hearts, everyone!

i like the gecko and the squirrel...

bit o' blarney

the husband decided he wanted to have corned beef and cabbage this weekend. YAY! we love good corned beef. and he put it in the crock pot this morning before he left for the park. BOO! what?? well, i mean, come on. i've been sitting here at home all day, politely reading my book, and smelling that delicious smell. torture, i tell you!

but when he comes home ... YUMS!

catches your eye

i completely forgot to show you the picture my nephew and his wife sent us this christmas -- love it!!!

too late for her

i will be simply amazed if this child grows up to be a productive member of society. she is clearly spoiled and probably demented if she's gone this long without discipline or direction. my guess is that she will commit some crime and end up in jail, or become a tough guy's mol and end up being killed. so be it as long as she doesn't come in contact with me and mine.

merry whatever and happy whenever

the franking commission staff must be a bunch of unamerican bozos.

the midwest rocks!!!

i LOVE stuff like this -- it is so totally and wonderfully American!

no ... wait ... come back ...

i know, i know. it's just mean to laugh at little kids. especially when they're ... hahaha ... sitting on Santa Claus' lap ... hahaha ... and being a ... hahahahahaha ... kodak moment!

christmas music

well, now ... this is pretty cool. i've never heard of the north point iband, but check this out.

i love the bells, in fact the whole first thing was very great! i didn't care for the second one -- it pointed up how much better real instruments are. but the third one was very fun! all of it done with iphones and ipads. and the little robot guy was waaay cool!

enjoy!

it was fun

what a lovely visit we had with MYS and his special friend. we've hadn't met her before, although we've read about her on his blog and seen pictures. she's prettier than her pix and sooooo slender. very smart, easy-going, a quick laugh, totally unpretentious, good-natured -- lots of positive things to say about her. we very much enjoyed having both of them around!

christmas can-can

i get tired of hearing all the christmas music, but i thought this was pretty good. enjoy!

it's so special

my ex-boss makes this great christmas candy. it's mint candy pieces in this white fondant. it is sooooooooo good!!!

she willingly shared that she gets the pieces from this candy store in kalamazoo, michigan. i am going to have to call them and see if i can get some. all my little darlings will have a taste treat they won't believe!

thanks, ex-boss!!!

all that and more

how's your holiday shopping coming along? i've done all mine online. honestly, it's the only way to go. doesn't cost somewhere between $1.90 and $4.50 per gallon for gas. no long lines. no waiting around or tromping around or getting tired and grouchy. i mean, really, who needs to go shopping to get grouchy?

since i started ordering my clothes from orvis a couple of years ago, i've been inundated with catalogs. some of them are interesting and i've placed orders and been happy with the stuff, and other catalogs have had not-so-great stuff. the two i've been happiest with, by far, are orvis.com and llbean.com -- no hassle, pretty reliable.

i was unhappy with pendleton, appleseed's, draper damon, aerosoles, norm thompson, travel smith, and the jury is still out on sahalie and zappos. some of them had terrible service or customer service, and some had crappy products. i wasn't happy with nordstrom's either but all i bought was pantyhose.

plow and hearth is good, as well as solutions, peepers, country curtains, magic cabin, planet shoes, and foot smart.

i love computers, e-mail, surfing, the whole thing! i wish we'd had computers and the internet when i was little. i'd be a whiz!

nice day

we went over to our friends' house last night for a 4th of july party. they have a lovely view and their neighbors and other friends all congregated on the large deck. it was very enjoyable. we left at about 8:15 (hubby was sleepy and needed to get up for work the next day) and it was still daylight. the husband went right to bed when we got home and i read for about 30 minutes, then took to the sheets myself. i heard the fireworks for awhile, but i must have been so tired, that when i crashed, i didn't hear anything else until my 2:30 a.m. potty break.

My Older Son, wife, and baby were going to the in-laws for celebrating, i think. and MYS was surely doing something with his soon-to-move-away sweetie.

it didn't rain on us and all-in-all it was a nice day! life is good!

all the news....

sooooo many things i intended to blog about this week, but time went right on by. and i, therefore, have forgotten all of them so i'm going to ramble and see if anything comes back.

my friend mary put her house on the market. they've moved a lot of their stuff out -- knickknacks, extra clothes, some pieces of furniture -- and with the rearranging and general sprucing, their place looks lovely and HUGE. if there are buyers on the market, it shouldn't take them long to sell. good luck, mary!!

this month was 'berry' month at our regular bring-food-to-work lunch. i always hate these things because i've never enjoyed cooking, and since i have so many other interests now and so little time, i begrudge doing the lunch thing. but, trooper that i am, i do try to bestir myself to do something. i bought blueberries and raspberries, washed and culled through them, then added them to a mixture of creamy cool whip, sour cream, and cherry yogurt. it was so delish!!! and how could it not be, eh?!!

and you know that dish which has mandarin oranges, coconut, nuts, other berries, in a creamy pink mixture? ambrosia or something? oh my god. one of the good guys (i really like him and he's such a sweetheart) brought this in and even though i was pretty sure i wouldn't like it, he was expecting everyone to love it, so i put a large dab on my plate. and ate most of it. and smiled. and somehow managed to not gag and throw up in front of everyone. i absolutely hate that stuff and even after i had downed most of it and secretly thrown the rest away, my mouth remembered that taste for at least three hours.

it's been hell here with the temps the last 8 or 9 days. our weather is usually so mild, even the cold isn't bad. but hot is hot everywhere. it was 78 or a few degrees more in the house, and 80s and low 90s outside. i wilt very quickly. and when my body gets hot, my lymphedema instantly gives me trouble. it's already bothering me because of allergies, so the heat just makes me double cranky. but finally the temp dropped into the 70s. the humidity is right on the verge of being a problem though.

and today is the 4th. we're supposed to go to a 'do' this evening, but the forecast is rain. the get-together will be nice, but we're going to be ready to go home hours before anyone else -- we're just not get-together-and-stay-up-late people. but we may surprise ourselves. we're open to surprises.

never did remember what i wanted to say. does this mean i'm a bullshitter?

i love google's creativity

life...

happy valentine's day everyone! i got one great husband, two nice cards from him, and three presents from him. and two of the presents were yummy!! and last night we went to the black forest steak house in everson for an excellent meal! valentine's day was great in 2008!!!

just a note ... at work today, one of the gals came up to me, held up a bracelet, and said, "put this on." so, wondering what she wanted to check out, i put out my wrist. and she cracked up as she said, "no! put it on MY wrist." oh. hahaha. we laughed and laughed as i hooked it on her wrist. i mean, wouldn't you have thought that?

can't keep up...

is anybody else as tired as i am? it seems like things have happened non-stop since just before thanksgiving.

we had enough money this year to buy some decent presents. that's good.

we got to see My Older Son & Family. that's good.

we got to see My Younger Son. that's good.

we loved having the time once again with MYS -- seeing him once a year really sucks. but seeing him is totally fabulous! and now he's off to ireland (he went to italy last year, remember). i'm really curious as to his impressions of ireland -- he'll have a good write-up on his blog when he gets back.

and seeing MOS's young daughter is fun. although she seems to cry when i show up. *take offense? ignore?* she's about 11 weeks old or so and is different everytime we see her. doesn't cry as much as before, doesn't sleep as much as before, smiles now -- it would be neat to see her more often.

but back to the point -- we've been constantly busy and i'm bushed. i still have a small celebration at work i have to prepare for next week, but after that ... back to boring ole' reading and sitting in my rocking chair in my library. ;)

on the first day ...

just in case i somehow left you off the e-mail, here is a link you will want to watch -- it's great christmas fun!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

be one with nature

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

lots of love going out to our friends, relatives, and neighbors. we have sooooo many things to be thankful for and really feel blessed. may the universe bless you as well.

the husband and i wish you sunny days, starry nights, pleasant breezes, and double-rainbows.

spooky

it seems like there's never enough time to relax anymore. but yesterday was halloween and some of us at work decided to go crazy and dress up a little bit. we wore black pants and orange shirts. i wore black pants, a black shirt, and an orange vest, one of those puffy, down things which made me look like a pumpkin. then we put tattoos on our arms and D put one on her cheek and then we were rough tough killing machines!

my boss walked by once, turned, and said, "Nice mask. Oops..." cracked me up -- i wasn't wearing a mask.