Archive for December, 2009

I am really looking forward to this evening.  No big partying plans or anything but Lauryn and I are going to my mom’s place to watch the fireworks then we’re all coming back here to snack, have some yummy punch and watch the ball drop.  Lloyd is going to his parents for their annual euchre tournament.  I will miss him but I can’t even think of the last time we’ve spent New Year’s eve together.  I always get together with my mom because I don’t want her spending it alone.  I think Lauryn will like the fireworks   I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year!!!!

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Lauryn isn’t feeling well again.  We were up most of the night and there just wasn’t anything I could do to make her feel better.  That’s one of the worst feelings ever!  It’s bad enough she feels yucky in the first place but to not being able to do anything to make it better makes me feel helpless.  She didn’t want to sleep in her own bed, she didn’t want to snuggle with me on the couch (which usually does the trick), she didn’t want anything.  When she got up this morning she was really happy and running around but about an hour or so later she was fussy and had a runny nose.  She’s napping now and I hope she gets a good one.  I was really surprised she didn’t sleep later this morning because of her long night last night.  I hope she feels better soon!  My poor girl!

My mom is coming over today and she’s bringing lunch   She’s just grabbing some burgers on her way over and that’s a nice treat.  Tomorrow she and I are going shopping then she’s staying for dinner.  I’m making that crock pot lasagna, salad and garlic bread.  My aunt will be coming over in the evening for a visit too!  I can’t wait to see her!  We live so close but don’t see each other as often as either of us would like.  I know she’s really missing Lauryn.

I can’t wait until New Years Eve.  I think Lauryn will like the fireworks and for years now, my mom and I have watched the ball drop together.  We aren’t big partyers anymore It’s just fun to get together.  We might have to eat some more of those rum balls too!  YUM!

The Final Week of 2009 Meme

Welcome back to Sunday Stealing. Sunday Stealing originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard of the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we also have our rules. First, we always credit the blog that we stole it from and we will “fess up” to the blog owner where we stole the meme. We also provide a link to the victim’s post. (It’s our way of saying “Thanks!”) We do sometimes edit the original meme, usually to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, sometimes to select that meme’s best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from either this new meme or recently asked questions from a prior featured meme. Let’s go!

Today we ripped this meme off a blogger named Nik Dirga at the blog Spatula Forum. Nik is an American journalist who now lives in New Zealand with his kiwi wife and son. He does not say where he found the meme. But, it was probably stolen there as well. So, of course, that will be as far as we go. Tracing back our theft’s thieves might take some time. Link back to us at Sunday Stealing!

Sunday Stealing: The Final Week of 2009 Meme

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? Started this blog.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn’t make any.  I might make two this year though.

3. How will you be spending New Year’s Eve?  Going to my moms around 8pm to see the fireworks then we’re coming back to my house to hang out and watch the ball drop.

4. Did anyone close to you die? No.

5. What countries did you visit? None.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? Patience.

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Nov. 2, 2009…it was my baby girls 1st birthday

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Not flipping out on people who question every move I make when it comes to my daughter.

9. What was your biggest failure? Letting those same people get to me and bring me down time and time again.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Just a yucky cold.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Lloyd’s Christmas gift.

12. Where did most of your money go? Where it usually goes…bills, groceries, etc.

13. What song will always remind you of 2009? There isn’t one in particular coming to mind.

14. What do you wish you’d done more of? Visited with friends more.

15. What do you wish you’d done less of? Stressing.

16. What was your favourite TV program? America’s Next Top Model

17. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? No

18. What was the best book you read? I haven’t had time to read an actual book in quite a while…People magazine is about all of the reading I get these days

19. What was your greatest musical discovery? Can’t say I had one.

20. What was your favorite film of this year? I don’t have any favorites from this year.

21. What did you do on your birthday? Mom came over, Lloyd ordered food so I wouldn’t have to cook

22. What kept you sane? Lloyd

23. Who did you miss? No one.

24. Who was the best new person you met? Friends in the blogosphere

25. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009: It’s the same think I learned when I got married.  Don’t sweat the small stuff!  It’s been a great piece of advice for our marriage but I really should have used it in the rest of my life too.

We had such a nice Christmas.  We all got a little spoiled, it’s been wonderful having Lloyd home for so many days in a row and we’ve eaten a lot of great food but I am glad it’s done now.  This is such a busy time of year and it feels hard to keep up with everything and it’s also hard on Lauryn.  Her schedule gets way out of whack when we have so much going on.  She was absolutely adorable in her Santa dress   Of course I have pictures, I just have to get them on the computer.  I think she really liked her special gift from mommy too!  She really wasn’t interested in opening her presents though.  She was much happier trying to touch the ornaments on the tree and exploring the dining room.  She doesn’t get to go in there often so she wanted to see what she’d been missing, I guess.

We went to Lloyd’s parents for the big family get together yesterday.  There was tons of people and tons of food!  It was really nice visiting with everyone and they all loved seeing Lauryn walk around in her cute little outfit

Mom is coming over for dinner tonight.  I’m making Lloyd’s favorite bbq meatballs and linguine oil and garlic for dinner.  I may have to get into the rum balls I made too   I’ll post the recipe for those.  This year I made them with Malibu rum instead of regular.  I thought the coconut would compliment the chocolate very nicely.

I think we’re all feeling a little sleepy today.  We need to catch of from the past few days. 

A few years ago, one of Lloyd’s co-workers sent him home with some seasoned pretzel sticks and they were super yummy!  I finally made some this year and they are just as good as I remembered.  Here’s the recipe:

40 oz. Small Pretzel Sticks

1 Bottle of Orville Redenbacher popcorn oil

1 tsp. Garlic Powder

2 TB dill weed

1 pkg. Dry Hidden Valley Ranch Dip

Mix garlic powder, dill weed & ranch dip.  Set aside.

You will need two large bowls.  Put 1/2 of the pretzels in one bowl, 1/2 in the other.  Split the popcorn oil between the bowls and split the dry mixture between them.  Stir well, coating the pretzels.  For 1 hour, stir every 15, stir every 15 min.  For the next 2 hours, stir every 30 min.

The pretzels start out really oily but at the end of 3 hours, they will be dry and coated.  You never put these in the oven.

*When I made these, it took closer to 4 1/2 hours for them to be dry.

This weekend seemed long but it was so nice.  And I think I’m finally getting into the holiday spirit!  Mostly I can’t wait for Christmas morning with Lauryn.  Last year she was only a month and a half old so she was all about sleeping through it all   This year I can’t wait to sit with her and open the presents from Santa…and of course, the special ones from Mama and Dada

Friday, in the early afternoon, we had to take Lauryn to the doctor for her one year check-up and shots.  The check-up went very well.  Lauryn is growing good and is very healthy.  The shots didn’t go so well at all.  My poor girl had to get five of them this time and she definitely gave those nurses a run for their money.  She sure has some strong legs!  By the time we were leaving the room she was fine but while I was getting her clothes and shoes back on, she was crying so hard.  It just breaks my heart and her daddy wants to knock the nurses out   He knows they are doing their job but he hates to see anyone make her cry.  A little while after we got home, mom came over and since she didn’t end up having to work on Saturday after all, she stayed for dinner.  Kathye came over for a while and it was nice visiting.  Poor Lauryn wasn’t quite herself though

On Saturday, we celebrated Christmas with Lloyd’s parents.  Since we have the big family party on Christmas day, we decided to do ours a little earlier so we’d have more time to hang out.  We all got some really nice things and I think his parents liked their gifts a lot too.  I think my most favorite gift is the camera Lloyd got me   I’m a spoiled girl!  I’ve been wanting one for a long time and when I need one, I have to remind him to bring his home from work.  So now I don’t have to wait for that, I can take pics and videos whenever   I’ve already taken a bunch and I have a couple videos of Lauryn walking.  I still have to get them downloaded but I’ll get them posted soon

Today wasn’t so busy but we all just felt really tired.  Lauryn is still not feeling well from the shots and she’s been getting up a lot during the night so we all were a little lazy today.  Only a few more days til I get to see my punkin’ opening her presents!  I can’t wait!

Lola’s Holiday Meme

Welcome back to Sunday Stealing. Sunday Stealing originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard of the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we also have our rules. First, we always credit the blog that we stole it from and we will “fess up” to the blog owner where we stole the meme. We also provide a link to the victim’s post. (It’s our way of saying “Thanks!”) We do sometimes edit the original meme, usually to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, sometimes to select that meme’s best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from either this new meme or recently asked questions from a prior featured meme. Let’s go!

Today we ripped this meme off a blogger named Stacy at the blog All Stacy, All the Time. She states that she stole it at Lola’s blog Lola’s Diner. Lola wrote this herself! We had searched for a holiday meme, but only found two that had already been played by a zillion players. We were thrilled to find not only an original meme, but one much better than the other two. Link back to us at Sunday Stealing!

Sunday Stealing: Lola’s Holiday Meme

1. What is your favorite holiday show/animated show? I don’t really get into the shows/movies.

2. What holiday character do you think you’re most like?  None of them.

3. What holiday character does your spouse think you’re most like?  None of them.

4. Favorite Christmas/holiday song? I’m not really into Christmas music either but there are a couple that if I hear them on the radio, I might not switch stations.

5. Most hated Christmas/holiday song? Feliz Navidad….the only reason is because I get it stuck in my head whenever I hear it.

6. If you have an all holiday music radio station when do you start listening to it? I actually get quite irritated when a couple of my stations start playing Christmas music from Thanksgiving through the New Year and I don’t listen to them until they are back to the regular songs.

7. If you have an all holiday music radio station do you love it or hate it?   I don’t hate it, I just find other stations to listen to.

8. Have you ever wrapped yourself as a Christmas present?  No.

9. Who is Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer’s father? Heck if I know.

10. Do you drive your neighborhood or one near you at night to look at other people’s holiday decorations?  We’re thinking of taking Lauryn to the 5/3 Ball Park  Nite Lites this year.  They have tons of lights through there and I think she’d really like seeing them.

11. When you see a heavily decorated house do you think, ‘oh that’s lovely’? Or do you think, ‘oh criminy, that looks like Christmas threw up all over their lawn’?  I think to each their own.  I prefer the houses with a few white lights and a big green wreath with a big red bow.  Nice and simple.

12. Are you counting the days to Christmas with excited anticipation or dread?  At first I couldn’t wait to get it all over with but now I’m getting excited for Christmas because of my daughter.

13. When was the last time you had your photo taken with Santa? Did you sit on his lap?  I don’t know if I’ve ever had my picture taken with Santa.

14. Do you make a Christmas list for your spouse or significant other or do you rely on them to pick your gift(s) without a clue from you?  He’s really good at remembering things I’ve mentioned during the year or just surprising me with things.  I never have to give him a list.

15. When do you put up your tree?  Sometime after Thanksgiving.

16. Real or fake? Used to always be real but for the last three years we’ve put up a fake one…I got sick of the needles!

17. When do you take your tree down?  After New Years.

18. Do you shop the day after Christmas sales? What do you shop for?  Not the day after.  If in the next few weeks I see some good sales on Christmas cards or wrapping paper I might grab some but I don’t really go shopping for them in particular.

19. Is your work/office having a holiday party this year? Will you attend?  No office this year, I’m a SAHM

20. Do you have your New Year’s Eve Plans set yet?  Yes.  My mom and I always celebrate it together.  Our little city is doing fireworks so we’ll be watching them and then hanging out for a little while.  I don’t want to keep Lauryn out so late though so I’m not sure if we’ll stay until the ball drops.

*I feel a little bit like Scrooge after filling this out!….Maybe I should have put that for #2 *

1. No, we will NOT cry when Lauryn gets her shots today.
2. We usually sit at the old kitchen table.
3. I watched the steam rising from the hot cup of coffee (or tea) and thought: I need to add some creamer.
4. Even though getting shots makes her cry, I know Lauryn is going to be okay.
5. I’ll take another rum ball please .
6. Christmas has become way too much about gifts and not as much about love and family at least from my point of view.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to a short visit with my mom, tomorrow my plans include Christmas with Lloyd’s parents and Sunday, I want to chill with Lloyd and Lauryn !

This year I have not been looking forward to the holidays at all.  I’ve been wanting to get them over with.  Last week, we finally put the tree up and designated the dining room as the Christmas room as Lauryn doesn’t go in there so we could put everything out and not worry about her breaking anything.  Now that everything is out, I’m feeling a little more of that holiday spirit.  I love our tree this year!  It just looks so pretty!  Today I got out and got a few gifts and stocking stuffers.  We still have a lot of shopping to do but now the tree doesn’t look so bare underneath

Tonight I’m making a brown sugar glazed ham, mashed potatoes and ham gravy and I’m not sure what to make for a veggie yet.  Ham dinner just sounded really yummy and I can use the leftovers to make my cheesy ham and potato soup.  That’s a good meal for this time of year….warms you right up!

The 6 Ws Meme

Welcome back to Sunday Stealing. Sunday Stealing originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard of the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we also have our rules. First, we always credit the blog that we stole it from and we will “fess up” to the blog owner where we stole the meme. We also provide a link to the victim’s post. (It’s our way of saying “Thanks!”) We do sometimes edit the original meme, usually to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, sometimes to select that meme’s best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from either this new meme or recently asked questions from a prior featured meme. Let’s go!

Today we ripped this meme off a blogger named Notbob at the blog Notbob’s Bits. He states that he stole it at Milly’s Big Fat Me blog. But, it was probably stolen there as well. So, of course, that will be as far as we go. Tracing back our theft’s thieves might take some time. Link back to us at Sunday Stealing!

Cheers to all us thieves!

Sunday Stealing: The 6 Ws Meme

Who…

Is easy to love? Lloyd, Lauryn, family, friends

Do you just wanna smack? There are a couple of people but I won’t name names

Do you trust? See 1st answer.

Do you talk to when you’re alone? If I’m alone, I’m probably not talking to anyone.

What…

Dangerous things do you do while driving? Flip radio stations.

Are you allergic to?  Orange juice.

Is Satan’s last name? ???

Is the freakiest thing in your house?… The cat!

When…

Is it time to turn over a new leaf? When it needs to be turned.

Will you be all that you can be? I am not in the army.

Is enough enough? Sometimes.

Do you go to the dark side? I have a dark side, I do not go to the dark side.

Where…

Are your pants?  On me.

Is your last will and testament? Haven’t made one.

Is your junk food stash? We don’t have one.

Is Carmen Sandiego? Beats me.

Why…

Was the Lone Ranger alone? It was in his job description.

Was The Scarlet Letter scarlet? really?

Are musicians sexy and plumbers not? I don’t think they are…Kenny G is not sexy but we had a couple of nice looking plumbers here last week.

Are there no seat belts on school buses? So the kids can run around and distract the driver apparently.

Would you…

Swim the English Channel for a doughnut and coffee? If not that, what? No, and there’s probably nothing I’d do that for.

Forgive someone who deliberately hurt you?  Depends on what they did.

Rather believe a lie if it hurt you less than the truth? No.

You still be alive if you were sucked out of an airplane window? I have no witty or smart@ss response for this.