Happy Birthday To Me!

Fun-E

We watched a hilarious Budweiser commercial tonight. So I got on UTube to find it again.
Snow Ball Fight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA0QQO2KMi0


Here are some more that almost made me pee my pants!

Streaker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbAdoAt__9w

Man Opens 21 Buds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCsMw-6SaQ0

Budweiser Good Dog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euAk2LaN9Go

Sleigh Ride
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWRbqP7bXwI

Which left me puzzling. WHY are these ads never seen on TV?

Pants Off Dance Off

Yes. I told him that if he runs around the home without clothes on his body that I would post it for all to see on my blog!

This is the man I married all those years ago. Slobby shirt, knobby knees, tag out of his shirt, 1 sock on/1 sock off, saggy white briefs, t-shirt flapping.

He was in the kitchen last night, making toast for himself as a late night snack to go with the glass of wine we were having.

This is what makes a marriage. The day-in, day-out boring unimaginative things we do with each other. It isn't the exciting, jetting to Paris to drink champagne at the top of the Eiffel tower. It isn't looking to find something better. Love is Familiarity. Sharing the same secret looks. Knowing what the other person is going to say before they even think of it. Sharing. Our home. Our children. It's finding contentment with the person you are living with; sitting down to dinner every night, brushing your teeth and going to bed with the same person in the same bed. Every night.
For the rest of your life.

How exhilirating.

We played several games of Yahtzee last night even though it wasn't Monday night. It was a draw at 2/2.

It looks like he might be off until Feb 14 as that is when he receives another injection to his disc. He contacted his supervisor and she had received approval until that time.

Drunken Ramble...

G ran in2 the Dr. Ganz to revue his case & take more x-Rays. He then went to pt and the chiro's office. He brought me home a few "romance" books . How sweet.

I had taken a pill and slept late. If I cut the nerves in my finger, WHY does it hu-rt so damned much? I am sitting here trying to type this with 1 hand while getting on a nice buzzaaaaa from the glass of wine i had 2-nite. maybe i shuld not ha ve mixd win with drrugs?

it hurts 2 typ.

n-e-way, g's doc said 1 mor shot in feb. and the toe movment was proba bly becuz he got feeling in his foot & not his toe. g mite go back to work in jan 2. maybe not. we will see.

i gotta go to bed. hope my fingr is bedr 2-morrow. nitey nite.

365 Days Until Christmas

The countdown begins. Only 365 shopping days until Christmas!

So. We spent yesterday restful at home with our holiday goodies. Watching TV and playing games. Isabelle adored her special Christmas bone, spending the whole day gnawing on it. She took a few minutes to go upstairs to rest inbetween for eating sessions; getting the leftover meatballs, bacon, & turkey.

My finger is still in agony and I am terrified to remove the dressing. Hubby threatened that he will need to see it by tonight to determine if it is healing. Hope it is not still bleeding. I am SUCH a bleeder. Anyway...can you still get gangrene? I have visions of the doctor at the emergency room cutting off my index finger with a dull, rusty saw.

I hope that I am not TOO impaired for the Digi Scrappin' Race. Maybe I should apply for special dispensation because I am handicapped!

And I was oddly awoken by yet another woodpecker knocking on the same EXACT place where the other two obnoxious birdies had been pecking. What a wake up call.

Greg is going into Sears today for the special after-Christmas sales. I refused to subject myself to the insane people that would be at the mall today. Told him to bring me back a Roomba so that I never have to vacuum again!

My birthday is December 31st. So everybody will again be celebrating on my special day.

Whoops!

We had taken the pictures of all the presents under the tree, Christmas music was resounding from the surround-sound, and Greg was out shoveling snow from the deck when our daughter called long-distance from the UK.

I had just popped the traditional Chrismas tree shaped cinnamon rolls into the oven when I decided to cut the beef log. And the knife slipped.

Yep. I think it's been a whole 6 months since I last cut myself. So this one is a doozy. Probably should have gone to the hospital to have a few stitches...because I fileted myself. Had to type this whole entry with my right hand only.

Christmas day has been fun. Will write more later.

Merry Christmas To ALL and To ALL a Good Night!

A well spent day making cookies, turkey, bacon wraps, meatballs, and hawaiian punch spritzer.
While watching "A Christmas Story" featuring Ralphie and "Miracle on 34th Street" with Kris Kringle.

Last year, (or the year before) we gave all our Christmas DVDs to our darling daughter & son. So we forgot to purchase new ones to watch this year. Thinking we had the DVDs in the TV unit, we were dismayed to find nothing.

So after Christmas sales, here we come. We will be purchasing all the typical Christmas movies.

Though this year will be exceptionally sad as this will be the first since 1992 that we won't be able to watch "Muppets Christmas Carol" on Christmas eve.

www.noradsanta.com states:

Dec. 24: Sydney, Australia — Only two hours after his sighting in New Zealand, Santa has now been spotted over Sydney harbor in neighboring Australia. Sydney resident Nathan Lily, age 9, said: “I couldn’t sleep, so was I looking out my window, and then I saw him! It was definitely Santa – I counted all 12 reindeer!”

1.Dasher
2Dancer
3Prancer
4Vixen
5Comet
6Cupid
7Donner
8Blitzen
+Rudolph

Who are the other 3?

Merry Christmas. Hope you have a great one!

Sleigh Ride

Or not. If it weren't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all.

The power was down at the Guest Ranch we were to stay at last night. So we got no horse-drawn sleigh ride and no overnight at the Log house-Ranch.

We might go on a sleigh ride later this winter season.

But in the meantime, we are having friends overnight for a "ski" oriented dinner. I am having Ski-Lift drinks, with Slalom Pizza. LOL. This is decorated with designs from the Apres Ski kit featured at http://www.ndisb.com Natural Designs in Scrapbooking featuring the works of designers Theresa Hernandez, Tania JPS, Shawna Clingerman, KandA Designs, Helena Jole, Cindy Simon, Anita Stergiou, Monica McLain

Please Note-The upper left hand corner of the photo shows a little bit of the Christmas cards I received from digi-friends.

We went into town for Greg's physical therapy and got WONDERFUL cookies from our PT's office admin. She made them from the Wilton cookie recipe. Yummy. Love the frosting she used. She gave us a special Wine that she & her husband had made for friends. We will pop it open tomorrow night for dinner. It should go well with pizza.

Town was ablaze with last-minute shoppers; driving wildly and being rude. Fortunately, we were only there for a short time. I really can't imagine what Sat & Sun will be like. I am going to vacuum the house tomorrow and settle in for a long winter's nap.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Christmas Cow Wishes You

A

Merry Christmas

Fleas Navidad

Greg got his SHOT today. The nurse Jill, and Physician's Assistant, Molly were very kind, nice, and humorous. I did not get to meet the surgeon, Dr. Magnusson. They refused to let me go with him while he got his shot. Duh. it's not surgery. It's just an injection. So I had to spend 20 minutes kicking my heels in the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room. How ironic. Pain Management of North Idaho has the most Painful waiting chairs in North Idaho!

Greg was in severe pain afterwards, so we came straight home where he took 6 pain killers. He was also very irritable. So I thought it best to get him home and in his recliner so he had as little stress as possible. The PA, Molly, told us about a timed release Tramadol that would help him deal with the pain better. Instead of having to wait to take the 50 mg, 4 times a day...waiting for the pill to absorb into his system, it it easier on his body for the timed release all day long, not having such a severe effect. So he will call his general physician tomorrow to enquire about a prescription. (why didn't the doctor recommend this?)

The office personnel said that he would feel some results in about 5-7 days. The pain from the injection should recede within 2 days. However...when we got home. He got a REACTION in the CROTCH area. If you know what I mean...And he hasn't had any REACTIONS there in a long, long time. He kept showing me, and pointing to it. I finally told him, if he didn't SHUT UP about it, then I would blog about it. So I suppose this was a good sign?

We watched 2 concurrent episodes of Cash Cab. Now Greg wants to go to New York and find a Cash Cab, so he can play on the game show.

I scrapped a couple pages.

Kelsey got on a Creative Team for Misty Mareda at http://www.thedigishoppe.com and I am so PROUD of her. Congratulations, Kelsey. You deserve it. Good luck. Have fun.

The kids reported that all 10 boxes got to the UK. I am so excited that all of them got there B4 Christmas.

Bert, my father-in-law's girlfriend, sent me the following. I split a gut. So true. So funny.

1. It is important that you have a man helps you around the house.

2. It is important that you have a man that makes you laugh.

3. It is important to find a man you can count on and does not lie to you.

4. It is important that you have a man that loves you and spoils you.

5. It is important that these four men don't know each other.

The Most Wonderful Day Of The Year

The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo, Huckleberry Hound, Tom & Jerry.
Both Hanna&Barbera have now passed away.

I feel like a part of my heritage has died.

Did you know that Best Buy declared a $43 million dollar profit in 2006 from unclaimed Gift cards? If you don't want to spend your gift card, just send it to me, I'll be MORE than glad to use it!

Good King Wenceslas

We are the King and Queen of our own Castle again. Wow. The relief. No major damage. Only the fish tank had 2 solid inches of ice in it. We thawed out the poor things and gave them lots of food.

Catching up on the laundry, and doing a bit of Christmas card posting. Sorry, my cards will be late getting to everybody as Greg forgot to mail them. I found them in the truck down behind the seat.

Isabelle did get a nice bath complete with jacuzzi jets. She smells extremely nice now. While at the hotel, she slept with hubby and me on the ultra huge king bed.

(Kelsey-WARNING-Avert your eyes)
Greg & I also found a chance to get naked in the jacuzzi. This was a fun couple days from home.

While it was nice to be away for a while, it was even nicer to get home, sweet home.



Plus, my extra-special magical winning Amazing Digi-Scrappin' Race t-shirt came in the mail while we were gone. This shirt has to be worn while scrappin for the Race. There is only ONE team that has t-shirts like this. And THAT is the WINNING team.





While we shopped at Olde World European,
we found that absolute delicacy of delicacies...
Spotted Dick.
So we are sending it to Matt & Kelsey to try.
I want Kelsey to scrap a pic of Matt eating it!

Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer (carrying a gas can)

Three days later and we still have no power. this is getting SO truly irritating. everybody around has electricity, but we don't.

When we called those idiots-Kootenai Electric Cooperative, they could only offer the airy-fairy statement that a major power station was affected; crews were working around-the-clock.
- - - - - -

Well, finally regained power at 9pm on Saturday night. Hopefully, the pipes did not freeze. We are staying at the hotel Saturday night and will return home Sunday afternoon.

While at the hotel, we were forced to tolerate children running in the hallways, up and down the stairs, and screaming. Of course, I understand that this is a family hotel with the water park next door, but there comes a time when such behavior is NOT ACCEPTABLE. Where are the parents to control this rudeness? Also, I don't know HOW many times we used the elevator, only to be met with a solid wall of stupid people when the doors opened, who refused to move. Let's not be totally ignorant, people! Nobody can get ON the elevator until the people wishing to exit GET OUT. How stupid can people be?

Which reminds me of two other stupid things seen recently.

While we were here, we complained twice to the front desk about a vehicle parked in a no parking "FIRE ZONE" which is illegal. The vehicle was never removed. When we asked the front desk, we were advised that they had to "notify the people" before having it towed. Am I hearing this correctly?????? What if a fire emergency happens? What the fuck? These rules are made for safety. Are we going to have to nicely go to these assholes who commit illegalities and "notify them" that the building is burning...and to ask them nicely to move their f-ing vehicle?????

Plus, there was an idiot that filled his gasoline can on the BACK OF HIS PICKUP. Now if you don't know WHY that is illegal, stupid, and totally ignorant, then look it up! DUH! The can is not grounded, sparks, and static electricity!!!!!! Then we have the idiots that do not shut off their vehicles, and the equal idiots who stand around...or the people who sit in their cars SMOKING CIGARETTES. Around gasoline. Is the desire to smoke so bad that you really want to kill yourself and other people? Or does smoking destroy every brain cell that you so sadly possessed?

And remind me to NEVER move into town. Noise, neighbors, idiots, sirens, smoke, constant vehicles, and LIGHTS. I hate it all. We live in the country where most of the neighbors are farther away, so I don't have to listen to them thru paper thin walls...the area is relatively quiet...and we have no lights every 5 feet. I never realized how BRIGHT it is in town at night. I certainly hope there is a dark room in heaven, as I am not looking forward to going into that "bright light".

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Hello from the land that time forgot. 2 of those 12 days will be spent in a luxury hotel.

We had an enormous wind storm here in the Northwest United States. 100 mile per hour winds; downed & uprooted trees, lots of misc. damage.

Our area lost power at 11PM last night. We endured a cold night with creaks, groans, and hurricane like wind buffeting the house. Still without power at this time, and after a phone call to the local electric company, they predict we will be without elec until NooN tomorrow.

So we packed up and are staying at the Holiday Inn Express room 429. The telephone is 208/772-7900.
There is a gas powered fireplace, full size family jacuzzi & walk-in shower; & kitchenette. Complete with room service - I don't have to make the bed or clean the room! I wanna move here.

Hopefully, I can make the chat at NDISB; the DSL is kinda iffy here. I believe it is because of routing problems from Seattle.

The Grinch's Theme Song

I hope to goodness that everybody was glued to the television tonight watching this perennial favorite. How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch

You really are a heel,You're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch,

You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel!
You're a monster, Mr. Grinch,

Your heart's an empty hole,Your brain is full of spiders, you have garlic in your soul, Mr. Grinch,

I wouldn't touch you with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!
You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch,

You have termites in your smile,You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile, Mr. Grinch,

Given a choice between the two of you I'd take the seasick crocodile!
You're a rotter, Mr. Grinch,

You're the king of sinful sots,Your heart's a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots, Mr. Grinch,

You're a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce!
You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch,

With a nauseous super "naus"!,You're a crooked dirty jockey and you drive a crooked hoss, Mr. Grinch,

Your soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgracefulassortment of rubbish imaginable mangled up in tangled up knots!
You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch,

You're a nasty wasty skunk,Your heart is full of unwashed socks, your soul is full of gunk, Mr. Grinch,

The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote,"Stink, stank, stunk"!

Greg to physical therapy today; his apppointment for his injection to his disk is on Tuesday, December 19 at 9:50AM. He will probably be administered a local anesthetic; and I will have to haul his butt home. The office told him that he will expereience burning, cramps, & pain in the area afterwards.

We got Kelsey & Matt's Christmas package in the mail today. Thanks for the Swiss magazines. A wonderful chalet in the alps only costs $1,300,000 Euro.

My right knee was in pain as I think I bumped it yesterday. I was awake all night and couldn't sleep-so I was REALLY tired today.

Temperatures have been drastically warm here. In the 40s! Very balmy.

We got groceries at Wal-Mart, purchased wonderful bbq meatballs, got my nails done, stopped for salt lick & hay for our moose friend, then came home.

Welcome Christmas as we stand; heart to heart and hand-in-hand.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Ahhhh. Yes.
When I slide the supple leather
over my digits and
down
onto my hand, the depravity
radiates through my body.
I want to do bad deeds…
Evil
courses through my veins.
Fiendishly dreadful thoughts
~ invade my mind.
My intellect is besieged by
sin.
Yes, Santa,
I am a naughty girl.
I don’t deserve anything this year.
I must be punished,
because these gloves make me feel
Wicked.

Anita Stergiou's Little Black Christmas Dress Kit at NDISB;
Stitching by Helena Jole Apres Ski at NDISB;
Frosty Flourishes by Nancie Rowe Janitz at ScrapArtist;
fonts featured-VNI Thuphap; Satisfaction

Wish You A Merry Kris-MOOSE

While at my garden window, filling my cup with water for green tea, I espied a big bump in our backyard. Thinking that a tree had fallen, I looked out the sliding glass door to find...

KRIS-MOOSE. He was resting on the snow, having found our salt lick. Panicking, rushing for the camera, finding that the batteries were dead, I desperately attempted to replace the batteries while calling for my husband at the shop. While quickly dialing, I was repeating the mantra..."pick up the phone, pick up the phone"; he finally answered, and I told him to run down to the house so that he could view The Biggest Moose I Have Ever Seen!

Greg brought Bruce, who happened to be in the shop with him, and I finally got the batteries loaded into my camera. We stood on the deck for about 45 minutes in the cold, talking and joking while Kris-Moose just licked away and paused to look up at us. He did not have any fear of us. We were only 15 feet away from him. What a beautiful animal.

I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas

We stayed up very late last night so that we could talk with our baby in the UK. Hi BABY!

Did anybody notice the repeating pattern of CHRISTMAS SONGS in my titles lately?

These are the glass ornaments we made. Greg's is the perfectly round blue one. Mine is the egg shaped pink one. The artisan actually stepped back and away from my hubby when he was twirling the glass in the fire. However, when I had the chance, the young man did not release the hold, and I was forced to "twirl" the pipe while he was assisting me. Obviously, hubby has more experience with molten glass.

Christmas is fast approaching, along with depressing month of January close behind. But this January, will be different. The Amazing DigiScrapping Race at Natural Designs in Scrapbooking will commence. I look forward to winning with my teammate, Theresa Hernandez. I just KNOW that we will ROCK the house!

*note to any grandkids in our future-Grandpa & Grandma really enjoyed the TV Show HOUSE starring Hugh Laurie.

Hubby is still in pain from his EMG test yesterday. The doctor was sticking long needles into his skin to touch the nerves. So Greg has extensive bruising on his left leg and he says it feels like severe cramps where the needles entered. Poor baby. Hope he gets better soon. Last night I tucked him into bed after giving him more pain medication.

I think that on Monday we might go to Spoky-Jo to get our Christmas pictures taken at Kiddie Kandids. That place is so amazing. Wish they had been around when KRL was little.

Silver Bells

Johnny Mathis did this song the best. I used to love listening to him at the holidays when I was a kid.

Today, Greg went in for another EMG. From an expert, this time.

Dr. Lea, who is a kindly older gentleman, stuck two inch needles into my husband's left leg to test his motor functions. The doctor also used electrical stimulation to test the nerves.

After the test, the doc stated that from an old injury (probably when Greg rolled the Jeep Cherokee 8 times UP hill) Greg has damage to his nerves on his left foot, which is probably the reason why he is suffering from the numbness. Dr. Lea stated that with the injections that Dr. Ganz has prescribed, the pain in his legs & back will subside to a manageable level. The doctor did not think that surgery was a diagnosis at this time.

So we are STILL waiting for the doctor to call to schedule his series of steroids shots. They were supposed to call by Monday, but I presume that it is the front desk clerical problems. (That office needs to hire competent help.) Greg has called 2X to follow-up and been told each time that Dr. Magnusson will call "tomorrow". Well, so far, "tomorrow" has not come. I suppose I will have to call and raise HOLY HELL ~ (why do i always have to be a bitch to get anything done? i really hate being the "bitch")

*Thank you, Kelsey, for not killing us when you were a teenager.* (this relates to the front-page story of a teenager who attended Mt. Spokane High School killing both of his parents overnight at their home in Mt. Spokane, Washington)

We stopped at the Great Harvest Bread Company to pick up 3 Cheese Garlic bread and Cranberry/Orange bread. Isabelle also got a "bread" dog cookie that she just LOVED.

The boxes were mailed and it came to a total of $172.45 for the 10 boxes for a total gross weight of 200 pounds! Greg had estimated $300, and I estimated $200, so...I WIN, I WIN!

Dooney & Bourke has mailed out their new catalog. So I will definitely be getting a new purse. Wow. Some lovely designs this time! (p.s. Kelsey...I wonder HOW LONG the 18" handles are?)

The off road club invited us to go with them tomorrow to a 4WD trip in the mountains and cut a Christmas tree, but I don't think I can tolerate the 2 hour drive into the mountains to go 4WD. Too far.

VZ picked up Greg's work truck yesterday for servicing. When he went in to the office to talk with his supervisor, she stated that the vehicle would have to stay "on premises" until Greg was released for work again. Gee. It was here for over 2 months...and only NOW they decide it has to be there. Duh. Greg is dispatched from home...what is wrong with it staying here. Those people are so dumb and piddly over the weirdest things! If this was SUCH a concern...why didn't they come pick it up right away? Maybe Ivan has ordered that ALL vehicles have to be sold to declare a profit this quarter...(Enron tactics-investors beware. This company IS going to file bankruptcy soon).

Here Comes Santa Claus

Next year...hopefully we will be in the UK to celebrate the holidays.

But I am NEVER again sending Christmas presents to the kids overseas.

Shopping extremely early. Wrapping...and then after writing out by hand (because the dumb United States Post Office has not stepped into the present century...) the TEN Customs Declarations and Dispatch Note...I have foresworn to NOT play this game anymore. Wouldn't it be so much simpler to have all this technology on-line? Automated? Hello? Postmaster General...Are You Listening?

We will send CASH or gift certificates to the kids. No hassle. Much easier.

See? 10 Boxes. All presents. My husband did an OUTSTANDING job of wrapping the presents. Love you, Greg.

Merry Christmas Kids. We miss you.

A Child Is Born

Greg and I were picking up bacon cheeseburgers for the dog when a couple walked alongside the truck, and before we even saw them...I heard a familiar phrase.

1...2...3...Wheee!

I immediately started bawling; tears running silently down my face as I remembered fondly the days when we had a little one and would walk with her in-between us. Doing the countdown and then lifting her high...swinging her up...and then gently setting her down again. To start all over again.

Yesterday, I scrapped this page. Utilizing Bauer’s Hat by designer Tania JPS at Natural Designs in Scrapbooking; and featuring fonts-Emily Faith, 2Ps Blocks.

Journaling reads:
those beautiful baby blues staring up at me made my heart melt.
you are the best thing i have ever done in my life.
if i never accomplish anything else...i can always say
i was your mother.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

In the last week, two woodpeckers moved into our garage, made a nest, and decided to wake us up by attacking the side of our house every morning at 6AM. HOW did they know this exact place is where we sleep? I did not take this picture, as these woodpeckers are very devious and avoid detection at any cost. This is a picture I located upon the internet which is very similar to the birds that have invaded us. These wing-ed creatures are NOT small. They are about the size of a condor!

Poison bird seed, here I come...

Noel

SO...did everyone get a chance to see the flat-chested Amazonian anorexic models on the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show tonight? Wow. VS does quite a show. Lots of money flying around; in addition to the windblown hair. But this is the ultimate chance to see just what the models look like without all the airbrushing.

And this is what the young women of today replicate themselves upon. That is so sad.

Yes. I like SOME of their clothes and I find that they have ONE line of bras that fit me. But this is a company that does nothing whatsoever to promote women's self-satisfaction of their own bodies.

When a couple of the models turned sideways, it was like looking at a piece of paper. Flat.

These women are NOT the norm. And if men (in general) are turned on by that, yuch-I do believe they need the help of a good mental health care professional.

As a matter of general interest, did you know that THE LIMITED BRANDS, who owns Victoria's Secret & Bath and Body Works...made $937 million in November, 2006? Multiple that by 12. What do you get?

Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer Redux

Yes. I have a team. And a logo, a song, & a team name.

________________________

And our management company contacted an ad agency in NY. The ad agency is getting our promos on the Super Bowl for commercial time...we will also have a logo shortly. We are also sponsoring a Nascar race car.

________________________

The Bare Naked Ladies have also approached me about wanting first dibs on our song. Sorry Jilly.

________________________

Yesterday we grocery shopped at Miller's. We got everything but the stuff I needed to make Puppy Chow. Darn.

________________________

Today, Greg thought his PT was at 10:00am. Instead, Karen told us it was scheduled at 1:30pm. So we did a few errands in town to waste time. (I'm really getting tired of running in every Mon/Wed/Fri) Costco, Chocolate Candy Store, Schucks, Merle Norman.

________________________

I really love Merle Norman makeup. Their Luxiva line is just great for skin. It is the only makeup I have found that I can tolerate. It also makes it so much fun shopping there because you always get a "bonus" sample pack. Today, I got Changing Skin Night Cream/Foaming Cleanser/Micro Refiner/Delicate Balance Soothing Toner/Lasting Eyecolor in Champagne/and Luxiva Delites LipGloss in Cranberry Splash.

________________________

There was a kindly gentleman with a white beard at the Costco gas station and he was wearing a Santa hat. He gave Isabelle a dog cookie. She also got a dog cookie at the bank drive-thru window the other day. This dog gets cookies EVERYWHERE!

Grandma Got Run Over by A Reindeer

Carol of the Bells

I love that song. It is my favorite song of the Christmas season.

Did you know...that I wear a different pair of Christmas earrings (and sometimes two different pairs as I have 4 piercings in one ear & 2 piercings in the other) every day from Thanksgiving through Christmas. And after Christmas, I wear my "winter" earrings. The snowmen, the icicles, the snowflakes...

Last night was fun. Pics to follow.

While listening to Sirrius radio on the surround sound today, heard a song that sounded like a bad acid trip; some group did a re-mix of Bing Crosby's I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas. I was baking & cooking, so I enjoy listening to holiday music as I piddle in the kitchen.

Peanut Brittle

Christmas Chocolate Chip Cookies

White Chocolate Peppermint Bark

Rice Krisy bars

Tomorrow I think I will tackle No Bake Cookies, Puppy Chow, Marshmallow Rice Krispy Bars, and Fudge.

I'll Be Home For Christmas

Finally. I was finally able to post the picture of the Road Grader* that used to plow snow for us when I was younger.

*courtesy of Shawna Clingerman

Tonite is the big night and we leave shortly.

Santa, Baby...

Took Greg into physical therapy and chiropractor at 10 am this morning. We stopped to get a “turtle” latte for Karen, the receptionist (she is a god-send for the office; so sweet & personable)

Our barista, Curt, lent Greg the Merck Manual of Medical Information. Oh dear. A little information is a bad thing. Now Greg can peruse all these illnesses (with vivid diagrams) to his heart’s content.

Afterwards hubby had to run to Schuck’s to make some automotive part returns; and we stopped into Wild Idaho Chocolate Company (which had been closed on the 2 previous attempts to visit). We were thoroughly glad we perservered as we were rewarded with the most amazing gourmet chocolates we had ever tasted. Even Greg who is not big on chocolates, was pretty impressed!

Then we drove to Spoky-Jo to see the Christmas trees at the Davenport.

We were too late to see the movie Happy Feet at the Imax, so we will go next week.

When we returned home, we picked up the mail. I discovered a letter within for me, and was surprised to see that the woman I had sent pictures to last week (while we were at the glass blowing emporium, an elderly woman approached me to take pictures of her grandchildren as she had forgotten her camera. She asked if I wanted any money, and I had told her not to worry about it. After exchanging addresses, I took some pics, and we left.) So in the mail today, I discovered a very nice thank you note and seven – 39 cent stamps which were comic book heroes. I seem to remember that I had a crush on the Green Lantern when I was younger. What a sweet woman.

I scheduled my Christmas massage for December 6. I am looking forward to one hour of back rubbing!

We stopped and washed Izzy on the way home. She is so golden after being cleaned. Loves being told she is a “pretty dog”. Smells good, too!

The picture of the road grader from yesterday's post (hey, it took me time to find this picture from 30+ years ago! )

Oh. One last thing. Sometimes, since I am SO old, it feels like I am no longer alluring to men. Sure Kevin Reese is in his early 20s and just SO adorable; WHY am I old enough to be his mother?...I digresss. However, while waiting for Greg at the Chiropractor’s office, I entered into a conversation with an older, very funny gentleman. When in walked a very handsome man about my age. Tall, distinguished, striking. He sat near us and started talking with us. We had a hilarious time and I was discouraged to think that it had to end when one of our spouses exited the doctor’s office. Pretty soon, the tall, dark & handsome man and I were alone still discussing something or other. This was a charismatic man that I could have easily jumped his bones if he or I had not been married. And I believe that he probably felt the same small attraction to me. I have not flirted in so long that it felt exciting and good.

Now. I would NEVER cheat on my husband. But it was so nice to have an adult conversation with someone that was not a friend of my husband or a fellow co-worker of mine. Just a total stranger, passing a few minutes. We didn’t exchange names, but I did learn that he was a retired CA law enforcement officer. The encounter made a secret, small place inside of me feel very alluring and feminine to the opposite sex for a few moments.

Gee and I didn’t even have to hang out at the bar!