doubly happy!

It's going to snow tonight! woohoo! Aaaaaand Rudolph is on ~ in HD! What could be better than that?!?!?!?!?! I might have to stop on the way home and get some Bryers Butter Pecan ice cream. My night is going to be close to perfect. Yesssss.

Over the weekend I finished my last paying customers' quilled art;

She thought it was wonderful :-) Hooray! Now I can go back to my own stuff. I think I'm going to do one that I can hang in my cube, where people can see it. You know...exposure.

Gobble, gobble, oh, never mind

Thanksgiving has passed now. I hope y'all had a lovely day eating too much and spending time with your families. We did for sure. Except, I'm SO tired of being sick...again! Good grief, how many colds can you catch in one season?! Grrrr. And how much snot can your head hold anyway? Sorry, but it's amazing to me.

Did you shop yesterday? I only went out on Black Friday once, that was enough. But there were some really great deals out there! Best Buy had some on-line only deals on Thursday, one of which was computer...that Mom bought!! Hooray! I was so excited for her. She's had her current pc for almost 7 years. Unheard of these days. It's finally winding down and ready to crash any second. She'll be a lot happier on-line now :-) Then, you won't believe this, she went out shopping yesterday! MY Mom, who HATES crowds, went out shopping! Whoa. She was super duper happy to get the last pair of lighted reindeer for her yard. She loves yard art. Then on a whim, she decided to hit Best Buy before she went home. They had a TV we were looking at for her, at a great price. They didn't have any left in the store but the helper dude checked the warehouse and found one for her. Holy bananas! Now she's getting a new HD TV too!!!! Yup, it was a pretty good day for da mama yesterday. I can't wait to get her all set up.

We didn't do anything yesterday. Well, I slept almost the whole day. I feel better today. Oh, we went to see the Vienna Boys Choir last night. They were awesome. I want to know how they get a bunch of little boys to behave, to remain disciplined and motivated. They were pretty cute and you just can't believe that the sounds you're hearing are human voices.

I'm going out today, but not for super sale things. We need another coffee maker. We have terrible luck with coffee makers. And then it's off to HOBBY LOBBY!  Yesssssssss. Then home to decorate -  Christmas here I come!

Thanksgiving humor

I really had to search for some good Thanksgiving cartoons! Poor Thanksgiving, so snubbed.

This next vintage ad made me smile;

The best for last;



gobble gobble!

What a gloomy weekend it was. Blah. I got a lot done but it would have been nicer if there had been sunshine coming in the windows.

Last week I put some leftover pecan pieces (from a cheesball I made) out in the bird feeder. Apparently wood peckers really like nuts. And they want to tell all their peers where the nuts are. We have a whole new variety of birds at our feeder now.  It's really cool.
We have Downy Woodpeckers; (by the way, I didn't take any of these pictures)

And a Red Bellied Woodpecker;

a Nuthatch

these cute little chirpers, called a tufted titmouse

the state bird of course;

These little wrens, which end up in our sun room all the time;

blue jays;

and my favorite little winter bird, chickadees!

Plus, all the sparrows and doves. Bill and I, separately have even seen a hawk sitting on the back fence. Picking off the squirrels I hope! Maybe I'll become a bird watcher when I retire :-)

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

Would it be Thanksgiving if you weren’t thankful for anything? You must be thankful for something? I am. As a matter of fact, here’s my annual list;

Let’s start this year with all of life’s daily blessings ~ a source of income, a place to hang your hat at the end of the day, a car to get you where you want to be, a closet full of clothes and really comfy shoes, a cupboard full of food, good health. If you have all of those things, you have enough. I have enough. I have more than my share actually.

Now let’s move on to the really BIG things!

I’m immensely grateful that my husband will celebrate his one year anniversary cancer free, on December 8th! AND, my Mom celebrated 3 years cancer free!
Yep, that chalks it up for me, see ya next year.

No, no, just kidding. It’s just so hard to believe that there’s anything else I could be grateful for. Surprisingly though, there is still a long list of things to be grateful and thankful for;

Dogs - Nobody should be without one - or 2 (or 3? c'mon, please honey?)
Cafeteria style mac and cheese – OK, so I’m dork. It's my guilty pleasure and I know you have your own.
New hobbies – I LOVE quilling!!! I think everyone else loves my new hobby too ;-)
Aleve – the best ever! for achy muscles.
My dentist – even though I have the most expensive mouth this side of the mighty Miss, I still love my dentist for never being the cause of my pain.
Spinach artichoke dip from Costco – I’m not a gourmet food kind of gal (evidenced by the mac and cheese comment above, but this stuff is scrumptious!)
Relpax – that’s the miracle migraine medicine – whew.
½ caf coffee – because as I’ve gotten older, I just can’t live on caffeine and cigarettes anymore.
…speaking of…NOT smoking – It’s been over 3 years now.
Homemade Saki from the Ozarks – mmmmm yummy! Don't laugh...the Ozarks are beautiful and filled with interesting and colorful folks.
My desktop fan at work – lordy those hot flashes suck!
Cheerful people.
Ugg boots in the winter.
Four seasons – Hyacinths, sunny days, sparkly snow and especially autumn.
Music – still lovin’ my MP3 player, filled with a wide range of tunes. Some of which actually make me wiggle in my chair.
E-mail jokes and videos that make me laugh out loud.
Books - lots of them. The heavy kind with paper pages. I know you might love your e-reader but for now I'm sticking with the traditional version.
Knott’s Berry Farm Boysenberry syrup. I couldn’t have pancakes without it!

I'm thankful for the constant love of my husband and family. Not always easy I know, but always worth it!

And I am profoundly thankful every day for this beautiful adventure that is life. Complete with all its ups and downs, setbacks and lessons learned, sadness, joys, good times and silliness. How about you? What are you thankful for?

Life is good.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

blog worthy

In case you missed these...


First up;

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/british-rugby-player-chris-birch-2005-stroke-turned-gay-article-1.974551

If you don't have time to read it, it's about a guy who suffered a stroke and "came out" on the other side, gay. Uh huh.

Next;

Updated: Sep 26, 2011 4:13 AM EDT
Moderator: So you get this entire group of actors together -- what was rehearsal like?

WASHINGTON - Some companies are still trying to figure out how far they can go in limiting what employees say about work online in the age of Twitter and Facebook.

Confusion about what workers can or can't post has led to a surge of more than 100 complaints at the National Labor Relations Board - most within the past year - and created uncertainty for businesses about how far social media policies can go.

Michael Eastman, labor law policy director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, says employers are struggling to figure out what the right policies are and what they should do when these cases arise.

The labor board's acting general counsel, Lafe Solomon, says federal law permits employees to talk about their jobs and working conditions with co-workers without reprisal.

So the point of this article is, employers want to retaliate against you if you diss the company you work for, the job you do, or your co-workers, on Face Book. I'm not crazy about the whole social media thing and the immediacy of it but, you have a right to say what ever you want.

Next, along those lines;

Brett Ratner was hired to produce the Oscars next year. He stepped down after being harshly criticized for what the media described as a homophobic slur. The content of the offensive slur follows;

Moderator: So you get this entire group of actors together -- what was rehearsal like?

Ratner: Rehearsal? What’s that? Rehearsal’s for fags. Rehearsal. Not much. A lot of prep, preparation, complex action sequences, visual effects. Storyboards, animatics. The process was I made the actors stick to the script. And they wanted to, because the script was great.

So, I looked up the definition of homophobic and it says, noun: unreasoning fear of or antipathy toward homosexuals and homosexuality. Do YOU see that feeling expressed in what Ratner said? Me either. It's just an expression. It didn't mean anything. Perhaps he could have chosen his wording a little better but, FREE SPEECH people! I used to call my little brother queer when were kids. He hated that. That doesn't make me homophobic. And even if he is homophobic and outwardly expresses his feelings, so what! Aren't we entitled to our own opinions and feelings?? What if I don't like you because you're a jerk, who happens to be gay. Does that make me anti gay? He also offended a lot of people with his antics on the Howard Stern program. Again, see above. And besides that, if you listen to Howard Sterns program, don't you expect vulgarity and the like? Duh. I don't like Howard Stern so I don't listen, hence, I don't give a shit what Ratner said on Howard Sterns program. He probably made it up for ratings anyway.

I'm done now.

Lots going on!

What a nice 4 day weekend we had!

We got sooo much accomplished at my Moms. We put a wall up above the fireplace, sanded and painted. It really brightens up the room without a whole brick wall. And my handyman put up a new wall around her vanity area too. Oh, and installed a new toilet! Bill said it seems like she's spending a lot of money but she had a really good point...when she was in the condo her association fees were $190 a month. She's not paying that anymore! That's a good way to look at it.

I got A LOT of quilling done - one whole project as a matter of fact. My 2nd paying customer :-) He saw this one;

And asked me if I would make one for him for a Christmas gift for his sister. I said of course. I started with this;

But then I had to scratch it. The letters were so close together that unless you were looking at it straight on, it was all a blur. Phooey! So I went with this instead;

Much better. Whew. Here's the final product;

He said she's kind of whimsical. I hope he likes it!

I have one more paying project to do so my project has been put aside...but here it is so far;

And on top of all that, I cleaned out 3 closets and filled up 5 trash bags full of clothes for Good Will.

I'm REALLY going to enjoy being retired!

football

I'm not really a football fan but man was this ever FUNNEEEE!!!

Indianapolis - A seven-year old boy was at the center of a Marion County courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulation requiring that family unity be maintained to the highest degree possible.


The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried and said that they also beat him.

After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.

After two recesses to check legal references and confer with the child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Indianapolis Colts Football Team, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.

Have mercy.

leaf season

I love Autumn. I know you know that. Really though, isn't it beautiful?
Here in the mid-west we're just finishing up with leaf season. The man I bagged up 21 fifty five gallon bags of leaves Saturday. It was a perfect day weather wise. Blue, blue skies and not a single cloud, upper 60's, ahhhhhhhh. Today it's very blustery out there. Everywhere you look it's raining leaves. I love that! I guess by this weekend we'll be done with the raking and bagging.

Yesterday was election day...did you vote? We didn't have to vote in our city - no one was running against any of the incumbents. Isn't that the craziest thing? So I had a nice day off to do nothing. I didn't do nothing but it was still a nice day off. I'm also taking tomorrow off, which will make it another 4 day weekend for me. Yessssss! The man is taking both those days off as well. And he still has soooo many vacation days he's going to loose, his boss is making him take 3 more days the week of Thanksgiving. Geez. I better start making him a list of things to do :-)

Oh ok...

...I'll catch up...

Let's see, The wind symphony was nice. I was hoping for scary music but it was mostly Star Wars, Toy Story, some music from Wicked and some new composer. Really though, for the cost of a movie, you can go to the symphony! I think that's pretty great.

Footloose was A LOT of fun. I love that some of the songs they kept, they gave a modern twist. That was cool. They could have changed it a little more but it stuck pretty close to the original. Willard was the best character! Sooo funny. And I got some baskets for the craft section of my Library/craft room.

Trick or treating at Mom's was delightful. We gave away treats to the bigger kids and little stuffed animals to the little people. It was a big hit! Some of those little kids are just too dang cute! Even the little girl whose mom drove her from house to house. Yeah, only in Carmel would a mom actually drive her kid around. Oh brother.

Then I had a cold/flu for the first part of the week. Yuck. By the time I got back to work for a full day on Thursday, I felt really out of the loop. It's so weird.

This weekend is going to be sunny and dry. Hooray! I see lots of leaf raking in our immediate future. Plus, next weekend we're going to spend a day working at Moms, so I think this weekend we should shop for what what we'll need. Some bathroom fixer upper stuff. It'll be fun. Plus, I really need to get started on the quilling projects I'm getting paid for...tic toc tic toc! OH! Aaaand, the next concert in the bluegrass series is Saturday night - The Del McCoury Band with The Preservation Hall Jazz Band. We've been listening to some of their stuff on youtube...I think it's going to be FUN!

This is the best cartoon!!

It's on my daily calendar for yesterday...I LOVE it!

Soooooo funny!!!!