TGIF

FINALLY!! I talked about how last Thursday was a bad day & I earned my money. Well, this week hasn't been a lot better. Considering it was only a 4 day work week, it's also been the longest week ever. Thankfully, in an hour the work week will be over. We don't have big plans. Actually, the only plans we have are to go to Mass tomorrow & then home to watch the Saints. I do plan to get busy with organizing the house. I may have to drink several cups of coffee to make myself stick with it but I'm determined. Don't anyone invite me to do anything this weekend!

If you've read awhile you'll know I'm part of "The Worst Book Club Ever". For those of you not familiar basically we're a book club that's not really a book club. We started out with a goal to read 50 books in a year. After the first year we decided to each set a goal. My goal for 2011 was 100. I finished with 106. We don't read the same books. Well, sometimes we do but not at the same time. We usually end up not even discussing books when we get together. Everyone brings books & we swap. Well, that's what we used to do but several of us have Nooks or Kindles now so there's not a lot of book swapping going on. It's just fun to get together. Anyway, I set my goal at 100 again. I'm curious to see how this will go since I'm reading the Bible too. So far so good with that. I've read everyday. It's much more interesting than I expected it to be but it still takes a lot of concentration which is why I like how it's divided up by days.

So far I've finished 2 books this year. The first being After The Leaves Fall by Nicole Baart. It was a decent book but it was depressing. It didn't have a happy ending either. It was just a blah book. Not necessarily the way to start a new year.

The second book was 1st To Die by James Patterson.

This is the first in the Women's Murder Club series. I really liked it but there were a couple of times I wished I wasn't reading while I was eating lunch. It also makes you wonder about the authors of these books. Seriously, how do they come up with this stuff? I would be very leery about marrying or dating a mystery writer. I plan to read the whole series but I can't read them back to back because then I start having nightmares & I wake Dean up during the night with my screams. He's not crazy about that. This one had a sad ending too. What's up with all the sadness?? I've decided my next book is going to be this.

SURELY, it won't be sad right??

Toodles!

Blah Blah Blah

It's been a blah week. Not a thing going on. The only thing I have to look forward to is the FedEx guy showing up at our door.  I told you about how we were shopping for a rolling garment bag. I'd found a couple at Overstock but after going shopping Saturday & looking at sizes in person we determined that they're too small. Dean found one at the Samsonite store that he really liked. Even at the outlet store this thing was more than we wanted to spend. I mean we're not world travelers. Well, maybe I'm rubbing off on Dean because he got online & found the exact same bag for like $80 cheaper so he ordered it. Supposedly, it will be delivered today. My boots just shipped yesterday so I don't know when they'll get here but I'm DYING to see them.

Dean & I are going to dinner tonight because I have a gift certificate that expires today. Have y'all heard of Living Social? You sign up & they email a deal everyday. Lots of time it's half off certificates for  restaurants. The one we're using tonight is for Bistro Byronz. It's a $30 certificate that I paid $15 for. Bargain Bee is another site like Living Social. One of the companies (I think it's Bargain Bee) emails you the deal & it may say 50 deals have to be sold. If it's a deal you want you purchase it. If the 50 deals aren't sold you're credit card isn't charged & the deal is dead. I've bought several of these over the last few months.

With the boring week I've had, I did manage to finish 2 books.

This is a book that my MIL loaned me. I've read several books by Sheryl Woods & have liked them all. If you've read any Debbie Macomber, these are similar. I've said before that I like series. Sheryl has several. What's different about these is that each book in a series focuses on a different character. Honeysuckle Summer is part of the "Sweet Magnolia" series.

I talked about this series here. This is book 4 in the High Heels series. It was so good. These books make me laugh. I started on the 5th book in the series today. I love that these don't take long to get going. By Chapter 2 Maddie had already found a body! I was checking the Barnes & Noble website today & I discovered that book 5 is the last in the series. Well, I don't know if it's the last but so far she's only written 5. I also discovered that she has another series called the "Hollywood Headlines" series. I'll definitely check it out!

Toodles!

The End of Christmas....Almost

I really can't believe it's Monday already. I know, I say that all the time. We had a great weekend. It started off with the Cotton Bowl party we went to Friday night. Lots of friends, great food & an LSU win made it a fab party. This could also be the last game that Les Miles coaches as a Tiger. Rumor has it he's going to Michigan. We should find out in the next couple of days.

Saturday, I had a hair appt. My roots were awful. I didn't understand why they looked so bad until I realized that it had been 12 weeks since my last highlight. I NEVER go that long. I guess that's what happens with the holidays & vacation. I went with low lights this time as to not become a total blond. Not that there's anything wrong with that but my natural color is about as dark a brown as you can get. So now my roots are all good, I got a trim & feel much better! Don't you always feel better after having your hair done?

Once I got home I managed to get a lot of ornaments off the tree before we left for Mass. The Saints game was on when we left & they were winning & all was good with the world. After Mass we went to Sammy's for dinner with our friends, the Smith's. We all love Sammy's & they have about a million TV's that we knew would all be tuned to the Saints. Well, they lost. Ugh! Now that LSU & Saints football is over we can't wear jeans to work on Fridays anymore. That's a real bummer. Do you know how easy it is to throw on a pair of jeans & grab a shirt on Friday morning? It's one of the things I love about football season!

Once we were home I got back to work on the Christmas decorations. This was stuff from the tree in the kitchen.

And the big tree.

That's why I call it the big tree. I think I got 4 boxes of ornaments boxed up before calling it a night. Sunday morning I was back at it. I am happy to say that all ornaments, garland, bows, nativities, EVERYTHING is boxed up.

Notice I didn't say anything about Christmas trees. That would be because they're still standing. Once I got all of this stuff boxed up I wanted a break. So I took one. For the rest of the day. It was really cold & started raining. Perfect napping weather. So I took one. Only a short one. Like an hour. We watched football & I read. It was a great day. So, today when I get home from work the trees will come down & all of the boxes will go in the attic.

Reading update: Remember I said I was going to read actual books at home & my Nook away from home so that I could get through the bag o'books I have?  Well, I finished "Secret To Happiness" by Sarah Dunn. It was interesting. I liked it & it was a very easy read but it was different. I came away thinking that Holly, the main character, was kinda weird. Still a good book. Sunday, on my break, I started reading "Family Ties" by Danielle Steele. I like a lot of her books & there are a lot that I wouldn't even attempt to read. This one is really good. I'm so curious to see what's going to happen. I'm hoping to finish it tonight. 

Toodles! 

An Update

So I got a lot of response from my last post about reading. I'd love if everyone would send me their favorite authors & books. Leave a comment or email me. I'm always looking for something new to read. The Nook has this great feature (I'm sure the Kindle does too) that lets you make a wish list. It can be done directly from the Nook or if you're on the computer on Barnes & Noble's website you can add stuff to it there & it will be on your Nook as well. I took some time the other day & made a list. That way when I'm ready to download a new book I'll have some to choose from. Like I said, I do better with a list. Last night I downloaded Emily Giffin's new book, Heart of the Matter. Well, it's not really new but her newest. It came out at the beginning of 2010. I love her books.

I've done really well on the Dr. Pepper intake. Granted it's only been 3 1/2 days but still. I haven't had one in 2 days. This wasn't really done on purpose, it kinda just happened. I made some sweet tea (sweetened with Splenda) & I've been drinking a lot of that.

Tomorrow is the Cotton Bowl. Seems like forever since LSU played a football game. Dean & I are going to our friends, The Mitchell's, to watch. It's going to be a Tapas party. I'm making Shrimp Dip. Yeh, I know. Not exactly Tapas but this is something I know how to make that is good. It's a favorite of mine. I'll share the recipe & a pic once I make it. The great thing about it is it taste better if you make it the day before you're going to eat it. I guess it gives the shrimp & all the other flavors time to blend together. I'm very proud of myself for getting up this morning, getting ready for work & leaving early enough to go to the grocery store & get the ingredients. Yay for me! One less thing to do after work.

Something I've noticed in the last couple of weeks is that I'm getting emails from Match.com on a regular basis. Like, every day. I don't know where they got my email address. I have a match. I don't need them.

Oh, I almost forgot - The washing machine is fixed!! WOOO HOOO!! Dean Rocks! The new timer came in yesterday & it took Dean all of 10 minutes to install it. Now, I'm really annoyed that we paid the service guy $70 to tell us it was the timer when that's what Dean thought it was to begin with. Still, $70 for the service call & $80 for the part is a whole lot better than buying a new one. To me washers are like tires. I hate spending money on that type of stuff.

Well, this was all really random. Oh well. GEAUX TIGERS!!

Toodles!

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!!