Morning All,
I see why businessmen get depressed (although it doesn't excuse why some cheat) being out of town for a prolonged period wears on you. Yesterday kicked.my.ass. Seriously. Then we went to the Casino which I found out I am NO gambler. I don't care if I ever go back to one again. We were stalked by what I am sure was a pair of grifters/criminals. Then when we left the Casino we got turned around and lost in downtown Milwaukee. The lights were really pretty and there were some beautiful Christmas decorations though so I made the best of it. Stacy is mad at me this morning because I didn't call him when I got in last night (I felt it was too late) and this morning when he called, I heard my phone ringing but I was at the breakfast bar and couldn't answer it quick enough. So, when I called him back he had major attitude *sigh* What a day it's going to be............

I have to leave for work soon so I can't visit anybody else's blogs. "Maybe" tonight. *sigh* I did go shopping last night, went to PF Changs and it was very good then shopped for a short time (the girl with me needed some TUMS and had a headache.... but I did get some cute things at the Disney Store as gifts and got a small box of SEE'S candy for me. Yum. I told said girl when we go shopping Saturday she'd better wear comfortable shoes, dress accordingly and pack TUMS, aspirin, sinus meds anything else she thinks she may need.
Tonight we are supposed to go to the Potowatamie Casino. Y'all send me big BIG money vibes cos' I could use a big win right now.

It feels really weird not posting a picture....well this combination of training/meetings is killing me. I am not one who likes to dress up and sit still/pay attention for long periods of time. It is KILLING me. It is kinda rainy tonight so i'm not going anywhere, just hanging around the Hotel and have a few drinks in a while. I'm hoping to go to the Powatawatamie (or something close to that spelling) Casino tomorrow night. We'll see. I'm looking forward to the week-end when I can r-e-l-a-x. Did I mention the meetings are killing me? LOL I know, shut it you whiner. You are making good money so just SHUT IT. I'm off to visit a few blogs now. Hasta La Vista my blog buds.

UPDATE**** I am just really really depressed tonight. The group i'm with are a bunch of wet blankets and complainers. Ugh. I can't like that at all. Now they don't want to take our planned trip to Chicago Saturday. I'm contemplating going alone but that's not really the smartest course of action. I know i'm not here to have "fun", per se but I did want to get out and about and try to have fun in my downtime. Not really happening and i'm just feeling really frustrated and bitchy tonight. I don't like myself :(

I don'thave a USB cord to download any pics, maybe in a few days if I take enough i'll take them to Wal Greens and get a disc but there is SNOW here guys. Imagine that (in the land of Snow and Cheese)! I am so excited. I threated to go to Target and get a plastic sled/disc thingie to slide down the hill in back of our Hotel but if it rains tomorrow ruin it. It is so pretty though and the driving is not treacherous at all. Some of the people with me are working my last nerve though (complainers) so you might get a PSA from me by the end of the week and I have to go to a meeting at 11:00 tomorrow with some suits *ugh* but .... I sure do miss reading blogs all day and I sure miss my Stacy and my Madison but that will just make this Christmas all the more sweeter. Y'all let me know when you receive your Christmas cards from me because I got kind of addle-brained and am questioning whether I sent some out and I brought along extras so I can get them right on out if you don't get them. Well we're off to the Bay Shore Mall and to eat at some swanky Italian place. I don't even know what i've got a taste for. Maybe some linquine with clam sauce. Maybe i'll get to read some blogs tomorrow evening I don't know. The Internet access is limited with lots of people wanting to use it at night and I have NO opportunity during the day at work. The best I can do is check my Yahoo email from work. TTYL :) I sure miss y'all......

To the fat azz in the other Dept. Um, I don't mind if you come over and break bread with us but please try to wait until everyone in my group fixes a plate. And yeah, it's kinda bad form to make a big-ass-food-falling-off-the-plate take home.

To the tech guy who keeps asking me about my computer and "the move". I am not in charge of the move. I will be in Milwaukee when said move takes place. Take your monkey ass somewhere else because if you come by my desk one more time and ask the same damn question you will walk away with a paper clip in your eye. Seriously.

To the dweeb who thinks it's amusing to run around with the mail cart and ask people "Do you want a ride? Do ya?". Not funny. In fact, quite pathetic.

To whomever is walking around here with JINGLE BELLS tied to their freaking tennis shoes. Hey, I am as festive as the next person (witness my snowman tapestry jacket I am wearing today) but those things are working my last nerve and making my eye twitch. You would do well to remove them. Quickly.

To the sad person who gave "J" a half used bottle of lotion for the Secret Santa Swap. Dude. You have made me laugh my ass off today. I must thank you.

I have a Dr. appt and some errands to run so i'm blowing off work today.... I'm dressed in my holiday best as you can see. My sweet husband took one look at me and said "Why are you proclaiming to the world that you are a Ho?". He's such a cornball sometimes... *rolls eyes*

Madison is captivated by my toe socks.Yeah I am wearing red holiday Crocs. Shut it :P

Here is the tree in all of it's glory. Not the fanciest but it warms my heart!

Here is an ornament I made Madison her first Christmas. Kinda amateurish I know but it means alot to me.

Her Princess ornament given to her by my good friend Stacy last year. Stacy gives her a personalized one every year.

This is another one Stacy gave us. It's all three of us as snow people. Awww.. I just heart snowman. Snowmen, reindeer and Christmas lights are my favorite "symbols" of Christmas. What is your Christmas faves?

Since I posted some inside Christmas pics I felt it only fair to post some outside ones also. Once again I braved the cold dark night to snap some pics of my airblown's. Only for you dear bloggy friends,only for you!
First we have Snoopy (who Miss Madison adamantly calls POOPY) a classical fav!

Next is Sponge Bob. Madison's second favorite. She has to walk down and kiss him and "Poopy" just about every night.

This is just a generic airblown Christmas Tree. It's the second airblown I ever bought and I bought it from... yep you guessed it W*l Mart!

This is one of our newest, Santaland Train. I wish it were longer though.

This guy is 8 ft tall. He came from Sam's. I didn't see any this year though. Hmmm..

I tell Madison this is her and Mommy. She just gives me a funny look and says "OK". She's probably thinking "Who's she kidding? I ain't no darn snowman!"

Stacy's favorite. Homer Simpson. With a box of... D'Oh Nuts! hehe....

That concludes the tour. There are a few more that I just didn't feel like walking down to that side of the yard for but maybe another night this week.

Oh we went and saw Santa last night. There was crying .... lots of crying. All I asked that !@#$% "photographer" to do was make sure Madison was looking at the camera. I didn't mind that she was crying. Just make sure she's looking at the damn camera. Where was she looking? Somewhere over her right shoulder. I was PISSED. I should have refused to get the pics. $30 for crap. I swear i'm not doing it next year but who am I kidding? I'm a sucker for tradition.

Well I finally finished decorating the Christmas Tree. We got it before Stacy got so sick (btw he passed the stone around 4am Saturday morning so all your prayers,good wishes,chants & cheers are greatly appreciated. They worked!). It's a beautiful Frasier Fir and smells wonderful.I don't do a "theme" tree. All of my ornaments have "meaning" of some sort.
This ornament is Madison's first picture with Santa. But how cool is it that Santa was her very own "Pop" (aka my Dad aka he-who-bakes-birthday-cakes-from-scratch).

I bought this ornament at the Festival of Lights in 2004. Could I have picked a more perfect one? The footie PJ's, the pigtails and you can't read it but the bottom says "Warning: I climb christmas trees". I hit the nail on the head and she wasn't even 8 wks old when I bought the ornament!

Now we move onto our stockings which I have hung by the chimney (not) with care.
Here is Madison's. She just got this one last year because the year before she had the 'obligatory' baby's first Christmas one. It was cute and it was monogrammed also. We'll keep it as a memento. I heart this one and hope she keeps it always.

This is Stacy's stocking. My Mother bought it for him when we first got married. When he saw it for the first time he scratched his head, looked mightily puzzled and said "Why's mine a Tater?" (that means potato for those of you who don't speak southern"). I of course, screamed with laughter. I said "It's a reindeer. Don't you see the antlers?". To this day the poor stocking is called "Tater". It does hold much lootage though.

My stocking is exiled to it's own little corner because "it doesn't go with anything else". It, however spoke volumes to me in the store and had to come home with me. I love it. So .... me.


***** Don't forget about sending me your address - See my Sunday post below.

Since next week at this time i'll be winging it toward the Land of Snow and Cheese i've got to get cracking here.

To the 9 ft fall slouchy "thug" shuffling along in front of me at the grocery store. MOVE YOUR STUPID ASS. Yep I ran all up on your heels, Yep I will do it again. (This guy made a turtle look like Speedy Gonzales y'all)

To the stupid twit in Accounting who does our expense reimbursements. Those little slips of paper I submitted to you, they are called "receipts". They show what I spent on my trip. Add them up and then cut me a check for the total amount and do it YESTERDAY. I am tired of waiting for my Christmas Cash-ola.

To the pushy cow behind me at TJMaxx. Black Friday was, oh, 4 days ago. Take a chill pill lady. Don't make me whack you over the head with a box of Christmas Cards.

To the girl who is in charge of office supplies. Get over yourself honey. It's a $1.49 Bic not a Mont Blanc.

Pardon me, I am grouchy this morning. My Kid is a brat and if I hear
"Straw ~ba~ba~ba~ba ~berry ~Strawberry ~Shortcake" one more time I will SCREAM.

Oh yeah they were fuggin' on Black Friday for sure. Note the guy to the right of Stacy in the GREEN socks / shorts combo. I was trying to fake it by taking a pic of Stacy holding the Strawberry Shortcake Doll we were purchasing for Madison (who is obsessed with Strawberry Shortcake). I think the people with him as well as him knew we were scoping him so I just said "The hell with it" and took a close-up hehe....

Here is a close-up. I think he was going for the "Andre 3000 look"...

Here is my super cute South Carolina Christmas t-shirt. Note the cute wreath hanging from the Moon! I got alot of comments on this shirt today, alas I bought it in October at Merry Market and have no idea how to advise anyone else to get one.

This is the cutest little Turkey I could find! May you all stop for a moment today and count your blessings be they family, friends, food, money, a job, good health, good sense (if you find any of those last two how about send some my way!). Seriously today is a day to ponder and truly be thankful. I know I am. I've got the bestest blogger friends in the world!.

Here is the darling Princess wall hanging that Lee made for Madison. I just noticed Madison had it turned around so you can't see the detail and I will try to get a better pic of it but she loved it (and I do too). Thanks so much Lee.

Also Cheeky sent me some cool birthday gifts. I use that big ol' Minnesota Mug for hot tea and I love it. The candles are just beautiful, so "me". The leaf ornament will hang on my Christmas tree and I am a lip gloss addict!

Yesterday I received a package in the mail all the way from the land of Indy 500. I couldn't imagine what it was but sweet Jen at Insert Catchy Title Here had sent me a beautiful Willow Tree friendship statue. I do collect knick-knacks and I love it. She said it was a late birthday present and apologized for that. NO need for apologies Jen. It came on a day when I needed some brightening up and you did just that. To the right is Madison's silhouette portrait by Clay Rice.


Remember when my old wonderful boss left and I got the jealous insecure female boss.. well as I posted last Friday I have a new cool boss and it just keeps getting better. Today he told me since Madison is two now, and the holidays are so important and i'll be in Wisconsin so long, that when I fly back on the 20th I don't have to come back to work until Dec 28th. He would give me the 28th & 29th also but we do have some end-of-year loose ends to tie up and he prefers I help him with it. Fine with me. So.... i'll leave work on Friday Dec. 8 and not darken these doors again until Dec 28th. Um I can deal with that, yes I can. He also hinted broadly that he doesn't like the hierarchy that he was "given" and intends to make his own changes when feasible. Not counting my chickens or anything but maybe a promotion/pay raise is in my foreseeable future. ~Happy~Happy~Joy~Joy!
Great Boss - Check. Great Blogger Friends - Check. Life is GOOD.

This week-end we went to the Festival Of Lights at the James Island County Park in Charleston SC. It was so much fun!
The sand sculpture art was AWESOME. This is the big guy aka Santa Claus enjoying some beach time.

Madison rode the Merry Go Round three times, this time with Mommy on a Bunny Rabbit.

Then with Daddy on a silly Monkey! (her fave)

The first time was on a regular carousel horse

Here is a shot of the gift shop area it's blurry - sorry! But it was really pretty

This is a shot of us driving into Candy Land. I wish you could have saw Madison's face light up. She really loved it.

Yep i'll be flying back to the land of Snow and Cheese on December 10th and this time I feel fairly sure I might see some snow. Stacy is not too happy about it but I told him I think this is my last trip. It should be. Apparently I made such an ass out myself last trip impressed them so much last time that I have to go back and impress them again.

My brand new boss will be with me this trip (He's friends with my old boss - how do I keep getting so lucky and getting cool gay guys for my boss?) and he's already planning on us going barhopping and to the Casino and to Chicago for the week-end. I'll have my own car but I am not one to like driving much, so that's not much of a bonus for me. Now if they had included a driver, that would be a different story! I put down sports car, we'll see what I get. The girl beside me said "Put convertible". Uh, Hello?! Who wants to drive a convertible in the winter in Milwaukee, WI? Anyway I should get some Christmas shopping done while i'm there. I've been feeling kinda blue about the holidays so this should be a welcome diversion.

We went to see This guy ...Raef J*dd is one of the nicest guys around. He will race you clean, he is a gentleman on and off the Track. I heart him. He and Stacy have known each other forever and he was always my favorite driver in Summerville and when that Track closed I was thrilled when he came to race at FMS. Unfortunately he got in a wreck and totalled his car. His car is so pretty. You TX chicks would totally dig it. It is shiny burnt orange with purple numbers.

an ambulance was involved.. OMG I almost had a heart attack but Thankfully he was okay. You can see his beautiful orange car at the bottom of the Track

He relaxed on top of his Hauler right across from us

He had to walk some of the soreness off. He took a pretty bad lick, got T-boned on the Drivers side. That's him in the light grey shirt, I have one just like it that he gave me and I wear it every time I watch him race.

He also raced his Super Truck (also #34) but unfortunately was involved in another wreck (not his fault again) in that too finishing his day. Crap. :( I was not a happy camper.

Okay ... um.. I think Rat Tails went out when Silver Spoons went off the air?



To quote one of my favorite TX Blogger bitches Kami "Dear Bob"..... female plumbers crack. Who knew?

Oh and the plumbers crack chick was SCARY. Finally Stacy said "Patti, quit taking pictures of her before she catches you. She can totally kick your ass".
Me: "As If" ;) Oh what the hell. Here she is. Toldja she was scary!

Here are me (front of course) and my girlz behind me. We didn't all go to Milwaukee together but we ended up hanging out some. This was Sunday afternoon and I was beat. We went from the airport straight to the Mayfair Mall (which if i'm correct is the largest Mall in Wisconsin). Very productive trip but I am GLAD to be home. I missed Stacy,Maddie & Reilly more than I can say. I missed you sweet blogfriends also. If I have to go again I will definitely take my laptop though it seemed a big hassle. I've got to go do some stuff but I expect to visit some blogs over the week-end and at least comment on your latest post. Ciao!

P.S. No Laverne & Shirley sightings at all :( Fish, L&S are characters in a popular american sitcom from the early 70's, sort of a spin-off of Happy Days (Fonz-AAAAYYY)

Ha Haaaaa I can just see me & Cheeky as Laverne & Shirley but who would be who?.... Hmmmmmm?.....

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Schlemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated.

We’re gonna do it!
Give us any chance, we’ll take it.
Give us any rule, we’ll break it.
We’re gonna make our dreams come true.
Doin’ it our way.

Nothin’s gonna turn us back now,
Straight ahead and on the track now.
We’re gonna make our dreams come true,
Doin’ it our way.

There is nothing we won’t try,
Never heard the word impossible.
This time there’s no stopping us.
We’re gonna do it.

On your mark, get set, and go now,
Got a dream and we just know now,
We’re gonna make our dream come true.
And we’ll do it our way, yes our way.
Make all our dreams come true,
And do it our way, yes our way,
Make all our dreams come true
For me and you."


I'm doing a last-minute load of clothes before I pack (do I suck or what?) Honestly I am the QUEEN of procrastination

Stacy is at Santee fishing since noon yesterday and Madison has REALLY missed her Daddy. All day today I had to endure "Daddy home?" "Where Daddy Momma?". I wonder if she'll miss ME that much????