Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

I'm sitting here on Sunday nite praying for snow just like I did as a kid so I didn't have to go to school.  They are predicting 5 to 7 inches for us tonight along with freezing sleet and rain. The schools are already starting to cancel classes for tomorrow and not a flake has fallen yet.  I hope we get snowed in for at least 1 day because I just love puttering around the house with snow falling, something yummy and hot simmering on the stove and something baking in the oven like cake.  So everyone cross their fingers and wish for snow right along with me!

We're gearing up for conversion at the bank next week so life is about to turn again.  New policies, procedures and operating systems...gee sounds like a fun party....anyone else want to attend in my place?  LOL!  Thank goodness I've actually used the operating system before so it won't be completely greek to me or maybe it will be because it's been almost 7 years since I used it.  Not to mention that my CRS is getting worse by the day...heck, let's me honest by the minute.

My little brother lost his cat, Grady last night and my heart is just breaking for him.  I called him last night and we had a good, long cry together.  I sure wish I could reach out and hug him because he's hurting so bad.  Times like these make it hard to be away from my family.  I understand how he feels and it did bring back all my feelings about losing Maggie again.  I spent most of the night tossing and turning before finally just giving up at 5:00am to stitch.  There is nothing that calms me quite like stitching.  I used to love to read so much but now it's like I can't clear my mind long enough to read.

And speaking of stitching, I'm working on a special sampler by Blackbird Designs for a SAL which is in honor of my great aunt Flo.  She was such a special part of my life that the minute I saw this sampler for a "Dear Sister" that I had to make this for her.  She passed away in March 1987 which is the same year that Mark and I got married such a long time ago.  She really wanted to see me in my wedding dress so I quickly found one and had my portraits made so she could see it.  But that wasn't the dress that I actually wore because the wedding shop screwed up the alterations so I was scrambling to find a new dress. 

I spent a few hours yesterday going to my favorite primitive country store, flea market and thrift stores.  I found several great items and I didn't spend a fortune so Mark's happy as well.  I need to find a place for everything and take some new pictures of the house to post.  Maybe tomorrow when I'm snowed in will be a good time for that to happen.

Well, enough for now because I've got to watch the weather channel to make sure it's gonna snow before I call it a night and hit the sack.  After last nights emotional toll, I'd like to go to bed early.  Remember everyone wish for lots of snow tonight in Georgia!

Happy New Year 2011

As a kid, I just couldn't wait for another year to pass so I'd be one year older and more "grown up" but dang it, now someone needs to stop the time from flying by so fast!  My momma always said don't wish your life away because it goes by fast enough on it's own but I thought she was just an "old lady" because come on, a year is 12 months every year!  What could she possibly know?  Well now I admit, ALOT!!!!!!  It seems like I just blinked and the year had passed.  I also realized that my baby niece will be 13 in March so no more little ones in my family.   We've also been gone from home for over 10 years now and it truly doesn't feel like "home" now.  Don't get me wrong, seeing all my family is home but driving thru the town things have changed so I don't always recognize landmarks any longer.

We finally got news on what's been plaguing my momma's health and it wasn't good news.  She's got a rare kidney disease so we're waiting to hear that her dr was able to get her into a specialist in New York.  I'm worried, she's scared and daddy's just determined that we can "fix" everything....I pray that he's right.  I can't lose my momma....she's my sunshine on my darkest days, my cheerleader when I'm feeling overwhelmed, she's my laughter when I honestly can't think of anything to laugh at and best of all, she's my momma! 

I've got to take my Christmas stuff down and pack it away today.  I've got to get it all done before the week starts or it'll still be up a month from now.  We start conversion in a week so I'll be busy, busy for a few weeks not to mention that I'll be going to New York whenever momma gets an appointment.  Mark was going to fly out Tuesday morning for Korea but that trip has been postponed until the week I start conversion.....smart man!  You'd think he's been thru a couple of these before with me....LOL!

Well he just woke up and wants pancakes for breakfast so I''m off to cheer him on while he cooks.  Gotta love a man that cooks breakfast.

One of those Grinchy Moods

Don't you just hate when you get into the bah humbug frame of mind this time of year?  I swear some days I should just pull the covers over my head and not subject everyone to my moods.  I don't know why but today everyone that spoke to me was in danger of losing their heads!  Clarice has been thrown out of the tv room twice tonight and now she's rattling the doors trying to get back in but she's used her Get Out Of Jail Free card today.  She's taken to clawing Mark's chair when she thinks we're not playing enough with her and I've just reached the end of my rope.  We've fought a lot about declawing her for months but if she keeps this up I might lose the battle.  Last night she slipped past Mark when he went outside to feed the boys and we didn't miss her for about 10 minutes then we started tearing the house apart trying to find her.  I kept asking Mark if he was sure she didn't get out but he insisted there was no way!  I went outside called her but no Clarice.  At that point Mark was starting to panic when he saw her hiding in the planters down below the deck.  She's gonna be the death of me yet!  She's never been outside unless she was on a leash so it was a moment of terror when we were trying to catch her.  Two overweight adults running thru the yard in the rain in the pitch black trying to catch a black cat was quite a humorous scene...too bad there wasn't a video camera catching it because we'd probably won America's Funniest Video show.

We're shorthanded and the super brite powers that be sent out packets (and I do mean packets) of account information to customers and they are freaking out!  This is worse than when we failed and I honestly didn't think it could get much worse than that.  And this is priceless.....but one of the disclosures states that we'll be charging "dormant" fees if you don't use your account or maintain a certain balance and guess what.....no one bothered to check Georgia State Banking laws and we can't do what they told customers that we'd be doing.  Last week in class when they reviewed the disclosures with us, I asked if anyone checked the law because I didn't think that was correct.  Still no one checked so I did a quick google search and there it was!  WTF!  I brought it to senior management's attention yesterday and still no one has acknowledged it.

We've still got to finish some last minute shopping tomorrow so I certainly hope my mood improves.  We're still pondering what to get the dads and just can't think of anything.  I'm usually full of ideas but drawing a complete blank for this year.  Maybe something will pop into my head tonight in my dreams.  Hope all your shopping is done and if not that you don't cross my path tomorrow...LOL!

Merry Holidays

Time just seems to fly by this time of year but this weekend I have put on the brakes and enjoying just some time at home.  Mark's been in meetings since Wednesday so he's been in and out but mostly out.  I've just hung around in my jammies playing house, cross stitching and reading every one's blogs.  It's been a glorious day!  I've played with all my latest goodwill treasures and re-arranged things.  It's such a relaxing activity for me even if it does mean 100 trips from the basement to the upper rooms.  I wonder how many calories I've burned off today?  Maybe it's enough to cover all the cookies that I've snacked on all day.

We had a Christmas party Thursday night for all my employees and spouses.  We actually went to eat at a local Italian place then back to our house for dessert.  It was a nice time and very low stress for me.  I only had to make 3 kinds of cookies, 2 cakes and  I bought some candies which is a lot less than I'd have to do if I'd cooked dinner.  Whew!   Clarice entertained everyone by climbing the Christmas tree and tearing around the house.  She's gonna be the death of me or more than likely Mark since he encourages her to climb the tree.

We made our arrangements to go home for Christmas and I'm so excited.  We've not been home since this time last year and can't wait to see everyone.  The kids are growing up so fast and by March they will all be teenagers...where has the time gone?  It seems like just yesterday that Zared was born and now he's in college.  I miss all them so much and will try to cram in all the Auntie time they will allow me this year.  I know I'm not as cool as I used to be to them but sure hoping I can bribe them into spending some time with their old auntie!   It's been a rough year so I'm really looking forward to just being home with family.  Mark tells me that it's the year that we're suppose to stay with his folks but I'm pushing for a hotel again.  We've done that a few times and it's much less stressful for all of us if we stay in a hotel.  there is one just right down the road from my folks and we can come and go as we like but still have some alone time.  I love his folks but it's stressful when we stay with them.  just for the record, marrying an only child is not all it's cracked up to be....there are no kids running around, animals just 4 adults struggling to find stuff to talk about.  That sounds bad and I don't mean it to be.

Well enough for now because I really need to go forge for something to eat for dinner instead of cookies.  happy holidays and hope you all have your shopping done.  I sure don't!

Is this stealing?

I have a real serious question to pose to you.....is it stealing if you take something from a house that's been abandoned and is falling in on itself?  I have a long wish list of things Mark can make for me starting with a dough board for the stove so we went to several flea markets looking at old things that he can turn into something else.  We're looking for a large table that doesn't cost a small fortune that he can use....think cheap!  We drove home emptyhanded and by this old house that we pass almost daily when a lightbulb went on over my head...doesn't happen very often and is quite scary when it does happen!  LOL!  So I dropped him off at home and went to look at one last place when I decided what the hell I'll just swing by that house and see if there is any old wood I can repurpose.  I got about 10 boards and then decided to go home to get my work gloves and a pry bar.  When I got home, Mark said I was stealing and I just can't get that thought out of my mind.  I think I'm giving new life to something that is just sitting there rotting but his argument is that the house belongs to "somebody somewhere" so I'm stealing.  What do you think?  This is a really old farmhouse that seriously is collapsing in and did I mention it has some great doors and 2 old mantles just sitting there rotting away?  I love it and really don't think it's stealing but now he's got me thinking too much! So do you think it's stealing or bringing something back to life?  I'm really curious what everyone thinks about this matter.

On a different note Clarice has mastered the climb to the top of the christmas tree now.  I swear that by tomorrow she'll be knocking it over and stealing the star on top.  Mark's suppose to be looking at a way to secure it to the wall and I made sure to wrap all the ornament hooks around the branches so she can't knock them off.  But she's entranced by the extra large primitive candy canes and she wrestles them to the floor.  She's also discovered the Christopher Radko village and takes great pleasure in being Godzilla visiting the village!  She knocks all the brushbottle trees over and lays right in the middle of the village to survey her domain.  She's gonna be the death of me.  Let's see this time last year she weighed less than a pound and we had concerns that she wouldn't make it but now she terrorizes the rest of the house.  And truth be told, just allows Mark and I to live here with her because she really owns the house.

Alrighty, now I'm off to take my pills and dream about all the stuff I could make if Mark would just quit telling me that I'm stealing stuff.  Nighty Nite All.

Happy Turkey Day

Well almost turkey day.  We're spending it at home just the two of us in jammies all day long watching parades, football, ect.  I'm cooking a turkey breast since it will be just us but sure would have liked to go out to dinner.  Less mess but Mark decided that he'd just like to stay in so I relented and agreed to cook just a little.  Donna next door even made us a lemon pie since she knows that Mark's a Pie Man and I hate making them.  LOL!

We finished decorating the bank today since it was kinda a slow day.  I hadn't planned on doing it today but we needed the guys to help us with the tree and it just snowballed from there.  You know the drill...maybe just put the lights on the tree...ok now let's just put the garland on....how about seeing if we need any more ornaments, ect....next thing I know, I'm standing in the middle of the lobby with glitter covering me head to foot and I'm balanced on a rickety kitchen chair trying to get the bow on the top.  Crazy!  Oh well, Friday we'll only have a handful of customers and even less employees working so now I can just relax and study for my insurance test.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it no matter what my web browser shows or the battery on my kindle  ;)

Not too much going on around here but Clarice has recovered completely.  She cost us a small fortune but she's none the worse for wear.  Last night I was trying to take a long extra hot bath in hopes of staving off a headache when she came running in, jumped from the floor up to the top of the shutters and brought them down on top of me.  Mark managed to secure them again by baling wire and duct tape which is what all tools a southern boy needs to fix anything.  They must be positioned just slightly different because she fell of them twice this morning when we were getting ready for work.  Sure wish that would be enough to keep her off them because I sure would love to re-do those curtains but refuse to do it as long as she's laying on them like a hammock.

We went to dinner tonight and I had a couple of really good margaritas so forgive me if this doesn't make too mush sense.  I'm off to take my sleeping pills and snuggle into the bed with my christmas magazines and kitty so sweet dreams to you all.   Happy Turkey Day!

Christmas Decor Update

It's done!  That's my big update...LOL!  I started Saturday afternoon after Mark and I got back from running 5 million errands and I finished last night.  Now it'll be just little tweaks here and there....can any of us say we're extremely happy with the way everything looks the first time...of course not where's the fun in that?  I say I'm done but we're decorating the tree tonight.  We bought a smaller, lit tree because that 10 foot tree that we've used for the past 9 years is just too big for this house even though we've used it the last 5 years here.  Mark had to bend the top down so I could put the star on and it filled the entire corner of the room so now we're switching to a 7.5 foot tree that has lights already on it...wahoo!  Now I just hope all the ornaments fit on it.

We spent Sunday night at the ER with Clarice.  She woke me up Sunday morning bright and early throwing up.  I thought maybe she had a hairball or got into something that she shouldn't have when I was decorating Saturday so I wasn't too worried.  Then about 6pm she started vomiting blood so I snatched her up and off we went to the ER which is 3 towns away.  WTF!  They ran xrays, started iv and kept her overnite to the tune of $800 and we still didn't know why she was sick.  I had to pick her up before 8AM monday morning and drop her off at our cat vet so they could check her out.  Well that was another $250 and still don't know why she was sick!  They ran more xrays and sent her home with 2 different meds that we have to give her twice a day for 10 days.  Have you ever tried to give a cat a pill?  It ain't easy.  I'm glad that she didn't have to have surgery but sure would like an answer about what was wrong.  The vet told us they could run a barium test to trace her digestive track but that was an additional $400 and we still might not know what was wrong so Mark decided to keep that $400 in his pocket instead.  Doesn't Clarice understand that she's destroying my Jovi Concert Fund?

Ran to Goodwill yesterday at lunch and scored a couple of little things.  I got 2 black frames for my needlework for $2.50, 2 pantry boxes (repo) for $1.91 and the big score, a pewter teapot for  $3.51.  I was beyond thrilled with it even if it does have a couple of dings in it.  I already had a sugar cone, nippers and creamer set but no teapot so I snatched it up in a heartbeat.  I already starting prim-ing up the pantry boxes last night along with a shelf and wooden charger that I picked up a couple of weeks ago.  I just need to swipe some stain on them tonight and then I'll be ready to decide if I'm keeping them or listing on ebay.  Mark just keeps repeating that I started all this to clean out closets not aquire more stuff for myself.  Silly boy doesn't get it yet.

Well guess I need to study for my insurance test so I'll close for now.  Hope everyone has a great weekend!