Boy I have had a busy week-end thus far. Yesterday morning I got up and rode with my parents to Charleston. Got Maddie a Strawberry Shortcake toddler bed set and luggage set which she is going to have a FIT over when she sees it. My kid spoiled? Nah...

I bought these cool Chuck Taylor Converse for Christmas next year (shut it) my sister bought a pair too.


I got this little guy - does anyone see a peppermint fetish forming here????



Then last night I got a wild hair and decided I just had to go to Kohl's in Columbia (cos' the one here in Florence will not be finished until Spring 2007) so I rode to Columbia by myself around 6pm and did not get home until after 11pm. It was a fruitful trip and I bought some stuff for ME (Yippee!) The prior shopping trip was all about Madison & Stacy (Boo hehe..) And how come nobody told me Target had their Christmas Crap 90% off? Holy heck I got a holiday CD for $.99 a box of that expensive Choxie 16 pc artisan truffle squares for $1.50 a mega-deluxe super duper tree stand that holds up to a 10 ft tree and does everything but water itself for $2.50. Whew. Such savings.

I"ll buy a piece of belly button lint if it's a good enough sale! I swear.

Carrie was experimenting with hair-do's today

Daddy calls this "double devil horns"

To the peeps in Milwaukee who "trained" us. Here's a clue. You don't show somebody something once, have an incomplete OI and then call me 45 minutes before I am to leave for the day and say "something has to get done now". At least not without possible bloodshed.

To Stacy's !@#$%^!@# co-worker who sent home a candy cane full of M&M's AND a box of Russel Stover Candy. Damn you. Damn you. Damn you.

To all the ladies who are bringing in the leftover holiday sweets,pastries,goodies etc. Don't.Do.It. Don't you know it is the New Year and dammit, people are dieting and are desperate for carbs and sugar. You could start something VERY ugly up in here

OMG Ass Chips. My dear old Ass Chips. If you come near me again with that piece of dried up mistletoe in a lame attempt to "jokingly" kiss me I will punch you so hard in the mouth you will shit your own teeth for a week.

Can you tell i'm on a diet yet? I think my flatscreen is fairly humming.......

Today is the second day of January 2007. I am drinking my Slim-Fast Optima that is supposed to control my hunger sufficiently until 11 a.m. I have another one for lunch. I have made myself a little ticker at the top of my blog (in case you didn't notice it) and my goal is to lose 39 lbs by mid-April. Stacy says I don't need to lose that much. My plan is to drink a slim fast for breakfast & lunch, allow myself one diet soda mid-morning and drink water for the rest of the day until I leave work. Once home I can have diet soda (my weakness) and eat a small portion of whatever we're having for supper and I have some 98% fat free popcorn to snack on if I get the urge in the evening (and I WILL).
The week-ends are "free" but i'm not going to totally pig out hopefully. Wish me luck and any encouraging words or tips are MORE than welcome.
I already want to eat the can the Slim-Fast Optima came in LOL NOT a good sign right? but I am telling myself "You only have to do this for one week" and we'll see how it goes.
One week at a time.
Also in my previous post I LOVED Seven's suggestion that Brett retire and be my own personal Monday morning QB. I could definitely think of some "plays" for us to go over. Hehehe... nothing like naughty thoughts first thing in the morning!

To all of my Blogger Friends and those you love, I wish you Health, Happiness and Prosperity. Now please~please~please let the Packers beat the Chicago Bears and somehow Brett Favre not retire. Thanks.

UPDATE Forgot This One!

Yep my baby girl had a very good Christmas. She pulled her hair out of pigtails so her hair was WILD on Christmas morning and made us laugh.

She was so good about opening her presents and looked at every one. No glance-throw aside for my girl (that drives me bonkers)

She even took a moment to admire her Strawberry Shortcake outfit. Of course she likes clothes - she's my kid isn't she? ;)

The end of a VERY tiring Christmas Day

We had a VERY Merry Christmas here. I think my favorite gift from Santa was this string of pearls.

What touched me the most was a visit from the Postman on Saturday from my friend Jen in Indiana, she sent me these goodies and this cute magnet (LOVE that saying) and I also LOVE the Linus talking card. I love the message and I always love to hear Linus say it in "A Charlie Brown Christmas". It's so funny how you find little pieces of me Jen! Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness. It made my day.

Stacy, Myself and Madison wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous Happy New Year!

Chickie from ~Skittering~Thoughts~ (see link on my sidebar i'm having problems putting up links lately I think Blogger has broken up with me) anyhoo Chickie surprised me with a funny Christmas Card and Madison with the cutest, softest, cuddliest pink and white B*eanie Hamster!

Madison loved it and it has joined her cadre of animals or "babies" she HAS to sleep with. One night I will sneak in there and snap a pic of her IF I can find her that is. She has a bunch LOL I think it gives her some security or something.

You can hardly see the Hamster above cos' she is giving him a smooshy hug!

Now for the close-up (the best I could do it really doesn't do him justice!)
Thanks Chickie that was a sweet surprise

Hi All! I'm back from my trip to the Land of Snow and Cheese! I wanted to clarify about wanting to kill my suitemate. That would be Tammy, a girl I work with who is scared of everything and complains about, oh just about everything too. We had adjoining rooms (mine a King hers a Double) because she was, well, scared of staying in the hotel but she about drove me F-ing nuts. I am not a hand-holder per se
She didnt' want to do anything and didn't want me to do anything either except be her shadow. It was majorly annoying let me tell you. Anyway enough of the "down" side. I did get to do a few fun things including a fun trip to a quaint little village that I will post pics of later.
We were SO excited to arrive to a nice snowfall (although Tammy was deathly afraid of me driving in the snow and the damn streets were salted and clear as a bell!) Someone must have been walking outside my window wearing snowshoes.

This is me and my awesome boss at the Bay Shore Mall. The decorations were gorgeous!

This is me outside the gift shop when we toured the Miller Brewery. The tour was AWESOME and you got not one, but THREE full pilsner glasses of beer at the end along with pretzels and they mailed a free postcard for you. The tour was free too. I'm all about the free hehehe.....

We were eating some majorly delish pizza in the little village of Cedarburg. Note whose jersey I was sitting under! I was getting all excited cos' the Packers were winning too (they beat the Detroit Lions that afternoon)

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.