Is it New Year's yet?

Has it been 12 days since I posted? I'm slipping! So much to do before Christmas - all secretive and un-blogable (did I just make that word up?). That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Christmas was wonderful. Best food ever and I made myself sick-literally. It was either the potatoes or the stuffed french toast. Both were awesome, but rich. It was early afternoon before the nausea died down. Mom said we had 16 people for brunch this year. I left around 5pm (Sadie isn't allowed to attend on Christmas Day and she needed to be let out and fed).

I am doing the online personals again. This time with a service that makes you pay. I figure if they are too cheap to pay $20 a month who needs them? I mean, it costs that much for a movie!

I am painting my kitchen - again. Aqua, Yellow and white. I know, crazy sounding color scheme, but so far I have the aqua and yellow on and I love the aqua. I am hoping the white will soften up the yellow, right now it is too brash. I am still itching to tear it all down to the studs. This would make me feel great until I got hungry. My compromise idea, and still a possibility, is to move the fridge to the carport wall and tear out the top half (shelves) and the current fridge wall.

Any way, I will take photos and let you decide!

Just wanted to get something on the page since it has been so long!

Season's Greetings!

Sunday - Bright and beautiful

Wow...that weekend went by quickly. I spent yesterday baking dog biscuits at my parents. My oven is 1/2 size and only has one rack. And mom has grandma's old mixer. It made quicker work, but it was still 3-4 hours non stop. I was too tired to cook my own meal, so mom gave me some leftover spagetti and I made very short work of it. :) Then I collapsed on the couch. Mom and Dad went to the ABC for tree decorating and pizza.

Sunday more of the same, making Nuts n Bolts for gifts. Making goulash for lunches this week, laundry, and garbage. Domestic stuff. Unfortunately, I don't feel rested and don't like starting the work week that way. We received a lot of fluffy snow and bright sunshine, which of course means it was cold cold cold!

Nuff for now...Survivor finale is on now and I have money on it! We have a drawing at work and I have Courtney left. But I am routing for Denise. I am always routing for the underdog!

Friday

It's Friday and that means a short, but tiring day for me. I am teaching and that always tires me out. I conducted trainings last Tuesday and that wiped me out too. I really don't know how teachers can do it every day!

Tomorrow, I have reserved my mom's kitchen and mixer for baking more dog treats. Sadie's Christmas list is longer than mine! I am running to Save-a-Lot this afternoon for supplies. She is giving out Nuts n Bolts and dog treats to all her friends and playmates this year.

I will let you know how the baking endeavor goes! Maybe I will post Sadie's favorite recipe. :)

Sadie's Playdate with Stella

As I write this, there is a rain/snow mix falling outside. Our UPS driver has warned us that the roads are getting bad.

The playdate last night was a rousing success. Sadie's guest was Stella, a collie that was found as a stray wandering around in downtown Roscommon. I had forgotten to ask if she was okay with cats before her owner dropped her off. Well, apparently, she had a run in with another cat and was afraid of cats as a result.

Obviously, her previous encounter was interferring with her fun. Stella wouldn't go near Mister and was standing in the kitchen keeping a watchful eye on him. Finally, I tempted her closer with treats. After that, they played "ring around the couch" and "tug of war" until they fell down in exhaustion. I laughed until I cried just watching them! Most of the pictures are brown blurs, but a few came out.

Sadie slept like a log the rest of the evening and I received a similar report about Stella this morning.

Before and After

I have been so busy this week that I went to bed at 8:15 last night. I did a training for staff yesterday and that always wipes me out. I have to wonder what they will do without me! :)

Last Sunday, the family went to Cari's for a "tour of improvements" and ended up staying for a few hours and playing nickle tonk...yeah, it was my Mom's idea, how did you guess? See the nice green wall in the background? Cari has really done a lot in a short period of time, as you can see in the photo above. The top photos are before. What you can't see in the pictures is the awesome closet organizer she put in her bedroom closet, the horse and buggy are down from the shed, and the laundry room is empty. She actually decided to keep the "death desk" as we call it. After the funeral pictures were removed from under the glass top it looks normal! Of course, it needs a good cleaning.

Sadie ran all over the neighborhood and had a good time. Cari is on a dead end road, so I am not worried about traffic and the county does not enforce leash or blight ordinances. I slap her hunter orange knitted collar on her and let her go!

Tonight I am dogsitting for a co-worker's dog. Her name is Stella and she is a goofy collie mix. I am looking forward to this "play date". Maybe I will have photos later to share. I am not worried about them getting along.

If you have been trying to send an email to my dad at his M33 address and getting it returned, it is because he dropped that ISP and switched to Charter. He is very happy with it, but I don't think he has activated his new email account yet. Nor does he seemed to worried about it. He is downloading and watching movies from Netflix and carrying the new laptop all over the house to watch them. He has wi-fi now!

Okay, Traci, if you are finished reading this, you have to go back to work now! LOL

K-zoo Weekend

Great fun last weekend in Kalamazoo!

We hit two yarn stores on Saturday and I only spend $15 total. This has to be some kind of record. I really wanted to just check them out after reading about them online at Ravelry.com - this is an online yarn community - awesome too. So awesome there is a waiting list several week's long. I liked both of the stores for different reasons. We went to an organic grocery store and picked up some snacks. I bought some liquid glucosmine - tastes like cough syrup! Yuck. But hearing my knees while carrying a box up from Kristi's basement, I figure it is long overdue so I will grimace and bear it!

We ate at the Texas Corral. You throw your peanut shells on the floor and they had the best chili burger I have ever had - even in Texas!

Then the hockey game was a huge hit for me. I have never been to one. Kristi provided answers I could understand to my FAQs. I never got over my fear of getting hit by a flying puck, but I loved it when they smashed into the boards/glass. It was a visceral sound I could feel in my chest. Way cool! No fights! The weather was bad, freezing rain, so we left at the beginning of the third period. Western lost to Ferris 3-2.

Sunday we spent slaving over a hot oven (not really, it felt good) and watching the nasty weather from the comfort of the warm house. Kristi decorated her tree and I watched. :) We baked four kinds of dog biscuits and the taste testers gave them rave reviews.

The ride home on Monday morning was interesting. Basically, it was fine until I hit the Roscommon County line. Then it was icy and so windy I was almost blown in the ditch! It took awhile for my heart to return to normal after that. By the time I was at the first Higgins lake exit, I was hardly able to see ahead of me. Sadie was glad to be home and I was happy to take a nap on the couch while it snowed and blew outside. I was awakened by Sadie's manic barking at the arrival of the the guy plowing out my driveway. The rest of the evening was uneventful, knitting and snacking (bad Teri) and sharing the couch with my warm, furry roomies.