New Years Eve

We are getting ready to have a NYE party. Not a big one, but it is reviving an old tradition. Before we moved to Guam, we always hosted a NYE party - children included - and it was a lot of fun. Since we moved back, we haven't hosted one, just had a quiet night at home.

Hopefully this will be fun, but what was not fun was cleaning the house top to bottom and packing away the Christmas decorations before the party. Took a long time! But it is a nice feeling to know we will be starting the New Year with a clean house!

Hope you all celebrate responsibly and still have a fun time!!

Scene It!

Let me tell you about Mitch, he is a movie and TV FANATIC. He loves to watch movies, and TV. The best gift I ever gave him was TIVO. He thinks of himself as a movie buff and is full of movie trivia. So much so that sometimes it is annoying.

Mitch got this game, Scene It, for Christmas. It is a movie type trivia game. He was absolutely sure that he was going to mop the floor with Braeden and I. Well, pride goeth before a fall, and I tromped them both not once, but twice!!! Now he is hollering for a rematch!!

It is a fun game, but it can be hard. I was lucky I got questions like

"What candy did Elliott use to lure E.T. into his house??"" Ha Ha - lucky me!!

Change

Well it is now time to change the banner!! Guess I will try and work that into my to do list, which is thankfully much smaller after Christmas than before!!!

So, I guess this will be a very short entry so I can go off and ponder my belly button lint and wait for inspiration to strike and tell me what my new banner should look like.

Comments part 2

I've had a few people tell me that they just hit reply on the emails they get with a comment on their blog. When I read that, I really felt like I was riding the blogger short bus. BUT, when I tried it, the email address comes up as no-reply@blogspot.com - so I guess that won't work for me!

So I guess unless I know your actual email address, I won't be replying to your comments on my blog until I can figure it out!

And the winner is....

Not my MIL! LOL, She had worked her money up to about $250 dollars, and she KEPT PLAYING. Said she thought she could maybe work it to $500, and instead she ended up walking away with $50. Oh well, still more than she went in with, and she played for about 12 hours, since she didn't come home until almost midnight. So I guess it was cheap entertainment. But I can't help thinking about everything I could do with that $250....maybe that is why I never win when I gamble.

Gambling

I'm not a big gambler. We usually take my MIL to the casino whenever she comes to visit - because she LOVES the slot machines. Mitch and I usually take $20 each, play for a ocuple hours and go home without $20 each. Mitch's Mom on the other hand will spend whatever available $$ she has and play and play. She is pretty lucky, and can play a long time. But I told her that when she retires in two years she was going to be one of the old ladies that ate cat food because she spent all her Social Security $$ on gambling.

She was leaving today to go home, so when we went to the casino she drove her own car. Mitch and I played, lost our $$ and said our goodbyes to her at 1:30 this afternoon, she was going to play longer, cause she was winning. I got a phone call at 6pm to say that she would be spending the night again, cause she was still at the casino gambling and had worked her way up to about $150. Man I would be cashing out!! The most I've ever won at a casino was $46. Like I say I'm not much of a gambler. Will be interesting to see what she comes home with.

Merry Christmas!!!

Well it is finally over. After all the rush and build up, we had a brief frenzy of tearing into packages, a longer time spent cleaning up the mess we made, and a wonderful dinner that left us all stuffed and sleepy!!

I got a great gift from the kids this year, a new digital camera! I had been complaining about my old one, so DH and Braeden went and bought me one! It isn't an SLR, which I have been lusting after, but hey I'll take it!!! it is an Olympus SP-350 8 megapixel. Very tiny! Now I need to read the manual, which is a little scary because it comes on a CD-ROM!!

They gave it to me on Christmas Eve, so I could have it ready to play with on Christmas morning. Here are some pictures I took of the Christmas tree with all the presents around it.

Best laid plans....

Well I had great intentions of getting some handmade things made for christmas, but I only ended up getting one thing made :( I'll have to post a picture after I can get to the other computer. It is an altered picture frame, and I used the papers from the January Altered kit at Scrap Addict.

One of these days, I won't bite off more than I can chew and stress myself out. One of these days I'll learn :)

Comments

Okay, I love it when people comment on my blog. However, I have yet to figure out how to reply to them. So, please don't quit commenting just because I don't respond, I'm riding the blogging short bus, but I'll figure it out eventually.

So, Carolyn, I will answer your question here. Sudoku is a number puzzle game. To quote Wikipedia

Sudoku (Japanese: 数独, sūdoku), sometimes spelled Su Doku, is a logic-based placement puzzle, also known as Number Place in the United States. The aim of the canonical puzzle is to enter a numerical digit from 1 through 9 in each cell of a 9×9 grid made up of 3×3 subgrids (called "regions"), starting with various digits given in some cells (the "givens"). Each row, column, and region must contain only one instance of each numeral. Completing the puzzle requires patience and logical ability. Although first published in 1979, Sudoku initially caught on in Japan in 1986 and attained international popularity in 2005.

These are what the puzzles look like:


I know, I'm a geek I also love logic problems.

Those were the days...

I loved it when I could hold Santa over Brett and Emma's head. You better be nice, Santa is watching, you don't want to be on the naughty list do you?? But this year, for some reason, even though they believe in Santa, the Santa blackmail just isn't working this year. I know, it is terrible to blackmail/bribe your kids, but I'm sorry to say, it is definitely in my parental arsenal! And before it was in my parental arsenal, it was part of my babysitting kit, and that leads me to a story....

I used to babysit for my neice Christi (who is now an RN, married with 2 boys). I told her one time to go and clean her room, of course she didn't want to. I told her if she would clean her room then when she was done I'd give her ice cream. She put her hands on her hips and screamed down the hall at me "That's blabbery!!"

So I guess I need to invent some more creative "blabbery" to use on my kiddos!

I've been tagged

Annette (pixleyyy) decided to tag me, so here goes.

The rules for this particular tagging are as follows:

Remove the blog name in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add yourself to the bottom slot.
1. Courtney
2. Beth
3. Deanna (View of Life)
4. A Scrap of Life (Annette)
5. Creative Chaos (Kim J)

Then you get to select five people to pass the love on to.
1. Jen
2. Lacey
3. Carolyn
4. Heather
5. Astra

Now, on to the questions!

What were you doing 10 years ago? Getting ready to move to Guam

What were you doing one year ago? Going through my 1st Christmas without my Mom

Five snacks you enjoy:
1. chocolate
2. pizza
3. Nachos
4. cashews
5. Chocolate covered cherries

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
1. Don't Stop Believing - Journey
2. You're My Jamaica - Charlie Pride
3. Jingle Bells
4. Happy Birthday
5. Feliz Navidad

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
1. Pay all my and my family's bills
2. Set the kids up for college, send some of my nieces and nephews also
3. Travel
4. Buy my dream home or homes.
5. Sponsor a family for a year.

Five bad habits:
1. Too much time on the computer
2. yelling
3. Not folding the laundry
4. Shopping just to shop
5. Not exercising

Five things you like doing:
1. Scrapbooking
2. Listening to music
3. Having a fun day with the family
4. reading books
5. Sudoku

Five things you would never wear, buy, or get new again:
1. SPANDEX!!!
2. overalls
3. short skirts
4. bell bottoms
5. super-high heels

Five favorite toys:
1. computer
2. scrapbook goodies
3. CD Player
4. printer
5. camera

Save as draft

See that handy option when you are writing your posts for your blog?? I use it way to much, and then forget to publish the darn things!! I write something, and then save it as draft so that I might have time for some witty inspiration to hit and make the darn thing actually worth reading. Does that ever happen?? NO!! So if you wonder why 3 posts show up at once, that is the explanation!

Anyway, today I woke up at 1:30 am coughing and couldn't go back to sleep. So I layed on the couch and read and coughed and drank orange juice. I know I'm going to pay for it dearly tonight! I feel worse today than I have, my throat is very sore and I can't hardly talk. I still have to work, take Emma to Pre-School, take Braeden to driving class, finish 81 handmade cards, write a christmas letter, print out family pictures, finish my altered SA assignment, and get packages ready to mail.
No rest for the weary... or sick.

Feeling Poorly

Bought Mitch his animated lit doe and buck decorations for the house that he wanted. One of Braeden's friends told him it looks like Christmas threw up on our yard. LOL. We do have a lot of lights, but I also think they stand out more because our street has no lights.

Mitch and I both are feeling worse instead of better. It is all I can do to get stuff that I HAVE to do done, like feeding the kids. I've been working on my FABULOUS altered kit assignment for Scrap Addict, but between coughing and blowing my nose I'm not getting much accomplished. Hope Felicia won't fire me for being late, cause I know I'm missing this deadline. Felicia if you are reading this, before you fire me, remember that I made your blog banner ;)

Not strep

Took Emma to the Dr., they did a culture, but he doesn't think it is strep because she doesn't have a rash. After the appt. I took her to work with me. I work for a family owned well drilling business, and the office is in the basement of their house, right off the family room. The owners are in Atlanta at a convention, and everyone else works out in the field, so their son Chad, said to just bring her with and she could watch TV while I worked. Worked out well, she colored and did pretty good for the almost 4 hours we were there.

Times like this I miss my Mom....

I miss my Mom, all the time, but times like this I miss her even more. I was always calling her and asking her so many questions, and I hate not being able to do that anymore.

Emma has a sore throat, it started on Sunday and has gotten worse to the point where she has little voice left and won't talk because it hurts. It was very quiet around here yesterday with her only nodding or shaking her head or gesturing to try and get her point across.

If my Mom were here, I could ask her what I could do to help make Emma's throat better and she would know some home remedy that would actually work. I guess if when she wakes up this morning, she still has no voice, I will try and get her into see the Dr., just to make sure she doesn't have strep. Also, Mitch and I have come down with a cold too, so it isn't so fun in the Jones household right now.

Do any of you have any great words of wisdom on how to make Emma's throat feel better? She won't take any sort of cough drop, says they burn.

Christmas Lights!!

Our family portraits turned out great! We went to The Picture People and they have them printed and ready for you in an hour! So now I have pictures to send out with my Christmas cards!

On the to do list today is getting the holiday letter written and getting all the addresses in the computer and labels printed out for those receiveing Christmas cards from us this year - and there are a lucky 167 this year.

Mitch bought more Christmas lights yesterday and put them up. Our neighbor, Paul, called and said that Sea-Tac airport called and wanted to know why we had runway lights up in Kingston, that the pilots were getting confused! LOL, Paul is a character! But Mitch still isn't finished! On my to do list is now 2 lit animated deer and a 25 foot extension cord!!

All of our Christmas shopping is finished - except for stocking stuffers. The kids each chose a name from The Angel Tree and bought items that their child needed and wanted for Christmas. They got to choose, and I hope that it reinforced to them that they are so very blessed and they should share those blessings with others.

Braeden is in basketball again this year, in the Parks & Rec league. Saturday was his first game, and I wanted to attend. His coach this year is much for focused on actually teaching them some basketball basics rather than just fun, so I was hoping to see a lot of improvement in Braeden's game. I didn't get to go to the game though, as I was staying home making sure that our dog was okay. While Mitch was out putting up Christmas lights, she got out of the house and got grazed by a car. She seems to be fine, but we didn't want to leave her alone.

So Braeden went to the game with his friend Nathan's family and they won! Hooray Poulsbo #2!!!

Time now to get the family up and get them ready for family pictures today!!

Christmas Parties

Mitch and I attended our work Christmas parties last night. He attended his, and I attended mine LOL.

Mine was held at a great waterfront restaurant called The Boat Shed. Food was great, and it was nice to meet all my fellow workers. I only work 3 days a week, 3 hours a day, and they all work in the field, so even though I've been with Gresham Well Drilling for almost a year, I hadn't met most of them. The Gresham family is a wonderful family and I enjoy working for them.

Mitch's party met at the Clearwater Casino for pre-dinner drinks and then was bussed to the lodge where their party was held. Mitch said the food was good, but he was still hungry when we met up after our parties were over - so we headed to Mitzels and he ate again!

Friday!!!

I love Friday! Even though I no longer work a regular 9-5 job, Friday still is something special. The day when it is okay to unwind a bit, and just do something just to do something.

Tonight we will have a movie fest. DH is a big movie buff, and the rest of the family loves them too. On tap for tonight is Dukes of Hazzard, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Fantastic Four.

I'll review them after we have watched them!

Christmas spirit

This time of the year, there are those that are filled with Christmas Spirit. Sad to say that I ain't one of them, unless the spirit is Rum.

When I was a kids, I reveled in all things Christmas. It was a joy to shop for the perfect present for friends and family. I loved decorating for Christmas, and one memorable year, made little stockings out of construction paper that had every person in my family's name on them. Considering I am the youngest of 8 and my siblings are quite some older than me, and already had kids of their own - that was quite the undertaking!

Now, as an adult, I guess that I am all caught up in the Have To Do's, and that has pushed the joy of Christmas aside. I think it gets buried under the to buy list, the christmas card list, the baking list, the Christmas menu, and the writing of the holiday letter.

I don't know how to change that, and believe me I have tried. How do you find the joy in Christmas???

Who is your Harry Potter love match?

Found this quiz on my good friend Jen's blog


Harry Potter
You crave your own knight in shining armour: the
guy who will swoop in and save you, and manage
to be a sweet lover and good dad all at the
same time. You are the girl he's fighting for!


Who is your Harry Potter love match? (for girls)
brought to you by Quizilla

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We decorated our Christmas tree tonight. It is a new artificial one that is pre-lit. Brett (7) actually is the one that put the tree together on Sunday while everyone else was busy doing other things - he did such a great job!! Mitch had to put the very top piece on, but Brett did all the bending of the limbs to make it look full!!

We put the Holiday XM station on our DirecTV, turned off all the lights except for the tree and had fun. We sang along with the songs we knew and it was very nice just being with the kids and doing that. Mitch was at a work function, so he wasn't home for it.

The kids posed for these pictures, and I tried to get a good picture of the tree, but my camera is ready for the junk heap.

On a side note, see the empty cardboard wreath behind the TV?? We were talking on Scrap Addict about how you display your Christmas cards that you receive. I have used that wreath since before Mitch and I were married, you put the cards in the little upside down 1/2 moon shapes and it fills the wreath. I usually save the previous years cards and put them in there so it isn't just empty :)

What kind of freaky mama are you??

I was blog hopping, and came across this quiz, kind of a fun one - sometimes I just need to take a break and do something mindless for awhile. This moment is brought to you by the stress of Christmas shopping!!


You're a girl power mommy! You love to be girly,
but you're no pushover. Your kids are learning
that gender differences don't have to mean
gender inequality. You've taken back pink, and
you don't care who knows it!


What kind of a freaky mother are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Christmas Survey

I was visiting Carolyn's blog and she had this on there, so I honored her request to answer the questions.

Do you celebrate Christmas? Yes
What are your favorite "holiday" colors? Ice blue and silver
Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night
Favorite Christmas movie? It's a Wonderful Life
Favorite Christmas cartoon? Santa Claus is coming to Town
Real tree or artificial? Artificial
Special family traditions? Christmas PJ's
Travel or stay home? Stay at home
Does Santa wrap presents? Yes
Do you do an advent calendar?No
Do you send Christmas cards? Store bought or handmade? letter? Pictures?
Over 100 xmas cards, usually handmade with a holiday letter and family picture to family and good friends.
What do you put in stockings? Small gifts and candy
Typical holiday meal? Prime Rib, baby red potatoes, rolls, deviled eggs.
Are you done shopping yet? Not done.
Have you started? Yep have a fairly good start.

My wife went to the ballet and all I got was....

this truck! This is what DH and the boys were doing while Emma and I were at the ballet. Truck shopping.

DH had a 2004 Dodge Ram Quad Cab 4 X 4 with a Hemi, and we LOVED it, until about 13,000 miles were on it and it began to have a stalling problem. 12,000 miles later and countless trips to the Dodge dealerships service department, they still hadn't fixed the problem, and were actually trying off the wall stuff - just to see. So basically since they were just throwing parts at it to see if they stuck, we decided it was time to jump ship.

This is a 2006 Honda Ridgeline. Better gas mileage than the Dodge, more room in the interior for the rug rats, and more reliable. I hate to say it, but we have had no luck with the American companies when it comes to their rigs - so now I have 3 Honda's and a Toyota parked in my driveway.

The Ballet

We had a very enjoyable day! We went early to McCaw Hall in Seattle, and ate at the Impromptu Cafe there and browsed the gift shop. Ruth (our neighbor) Emma and I, also had our picture taken with the Nutcracker, can't wait until they come in the mail. Emma looked so beautiful in her dress!! Don't you think??



There are more pictures from the ballet in the Flickr badge on the right side of the page.

The performance was beautiful. One of the dancers played a peacock and she was so graceful and beautiful. I was suprised at the amount of noise their toe shoes make as they move across the floor - it was a bit distracting. Guess I'd never thought about that part of it, only thought how graceful they looked.

Emma was great during the whole thing, and said it was the greatest day of her life! Of course before we left for the ballet, she said that she couldn't wait for the popcorn, and I had to explain to her that it wasn't like the movies LOL.

1 step forward, 2 steps back

Why does it seem like everything I do ends up taking soo long?? Things that I think will be a breeze, end up taking forever and things I put off as being too hard, I breeze right through? Why is that?

I bought new phones, so we would have more handsets through the house (I programmed them with a Merry Xmas ring tone to try and get me in the holiday mood) and the new phones don't come with an answering machine. No problem, I thought, cause I have voice mail bundled in with my phone service. So I call their 800 number for instructions, as I was instructed to on their website. She tells me the # and my temporary password, I'm on the phone with her like 30 seconds, after my 15 minute on hold time. So I try, and her instructions don't work. DAMN! So back to the phone I go, this time I get a human after only 6 minutes - and she checks and tells me, oh we set up your account wrong, it isn't anything you did, I'll put in a request and they have 3 business days to get to it, so check back late TUESDAY night. So I now have to go until Tuesday evening before having some sort of answering machine. No big deal, but frustrating!!!

We have tickets to see the Pacific Northwest Ballet perfom The Nutcracker tomorrow, and Emma is sick today. I hope she feels better by tomorrow, cause the tickets are non transferrable and non refundable. I've already had to cancel our family photo session this evening because she isn't feeling well, and am missing a day of work. I hope it turns out to by a little 24 hour thing.

And the survey says!

Found this on another blog - thought it was a fun one - so here goes. If you read this, then you need to answer it on your blog and let me know you did!!

1. When was the last time you went to the bathroom outside? Wow, that has been a long time ago, when we were camping I think! Although last week we were stuck in traffic and I was tempted to make a run for the bushes!

2. When was the last time you saw one of your parents? I saw my Pops at Thanksgiving.

3. Which family member do you most resemble? Hard one, don't think I really look like any of them.

4. Do you wear cologne/perfume? NO. DH hasn't bought me any in a long time.

5. Do you wear deodorant? Of course!!

6. Do you ‘clean up nice’? Hmm, I do okay, but I'll never be on America's Next Top Model.

7. When was the last time you tripped and fell? Just before vacation 2 summers ago. Fell off the porch - was very embarassing.

8. where was the last place you slept besides your home? At my sister Janet's house over Thanksgiving.

9. What are you listening to right now? The kids chattering.

10. Have you ever started an uncontrollable fire? No.

11. Ever run out of gas on the road? When I was a teenager, had a 1960 Nash Rambler convertible and the gas gauge didn't work.

12. Would you rather cut the grass or rake the leaves? Cut the grass - raking leaves is too much work!

13. Your name spelled backwards. mik

14. What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer? Some fonts and digital scrapping stuff I bought to make my blog banner

15. Last time you swam in a pool. Over a year ago.

16. Have you ever been in a school play? Yes, in high school. It was Hello Dolly, I think.

17. How many kids do you want? I have the exact amount that I always wanted - 3.

18. Type of music you dislike most? Rap and classical

19. Are you registered to vote? Yes.

20. Do you have cable? No, DirecTV.

21. Ever prank call anybody? Yeah, when I was way young.

22. Best friends? Mitch.

23. Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving? I think I'd rather do sky diving.

24. Do you have a garden? No, I have a black thumb.

25. What’s your favorite comic strip? Hmm, never read them - but have fond memories of Garfield.

26. Bath or Shower, morning or night? Showe in the morning. Baths only to soak, not to clean.

27. Best movie you’ve seen in the past month? I liked Stealth.

28. Favorite pizza topping? Pepperoni

29. Chips or popcorn? Chips, popcorn gets stuck in my teeth.

30. What color lipstick do you usually wear? Pale pink gloss.

31. Have you ever smoked peanut shells? Man I am out of the loop, never heard of doing this.

32. Orange Juice or apple? Orange

33. Favorite type of chocolate bar? Plain ole Hershey Milk Chocolate bar.

34. When was the last time you voted at the polls? I've never gone to a polling place to vote, always do the mail in vote - now the whole county has gone to mandatory mail in voting.

35. Last time you ate a homegrown tomato? I hate raw tomatoes - so never.

36. Are you a good cook? I get by, I like to bake more than cook and I'm not real adventurous, more a meat and potatoes kind of cook :)

37. Ever order anything from an infomercial? Nope, been tempted a few times though.

38. Sprite or 7-up? Sprite

39. Have you ever had to wear a uniform to work? Not an actual uniform, but black pants, white shirt, and red bow tie with a red apron when I waitressed at a Chinese restaurant.

40. Ever thrown up in public? Not than I can willingly remember.

41. Would you prefer being a millionaire or find true love? True love with a millionaire :) LOL.

42. Do you believe in love at first sight? A spark of recognition, but I think love blooms over time.

43. Can ex’s be friends? Depends on the ex's and the circumstances. Would be weird at first, but can't we all just get a long.

44. Who was the last person you visited in a hospital? My Mom during her lung biopsy.

45. Did you have a lot of hair as a baby? I don't know, but probably, I have a lot now.

46. What message is on your answering machine? The generic robot voice pre-programmed one.

47. What do you think about most? Scrapping

Snow

That is the view from my front door today. We are at sea level, and we rarely get snow, yet here it is! Started about 11:30 this morning and just quit at 4:30, so will be gone by morning I'm sure. The kids loved seeing it snow and even played in it a bit. It is only 34 degrees outside right now - brrrr.