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Testing 123

...Someone in Our Family Has a Drinking Problem

In order to protect his anonymity, I won't mention any names. "Mr. X's" problem is so severe that he is driven to drink during the middle of the night!

The pic above was taken at 3 a.m. this morning. I awoke to the sound of running water and upon my discovery, Mr. X had not only turned on the faucet but he was drinking like a fish!

I can't wait until I get my water bill!

Recipe: Zucchini Padella

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. zucchini, sliced in 1/4"-thick circles

2 T. extra-virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1/4 tsp. dried red chile pepper flakes

2 T. minced fresh Italian parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.

Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and saute until the garlic just begins to turn golden.

Add the zucchini, add some salt, and raise to high heat.

Cover the skillet and cook the zucchini for about 10 minutes, stirring often and watching for any signs of sticking (the zucchini should make enough of its own liquid, but add a few drops of water if necessary.

When the zucchini is very tender, stir in the parsley if desired, taste for salt, and grind pepper over the dish.

Sprinkle with parmesan

I think we've got a future vegetarian in the house!

This is a pic of my youngest "picking" at her roast beef this evening. The look on her face speaks volumes with respect to her thoughts on roast beef.

Despite my repeated requests to her to eat her dinner, she steadfastly refused. Out of the blue, this mental picture popped into my head:


Wonder how she'll feel about that roast beef for breakfast...?

(For those of you who don't get the reference, sorry. An in depth explanation would just kill the whole thing.)

Holy Chin, Batman!

Here's a pic of some of me and my co-workers doing some variation of jazz hands. It was the photographer's idea of injecting some life into the photos. We all looked like we were having a fun, don't we? Speaking for myself, I had a little bit of wine behind that grin so I was VERY happy.

Ya ever get ready to go some where and you think you look pretty damn good? Last month, I went to this corporate awards dinner and I was so proud that I was able to escape looking too fat. Everything came out looking pretty good. My hair was rockin', make up turned out nice, loved my outfit, everything that wasn't beautiful was tucked into my $72 Spanx and what didn't succumb to gravity was tucked away in a $65 bra. All in all, I thought I managed to pull off a half-way decent look for the evening.

Then I looked closer at the picture:


And all I could see was:

What's the deal with my large chin??

Signed,
More Chin than a Chinese phone book

Speaking of Michael Buble' & Leon Jackson....

Bear in mind, it's raw footage BUT in a word, AWESOME!

Happy Birthday Donny!

In one post, I am not only going to reveal my age group but I am also going to prove that I am in fact, the world's biggest dork.....

Happy Birthday Donny Osmond!

Yes, the man of my dreams (when I was eight) has a birthday today, December 9th! If the picture above does NOT scream total stud muffin, I don't know what does. Look at his super-groovy sweater vest, his purple crushed velvet hat and the way he holds out his pinky in such a masculine fashion! Wow.................all I can say is that I was a eight-year old, Tiger Beat reading, Donny Osmond lovin' dork! I had a poster of the above picture on my wall right next to my bed and I used to just gaze into his dreamy eyes and play my record and pretend he was my boyfriend. I was eight for gawd's sake!! Then I'd turn around and continue playing with my Barbies.

What gets me is that I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday but I can remember Donny Osmond's birthday.

And even more disturbing is that I found a recent photo and I still think he's good looking!

Welcome to Ollywood!

What is it with cats and the need to hunt everything? My Christmas ornaments were spared no mercy by this reckless orange and white feline hunter.

Case in point:

While we were decorating the tree, Ollie was very busy "un-decorating". It's gonna be a long holiday season! This year all of my hand-painted ornaments remain packed away and we are sportin' $19.99 shatterproof ornaments from Target.

Bella, on the other hand, could care less about trees, ornaments or decorations.

Our four-year old, Bella or "Belly, as I refer to her, is basically the world's best behaved cat. She wouldn't dare bother herself with something so inane as taking apart the Christmas tree.

Doesn't she look thrilled to have her picture taken?

Just to be fair.....

Gotta show some love for Michael Buble'

The Bathroom Remodel is Moving Along

Our bathroom remodel is moving along swimmingly thanks to our four-legged foreman, Ollie.

Shower stall comfortable? Check!

Shower drain big enough? Check!

Does the shower pan taste good? Check!

Time for a catnap? Check!

One More Thing to Be Grateful For

The world's cutest, Pom. This is my 4 year-old Pom, Petey. Ain't he delightful? He's sportin' his lion-cut!

Give Thanks!

I give thanks for the following:

My family is healthy and happy
We have a nice home with plenty of food and clothing
We are employed and able to afford our children a good life
We have a new president coming into office
I am at a place in my life where I thought I'd never be

I've Been Hornswaggled and Bamboozled

To coin a phrase from an cheesy eighties teenage movie, "first I'm gonna sh*t and then I'm gonna kill 'him!"

My dear hubby has exacted his revenge against my holiday "pinkness". During the beginning of November, dear hubby and I had a bet wherein I would be given $500 if he did not complete the remodel on our master bathroom by November 30th. This morning I THOUGHT I gave a subtle reminder about our bet.

When I got home from work today, this was in our living
room:

(every craft item I've NEVER completed has been stored in that bathroom for the last 8 months)

and this:

(new shower enclosure)

and this was in our kitchen

(new tile for our bathroom)

There's one being in the house that finds the upheaval completely wonderful!

Did I mention that I am having guests for Thanksgiving tomorrow?

To quote another cheesy 80's movie "That fargin sneaky bastage! This is fargin' war!"

The Plight of the Pumpkin Pie Lover

The question of the day::

Should the pumpkin pie remain untouched?


Scroll down for answer:



Going

Going


Gone!

I'm a firm believer that if you are going to do something, you need to do it right. Having no willpower blows BUT it sure tastes good!

I am done with my marathon blogging session for today. I need to take a shower and get dressed since it's almost.....NOON!

Lighten Up on The Pink, Hon...

Hubby's last words to me as he skipped out the door this morning were something along the lines of "have fun decorating and please lighten up on the pink, hon." His comment comes from the fact that last year, I had decorated in pink. I think he felt emasculated by all the pink Christmas decor.

I looked at him with this look as I watched him skip out the door:

(Only one person would get this above reference but alas, her and I aren't on speaking terms anymore. Nonetheless, the look still applies.)

Well, after three hours, I have FINALLY finished decorating. I did heed his warning and lightened up on the pinks..........with a twist.

I started out decorating my mantel but it just didn't seem to have enough pink.

So I turned around and decorated my entry table:


Ah yes! I think I have succeeded in "getting my pink on". Of course, I am a firm believer in never having enough so I whipped up these cuties as the pink frosting on the cake:




Of course, I LIVE to please my hubby so I also did our dining room in the standard holiday decor - red and green:

Since my adorable 12 year-old took part in hubby's diabolical plot to sneak in all the ornaments last night while I was sleeping, I put her favorite decoration at her place setting at the dining room table:

I can't see why he would freak her out, can you? (You'll want to click on the above photo to see him in all his glory)

And not to leave hubby out, I put up some extra cheesy garland........I used lots and lots of DECK nails.


Bear in mind that nails are to my husband what Kryptonite is to Superman.

As we are removing the soffet and the adjoining wall during our kitchen remodel, the damage is only fleeting.

They also brought up this little elf. Ain't he cute? And his twin (which I only have a close-up of).


Do you STILL think they're cute? If this isn't a craft project gone wrong, then I don't know what is! Elves with mumps (and squashed mumps thanks to my 12 year-old's curious finger!!) and wrinkles.....Eek!

I didn't want to leave my husband's "Boom-Boom Room" untouched this season.

Look at the pics below and tell me if his room has testosterone written all over it??



The pic above shows his wagon when he was a cute little tot (a million years ago), his dad's baseball bats from the early 20's, a vintage Olympia beer tray, a few awards from car shows and a pics of our son in his baseball uniform.



This is my husband's 52" plasma television and surround sound system, dvd player and other stuff that I don't know how to operate.



My popcorn machine and some vintage drive-inn speakers that he had to have!



Not to leave him out of the Christmas spirit, I moved all the Christmas storage boxes into this room! LIGHTEN UP ON THE PINK HON! He's gonna regret them words. LOL!

And in case you are wondering, the pics are signed autographs of the "Friends" cast, Barbara Billingsley (June Cleaver), Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone from the movie "Casino", the guy who played Mini Me, the man who played the Riddler and the bust belongs to Angelina Jolie. The glossy picture is of my youngest daughter's school photo and her "autograph".

Good Things Come to Those Who DON'T Wait!

While begrudging ironing our Christmas stockings this morning, I felt something inside. I thought it was a year-old candy cane. Imagine my sheer delight, when I found an unopened Target gift card inside!!

I just called their automated line to check the balance and it was for $100! I'm surprised that I was that generous last year. Fortunately for me and unfortunately for my kids, our stockings don't have their names on them. Our four stockings spell out "Noel" and I'm betting that no one remembers their letter from last year.

Well, to be honest, no one is going to have the opportunity to remember the letter on their stocking from last year. Like my 12 year-old used to say when she was a toddler, "finders keepers, losers sweepers!"

Let me extol the virtues of getting ready for Christmas! Well, if I really was enjoying myself, would I find the need to take pictures and post about unused gift cards??

More on that later....

Kris Kringle Disaster

Last night when I went to bed, my house was PERFECTLY clean. By "perfect", I mean there was not ONE lick of any Christmas related item in the house.

Evidently, Santa (hubby) and his evil minions (youngest son and daughter) unloaded EVERY entire Christmas decoration we've ever had and decided to dump them smack dab in the livingroom! Look, you'll even see Santa's boot (youngest daughter's Ugg boot) as evidence!

Imagine the look on my face, when I noticed that Kris Kringle had indeed vomited in my livingroom!

I had taken today off work to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner. I over invited and we have 12 people coming for dinner and in addition to cubing every vegetable known to man (for the stuffing), I am now going to have to scramble and try to clean up this mess.

I'm a Virgo. If you aren't familiar with this astrological sign, we NEED to have neatness and order. I'm not sure what to do or where to start. The Ebenezer Scrooge in me wants to put EVERYTHING back in the box and move it back down to the storeroom!!

You can tell by the look on Bella's face that she has no clue what's going on

Ollie, on the other hand knows a party when he sees one:

Well this disaster isn't going to clean itself. I'll be back with pictures of the finished project. Wish me luck!

The inevitable has occurred

Well, the mere thinking about going to Disneyland is officially "over". I just finished wrapping up the details for a REAL Disneyland trip. Looks like we are making the 400+ mile trek to the Magic Kingdom in February.

Our last trip was in January 2007. Evidently, we can't make it more than a few years to this animated Mecca...yay for me...

The last time I visited, I had a terrible bout with IC (interstitial cystitis aka "Painful Bladder Syndrome".) The majority of my trip was spent in the hotel room while hubby and the kids went on every ride in Disneyland and California Disney.

When I was fortunate enough to make it into the park, I spent an inordinate amount of time mapping out the ....facilities. I can honestly state that I have visited EVERY bathroom in Disneyland.

On a good note, I get ANOTHER chance to visit the Carnation Cafe as well as the Popcorn Stand at the entrance to Adventureland.

Strange Phenomena

Everywhere I go, I am already seeing Christmas trees and hearing Christmas music - and it's not just in my local big box store.

Co-workers are humming "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" and on the drive home from work, I am actually seeing Christmas trees in living
room windows and houses all lit up with lights.

My goodness!

I WAS starting to fill a tad guilty like I was denying my family the beauty of Christmas - that was until I looked at the calendar. It's November 23rd folks, Thanksgiving has not come and gone yet.



Wasn't that how it used to be? The early birds would decorate their tree on Thanksgiving. My tree goes up about five or six days before Christmas

Don't get me wrong - I LOVE Christmas but the only time I love the tree is the minute I am done decorating it. After that, every time I walk by the tree in my home, I am mentally cursing its existence and counting down the days until I can take it down. I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but that tree comes down right after the last present is opened on Christmas morning. Honest.To.God.

First of all, we have an artificial tree. I have two reasons, I hate to cut down a living tree just to spend it's dying days in my living room, dropping needles EVERYWHERE and two, fresh cut trees are so expensive!

Two years ago, I bought a $220 artificial Christmas tree from Target marked down to $32! I bought it on Christmas eve and packed it away for the next year.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the thought of Christmas but I don't like the idea of a huge bush in our living room.

I feel like such an Ebenezer Scrooge. Maybe I'll capitulate this year and put it up BEFORE December 18th!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Thick, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

(not my recipe - just one of my favorites!)

Yield

Makes about 28 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup (1/2 lb.) butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (12 oz.)
• 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preparation

1. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and brown sugar until well blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

2. In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir or beat into butter mixture until well incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans, if using.

3. Drop dough in 2-tablespoon (1/8-cup) portions, 2 inches apart, onto buttered 12- by 15-inch baking sheets.

4. Bake in a 400° oven until cookies are lightly browned and no longer wet in the center (break one open to check), 6 to 8 minutes; if baking more than one pan at a time, switch pan positions halfway through baking.

5. With a wide spatula, transfer cookies to racks to cool. If hot cookies start to break, slide a thin spatula under them to release; let stand on pan to firm up, 2 to 5 minutes, then transfer to racks