Christmas Wii Game Hunt

Christmas was busy and okay. We started on Christmas Eve and my step grandma's house. That was better than Thanksgiving. She gave us cash for Christmas since she can't really get out of the house and doesn't seem to want to use magazines to order stuff anymore. Christmas day we started out at Dad's house with my aunt, brother, his wife and two kids. Breakfast was good and my coffee cake went over well. I managed a rather cute shot of Joshua:

After Dad's, we headed to my mom's house. We ate again. Mom gave herself UNO Attack! for Christmas, so we played that. Much fun was had playing that. Then it was time to head over to B's sister's house for dinner (which I was too full to finish) and presents. They gave the kids a puppy for Christmas, so there was lots of puppy talk and fawning over. I'm not really a puppy person. I love dogs and cats, but their baby counterparts...not so much. Also, I much rather adopt than buy from a breeder and don't believe in giving animals as presents especially to children (even though I did get a gerbil for my birthday one year...I loved that gerbil). /rant
Cute pic of Josh giving Jade a "shot" while holding Rocco:

We got home and were completely exhausted, but managed to get everything inside the house. We sat around the living room and chilled infront of the TV for about an hour and headed to bed. We both had to work on Friday. What a horribly slow day that was AND it felt like a Monday. We ended up leaving at 4pm instead of 5pm. I'll take the cut in pay just to get out of there! Friday night we used a gift card and went to 5 Guys Burgers and Fries for dinner and then I decided that since I didn't get Mario Kart Wii for Christmas that I was going to use my Target gift card to buy it. We did a quick search online and found no Targets in southside had one, but the one at Broad & Libby said "Limited Availability", so we headed there and came up empty handed. To make the trip worth it, we went to Barnes & Noble to get books 6 & 7 of the Southern Vampire Series, but they didn't have them! I called Game Stop at Stony Point to see if they had Mario Kart Wii and they had just sold out of them. We decided to head over to Chesterfield Towne Center to that B&N for the books and check out Circuit City and Best Buy for the game. We scored at B&N with the books, but struck out at CC and BB. The guy at BB said that they were going to get a shipment early the next morning and try again tomorrow. We checked and they opened at 8am and we made plans to be up early the next morning to get the game. Well, I didn't wake up until 7:30am. I fed the animals and took a shower and woke up B to take his. While he was in the shower I checked Game Stop again. They don't have info online, so I started making calls. The one in Chester sold out on Friday. The one at Commonwealth 20 had them and they didn't open until 9am! We got there at 8:55am and they had opened. We got in, got my game and an extra Wii Wheel and got out in less than 5mins. We rounded out the morning with breakfast at the River City Diner (yummy french toast) on Hugeunot and headed to Casual Male to exchange some stuff that B's mom gave him. Then it was home to re-set up the Wii. Dad had given us his TV when he got a HD and I had never hooked up the game consoles to the TV. We had to head back out to Ace to get a power strip for the extra hardware needed to make the Wii work with this older TV. I got everything hooked up and since I had given B the new Star Wars game that uses the lightsabers, I let him play first. We found out that even though it says it's a two player game, that's only in the one-on-one battle and not the story mode. So, I had to watch him play for a while and finish a boss off for him. Then it was lunch time, so I left him playing while I made myself lunch and ate. Then he gave up on the game and I got to play Mario Kart Wii for a few hours and completed the 50cc courses by the end of the afternoon. I'm working on the 100cc courses now. I didn't play tonight so I could write this book about how I got the game. We went to a hockey game Saturday night and they lost horribley, but it wasn't the worst played game by the Gades. Sunday, I got up and showered and went to WalMart to grocery shop at 9:30ish. It was wonderful! There was hardly anyone there, no crying babies and no rude people! The most enjoyable WalMart trip all month. A friend from one of my private schools was in town and called and we chatted for about an hour. That was nice. I played more Wii and fixed dinner and watched football for the rest of the night. I started cleaning up the living room and kitchen from Christmas. I haven't even put a dent in the mess, but I have this weekend to get it done and the tree is coming down then too. Well, that's all for now. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice and Happy New Year!

Cookies and other holiday things

It's Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas to all that read (and Happy Hanukkah just in case).
My bday party was ok. At least the people that said they were coming showed up, but no one that said "maybe" did, so it was just Crystal, Carolyn and her man Todd, Chris and two of Crystal's friends. The karaoke was really country and really bad. I sang Buffett's "Changes in Lattitudes..." I can't stand to hear myself sing. Crystal and her friends did their best to keep the rock going in the karaoke, but Crystal had to leave because she was working the next day and her friends left soon after. Carolyn had already left due to a company party. So, that left Chris and I until about 1:30am when I had had enough and wanted to go home. I need better planning for my 30th bday next year.
Saturday B and I went to my mom's house and then drove to Texas Roadhouse to meet B's mom for my bday lunch. Afterward Mom, K, B and I went shopping at Macy's for K's mom, then to Bed Bath & Beyond to replace the spatula that I broke while making cookies. Then we went to Bass Pro Shop and walked around and Mom and I sat infront of the fireplace. That night Lilly and I went caroling on Monument Ave with Carolyn, Todd, Virginia and others. I had a good time, but Lilly wasn't too thrilled about the Ms. Claus dress. Everyone thought she was too cute and got lots of love and was definately the center of attention at some houses. We went to my dad's house before caroling so they could see Lilly dressed up and here's a pic that Dale took of my sad puppy:

Sunday, B and I went to see "Yes Man". Not Carrey's best film, but it was good. I finished up my Christmas cookie making. If I ever have to make cookies again, it'll be too soon. I love that my baking gives people's tastebuds some satisfaction, but it's a lot of damn work.

Tonight the Christmas festivities begin, but Friday it's back to work. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Whoohoo

Hubby got a job!!! He starts tomorrow! It's a gov't contract job that he tried out for last week. Thanks to all that gave good thoughts and prayers.

Mid-dec Update

My birthday is December 19th. That's this Friday! I'm having a party...so if you're in the RVA-metro area, come to Wild Rose Cafe' (4620 Chester Square Rd, 23831) anytime from 7pm-1/2am and celebrate with me :)
My niece's 2nd birthday is on the 20th, but Mike and Shannon had her bday party this weekend. It was just the family at their new house and I think a good time was had by all. Pics and a video are here.
B and I took Lilly to see Santa Paws at Petsmart this weekend. Poor girl was scared. I think she thought we were going to leave her there with the scary looking man:

Since we're going caroling this weekend I wanted to get her a festive collar or something. Petsmart had 50% off some of the Christmas stuff already and included was a Ms. Claus dress. She hates it, but looks way too cute in it and I'm not the type to dress up my dog, but here she is, looking highly pitaful and pissed off:

It's too big for her so I'll be saftey pinning it when we go out that night.
I only have to work two days this week and then I have the rest of the week to myself :)
Update on my step dad: He looks much better than when he had to go to the ER and he's going back to work tomorrow (Monday 12/15).
I started my Christmas cookies tonight. I got one batch done...hooray! I hope to get everything done by Sunday 12/21. I don't really want to have to come home from work at 7pm and then bake cookies. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Yikes!

Well, since it's been almost 2 months since my last post I'm only going to do a short catchup:

• B's still out of a job. He starts a temp job on 1/5/09 if nothing else comes up before then.
• We went on vacation with my mom and stepdad to Ocracoke, NC. Pics are here.
• A new President was elected and I can't say I'm pleased. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
• I went to my PCP for a checkup and my blood pressure was normal for the first time in a year! My blood tests came back OK...I need to work on my cholesterol and that's it.
• I had a sinus infection for about 10 days and was miserable the entire time.
• Thanksgiving was at my house for my mom, step dad, his mom and B's mom. Food was good, but stepdad's mom is not in good health and had some issues I'm not going to disgust everyone with here.
• Crystal's birthday party was good. Some pics are here. I sang karaoke for the first time that night and sang three songs with Crystal. We had fun and managed to Crystal as drunk as I have ever seen her.
• My step dad was diagnosed with Bell's Palsy in the beginning of December. Mom and I think it's the stress of his mom's health that is part of the issue there, that and his 14-hour work schedule.
• We've been to several hockey games. Took Crystal to one game and we've been to the rest on our own.

My company's Holiday meeting/party was last Friday and there was nothing special about it this year. The awards went to some deserving folks and some not so deserving folks. No, I didn't win anything, but I didn't think I would since I just drone through the day. We went to a Latino restaurant afterward for what I call "generic Mexican". There was nothing special about it at all and I much prefer my normal Mexican joint. But, it was a half-day of work and free food.
Yesterday I volunteered for BARK at a microchip clinic. If you're interested in getting your pooch chipped at the next clinic, let me know and I'll let you know when the next one will be held. The clinic was fun. I got to play with different kinds of pups and only one made a fuss when the chip was inserted.
Next weekend we're taking Lilly to go see Santa Paws at Petsmart. And it's also my neice's 2nd birthday party on Saturday. Then Sunday is a hockey game. Until I actually update again, which will hopefully be before my bday on 12/19, keep your stick on the ice.