Happy New Year!

Just working on dinner for tomorrow. We went and picked up the Crown Roast from the butcher this afternoon. It's a 'bit' bigger than I imagined. It's 13 pounds!!! I just worried it would take up the whole oven. The butcher wants us to take a picture of it and bring it in so he can post it in the shop to show customers what a roast like this looks like cooked.

I'm not sad to see this year end. This year just sort of inched by, and wasn't significant to me personally.

I have a few things I would like to accomplish in 2009. I don't want to list them because I hate to hear people drone on and on about what they "are going to do" and then never really even try.

I went to the mall today and returned a couple of things . I didn't shop around. I will go back next week sometime when there is no one there and browse.

Happy New Year to all!

Post Christmas haze....

Christmas was quite enjoyable for me this year. I was less stressed than usual and I relaxed a bit more. this was Paul's tree.... We had a nice visit there, and then went to Mom's on Christmas day. We stayed there until this morning and then went to brunch at Cathy and Bill's house as we have done the past few years. This year we had the excitement of the new baby. His name is Quinn Michael Christy. I say he's the "Mighty Quinn" (Like the song....) He looks a lot like his brother, Parker, and is so tiny!The sock monkey I made him is bigger than he is! He slept a lot of the time we were there and he was held by a lot of people who were there. He is not fussy at all.

The dolls were a big hit....so glad! As you can see, Abby likes hers. She hurt her arm and was in some pain, but clutched onto the doll all afternoon. They named the dolls. Abby named hers Gidget, and Emma named hers Coco because of the beret.

We had a nice brunch of egg, sausage and potato casserole, waffles, cinnamon rolls and french toast casserole, coffee and juice.

We made it back to Syracuse around 3:00, unpacked, and relaxed a bit.

I'm doing dinner on New Year's day as usual. Can't make up my mind what the meat will be.

I have a couple of things to return to the mall this week. Mike got a pair of track pants that still have the security thing on them. I'm just going to look around at all the supposed sales that everyone in talking about.

I'm glad to be home.

A bit behind, but at least the Sock Monkey is finished.....

Trying to get things done, but I keep getting distracted. this sock monkey took me forever because I was trying to hurry. At one point I even sewed his nose onto the back of his head!
He looks pretty bulked up in the arms. I had fun posing him.
this will be the last time I blog until after Christmas. Everyone have a "Merry" and
take care!

Busy Day Done....

It snowed so much here today....We got about 18" and it's still coming down. Harley was not in the mood to stay out in it today. I shoveled the deck off three imes, and finally gave up for tonight. I went out to get the mail today and wiped out in the driveway. It was so slick out there. This picture is earlier today when it was not so bad.

Baked cookies all day today. I counted about 275 cut-outs, and also made

Italian meatball cookies, Some Greek cookies, rice krispie treats, Biscotti dipped in white chocolate, some no-bake "KitKat" bar things I found a recipe for and Chex Mix. I still have Caramel corn to make, but I can do that tomorrow.

I had to get the cookies done to put them on trays for Jerry to take to a few people.

I also (finally) finished the three dolls I had to make for presents. they look sweet, I think!
I put the beret (on the one in the middle) on harley this morning. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. She was walking around with it on her head for a few seconds and that made me laugh even harder.

tomorrow I have to wrap those last few presents, go out and get a couple of last-minute things and probably shovel out some more. ....I also have to make a Sock Monkey (for a gift too).

(and clean and do laundry and pack, etc....)

We leave on Wednesday for a few days.

I'm Getting there.....

I have been working on last-minute-crafty-type presents that I have been putting off.....
I made these two little baby sweaters for gifts I am putting together. The pictures you are about to see are not lit well, but I have been playing with settings on the camera to see what works and what doesn't. The sweater in the foreground is actually a pretty pea-green soup color, and the one behind is a pale rosy-pink. I cut out all the pieces for the dolls I have been procrastinating..... I think they look cute already! I'm not going to go crazy with embellishments for this first batch of six.

I wanted to take a picture of Harley without the flash to see if her eyes would photograph without the spooky red-eye devil-dog eyes that happen with the flash.

She was suspicious when she saw the camera in front of her, but I mentioned the word BALL and this was her reaction....'Whaaa?????Ball????? You said BALL, right??????'So typically Harley. She went to the groomer yesterday and she looks so slick now.

I'm off to make Manwich. I haven't had that stuff in years. Hopefully it's as good as it used to be. I had a headache today. From eating chinese food and not going to bed at a decent time again. Plus, I haven't eaten oatmeal for a couple of days, and now I'm feeling sluggish again.

(could be psychosomatic, but I don't care....I think oatmeal is a magical food!)

It snowed here about 3 inches last night and more is on the way over the next couple of days.

I only went out to get the mail today, so tomorrow I will have to brush off the car when I go out.

Dec. 15

I had to go to the post office this morning to mail one letter.....

I had been putting off printing out family pictures to include in a card to Jerry's cousin in Italy.

I only realized last night that today is dec. 15th of all days.... the busiest freakin' day of the year at the post office!

I got there at 8:35 and the line was about 20 people deep already. it wasn't too bad, and I was out of there in a half hour. I ran into a man I used to work with (Gene). We chatted and caught up for about 10 minutes. So nice to see him.

At least there were no nasty people at the post office. Everyone was in pretty good spirits or quiet.

I went grocery shopping after and found a nice little chunk of Brillat Savarin

which is my favorite Brie......but very expensive. I had some of it for lunch with crackers and raspberries and grapes. Just amazing.

Je suis finalement excite' de Noel

(I'm finally excited about Christmas) This has to be the very first time EVER that I've gotten my shopping wrapping and cards done this early.
I have yet to bake, but cannot do that too early. Plus, I'm doing less this year, because I decided last year that everyone is only really interested in cut-out cookies.
So, I've decided that I'm going to take the next week and ENJOY the holidays for once!The weather here is supposed to be in the 50's the next couple of days!
Here's a couple more "fantasy" pressies:

MMMMM.....Moldavite strand. this is amazing! I get the idea of this stone, but it doesn't hit me on the vibe level. I'm just not tuned into it. I do love the color and the rawness of the stones, though! (24", please....)

Cool.....Hermes makes Tarot cards! I like the old-world Parisian thing going on here....

I also love tarot cards. I have found them surprisingly accurate and revealing.

Keeping with the hermes-tarot theme, here is a nice Hermes tarot scarf. I like the cards better.

everyone is gone tonight. Jerry had a party in Buffalo and Mike is working until 10:30.

I'm seriously thinking about pizza and a dvd.......

Poor Princess....

Poor little Harley has not been feeling good the past couple of days.... she has been having issues with her kidneys and calcium shards again. (pre-cursors to stones...) she passed one or a couple over the past 24 hours, and has been having to go OUT like every 20 minutes. I had to go sleep on the couch last night at 3;00am so I could get up and let her out over and over. She finally calmed down around 4:30 am.
She was just standing by my side of the bed making low crying noises (of course, only I could hear....)
This happened to her last year at this time and the Vet put her on calcium pills with cranberry.
she's better today as far as having to go out all the time. she did look a little sad yesterday. I thought even her fur looked "sad" ( it just wasn't laying the same as it usually does!) and she was holding her tail different. Other than that you wuld never know she wasn't 100%.
She was still playing and begging and bossing as usual!
I've started her on the pills again, and we'll see what happens. She's back to normal right now.
there was like an inch of snow on my car this morning....yuck.
It was sunny out most of the day, so the salt I threw down on the driveway took it down to the bare cement.

Man(tooth) candy......

I think one of the first crushes I ever had was on Randy Mantooth from the show Emergency!
I think he got cuter as he aged!
Not too much happening here....I had a migraine on Friday through yesterday morning.
Such a nuisance.....
We had a Christmas party to go to last night. the regular DJ got bombed and passed out twice just as the party was starting. I guess he had been drinking all afternoon. He was comatose.
He had that look people got when they won't remember anyting that happened the night before.
Glazed and staring straight ahead in an open-eyed stupor. It was kind of amusing, because he's a really annoying guy. healways ends up sitting at our table to eat. he wears a santa suit and
walks around trying to get people into the "spirit" .
We were the last table to go to the buffet, so the food sucked. Plus, the food sucked anyway.
No great dessert.Brownies or carrot cake to chose from ..... whaaa?
I made stuffed flank steak tonight with mashed potatoes and gravy. It was yummy.
This week I will be wrapping presents and writing cards. I want to get it done so I can for once enjoy the weeks before Christmas without being stressed.
I still have to bake, but I won't mind it as much if I don't have other things to do.

Christmas List.....con't

Item 2: Eau de Guerlain. The 14.4 oz bottle...It's on sale for $349.00 us online!

Item 3 : Original rubber Wellies. the green ones, not those wierdly fancy ones with plaid or flowers. Just plain, thank-you.

Item 4 : Lucky Beggar coin purse. I heart this....

Item 5 : Small gold hoops....Something I don't have....These look perfect!

Item 6: LV Bucket hat. (but a real one....I'm pretty sure this one's faux...)

Item 7 : Yoga toes. Ahhhhh....They make these with a vibrator attachment, but I think the originals are the best!

Item 8: Staheekum Driving Mocs. I have slippers by this brand, and I love the fact I could wear these outside.


Item 9: A Lakh or gold metal necklace set....Bollywood- style.

I'm just playing......I"m not really that greedy! These are fantasy-like things I like......

My christmas list.... Item 1

Uncle Karl! Screw the teddy bear.....I want the finger puppet!
23 more shopping days......

Chaos!

So, Donna Karan has re-issued CHAOS for 2008. I am still hoarding a 85% full bottle of the original, and the price people were paying was outrageous! I just recently saw it online selling for 1,400.00us. for 100ml. (O-M-G.....)

I had a discussion with the man who ran the perfume store in the mall and he was willing to buy my bottle of Chaos and bottle of the original Donna Karan perfumes together for 200.00. At the time, I thought the way he was frothing at the mouth, I should just hang on to them a bit longer....

Now with the economy and the news that Chaos has been re-issued, I may just put that bottle back up on the dresser and use it up.

I read some reviews of the new Chaos, and they say it's different, but pretty close to the original.

I always thought Black Cashmere smelled exactly like Chaos....

I saw the new pictures of Marc Jacobs posing nude for the new Vuitton Sprouse line.

I thought about posting it here, but I couldn't do that. I'm just not a fan. Everyone always gushes on and on about him. I feel that way about Tom Ford, too. They are just smarmy to me.

Give me Galliano any day! (It's that pirate thing again!!!!!)

Deer, Sweet Sunday....

Got back from Brockport for Thanksgiving. It was nice to see relatives and catch up a bit. We only stayed for a couple of days....Mike and I walked up into town on Friday. Brockport always seems the same, but just a 'little bit changed' whenever we go there. This time, the Burger King has closed and is relocated up further in town. It is kind of sad to see the old building so vacant. I spent a lot of time there! This top picture is of one of those porcelain deer in someone's front yard on Barry street. I got the bigest kick out of seeing this, because it took me by surprise. It really looked like a dead deer! Mike thought I was wierd, I'm sure, taking pictures in someone's yard...

I also thought I's posted about russian candy before. I just ate up the last few pieces I had last night.

If' you've never eaten Russian candy, you should....it is a true experience! It is not good, but it is fun to see what is inside.

I see a few distinct types: grainy caramel/liquor.....Some wierd airy marshmallow stuff....Crunchy wafers layered with cream and nuts......some dry nougat that reminds me of those protein things that the astronauts supposidly took up in space (cannot remember the name of that stuff)......there is one peanut butter one, but I can never figure out which one it is...

some gross milk and assorted hazelnut nougats and a rare raspberry jelly thing.

What I find the most fascinating about these candies is the wrappers. They are so colorful and bizarre. they are like paintings. I have seen everything from creepy babies faces to GUNS,witches, wizards,camels and squirrels, castles and bears.

All the writing is in Russian, so it's a mystery what they are called. I have gone on Russian food sites trying to figure out what is in half of these, and the descriptions are so vague.

I get a bagful everytime I go to the Russian import store. They are not good, but they have grown on me!

There is also a huge selection of slavic medicines there. I think they are antihistamines because they are on cards of like 20. One day when I was there, the woman in line ahead of me was buying about 10 cards of these pills.

I go in there for the kashi. It's cut a bit bigger, and I like that for tabbouleh. I look at the cookies, but they only offer a couple of varieties in many brands. Some tasteless shortbreads that look like those nesting dolls or plain rings. The other variety is wafer cookies with filling.

They have a huge deli there and people are always in there buying sausages and meats which really stink. there are some cakes in a case that are like Dobosh tortes with 10 or more layers.

They always look old.

the last time I was in there, I bought a scarf that was very colorful for like $4.00. I was watching that show on MTV where they send the bratty kids who had huge sweet 16 parties to underdeveloped parts of the world to teach them humility. In the episode where the girl goes to Mongolia, the Mongolian girl is wearing the exact same scarf I bought! Let me say, I was fixated!LOL....

It snowed again today. Not much accumulation, but now it's sleety out.

WTF Tuesday....

Not sure yet if it's true, but supposidly Speidie tied the knot yesterday. I read it may be just a publicity stunt paid for by US magazine (....like 300K!!!) Whatever.... Mr and Mrs Douchebag. It was so uncool that they didn't even tell their families they were doing this.
Spencer is an evil genious! He certainly has some kind of power over both Heidi and the press. (Note to self....Beware of men with flesh-colored peach fuzz.....)

I also wanted to comment on this week's episode of The Hills. Can Audrina get any wackier?

I truly think she has mental problems. The way she was believing that Lauren could ever hook up with Justin. I loved the demented look on her face as she was staring down Lauren in the kitchen. Such craziness!

Also, in defense of Justin....He is becoming more adult. He is a deep thinker! he should have spelled it out for Audrina one more time to make her feel better instead of walking away calmly,

but I give him credit for the way he dealt with her psycho phone messages, etc.

Awwww....Justin Bobby grows up!

Next week I feel that Audrina has some SERIOUS grovelling to do....

It Pays to be Virtuous......

During the past week, I have eaten Steel Cut Oats for breakfast 5 out of 7 days. Guess which days I've felt like crap? Call me crazy, but eating this specific food has made me feel so much better! Even my skin has been acting nicer! The only down side to SCOs is the time it takes to cook them. I've been making up a couple of days worth and just reheating them in the microwave, which sounds gross, but it works with this type of oat. Its texture sort of reminds me of kashi (buckwheat groats) or brown rice, the way it sort of 'pops' when you bite into it (like al dente rice...)
I have also been eating hard boiled eggs with the oats for protein.
I'm not expecting miracles, I just like the way I've felt the past week.
Went to the public market this morning. Not the usual amount of vendors becasue of the cold and snow. Couldn't find any good junk . I did get a 45 record of Dionne Warwick and the Spinners singing "Then Came You" .OMG , I love that song!
I also got a couple of roll-on perfume oils from the guy who's always there. One was a dupe of the men's cologne, Farenheit, and the other didn't have a label, but it smells really nice.
On the way home we stopped and got a bunch of meat from the local bucher.
Rest of the day was quiet.

socks...finished....

I forgot to post this picture of the socks I recently finished. I like the colorway of this yarn.

For some reason, the color is named "Lucky", so I suppose, in theory, these are my lucky socks.

the color combination reminds me more of Provence.

Snowy Saturday....

look at the icicles that have formed on our roof already!

Snow! I just took this picture off the deck a few minutes ago. I FINALLY got my camera from SONY. They are real douches in customer service..... Not consumer-friendly at all...

This was the first picture I took... I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fantastic resoulution. This was taken at night with a flash.

this was my lame attempt at being artsy..... It is icicles forming off the cover on our vent fan on the side of the house.

I cannot take credit for this last picture. It was sent to me by my 'cousin' Don who lives in Digby, Nova Scotia, Canada. They got a lot of snow there, and he sent me a few pictures.
I liked this one with the Bluejay.

Bit of a busy week ahead with Thanksgiving and traveling ...

I have to make desserts to take.

I want to be Napoleon's Friend !!!

I read an article yesterday about how Napoleon gave this ring to men who were loyal to him.

Gold...diamonds.....This ring is awesome!

I love the whole Napoleonic Bee thing, too. Whenever I see printed paper or material with bees on it , I think of Napoleon. I've been facinated by him for a few years now, but all the info on him is military strategy, and all about war. Nothing mainly about his life.

I love that cologne by Guerlain called Imperial. It is one of the best Eau Fraiches ever made.
I read that Napoleon got rub downs with a similar cologne and went through literally gallons of it a month. I suppose it goes along with the old myth about French citizens not bathing but dousing themselves with EDC to control the stench. (nowdays referred to as a "whore's bath")

Truly Madly Deeply

This has to be one of my favorite movies of all time. Something made me think of it Saturday, so I watched it yesterday for like the hundreth time....
first off....Juliet Stevenson is AMAZING. She is like an every-woman, and is so wonderfully real. she is not traditionally beautiful, but she has a certain something that makes her so gorgeous.
She is the perfect partner for Alan Rickman. Ahhh....Alan Rickman.....don't get me started. I love him with my eyes closed.....That voice......I love him with my eyes open.....He is not always handsome, but when he is, he is also AMAZING!
In this movie, both Juliet and Alan are so great TOGETHER....
Juliet plays Nina, a woman who has recently lost the "love of her life" , Jamie (Alan Rickman).
She cannot function. She tries to function. She buys a nasty run-down apartment because she's never had to do anything herself before. She's starting to learn how to be alone. She sees a therapist once a week and just cannot stop crying. She has rats. she's a slob.She's depressed.
Just when she resigns herself to this miserable existence, Jamie returns! However, he is a ghost. She doesn't care.... he's back! She can once again cope with life.
Then she comes to realize that she Has been coping, and it's not really about Jamie or anyone else ....It's about her. It's about LIFE not death. And, all the little inperfections that her relationship with Jamie had start coming to the surface , helping her make a decision.
Love this flick soooo much.

Frustration!

So, today is the 15th of November.......This was supposed to be the day that this camera would be at my house......NOT!
After 6 calls to (over the last 3 weeks...) and one call from, I have yet to see this camera..... No one knows anything, and no one can even guess as to what's happening with this order..
I think my order form is hanging on the bulletin board at the warehouse, and near it there is a sign which says ' this order goes out when Hell gets good and cold'. Good thing they don't have a picture of me, because I'm sure my body parts would randomly feel pain. (as in voodoo doll)
I don't even care anymore if I'm a pest. I'm not. THEY are the ones who tell me to call back in 48 hours if I don't hear anything!
URRRRGH! I'm just frustrated!
Jerry and I went to the Turkey Raffle today. If you don't know what that is, it's a gathering of people (this one sponsored by the Knights of Columbus) They sell tickets for a dollar, and each ticket has 3 numbers on it. they spin a wheel and call off the number. If you win, you get a frozen turkey. they spin again twice for other smaller prizes like gift certificates to local businesses or pies (thanksgiving theme) this happens like 30 times over the course of 3 hours. they serve you hot dogs , pizza, chips and soda or beer for free. (all you want, and they are not stingey...). So you end up spending around 25-30 dollars...all as a donation. Sadly, we did not win a turkey, but we won a pumpkin pie, and a certificate good for 3 months at the local Karate Studio complete with uniform. this prize is worth $500.00!!!
I think we are listing it on Craig's List to get $$$$ because we won't be using that! LOL