Sunday, November 30, 2008

Just a quickie...from last night

You can't really make out faces...I'm to the left of the people in green, second row, second in. I'm behind the lady in red on the end...






Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Happy Turkey Day!

Well, turkey day is just about upon us. I hope you all have lots of good plans for the holiday. I started the stuffing last night. And I’ll do a few desserts, and that’s it for me, cooking wise. We’ll be at the in-laws at noon, and then head to have dinner with the McCoy’s at 5:00. Ryan is actually hosting this year, down in Redington. He's deep-frying his turkey, yum yum!

Speaking of family, step-mil wants to draw names this year. Because my BIL’s business is so bad, and we need to “save money.” Hmmm...I don’t see BIL downsizing his house, or taking his kids out of expensive prep school to go to public school (especially the one his own wife TEACHES at!). Has he stopped trading in cars every 6 months? Is he still driving his Mercedes? Yes, I thought so.

So the adults (allegedly) will change names. I have no problem with this. It does make life easier. But the problem is...WE HAVEN’T DONE IT YET!!! I ASSumed we were doing it on Saturday, when we had dinner, but it was not even mentioned. And we really can’t do it on Thanksgiving, because the whole extended family is there. And considering I start shopping on Friday, it would be nice to know who the heck I’m buying for, ya know? Well, at least I can start toy shopping.

But on to happier things. Saturday is the Candlelight Processional at Epcot. I can’t wait, it’s going to be awesome. 200+ voices, and orchestra...oh, did I tell you who the guest narrator is? John O’Hurley! (Seinfeld, Dancing with the Stars.) I love his voice. Eric and his family will be there. DH can’t be there, but I don’t blame him. $75+ to go to Epcot, plus parking is really out of our budget just so he can stand in a crowd to catch a 2-second glimpse. I’m sure there will YouTube videos come Sunday. There are a ton on there from last year.

There is actually a reception/rehearsal for the SingLive UK people in Orlando tonight. I was all set to go Monday, but now I am changing my mind. Just too much to do. I haven’t even gotten my nails/eyebrows done this week.

I haven’t made shopping plans yet, for Friday. I’m waiting for the ads to come out tomorrow to plan my strategy. I know I’ll hit Target, and probably Macy’s. Then maybe Rubon? Also, Scrapbook Shoppe is having their sale at MIDNIGHT! On Thursday, but being down near the beach, I’m not sure how that will work. I’ll miss Michael’s sale on Thanksgiving, they are open 6-9. Again, it’s all a game day decision.

Well, everyone have a Great Thanksgiving. See ya soon!

Monday, November 24, 2008

from Linda via Kip

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both>>

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artifical, with the cats

3. When do you put up the tree? The day after Thanksgiving

4. When do you take the tree down? New Year’s Day

5. Do you like Egg Nog? OMG yes.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Barbie Dream House at 8

7. Hardest person to buy for? My FIL, he has everything and likes nothing

8. Easiest person to buy for? DH

9. Do you have a nativity scene? A few actually

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail them, hopefully by Dec 24th!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A fur coat that I had bought on layaway from my mother. She thought it would be cute to pick it up for me and wrap it. Yep, I got a Christmas present that I paid for myself.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie. A Christmas Carol...the original

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually mid-November, with the bulk of it right after Thanksgiving and the week after

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yep, sure have.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Dessert!

16. Lights on the tree? Yes, and lots of them.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Do you Hear What I Hear

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home and travel locally.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen..and of course, Rudolph.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither, it’s a purple pointy thing.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning Morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Annoying family members who want it their way or the high way.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Lots of purple (duh!) and lots of Pooh.

24. Who is least likely to respond to this? Umm ?

25 . Favorite for Christmas dinner? Lasagna, cannolis, potatoes (yes, we are Italian)

26 . What do you want for Christmas this year? I wanted a Slice, but I got that. Maybe a camera, but that might be out of the budget this year.

27 . Who is most likely to respond to this? Oh they will do it. It is fun!!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Monday blows...

Well, I am back among the living...sort of. I still have this horrible cough. This morning, green gunk came up. Usually if it’s green, that means infection as opposed to a virus, but I will give it one more day, and if I’m still crappy, I will call Dr. Kampsen. I could go to the Little Clinic (and save $15 on my co-pay), but I really need the “good” cough syrup, and the Little Clinic is not allowed to prescribe narcotics. But maybe tonight I will turn a corner, right?

I was going to go with DH to the Bucs game, but I was just too tired. I stayed home and lounged some. Watched a few movies. 27 Dresses is a great movie if you haven’t seen it. A little contrived and predictable, but still cute. And I’ve decided I’m going to cut my hair like Katherine Heigl’s in that movie, if I can find a picture of it. Also watched some old movies and caught the last 20 minutes of Imitation of Life. Seriously, the saddest death scene ever. If you don’t cry when that old lady dies, then there is something wrong with you.

Great football weekend. Do you know that the Gators have scored at least 30 points against all of their SEC opponents this season? That’s an SEC record. I don’t want to get too confident or too ahead of ourselves, but could the Orange Bowl be in our future? I definitely think so. The Bucs won too, it was hard but they did it.

On a musical note, (haha) I’m cancelling our XM subscription. Sirius has just come in and FUBAR’d all my stations. People are seriously (another pun!) pissed. I’ll just have to buy a better transmitter for my Ipod. Maybe I will ask the ‘rents for one for Xmas. We’ll see.

Busy day ahead. Got a lot of work to catch up on (why does it take you 5 days to catch up when you are only out 2?). P.T., choir rehearsal, a trip to Bealls and some food somewhere in there. (Maybe Sweet Tomatoes, hummm??) Well, back to my invoices.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Sorry Folks...

But I have the flu bug. Will post more when I stop feeling like death...

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

The End of an Error

I’m very happy with the election returns. It’s a new day for us, and I am extremely proud. And the turnout was spectacular. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so high!

My precinct (the Lutz Mason Lodge) early in the morning had a line wrapped twice around the building, and cars parked a half mile down the road. The little Baptist church down the road was just as bad. When I got home last night, the church still had cars parked on the median, and lines out the door, but the lodge had calmed down some, and I was in and out in about 15 minutes, even got a chance to chat with my neighbor Bill for a minute or two.

There can never be an election day in Florida without some snags, especially in Hillsborough County. Computer issues, people not getting all their pages, extremely long lines, especially at USF where there were only 2! Poll workers. Their excuse was “well, we figured all the students would be voting by absentee.” I call Bullshit!!!

2 reasons:
1) They should know ahead of time which ballots they receive absentee. Case in point, one of my Drunco girl’s family’s names were right below mine on the ballot. And it clearly said under her step-daughter’s name “absentee ballot.”
2) This is one the most historic elections in history, and a first time for a lot of these kids. (My first presidential election was in ’92 at USF, btw.)

And then I hear there was a physical confrontation with Buddy Johnson’s staff and some of the news people? WTF? How’s that for public relations? DH says he wished they voted for the Supervisor of Elections AFTER the election, because he would be changing his vote.

Amendments 1 and 2 didn’t pass unfortunately. And the County Mayor’s veto DID! I’m sorry I can only blame most of this on one thing. Ignorance. Pure and simple. The ballots are complicated, they are written in legalese and in our wham-bam society no one takes the time to look at the actual issues involved.

Amendment 2 not passing doesn’t surprise me. Ignorance, fear. Just about every church in town was pushing this on their members. (so much for churches being neutral). Dh also feels that the opposing side didn’t really do as much to educate their side of the issue. Now my question is, will this be up again in a few years? I’d like to think I hope so. But I’ll say this one final time for today: KEEP RELIGION OUT OF POLITICS! IT HAS NO PLACE!