Happy Holidays!

I've been negligent in my writing on the blog.  It is a combination of things.  Busy.  Stressed.  Life.  Friends.  Family.  All of those combined have left me very uninspired! 

I've been spending a lot of time with my parents on the weekends.  Life has thrown me a huge curve ball and I'm lucky that I've been able to go to my parents for counsel and solace.  We've had our typical family dinners, been going to church together, and enjoying Saints games and Lady Tiger basketball games.  The week is time for work and spending time with my friends and dog.

I completed all my shopping today. My last gifts to pick up were for Duke.  His stocking has been hung and stuffed full of the goodies.  Now he is pouting because I won't let him have any of it yet!!!  Nope, it is for Christmas!  Yes, I do take each item out on Christmas morning and let him pick and choose that which he wants to play with.  I also make sure to bring one of his new items with us when we go to my parents. Now all I have to do is finishing wrapping!

On a side note, and kind of a sad one, poor Duke's mother, Molly, passed away today.  She was just a year older than Duke and died of heart failure.  As many of you know, Duke has a heart condition also.  It is being treated with medication and I hope that he has a few more years ahead of him because we are aggressively treating it!  He seems to be doing well on the medication and is even gaining weight so I hope that at his regular annual check up things will continue to look good and we won't have to add any more medicines!

I have been stitching.  Here and there.  When I am home I've been vegging out and watching movies.  Being very lazy!!!  I've been working on what will one day be a Christmas stocking for my sister.  Not this year of course, maybe next year! 

It is time to start working on my goals for next year.  I'll review my list from this year and either carry over those that haven't been completed or cross off that which I have completed.  I might even add on a few more.  I know that I have quite a few projects that I hope to finish in 2011 as I didn't have very many finished this year!

Hope that all of you have a Happy Holiday!

Are You in the Holiday Spirit?

I have always liked the anticipation of the holidays but then, boom, it happens!  The holiday blues settle in.  Ugh!  I really wish they wouldn't.  I loathe being a "Scrooge"! 

I don't seem to be the only one though.  I've been reading a number of blog entries where writers are confessing to feeling "Bah Humbug!".  It's comforting to know that I am not the only one!  My friend Jill suggested that I need to listen to some more Christmas music.  Ummmm, not sure about that one!

I do have my little tree up. The gifts are purchased if not wrapped. I haven't put out my stocking or Duke's stocking yet though or put up my holiday wreath on the door. Why?  Because I am stressed and worried to the max.  What has me stressed?  Money, job, and life (in that order).  LOL!  Oh, how I wish I could learn life's lessons without falling down so hard!

After the summer that my parents had dealing with my Sister's problems, I didn't want to bother them with mine, but this weekend was a culmination of a month long of worrying that led me to baring my soul to my parents.  They were more upset that I didn't share my worries with them than the actual situation.  It felt good to share my concerns with them and to be reassured.  I was not looking for a solution but just a sounding board.  Although, of course, if I chose, I know that my Dad has a solution because as he reminded me "I'm here for both my little girls."  Awww, don't I have the best Daddy in the world!  And yes, I am 35 years old and still a Daddy's girl!  Always will be! 

I saw recently a status update on a friend's FB page: "Stress.  It does the waistline good."  I laughed when I had seen this because the friend who posted it is like a size 0.  However, I have to agree with it!  I've been stressing so much that my appetite has dwindled away to nothing and my pants are starting to fit a bit loose.  Maybe I should start to exercise and take advantage of this "jump start"?

I've continued on with some stitching, even though  my mojo is gone!  I'm hoping to get it back if I continue to pick up a project and put some stitches into it!  Right now I am working on a Dimensions Stocking Kit that I have had for years!  It is so odd to be stitching on 18-count Aida cloth!  Yikes!!  It is so stiff!  But I really wanted to get this stocking finished.  I bought two of the same pattern with the intent to make one for my sister and one for myself.  So, the one I am working on now is for my sister.  After 1 week of work, this is how far I've gotten.  Sorry for the poor quality pic, I took it with my cell phone as I am out of batteries for the camera! This particular piece has a lot of half cross stitches in it and blends.  Do I hope to finish it for Christmas?  Sure.  Will I?  Probably not.  LOL I'm pretty realistic!

Despite all my worries, misgivings, and stress, I still have a small kernel of hope and faith for the future.  Who knows?  I may still win that lottery! 

Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving Madness

Ok, I shouldn't say madness!  It was quite a relaxing and quiet 4 day weekend!  I enjoyed it so much!  I really need to win the lottery so I can have more of quiet, relaxing days!

Thanksgiving
This year I was lucky that my parents decided to stay in town and we had Thanksgiving dinner together.  My sister couldn't join us as she had to work on Black Friday (the joys of a retail career!) but she will be coming home for Christmas!

I have many things to be thankful this year even though I've had some major losses.  I am thankful that I've been given an opportunity to use the degrees I earned and the brain I have at my new job.  I am thankful that my family is safe and healthy.  I am thankful for the friends that have stuck by my side this past year and for the new ones I have had come into my life. 

My Dad does most of the cooking for dinner.  He makes the cranberry sauce (fresh not from the can!), the stuffing, and he fries the turkey (the best part!).  My Mom and I make the mashed potatos, sweet potatos, green bean casserole and the crescent rolls while Dad is outside frying the turkey.  This year, I made the desserts.  Well, one of them anyway. 

For the first time, I made a cranberry apple pie.  As I was putting it together, I had very little confidence in it.  Soooo, before putting it in the oven, I ran to Whole Foods and purchased a sweet potato pie for back up!  LOL!  I wasn't the only one doing that!  Came home and put the cran apple pie in the oven and crossed my fingers.  My Dad loved it!  Ok, he may have just been saying that because I'm his daughter but I tried it to and thought it was quite yummy!  It is the recipe from the Betty Crocker recipe book.  I suggest it to anyone who likes cranberries and apples!

Movies
This has been a week for movies.  On Monday I went with my movie buddies, Kati and Doug, and saw Harry Potter.  Yes, I loved it!  Yes, I've read the book and ultimately know how it ends but I enjoy seeing the interpretation on the big screen!  It did not feel like a 2 1/2 hour movie!  In fact, at the end of the movie I actually said out loud "NO!  I want more!"  Doug laughed at me and said he agreed! 

I also watched a few movies from my cable's On Demand.  I saw "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant".  If you like campy, cheesy vampire movies, this is one for you.  I enjoyed it thoroughly.  I think it is based off a comic book or maybe some type of anime story but I'm not sure.  The next movie I saw was "It's Complicated" with Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.  Cute.  Good story for the older crowd.  It passed the time for me as I stitched! I also watched "Leap Year", a cute romantic comedy. 

Shopping
Luckily most of my shopping was already done.  I had a few last things I needed but nothing that could get me to go out on Black Friday.  In addition to it being Black Friday, the temperature had dropped 40 degrees (it was 80 degrees on Thanksgiving day) and was raining.  I stayed in, watched football and stitched.  My idea of a good day!  Saturday was a nicer day.  Still on the cool side but the sun was out.  I ventured out before the important football game of the day (LSU of course!) and picked up a few deals.  Nothing for myself.  Gifts for friends and family!  We have a rule in our family: You can not buy yourself anything new starting from November 1 til Christmas.  You want it, put it on your wish list!

Christmas Decorating
I used to put my tree up on the day after Thanksgiving.  I would put it up and decorate it while I watched the LSU Arkansas game.  But starting last year, they have moved the LSU Arkansas game to Saturday so the tree didn't come out until then!  I did start off on Friday with putting my Nutcrackers out.  I love Nutcrackers.  Just one more thing for me to collect.  Luckily though I only have 4 so not too many to store or put out!

Football
Well, the Saints won on Thanksgiving day!  That was a nice way to spend the late afternoon.  But then the Tigers lost on Saturday.  It was a horrible way for us to end our season.  We did end up 10 - 2.  That's a great record, if you think about it. I guess we are so jaded these days that anything less than the national championship is a failure.  So I should be happy that we had a winning season and look forward to whatever bowl game we end up.

Stitching
Of course with 4 days of relaxation I would have a stitching update!  I have a finish!  Yay! I made this for my Grandmother for Christmas this year as I pulled her name. It is a celtic cross. I love the colors in this piece!  The pattern is from Scotland, a gift from a friend who visited there.

I also finished one whole page of HAED's Mad Tea Party!  Woo hoo!  I am doing this one 2 over 1 and it is very slow going.  It has a tapestry feel to it.  I'm liking the way it is looking but not that it is taking so long to stitch on!

Christmas!

Merry Christmas To All!  I hope that you had a wonderful time with friends and family!

Christmas Eve
Christmas eve, thankfully, was pretty much as it always is for our family.  Although the day did start out very doubtful!  Here, in South Louisiana, we awoke to torrential downpours of rain and tornado warnings.  It was a great day to sit on the couch and catch up on all recorded shows on the DVR! 

I also baked a sweet potato pie.  Homemade!  It is for Christmas dinner.  I've done one before, last year, but I was still a little nervous about baking this one.  It "appears" to have come out ok.

This year, it is my dad, my sister and I.  My mom is still in Omaha with my grandparents.  Pretty much snowed in.  My dad, sister and I went to mass at 4 pm.  Then home for our traditional gumbo dinner.  It was quite yummy!  Then Dad had us open our gift from our mom.  Mom bought us these gorgeous tiger fleur-de-lis silver pendent necklaces.  Then we all settled in to watch "Four Christmases" with Vince Vaughn and Reese Weatherspoon.

Christmas
It has been a good Christmas day.  My sister and I must have been on "Santa's" nice list because we did get some really nice things.  I got a radio/cd player for my apartment.  Various books. The Bon Jovi CD (LOVE THEM!). Some sweaters. Snow White DVD and Dirty Dancing DVD. 

Duke had a good day.  He had a stocking full of new toys and bones for him!  He was even decked out in his "Feliz Navidog"shirt!  He was given a huge beef rib bone to gnaw on.  That kep him quiet for about an hour!!!

Duke tearing into his stocking.  He got 2 new toys and a bunch of rawhide bones! For those who can't see, his shirt says "Feliz Navidog".

Spoke to my niece and nephew.  They were so excited about Christmas.  I love hearing kids talk about Christmas!  Marly was up at 2 am!!!  Parker was up at 5:45 am!!!  However, they were both warned they couldn't come down till 7 am or they couldn't open present till 6 pm!!!  LOL!!!  They managed to keep themselves occupied in their rooms till 7!  They absolutely loved everything they received.

Spoke to all the family members. They were all figuring out how to get to my grandparents for Christmas.  There is so much snow on the ground that church services were cancelled!  I think my mom said the temperature was 9 degrees! Last time we spoke, everyone had made it to my grandmother's for dinner!

Had an opportunity to speak to my friend Jason today.  He is a good friend from college.  This is his first Christmas as a married man although he and his wife are not together.  He went home to Tennessee to be with his dad and she was out of vacation time!  So sad.  However, I think Jason has given me the best news today!  I am going to be an Aunt again!  He and Johana are expecting a baby this summer.  I can't wait!!!

We saw "Sherlock Holmes" this year for our Christmas movie.  I adore Robert Downey Jr. so I LOVED the movie!!  It is dark but does have many numerous funny spots in it.

Saturday
Saturday was an 8 hour shopping marathon with my sister.  I was exhausted.  We shopped 2 malls and one outdoor shopping center.  While we traveled less than 20 miles, I felt like we had traveled the state!  But it was a great day!   Shopping and lunch with my little sister.  Dinner with my dad.  It was an overall great day!!!

We did get some good deals.  Plus we "had" to start spending our gift cards!  They were burning holes in our wallets!!!  Dad sent me home shortly after dinner because he said I was "looking bad."  LOL  Leave it to Dad to be so blunt! 

These are two of the goodies I bought myself for Christmas.  They were my holiday retail therapy!!!  :)

My pretty new Coach purse!!!

A pendant necklace that says "Love Kills Slowly".  My sister also got one for herself!

When I got home, my new radio/cd player was set up and ready to go.  Dad had come over to walk Duke while I was out and just couldn't resist putting it together for me and testing it out!  LOL  I was just so tired the night before that I hadn't put it together.  But now I can listen to my new Bon Jovi CD!  Yay!!!!

I always dread the holidays because it reminds me of how alone I am.  But this holiday, I had a great time! I had a great 4 days with my little sister!  Dad was wonderful.  We did miss Mom but we know she was having a good time with her parents and shoveling snow (she's currently in the midwest where they are snowed in!).

I am not looking forward to this week.  But the bright side is that I only have to work 3 days then off for 4 days!  I'm thinking those 4 days are going to be a lot more quiet than the 4 days of Christmas!!! 

Busy Busy Busy....

I feel like I jammed so much into this weekend, I need a weekend to recover from my weekend!!

Snow
On Friday evening it snowed.  The rain started at about 4 pm and by 5 or 6 pm it was sleeting.  Many people around the area were reporting snow as early as 5:30ish but I didn't see any till almost 10 pm.  Duke and I went for a walk and there were big fluffy snowflakes.  That makes two years in a row that we've had snow in South Louisiana.  The next morning I bundled Duke up in his Harley Davidson sweatshirt and we took a walk outside.  The picture below shows the tiny bit of snow that was left:

Shopping
Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOATHE shopping.  I just don't do it if I don't have to.  But Saturday was an exception.  I had a list of gifts I needed to get and I was determined to do it.  I started out at 9:30 am and didn't get home till 3:00 pm.  I was able to get everyone's presents with the exception of my mom's.  I visited 5 locations: Bed Bath and Beyond, Petsmart, Hobby Lobby, the Outlet Mall, and the Mall. I drove all over town!!!!  I can't remember the last time I shopped for that many hours!

Christmas
With most of the shopping done, it was time to wrap everything.  I spent a good portion of Saturday night wrapping presents. I'm still not done but a majority of it is done.  As I was wrapping, Duke decided that he wanted to get in on the action and do some snooping around:

Even Duke's presents are ready for him on Christmas morning!

Here is my tree loaded with presents.  Most of the presents will be gone by the end of the week though as they are for friends who live out of town. But don't forget, I still have other presents to wrap.  I spoiled everyone this Christmas!

Football
The SEC championship.  What a disappointment.  The one, and only time, I will ever root for Florida and they lose to Alabama. I'm still in shock!  But not as much shock as I was over Texas' field goal with 1 second left to beat Nebraska.  I do not think that Texas deserves to go to the National Championship game but I guess we'll all find out in the bowl selection show!

It was nice to find out though that USC is going to the Emerald Bowl.  Awwww, darn, it's their first non-BCS bowl game in 7 years.  That makes me very happy!  :) 

The Saints!!!  Woo hoo!!!  Can we say: UNDEFEATED!!!  12-0!  It was a crazy game with lots of ups and downs.  Pretty exciting up to the very end.  I liked what one of my colleagues posted on Facebook: "I always thought Tom Benson was the devil.  Now I just think he made a deal with the devil!"  What an exciting time for us in Louisiana to have our team undefeated!!!

Mexican Hot Chocolate
With the cold weather, I've been wanting something warm to drink.  I don't like coffee nor tea. So that leaves things like apple cider or hot chocolate.  Well, on my way home Friday, I stopped at the grocery store with the intent to purchase some hot chocolate.  The shelves were EMPTY!  There was no hot chocolate left!  With the exception of Nestle's Abuelita.  What is that you ask?  Well, upon looking at the box, it said it was "mexican" hot chocolate.  Now, how different can it be?  Chocolate is chocolate, right?  So I purchased a box.  I have to say, I like it BETTER than normal hot chocolate.  It has just a touch of cinnamon which I guess makes it mexican.  If you ever get a chance to try it, I highly recommend it!!!

Stitching
Oh, I've been bad.  No stitching update to report.  Just too much going on!  I do hope to do some before the New Year but major updates will probably have to wait until 2010!!!!

Off I go!  The Bowl Selection Show is coming up.  While LSU is not going to a BCS bowl game, I still want to know where they will end up and who their opponent will be!!!! I pray it isn't Iowa, as being reported, because that means the game will turn into a family rivalry.  My uncle is from Iowa and that is his favorite team.  I can hear the taunts already! LOL!

Tis the Holidays.....

22 Days....
til Christmas!!  This is what I stared at for about 5 minutes as I sat on the interstate this morning trying to make it downtown for a meeting.  Like I didn't have enough anxiety about getting everything done in time!  Thanks for the reminder billboard gods!!!

Snow
Hmmm, I live in South Louisiana.  Something we don't see much of is the "white stuff".  Last year we had a snow day.  First time in YEARS!!!  Well, we are once again having snow predicted for tomorrow night.  Should be an interesting night!!!!  Here are some pictures from our last snow day, which happened almost one year ago!!!

Presents
Considering that I loathe shopping, I'm doing ok on the shopping front.  I am having some problems.  I don't know what to get some of my friends, especially the ones who say "You don't have to get me anything."  Yeah, right.  Like I'm not going to buy gifts?  I am also looking for a waffle iron for my dad's present.  Mom said that is what he wants so I figured, that's easy enough. NOPE!!!  Every place I've been to so far has been sold out.  Who knew that waffle irons were going to be a hot commodity this Christmas? 

30-4
I gave myself a 30 day deadline. In 30 days I hope to have established an exercise routine and have my apartment clean.  Why 30 days?  To be honest, an old acquaintenance mentioned that a visit might be in the works for that time.  I really want to look good. Or at least feel good because I've been trying to do something, anything to get back into shape.  I want to be "unforgettable". LOL! I also need to get this messy pig sty I call a home cleaned!  So embarrassed to have anyone over right now!!!  So, even if this visit doesn't happen, I see the good in it.  It has gotten me motivated!!!  And I am rolling with it!!!!

The -4 is the number of days that have passed.  Today is the 4th day.  I am happy to report that I have exercised for 4 days in a row now!!!!  Yep, the heart hasn't stopped yet!!!! I've also done at least one thing each night towards getting my apartment back to the immaculateness I know that it can be!!!!

I've promised myself a little treat this weekend if I exercise 5 days in a row.  One more day!!!  If I stick to it tomorrow, I can go and pick myself up a new book, or some girly treat!!!!  I'm going to do it!!!

Decorations
I've decorated my little apartment for Christmas.  I put up my little tree.  I have the stockings hung.  Below are a few pictures of these items.  Yes, that is a stocking for my dog!  Oh crap!  I forgot to put him on the list of presents I need to buy!  Yikes!!!  Can't have him waking up to an empty stocking on Christmas morning!!!  Isn't my new Eeyore too cute?  I've caught Duke twice trying to pull him down to play with.  He's only succeeded once so far. 

I love sitting in my living room by the glow of the Christmas lights with some music on  in the background.  It is so soothing!  And no, the music is NOT Christmas music.  I just can't get myself to the point where I can listen to carols yet.

New Experience...
This Christmas will be a new experience for me.  One that has yet to occur and well, that I am not looking forward to at all.  This Christmas, my mom will not be with our family.  Mom leaves on Monday to go home to be with her family (her parents, siblings and their spouses) this Christmas.  My grandmother is having minor surgery next week so Mom is going to be with her and has decided to not come back till New Year's.  I will still have my Dad and maybe my sister if she is able to make it but we've (my sister and I) have never had a Christmas without her.  This is going to be so weird.  I'm not sure how I'm feeling but I'm leaning to the "I really don't like this" side.

Stitching
Really not much to report on the stitching front.  I've been so preoccupied with everything else going on with the holidays!  I can report that I have picked up Dragon Knot again.  Not sure how brief of a return it will be but I have put a few stitches into it!!!

Ok, enough typing!!  I have things to do!  :)