Bless Your Heart

Gala

Our office Holiday Gala was today. They don’t call it a Christmas party to stay PC I suppose. They held it at a local restaurant/game room/bowling alley/Dave & Buster’s type place. All the games were set up for free games and there were buffets all over. It was fun. Jon had to work so I took my sisters and Jake. The 13 year old in me was pretty psyched to be able to walk up to video games and just play without spending all my quarters!

When I got home Ike and I worked on getting just the right shot for this year’s Christmas cards. This will do quite nicely!

Drafted

I went ahead and gave Jon his birthday present tonight. His birthday isn’t until the 12th, but he’s working that whole weekend, plus he’s been having a stressful time at work, so he deserved it. Jon’s a beer drinker so to make it easier for him to enjoy a nice, cold beer at home I got him a kegerator. It’s a mini Kenmore fridge that has a tap like at a bar. It also has a CO2 cartridge so his beer won’t go flat. Very cute. Here’s what it will look like once it’s all set up: . I ordered it online and went to pick it up at Sears. This other customer was there when I was and saw what I was picking up (it’s pretty big- but don’t get any crazy ideas- I didn’t do any heavy lifting). He read the box and says to me “Beer dispenser?! For you or your husband?”. My husband. He replies “You’re the best wife ever!”. Thank you sir. ;)

Big Ticket Item Jon and I shopped for a dining room table last weekend. We went into all the standard furniture stores and couldn’t find anything we liked. Storehouse had some nice pieces, but if we wanted to afford to actually eat at the table we’d need to buy our set elsewhere. We’d been driving by this store called By Design waiting for it to open. We took a chance that it was open on Sunday and found out they’d only been open 3 days. We walked in, met Doug the sales guy and promptly fell in love with the first table he showed us. It has hidden leaves that pop out when you need it, extending the table to 9 feet long! So cool. I love how when I went back in on Wednesday to buy it (after making sure it would fit in our dining room) that I paid what to me is a lot of money for them to tell me we’d get it in a few weeks. Aaarrgghh! I like instant gratification! Looks like we’ll be eating our dinners on tv trays for a little while longer!

Operation buy Jon’s birthday and Christmas presents without him knowing about them went pretty well. I ended up with one big thing- I hate combining his birthday and Christmas presents but this one is really big. I can’t say here what it is, but pictures will follow. It’s hiding out in my Mom’s garage until the big day (the 12th).

In other news, I’ve been trying to get a good shot of Ike for our Christmas cards. He’d rather pose with his bones than with the santa hat I got him though!

Prediction…. I’m seeing in the near future that pink poodles, pink & black, and all things with a 1950’s pink feminine flair (think sharp nosed Barbie) will be making a big comeback. I’ve noticed a sprinkling of these things over the last few months, but I’ll bet we’re in for a full on trend. Now, I don’t read magazines unless I’m at the doctor or a salon, so I could be either way off base or behind the times and it’s already the next big thing. I just like to think I’m all hip and cutting edge. ;)

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world…. The other day was the first time Hale’s ever eaten a Milk Dud. I couldn’t believe it. Since he’s been with my family he’s discovered that tuna fish comes from a can (when making tuna salad), found out what a Sharpie marker is, he’s never been to a flea market, and now he’s finally tried a Milk Dud. I’m just amazed how you can be over 50 years old and all these things are new to you. So it’s made me wonder…what have you never tried that’s seemingly normal, run of the mill, mainstream?

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! Ours was great- we had a big family dinner on Thursday (sans Turkey because Hale forgot to buy oil for the deep fryer!). My uncle and his wife drove in from Wilmington with their 2 adorable kids. Marc & Sara were there with Jake, Jon and I brought Ike, Grandmommy, Mom, Hale, Morgan, and mom’s friend Jackie rounded out the group. Here are some pictures from the day:

How cute are these kids??

Marc and Jake kick back and watch a little football.

Ike and Jon join them.

The kids table.

After dinner we went outside for some

trampoline time. Later on we settled in to watch Spirited Away on dvd. Such a beautiful movie.

Friday Morgan, Sara, Jake and I did a little shopping while avoiding the mall. Then Jon and I went to see Bad Santa (which was absolutely a riot- Jon laughed so hard he cried) then had dinner at Buca di Beppo. We sat on the far end of the room and I couldn’t really read the menu on the wall from there. I asked the waitress for a handheld menu but Jon said we didn’t need it. The waitress walks away and I ask what he’d like for dinner and he says “I don’t know- I can’t see anything on the menu!” Wha?? So our waitress basically chose our meal. It was really good though.

Saturday I worked some overtime then we went to see Timeline. I had read the book so I was curious to see how the movie would turn out. It was great! Lots of action.

Sunday we went out for breakfast, ran some errands, then put up the Christmas tree and decorated the house for Christmas. We’ve still got some lights to put up, and ornaments to hang on the tree, but we got a lot accomplished yesterday. We’re feeling a little Griswold type competition from the neighbors. I see a really high electric bill in our future once we get all our lights up!

winter update…pardon the mess…

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! We’ll be spending it at my Mom’s with my family coming into town. Lots of aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Ike’s very excited for his first big family holiday!

I found this cute bench at Ikea last time I was there. I thought it would look great on our front porch. I can’t wait to get the front door painted- a nice holly berry red we’ve picked out. Our house is starting to really look like home.

Today we finally got around to hanging curtains in the formals. They’d been sitting in their Ikea bags since September. Shameful. But with all the painting in those rooms mostly complete we could finally hang them.

Dining room– there are 2 of these windows.

Living room– this is the side window. Main window in living room: