It's Almost FRIDAY!

OK Kerry I got the message. I am not still full. So I will post something, even if it is short.

I spent the remainder of last weekend cleaning and organizing. I wasn't planning to, but when I got the bright idea to put up my Christmas tree, I had to rearrange a few things, which lead to rearranging and organizing a few other things. So the tree is now up and the lights are on but I still haven't decorated it, yet. This is the earliest it's been up in maybe 5 years so I think I am doing pretty well.

I've been a bit busy at work the last few days since my boss Sue has been out of work with an abscessed tooth. My manager has shown some confidence in me by asking me to pick up some of the slack and since it is a few weeks before my yearly work review, of course I jumped in with both feet. I like to consider myself a team player but I also can't help thinking that my efforts will be fresh in his mind when that time comes and it will mean some more $$$ for me. I can hope anyway.

My brothers and I had a conversation regarding Christmas presents the other night and we always say 'just buy for the kids...don't get me anything' etc etc...but no one ever sticks to that plan. So I brought up the subject of a Secret Santa this year and the feedback was quite positive. For those not familiar with Secret Santa, everyone who wants to participate, puts their name in a hat, bowl, whatever you choose, and everyone draws a name. You then buy a Christmas gift for that person. We've set a price limit to make it fair for everyone. There will be 10 of us participating and we are going to get together this weekend to draw names. Ideally it would be more fun if you don't reveal whose name you have chosen. It will make it a bit easier on the few who are having some financial difficulties and we can still have some fun with it and exchange gifts. We all get together on Christmas Eve and have a pot luck buffet, exchange gifts and then play board games or cards. This is my second favorite holiday, Thanksgiving would be the first. I am very blessed to have such a wonderful family and we all love spending time together.

It is getting colder here and I heard something about snow possibly over the weekend. It would be nice if we got some before Christmas but I really don't mind waiting a few more weeks. I guess I don't have much say in the matter. I do need to get the thermostat in my car replaced, again. It takes so long for my heat to come on and my windows to defrost. Seems to me I just had that replaced last winter, but it is under warranty so it's no money out of my wallet. I just need to make some time to get to the service department.

Back to the doctor's tomorrow. He is going to recheck my thyroid (I had the blood work done last week) and follow up on my asthma and blood pressure. I've been feeling pretty good so I am sure things will be fine. I am also going to ask for a flu shot while I am there. I had one last year and had no ill effects from it and stayed flu free so may as well do it again.

Stay warm.

~L~

I Am Still Full

Wow I ate so much yesterday, I don't think I'll eat much of anything for the next couple of days. We had the usual Turkey dinner with all the fixin's and a few extra things. I made brownies for dessert but Jessie brought home made chocolate chip cookies, and my brother's girlfriend made a Mud Cake with Pumpkin Cake, Pudding and Cool Whip. OMG I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I kept some cookies here and I scooped some Mud Cake into a big bowl and it is sitting covered in my refrigerator for another day. I can't even think of food right now.

I had a really nice day yesterday and I hope you all did too. Sara arrived Wednesday evening and I made a home made pizza for us for dinner. Afterwards, I put her to work making stuffing (I use a meat/bread stuffing combo) while I got a few other things together. We watched a little TV after and cuddled up on the couch with the dog. (Who was so very happy to have his girl here, believe me) Thursday morning I was up pretty early and got things ready. Dinner wasn't until 4 but there was still a lot of preparation to get done.
The turkey took a little longer than anticipated but we had plenty to munch on and lots of company to play cards with. There was also football on tv for those who didn't want to play cards. I think everyone ate way more than they wanted, and we had a lot of leftovers, some of which were sent home with some folks. It's always awesome to have the family together and the only one missing was my nephew Jason who was having dinner with his mother's family. I can hardly wait for Christmas Eve now.

I have already been shopping this morning. I got up at 6am and I went to Wal-Mart, and Best Buy. I bought only one item at Wal-Mart for Christmas, the rest of the stuff I bought was all for me. I should wrap it all up and give it to myself for Christmas. LOL I got some great deal on DVD's and CD's and I bought myself some PJ's and a new cordless phone. My other phone just needs a new battery but the battery costs as much as whole new phone...go figure. I also got shampoo and a shower liner, underwear and some Christmas Cards. I bought Sara some pajama's too but those are for Christmas. They have snowflakes on them and they will match the snowflake slippers I got her also.
Best Buy was having a great deal on a Toshiba laptop with printer bundle for $229. I got there around 7am and they were all gone. :-( The store in Concord had two left but that was 45 minutes away and I figured they would be gone by the time I got there. I don't NEED this laptop mind you...I just thought the price was right. Oh well...another time. I also popped into Yankee Candle and picked up a candle for Jessie and Sara and some tealights for me for my tart holder. I had a $10 off coupon if I spent $25 or more. I spent the $25...got my discount and will go back next week to use my other coupon. I love Yankee Candle, always a good bet for a Christmas gift.

I jumped in the shower when I got home, tossed a load of laundry in the washer and am now back in my PJ's having coffee, relaxing and feeling accomplished. Sara took off early and went to Brad's house for the rest of the weekend. He is now living back with his parents in Massachusetts and spent Thanksgiving there. The rest of the day is all mine to do as I wish. I plan on taking it easy for the rest of the weekend. Well, except for putting up my Christmas tree and decorating the house a bit. I want to have that done by Sunday. I think I'll put on some Christmas music and ponder that for awhile.

I am posting a couple of pics that were taken last night while we were all playing cards. Enjoy!

Lainie


Sara and Me



Jessie and Eric


Eric and Crystal

Happy Turkey Day!

More Free Graphics at pYzam.com

Brrrrrrrrrr Baby It's Cold Outside

What a difference a couple of days make. Thursday it was 58 degrees outside. Today it is 39 at 1:30 pm. All the rain we got Friday here in southern New Hampshire was snow up in the mountains. I heard they got between 5-10 inches, depending on elevation. I am glad we didn't have to deal with snow but I know it is just a matter of time. The chill in the air tells the story.

The local Boy Scouts are holding their annual food drive this weekend. Last week they went door to door and dropped off plastic bags for all the residents to fill with one or several items to be picked up this weekend. All food collected will be added to the local food bank. I did my part and added several items to the bag and left it on the porch. Around 9:30 it was picked up. While I was going through my cabinets I realized that I had a lot of outdated canned goods so that got me started on a major clean up. In the last couple of hours I have filled a huge garbage bag with old spices, baking items and stuff I had forgotten I even had. I reorganized all the cabinets and then got started on my counter tops, removing everything, washing down the counters and small appliances and once again, reorganizing. I then cleaned out my freezer. That wasn't as much of a chore because it is done fairly regularly. I did go thru the fridge as well and tossed out the half emptied jars of jelly, salsa and bbq sauce that is most likely past their prime. Nice feeling of accomplishment now. I am taking a break and then I am on to the spare room to start filling my new bookcase and reorganize my books. I'm going to keep the one bookcase I have in the living room but I am going to keep my hard bound books in that one and all my paperbacks in the new one since it is a bit smaller. I have a couple of junk drawers to go through, too. I'll do that tomorrow before I start the shredder and get rid of all that stuff. Good thing I bought extra trash bags this week.

I went out last night with a couple of friends for a few hours and a few drinks. It was fun for awhile. But one of my friends brought along one of her friends and that girl (who can really toss back the rum and cokes) started getting weepy and emotional and the more she drank, the louder she got. I wish people would learn their limits and handle their alcohol better. It made a few of us uncomfortable to say the least and kind of put a damper on the rest of the evening. When she tripped and nearly knocked over another table on her way to the bathroom, I decided I was calling it a night. I came home and met up with some friends in chat...which was a fun way to end the evening. Good to see all of you and thanks to Denise for the tunes. Hopefully I will get in there again real soon.

My break is over and it is time to get back to work.

What A Pan Of Lasagna Can Do

Something interesting happened to me yesterday that has really made me sit back and think about what this crazy world has come to. I am not a paranoid person by any means, but the way the world is today, you can't be too careful. We have to be on guard at all times especially after 9/11 and other terrorist events that have befallen our country. We all know about the increased security at airports and federal buildings and we have to be aware of what we send and receive in the mail. Random acts of kindness are few and far between and those that do come our way are often questioned and discarded because you just don't know who or what might be behind it.

I got home from work yesterday and sitting on my front porch, was a large disposable aluminum pan of homemade lasagna. It was covered and obviously just baked because it was still warm. It smelled delicious. I looked around, not really sure what to think or where it had come from when I spotted a note stuck to the side of the pan. Written on a thin piece of cardboard that was torn from a box, was the following. "God Bless from a neighbor down the street Enjoy!" The handwriting doesn't look familiar to me and I really don't know many of my neighbors. My immediate thought was, 'ok where are the cameras', figuring someone from Candid Camera was going to come around the corner. I think I stood there on the porch for a couple of minutes, dumbfounded, my mind racing. Then I got a warm and fuzzy feeling, kind of like an 'Awwwwwww', thinking wow there are nice people out there. I came inside and set the lasagna down on the counter and picked up the phone, then put it down because I couldn't think of a soul who would do something like this. This definitely is a first for me. I've had a neighbor share apples from her trees, another drop off jackets for my kids that their kids had outgrown, but I always knew where these gifts came from.
I continued to contemplate where this lasagna could have come from and then I started thinking it has to be a sick joke, that perhaps it was tainted. Now I don't think I have any enemies, but hey you never know. I am thinking whoever did this, mustn't really know me, because they would know 6 pounds of lasagna would be way too much for 1 person. If a kind deed was their goal, wouldn't an entire family benefit more from this than someone who lives alone? And considering the state of the world today, why would anyone do something like this anonymously knowing that without knowing where it came from, it could possibly be thrown in the trash? All the time, money and good intentions... down the drain.
I realize that the holidays are fast approaching and these acts of kindness are the Christian thing to do. Back in the day, no one questioned it and it was most appreciated and often reciprocated. I would like to think that someone has a full heart today because they did something nice for a stranger. I would like to be able to say, "Thank you, how did you know lasagna was one of my favorite dishes? and by the way, it was delicious." I would like to be able to do something nice for someone else without causing that person to wonder what I am up to or what I want in return. Isn't it sad that I have a huge pan of lasagna in my refrigerator and I am afraid to eat it or share it because it might make someone very ill? Isn't it sad, that we have to give a wonderful gesture of faith and goodwill such serious thought and consideration? It really does make me angry that this is what the world has come to. Am I the only one who feels this way? It is all so frustrating sometimes, isn't it?

Catching Up

It's been quite awhile since my last post. I have been really tired this week for some reason, but I don't feel like I am coming down with anything. Maybe the whole time change has screwed me up a bit.

We finally got some good news at work last week and we have been keeping pretty busy all week long. Last Friday afternoon we got parts to start building towards an order that is due to ship in early January. Everyone was excited and immediately got busy. It was really good to not be looking at the clock every 5 minutes.

I finally got my desk at work last Friday and my computer on Monday. It's brand spanking new, right out of the box. I was surprised, I really thought I would be getting someone's cast off. I had to go to a PC Orientation Monday afternoon which was kind of boring. Mostly it was all about the different programs I would be using but I really find that just diving in and getting my feet wet on my own is the best way to learn. And of course, I had been using these programs on my boss's PC anyway, so I am already familiar with a lot of it.

I also heard from a very reliable source that we are going to get bonuses very soon. This is very good news, and couldn't come at a better time. Hopefully it will be enough to help with my Christmas shopping.

It looks like I might be getting a room mate soon. Sara has been thinking about giving up her apartment and moving back home for awhile so she can get a handle on her student loan payments before she starts grad school. Of course I told her it would be good for her if she lived here for a year after she graduated so she could save up some of that money but she had her own ideas. She had to find out for herself, which she did, and she admitted I was right. I think once she finds someone to take her place at the apartment she will be coming home. I do love my alone time and I know I complained about her being messy and noisy (and I will definitely complain again) but I do miss her and I know the puppy does too.

Thanksgiving is only 2 weeks away and I still don't know what I am doing. I will be visiting my folks this weekend so I'm going to see what they want to do. Last year we had dinner at their house and my brother's girlfriend, my daughter and I did the bulk of the cooking and clean up so my mother didn't have to. My parents have a much bigger house than I do so it really works much better to have everyone there.

I don't think I mentioned that my niece came home from boot camp a week ago. She got really sick halfway through training and spent a week in the infirmary but they felt she would be better able to get well being back home. She can go back to basic training in 6 months but she will have to start over from day one. Seems a bit unfair but that's the way it is. She's very disappointed but looks forward to getting back into it.

It's been really cold here the last few days and nights. Definitely below freezing the last couple of nights and it is only 27 out there right now. There is 10 inches of fresh snow on Mt. Washington and it will probably snow there again tomorrow. Hopefully we won't see any here for another month or so. I still have to find someone to plow my driveway before it does snow. I will shovel if I have to but I really hate it and it is worth the $$$ to have someone plow. But I think the guy who was plowing for me last winter hit the front end of my car with his plow and he never admitted to it so I have to find someone else for the job. Two years ago he knocked down my fence while plowing and I was standing in the doorway watching him. He saw the fence fall down and just drove away...and played dumb when I called him and told him I was going to use the money I would have paid him to pay someone to fix my fence. He did offer to fix the fence for me in the spring at no charge. I told him if he fixed the fence then I would pay him what I owed him for plowing. I was born at night but not LAST night. Dumbass. LOL It's time for me to find someone else.

Well I think I will say goodnight and head for bed. I have tomorrow off but i don't have anything exciting planned. I got my grocery shopping done tonight and I will run a few errands tomorrow morning, (WallyWorld and the bank) but other than that, not much else will be going on. I want to make a pot of beef vegetable soup sometime this weekend.

Stay warm. Have a good Friday.