Sunday, November 29, 2009

November is almost over.....

I can't believe how fast this month...well this year actually...has gone by. So fast. I really don't know that I was that busy to make it pass so quickly. But it has. Tomorrow is the last day of November already. And then before you know it, it will be Christmas. Hubby got the lights up today. I'm sure just about everyone in town who is putting up lights, got them up yesterday or today. The weather was beautiful. I stayed in all day and got 85 Christmas cards finished. **pats self on back** So glad those are done. I only worked on them last weekend while camping, and then finished them today. Now I can start on my craft project. I should be able to get those done in an afternoon. Not much to them, but I have never made them before so could take a minute or two to figure it out :-)
May upload a couple pics when I get them done.
We'll see.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

thppppppp......

I was feeling all guilty for not blogging yet, but no one has even been here, so now I don't feel guilty at all. In fact, since no one has even been here today, I'm not even going to bother trying to come up with anything.
So there.
thpppppppp..............

Friday, November 27, 2009

Turkey Coma

I've been in a Turkey Coma all day. I don't want to think. I really just would rather be home in my warm bed watching a movie. A holiday movie like It's A Wonderful Life, or Elf (you smell like beef and cheese). But instead I am here at work. It's been so quiet today. I have had less than 20 calls. I think everyone is out shopping for socks and toys instead of houses.
Had a great Thanksgiving yesterday. After dinner I went over to my sisters for a little while to visit. My nephew was there with his family. He has the most adorable toddler. I'm sure I have talked about him before, but....you know....turkey coma. Anyway, my nephew was getting his 2 year old to repeat lines from Strange Brew. Such as "Take off you hoser!" and something else about a knob. We were laughing so hard. And then my nephew referred to his son as "The best toy ever." I was laughing so hard that. So funny to call your child a toy. At the time it was so perfect because Richie was being so funny, and we were having so much fun playing with him....just like a little toy! So wrong...and yet too funny to not be true :-)

Thursday, November 26, 2009

I am Thankful for....#01

My Hubby.
My Husband. Mr. Barb_Wa. My Better Half. My Spouse. Daddy.
Robert.
He means the world to me. Yes....I love my kids with every fiber of my being. But they don't always want to do the kinds of things that Robert will do for me.
**get your minds out of the gutter this instant**
Things like.....
♥Have the newspaper on the bed when I wake up on Sunday mornings. Or on Thanksgiving morning. We don't take the paper anymore, so he has to actually go to the store and buy it for me.
♥Do way more things around the house than me and not complain while doing it. There are things he won't do...like change the kitty litter...but he does clean the bathroom. That in itself makes me very thankful :-)
♥He takes me on FANTASTIC vacations. I love Hawaii...but I will remember every minute of our Anniversary trip to Europe forever.....
♥Cook for me every Sunday. When the kids were still at home, I did all of the cooking. Now that it is just the two of us, we don't do a lot of cooking on a daily basis. We're just not that hungry anymore. But every Sunday, he makes me breakfast and cooks dinner. And dang it all anyway....he cooks really well. Makes me kinda jealous....but mostly thankful!
♥Be not only my husband...but my best friend. We really do enjoy the same things. It makes it so much easier to figure out places to go and things to do because we both pretty much love the same stuff. It's either that...or he his great at suppressing his own desires........ Naw....We enjoy the same things!
♥He gets me mochas. He is in fact doing that right now :-)
♥He saves his children. He is in fact doing that right now :-)
Apparently Katie locked herself out of her car when she went to work last night. Robert was at the store when she finished her shift and realized that she left her keys in her car. We have an extra key, so he brought her back here, got her key, and drove her back to work. He does this in nasty Winter weather too. Driving her back and forth to work if it is too bad for her to do it. She does give it a good try though. And she bought chains for her car. And knows how to put them on!
♥He takes care of my mom. He will do the same for her that he does for the kids. Picks her up at 5am to take her to work if it is icy or has snowed overnight. Or he will go to her house when it is 106* and try for 2 hours to get a brand new air conditioner installed and then try to get the dang thing to work. **it was defective** But he does these things with no complaint. He just does it. If mom needs something, he's there.
♥He is loyal to not only his family but also his employer. He has worked for them for something like 31 years. They are the only company he has ever worked for. That doesn't happen much anymore.
♥He volunteers. If someone needs something done for a charity, he is at the top of the list for people to ask for help. A guy that he works with was having difficulty getting people to sign up for a walk. It was getting close to the date of the event and he needed teams. All Robert had to do was send out an email and the guy got his teams....and then some!

I could really just keep going and going. He does so much for not only me, but family, friends, co-workers and the community.
But he has returned with my peppermint mocha.
And for that.....
I am soooooo Thankful.....
**love you**

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

I am Thankful for....#02

My Kidlins. My Adult Kidlins that is.
I have been so lucky to have great kids. I know they're great because a lot of people tell me they are. It's hard for me to really know for sure because they piss me off all the time. OK...maybe not Katie...but Bryan for sure is a constant thorn in my side. Wait a minute.....Why am I thankful again???
:-)
All kidding aside, they are pretty great. They're smart. Smart enough to not tell me during High School when they were doing something that would make me angry. They knew better than to make me angry. I get all green and my clothes rip as my angry muscles burst....OK....I think you get it. Bryan has "confessed" too many things already. Now I just don't want to know. Ugh....don't tell me any more about how when you were in Middle School you used to go to the school roof to skateboard and then jump off when security came. Nope. Don't tell me. I want to stay blissfully unaware of your shenanigans. Katie never did stuff like that. She was too busy. Now I think she is trying to make up for it. Just kidding. Unless you call having a few drinks and singing Karaoke as acts of rebellion. Guess it all depends on the song choice.
They are good kids though. I love em more than chocolate cake. Not a lot more mind you. I'm not stupid. We're talking chocolate cake here. I do love them more than beer. I'm actually not very fond of beer. So I love them waaaaay more than beer!
And maybe....someday... they will get married and have their own families so that I can teach their kids to do stuff like pour soapy water on the kitchen floor and do belly slides. Or poke sticks in their puke to remind them what they had for lunch. I can teach their kids the proper way to stab their sibling in the butt with a letter opener so that it inflicts just enough pain to get the message across without actually causing any damage to the poked buttock. I can teach them that if they write stories in school that are just warped enough to scare the teacher then their parents will have to go talk to the principle.
OH MAN.....
I CAN'T WAIT!!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

I am Thankful for....#03

My Family.
As in my siblings, mom, etc....
Every family has its problems. No one is perfect, therefor no family is ever perfect. And mine is not. But I love them. I don't have a lot of contact with some, others a ton. Such as my mom and my sister Terri. I see them all the time. Some I never see at all. Like my dad....But lets not go there.....
I'm very thankful that I get to spend time with my mom. We try to get together every week for lunch and a movie, or just shopping. I know my mother won't be around forever, so I get in as much time as I can. She really is not old at all, 69. But you just never know. He parents are still alive. They are just the cutest grandparents ever. I really need to make a better effort to see them more. I do have them on my Birthday/Christmas Card list so I send them cards every year. But I need to spend more time with them.
Having lost a sibling makes me so thankful for the three I still have. We don't always agree...but I still love them.

Monday, November 23, 2009

I am Thankful for....#04

My Friends.
But first off....I totally jinxed myself with the last blog. I wrote that Wednesday because I was headed to the beach for the weekend. At the time of writing it I was fine, but then later in the afternoon....not so much. They have been working on refurbishing our front porch at work all summer. They started it, then left it all torn apart while they went off and worked on other stuff. Which kinda pissed us off because people were getting all confused about coming in the back door. Anyway....they were working on it Wednesday and did not get around to installing 3 of the pillars. So one of the guys asked if he could store them overnight in our entry instead of loading them back in the truck and taking them back to the shop. I asked him if they were dry and if they smelled. He said they were dry and that they did not smell. OK. I didn't want to be a bitch and say no. Well he lied. They stunk. They used an oil based paint on them and by the time I left Wednesday night I had a sore throat and my nose was all plugged up. I was like that all weekend at the beach. Sucked. I still feel like crap but I had to work today because Diane is on vacation all week. I could have used a day in bed with meds. But I'll live.....
Back to what I am Thankful for....
Friends.
I have the best friends ever. Seriously...I love my friends. Some I have had for a few years, others for over 30. How great is that? REALLY GREAT!
I even got back in contact with my very first friend from childhood, Christy. I loved getting together with her and talking about old times and what has been going on her life lately. We enjoyed it so much that we thought it would be fun to find all of our old neighborhood friends and plan a get together. So we did. I found everyone, or most of everyone, on Facebook and with only 2 weeks notice they all showed up for pizza and laughs. It was so much fun. We decided to have a big get together next summer with all the families and have a big old neighborhood BBQ. Can't wait!
I also love that I still talk to so many of my friends from school. They mean so much to me, and I am so grateful that they are still in my life. I meet Jenny and Beth for lunch all the time. I get to see Annie when she comes into town. And now that she is on Facebook I can keep up with her doings more! She is one busy bee!
And I have my camping friends. These are friends of both hubby and mine. Couples. They are all so much fun to camp with. We didn't camp as much this year, at least I don't think we did. Maybe its just because there was such a gap in the last time we went out. July until November. Big gap. I had fun this weekend, but since I was fighting this cold/paint reaction whatever it was, it was not as fun as it could have been. I tried really hard to not think about how crappy I felt, but sometimes it just got the better of me. Except the day we went to tour the Rogue Brewery. I sucked it up, and then drank beer. I'm not a big beer fan, but they had an Orange Honey Wheat that was really really good. Too bad it was only on tap. I would have bought some. Well...I could have filled a growler. But that's a lot of beer to drink. But it was yummy. And I am now a Citizen of the Rogue Nation! I have the card to prove it!
Sorry....I am really off track today.
Friends. Yes...I am so lucky to have so many friends that mean the world to me. If you are reading this...then count yourself in there as one of my friends who are so very important in my life....
Aren't you lucky ;-)

Sunday, November 22, 2009

I am Thankful for....#05

Good Health of Mine and My Families.

We seem to be a pretty lucky bunch. For the most part, we have all stayed pretty healthy. My co-workers (yes you karen) have been all over me about getting another mammogram. I have had 2, but the last one was something like 5 years ago. And they want me to get a Pap test done too. Its been 5 years since that also. I know I need to do it, but I just keep putting it off. I rarely get sick, so I don't think about going to the doctor. Doctors are for when you are sick. Not perfectly healthy :-)

I know I need to schedule those 2 tests. **deep sigh** I just don't want to. The last time I had a mammogram I ended up with a 3-4 inch cut under my boob. Yes...I said boob. Boob Boob Boob. It freaking hurt, so now I don't care to go again. But I should. But I also swear they told me that since the 2 that I had looked good that I didn't have to have another one until I was 50. That is 5 years from now. But my co-workers say that you have to have them every year. Argh....I don't want to have it again. But I will.

Maybe....

OK...I will call.

Maybe next month.

Or after the first of the year....

Maybe.....

Saturday, November 21, 2009

I am Thankful for....#06

COOKIES!!!!!
OMG I LOVE COOKIES!
COOKIES COOKIES COOKIES!!!!!!!!
COOOOOOOOOOOOOOKIEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!
Hahahahahaha!
OK....I'm done.
No I'm not.....COOOOOOKIESSSSS!!!!!
heh heh heh
I mostly bake cookies at Christmas time. Several dozen of different kinds. I want to try some new ones this year. I get cookie recipes sent to me every day during Christmas from (I think) the Food Network website. I signed up 2 years ago, so I have all these recipes saved up. Some of them I will never make, because they just don't sound that good. GASP! Did I just say that a cookie doesn't sound good? The horror.....
Last year the new cookie that I made was Cracker Jack Cookies. They were really yummy! My friend Donna gave me the recipe. Everyone loved them. Not sure if I will make those again this year or not. I really want to make new stuff. Everyone has their favorites though. Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal, Snickerdoodles, Spritz, No-Bake and these chocolate fudge ones that you roll in powdered sugar. Really yummy. Like little fudgey brownies. MMMMMM......
So we'll see. My goal is to find something really fun and make that this year. And maybe some of the favorites too :-)

Friday, November 20, 2009

I am Thankful for....#07

The Film Industry.
Today the second Twilight movie comes out. New Moon. Can't wait to see it! Actually......I can and will be waiting to see it. I don't want to have to fight the crowd of teens running in there to see it the first day...weekend....week maybe. I wanted to see the first movie, but Katie told me it would not make sense if I had not read the books. So she told me I had to read them first and brought over the first book. I read it in a day. I had to wait 2 days I think for her to bring the rest over, and promptly read all of those in 4 days. I could not put them down. Then we went and saw the first movie. It was OK, but you really needed to know the story before seeing it. I have heard that this second one is so much better, so I'm really looking forward to it.
I just love movies in general. I take my mom almost weekly to a movie. So we see a lot of them. Sometimes I will even go on my other day off when she is working. Either by myself or with Katie. I have even had my own private showing! That is fun...except the one time that I was the only one in the theater when I saw The Strangers. Not a good movie to see alone. It freaked me out! Here I was....sitting in the middle of the theater...alone....eeeeeeeek! Scary. At least one of the theater workers came in with their little red flashlight once. I don't mind going to the movies alone. I enjoy it actually. The only problem is that you don't have anyone to discuss the movie with afterwards. And let me tell you.....some movies need to be discussed afterwards. When hubby and I went to see a Nicholas Cage movie this year, I think it was called The Knowing, boy did we ever talk after the movie. We were both so pissed off that we wanted our money back! It was a pretty good movie, with pretty good special effects, but then the ended ruined the whole thing. Ugh....it was horrible!
So yah....I see a lot...A LOT...of movies.
I don't think I could ever give up going to the theater. Seeing the movie on the big screen makes it so much more special!
Don't you agree?!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

I am Thankful for....#08

Craft Supplies.
I loooooove me some crafts! There is just something about making something and then giving it to someone. Whether its a card, a scrapbook, cookies whatever, I love to make something and then gift it. And I love to get homemade gifts. Some of my favorite cards are when hubby makes something. It's so funny and cute when he does that. He probably doesn't want me to think of his craft abilities and "funny and cute" but they are. I love it when he makes the "attempt". Lately though he has someone in his office make cards for me. They are homemade, but its also cheating since he is not the one making it :-)
I like to make things for the family for Christmas. I made pillows one year. And scarves another. Last year I made everyone a mini scrapbook with old family photos (sorry bubba i still need to put the photos in yours...i know you still love me though) and magnets. The magnets were super easy and fun to make. I can't say what I am making this year though. Family reads this :-P
But they will be super super easy to make....and cheap! HA! I give my family cheap gifts. Considering that we do not exchange gifts, I think they will take something cute and cheap!
As for my Thankfulness for craft supplies, I must give a shout out to one of my favorites. Decorative Papers for cards and scrapbooks. GAWD..... I love the papers that are out. I spend so much on paper. You can never have too much of it though. When you make as many cards as I do, for a wide variety of people, you need several options!
That is my story and I'm sticking to it.......

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

I am Thankful for....#09

Soup.
Come on....Who doesn't love soup! It's super cold here today. 44 degrees. And yes...to me that is super cold. I'm freezing. I went to Subway for lunch and saw that they had potato soup. Yummmm! But I swear they never have it when I want it. So I asked. Nope. All they had was a tomato pasta soup. Wasn't feeling that one. So no soup for me. Bummer. I was looking forward to some hot soup to warm me up. **le sigh**
For how much I love soup you would think that I make soup from scratch all the time. Nope. I never make it. I have made stew, chili, goulash, navy bean and potato soup. But I'm pretty sure that I have never made a homemade chicken noodle soup. My favorite. I don't know why. Maybe I'm just afraid it will taste bland. I bought Katie a soup cookbook for Christmas last year, and then didn't let her take it home. How rude was that? I know. Pretty mean of me. I wanted to look through it and write down some recipes before she took it home. And guess what? I have not looked at even one recipe. And I still have it. 11 months later. And I even loaned it out so that my sister could copy some recipes. Bad momma....
I am now promising to look in that book for a chicken noodle soup recipe and I will make it before Christmas! I will let you now when that happens....

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

I am Thankful for....#10

Home Made Chex Mix.
Yummmmm.....
My sister told me Sunday that she had made some Chex Mix the day before. Well that just made me want to make some. So Sunday afternoon I made two really big batches to take to the beach this weekend. Problem is....I have been snacking on it since it came out of the oven. Its like crack I tell ya. Once you start eating some then you can't stay out of it. Hubby and I ate so much of it on Sunday. He asked me to put some in a baggie for him to take to work. Then I have been taking some in a container to work for my afternoon snack. I'm surprised we are not both sick of it already. I'm going to try to stay out of it now until we leave Thursday. There won't be any left for the beach if we keep eating it! My sister makes really good Chex Mix. She has been making it for so many years that she knows how much seasoning to put in it. I just dump in what looks like a good amount. I think she does the same. I kind of measure the cereal portion of it, but it still ends up being way more than the 7 cups that it calls for. We both only use the corn and rice chex, no wheat. No one ever eats the wheat so why put it in. And we both use honey nut oats (like Honey Nut Cheerios) to give it some sweetness. She was the one who gave me that little tip. The other thing we like to add to it is Cheeze-It's or Cheese Nips. Both are good. And you also don't have to buy the more expensive Chex brand. We just use the off brands. Cheaper and they taste just as good. Then pretzel sticks, mixed nuts, extra almonds and cashews. The seasoning is a stick of butter, whorchestersire sauce, onion power, garlic salt and Johnny's Seasoning.
Yummy goodness!

Monday, November 16, 2009

I am Thankful for....#11

Sweaters.
I think one of the main reasons I like Fall and Winter is that I get to break out my sweaters. I love sweaters. In fact I bought 3 new ones this past weekend. Did I need 3 new sweaters? Nope. But they were a good price. And it is an unwritten rule that when you see sweaters on sale for a good price that you are required to not only buy one, but at least one more of the same style but in a different color and then one more that is completely different. I think that has been a Shopping 101 Rule for quite a long time. I am wearing one of the new sweaters today. It's so warm and comfy. Good thing because we have quite the storm that has been brewing all day. It's very windy out and its suppose to get worse. I just hope its over before Thursday when we leave for the beach. brrrrrrrr......
I will just have to take a lot of sweaters with me.
Good thing I bought some new ones :-)
** have i managed to justify my unnecessary purchase yet?**

Sunday, November 15, 2009

I am Thankful for....#12

Binoculars.
My sister and I went up to the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge this morning and we saw some really cool things. Things we have not seen there before.
Some of the usual suspects were there....
Great Blue Heron
Red Tailed Hawks
Harrier Hawks
Bald Eagle
Northern Shoveler
Pintail
Cinnamon Teal
Mallards
Coots
Buffle Heads
Canadian Geese
Grebe
Tundra Swans
Osprey
Wrens

But the new ones that either she or I had not seen there before were....
Great Horned Owl (I have seen. Not sure if she had seen before)
Snowy Geese (new!)
and.....
12 Otters! 12! TWELVE!!!!! There were so many of them. Katie and I had seen 2 once before, But they were in the larger lake swimming around, so we did not get a really good look at them. But these ones were swimming in one of the smaller creeks, so they were right next to the road. They would get in and out of the water, eat little fish, roll around in the grass, play with each other. You could hear them talk to each other. It was so much fun to see them!
As soon as my sister uploads some photos I will steal some for here.....
Hubby just said she posted so I will go steal!

River Otter
awwwww....cute cute cute!

Blue Heron
Commorants
Can you see the Bald Eagle??
Really cool tree
Crossing the river on the way out. Love this shot!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

I am Thankful for....#13

Bargain Stores.
I love Bargain Stores. There is so much stuff to look at, and I sometimes find really good deals. I'm not talking about Goodwill and Value Village. Gross. I can't stand going into those stores. They kinda stink. I'm talking places like Tuesday Morning and my new favorite.....Home Goods. I love that place! Mom and I went there Thursday. We were there for a couple hours. That's how much stuff there was to look at. I found some kitchen towels/wash clothes really cheap. And then I found these......
oooooooo.....ahhhhhhhh.....
My mom, sister and I love Christmas ornaments/decorations that look old fashioned. There were 4 of these and we bought all 4.
We walked around for quite a while and then when we went up front and I found these.....



I fell in love with them the moment I saw them. I love em! And they were cheap! 4 dinner plates were $6.00 and 4 side plates were $5.00. So I bought 4 boxes of each. You know....in case of breakage....or very large family gatherings at Thanksgiving with grandbabies.....because I'm hoping for 6 grandbabies.....hint hint....
So this Thanksgiving I will be starting the tradition of using these plates. I never really cared for using my china at Thanksgiving because the pattern is a really pretty spring floral one. It just never really said Fall Holiday when I used them.
Now I have these~

Friday, November 13, 2009

I am Thankful for....#14

Friday.
What is it about Friday that makes you so happy? Doesn't matter if you are at work, or just have that day off. Just the thought of Friday makes you feel so good.
ahhhhhhhhh.......Friday.....
Say it....Frrrrrriiiiiiidaaaaay.....
See, don't you feel better already!
The only thing about THIS Friday though is that it is Friday the 13th.
EEEEEEEEEEEEK!
And to top it off, I have a black cat. I'm wondering, do I have to avoid my kitty when I get home? Do I not let him cross in front of me? Because if I have to do this, I'll be jumping around like a crazy woman all night. If there is one thing that cat likes to do is to get all tangled in my legs. He trips me constantly. I actually think he does it on purpose. He winds around me legs and then if I start walking he moves right in front of me, and I trip over him. Which freaks me out because then I fear stepping on him....and I don't want that to happen. The thought of squished cat guts all over the floor does not appeal to me. OK...the visual on that is seriously gross. Sorry.
Be careful the rest of today.
Watch out for any ladders, don't break any mirrors.
And don't step on any black cats!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

I am Thankful for....#15

Advil.
Yep....Advil.
In fact I am so Thankful for it that I am going to go and take 2 right now.
I picked up Mom today at 11:30 and just got home. It is 6:34PM. I'm exhausted. We went to lunch and then since there were no movies that we both wanted to see today we went shopping. We both want to see Jim Carrey's Christmas Carol movie, but we want to see that after Thanksgiving. And I want to see the French film Coco before Chanel, but Mom doesn't like foreign films with subtitles because she thinks she misses most of the movie by having to read the dialog. I love foreign films, so I think I will go see that by myself Tuesday....OH Crap....never mind. I have to work Tuesday. Dang. Maybe I will go by myself Sunday. Anyway....we went shopping instead. And then I came home and changed and went right over to my sisters so that we could get our walk in.
I'm tired.
I'm sore.
I need.....
Advil.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

I am Thankful for....#16

My Hairdresser Christine.
She is a genius with color when it comes to my hair. At least I think she does wonders for it. I would be totally gray without her help. I am, no was, naturally a brunette. But you would never know that now. I'm blond. But I'm only blond to cover the gray. When my hair grows after a coloring, I end up with a 2 inch gray stripe wherever I part it at. Doesn't matter where the part is, it will end up being gray.

See. I didn't lie....

I am very happy that I have her to help with my mess.


ahhhhhhhh....much better :-)

Unfortunately for me, not for her, she is pregnant and this is the last time she can do my hair until March. I will probably go and see my friend Sandy's hairdresser until Christine is back to work. I am very happy for her though. This will be her third child, second son. It is an unexpected baby, but one that she is still so very excited to welcome to the world.
I just hope my hair will not be too big a mess by March.....

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

I am Thankful for....#17

Today I am Thankful for.....
Computer Nerds.
Thank You to all of you Computer Nerds who sit around and create fun things to do on the internet. I am completely addicted to some games on Facebook. I seriously go to them several times a day. And whenever they add something new....well I just have to have it. Example: Last night the game Country Life added bee hives. BEE HIVES! Very cool! The bees fly to your clover, then back to the hive to make honey. And you can still use the pollinated clover to feed the cows! If you have not checked out Country Life you should. You plant crops to feed animals and then you get to sell the stuff. It goes like this....now pay attention....this is ueber important....
You plant clover, corn, tomatoes, wheat, carrots and grapes. The clover feeds the bees and cows. The wheat feeds the sheep or goes in the flour mill. Carrots feed rabbits, corn feeds chickens and grapes make wine. When you get milk from the cows who have eaten the clover, you can make cheese! The tomatoes make ketchup! When the chickens eat the corn, they lay eggs! And one egg is sold for $132! Sweet! The sheep make wool, the rabbits angora. It just goes on and on! Another good thing is that your crops don't wilt. But I'm there so much that it would never happen anyway. I still love FarmVille too. They added a Garden Shed, but for some reason I can't buy it for Kodi and Aly's accounts. I have no idea why. People are still buying it, so I know it is still available. I don't know if you have to be a certain level, have a certain number of neighbors, or harvest a certain number of flowers. And I can't seem to find any kind of answer on the main page for FarmVille. I emailed them, but just a generic answer came back about checking the most asked questions page. No help there.
So Thank You Computer Nerds for making me an addict.
Maybe I shouldn't be thanking them after all.....

Monday, November 9, 2009

I am Thankful for....#18

Some friends on Facebook have started to change their status daily showing something that they are Thankful for. They will do this until Thanksgiving. So instead of doing that on Facebook, I will do it here. Starting today, everyday I will blog about something that I am Thankful for.
These will be in no particular order. Just what I am Thankful for that day. Obviously there are things that everyday I am so grateful to have in my life. But for today.....
I am Thankful for my job.
So many people are out of work. My daughters fiance lost his job. He is so upset about not working. I don't blame him. It's hard. And the field that he is in, shipping, there are a quite a few men out of work. So anytime a job comes up there are hundreds applying. He gets a lot of interviews, but can't seem to get the job. He will. The perfect job will come to him and he will get it. I am so lucky to have a job that I love. I really enjoy coming to work every day. I like the work that I do. I love that I only work 3 days a week. I wish they would get busy again though. I liked having a huge ad to put together every week. Now it is just a few open houses. I hope that by next Spring it will be super busy again. Something has to change. I feel bad for the agents that have been struggling. Some of the agents though are doing fantastic. They are busy and making money. Which is a good thing....because I want to keep my job :-)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Well...once again the day has gotten away from me. OK....I'm lying. I just wasn't feeling like blogging today. I have not read any news today. It's been raining all day. I have been farming all day. Doing laundry off and on. Watching football. YAY SEAHAWKS! So I just have not made it over here. I was out late last night and thought that I would sleep in today. I ended up getting up at 7am...which is not sleeping in.
So there.
This is all I've got.
I will have to really think about what I want to talk about tomorrow. I can't keep doing nothing here.
Or maybe I will just keep doing nothing.
I'll just have try and surprise you with an actual blog some day :-)

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Sleighbells Ring.....are you listening????

Ahhhhh....Christmas is in the air.....can you smell it???
I took my mom, sister and niece on our annual trip to Sleighbells today. Sleighbells is a Christmas shop about 45 minutes from here. We used to go Thanksgiving weekend, but OMGosh it is super busy that weekend. So we started going earlier in the month. I think today is the earliest we have gone. We always start out having a big breakfast somewhere, then we drive out and spend a couple hours wandering around in that big old house. You can get turned around in there and end up in some back corner. But you need to do that or you miss stuff! You have to look up too. Some ornaments are hung over the doorways on garland, and no where else. Which seems to be the ornaments that I always want! This is the one I had to reach for today.....

I showed mom and she said "Where did you get that? I didn't see that?" So I took her to them and showed her that they were up high and that they came in light blue, copper, gold and the silver that I was buying. She asked me to get her a silver one! They are prettier in person.
I also got a couple birds. I get them every year. So does my sister. She had picked out quite a few little birds and then I showed her the quail that I picked out. "Where did you find that one?" She said she better go ahead and get it because if she didn't she would just keep thinking about it! So I took her back to that corner and she grabbed one. Isn't it cute!


It's a soft peach color with some copper colored glitter. I also bought an ornament that is three little blue birds on a branch and two robin nests.
Then we went over to a wall in the area that had all of the bird ornaments and we were looking at some other ones. My sister saw some really pretty hummingbirds. She looked at the different colors and style and picked one. I thought they were so pretty, but I was trying to not spend too much money, and I didn't want to put back anything that I was already attached too! So she bought me one just like the one that she picked out!

Isn't it cute!
We had a great time. I may end up going back before Christmas though. But if I do, it will be mid week on one of my days off. It's going to be crazy there on the weekends!

Friday, November 6, 2009

bummed....

I'm bummed today . I just don't understand why we do not have some kind of gun control in the US. Honestly though, what good will it do? None. And that my friends is the problem. People like me who say...What f'n good will gun control do?
Having a family member be a victim of a gun shot makes me all for getting this under control. But how? Where does someone start? Is there really anyone who will even listen?
I get so sick in my heart every time I see on the news that someone has whacked out and killed people with a gun. Twice this has happened in less than 24 hours. I can understand why the first guy had a gun, being Military. But what about the second guy from today? How did he get his weapon?
I'm done. I can't talk about this any more.....

Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Good Daughter

I got up at 5am this morning to take my mom to a doctor appointment. She had a colonoscopy this morning. Not fun. At all. For her that is...I'm not complaining about getting up at the buttcrack of dawn. She was not looking forward to this at all. She felt like the doctor was forcing her to go. She told me that she "doesn't have a problem pooping." But the doctor told her that at 69 she was over due for the test. So she went. She said the worst part was having to drink all of the stuff yesterday to get herself all cleaned out. She threw up the last of it. Bryan had that same problem. It's just too much liquid for your stomach to handle. She told me that the test itself was easy. She pretty much fell asleep and doesn't remember any of it. When I picked her up all she said was that she felt drunk and wanted a hamburger. Oh mommy...So funny. All she could think about yesterday was that her reward for having the test was that I would take her to get a burger. I told her that since it was only 8:30 am, she would have to go home for a few hours before I would take her to lunch. I was not going to feed my mother a burger that early in the morning. I brought some crackers and water in case she needed to get something in her stomach. She munched on a couple crackers and was going to go home and scramble an egg to get her by until she could have her burger. Gawd.....my mother is obsessed with hamburgers!
But everything looked good and all she has to do is add more fiber to her diet. So yay for mommy having a clean pooper!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

YEAR ONE COMPLETE! WOO-HOO!!


Gosh....One year already. I can't believe how fast it went. There were so many things that I talked about, and so many times that I blogged but didn't talk about a dang thing! But I was here, I blogged every day, sometimes a couple times a day. Even on vacation I blogged.
I'm proud of myself for sticking with it. Hopefully I will be able to stick with it for another year.
I went through all of the old blogs and picked one blog a month that was my favorite.
Here is my list....
November 4, 2008 ~ Finally
December 30, 2008 ~ A Box & A Shredder
January 19, 2009 ~ Rick....
February 16, 2009 ~ Coffee Aisle 5
March 19, 2009 ~ Oiy....I've been so busy today.... (i like the pictures)
April 26, 2009 ~ Rick-A-Bowl-A-Thonappoloosa
May 24, 2009 ~ JOURNEY was Awesome...and a little Deen
June 2, 2009 ~ Oh Bubba
July 22, 2009 ~ Big Fish
August 23, 2009 ~ So much fun
September 23, 2009 ~ Sea level to 10,000 feet all in one afternoon (hard to pick from hawaii)
October 9, 2009 ~ Fall & Halloween Haiku's

So those were my favorite Blogs.
Wonder what I will come up with this year????
Thank You to everyone who stops by. Thank You to anyone who has left a comment. Thank You to everyone who sends me private messages or talks to me in person about blogs. I just appreciate that you even stop by and read at all!
~Barb~

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Won't You Be My Neighbor???

OK....I just typed out the title, and it makes it sound like I'm begging people to be my neighbor on Facebook games! I guess that means I spend way to much time farming! LOL!
No....this is actually about neighbors. Go figure.
I have been planning a little get together with friends from the old neighborhood. Old neighborhood as in the one I grew up in. I recently met up with my childhood friend Christy. We had not seen each other since High School. We did go to each others weddings, but I think we both skipped the receptions. So much time has passed, and yet when we got together we talked for 2 straight hours. It was so much fun to see her again. We thought it would be fun to meet up with people from the old neighborhood, so I got a hold of who I could find on Facebook and we are getting together in 2 weeks! I can't wait to see everyone. It's going to be so much fun!
I was asked by one of my friends at work if I could make a couple cards for her. She wanted something for her granddaughter's birthday and baptism. Baptism??? Hmmm....that's a first. The birthday card was easy. She wanted something girly/pink. For the baptism she said she wanted something white. I asked her if there was a quote or something "baptismy" she wanted on the card. She had no idea. Neither did I. I went online and found a saying that I thought was cute....
A child is a precious gift from God
And baptism is God's gift wrapping
I thought it was cute for a little girl, so that is what I put on the card. And I had to have some color on it, so I used a light pink cloud looking paper for some of it. I think it turned out cute. Hope she likes it.
Tomorrow is the big day for my blog. One year ago I started this.
Wonder how much longer I will keep this up......

Monday, November 2, 2009

Good Googly Oogly...It's November.....already.....

I can not believe that it is the 2nd of November. Where did the year go? In 2 days it will be one year since I started this Blog. A year already. I have managed to blog every day. Of course there were a couple times where I had to write the blog ahead of time and set it to post, but that is not cheating! They give you that option for those days when you do not have internet access. And there have been times when I was on vacation, or camping where I didn't. But I still had something posted every day. I'm proud of myself for sticking with it.
I have an idea already for what I am going to do for the 1 Year Anniversary Blog. Be sure to come and check it out on Wednesday!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Family Portrait....well kinda....

Had a great time Trick-or-Treating with my sister, her daughter-in-law Melissa, Melissa's mom Connie, Melissa's 2 year old Richie and Katie. Richie was the cutest ever. At one house he went up, said his Trick-or-Treat, got a candy, but was not leaving. Melissa was pulling him away a little but he was still looking in the bowl. The woman asked him if he wanted another one. Then she held up a tootsie-pop. Nope. Then she held up another piece of candy and asked him..."Are you looking at this one?" Richie replied...."Yes I am!" Katie got it all on video. So funny! Another cute thing he said that had us all cracking up was when we were just a couple houses away from being back home, and he looked up and saw that the clouds had parted and the moon was showing and he said...."What a bootiful moon!" It was so funny because the surprise in his voice was so freaking cute~ You just want to squeeze him!
This is not the video of Richie (that can be found on my Facebook) but I saw this one on lolcats this morning and it had me in tears! So funny!
Enjoy~!