Much less lazy day

I was much more accomplished today than I was the past two days.
I got up this morning, went to the gym, then Target to return some batteries we didn't need for the toy drive. Man, batteries are expensive. And I kinda went over budget, so returning the batteries was perfect. It put me right about even.
After Target I went to the dreaded mall to pick up my ring. My ring looks beautiful. They cleaned it so well it looks like new. I put it on and my wedding band looks drab. HA! (I just gave it a little shine job. It looks a little better. And it is minty fresh.)
After the jewelery store I hit Macy's for some Clinique. There was an annoying customer there that kept hassling the saleswoman and kept asking for free samples of stuff. When she got to me I told her I would be easy.
After the mall the grocery store. It was toughh to find a parking spot. When I walked out of the grocery store a cop was arguing with some guy who was getting signatures. It was quite entertaining.
I came home, showered, had a little lunch and had a homemade mani/pedi. I also watched Spider-Man 2. It was pretty good. Now I gotta get the third one.

Tonight Curt and I are heading to Mia and Todd's for dinner. They are having some people over for New Year's. We likely won't stay too late. Don't want to be out and about when the really crazies start driving.

Happy almost 2008!

Lazy days

The past two days I have been super lazy.
Done A LOT of TV watching.
But I did finish my course book. I still have about 20 questions to answer in the final exam. Then I will sign on and take the final exam online and I will be done!

Friday night after Curt and Dan came back from the football game I met them at McNally's for a beer. It was good to see Dan. It was freakin' freezing at the game. But it sounds like they had a good time.

Hanging out with friends

Today Mia came over about noon to hang out. We had lunch at Sushiya--my fave sushi restaurant. Mia had never been there. I am happy to say she liked it and will be going back. One of the owners--who is the sushi chef--was the only one working. So he was the server and made the food. And I have to say he did an excellent job. After lunch Mia and I hit Market Hall for her to get some items for her dinner party for tonight. Market Hall has such great stuff. Mia bought fresh spaghetti. Yum! The woman said it would take 30-35 seconds to cook! Crazy.
My old Salem buddy Dan and Curt are hanging out right now. They are at the Emerald Bowl watching Oregon State and Maryland play. It is pretty cold tonight. Curt called to ask me to tape the game--and as a good wife I already was. He said it is starting to sprinkle and if it starts to rain he is outta there. The plan is after the game Curt and Dan will come to our hood for a drink. So we'll see if that still happens.
I did a little studying this evening. Reread Chapters 14-15. Just 16-20 to go--only about 40 pages. I should be done very soon!
OK, I am gonna find a movie to watch and have some sort of dinner and wine.
Have a good evening!

Joey's famous

Check out Joey's blog. He has some videos on there. One made it to YouTube--so Joey is all over the World Wide Web.
He would like to you to see him enjoying his Christmas gifts from Curt and me.

Scrapbooking

Today I went to Mia's to hang out with her and Alex and scrapbook. I did 4 pages--pretty good. I scrapbooked my pedi party. We had a good time hanging out, laughing, having some yummy wine I got from ZD Wines.
At one point Lexie and Cooper came home. They both really liked their Christmas gifts from Curt and me. Lexie got a mini American Idol digital camera and Cooper a Star Wars sticker book. I hung out with the kids for a bit before I came home.

Knitting

So Alicia came over yesterday about 11. We headed to Michaels. It was pretty tame. I didn't go too crazy buying stuff--got some Christmas cards and thank you notes and some scrapbooking stuff I used today.
Alicia and I got back to my place and Sue called to say she was on her way. So we waited for her and then the three of us headed to College for lunch. We had lunch at Fillipos. I had this yummy polenta and cream of broccoli soup.
After lunch back to my place to knit. I worked on my brother's and Jessica's Christmas gift. We watched some Mythbusters marathon and then "Chasing Amy." (Alexa wasn't able to join us since she had some out of town friends call her. Next time Alexa.)

I sent this pic to John and Jessica. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish this in time for Christmas. So I sent them a card with a pic of me working on the throw telling them they will be getting this early 2008.

Sue made me this great throw for Christmas. I absolutely love it. Thanks Sue. I am also sporting my new jammie bottoms that Marilyn made me for Christmas.

Christmas wrap up

Christmas morning Curt and I had tamales.
We also chatted with the Philly Poffs, my dad, Curt's parents, my mom, grandma, brother, stepdad. I got passed around. HA!
We also opened our gifts from each other. My big gift from Curt was a pair of Uggs. Something I really wanted. I got Curt lots of little things: Starbucks gift card, Mizzou T-shirt talking about the game when they beat the Chickenhawks, some movies and a few other small items.
About 2:30 we headed to Alexa and Darius'. There was a ton of yummy food. Lots of friends and family showed up. It was a good time.
Here is a link to our Christmas photos.
We have some video of Joey and the cat nip toys, which I will share later.

Curt had to go back to work today. I have a knitting date with some girlfriends. Alicia is coming over shortly. We are hitting Michaels, then lunch, then back to my place to meet Sue and Alexa for knitting.

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. Our day will be low-key today, but nice. Curt is still sleeping. So I think I will watch a movie and cuddle with Joey.
I will write later and tell you all about our day.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Today has been a good day.
I started it off lazy with a movie and then Journeyman. Then I did a little studying. My gym hosted one yoga class today. It was a wonderful class.
Curt headed to Market Hall when I was at class. Our plan was to buy two live crabs and cook them ourselves. But when Curt got there there was no live crab to buy. So he bought 2 that were already cooked for us.
I got home from class and showered and then started on our feast. I made Curt a chocolate pie. The easiest dessert ever. Make chocolate pudding--I use the instant. Once the pudding sets, dish it into a graham cracker crust. When you get ready to eat it you smother it with lite Whip Cream. I don't think I had ever tasted the pie before. I had a piece tonight and it was really good.
Once the pie was made I put the potatoes in the microwave. I went into the bathroom to dry my hair. Eventually I blew a fuse (Note to self: Don't microwave and dry hair at the same time.) It took awhile for us (well, actually Curt) to find the fuse box. Man, we looked everywhere possible. Luckily Curt finally found it. We were back in business.
We got the potatoes made, the shrimp ready and the crab steamed. We had quite a feast.
Afterward we opened gifts from our family and friends. (We are opening our gifts to each other tomorrow morning.) We got some good loot: jammies, book, calendars, homemade brownies, fun Christmas stuff, beautiful handmade items, etc. We made out pretty good.
We gave Joey one of his gifts tonight. Joey seemed to want the string bean stuffed with catnip. I have talked about Joey and his carrot before. That carrot got so nasty we had to throw it away. Well, Joey loved the string bean. Lick, lick, lick, rub, rub, lick, lick, roll on, roll on. Curt and I were cracking up. We took a ton of pics. I am too lazy to upload right now. But I will very soon.
After opening presents we talked to Ed and Marilyn and then Grandma Phyllis. My mom called us earlier today. And she told us what time she is calling back tomorrow when my grandma is at her house.
We had some yummy pie. Then The Simpsons Movie. I started to dose during the movie. Not sure if I was really tired or if the movie dragged on.
Then watched a little bit of the A Christmas Story marathon.

Tomorrow we will have tamales in the morning, open our gifts to each other. Then head to Alexa and Darius' tomorrow afternoon. (I have to make my salsa first.)

Visits with old friends

Stephanie and Jim got here last night around 7:30. We ate yummy pizza from Rustica and then headed to Monica's cocktail party. I brought ingredients to make cosmos. We had a fun time chatting, eating yummy appetizers (esp. the cheese) and having some interesting drinks.
This morning Stef, Jim and I headed to Rockridge Cafe for a yummy breakfast. About 10 or so they took off for San Diego. Glad we got to see them--even if they were only here about 15 hours. I was happy to be their pit stop.

After Jim and Stef left I lounged. Then I eventually dragged myself to the gym. I didn't want to. But as Stef pointed out I would feel better after I did. And I always do. So I went to the gym!
Afterward I went to work to see if a Christmas package from Curt's parents had arrived. Ed (Curt's dad) checked delivery confirmation and saw that the package had been delivered. I checked my desk, nothing. Then I went to the area where the mail is dropped off. I was a little worried I was going to get locked in the room. But I had my cell phone. There was a ton of mail and packages. And there it was! Yea! We were worried we wouldn't get it until the office opened again on Jan. 2.

This afternoon I did some more studying. I am cruising right along with that. Have about half the questions answered in the final exam.

This evening Curt and I met my college buddy Dan and his girlfriend, Bethany, for dinner at Ben & Nick's. I haven't seen Dan in years. It was great to hang out. We all had a good time. Cool thing is both Dan and Bethany work at Pixar.

Now we are home relaxing. I think I am going to put on a cheesy Lifetime movie and get cozy.

Funny Joey

First off, I got tons of stuff done today. Grocery shopping, cleaning the house, getting some studying done, doing laundry, Curt and I walked to Market Hall to get a look at some crabs and talk to someone about how we go about getting them for our Christmas Eve dinner, then Curt ran his own errands and I went to Redhound (yuppie pet store) to get Joey his Christmas present and then hit Eddie's Liquors to get the rest of the ingredients I need to make cosmos for the cocktail party we are attending at Monica's tonight.
At Redhound they were out of the catnip carrots. Joey LOVED that thing when I bought it for him. He wasn't so fond of the cigar, which Curt said looked like a turd (and really, it did). So since they were out of carrots I got Joey a red pepper and a string bean (both made out of the same material as the carrot). I came home and put them in his little stocking. Soon after that I heard a rustling by the tree. Joey had propped himself up and was trying to get to the catnip treats. It was pretty funny. (He talks about it on his own blog.) So Curt moved the stocking up where he couldn't reach.

Stef and Jim are on their way here. Talked to Stef a little while ago. Can't wait to see them.

Last night we had the second annual Cheesemas with Phil and Lisa. We had yummy fondue and other great things. I brought chips and salsa. We watched The Grinch and then a chessy Christmas movie called "The Christmas Shoes." Man, it was so funny. I was crying I was cracking up so much. And let's just say the shoes were UGLY! But we had a good time.

Cyrus, I went to The Trappist

Last night Curt and I met friends John and Nicole for drinks. We first hit Pacific Coast Brewery for a beer and a bite to eat. Then to The Trappist--a new Belgian beer bar in downtown Oakland. The place is pretty small. We had to stand for a bit. But eventually we got some seats. The beer I had was really yummy--had a slight sweet taste to it.
So the actual bar is beautiful. Brick wall with amazing woodwork. It is just gorgeous. I didn't get a close look at the bartop--but from what I could tell the wood was beautiful.

Today is my last day of work ... then I have the next 11 days off. We have some good stuff planned: Second annual Cheesemas with Phil and Lisa tonight; Jim and Stef come through town tomorrow night (yummy dinner will be had); cocktail party at Monica's tomorrow night; Sunday taking it easy--probably meeting my old college buddy Dan for drinks in our neighborhood; Monday (Christmas Eve) I will be taking a yoga class in the afternoon, then Curt and I will spend Christmas Eve together on our own, we will have the traditional Poff shrimp dinner; Tuesday (Christmas Day) tamales for breakfast (my family tradition), then in the afternoon off to our friends' Alexa and Darius' Open House; Wednesday: Lunch and knitting with the girls (Alicia, Sue and Alexa); Thursday: Scrapbooking with Alex and Mia at Mia's; Friday: Hanging out with Mia in my hood; Friday evening Curt and our friend Dan from Salem will attend the Emerald Bowl and then we might have a drink or something afterward.
Whew! OK, I am done for now. I will also do some studying each morning. I am on a roll. So I should be done soon. Oh, and I will be hitting the gym today. (It is only closed on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.)

Happy Holidays everyone!

Soggy Socks!

So I walk into the kitchen this morning and step in a puddle of water. What the H? I realize it is coming out of the pantry. I start checking things and can't figure out where the water is coming from. I check the emergency water container we have (part of our earthquake kit) and the outside is dry. I clean all the water, move some stuff out of the pantry to dry. Then right before I leave for work I decide to check again. Small puddle in the pantry. OK, where is it coming from? We have a cooler stocked with canned foods and all sorts of stuff as part of our emergency kit. I notice water trickling down that. Then I realize it is the water container. I grab it and see that it has a hole at the bottom. Good thing I found it when I did or that water would have slowly dumped into our pantry throughout the day. We are probably due for a new thing of water anyway. After awhile you have to replace that stuff.

Back on time

So it dawned on me last night that I have another functioning watch. Years ago I got a watch from Gannett for 5 years of slave labor ... I mean service. But I knew that battery was dead, too. That isn't the watch I am thinking of. :) For my birthday Curt gave me a watch/heart monitor. The watch is a little bulky for everyday use--but at this point I will take what I can get. I shoulda worn the monitor part, too. Then I could tell everyone what my heart rate is all day.

It's finally Thursday. All day Tuesday I kept thinking it was Thursday.

It's the little things

I like to give out holiday or Christmas cards or whatever you want to call them. I was a little behind this year. I just handed out cards at work yesterday. Most people just get a regular card that I buy at Michaels or wherever and some get the card Curt and I send out.
I got so many thank yous yesterday for the cards. It is amazing how something so simple can be so rewarding.

I was in charge of the food drive and the toy drive this year. I really enjoyed myself. We have 4 bins that are overflowing with toys for ECAP to pick up today. It warms my heart to know that so many kids will have something to open this Christmas because of people willing to do a little extra shopping or donate money to me and let me do the shopping. We are all so lucky to have so much. I hate that Christmas has turned into such a greed fest. It is so gross.
I would like to share the list of toys I purchased with the money (almost $1,200) people donated to me from Onyx. I think the list is grand:

From Best Buy:
3 little boom boxes
Karaoke machine
4 mini Disney digital cameras
American Idol key chain mini digital camera
Remote control helicopter
2 20 questions electronics games
4 Sudoku electronic games
Deal or No Deal game controller (for TV)
Spiderman game controller (for TV)
Hello Kitty digital camera
2 DVD players
2 MP3 players
4 Best Buy gift cards

From Target:
Sequence board game
Apples to Apples board game
Risk board game
Yahtzee
Boggle
Cranium
Ms. Pacman game controller (for TV)
2 Tetris handheld games
Solataire handheld game
Super Pacman game controller (for TV)
Qwitch cards
Uno cards
My Word cards
Blink cards
4 CD Walkmans
2 sets of walkie talkies
Batteries
3 mini Disney digital cameras
Hannah Montana handheld game
Travel Blokus game
Jenga
Big pack of football cards
Big pack of baseball cards
4 Target gift cards

Stop, go, stop, go

This morning I looked down at my watch and it said 5 o'clock, when it was really about 8:30. It was dead ... again. Tho. I have somehow revived it and it is working again.
Crap, watch is dead again. I am starting to wonder if it is the actual watch. There is no way in HELL I am going to the mall anytime this week. I will have to wait until I go back for my engagement ring on the 29th. Maybe if my watch is the issue I will have to buy myself a new one.

OK, this time I think it is for real ... rainy season has begun. It started late Sunday night/Monday morning. It really didn't rain yesterday during the day. But it poured last night and this morning.

Oh, and my dad commented about the Sputnik ornament. Sputnik was born in 1956. He almost qualifies for Social Security. HA!

Happy Monday

I have been running around work getting the toys gathered for the toy drive. We want to make sure all toys that require batteries have batteries. I mean, can you imagine getting some great toy and then it doesn't function without batteries? And you have to wait?
I received almost $1,200 in donations from people at Onyx. Nice, huh? I made a trip to Best Buy and a trip to Target. I think I did pretty good. I had a lot of fun, too. Man, toys are expensive!

We had fun at the party yesterday. The house boat is really cool. A little small for a family of 4. But cozy. I met some nice people and had a fabulous bean dip. I need to get the recipe for that. We had a little cute hooded blanket for baby Owen. And big sis, Lila, I made her a cotton candy scoa. She just loved it. I told her I guessed that she really liked pink and purple. She is such a doll.

I got some studying done yesterday. I have the final exam printed out and I am going through the questions while rereading the chapters one more time. I am happy to say that many of the questions I am pretty sure of the answer right away!
So I should be done with my course pretty soon.

This week will be a little crazy at work, since it is our last week for the year. I am looking forward to my time off. But I think this week is going to be a little nuts.

And a shout out to my mom, Happy birthday Mom! I will call you when I get home today. I love you!

For One More Day

Instead of going to the gym this morning and running the errands that I will now have to do tomorrow I watched "For One More Day." I read Mitch Albom's "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" and absolutely loved it. I was skeptical when they made it into a movie. But the movie was so good and followed the book perfectly. I haven't read "For One More Day." But the movie was so good. Michael Imperioli is such a great actor.
I have also had an easy morning today because yesterday I was go, go, go. Curt even commented that I got a lot done yesterday.

I hit Target a little after 8 yesterday morning. I got a lot of great stuff for Onyx's toy drive. I had a little more than 500 bucks to spend. I think I did well buying things. I also got a few things for Curt's work toy drive.
After Target the dreaded mall. Luckily a little before 10 there aren't many people there, even around the holidays. I only encountered 2 obnoxious children--one crying in Sears and another in the mall screaming for his mother. She was obviously ignoring him. But that didn't stop him from screaming over and over again, MOM!!!
I went to Kay Jewelers to get my 6-month warranty check and cleaning on my engagement ring. I was also able to get a new battery for my watch--which is lifetime guarantee. So if it dies again I can take it back to the store and get a new battery free. One of the stones was loose in my ring (apparently only being held on by the gunk in the ring--lovely) so it had to be sent out for repair. Which means I have to go back to the mall in 2 weeks to pick it up.
When I got home from my errands Curt and I went and got our tree. We set it up and had a little breakfast. Then we did some cleaning of the house before we decorated the tree while listening to Christmas music, thanks to digital cable.

A picture of our fully decorated tree. The lights are on--but you can't really tell because of the flash. On the left is my new Speedy ornament. The chiminea lights up. I love it. On the right is Sputnik. That ornament is at least 50 years old and will need surgery soon. My dad made it when he was a kid. My mom passed the ornament on to me when I started having my own Christmas trees.

I also got a couple of more knitting projects done. We are attending a cocktail / see our house boat / meet our new baby today. I made the big sister (who I think is 3) a cotton candy scoa. I started it Friday and finished it yesterday.
I need to start my studying again today. I so don't want to. Maybe I will do the errands I put off instead.

Oh, I made ornaments this year--inspired by a former co-worker of Curt's mom. She made us these cute reindeer ornaments one year. So I recreated for co-workers this year. I gave all the admins theirs Friday. They were a HUGE hit. I knew people would like them and think they are cute--cuz they are. But I had no idea they would like them as much as they did. One woman's partner is an elementary teacher. I think she is going to do it as a project for her kids this week.

Funny Friday

I got this forward today and there were parts that totally had me cracking up.
Enjoy!

SUMMARY OF MY LAST YEAR ON THE COMPUTER

I must send my thanks to whoever sent me the email about poop in the glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet towel with every envelope that needs sealing.
Also, now I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason.
I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown) who is about to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258th time.
I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.
I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me, and St.Theresa's novena has granted my every wish.
I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.
I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.
Thanks to you, I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.
Because of your concern I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.
I no longer can buy gasoline without taking someone along to watch the car so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas.
I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans.
I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.
And thanks for letting me know I can't boil a cup of water in the microwave anymore because it will blow up in my face, disfiguring me for life.
I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.
I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.
I no longer receive packages from UPS or FedEx since they are actually Al Qaeda in disguise.
I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our American troops or the Salvation Army.
I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore and Uzbekistan.
I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.
Thanks to you, I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big brown African spider is lurking under the seat to cause me instant death when it bites my butt.
And thanks to your great advice, I can't ever pick up $5 I dropped in the parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting underneath my car to grab my leg.
I can no longer drive my car because I can't buy gas from certain gas companies!
If you don't send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 70 minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5 p.m. this afternoon and the fleas from 12 camels will infest your back, causing you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's cousin's beautician ...
Have a wonderful day ...
Oh, by the way ...
A South American scientist from Argentina , after a lengthy study, has discovered that people with insufficient brain activity read their e-mail (or blog posts) with their hand on the mouse.
Don't bother taking it off now, it's too late.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

What time is it?

My watch stopped! Argh! You don't realize how many times you actually look at your watch until you forget to wear it or it dies.
At work I have a clock on my computer, my desk phone and my cell phone. But I still need my watch.
So for a day or two I may be walking around with a watch on my wrist that says 10:31. I feel naked if I don't have it on. So I will still wear it until I get a new battery.
Unfortunately I have to go to the mall this weekend. Blech! Every 6 months I have to get my engagement ring cleaned for warranty purposes. And unfortunately one of the months is December. So I will get it cleaned and inspected, buy some Clinique and get a new battery for my watch. I wonder if the jewelry store can replace my battery?

More Christmas packages went out today. I think I have one, or two to send out and I am done! I am still slowly sending out cards as I remember someone else who was on the list that no longer exists. So if you want one and haven't gotten one it is probably cuz I am still remembering who was on my address list. So e-mail me your address and you will get one.

And if you still need to do your holiday shopping check out my Amazon store to the right. If you buy from there I can make some moola out of it. And don't you think I deserve a little moola for all of the wonderful entertainment you get from my regular posts? I mean, I blog about 5 times a week--sometimes more.

'Tis the season

So I sent out our first set of Christmas packages today. Actually, that isn't entirely true. Tuesday the first package went out--my Mom's birthday is next Monday--so her birthday present and Christmas present usually get sent out in the same box.
Anyway, lots of wonderful children in our lives will be getting packages soon. I am frantically trying to get things done last minute.
Last night I finished the scarf for my Kris Kringle person. I have one more little scarf to finish and another big project, which unfortunately won't be done on time. It started out great and I just haven't been putting the time into it that I should be. I have been busy or lazy. Belated Christmas gifts are nice, right?
I have a few more ornaments to finish gluing together. I ran out of ribbon. So I should finish those tonight.

Bleh!

So I come back to work today with lots of crapola on my desk. Siiiigh.
Will I ever catch up?
This morning Danielle and I went to Best Buy to buy gifts for the toy drive. (I have now collected more than $1,000 for the toy drive.) We got a good amount of stuff. After BB we went to Michaels to get stuff for the Kris Kringle gift exchange party on Friday.

This afternoon I had basic training on a database we use at work for patents. It was really informative and helpful. For some reason I was so sleepy during the training. Ugh! I coulda fallen asleep right then and there.

Now back to my piles o' crap!

3 questions for you

Is this gross or what?

You may have seen this commercial already. It is for Best Buy. The Best Buy gifts are under the tree. Mom and the kids are shaking their BB gifts. Dad tells them they can't open their gifts until after they visit Grandma. So they drive to Grandma's, wave and drive off so they can open their gifts.
What a great message to send, eh? I know many people don't celebrate Christmas for what it is ... the birth of Christ. Whatever your beliefs are it is at least about family and being grateful for what you have. But unfortunately it is pretty much a greed fest.

Should men wear Uggs?

When I was at the airport on Saturday waiting for Alex I saw a guy wearing Uggs. It seemed weird. Do men wear these? For some reason I thought only women wore them.

Why are SOME men such idiots?

After yoga this morning I went to the bank and then the grocery. As I was walking back to my car some guy was yelling out something. At first I didn't realize he was talking to me. Then he was doing some sort of call to me--yes, lovely. Then he kept saying, hola, hola, hola. Then he started making comments about my stretchy (yoga) pants and how good they looked. I just ignored him and walked to the car. But why do some men think that women enjoy this kind of attention? And why did he think he had a right to talk to me that way? Dumbass!

Alex is sleeping in this morning. I have already gotten my morning coffee and pastry at Peaberry's, done a load of laundry, taken a shower, paid some bills, now I am watching "Blood Diamond" from Netflix and knitting a scarf for the person I picked in the Kris Kringle gift exchange. I watched "Waitress" last night. It was a pretty good movie. It was kinda sad, but had its cute moments.
I am taking today off. Not exactly sure what Alex and I will do today. I know he wants to see Chinatown and Fisherman's Wharf. He is on his own tomorrow and Wednesday. We will meet Curt in the city for dinner tonight. Maybe Alex and I will have a lazy day around Rockridge and then head to the city later this afternoon.

Quick check in

Just a quick update:

Onyx's holiday party was really nice. The Dunsmuir was gorgeous. We first had a tour of the mansion and then off to the Pavilion for the party. The food was delicious, the raffle prizes were great (even if I didn't win a damn thing). All in all, it was a good night. There were a few minor things I would have liked to have avoided--nothing I want to go into--and nothing major. But other than that it was a good time. (I took some pics, which I will post later.)

My cousin Alex came into town yesterday from Ohio. We just lounged yesterday, had sushi for dinner, a beer at McNally's, then hung out at home. Today we had lunch in Sausalito, visited the Marin headlands to see the Golden Gate Bridge and then headed to Point Reyes Lighthouse.
Now we are home watching football and waiting for our pizza from Rustica.

I am taking tomorrow off. Alex and I will head to the city. I think Chinatown and Fisherman Wharf's are on the list. I bet we will meet Curt for dinner in North Beach.

Later.

Craziness

So today is a crazy day.
Onyx's holiday party is tonight at the Dunsmuir mansion. It is supposed to be just beautiful. So I am leaving early from work today.
Today I already had people pick names for the Kris Kringle gift exchange, which is next Friday. And I am in charge of the toy drive, too. I have been collecting money for the toy drive--for people who don't have time to shop or who would rather just give me money. The organization is encouraging us to buy for older kids--10-16. Those gifts are more expensive and harder to buy. So I thought I would collect money and focus gifts on the older kids. But I have been scouting out Best Buy and Target for ideas. Let's just say, in the collection I am pretty close to my $1,000 goal!
Shortly I have to join two other co-workers to do last minute stuff to the raffle prizes for the drawing tonight at the holiday party. I have to say being on the raffle team was a ton of fun. Last year I did invites and RSVPs (and ended up helping with the raffle when some others had to opt out).
OK, time for more coffee.

Now that's what I call service

We got the car back last night.
I called Hustead's about 4 asking the status of the car. He said it would be ready at 5. I asked what time they closed, 5. OK, well good thing I could leave work early.
I ended up sitting there for about a half an hour. But they cleaned the car. Inside and out. The got out the scrape they made and another one a stranger made for me (and they did that one for free). The woman at the front desk told me I must be special because the owner, Jon, was actually vacuuming my car.
And don't forget about the fancy loaner they gave me.
Hopefully I will never have to use their service again. But if I do I will go back to them for my towing needs and/or body shop needs.

And I was very proud of myself. I was very productive when I got home. Paid some bills, did some more Christmas cards, worked on some ornaments I am making, worked on straightening up the spare room (my cousin Alex is coming to town) and I want it to "appear" nice. I hope he doesn't open the closet doors. HA!
I watched the Last King of Scotland. It was pretty good and pretty horrible--the things that man did, man!

Celebration!

When I got home from work last night (at almost 7 p.m.!) Curt told me we had to go out and celebrate. For the first time he had won a fantasy football pool. So we went to McNally's to spend some of his earnings.
And McNally's had a fire going in the fireplace. It was so nice.

Where do I begin?

Well, first of all, I took my last quiz of my course yesterday. Woo-hoo! So now I will take a little break and then start preparing for the final. I still have 50-some days to take and pass the final.

I think rainy season has started. I know I have blogged about this before. But this time I think it is true.

I woke up at about 5:40 this morning to find that the electricity was out. GREAT! So I got up and set my cell. Here is the weird thing, my alarm on my regular alarm clock still went off when it was supposed to--maybe I do have batteries as back up.

Usually I shower at night. But was lazy last night. So I had to shower in the dark this morning. I got my make-up together to put on at work. And my plan was to dry my hair at the work gym this morning. My hair dries crazy if I let it air dry. Then about 7:25 the electricity was back on. So I was able to finish getting ready at home.

Took the car into the body shop this morning to have them fix a scrape that happened when our car was being towed in October. Guess what my loaner car is? A Saab SUV. I thought I was gonna get a jalopy (thanks Gail for the spelling). I have always had small cars. So I was a little nervous to drive this honker thing. But once I started driving it it felt great. I am so high up. Woo-hoo!

Where do you live?

So when we got our new iMac and Curt transferred our stuff from the PC to the Mac my Excel spreadsheet of addresses got lost. I tried to find it on Friday. I was planning on doing labels so I don't have to write out the addresses. I couldn't find it. Curt looked for it over the weekend and couldn't find it.
Curt asked me if I had it saved anywhere else--like in my Yahoo contacts. Um, no. So once I get my new spreadsheet together he is going to help me link it up so I never lose it again.
So I am starting from scratch. Luckily, I am old-fashioned (as our friend Stefan called me) and I have my little pink address book--so I have some addresses. Some of you may have gotten e-mails from me already asking for your address. Some of you may still get an e-mail from me.
If you want to forward me your address for a lovely holiday card please send to annchihakpoff@yahoo.com.

More studying

Just finished doing a little studying. I have two chapters left of the whole course. And I should have no problem getting those done tomorrow. Once done with the whole course I will take a little break (getting ready for my cousin Alex's visit and then his actual visit) and then start to reread the whole course book before I take the final exam.
Onyx is giving all employees off the week between Christmas and New Year's. I have some plans. But for the most part I want to take advantage of that time off and get a good amount of studying in.

So, I didn't think I had anything good to write about on Friday. Then late Friday night I remembered I wanted to blog about it being 3 years of having this blog. Nov. 23, 2004 or so was when I first started blogging. I didn't blog Friday night because I was lazy.

Good Weekend

Friday night I came home and cleaned--not exactly fun--but necessary. Oh, but Curt and I did go out for dinner. Guess where? HA! Sushiya, our fave sushi restaurant.
Saturday morning got up early to hit Target right when they opened. Man, it was cold outside. I actually had ice on my back windshield. Had to use my ice scrapper Ed gave me last year. Target wasn't too bad--except I couldn't seem to find anyone who knew where the tree stands were--they weren't with the Christmas stuff. Finally found out they were in the garden section. This particular Target doesn't have a doorway from the store into the garden center. So I had to pay for all of my stuff and then go to the garden center to buy the stand. The cashier was having problems with her register and we had to go back inside the store. Argh! After Target I hit the gym. And then the dreaded grocery store. Once home had some lunch and then got some keys made (we always seem to have a lot made and lend them to people and then I don't know what happens after that) and had my UA leather wallet fixed by the shoe repair guy who can also make keys. My wallet has been falling apart for years. I have had it since in college. So it is more than 10 years old! After all that I came home and put up the Christmas decorations (everything but our stockings and, of course, the tree). The lights look good. I love the blue twinkle lights. I bought some icicle lights for the house, too. I am happy with them.
We had some friends over last night to watch the Mizzou/Oklahoma game. Mizzou didn't do so hot. But they will still get in a decent bowl game (that Curt and I are talking about maybe attending). We had Jim, Jennifer and Phil over last night. I made my oven "fried" chicken. And Jim made a spicy green bean dish and a red potato dish. Both were really good.
Today I hit Old Navy and Banana for Friends & Family. Found some good deals. Then to the gym and then home. Got my studying and laundry done (tho. now I must do the dreaded folding).
Hope you all had a good weekend.