No where near the end but it is the end.

So I'm off to go home. I'm sicker than a dog, not that dogs really get all that sick and I should be home. No Beach, no fun, no nothing. I'm so sick... bleah. I'm no where near being done with my work but everyone is on vacation and no one cares, so neither do I. It will still be here next week. I'll deal with it then. So I'm no where near the end of work but the end of the year is upon me.

Happy Sneezy New Year to you *aachhoo* Sorry about the germs.

Working for the End... of the year.

Wow. I have so much work, I don't know where it starts or ends. One of my machines is down (always when I need all 3 the most) and having stock piles of samples come in, is very frustrating. I wish they wouldn't wait till the last 2 days of the month/year to bring it all in. I've had so much down time during the month, I could have had most all of this done had they brought it in earlier. End Rant... back to work.

Merry Christmas...

Wow, just like that it's come and gone. Another year of extra gifts and pounds. Although I have to say this year, I did more of a stay even, dropped a few, instead of packing on any extra insulation. I can't believe 2007 is around the corner, literally. Today we spent the day geocaching, that will be in the other blog of course.

Hope your holidays were Merry And Bright and you got everything you wanted!

Hi Howie waiting for dinner on the counter!

You can't see me driving this Bobcat...

No date yet but the title is intriging!!!

VB2007

I got an offer from a friend to go and make a Visual Board for 2007. What is that you ask? I'm still trying to figure that out myself. It's sort of like making a collage of your New Years' Resolutions... Basically, it's a way for some girls to get together and be creative. I'm super looking forward to it. My brain is racking away at ideas on what I want to accomplish or try or or who knows! I'll try to take a pic of it, I may even put a secret messages in there. Oooohh.

My Commercial

Picking up 3 yr. old Nephew for an outting with Auntie - $2.50 for gas
Feeding said Nephew a Chicken Nugget Happy Meal - $3.89
Tickets to visit the lights at C.A.L.M. - $16.00
Rubber animals and a plush sea otter for Nephew - $9.00
Said 3 yr. old calling out his Auntie - Priceless

Okay so we picked up Blaize to take him to see the Christmas lights at the local zoo. As we were arriving, you can see a ferris wheel, the train and all of the lights from the road. As we turned the corner he said, "hey, there is a ferris wheel." Erin looked at me like (didn't say anything) how does he know what a ferris looks like from this far away, while shrugging her shoulders in a surprised sort of manner. He then proceeds to say, "what's the matter Auntie, you didn't think I knew what a ferris wheel was?" After I was done laughing hysterically in the passenger seat, all very quietly of course, I told her, "you just called out by a 3 yr. old." He told us he saw them at the fair, so that's how he knew what they were. That has been a good chuckle ever since.

Another couple of great one liners, Erin was taking him to the potty and there was a line. He said "I can go right now." Erin told him he had to wait in line because all the people in front were here first, he said "But I CAN GO OUTSIDE." To which everyone started laughing. His dad taught him to go in bushes. Auntie wasn't for that.

At the end of the evening and a very long car ride home, to which we heard him snoring, I decided to unbuckle the entire car seat and just carry him in that way so we wouldn't wake him. As I pulled him out of the car, I had to do it kind of fast to make it easier, we hear a small, "weeeeeeeee" He woke up and thought that felt fun. Caught us both off guard and we started cracking up. He said, "that was fun... weeeeeee," again.

Silly Blaize. He had fun telling mom and dad about the dinosaurs, the lights and his favorite; the farting skunk. It was pretty funny though. Good times, good times.

Our Christmas so far:

Number of days til Christmas: 7
Number of Christmas shows watched: Elf - 4 times, National Lampoons Christmas - 1, The Grinch - 1, more to follow.
Number of outfits for Christmas Parties: 1
Number of Target Runs: 4 and 1 on Wednesday to come
Number of Mall Runs: 1 so far
Number of visiting aunts: Zero
Number of trips to grandparents: Zero :(
Miles travelled for a Christmas Trip: 300ish to Disneyland, next week :)
Most persistent request from Santa this year: Dogs that wipe their own mud off their feet
Number of new words learned this season: 1 (Howie-day as in Happy Howie-day)
Number of Christmas Goodies baked: Oh goodgrief, the best I can give is: 30 Cheesecake bars, 1 checkerboard cake, 1 Christmas Tree of Rice Crispies, 100 dipped oreos, 36 PB crispy balls.
Number of Christmas cookies eaten so far: Let's go with 22 :)
Number of turkeys bought: 0
Number of turkeys eaten: 2
Number of Christmas cards sent: 0 -soon very soon.
Number of grinchy bums in the house: 0 (we're in disguise)
Number of questions about Santa squeezing down our chimney: 0
Percent by which the cost of Christmas rose this year: Not sure what % yet
Predicted month Christmas debt will be paid off: Soon as the Tax Refund comes in :)

JoeCon2

So Friday night after the Turtle Party we went to our friend Kurts' house for the annual JoeCon. Joe is his best friend of many years and a con is a convention of sorts. Since they game for 3-4 days straight, they decided to deem it: JoeCon. There are even T-shirts on cafepress so you know it's serious.

Anyway, the girls gathered at the end of the table to play Princes of Florence. It's a fun little game and it's amazing how much competition there can be between only 3 players. I guess in watching Sondra so closely, I forgot about the "bonus hoser" or as the rest of you know her, Erin. She came out of no where and ended up winning by a good 8 points. With it being near midnight we took the opportunity to leave and get some much needed rest.

Saturday Morning and Afternoon were filled with shopping. 6 hours of shopping to be exact. We only have some misc. little stuff to grab now and we're all done! Woohoo. Evening found us back at JoeCon to play Puerto Rico and later Railroad Tycoon :) Two games I really enjoy. I lost horribly in PR (oh well) and rounded out in 3rd in RRT. Erin played Age of Steam or as I like to think of it, "Steam away any brain power you have left." Which is sadly what happened to Erin, she lost and she lost bad. She vowed to never play again. She vowed to never eat little smokies again either but after 5 years she broke down and ate some this past October. :) I had fun and didn't have to think about work, shopping, baking, errands, checkbooks, animals or anything else that fills my brain regularly. Lots of people were in and out throughout the weekend and although I wished I could have gamed more, I had a lot of fun :0 I can't wait for JoeCon3; we get name tags :)

"Hello, my name is: I'm going to kick your ass."

Turtles Party Too

So last night was kinda busy... wow, us busy? Nooo. We had our Annual Christmas Party and it was fun. I was in charge of picking up the turkey and ham. I ordered it from our favorite Chinese Restuarant. This guy hooks it up. They are nicest people and give you so much food. He even took the time to chop up big chunks of pineapple and orange rings for the ham platters. it looked so nice. For $230.00 we got 2 large platters of ham, 2 large platters of turkey, a pan of gravy and a pan of stuffing. We had way more than enough food, it was yummy. Other club members brought sides and desserts. I brought some of my dipped oreos which I have now been told should be outlawed, some Peanut Butter Swirl Cheesecake bars and some Peanut Butter Crisp Chocolate Dipped Candy Balls. I made a super lot because from there we were off to JoeCon2 (in a later blog). So I made extra batches to have 5 trays worth of desserts. Most of our torts are sleeping except for these crazy 2 that came in and should be hibernating. You never know why they're awake because sometimes it just happens...

So Santa came, we had a gift exchange and ate lots of food. It was fun and I love to see everyone. Happy Holidays... Christmas is around the corner and I have some shopping to do!

A thought for you:

"Too many idiots, not enough Villages."

Not just your normal Oreo anymore... I made these on my lunch today :)

Howie's 1/2 siblings... poor kids.



Who knows how many Howie really has. It must be hard when your mom can't keep her legs closed. I bought these 2 food yesterday. I bought them 24 days of food for $13.00. That is an 18lb bag of dry food and 24 cans. Howie's 6lb bag of dry food is $16.00... figure that one out.

"O' edible Christmas Tree..."

One of my desserts this month :) Rice Crispy Tree... mmm

I'm hot.

It's hot today. I'm in shorts and a T-shirt and I'm still hot. Did someone forget to tell Mother Freakin' Nature it's December? Geez. I'm realistic, I get we'll never have snow but how about some clouds? Some cool breezes? Rain perhaps? Something below 60's or 70's would be nice... it's really not that much to ask.

Sure Global Warming doesn't exist, just like road rage is just some slightly under the weather people. Bite me.

Night at C.A.L.M.

Running here and there, I can still find time to do "fun" stuff. We headed out to C.A.L.M. to "Lightasmic." They cover the entire zoo, it's small, with lights and have a fun little light show near the popcorn/snack stands. They have added a ferris wheel ride to the train attraction. Mostly, it stays the same but I don't care. I like being out in the cool, night air just starring at all the lights. I'll snap a few pics but nothing too fancy. One of the main things I enjoy is eating an Apple Dumpling. So we walked through and I was all ready and then... they were sold out. *smacks head* How the hell... what the f***... are you kidding me?!?! We're suppose to go out again next week with the family, they better have them or lighted heads will roll!

Shopping/Christmas Tree Update

Okay, so it's looking a little more promising now. We went out again and conquered a HUGE chunk of that list. I'm now "making the present" <-reference to a Friends episode. Well I'm making some presents and that is A-OK with me. I love to make things. Even more so, I love to bake things. I like all the check marks by the names. I'm finally feeling like I got somewhere.

We finally found a Tree. Holy crap it took us 5 lots and a period of 3 days. Friday night was a bust. They were either too big, dying on one side, missing big chunks in an area or too small. I now know how Goldie Locks felt. We broke down and drove 35 minutes from our house to the really, really opposite of town and found it. We walked in, went right up to a tree and said we'll take it. It was that simple. We now have an offical Christmas Tree lot, it's a nursery and I highly recomend it. Pictues to follow soon.

14 days till Christmas...

Christmas Parties Galore

So yesterday I had some baking to do. YAY! I made a fun red and green checkerboard cake, jalapeno cheeseball and a christmas tree tower of star shaped rice crispy treats! That was fun. Then we took said treats to Erin's moms' house for their open house holiday party. She made lots of good stuff. Articoke dip on some mini breads, mmm. My cake looked so cute when she sliced it open. I was happy. Erin was a little happier, she had 3 margaritas with some homemade tequilla courtesy of one of her dads' employees. They were smooth, I give them 2 mexican thumbs up.

From there, we headed to the High School Staff Christmas Party. That was fun, it's like being in high school again. They gossip just like kids, it's really funny actually. I got to put more faces to names which helps with Erin's stories when she is ranting about people. And as the alcohol started to flow, so did the people right onto the dance floor. Some highlights of songs to give you an idea: Baby Got Back - I laughed so hard I was crying, Beastie Boys song - one guy was headbanging on the dance floor, good stuff, Fergilicious - good thing children were not present and then some good ol' fashioned cabbage patch, the sprinkler, the stick shift, the walker and a few others I can't remember because I was laughing so hard.

I had a really good time and can honestly say I knew a lot of people. Lots of smiling faces. I love to see people enjoying the holidays. Only 15 days till Christmas...

3 hours, 2 presents...

At this rate, I should finish my Christmas shopping by January 16th. We had no dogs and a lot of time and that's all we got done in 3 hours! I can't believe how long this is taking, I never have this kind of problem. And for those counting: only 17 days till Christmas.

So today I went online and in 15 minutes I found and paid for 3 presents. *smacks head* Geez. Apparently, driving around, sitting in traffic, driving up and down isles looking for parking, wandering aimlessly around stores, standing in line behind screaming kids isn't all it's cracked up to be. Wait? What? Apparently, I need to have my head examined again. They say you can't actually call yourself crazy till a doctor writes it down on a piece of paper... mine should be in the mail any day now.

"O' Christmas Tree... what? It's HOW MUCH?! Pfft, keep it. O' Christmas wreath..."

Christmas trees are expensive. We are going to get one this today, I think. If not today, definitely tomorrow. I couldn't believe how much my parents paid for theirs. Although, it is a really nice tree. We enjoy a good Noble Fir. Spacey but classy. However, the spacier the tree the higher the price. So basically, less is more? Shouldn't less be less? Who cares, you can't beat the smell... mmm, sawed off living tree with a hint of pine. Oops, I mean, memories had, memories to make with a pinch of holiday spirit. Hope you have a Merry Fa La La Ha-liday.

December of what year?

I can't believe this year has come and gone. I keep thinking that each year will make a little more sense, slow down a bit and things will fall where they may. However, what actually occurs is: things get more confusing, I pick up more hobbies and friends and things fall alright, fall all over the damn place so I trip over them trying to run out the door to my next appointment.

Geocaching takes any day free time we have. We have Travel Bugs we need to move along, I'm hoping we can do that this weekend. If you haven't seen that blog it's on the right. Check it out.

Our new friends, keep us damn busy and we love it. Monday night parties every week with some other outings in between. And of course, once again, softball is around the corner.

I'm dumbstruck at how fast it really has gone. Pitching lessons are going well. 2007 looks to be just as fast. We have so many of our weekends already booked and damnit all if I'm not turning 30! I'm not doing well with it but I'm doing my best to take it all in stride. I'm on the fence on this one. Hopefully, my birthday tattoo will help make it all better.

***This was my random post of all things somewhat recent. I'm hoping to be back on my daily schedule now. Wish me luck.***

A nice new home. Very plain, very neat, very safe... or is it?

Just a normal flower bed, the most evil of things are the weeds but somewhere underneath lie something. Everything changes at night - EVERYTHING.


This is some of what I did to our house at Halloween. I truly had the best time and could have used 2 more days as I still had A LOT more decorations. We had many people and kids who enjoyed the house and we picked our victims..um... kids that we thought were okay to scare. As they ran away screaming, we could also hear them laughing. Erin had a blast standing near the door, very still, very quiet, watching and waiting. We had many a child who was almost too afraid to even walk up to the house. However, the good parents said, if you want to continue trick-or-treating, you WILL go up to that house. So very slowly, they would look in as many directions as fast as their head would allow and head to the door. Then happily they would run down the driveway saying how "COOOLL" everything was. Basically, that made my heart sing. I had some of the best comments and I enjoyed every one of them.

Hope you enjoy the pics as much as I do. I can't look at them enough. Throughout the month we had many parties to attend, all of which, I made Halloween themed food. These are just a few of the things I made.

My living room

I needed to organize and here what's happened... my tubs threw up on everything.

No piece of floor was safe.

Zoey even got a little decorated :)

There's only a few bugs on the counter, take what you like. There are plenty more in the walls and the cupboards.

Need a shower?

Smite Brothers - just some rambunctious boys...

A witches' cupboard

Keeper of the Bathroom

The Infamous Mummy Calzones - In total I made 11 of these throughout the month!

Would you like some punch? What's that you say? Oh that, that's just some eyeballs, fingers, ears and tongues.

Graveyard Cake

Kitty Cake

Ants and their Ant Hill

Mmm, boo bugs.

Witches banding together

Sea Monster Sandwich

Snake Cake

Owl Cookies in a Chocolate Chip Melted Tree

Love the fog machine



Erin with a negative effect

Erin waiting for more kids

Day Time

Night Time