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.

Cheap Trails

Not much eventful happened this week. I just worked my 40 hours and spent time at home. I'm getting used the new schedule. I now go to bed later and get up around 8am, but still getting 8+ hours of sleep. B had an up and down week. He got a call from a former temp agency and had a job for him at CapOne, but then CapOne changed the rules and since he worked for them before he can't work there until the 2nd week of November. That would be more than a month of him out of work if nothing came up before then. This week (Wednesday) is our 3 year anniversary. In the past, we've gone out of town to the mountains somewhere and spent the weekend. But, that wasn't going to happen this year. Yesterday, I got up, made and ate breakfast and picked up my mom and went to do a little discount shopping.
There was a grocery store near her house and it went under new manage- ment and for the past month or so they've had a tent sale in the parking lot while they revamp the store. Mom and I went there and spent $40 and got a crap-load of stuff, mainly for me but some stuff for her. Yeah there was lots of GOYA stuff there, along with other Hispanic brands but it was a store that catered to the surrounding area. Some of the stuff was out of date, but most of it wasn't. After that I went to WalMart and did the weekly grocery shopping. I did manage to spend less than last week.
After I got home, Crystal called to see if I wanted to the 17th St Farmer's Market. I had just gotten home after being out for several hours, but B wanted to go to get out of the house. So we ate a couple of sandwiches, got Lilly ready and headed to Shockoe Bottom. We met up with Crystal and her mom and walked around the sparsely vendored market. I did get a two of those checkout stand recipe books for a dollar. We walked around some more while Crystal did some shopping and then went back towards the house. We went back to the tent sale and got some applesauce and 4 pkgs of candy and didn't spend $4. We went to Mom's and then home to have dinner and watch TV for the rest of the night.
Today after breakfast I suggested we go to a nearby park, pack a picnic lunch and walk a trail. So we went to Point of Rocks Park in Enon. We figured out where one of the trails started and began the journey. We picked a trail and it ended up at the Appomattox River.
We walked back to the truck. We decided not to walk all the way back down the trail and go up this huge incline behind a shelter and then walk the parking lot to the truck. That incline kicked my butt. I stopped 3 times and at the top I started to hyperventilate (yeah I need to exercise more). B calmed me down and got me breathing correctly and then I sat down at a picnic table to regain my composure. After I felt better we walked the rest of the way to the truck, got our picnic, found a shady spot and had lunch. After lunch the three of played around in the grass a little and packed up to head home.
I had been craving buffalo chicken wings all weekend, so we stopped at Kroger and I went in and found chicken wings that expired tomorrow and got them for about $3 cheaper than normal. We got home and I realized that we didn't have any ranch dressing for dipping, so B went out and got that while I did the pizza dough for dinner and started the wings. While they combined and cooked (respectively) I went to Dad's house to take care their cat while they're in Kitty Hawk. I came back and finished the wings. They were yummy and curbed my craving perfectly and much cheaper (and yummier) than any restaurant in the area. Now it's Planet Earth on Discovery HD while waiting for our usual Sunday night TV lineup (minus Fox programming due to baseball).
I have tomorrow off (asked for in February when I thought we might go out of town). We're taking Lilly to a vet that was recommended by a coworker's neighbor. It's in Powhatan, but the pricing seems worth the drive. An "healthy" office visit is only $12. She's getting her yearly checkup and vaccinations. B's mom gave us money to go out to dinner for our anniversary. We're doing that on Monday since I'm off and that allows us to eat at a decent time. We haven't picked the place yet. It won't be fancy, but it won't be cooked by one of us either. That's all for now, keep your stick on the ice.

Meh

I haven't really felt like blogging and I still don't. B doesn't have a job at the moment and borrowing money from family has gotten old. We're in the hole big time and will take forever to get out now. He'll have a temp job for a few weeks and then nothing for a few weeks. I'm tired of it and I'm tired "doing nothing because we can't afford it". I know he feels horrible and I'm trying to be as strong as possible. I was planning on getting second job and then on Thursday my boss informs me that my hours are being changed until the end of the aeration/seeding season (sometime in November). My hours are now 10am-7pm. That kinda ruins any chance of me getting a second job. I was planning on getting one this year anyways because of Christmas, but no can do now...not until November anyways.
Speaking of November, my vacation is in November and is less than a month away. My mom goes to a conference on Ocracoke Island, NC and pays for a house for the week and we go down and spend time together as a family. This year will be Lilly's first year going to Ocracoke. I'm looking forward to not having to do anything for a week and getting to fish on a chartered boat.
Sometime before November, Lilly needs most of her yearly shots. I'm in need of a cheaper vet than Banfield. At about $20/shot and a $30 office visit fee we can't afford to take her. Anyone go to a vet that offers the above for a more reasonable price?
Last weekend I cleaned up my kitchen a little. I cleaned the microwave cart out and got rid of stuff we don't use or had multiples (read-gave to Goodwill). Also opened a few old Christmas presents and that meant I needed to get rid of our old flatware and pots & pans. It was nice to get some new stuff in the house, even if it has been there for almost a year (or more). I still have a new set of plates and glasses to unfurl. And I need to clean off the top of Lilly's crate that still has some kitchen Christmas presents on it. After that is to clean the Tupperware cabinet (again) and then work on the living room and kitchen. I'm hoping to have an Open House at Christmas and that means that the entire house needs to be accessible and hardly any of it is at the moment.
This weekend I worked on Saturday and went grocery shopping. B mowed the lawn while I was at work. We watched some random TV and then Eddie Izzard's "Glorious" DVD. Funny stuff. I love that executive transvestite. Today, Crystal and her mom came over with lunch. We ate and then played Wii. After they went home I started dinner. Normally I don't mention what was had unless it was really good. Well, my White Chicken Chili was damn good. Of course it was 80degrees outside today and I planned chili, but it was still really yummy. My Redskins won today and B's Cowboys are on now and winning. It's more TV tonight and then the new shift continues tomorrow. I guess the upside is that I get to sleep in as long as Madison and Lilly let me.