Gettin' ready for Christmas

Well, I am sitting here at work. 11:31 p.m. I have an hour to go. Just waiting for any big news to break--which I hope doesn't. And waitin' for the papers.
Curt told me recently that I needed to write more in my blog. I guess he was bored with my previous posts. I told him that my life is not very exciting.
Well, his parents--Ed and Marilyn--and his grandma--Grandma Phyllis--are coming to town for Christmas this week. They arrive Thursday from Missouri. We will celebrate Christmas Eve in Phoenix with shrimp and gift opening. The shrimp on Christmas Eve is a Poff-family tradition. Christmas day we will head down to Tucson to spend the day with my family--part of the day with my mom and her family and then part of the day with my dad and his family. Then we will come back to Phoenix, exhausted I am sure.
We will have all day Sunday to do whatever we want. We will probably make cheese. As most of your know Curt has been brewing beer for some months now. We also made some homemade Rootbeer. And now we will try cheese. Grandma P. has experience with making cheese. So she will be a great resource. Curt and I are planning on trying to make wine soon. Oh, and did I tell you we got a breadmaker and can make yummy homemade bread. It was a hit at our holiday party.
Yes, we had a holiday party on the 11th. It was a good time. Lots of friends and coworkers showed up. And my mom and Fred, my stepdad. We had lots of good food and company. It started at 7 p.m. and ended at 3 a.m. You know us late-night people.
Last Sunday (12th) we opened Christmas gifts with my mom and Fred--since we won't arrive in Tucson on Christmas until early afternoon. I got some Hello Kitty jammies and a gift card to my fave store, Target. I got a few ornaments that are on the tree and some other cute odds and ends. Curt got Starbucks and Best Buy gift cards and a Chiefs shirt and some low-sugar brownies that my mom made him. I am looking forward to all my other gifts. :)
Oh, on Dec. 17 (which happens to be my mom's birthday) my brother, John, graduated from Art school with a bachelor's. I wasn't able to attend the graduation or party. But I am very proud of him.
Well, it is 11:42 and I have run out of things to say. Will write again soon.

A cold ... and a party

Well, two days after our holiday party and my dang cold has gotten worse. I had to call in sick Thursday cuz of a cold. I started feeling a lot better Thursday night. By Saturday for the party I was almost back to normal, just a little snotty. Well, today I wake up and I am coughing and barely have a voice. Good thing I am off today and tomorrow (and was yesterday, too).
Anyway, our holiday party was a hit. We had a lot of people show up. It lasted until 3 a.m. I made some chocolate-covered peanut butter balls and everyone loved them. They are low fat. LOL! Good food and great company. That is how a party should be.
....
I am part of this tutoring program with The Republic. We help the kids get on track with reading. Well, Mondays is my day ... but when I woke up today I knew I couldn't go in. That kinda sucks. I even have a small present for the teacher and a great book for the kids. So I will have to drop it off later this week.

Waitin' for the lottery in pain ...

As I sit at work waiting for the Lottery on Channel 12 to be drawn I decided to write a little note. As one of my duties tonight I have to plug in the lottery numbers that we publish on B2.
(STEF: Dan Kincaid and his wife were mugged. It is funny that I note this to you since so far I have only given you the blog link and of course Curt. But I am planning on letting family and other friends in on my blogging talents very soon.)
So today I tried out my new exercise game for Xbox. It is called Yourself!Fitness. And it totally rocks! Maya, the personal trainer, comes up with a workout that caters to your needs. I am in pain--but I know that is a good thing. Yesterday I did a short yoga workout with Maya. My only complaint was that I don't know all the poses so it was a little fast for me. But the regular workout was easy to follow. This exercise program is interactive. You can tell her too hard or too easy. And it keeps track of your progress. I highly recommend it.

2 friendly visits and robberies

Our friend Kate was here for the Thansgiving weekend. Curt & I and a group of friends had drinks with her Thanksgiving night at George & Dragon. We had a good time and actually stayed till almost 2 a.m. (the new Arizona bar time).
I worked that night at The Republic. Curt ended up getting the night off. But he came in and had dinner with me. We were served Boston Market.
Kate and I went to Target the next day. Yes, I know. You are thinking I am nuts. But I wanted to spend every moment I could with Kate. And we went close to 4 p.m. so all the nuts were gone. Friday evening my friend Shelly and her twins, Hope and Jade, flew back from a visit to Conneticut. We hung out, had dinner and watched movies. Then Saturday we saw "The Incredibles." Great movie. It is hilarious. Good for adults and kids!
Oh, and we had our new washer delivered late afternoon on Friday from Sears.
Monday night we had a get-together for Kate and a few friends. We had a good time snacking and drinking beer and we even played a little "Sex and the City" trivia.
We found out Tuesday night that a co-worker and his wife were taking a stroll through the Willo District on Friday night. And they were mugged by gunmen. Luckily they were not hurt, just a stolen wallet. But these guys have been involved in multiple robberies. And one was close to our house at Encanto Park. Well, the guys were caught and confessed to the robberies and were involved in one killing. Glad they are off the streets!