I had a ton of fun the past couple of days!

On Christmas Eve, we delivered a treadmill to my Dad's house (his big present) and then headed over to my Aunt's for our annual Xmas Eve party. It's a tradition for our extended family to get together, eat, talk, and exchange presents on Xmas Eve. Not all of our cousins make it anymore, but there still are a few of us that refuse to give it up. :)

Christmas morning, I headed over to Sue & Chris's house to open presents with them. There were some..... interesting..... gifts given out that I won't mention here. ;) Sue would just die. But we had a good time having Aunty K with us this year. I got this awesome purple leather purse - me to tee. After that, I came home and let the kids open their gifts. I do have pictures but they're still on the camera - I'll post them shortly. I made coffee and watched a few episodes of Kung Fu before heading over to Dad's house.

I brought Millie with me to Dad's. Betsy got a cold cut platter (we're not into the Xmas dinner thing), and we opened gifts. Cal got an iPod Bose docking station, Keith got a trip to see Nick, I got help with my car & some cool gift certificates. We had a great time hanging out, listening to Xmas music. Oh! Keith got me a ticket to see Billy Joel when he comes to Boston in April! I never knew he was a fan and he caught me totally off guard with that one. All in all, it was a great afternoon. :)

After that, I went home and let the dogs out before heading over to my cousin Tina's for a night filled with loud, obnoxious card games. I did very well with Pokeno - I think I made 10 bucks but then lost my winnings in Texas Hold-em. It's much easier to watch it on TV and know what to do. :) Next time I'll have to bring Keith as my partner since he knows what he's doing. :) I think I got home around 1:30 or 2:00 am - very late for me indeed!

On Monday I headed down to Glen & Elissa's to hang out and exchange gifts with them. Zeke *loved* my gifts of a drum and a toy drill that works. :) I'm not so sure that Glen & Elissa did as the drum is now high up on a shelf. ;) Later, Colleen, Chuck, and Nathan stopped by to hand out. We had a great time catching up. Colleen is now engaged and is planning for the wedding (up here) in September. Can't wait for that party!

I was supposed to pick up my new car on Tuesday, but they found a problem while it was being certified and had to order a part for it. The part came in and Chuck picked me up Wed. morning to go and get it. I have my new car! Yay! And, everything works! lol I think it'll take a while getting used to, but I'm so happy to be mobile again (one day without a car is enough thank you), and I'm totally loving the Honda.

I do have to bring it back down to Weymouth to get one of the storage covers fixed and to get a sticker. We'll do lunch while I'm waiting. :) All in all, I'm very happy. :)

I have no idea what I'm doing on New Years Eve. I'm generally not a huge NYE party person, but I think I might head out this time. ;) We'll see what happens!!

D

Feeling Thankful...

I'm sitting here, in work, thinking of everything that will happen over the next couple of days. Like always, I also started thinking of the other side of the coin. Thoughts like that humble me and make me thankful for what I have and what I have achieved. Thinking of the other side of the coin makes me want to be a better person; help more people, do more stuff, benefit humanity instead of wasting my life away with trivial, inconsequential things.

So I thought I'd write down some of the thoughts I had; maybe make someone else think too.

- I'm thankful that, although I have health issues, I can walk, talk, listen, hold, taste, smell, and love.

- I'm thankful that my loved ones are local and around me. I can't imagine what it's like to be a military mom or dad - sitting in some other country while your kids are opening presents on Christmas Day. How heartbreaking that must be.

- I'm very thankful for the military personnel who make my freedoms as precious as they are.

- I'm thankful I have a place to live, a pot roast in the crockpot, a job to pay the bills, and the knowledge that I'm luckier than 2/3rds of the world because of those 3 simple items.

- I'm thankful that I get to spend another holiday season with my grandparents. My grandmother can't hear or see very well, but she can clearly hear my feelings for her through my hugs.

Perception is key in all things, and these thoughts are based on mine.

D

It's all coming together....

There's more to buying a car than just walking into a dealership and giving them thousands of dollars. Especially when you're also dealing with the Insurance Co. for the wrecked car and there's a major holiday a scant week (now 3 days) away. Timing is everything, or so I'm realizing. Financing is set so I don't have to worry about that right now, but I do need the check from the wreck (ha!) before I can pay taxes, registration, extended warranty, etc., etc.

But I think it's finally coming together. I get the check tomorrow, that's done. The title is literally in the mail and we're just waiting for it to arrive at the dealership (it should've been there last week.) So, as long as it comes in today or tomorrow, I can pick up the car Saturday morning. If not, well, then I'll be walking to work after Monday. :) I think it's only like 30 miles or whatever... piece of cake!

Normally I'd be able to switch the plates and call it a day for a bit, but I only have one of the plates left. The other was disintegrated in the accident and it's against the law to not have 2 red plates. The things you learn.....

So here's to hoping with my fingers crossed that the title comes in tomorrow before 1pm and the bank is still physically there so I can pick up the new car on Saturday. :)

D

Yippeee!

I found, fell in love with, and bought a car today. :) It's 2 years old, blue, and beautiful! I got a great deal from a very cute salesman and couldn't be happier right now. Earlier today was probably the most stressed I've been in a long time, but I'm over it now. Hopefully I'll pick up my new Honda right after the holiday! :)

What a wonderful Solstice gift!

D

Is Christmas a good time to buy a car?

So I'm looking all over the place now - trying to decide what year and model to get. Thankfully the financing was settled today and all I have to do is pick one out. I think I'm going to head down to see Chuck (a friend of a friend), who works at a Honda Dealership. I'm pretty sure I've settled on the Odyssey, as the Toyota's are even more expensive. Some salesman today tried talking me into leasing a car. I just don't know enough about it to even consider it, coupled with the fact that Christmas is 6 days away and I have limited time to buy a car. I've done a bunch of research but that doesn't make me an expert in any sense of the word.

Sue and I had a great time baking cookies yesterday - all 10 hours of it! But, they were a big success today so it was well worth it. Next time we'll just have to do the decorating the next day as we were both so tired by the end that the iced ones didn't look as nice as they could have. ;)

I've been talking more to that guy and I'm not sure it's going to go anywhere. He's a little too needy and is rabidly jealous of anyone's good fortune. I guess those are petty things to not like about someone but I'm generally a happy, upbeat person so I really don't want to be with anyone that will bring me down. Like always, we'll see what happens.

The dogs are happy to have me home after a crazy busy weekend. I plan on cuddling with them on the couch for the remainder of the night. :) Tomorrow night is our last week of training until the 5th of Jan (I think.) It'll be good to have training and school off for a while. :)

I think I'm all prepared for the holiday: Presents - check. Wrapping - check. Knowing when to go where - check. It should be a great weekend :)

D

I used to like wrapping gifts....

..now, not so much.

I've been wrapping gifts for (what feels like) 400 hours and I'm *done* with it! I have 4 presents left to wrap and I don't wanna. 4 won't seem so daunting tomorrow, so that's when I'm putting it off until. Crap. I just remembered I have to wrap the dogs gifts too. If you haven't seen a dog unwrap their own present, well, you're just not living life to the fullest. I'll see if I can capture it on Xmas morning and post them up here.

This weekend is crazy busy as I have a home coming to look at Roxie at 10am, then I'm heading down to Ellin's for the rest of the day, and probably most of the night. Sunday, Sue & I are on for Bakingfest 2005. I think we have something like 8 or 9 different kinds of cookies that we're planning on. We'll see how many of them we actually make with the eggnog flowing.

On a lighter note, I've been talking to that silver lining I mentioned the other day and we're getting along wonderfully. It's funny how when it rains, it pours as the guy from the Honda dealership was hitting on me. The kicker was when I asked if he would come with me to help me buy a car if I decided not to get a Honda - he said Yes. So we'll see where that goes as well. :)

Maybe my luck is turning around?? Hmmmm....

D

Crash! :(

What a freakin' week! I can't believe it's only Tuesday. :(

So I got into a car accident as I was pulling out of the mechanics after having $200+ worth of work done. A car had stopped to let me go and when I checked for traffic, it was clear. However, a person came driving up on the other side of the person that let me go and slammed into me. Everything before the radiator is gone and I wasn't able to open the passenger side door. It's a wreck. Thankfully the only thing I have to physically show for it is the egg-sized lump on my head. Ugh. I think I'm going to be in need of a long, hot bath tomorrow.

I just finished my final project for my class - with 10 mins. to spare. I probably would've had more time if I had gotten home 3 hours prior. :(

But, there's always a silver lining. We'll see if the person I met today (from the accident, no less - but not the cause) turns into it. :)

D

Winter Wonderland....

Today we got over a foot of snow. While that may sound nice (especially to my insane, snow-loving friend in Australia...), it wasn't as nice driving in it. I figured I would go into work today and leave early if I had to. Well, I had to. Unfortunately my timing was waaaaay off as my 30 min. commute took 1 hour 45 minutes. I don't think I got above 25mph on the highways. Thankfully my wonderful neighbor with the huge snowblower came to dig me out. The pile that the plow left at the end of the driveway was literally 4ft tall.

My sympathies went out to an acquaintance that drives for a living. How miserable he must have been today! Hopefully he didn't have any trouble and is safe.

Not surprisingly, only 2 of my dogs went out to play in the yard, as you can see. What you can't really see is that Freddie is in full jump mode right then. He needs Millie to break a path for him as it's taller than he is. :) He looks like a deer when he does that. :)

This weekend is pretty busy as I have two people coming over tomorrow to look at Charlie & Roxie. I also have a Xmas party to go to on Sat. night. Then I have flyball practice Sunday AM (ugh), and also plan on heading into Boston to the dog show. They have such unique gifts there so I might splurge and get myself a little somethin'-somethin'. Gerilyn, Karen, & Donna are all showing in Agility as well and I want to see them run if possible. I think there's something else I have to do but I can't remember what it is.

But, right now I have to go relax with the pups!!

D

Almost done Xmas shopping :-D

Well, not surprisingly, I didn't get much cleaning done at all this weekend. I did finish decorating the tree, got all my wrapping stuff together, did a bit more shopping, and, as you can see from above, got the kids holiday pictures taken and created our annual Xmas picture that goes into the cards. If you click on the picture you can see a much larger version. :) Oh, and I changed Payton's name to Pacie - to keep with the "ie" theme I have going on with the other kids. :)

I went out shopping on Saturday afternoon and BOY was it crazy! I will not do any more shopping on weekends until after the holidays are over. I almost got hit 3 different times from people cutting me off and not realizing my car was occupying the space they wanted to use. I went to the Christmas Tree Shop for a few things and that was beyond horrible. I was in a good mood when I left the house but was in such a foul mood when I got home. I was only gone for 2 hours!! I can't stand that people no longer have any consideration at all for anyone else. I can't even believe that people are as rude as they are. It's really just so sad.

Ah well, it's past my bedtime so I'm off to read for a bit before I pass out. :)

D

Wow I'm up late!

Sue, Chris, Aunty K, & I went to the Festival of Trees tonight. It's alway so impressive, but this year's batch was even more so. Unfortunately, because we procrastinated in going until the last night, the place was *packed*! So, we only stayed for 20 mins or so because of how crazy it was. Next year we're going to go much earlier. :)

After that, we dropped Aunty K off and headed over to Chunky's in Pelham to see the new Harry Potter movie! I think it was really good, definitely worth seeing, but I noticed that they left a ton of stuff out and strayed from the book more this time than in any other movie. I had to explain a lot to my cousin & her husband on why things happened as they did and the meaning behind some other stuff.

I have two potential homes interested in Roxie and Ceasar. I'm hoping I can make plans over the weekend with both of them so they can meet their potential adoptive dogs. :)

Tomorrow I have homework to do, some shopping, and a ton of cleaning. I want to watch Charlie & the Chocolate Factory again - just to see the expressions that Johnny Depp pulls off - he's brilliant! Oh, and he wasn't in Pirates of the Caribbean? MY!, did he look nice in that one!

Off to bed. I can't believe how late it is! Maybe I'll dream of Johnny Depp. ;)

D

busy, crazy, hectic, busy!

Well, what else can you expect when your Monday starts with car trouble? :) I've been insanely busy since Turkey day, which was great AND we didn't even burn the house down! We cooked TWO turkeys (my Dad brought a backup just in case we torched the first one) in the turkey fryer in 1/4 of the time it would've taken to cook one of them in the oven. We all left with leftovers (Dad got 8lbs of mashed potatoes - not even kidding...) and a fun time was had by all. Millie got to play with T-Gray all day and then got the turkey neck for breakfast to boot!

Sue, Aunty K, & I got some shopping out of the way over the weekend. I think I only have 6 people left to buy for and then I'm done. :) It's such a great feeling. :) I've had stuff to do every night after work between training, school, and work. But, my Xmas tree is up and halfway decorated so that's cool. I have all the houses displayed and lights on the half-wall. I love shutting all of the main lights off and reading by the Christmas lights. :) This is a picture of Millie in front of the purple tree I did last year. I'll definitely have the purple tree again this year as I just love looking at it. :)

Sue, Aunty K, & I are going to the Festival of Trees tomorrow after work. We were supposed to go a couple of times now but life got in the way. So we'll try and get to it tomorrow. The new Harry Potter movie is out and I can't wait to see it. Maybe I'll head over to Chunky's sometime this weekend.

I was supposed to go to a Flyball Seminar this weekend, but it's expensive and I don't have the extra $$ it would cost. So I'll attempt (HA!) to clean and get some wrapping out of the way.

Next weekend and the one after that I have holiday parties to go to. Then it's Xmas! I can't believe how quickly the time has past...sigh. My birthday is a few short weeks after that and it'll be a whole new year for me calendar wise and age wise. Which is a good thing. :) It's funny, but I'm not afraid of aging anymore - I actually kind of look forward to it. I find that I like, enjoy, & respect myself and my life more and more every year.

I tivo'ed Rudolph last night so I'm off to watch it!

D