the speed round

I think I may bribe hubby with a dinner date night and get him to tag along on the final Christmas shopping excursion tomorrow night. It could be like a game show speed round - take no prisoners - get the stuff and get it home in record time.

His gift will be coming via Amazon sometime soon. I need to check the delivery tracking and see exactly where this amazing meat smoker is. I consulted our neighbor before purchasing this outdoor appliance, and was able to get a good price on it during the cyber Monday sales.

Most of the other things I had to order online have already arrived. I like to shop local when at all possible and frequent our Town Square merchants as often as I can. But, a trip to the mall is going to be needed in order to finish the gift buying this year.

I also need to make my list of stocking stuffers for the kids. The seven days of 'elf' gifts tradition continues. I have some things for the girls, but need to pick up items for the boy.

Okay, off into Thursday we go!

hoosier hysteria, baby

It was so much fun to watch the Hoosiers put the proverbial 'smack down' on the Tar Heels last night. Impressive. Awesome. Assembly Hall was a sea of red and was rocking!  Too much fun! And listening to Dickie V call the game.....he gets so excited and so animated, it is hard to resist!

In other news, our town had the tree lighting last night down at our historic square. This is probably my favorite town event. We haven't been able to go for the past two years because of soccer, but we were able to attend this year and it was as magical as ever.

The rest of this week and into the weekend is going to involve a concerted effort to finish the Christmas shopping. I have made my list and know exactly which stores I need to visit in order to complete this part of the holiday festivities. Getting some wrapping paper and a few spools of gorgeous ribbon are also on my list of things to do.

Happy Wednesday!

christmas decor at work

Our Christmas decor at work is the most pitiful stuff you've ever seen. The tree is one step away from a Charlie Brown tree, just a plastic version. The wreaths have all seen better days, or make that years. The ornaments are shabby and sad.  Everyone thinks it is tacky, ugly, and pretty darn pitiful.  If I had a few more years under my belt, I'd be reworking all of it. It is actually sort of funny, in a depressing sort of way.

Back in my banking days, the branches had contests to see who had the most creative, pretty, and neat Christmas trees and decor. We spent money, time, and talent making the place look amazing. It was fun and made the staff proud of their efforts. The customers loved it.

Our workplace isn't open to the public, so nobody cares if we have crappy Christmas decor. My little cubicle has a few Christmas decorations in it: my favorite woodland Santa statue, a cute snowman, and a framed Charles Dickens quote.  I also printed off a few pictures including the Mary Englebreit "Believe" Santa rising out of a chimney and of course, the Charlie Brown crew gathered around a Christmas tree.

My little spot of holiday cheer....just have to grin and bear it as I make my way past the sadness in the foyer to my department!

the countdown is on

Those five days sure went fast! Now the countdown is on to Christmas. The oldest will be back home in 3 weeks. Then we have a week before we head south to spend Christmas with my folks. Then back home for a few days of local fun and relaxation.

Hope your Thanksgiving was a good one! We all ate way too much, but our house is decorated inside and out and I even did a little shopping on Saturday afternoon.

Happy Monday. Off into the work week we go!

talking turkey with a side of roll tide

Today is my Friday for the week. I'm taking tomorrow off! I can't tell you how excited I am to have 5 days off in a row. It has been a long time since I've had that kind of break and I'm more than ready to enjoy some time at home.

I braved Kroger yesterday to get the few things I needed to prepare the Thanksgiving feast. I had most of it already stashed away in the pantry and the freezer, but I had to buy a turkey and a turkey breast. The hubby is going to deep fry the bird and I will roast the breast. Not too much to choose from at Kroger and the turkey aisle was jammed pack. I told the middle daughter I had to hip-check an old guy out of the way to grab the bird I wanted! She then, of course, sent that out on twitter. Lovely! Ha Ha.

The other funny thing about my trip to Kroger was the number of Roll Tides I heard. I wore my new Bama sweatshirt to work yesterday. We are on blue jean dress code until after Thanksgiving. I had four people give me the Roll Tide greeting. It truly is a cultural thing. I gave them a nice drawled out Roll Tide right back! It is a substitute for hello among these people. And it is really kind of funny! I've never heard anyone wander a store aisle greeting folks in ND or IU garb with a Go Irish, or Go IU- Fight, Fight, Fight! But, wear some Bama gear and you get Roll Tides in every aisle of the store.

Note to self-when in a grumpy, quiet mood, don't wear the Bama shirt!

Happy Thanksgiving! Roll Tide! Watch out for the old guys in the turkey aisle who can't decide which bird they want.

Bama

The Family at Bama - ROLL TIDE!

Yep, that is all of us over there to the left. We had such a spectacular weekend of family, friends and football.

Our hosts for the weekend are business colleagues of my hubby. They rolled out the Crimson Carpet for us.

We started the weekend by dropping off the middle kid with the older one and let her experience a college Friday night. Needless to say, they both looked a bit tired Saturday morning. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. After we dropped her off we headed down to the "C" family's 546 acre hunting lodge - complete with sleeping for 32. Unreal how beautiful this place was. They had dinner waiting for us and we dined outside in their outdoor living room which was heated by a huge fireplace and two huge gas heaters. Perfect.

Saturday we drove into Ttown to watch the game. I had no idea we'd be watching from a luxury skybox. Never been in one of those before, and I fear I am now spoiled forever. Fantastic food, lots of beverages and a perfect view of the field.

I've been to big football stadiums before, but Bama does it right. It was awesome. The Tide rolled to an easy win. We brought both girls back to the lodge with us for the night and enjoyed another nice meal with our host and another couple there to decorate the lodge for the holidays.

The men then settled in to watch the other football games; pivotal match ups that left hubby's fave team, Notre Dame, the only bowl eligible undefeated team in the nation.

I got up early Sunday morning and was able to see 3 deer grazing in the meadow. Later we had a great breakfast and then after a nice long visit with our host and his son, we slowly made our way back to campus. The oldest packed up and came home with us for the Thanksgiving holiday. We stopped for lunch and to buy some Bama gear before we left.

So, that was our amazing weekend. Rammer, Jammer, Yellowhammer, Give'm Hell Alabama!

Fun, fun, fun.

hoosier hysteria

I about dropped my coffee cup this morning! As I sorted out the newspaper and all the sale inserts it contained, I found one covering college basketball. The cover featured Indiana's own Cody Zeller!! You know Hoosier Hoops are back when Btown's star player is on the cover of a national magazine! I'm so excited!!

Hubby must be excited too as he called me yesterday to tell me that Tom Crean was on Mike & Mike. Not that I can listen to sports interviews at work.........ha ha.

So, happy it is Thursday. So ready to head to Ttown to see my girl. I think I have procured everything she asked for. I'm such a good mom I even washed those new flannel sheets for her so she can slap them on the bed right away!

Enjoy the day.

writing letters

My boss sent me a link for the most wonderful blog. Letters of Note offers a variety of historic letters for your reading pleasure. Sometimes the letters are sad and sometimes they are funny, but in the week I have been subscribed to their email list, I've never been disappointed in the writing, content, or topic.

I was once an avid letter writer. I wrote to my grandparents on a regular basis. I had two pen pals in England and one in Virginia. I wrote letter after letter all the way through college.

Letters were the thing until the arrival of the first home computer and the dawn of the email age. Now people tweet, facebook, instant message and email. Letters are not written too often. Although while they live under my roof,  I do insist my children write thank you notes when they receive a gift.

My grandmother kept the letters I sent to her and my mom just recently returned them to me. She found them when she was cleaning out my grandmother's home. It is such a window into the past, a quick glimpse of my teenage self.

Take a peek at the Letters of Note blog and read some of the letters there.

Happy Wednesday!

flannel sheets and cupcakes

We are going on a road trip this weekend to see the oldest! Yes, she will be home for Turkey Day, but we wanted to experience a football game at the Southern mecca of football and we were invited down for the weekend by one of the hubby's colleagues. It should be fun!! The weather looks good and we are staying at the personal 'hunting & fishing' lodge of the gentleman hubby knows. Cool. I've seen pictures of the main house - way cool!! I'd be happy to stay in one of the cabins on the property as well. After the game it looks like the boy can do some fishing. Good Time for All.

Anyway, I asked the daughter to go ahead and give me her shopping list now as I really didn't want to have to make a Target run next week in the midst of Black Friday or Saturday.

Flannel Sheets and cupcakes. I know I can get the first item at Target, the cupcakes will have to be procured elsewhere.

She follows our local cupcakery on Facebook as I do and when she saw the flavors for the week she called me to see if I could bring her a dozen.  She said she might even share them! LOL

So, I'm off to Target today to get the items she needs from there. And then before we depart on Friday, I will stop by and get those cupcakes.

iced

No, the title does not refer to the weather. It is a quite balmy 55 outside right now, but the way the wind is blowing, that might be our high for the day.  The latest book I read was titled "Iced" and it was written by Karen Marie Moning. I go 'way back' with this author. I picked up her first novel when my girls were toddlers and have thoroughly enjoyed her storytelling ever since.

This latest novel is no exception, although the age of the heroine did give me pause.  Dani 'Mega' O'Malley is 14 and is one of the few folks who stands in the way of Faery totally taking over the planet. Set in Dublin, "Iced" is full of characters Moning developed in her Fever series featuring MacKayla Lane.

These stories are great combinations of urban fantasy and romance. "Iced" features a 14 year old heroine. The romance isn't happening in this novel. It is not what I'd call a coming of age story as Mega is old beyond her years in many regards. Warning, even though the novel features a 14 year old heroine, this is not a book for the YA audience. Not. At. All. This is a full blow urban fantasy with all the grit and gore you'd expect. It also has strong sexual overtones.

The basic plot is that folks are getting iced to death in Dublin. And Mega needs to find out who so she can slay them. If some of the adults/immortals she hangs out with want to help, great!

This is a fast paced read, like all of Moning's novels. Thumbs up. I look forward to reading more of Mega's adventures and watching her grow up.

frosty morning

I stopped in the library yesterday after I got off work to pick up a book I had on hold. I still haven't finished the Deborah Harkness novel. I'm just having a difficult time plowing through this one. Not sure if it is me or the book! I'm feeling a bit distracted and scattered at the moment. I need to get myself organized. I've started making the Christmas List, but it doesn't seem to be helping. 

Usually our office experiences a major slow down after the national meeting. Our department won't enjoy that luxury this year as we have to begin work on the new magazine. My boss should have arrived back 'home' last night and we expect him in the office tomorrow. It will be interesting to see what he did and didn't do at the meeting.

Lots of frost outside this morning. When I let the Dukie-dog out to get the paper, the grass was white with frost and the middle kid's car is covered. Brrrrr.

Off to wake the troops. Enjoy the day.

elections big and small

The candidates we supported locally won and the ones we supported nationally did too. Now, perhaps both sides of the aisle can learn to be grown ups and actually govern. Negotiation isn't a four letter word.

I get humored by the hysterics, the oh my gosh, the country is going to go to hell. Really? Get out of your fishbowl, leave your state, heck leave your county for a change and see how folks live in other parts of our country. If you can, visit another country....really, they are human too. Expand your mind. Read more than one newspaper. Watch more than one media outlet. Heaven forbid, read or watch 'news' from a source beyond our shores!

Think!! It is a lot to ask, but I needed to say it after some of the comments I have read online this morning. Living in the heart of the red swath that is the south, it can try my patience dealing with the constant barrage of the doom and gloom that comes with electing and then reelecting an African American to the presidency.

Life will go on, really it will. The sun is rising. The aliens haven't invaded. Go forth and enjoy the day!

election day

Four years ago the hubby and I manned the polls for election day. Today he is heading off alone to be on hand and do some last minute campaigning for our picks for alderman, mayor and school board. I will be heading off to the office for another quiet, dull day.

I will be so glad when the election is over. I'm tired of all the signs in our town on every vacant lot, every open corner and every yard.

So, happy election day!

what i'm reading

I finished Justin Cronin's sequel to "The Passage" this weekend. "The Twelve" picks right up where the first book of this trilogy left off in regards to intensity and complexity even if time has passed. I had a bit of struggle getting started as I had forgotten some of the characters and their plot lines. It was a good read and I will look forward to the third and final book.

My last visit to the library also allowed me to pick up another novel, also the second book in a trilogy. This one is the latest from Deborah Harkness, author of "A Discovery of Witches." Matthew and Diana have time traveled back to 1590 to search out a witch to train Diana. "Shadow of Night" is entertaining and starts off filled with a variety of historical characters. I'm not very far into this one, so I will comment more on it once I am halfway finished.

I have also put in a request for the latest from Karen Marie Moning. I loved her "Fever" books and this new title returns to that world.

That's what I'm reading this week!

on to thanksgiving

The first holiday in the end of the year trifecta is now over! On to Thanksgiving!!

I've already roasted and pureed my pumpkin for the holiday pies. I will pick up a couple of turkeys over the next few weeks. I'm going to need to take a different approach to holiday shopping this year and the internet will most likely be my new best friend along with Target, of course.

May spend some time today making lists and getting organized.

Happy Thursday and Happy November!