Good Day! Sunshine!

Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone for you kind thoughts and prayers about my Mom. She is home now and doing as best she can. They will be upping the number of visits the hospice nurses make, so that is a good thing. I hate the thought of her being alone all day, everyday so this should alleviate that somewhat. YAY!

Remember when I mentioned she was being combative the first day? Yep, she was cussing out my sister, the doctors and nurses - which is not like her at all. She also told me the food was "crap" and she didn't want to eat it - also not like my Mom who loves hospital food like you and I enjoy a good steak dinner - well, turns out there was so little oxygen getting to my Mom's brain she went a lil' haywire. She says she doesn't remember any of it, not even what she ate - but she apologized. We told her "No worries" - because honestly? Who can take offense from a person that is oxygen deprived? What is so weird tho' is this is the third time she has had resipatory failure but the first time this has happened.

Also, thank you so much for your good advice and thoughts about my knee. I didn't go to the doctor [hush up] because although it swelled up and turned purple I could still bend it, wiggle my toes and hobble on it a bit. Nothing was out of place and all the tendons seem to be working - so we skipped the doctors, but really? Thank you for your concern. It certainly scared the heck out of me. Bonus! Our bedroom is all sparkly clean. heehee

And a great big thank you to Linda and Marni for calling me and cheering me up. It is always a good day when "Not your Mom" and "Georgia Peach" friends call. :)

Hugs to y'all! Thanks for the support

I Am All About the Easy

And it is realllllllly easy when you ask your 17 year old to make the most AWESOME hot crab dip ever!

Yes, another recipe - but, you see, we have a tendency to eat a lot when we are all home together. I have been craving crab and since it isn't quite the season for crab I tried looking up recipes for a hot crab dip. I never found one that I really had all the ingredients for looked good so I tasked the Squirrel to creating one. O.M.Goodness - this is good. Understatement of 2009.

Squirrel's Hot Crab Dip

2 cans crab, drained

2 bars of cream cheese, softened

1 bunch of scallions, chopped and divided

A couple of heaping tsp. size dollops of sour cream

2 tablspoons of Old Bay Seasoning [or more to taste]

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

A handful of grated parmesan cheese

~

1. Mix all the ingredients together except 1/4 cup of the scallions and the cheese. Squirrel used our stand mixer, but you could use a handmixer or just whip it up with a whisk.

2. Pour into a greased baking dish [8x8? 9x9? Pick what fits]

3. Sprinkle the top with remaining scallions and parmesan cheese

4. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove cover and bake an additional 15 minutes until browned and bubbly.

~

An awesome way to serve this is in a bread bowl. Take a loaf of unsliced bread [sourdough, rye] cut off one inch on the top, scoop out the insides and cut into bite size pieces. Pour hot crab dip into bread bowl. [If you do this save the extra scallions for after cooking to garnish.] So good.

We ate it with thin slices of crunchy french bread.

~

I love that my kids can cook. :) And spoil me.

Easiest Leftover Recipe Ever!

Who has leftover ham from Christmas? Raise your hand please. Thought there were a couple of you :).

I can stretch a spiral sliced ham for a week [well I could if someone didn't throw out the bone, ahem....Pooldad] and one of my family's favorite dishes is ham and spinach quiche.

It is so, so, so easy. I swear. If you like ham and eggs this is for you.

Ham and Spinach Quiche

1 heaping cup of diced ham

1 box of frozen spinach thawed and all the water squeezed out

1 cup shredded parmesan or swiss cheese [plus a little for the top]

5 - 6 eggs beaten with 1/2 cup milk, cream or half & half

1 pillsbury pie crust [or make your own]

1. Line an 8 inch pie plate with single pie crust. Flute the edges of the crust.


2. Place spinach in bottom. Sprinkle 1/2 the cheese over spinach.


3. Layer the ham over the cheese. Sprinkle 1/2 cheese over ham.


4. Pour egg/milk mixture evenly over veggies, cheese and ham.


5. Sprinkle a little cheese on top. I also like a little paprika for color.


6. Bake on a cookie sheet in a preheated 375 degree oven for 35 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.


7. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes to settle.


8. Serve with a salad and crusty french bread. Yum.

You can use cooked broccoli in lieu of spinach. If you do use the spinach please make sure it has all the water squeezed out of it or you will have a soggy crust.

**The picture isn't mine - we ate ours too fast :) - it was as close as I could find, but the layers are opposite.

I found a great pizza crust recipe at Antiquity Oaks so next up is Hawaiian pizza - with ham and pineapple. Mmmmm - it is Wallene's favorite.

Damn, I Don't Think I Should've Done THAT...

I went to take a nap this evening in our bedroom. It was still light when I went to lay down and I snuggled up to snooze.
~

When I woke it was pitch black in our bedroom as it was close to 11 pm. The closest light switch is by the bedroom door [bad design]. Still, knowing I am the Queen of finding my way to the door and into the light I felt my way to the end of the bed and was starting to walk past our armoire [just a few more steps past that and I would be in the lit hallway] which is something I do almost every night. I know the path. I can do this.
~

But? It was not to be. Seems when we wrapped all the Christmas presents I forgot that we had left all the boxes and junk laying around and well....I clipped a box on my way past the armoire and fell. Hard. Straight onto my right knee. Not like you "fall to your knees" and scrap them. I hit my right knee straight on the top. I heard a pop and started screaming.

~

Not being a screamer I sort of freaked out the family [screaming AND I made a really loud noise when I fell] Pooldad came up to see what I had done. Within seconds my knee started to swell and I didn't want to get off the floor.
~

Total patheticness [<----is that even a word?]

~

I finally made it downstairs and I am sitting here with a knee cap the size of a grapefruit - I can't bend it - I know I have to go to the doctor - but I refuse to visit the Emergency room in the middle of the night. The pic' sort of shows how swollen it is, but my flash is funky and I couldn't get the true purple color of it. You're welcome. ;)
~

So I may not be a screamer - but here I am a certified whiner. lol - this hurts - A LOT! It is swelling down my leg - and I don't really think there is anything the doctors will be able to do - you can't put a cast on a knee, right?

~

Everyone has gone to bed except Scooby because I am pretty sure he knows I need help walking [boy do I need help] and he doesn't want to leave my side. Why do dogs know things like this? He does - which is sweet and incredibly useful.

~

I don't think sleep is on the agenda tonight, but I did receive some nice books for Christmas so at least I won't be bored.

~

I do know we need to clean up our bedroom. :) hee!

Wii Bii Having Fun

Wallene received a Wii for Christmas. Although we have never been parents that jump on the latest fad or must have [I refuse to stand in line at 4 am or to reserve something just so my kids can have something] - we figured it looked pretty neat, they were in abundance this year and they are cheap [well, cheaper] than years past. So we went for it. She was really surprised because she hadn't asked for it. It was awesome when she opened it. I think she screamed almost as loud as when she opened up her new copy of "JAWS" [yes, I caved. she got the damn movie. heehee]

I have to say this game is fun! Right now we have the sports package that comes with it [bowling, baseball, tennis, boxing and golf] and we have spent every night since Christmas playing against one another. It is actually something I can participate in because I can sit down between turns and I am not actually holding a real bowling ball [which I know I couldn't do] or a real bat and have to actually run the bases during a baseball game. [Me? Run? Like that would happen.]

Does anyone have any suggestions for other games to get? I know she is going to purchase Mario Cart with her Christmas money, but I know absolutely nothing else about what would be a good game. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Happy Birthday My Boy, My Boy

I found this in my archives and had to post it. This is my baby. My little baby boy. He has brought me more joy [and heartache] then I can ever measure. Today he is 19.

I love you Junior. Be safe, be happy and know you are loved. Deeply and forever.

[no comments on our flooring. it is awful isn't it? we were a poor working couple and it came with the house and a $500 a month mortgage. ha!]

'Cause I Can...I am the Momma

I have all the power when it comes to posting bad pics. giggle.

Yep! It was awesome. There is a dog in there somewhere :)
She wouldn't take this coat off.

Just fun. I love this pic', minus the -cough, cough -champange and beer.

I couldn't resist. My geeky kids.

Take above caption: Insert here. LOL

[and look! still wearing the coat]

[and if you look really hard Wallene is in there somewhere!]

~

I love to post pics with my posts. I usually try to find the best pics to represent my family, but I took so many goofy ones on Christmas that I couldn't resist posting them here.

~

Our son, bless his heart, was so sick [a cold] but he managed to come over for an hour and the girls were thrilled. Today is his birthday - 19 years old. Wow. His sisters made him a cake, but he has to work today and so we will eat it instead and think of him. He did get a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday when he opened his presents tho'. That was nice. Besides all his gifts he walked out with more cash [from various grandparents and great aunts/uncles] than I have in my bank account. This kid is rolling in it today. Somehow he managed to forget the huge package of food his sister packed for him. sigh.

~

Happy Birthday My boy, my boy. I love you so very much.

Merry Christmas Tadpoles!

Yep! Christmas went all explodey in our living room.

YAY!

The Skippy Family wishes you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

It What's For Dinner

I just sent poor Pooldad off to the grocery store with a very long list. He is such a trooper! :)
~
What do y'all serve for Christmas dinner? Since we have always stayed at home and everyone came to us [hey, I wasn't shuttling all those kids around half of northern Virginia, okay?] we go with a buffet. This allows people to come when they want and eat as little or as much as they want depending if they have other places to visit.
~
I thought I would share our menu 'cause I am getting tired of being tired of the last few days and food makes me happy :).

~

Spiral Slice Ham

Baked Beans

Macaroni Salad

Potato Salad

Cranberry Sauce*

Devilled Eggs

Yeast Rolls

Vegetables and Dip

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Chips and Dip**

Assorted Homemade Cookies and Candy

Chocolate Fondue

~

Boring, right? I swear if I don't make this every year I have a rebellion on my hands. Lil' tyrants. Funny thing is I hate ham. Always have - but does anyone think that matters? Nooooo, they know they are getting ham at least once a year and it will be on Christmas. I don't really mind - I love having salads in the middle of winter. Yum! And? I can pretty much eat my weight in rolls and spinach dip. Double yum.

~

*Don't ask me why this is on the menu - it just seems that my daughter loves cranberry sauce and insists I make it. So ham and cranberry sauce anyone?

~

**This is so lame, but it sure does go a long way to keeping my littlest visitors happy. It is a staple at any buffet with little ones. :)

~

I want to thank you all again for your support and kind words. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. I will be thinking of you.

No Room at the Inn

Sorry for the biblical reference - but it is the line that has been running through my head all day and it doesn't allude to the baby Jesus. I will explain that in a moment.

First I have to say thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your good wishes, thoughts and prayers mean everything to me and have helped me through today. Seriously tadpoles. To click on my email throughout the day and see your comments and support buoyed my spirit while I waited on word from my sister and the hospital.

We are still in VA since I have discovered it is a pretty hard task to find someone to care for a 110 lb. lapdog. We cannot take him to SC and I wasn't about to try call around and see if I could find a place to board him. [Hence the title of the post] It IS Christmas - all the places in our area have been booked for months and I am not silly enough to call anyone and ask "Gee, you don't have ANY thing?" I know better and I am just not that person. Most of our friends that are comfortable around Scooby - although he is a big dog he is a sweetie, some people are still scared of him because of size - are out of town. So I am still looking.

I am also getting a hard time from my husband, my sister and my doctor about being 400 miles from home should I flare or have an episode. To be honest, they are all right - but I really, really want to see my Mom once more. But I have to take into account my family - Pooldad, my kids. I don't really know what the risks would be - oh the great unknown! - but after listening to all of them I don't consider it a chance I can take.

I really was having such a great time with Christmas this year. I was. And I still am going to, no worries there - they don't call me Skippy for nothing, right? But I am frustrated and sad because we won't be there and with Mom being in ICU there is no way to talk to her. Funny aside: Cellphones are verboten in the hospital right? My sister actually closed the door to my mother's room so I could say hi real quick without the nurses seeing my Mom on my sis's cellphone. So while she* was yelling at me to stay home I got to yell back that she shouldn't be using a cellphone in ICU. We're even. And laughing at each other. She promised not to do it again. I didn't promise not to drive down tho' ;) [*my sister, not my Mom]

So the story goes - I love my Mom. That goes without saying - and although I know that I need to keep the happy, happy going for the kids on Christmas - the thought of my sister and my Mom all alone in an ICU unit in SC is about breaking my heart. I know that sounds very pathetic and self-pitying and I don't mean it to be, but sometimes I wonder how my life plays out this way. It was only 3 short years ago that I received the phone call on Christmas Eve morning notifying me that Squirrel and Jr's Dad was dead.

I don't want that phone call tomorrow. Or Friday. Heck, I don't want that phone call at all, but it is inevitable and I know it.

I have to say again - You all have helped me more than you know and I thank you. I want to keep the Merry in the Christmas and although I am finding it hard your words make me smile and show me what a truly great group of friends I have.

Thank you.

Um, Can I Ask a Favor?

I need some prayers and good thoughts tadpoles.

I wouldn't bring this up right now as it is Christmas [and wasn't I having a great time], but seems my Mom is failing hard and Christmas isn't looking too bright in her lil' swamp in SC.

She is being put in the ICU tonight. Her lung capacity is down to 17% and she is being quite combative.

So, a lil' "Hey Patti - hang in there - 'till Skippy gets there." would work wonders for me.

We can't leave until ...sometime [tomorrow? Thurday?] soon, so I will be around 'till then. Guess my doctor was wrong - I can will travel to SC.

Just think something nice. For my family - okay?

We Have a Weiner! Oops - I Mean Winner!

The Winner is MrStorage!
And here is one of our weiners :) - Boomer.

Mr. Storage please email me your address so I can send this off and you can show it to Bean :)!

[PS sorry it took so long to pick a winner - we ....um, got a little busy!]

Careful...Your Christmas Spirit Is Showing

I have to tell you what Pooldad witnessed tonight at our local strip mall. First let me give a little backstory - As everyone knows the east coast was smacked pretty hard with a blizzard on Saturday. Our 'burb received 20 inches of snow which basically closed down everything. The airports, the malls, the grocery stores. You get the idea.

Pooldad and I have been through this kind of storm before [in January of 1996] and when that storm hit everything stayed closed for a week afterwards - schools, the government, stores and it was only 2 inches more.

So we were thinking - hey! Everything may be closed until Christmas. It happened in 96, right?, so we figured we had enough of our shopping done for the girls and if necessary we would just finish it up after Christmas day and have two mini Christmases. The girls were good with that and our families knew it was the best we could do.

Evidently with the advent of Christmas in a mere 5 days they plowed the heck out of everything and the stores opened! [Not the schools or the government mind you - but the almighty retailers were going to get those last Christmas dollars come hell or high snow drifts tadpoles.]

Pooldad took the girls out to our local strip mall last evening so they could shop for us, which is very sweet but looking back was probably a boneheaded move on our part because it seems the whole of Loudoun County has not completed their shopping and they were there too! Oh joy. No worries tho' because crowds don't bother the family and they were excited to spend their snow shovelling money. Like I said, very sweet.

Now you are going to discover why I do all my shopping on-line.

The girls were in Michaels shopping for both of us. In order that Pooldad not peek at their gift selections he went to stand outside of the store. And this is what he witnessed, 4 days before Christmas - y'know? The Season:

There are two lanes of traffic which run straight at the front of Michaels. Cars have a choice of going left or right once they arrive at the street in front of Michaels. The street in front of Michael's is two way traffic, one lane of each. On this street the cars travelling have the right of way and the other two lanes must wait to turn or a nice person can slow and wave them out. Due to the volume of traffic last evening it was slow going. Beyond slow. And the big problem was no one was allowing the two lanes to merge out into traffic to leave the parking lot.

Still following me? Good because it became really bad, really fast:

One white woman [yes race is relevant to this post, unfortunately] was waiting to merge for over 5 minutes and became frustrated because no one would let her in so she hopped out of her car and ran to the SUV that [at that point] should've let her merge and she physically blocked it.

And then she started to scream at the driver. "You are not moving this f* car and you are f* going to let me out you f* bitch."

This did not go over well with the [black] woman driving the SUV [imagine that]. The driver of the SUV rolled down her window and came back with her own slew of epitaths yelling "Get the f* off my car you redneck piece of trash and get the hell out of the road before I run your skanky ass over."

Then our antagonist decides to pull THE word out of her repetoire and started shrieking "Stupid, f* [insert worst racial slur imaginable], don't you yell at me you f* b*....." She kept on screaming and then she smacked the SUV's hood with both of her hands.

Nice huh?

Feeling his Christmas spirit dwindle just a bit Pooldad stepped back inside Michaels to get away from the scene outside and wait for the kids. He didn't witness the end.

I know the holidays are stressful for some people - but to act like these women did [especially the first woman] is wrong. People's expectations are just too high if this is what it leads to over a book or a bauble that your Aunt Judy probably doesn't want anyway.

Jeesh.

Even Better?

The Federal Government is closed tomorrow which means that Pooldad doesn't have to go to work either!

I love the snow. I may hate the cold, but winter just ROCKS!

::off to par-tay::

Schools Are Closed Monday and Tuesday!

Woohoo! No School from now until January 3rd. How wonderful -squeeeeeeee!

Pretty Christmas lights and 16 inches of snow
Spot [yes, that is Spot] actually likes it, but is too short to play in it.
Our table. Wow!

If you look close you can see how hard it is still snowing.

Scooby - he is helping to clean the back porch of snow.

He would stay out all day if we let him.

This is perfect. Extra time off with the kidlets. Now if the Federal Government would close for two days Pooldad would be off until January 3rd too!

Wish!Wish!Wish!

It's A Blizzard Baby!

They tried to plow [see the street beyond the tree?]
Isn't it pretty?
At 7:30 am we had about 8 inches.

Oh, this is what happened when they tried to plow. The plow on the left got stuck. The plow on the right came to pull him out and got stuck. It took them a while to get out.

Then they gave up on our street [see the above pic']

Just so awesome! And it is still going strong.

They have now classified it as a blizzard. Everything, including the malls, are closed. Can you believe it? They are saying we will be getting 20 plus inches. YAY!

Off to make cookies and chili dogs and soup and spiced nuts and wrap presents and drink toddies. Hope y'all are having a great day!

Two more thoughts:

-We checked the mail from yesterday and we have THREE new movies from Netflix - all Christmas. How great is that? YAY!

- And if you live in my area [VA, MD and DC] do NOT drive. Do NOT go Christmas shopping. Blizzard conditions people - low visibility - the roads aren't plowed. Unless it is an emergency PLEASE stay off the roads and let the first responders do their jobs. Please?

[Y'all cannot believe how many people are out driving in this today. You can't - four wheel drive or not, believe me].

It's Here! It's Here

Look! Isn't it awesome? And they think we may get as much as 20 inches! Woohoo! These pics were taken by Wallene at 11 pm. It has been snowing about 2 hours and it is not supposed to stop until Sunday. This is so great. Heehee.

Looking up our street.
Seymour keeping watch on the front porch.

Our Christmas decorations. Yay! Snow!

Straight out the front door.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I know we are going to enjoy the heck out of this :)

Holy White Christmas Batman!

I have lived in VA for the past 37 years and in all that time we have never, ever had a white Christmas. Ever.

Well tadpoles, seems as tho' this is the year. See the attractive dark purple patch on the map. See? The one that says that particular color = 12+ inches of snow?

Yes - that would be us. This is the forecast for this weekend. A foot of snow is not going to melt before the end of the week, right? RIGHT? [just go along, please?] I want a white Christmas.

I think it is the first time in my life I have ever loved the color purple. Yipppppeeeee!

Wallene and I were a little perplexed this afternoon when we received a "Storm Warning" alert on the TV. It was a beautiful, sunshiney [cold] day - then when we saw they meant this weekend we understood - it must be a storm of pretty epic porportions if they are warning us two days in advance with an alert during Oprah.

Ooooh, I am so hoping for this. heehee

I Just Realized...

....I am never going to see the Grand Canyon.

Or my beloved Alaska.

Am I?

Your Favorite Christmas Movie Give Away

There are so many cherished holiday movies. Some old, some new - some celebrating the true meaning of the season, some poking fun and some are just lovely.

My very favorite movie is "Love Actually". Not too traditional, but the stories interwoven, the Christmas theme and the soundtrack all add up to a movie I love.
Pooldad bought me this the other day and the Squirrel and I have watched it several times [to the point of sleep deprivation for her!] and giggled, applauded and cried our way through. I love this movie.

Here is the give away [anyone glad I learned how to spell give away? sheesh why didn't you tell me?]:

1. Leave a comment detailing your favorite Christmas movie. ANYONE is welcome. Don't have to be a certified tadpole.
2. It has to be a movie that I can handily purchase from my local video store or Amazon.com[nothing obscure tadpoles, as much as I am ALL about that] because I would like to mail your prize off by Saturday, December 19th. Okay?
3. Again - a comment is all it takes. No need to post on your blog or twitter - just let me know what you love and can watch again and again.
4. If it is for a friend or family member tell me what they like and you may win their favorite movie. And I gift wrap.
5. Drawing ends at 9 am Saturday, December 19th. Again, snowman hat and a kid to pick the winner!

I don't know if y'all think I have lost my mind or what - but I was sitting here watching "Love Actually" with the Squirrel tonight and thinking of all my tadpoles that are having troubles and worrying and aren't quite into the spirit this year. And I understand. I have been there. I know.

Here is the thing. Not to be morose and I do hope I am wrong [wow do I hope I am wrong about this] - but I don't know how many Christmases I have left and for some reason everything about the spirit has overtaken me this year and I want to share. With y'all.

I can't be there to hug you, bring you a drink or cook you a dinner but maybe I can bring a little sunshine into some of your lives with these silly little give aways.

You know who you are and know that I love and support you. Just as y'all have me.
Thank you.

My Dad Once Told Me......

That I had a knack for giving birth to beautiful children. Although I take absolutely no credit for how gorgeous our daughter Dee is and how handsome our son Tee is [not my genetics!]

I have to say - AREN'T THEY BEAUTIFUL?
And this? Yep! I did this. heehee.

We just received a bunch of pics from Dee for Christmas and I was so excited to share with y'all. I don't know about you but this holiday is just getting better and better. Now as soon as I can get all of them in one shot - that will make Pooldad and I complete.

And our pantry empty. heehee

But I say? BRING IT ON! :)

Hope everyone is having a nice evening. And someone is enjoying her Drunken Arnie. You deserve it.

Hugs!

Give A Way Winner!!!!

The name was picked out of [what else?] a snowman hat.

And the winner is? LINDA of RVvagabond fame.
Wallene was indisposed so the Squirrel did the honors.
She was a little confused.

But happy with the outcome.
~~~~~~~~~

Linda please email with your pick of appliances and whether or not it will be a gift.
Thank you for all your lovely comments.

Honestly? I Just Don't Have to Hunt for Blog Content....

I received an email from my daughter today. This was the P.S. :

Love you, Mom <3>
See you @ 4:15ish or so.
P.S. I just found a dog poop bag in my letter jacket pocket from last year. yuck :(

My response?

"Honey - Why do you give me blog material? Why?"

**and no the bag didn't have anything in it - the email just made it sound like it did.

Snowman Love!

Our candle lit snowman in the foyer.
All our lampshades sport Snowman headwear!
[No. We do not turn the lamps on]
My snowman posse. Ignore the Penguin.

Hanging on every doorknob in our home. YAY!

This was sent to me by a great friend in [um, duh] WVMy big guy - he is up all year long. Because he simply makes me happy.

And? He matches our decor :)

[And I paid 50% off! Bonus!]

Country living.

One of our newer additions. Believe!

Click on this - they are SO cute!
And see my new hand towels? Another gift from my WV buddy.

~

Pooldad's tradition [started this year] is to come home each day with a snowman for me. Either handmade or store bought. I don't know why, but there is just something about snowmen that make me smile and happy. Can you honestly look at them and not smile?

Our Give-A-Way! Comment now!

Most Awesome Homemade Gift Ever

I was reading blogs today and on one the discussion turned to homemade gifts. I read this woman's suggestion [and I can't find it now! I will credit her if I do] but I fell in love with this idea.

Homemade jam, homemade peanut butter and a loaf of fresh baked bread in a basket. For PB&J sandwiches.

How neat is this? I love this idea. I am so excited about this. Especially now that I have a food processor to make the peanut butter. Heehee.

Saturday cannot get here fast enough. The girls and I will be baking, canning and grinding [peanuts]. Oh, even better? We can start Friday as Pooldad has started 4 day work weeks for the winter. See? I do LOVE the Pool business. HA!

Don't forget to enter the give-a-way so you too can get your cooking vibe flowing! Or make a cup of coffee! [And thanks for all the tadpoles that have entered so far - your comments are great!]

It's A Give-A-Way!

We thought we would share with everyone our new found love of Cuisinart. Actually we have always had an awesome toaster and coffee pot - but we have been adding to our collection and Pooldad and I thought it would be neat to send a brand new Cuisinart item along to a tadpole.

The winner of the give-a-way may choose ONE of the following:

• 4 cup coffee maker [perfect for your office!]
• A counter top can opener
• A coffee grinder [stainless steel, so cool]
• A mini prep processor [chop nuts, grind spices, dice fresh herbs]
• A hand blender [We have one of these! SO awesome, easy clean and good for small spaces when you just can't have a blender] and sbiznel is correct - it is an immersion blender.
• A Waffle maker [We have this too - so easy to use, clean up is a breeze, great waffles]

To enter simply leave us a comment. That's it. So easy! You don't have to twitter or facebook or even mention it on your blog - just a comment saying you would like to join.

Bonus! If none of these appeal to you but perhaps would make a great gift for family, a friend or neighbor I will happily wrap it in pretty paper with a gift card from you and mail it directly to their address. How easy is THAT? Otherwise it is going to the winner's home.

The give-a-way ends on Saturday, December 12th [12:00 noon - 'cause I will be awake - YAY!]and we are able to mail it in time for the holidays. We will put all the names in a hat and let Wallene draw the winner.

Everyone is welcome - if you read and comment you are entered! Join! The more the merrier!

Hope everyone's day is going great!

Christmas Stocking Question

HI! Christmas Spirit here!

Kidding, kidding.

I received an email from a newbie tadpole that asked if I filled these little stockings for the kids everyday before Christmas what exactly did I put in their actual [big] stocking on Christmas Eve?

Awesome question!

And I am happy to report I don't stuff their stockings on Christmas Eve.

Now, before you boo me horribly [no booing at Christmas tadpoles!] allow me to explain.

The kids are responsible for this tradition. They fill eachothers' stocking. We take them shopping and they pick out what they think their sister or brother would like. Who knows better what a kid wants then their sibling? And Pooldad and I fill eachothers.

We have had some pretty awesome stockings in the past and it is always fun to see what they select. I know Pooldad and I wouldn't think of half the stuff these guys choose.

I would've posted a picture of our [personalized] actual stockings, but I am still living under the delusion that this blog is anonymous. Giggle.

Merry Christmas! Oh, and come around on Wednesday because Pooldad and I are having a holiday give a way! YAY!

We Fondue! Do You?

Oh yeah baby! What a wonderful, yummy Sunday night dinner!

We ate a concoction of Swiss and Gruyere with white wine and spices melted and served with crusty french bread for dipping and a caeser salad.

I have never made this for the family before [it is not cheap and I am] but I have been craving it. I was a bit leery that the kids wouldn't like it as it is very rich. I told them I would make them sandwiches to go with the salads if they didn't like it, but to please try a few bites. HA! They ate 3/4 of a large loaf of french bread themselves.

Those little fondue forks make great weapons when the bread bowl gets low I have to say. :)

Next up - Beef fondue [Wallene will be frying hot dogs] and then white chocolate. Mmmmm.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. See you Monday!

Purty!

The beginning of our snow yesterday. This is taken from inside our home and those are the steps leading up to our home. Aren't the wreaths pretty? They were covered about 9 hours later in 7 inches of big, fat, fluffy snow. So Christmassy!

But, you see, we have a love/hate relationship with our local weather guy Doug Hill. We love to make fun of him because we hate his weather forecasts. For a few days and up until yesterday morning he kept saying we would be receiving about [no more than] 2 inches.

Needless to say we ended up with 7 inches. It is always this way. I don't mind the extra snow [in fact, bring it on!] - but we aren't the types to run to the store and freak out and buy out the stock of toilet paper, milk and eggs. We know that we will eventually get there [the next day] if we need something - but Doug is so bad at what he does that he completely screws it for people that need a real, true forecast.

Yep - 7 inches of snow is pretty darn neat - too bad it occured on a Saturday and no one gets to stay home from school or work with Skippy for a snow day.

We will wait. It will happen.

Annual Christmas Party

Pooldad's Annual Work Christmas Party was last night. Since I couldn't go I asked that he take Wallene in my place. What Pooldad neglected to mention was that the party was being held at Ruth's Chris. You know - the very expensive steak place? I didn't find out until he arrived home. I thought it was going to be a nice buffet at a hotel somewhere but? Nope. The guys [owners] did it up right. [As usual, these guys can throw a party!]
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Fortunately everyone was lovely to Wallene [again, as usual - they are a great bunch of people] and she was well behaved and had a great time. She even brought me home a crab cake! Woot!
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Dad and Wallene

Someone gave Wallene "earrings" :)

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They had a great time. Pooldad said the service was wonderful, but the food left a bit to be desired. This surprised me because it IS Ruth's Chris, but my husband is not a man that complains about food. He isn't picky - so to have a disparaging comment on the steak is not to be taken lightly. He did say the salad [caesar] and dessert [berries and cream] were good, so that says something. But to mess up a steak at a steak house? Wow.

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When we woke up this morning and checked the bank account we realized they had direct deposited his Christmas bonus check! YAY!

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It is snowing and I am going Christmas shopping. I love this time of year.

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Have a great weekend.