, drink a little wine & eat a few snacks! It made for a very nice afternoon.

So, now it's Monday & I MUST finish those doves....

Toodles!

OW!!!!

Birds are hazardous to my health. No two ways about it. I don't know if anyone remembers this post. Well, the birds are at it again. Just in a different way this time. I am on the "Socially Responsible Christmas" Committee at our Church. Basically, there are a lot of non profits in the city that we collect donations for. We make ornaments with a list of needs to represent each organization. The ornaments are in Church for a couple of weeks for Parishioners to take. They purchase the stuff & return it to Church & we deliver it to the non profits. You may remember the lambs from last year. This year I'm making doves. Clearly, birds are out to get me. I have to cut 50 doves out of felt. Not the thin, flimsy felt. The stiff hard felt. That's important to note. Here they are.

Did I mention I had to trace them all onto the felt? That wasn't real easy either. Anyway, for a couple of days earlier in the week I felt a funny twinge in my wrist. I didn't think much of it UNTIL I woke up several times during the night with it throbbing. I mean it hurt BAD. Since then I've been taking Advil. It still hurts but it hasn't interrupted my sleep anymore. The pain has moved a little. It's still in my wrist but it's towards the inside of my wrist & up through my thumb & the area between my thumb & index finger. All I can figure is it was the dove cutting. Needless to say the last 8 doves haven't been cut out. I think Dean is going to have to do them. I'm trying really hard not to use my hand but it's my right hand & I'm right handed. Have you ever tried this??? I'm not good at it. AT ALL! Some of the most mundane things cause the most pain. Like picking up my purse. Who thinks about which hand to pick their purse up with?? I do now!

Right now this is what they look like. 

At some point this weekend I have to glue them together & put eyes on them. I'm thinking that will be happening during the LSU game. We play Alabama this week. I don't anticipate it being a very pretty game. Of course Little Nicky on the sidelines is always good for a few laughs.

Oh well, that's all that's going on with me. I'm off to the mall at lunch. Another Penney's coupon!!!

Toodles!

Can we skip Thanksgiving??

Don't get me wrong, I'm all thankful & all for everything I have & my friends & family but I am so ready for Christmas! When I say ready, I don't mean ready in the sense that everything is done ready. I mean I want to start decorating, I'm ready to go to Disney, that  kind of ready. Generally, at this time of the year I have the majority of my shopping done or at least know what I'm buying. This year? A grand total of 2 gifts have been bought with pretty much no idea on the rest of the people I buy for. There's really no excuse for it. At least none that I can come up with. So what did I do this weekend when we were out shopping? Buy some gifts? NOPE! I bought stuff that I really, really wanted needed! More Christmas decor!!! WOO HOOO!!! It was all 50% off. How could I NOT buy it?

 I love reindeer! I have lots of them in all different styles. (I know the pictures are terrible. They always look so much better on the phone when I take them).

I have Fleur de Lis' all over throughout the year. I also had them in my first house before it was the "in" thing to have!!!

 Love the big crystal!

 I love the long dangley ornaments. They look really good on the tree.

This Fleur de Lis might be my favorite. You can't tell from the picture but it's big. Like somewhere between a 5x7 & 8x10. I love big stuff on a tree!

I did buy one non Christmas thing.

Nope, not a gift. Well, I guess you can say it's a gift but a gift for myself. Anyway, you people know how I love JCPenney's because of the coupons & sales. Well, they sent a $15 off coupon for my birthday plus of course I had a coupon for doing a survey the last time I bought something. Anyone care to guess what I paid for this little cutie?? $6.00. Yep, you read that right! This $44 sweater cost me $6.00. Can't pass that up! THEN when I got home from work a $10 coupon was waiting for me in the mailbox!!!

Oh! On a completely random note & unrelated note - No Thugs won again this week!! WOOO HOOO!!! We're at .500 now. That means we ARE NOT IN LAST PLACE!!! Yay us!

Anyone else ready to decorate??

Toodles!