Happy 2010 New Year's Eve!

Hope you all have festive plans.

Or you know, have plans more like mine and Bob's. Movies, jammies, munchies.

I'm not a lover of this holiday (can really depress me if I let it) but I hope you all get to celebrate the way you wish!

I hope for more reading time - I should say I hope my brain gives me a break and lets me read more.

Great health of course. Not sure how that will work for me this year - I have to go to that anxiety clinic for the next few months. There is a deep part of me that wants to be drug free but I'm not sure that's realistic for me. Having had panic attacks for most of my life, I'm not sure my body wouldn't start attacking me at the first sign of release. I'm sick of the side effects and quite frankly the body fat is holding on hard and I'm not sure I can start working out 2 hours a night. I mean, I can but would it help at this point?

This is also the year I turn 40. Sadly I have a friend who believes this is 'old' and I'm having a hard time keeping her negative thoughts out of my head.

I can't imagine what the year will bring but I'm going to continue with my move towards moving more (walking on the treadmill has helped my mood and my energy - now I have Wii fit to figure out) and saying 'yes' more. Unless I hate the question - then I have to learn to say no more.

I'm sleepy tonight so I'm going to head up and watch some TV.

Have a safe and Happy New Year celebration!

Hope You Had The Time of Your Life

Hope you all had a great Christmas - I'll be recovering for weeks.

In the realm of TMI I had the period from hell on Christmas Day. Since I was hosting I didn't take any pain pills because they normally knock me out. 4pm on Christmas day - Bob is napping, everyone else is playing and I'm on the couch thinking about how I'm just not going to make it. I was going to fall over or pass out or something. I took some tylenol and it took the edge off for the next few hours and I was able to get dinner served. After that I just looked at Bob and said I was done. Thankfully everyone else cleaned up after dinner as I couldn't move.

To say I ache all over is an understatement. I pulled stupid from the hat a few days before Christmas and wrapped all the gifts in one go. It was only when I stood up that I remembered why you don't do that. Sometime on Boxing Day I felt my shoulder muscle give like tearing bread. I've been icing it on and off since that night. Good thing I already had a Doc's visit for January cause wow, this thing hurts!

In total 4 straight days of people and prepping and cooking and making sure everyone was okay. Today was Bob's family and I totally wimped out and ordered in pizza. I couldn't cook again.

New things : Pixie is so terrified of people who aren't Bob and I. I had to get her down to her litter twice while people were in the house. Both times she actually played dead. Kitty fetal position. I felt horrible for her and some people have suggested that maybe we don't really have a new kitten - I tell them to look on Youtube. I did show her off a bit but like I said, she just hung in my arms like a rag. Poor monkey.

I got way too spoiled. I think I say that every year but seriously, we had a budget this year. Bob ignored it completely. So while he got a new sweater, 100 bucks from Rona from the kitties and a porcelain sign I got a Wii Fit and a HP Touchscreen computer - according to my nephew I have the absolute top of the line technology of our time to which someone replied - for the rest of the month.

It's awesome but of course, there are tweaking things that have to happen and I can't access my e-mail because I have no clue what my password is and the router we have for wireless also has a password and damn if I have that in my memory banks somewhere. So hopefully no one is writing to me and hoping for an answer cause I can't get to the e-mail.

Bob is back to work for the next two days and then I told him we have to have some Cindy and Bob time - crazy how you are with family for days and yet, you don't really have time with your loved ones. Weird.

Okay, hope you all had a great holiday and that you were spoiled. (I also got gift cards for books!!)

I have a Wii to set up, a treadmill to get back on and computer to figure out. And sleep. Lots and lots of sleep. And then reading. Lots and lots of reading. I really hope Jan/Feb are my months for reading!

Oh! Almost forgot. We have to take our tree down early because it's so dry it's a fire hazard. Yep, cut it on the 6th of December and it's been dropping needles ever since. I get depressed when the decorations come down so I'm not sure how I feel about them coming down early. Grrr.

Merry Early Ho, Ho!! & More Cheesy Fun!

Thanks to best bud from the west for finding these and posting them on Facebook.

Sorry, you know, things are a popping - Bob got our closet done tonight and I managed to clean out that entire room that was on the kitty video (Nath, sadly that was all from my closet - OMG). Then my hubby studiously put away all his clothes like he was a freakin' valet in another life!! We have people arriving tomorrow to stay over night and I got one of the two rooms put back to rights (actually the bedding is being washed now but I have to go to bed soon (2am) so I can be up in time for my friend dropping in at 1pm tomorrow.

The book room is a dust oasis - Bob will have to vacuum the entire room with one of the little brushes (he does do a great job but I wish he had started tonight instead of waiting till tomorrow to start). I found a few more gifts to wrap but for the most part I'm done and it looks like I've forgotten someone. Seriously. I'll probably have a nightmare tonight.

Aunt put a limit on the amount of money we could spend - as a rule we don't listen to her as a group but when she brings it up we try to be more frugal - yes, I've spent hundreds on GC alone but I scaled back this year. Too bad my parents got his with is also. Whoops!

I was also very frugal with Bob's gifts. He's been spending large for a while and he doesn't need anything except more trim and wood and stuff to finish the house. So the kitties got him GC for the store that sells the trim. And I got him a sweater and one of his porcelain signs for the fence. Exciting eh?

I did find a picture of him and his mom that he likes and went and bought a frame and special matt for it. I had such a hard time as it was digital and I was looking for a different picture and ran out of time to send it in and have it done professionally. So I printed the photo off on our laser printer but the paper says it's for inkjet printers. I couldn't find any photo paper than said for laser so I'll have to go with what I have. I will buy one of those GB sticks and then I can put on a whole bunch of pictures and have them printed off.

Another thing is Bob and I got a poster of Santa from our great friends this year and he wanted it framed. Having been through the process before I knew what was coming. So off we go and we pick out everything we need and it's 60% off framing at Michaels. Bob says 'oh, it'll be maybe 200 dollars' and I just smiled. 349.00 I go to pay and stuff and as we're walking out the store Bob looks at me and says 'Wow, I was not expecting that'! I asked the lady - are there people who pay for framing when it's not on sale? And she smiled and said, not really.

So that was kind of Bob's Christmas present also.

Oh yeah, now that I see the picture I remember Bob spend 100 bucks on that light. So yeah, Bob's been good ;)

Okay, I'll probably find time to get on again but just in case you are all traveling be safe and have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

You're gift?

More cheese.

Thanks to best bud from the west for finding these and posting them on Facebook.

Some Cheese?

Sorry, it's countdown time around here and things are still a mess.

Hope you are enjoying some down time. I'm not very stressed but I have this 'it'll work or not' thing going on so I'm not very anxious.

I might be behind the times but a friend just posted this video on Facebook and at first it was weird but then it gets funny. Have a look and tell me what you think.

The Fonzi line killed me.

It's a literal video so it's stating what is happening in the video instead of playing the song. There are so many music videos that I have thought 'damn, there is nothing about this video that makes sense'. Hell, there are videos that win awards that could totally be spoofed this way.

Whiny Post to Commence in 5, 4, 3 -

You guys know I love animals. Yep, darn well giddy over animals.

You might not know that I also have a BF who is Bob's former wife who couldn't save a penny if her life actually did depend on it.

Not a red cent.

With that in mind, Bob and I have been the 'Bank of Cindy' - yes, we call it that. Things get financially rough and I get a phone call. Usually it's fine but there are times when it's not.

I think it's been a 1 1/2 years now since BF bought a used car and borrowed 3 grand. 200 bucks a month was to be paid back till it was done. I haven't had a payment since February. BF thinks she paid until April, I'm thinking she got confused with the normal ' I need to borrow 200 hundred till Tuesday' and the back and forth that that causes.

Hell, I get confused.

I got a call a week ago to borrow 800 till December 21st which hey, she needed to get her shopping done for her kids (my Godkids) so I'm fine with that and I made it clear it had to be paid back on time.

Hold on now because things are about to get bumpy.

BF has a dog that is about 2 years old (if). The other day he raced out the door to play with his furry best friend (has done this since he was a pup) and no one saw but he slipped on ice and fell.

I get a phone call and hear BF crying.

After telling me all this she tells me that the pup has broken his leg in 4 places and he will need surgery to fix his leg.

It will cost between 3-4 thousand dollars.

BF is a mess. I'm in shock and even though I know I need to lend her the money I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach for so many different reasons.

I tell her it's fine, we'll loan them the money while trying to figure out how Bob will react to all this.

Bob loves animals too.

But it's not the dog we're worried about.

Tonight I get the final amounts and call in to pay the bill - It was over the 4 grand estimate.

Money is a tricky thing to talk about with people and well BF and I have had a few problems over the years. She knows she owes money but will do things that are completely selfish like go on vacation (not that they are fancy vacays) knowing she won't pay anyone she owes for the few months before that because she needs to save.

I also need to say that I'm my own worse enemy. I don't bug her for payments because seriously, that just pisses me off. She's an adult and should act accordingly. This past summer she had to borrow money and I was told I would get paid back when the 'money' came in. That money was supposed to show up before she left for vacation. I heard nothing. I knew they were gone on vacation and I didn't even get a call saying 'the check didn't show up'. I heard later how she was furious and called and yelled at people but a simple phone call would have kept me from being angry for 3 days.

So here I sit, wondering how this new jolt to our finances is going to work out. She knows that we borrow the money and I have told her she's paying the interest. The minute she hears something like that she figures she's fine if she misses payments because she's paying the interest.

I tried to set up an understanding that 'this' time things had to be different and I got the 'of course, if you think it's easy to swallow my pride and call my ex-husband and his wife for money you have no clue'.

So even though I know Bob and I did the right thing there is that part of me that is stressed about it. I know I shouldn't be. I want to be a better person than that but sometimes it's hard.

The good news is the dog's leg is all wrapped up and he'll get to go home to his family. And I truly hope he has years and years of life in front of him.

I'm Afraid to Start Wrapping Now!

WRAPPING PRESENTS WITH A CAT

(actually I forgot what kittens could be like with new stuff)

1. Clear large space on table for wrapping present.

2. Go to wardrobe and collect bag in which present is contained, and close door.

3. Open door and remove cat from wardrobe.

4. Go to cupboard and retrieve rolls of wrapping paper.

5. Go back and remove cat from cupboard.

6. Go to drawer and collect transparent sticky tape, ribbons, scissors, labels, etc.

7. Lay out present and wrapping materials on table, to enable wrapping strategy to be formed.

8. Go back to drawer to get string, remove cat that has been in the drawer since last visit, and collect string.

9. Remove present from bag.

10. Remove cat from bag.

11. Open box to check present, remove cat from box, replace present.

12. Lay out paper to enable cutting to size.

13. Cut the paper to size, trying to keep the cutting line straight.

14. Throw away first sheet because cat tried to chase the scissors and tore paper.

15. Cut second sheet of paper to size by putting cat in the bag the present came out of.

16. Place present on cut-to-size paper.

17. Lift up edges of paper to seal in present, wonder why edges now don't reach, and find cat between present and paper. Remove cat and retry.

18. Place object on paper, to hold in place, while cutting transparent sticky tape.

19. Spend next 20 minutes carefully trying to remove transparent sticky tape from cat with pair of nail scissors.

20. Seal paper down with transparent sticky tape, making corners as neat as possible.

21. Look for roll of ribbon; chase cat down hall and retrieve ribbon.

22. Try to wrap present with ribbon in a two-directional turn.

23. Re-roll up ribbon and remove paper that is now torn, due to cat's enthusiasm in chasing ribbon end.

24. Repeat steps 12-22 until down to last sheet of paper.

25. Decide to skip steps 12-16 in order to save time and reduce risk of losing last sheet of paper. Retrieve old cardboard box that you know is right size for sheet of paper.

26. Put present in box, and tie down with string.

27. Remove string, open box and remove cat.

28. Put all packing materials in bag with present and head for lockable room.

29. Once inside room, lock door and start to re-lay out packing materials.

30. Remove cat from box, unlock door, put cat outside door, close door and re-lock.

31. Lay out last sheet of paper. (Admittedly this is difficult in the small area of the toilet, but try your best!)

32. Seal box, wrap with paper and start repairs by very carefully sealing down tears with transparent sticky tape. Now tie up with ribbon and decorate with bows to hide worst affected areas.

33. Label, then sit back and admire your handiwork, congratulating yourself on making good of a bad job.

34. Unlock door, and go to kitchen to make drink and feed cat.

35. Spend next 15 minutes looking for cat, before coming to obvious conclusion.

36. Unwrap present, untie box and remove cat.

37. Retrieve all discarded sheets of wrapping paper, feed cat and retire to lockable room for last attempt, making certain you are alone and the door is locked.

38. At time of handing over present, smile sweetly at receiver's face, as they try and hide their contempt at being handed such a badly wrapped present.

39. Swear to yourself that next year, you will get the store to wrap the darn thing for you.

Not Exactly The Norm

Poor Bob.

Actually, before I suggest that Bob was hard done by this weekend let me tell you that he wasn't.

Nope. He was just WRONG!

The guy poked the bear and discovered C-Rex lurking just below the surface. And he did it twice in one weekend!

Last night he decided to start on tiling the entry way. Only after he had cut a few tiles did he call me to look at what he had done. Imagine my surprise when I discover that the tiles aren't all uniformly beige. Nope. They have grays and browns and some are just down right gorgeous (aren't they pretty? Bob had me take a picture of the layout so he wouldn't screw it up while I was sleeping. He still managed to put one tile in the wrong place but it wasn't a problem).

That said, he had one tile in a prime location that I didn't like (not in the picture). Keep in mind these tiles had not been glued down yet so I mention how I don't like the one tile and I get a snippy reply about how there are no extra tiles and I'll have to live with it.

Oh, no he dinn't!!

I let that one slid but while moving tiles and making decisions on where they should really be placed Bob's temper flared a few more times. On that last time C-Rex came out and started yelling with the number one thing on her mind being ' don't talk to me like that! '. Amazingly Bob's attitude was adjusted.

C-Rex curled back up and went to sleep knowing her work had been done.

Little did C-Rex realize that she would be called to duty yet again.

Now, just so you all know, when I say my house looks like a bomb hit it I'm not exaggerating. There is shit everywhere and you wanna know what? It ain't mine! Tools and screws and debris are everywhere including my kitchen island (why, why, why are there tools in the kitchen!?)

I can't even put laundry away so we've been living out of laundry baskets (with folded clothes) for weeks but as construction continues the baskets don't get all emptied and then I have clothes with no place to go.

To say I'm over it is an understatement. I can't even keep a room 'Bob' free for more than a day. I clean off our computer desk and get things in this tiny room put right just to stay sane and the next day my hubby has crap all over the place again.

I can't really talk about the Christmas tree and the boxes of ornaments all over the living room without having chest pains. See, there was a time when Bob and I would decorate the tree together. Now, not so much. So I've been dragging my feet and yeah, that one can be on me.

Now, we're hosting Christmas for 11 people this year. Bob has arranged the living room furniture in the best configuration he could come up with even though I think it's not very cozy. Fine. Whatever.

Tonight he starts talking about the ginormous hutch in our dining room and how maybe we can move it to the living room (that room without any extra space) and I have to stop him. Last night while with the family, Bob slept in a chair for about 4 hours, while the rest of us talked and played and one of the things I asked everyone was if they would be interested in having a puzzle set up during the 3 days they would be at our house to work on when wanting some down time.

It was agreed that that would be a nice idea.

So I mention to Bob tonight that I might need to move some of the furniture to put in a small game table for a puzzle.

Bob actually swore and got all mad and said obviously I hated the room the way it was and to do what I wanted.

Yeah.

C-Rex came out of no where.

I don't ask for friggin much and I am fairly even keeled with the dust and crap all over the place so yelling at me for having ONE request was way beyond the pale. C-Rex had a good 10 minutes of yelling and swearing and yes, Bob was a wee bit pale when she finished. He was still in a grump so he went off to work on the closet upstairs.

C-Rex paced her cage for another 1/2 hour before trying to settle down.

It helped that Bob apologized for getting me all worked up. And then I get all mushy and say stuff like 'sorry' when I'm still right.

Let's hope the next two weeks aren't like this weekend cause Bob isn't used to seeing me go all C-Rex on his ass.

Oh, my favourite was how C-Rex was 'DONE'. That's it, just DONE. Didn't give a frig about anything anymore and Christmas could go suck eggs.

C-Rex makes me laugh.

I sense coal might be coming soon.

Reading? Oh, Please Lord Let It Be!!

I haven't been able to sit still to read a book in a while and let me tell you I'm feeling it.

I'm grumpier and easily frustrated and I feel all stale in my brain.

Odd really.

I'm hoping the tree and the house will be decked out by the weekend. I'll start wrapping and OMG cards!! I forgot I have to do cards!

Then I'll do up the 'menu' for the three days family will be in the house so I know what I have to buy before the day AND ...

I'll try not to beat my head against a wall over thinking a gift for Bob. I'm just so out of options. In reality some coins have been dropping from Bob's pockets the last few weeks and since I know there will be a 10 % pay decrease in the New Year I'm a little touchy about money.

No, no, I'm grateful and blessed. I just don't want to over spend on Christmas this year. Problem is Bob's not always on the same field as I am and I end up with something that cost an arm and a leg and Bob's sitting with a few new shirts. I'm just saying. I shouldn't be the only one 'aware' of money.

In the New Year I'm going to become the HAMMER. Yep, I'm going to drop on the poor guy like iron.

I should feel bad but uh, no.

I so can't work my Princess ways in the poor house!

Christmas for Adults

Welcome Advent Adventurers, hope you have been enjoying all the sights, sounds and recipes that have been shared! (I sure have!)

This post will be something a little different.

See, in our family, there are no children. Our youngest on Christmas is 24 years old now and the rest of us aren't exactly 'needing' anything nowadays. We've got the appliances and towels and blankets and a few years ago it became obvious that there wasn't anything any of us needed.

Christmas shopping became a horrid chore.

No really.

What do you buy for the people who have everything? (Okay, we don't have everything but I'm not buying anyone a sports car and how many years in a row do I need to buy my mother slippers!)

So Bob and I changed a few things up.

First time we realized it wasn't so much the gift as the novelty was when Bob built a wooden box around a gift for my Dad. He was able to build looking holes that went all the way through the box and others that had a little sign inside that said 'no peeking!'.

My father had to get a crowbar out to open the gift and in the end it wasn't the garden bell in the gift that had the family buzzing, it was the few days before, the curiosity of what it could possibly be that made the gift so much fun.

And that's when in almost a sigh of relief the entire family let the stress of gifting go. There was no meeting or discussion, it just happened.

Now it's about seeing a huge smile or a flat out belly laugh when one of us opens a gift.

For me, it's monkeys. I make monkey noises I get excited and name the monkey the minute I see it. I'm not sure how it is they can still get a reaction out of me but every year a silly monkey shows up and makes me laugh. (You can't see it but the baby monkeys all have goofy grins on their faces - this special bookend keeps me smiling to this day!)

For my father it's Owls and Eagles. This year we found an owl tea pot, an outrageous owl plaque and yes, a pencil with a silly owl on the top.

My Aunt was everything Mexican and I outdid myself when I bought her a giant purple Mexican sombrero.

For my hubby, it's anything 50's inspired or diner inspired. One year a few great minds thought alike and he ended up with two hot dog roller cookers (much to my chagrin).

So in the end, it wasn't about the gift for us anymore. It was about getting a reaction from the person getting the present. As my Dad notably said, 'I don't care if you get rid of it tomorrow, your reaction was enough for me'. And in the end, it seems the family agrees with him.

So if you just can't come up with an idea for that one person maybe play it outside of the box. Who knows you just might discover another side of your friends and family!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas indeed!

For more fun visit:

Lexi @ The Amazing Adulthood of Alexis
Lesley @ A Life in Books
Kim @ Page After Page

Uh Houston - yeah, you know.

Problem?

I strung up all the lights on our freshly cut Christmas tree (let me tell you, this tree doesn't have a soft spot anywhere and getting the lights up was like playing with a porcupine).

Every time I plug the tree in 2/3 of the tree blows out.

We've discovered a bulb that acts like a fuse and it blows out instead of maybe an entire string blowing out. We've changed that bulb a few times but the darn thing keeps tripping.

In all honesty, I so don't want to have to unravel all the lights off the tree as Bob has suggested.

So I'm wondering if there is anyone out there that has had a similar problem?

I'm wondering if I should put in another extension cord and run half the lights off a separate plug. Hey, it's all I got and I'm not sure the lights were made to have all 800 run off one circuit.

Wish me luck.

If you hear a roar sometime tomorrow it will be me, unraveling the darn strings off the tree.

Figures this season wouldn't start out easy.

Grrrr!!

The Kittens

Yep, I'm the crazy cat lady.

One look at the bed in the first video and you know why I'm not reading, blogging or in general, sleeping.

But the kitties managed a few milestones today so I'm sharing.



Later in the evening Pixie got even closer!



Yep, I do voices for the cats.

But you knew I wasn't all there in the noggin'

Hope you all had a great weekend! Bob was off on Friday so we got a lot done, were able to go visit friends and got the tree up (not decorated).

In a couple days I will be blogging for the Virtual Advent Tour - you can click on the avatar at the top right hand corner to visit other blogs and read how other people are celebrating the holidays!

Okay, I've been up since 5am.

I know!

It's now 9pm and I'm beat. Off to bed soon!

December Already!?

I tell ya, I have no clue where Oct/Nov went but BAM it's December!

Anxiety has decided to take me head on and I'm not sure what it's beef is but fun it ain't. I've caught myself a few times just wanting to head back home because I wasn't 'feeling right'. Realizing a bit late it was anxiety kept me from making bad decisions and I kept on heading in the right direction. Eg. going to breakfast with my BF on Monday morning instead of calling her back 20 minutes before we were to meet to say 'can't' and knowing she would understand. Also thinking about how far from home one of my destinations was today and not turning the car around when the anxiety hit.

So I'm winning but I wish it'd just back off me already.

Then there is the sleep.

All torqued up and knowing that I don't really operate the same during daylight hours doesn't help. That said, I'm getting some of the errands off the list. I'm also hoping to get most if not all my Christmas shopping done this week.

My biggest problem (and maybe why I'm anxious) this year is I have not one clue for Bob. I don't want to spend gobs of money and at the same time I don't want to buy him clothes and stuff (which I do normally buy for him).

Bob, bless him, keeps saying the fence and the renos he's been doing are his present. And really, they should be, cause - wow.

But that's not the point of Christmas so I'm going to have to put the thinking cap on and get on it.

I've decided this time of year is useless for me and reading.

Add Bob and his plaster dust to the equation and my entire (and yes, entire) house needs to be cleaned from top to bottom. Thing is I only want to have to do it once. So I've been waiting to see what else Bob's going to decide on doing before Christmas.

My Gorgeous Cousin has already commented about the last time we hosted Christmas and how Bob had still been working on the bathroom on the Eve.

I didn't throw anything at her.

And on a 'bloody hell' note, her boyfriend is still around.

Makes my skin crawl but I guess I have to let her live her own life.

So that's the weekly update. Hopefully I'll watch a great movie or something and my blogging mojo will re-emerge.