More 3-5

This post keeps coming back to me.

Today, at oh-dark-thirty, Good Morning America was in Leavenworth filming a mock-up of the annual Christmas Lighting Festival. Leavenworth is close enough I had to go. (See the one about going to the filming of a show, it wasn't the Today show, but it was close enough.) So, on my day off, I awoke at my regular time (2am) and got ready for my day and headed west. The drive would have been uneventful if it hadn't snowed several inches last night. My Honey and I agreed (well, I gave in) that if it snowed 4 or more inches I wouldn't go. Luckily it didn't snow 4 inches, so I went. It was a slow drive out, just for caution, but other than that, I had no problems. As for the guy whose truck had flipped, well, he would have another tale to tell.

I hung out up there for nearly two hours just looking on. I didn't get too involved. By the time I got there a crowd of maybe 50 or so had already gathered in "the" spot, and not knowing anyone to crowd in with I just hung back. It was fun to watch everyone, watch the crowd grow. There were probably 300-400 by 4:30 when I left. People of all ages, kids, a tour bus of old folks from Roseburg Oregon, lots of people dressed in traditional Bavarian dress. They had performances lined up for an hour or so of dancers, choirs, the hand bell choir, lots of folks. Its fun to see a large group into something. Its so not me - being into something. But it sure is fun to observe.

I gotta tell you, my favorite thing wasn't the Bavarian folks, it was the guy dressed as Sponge Bob. I am sure he got broadcast, who could have resisted?

My pictures didn't turn out too well, apparently I was shaky, so they are all blurred, except this one of the horses.

All in all I am glad I went, I would have preferred to see HOW the stuff was done, but it was fun to be there. To say I was. Now if my toes would stop stinging and feel normal again.

Fresh

After this post, I actually ended up with 3 hours to myself so I did all the things I had listed. It was so me.

Today I have another large block of time to myself. I got off work at 9am (yes that's a full work day for me) and finally got my computer shipped off, came home to work on a scrapbook idea I had for our great-grandmas (its a failure) and I have an appointment at 11 for some kind of health check through our insurance company. They pay me $25 to find out what my body fat is. Not a bad deal except I have had to fast all morning. Nothing to eat for the 4 hours before the appointment. No big deal if I hadn't been up since TWO O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING. I am so hungry. I think I will treat myself to a nice lunch afterwards.

We did Christmas pictures with the baby cousin for grandma the other day. Here are a couple of my favorites.
Isn't he angelic like that? (Its a farce!)

And her! What a beauty. Be careful though, looks are deceiving!

There are some great ones of the baby too, but I don't have her parents permission to post them here. We had them done at Wal*Mart. They did a pretty good job and when we split the cost of the CD 3 ways so we all have all the pictures, it worked out pretty good.

That's all for now.

I Almost Forgot

I was tagged (nice new look btw) and need to tell others my 5 favorite somethings. I couldn't actually think of something I had 5 favorites of until yesterday. I was shopping downtown and that was where I came up with My 5 Favorite Downtown Stores:

1. Antique Mall (pretty self explanatory)
2. Collectors Gallery (another antique store)
3. Guilded Lilly Home (just a beautiful store full of beautiful stuff)
4. Arlberg (sporting goods)
5. Wok About Grill - not technically a store, but it is a downtown favorite

First Snow

I really wanted to post this photo two days ago, but three 12 hour shifts has kicked my A. I am just about asleep right now. Thankfully I have tomorrow off. Once I wake up, hopefully in time for dinner, I should be ready to tackle my next really long week. This holiday crap is almost as bad as late summer was.

It was fun to get the first snow of the season! It wasn't much but we went out and watched it fall for a few minutes. I think once Miss I gets to play in it she will love it. She wasn't so sure the other night. It might have been my looking out the dark window and going "Ooh!ooh! I need to get the camera" and then disappearing downstairs in a hurry. I think I scared her.

A bit o fun and a rant

Big plans today! Its Festival of Trees this weekend. Me and a group from work are going to meet this afternoon (3:45 if you're interested) and tour the goods and have our kids pictures taken with Santa!! There is also a Teddy Bear Tea on Sunday I am thinking might be fun, let Miss I dress up in a fancy dress with ribbons in her hair? Bubba might even think that was fun too.
Did I mention he dressed in his suit for Miss I's birthday? It was so cute. He originally had his jacket and pants, shiny shoes and a tie on. But he started to look hot so I told him he could take off his jacket. It was so cute and it was his choice, he picked it out.

Speaking of Bubba, someone tell me what to do. HE WONT SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT. I went off the deep end the other night when he woke at 1am and was yelling "MOM I'M SCARED" I ran in there and told him to shut up. I never use shut up, I use a loud voice (yell) often, but never shut up. I still feel bad. Anyway, even though we re-arranged his room, took the bunk beds down, took all the stuff that makes shadows off the walls, everything he asked us to do he still has trouble. Dang Harry Potter book. I never should have read it to him. Or maybe it was the Goosebumps he was watching unsupervised. I dunno but I am so done with it. Finally Miss I has been sleeping though the night and now him. UGH.

The Day After

THIS was one of my birthday presents. Grandma helped the kids make a cake! How sweet is it? Bubba did all the writing in frosting on the top - and no, there weren't enough candles. In fact it is still sitting the same way on the counter today. We never ate any last night. Why you ask? How could I resist chocolate cake on my Birthday? Well, lets just say when you and the kids try to go to bed at 6:30 or 7pm, chocolate cake at 4:30 sounds like a REALLY bad idea.

I am thinking of using the photo from yesterday for our Christmas card this year. Not sure what to say with it though .... Maybe "Namaste" I learned that phrase in Yoga, my instructor explained it as "the light/spirit in me sees the light/spirit in you." Yeah, maybe that.

On my way to Oregon I passed the "Namaste Winery" and just about had to pull over because the name made me cry. I was sad for her girls, going through another holiday season without their mother, sad for the timing, it had to be near the one year anniversary of her death, just sad.

Last week I heard about a young couple who will soon be separated by death. The woman has cancer, she has 2 weeks to 2 months to live. I CANNOT IMAGINE. This couple has dealt with one type of sickness or another for at least the past 7 years, nearly their whole marriage. They are a beautiful example of standing by each other, seeing it through to the end. I know a few men (and women) who might have given up along the way. I am keeping them in my prayers. They may have a rough road ahead. They planned a trip to Hawaii and are there now. A ton of folks in the law enforcement community came together and raised several thousand dollars in a matter of days to present to them before the left. It was very touching.

Well, this turned into a downer post. Sorry. Guess I needed to talk some stuff out.

Another Year

It's my birthday today!

I cracked up a co-worker when I told him I was 22. He knew it wasn't true, but he wasn't sure how to tell me. Then I blew him away when I told him I was really thirty seven.

It's been a good year, my 36th year. And I can't wait to see what thirty seven holds.

If I had to tell you one thing I am proud of this past year it's how I handled the issues I had at work. And I am just going to skip my most abhorrent behavior because what's the point?

So here's to thirty seven. Cheers!

See me in 3-5

Sort of a meme, although I wasn't "tagged" I thought it would be fun:

I give you money and send you into the grocery store to pick up 5 items. You can only pick one thing from the following departments.. what is it?
1. Produce: Cesar supreme salad in a bag
2. Bakery: Blueberry bagel
3. Meat: Pork loin
4. Frozen: Ben & Jerry's Triple Carmel Chunk
5. Dry goods: Hmmmm, I dunno

Let's say we're heading out for a weekend getaway. You're only allowed to bring 3 articles of clothing with you. So, what's in your bag?
1. Hat
2. Long sleeved t-shirt
3. Leopard print flannel pants

If I was to listen in on one of your conversations throughout the day, what 5 phrases or words would I be most likely to hear?
1. “Bubba!"
2. “Be careful with that"
3. “May I help you"
4. “You're kidding me"
5. “What are you doing?" This one comes with many inflections

So, what 3 things do you find yourself doing every single day, and if you didn't get to do, you'd probably be in a pretty irritable/bad mood?
1. Caffeine
2. Love from the family
3. Eat

What are 3 things that you have in your bedroom that have been with you for the longest amount of time?
1. Dresser
2. My Honey
3. Bedspread

You're driving down the road, and suddenly you're hit with this sense of road rage. What 3 factors probably contributed to it?
1. Red Lights
2. Dumb drivers – not pulling over for emergency vehicles
3. Kids fighting in the back seat

You just scored a whole afternoon to yourself. We're talking a 3 hour block with nobody around. What 5 activities might we find you doing?
1. Getting a massage
2. Shopping/window shopping
3. Reading
4. Computering
5. Nothing

We're going to the zoo. But, it looks like it could start storming, so it'll have to be a quick visit. What 3 exhibits do we have to get to?
1. Gift shop
2. Elephants
3. Monkeys

You just scored tickets to the taping of any show of your choice. You can pick between 5, so what are you deciding between?
1. The Today Show
2. Deal or No Deal
3. Oprah (her favorites show if I had a choice)
4. Survivor (good one DW)
5. Ellen

You're hungry for ice cream. I'll give you a triple dipper ice cream cone. What 3 flavors can I pile on for ya?
1. Strawberry cheesecake
2. Wild Mountain Huckleberry
3. Pralines & Cream

Somebody stole your purse/wallet…in order to get it back, you have to name 5 things you know are inside to claim it. So, what's in there?
1. 2 sets of keys
2. Wallet
3. Cinnamon Apple lip gloss
4. Lotion
5. Calendar

You are at a job fair, and asked what areas you are interested in pursuing a career in. Let's pretend you have every talent and ability to be whatever you wanted, so what 3 careers would be fun for you?
1. Writer
2. Teacher
3. Photographer

Recap

Its early afternoon Saturday, but my weekend is over. I have to work tomorrow morning. So this is it. My sister came to town, we had a fun time re-arranging and de-junking Bubba's room, preparing dinner for my side of the family (her relatives too) and then getting Miss I's birthday stuff ready. She and her son took off an hour or so ago.

Dinner With the Family was fun. Mom, Auntie, LS1, LS2, brother-in-law, niece and nephew were all here, at my house for dinner. I loved it. It really helped that my Girl Friday came and cleaned on Thursday and that LS1 was here to help me. She did kid watch while I shopped for dinner fixins. We had BBQ chicken sandwiches. Nothing fancy, but it was good.

Miss I's 2nd birthday party was great. I did a brunch for family and some friends today. We had a Mexican fritatta, crepes (my specialty) canned pears & peaches for the crepes (with whipped cream of course) fresh fruit (bananas, grapes, oranges) and my Mother In Law's specialty; cardamom bread. It's always a hit and it's delicious. I have tried but I can't make it as good as she can. Its just a hint of sweet (could be the powdered sugar icing on the top) and yummy with the cardamom in a sweet bread. I also made cinnamon biscuits and we had bite-sized cupcakes for her cake. I highly recommend bite-sized cupcakes. No extra plates needed, lots of people will eat more than one, the are pretty cheap and cute! I bought white and chocolate, arranged them on a cake plate, put two candles in the ones in the center for Miss I to blow out and then served them around the room right off the cake plate. EZ!!!

Of course she got spoiled rotten with presents! De-junking her room is next. I am gonna put all the baby toys in a box for my newest niece. She will like some of these things in the next year.

She is so cute lately, she has figured out that she can control lots of parts of her body. Her hips, her tummy, her long little legs, neck, toes, its cute. Her dances are getting so funny.

We have been watching The Little Mermaid lately, there are a lot of musical things in it and she sings or dances along. We put in Shrek the other day and at some point in the movie there is music similar to that in Mermaid where Ariel is singing. So Miss I starts to sing. And I realize its what I call "princess music." Anyway, one of her gifts is "wrapped" in a bag with the Disney Princesses on it. Miss I sees it and starts to sing the "princess song" it was so cute. I didn't even know she would put something together like that. Another smarty.

Oh yeah, and speaking of smarty ... We went to Bubba's first school conference the other night. With the exception of penmanship he's doing really well. I was pretty happy with is grades.

Technically

Well, I wanted to participate in the blog everyday in November-thing, but I ran into a technical problem - my laptop is TU. Heaven forbid I blog downstairs on the OLD computer. No way. Looks like that's what I will have to do for awhile because the drivers appear to be corrupted and the dang thing won't connect to the Internet so, after My Honey has put at least 10 or more hours into it the Presario-people say "send it back." Box it up, gather all your paperwork and send it back to us. Oh wait, they send me a box. Well that's handy. Hopefully it won't take too long.

Our Female Family Gathering was wonderful. The Ocean was beautiful, we had SUNNY days. Not a drop of rain the whole time. My drives to and from were just wonderful. Alone in the car, me and my thoughts, my music, my whatever. It was fantastic.


Halloween was fun. I have pictures, but guess where they are? Yeah. We saved them to the external hard drive, but I am just too lazy to go ... wait, here it is.





Miss I's 2nd birthday is on the 18th. I work that weekend so we are having her party Saturday. I had plans to have lots of people over, but never got invitations sent out so we will just have family over and call it good. (She'll never know right?)

My sister is coming over from Bremerton today and staying with us so we should have a fun, fun weekend.