We Made It Home

We made it home last night. Big Red, Ryan, Annie, and I traveled a full 4703 miles over the last week. That's a lot of sitting and watching the white stripes pass us by.

The break was nice. We saw a ton of friends and family. Thanks to all who let us crash at their house.

This is for the Green Hornet and family...after 15 minutes of sitting at the computer this morning...it finally happened. Amen!!! Well, at least the first round.

We made it

Just letting you know we made it safely to MN. 1800 + miles from sunny Florida to chilly Minnesota. Nothing too exciting from the endless hours of driving to speak about so I am cutting this one short.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Almost ready and just about gone

My vacation started about 4 hours ago. It is glorious. Well...I think it is. Tomorrow I have to pack all the clothes, load the blazer, and clean the house. I also have to do an hour or so of work because like clock work and pessimistic preminisions...my problems were not resolved before I left today. But...my brain checked out about 12 hours ago :)

Tonight I did some last minute laundry and ironing. Ok, I am lying, I did some ironing, the hubby washed some clothes. Anyhow, since he didn't have his stuff done, I went for a walk with the wild hound and my friend and her baby. It was nice to be out and see the Christmas lights. What was even more fun was the fact that although it was still hot and humid, there was a nice breeze that made you want to think it was cool out. We had a decent walk going but it started to sprinkle and her baby was not too fond of the climate. We cut our walk short and got him home. Hopefully the fresh air will make him sleep a little better tonight so mom can get some rest. That's right Kyle, you got a honorable mention in my blog!

I am excited to have some time away from work. Hopefully it will put me back in the mind set where I like work and am refreshed to tackle the problems that await my return. My promise to myself is to only check my work email sporadically, mainly to keep my inbox from overloading. I have full faith in my trusty employee that she will do just fine while I am out. No micromanaging and no frantic interludes from me. That's a promise. Ah...I think I am starting to relax...maybe just a little...

Happy Holidays everyone. I may not post until I arrive in MN Saturday evening.

Count down is on

The count down is on. Only 2 more nights at home to get everything ready for our trip north.

1) Ironing=DONE (well, the clothes that were washed last night aren't but that is doable)
2) Presents=DONE (purchased and wrapped)
3) Jazzy Kat Instruction Manual=DONE
4) Packing for trip=in thought process
5) Blazer=Mostly ready to go (the 4 wheel drive is being fixed this morning which we would love to not have to use while driving north but since it is supposed to snow...better safe than sorry)

As you can see, my list is still rather short. I left off picking up the house before we leave since that is a given. That is one attribute I should kill my mother for inheriting. There is this thing she inbedded in us that you can not leave for vacation with a dirty house. I agree, it is nice to come home to a clean one but it seems to add a little extra stress right before you leave.

Hope you all are ready for the holiday. My posting will become even more limited once we depart this week. Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

Last shopping day...

I hope this is my last day for shopping. I am not looking forward to tackling the mall considering it is raining and a week before Xmas. Yuck. The thing is...I know a couple things I want to get but I am dreading venturing to a real mall to get/look for a couple things I am not 100% sure about. Oh well.

On a happy note, I can't believe I am saying this but for once, we don't have a party to go to. It is going to be nice to sit around the house this evening and not have any obligations to fill. I picked up around here this morning. I might start a load of laundry or sweep the floors but no scrubbing or extreme cleaning will take place today. Ah...this is what weekends are meant for!

Long Week

Monday I had worked from home and it was glorious. I accomplished so much. So far it is only Thursday morning and I want to go home and back to bed. We have been crazy busy and with the holiday (read that VACATION!!!) approaching I have even more things to get done before we leave next week. The kicker is I actually said NO yesterday to a request from someone very high up the totem pole. Yep, I flat out said "I am sorry I can not assist you in this project. I have too many projects on my plate right now and would not be able to meet your timeline or deliver a fully researched project." Guess what, the sky didn't open and lightening didn't strike me! My boss was on the phone and got stuck having to do part of the work that I nicely declined. I thought he would be mad but he actually thanked me for saying no and letting people know that we are over worked right now and the deadlines are unrealistic that they push on us. So, that was a nice way to end another 12 hour day.

On a happier note, I am almost done with my shopping. Just the hubby mainly. I need to get a few "emergency" gifts for when we go visit people who pull out the gift for you and you hope you have something in your purse or car so it doesn't look like you were unprepared. That is the part I hate about the holidays. Guilt always takes over and I feel like I have to reciprocate for every gift I receive. Does anyone else have this dilemma or is it just my mother and I?

Goals for this week:
finish shopping and wrapping
ironing
start packing

Small but large tasks in my world. I will let you know how it goes.

Working from home

Working from home is a great break every once and a while. I woke up this morning dreading going to work. I had a ton of data entry to do and honestly, once I am at work, my day goes to hell rather quickly when people can stop by my cube, call me, aim me, email me, and in general bug the heck out of me. So today I made an executive decision to work from home. I emailed my boss at the crack of dawn and told him this. He said "ok." I accomplished more in my first two hours of work than I normally do in 10 hours at the office. I didn't spend 2 hours in the car or take an hour long lunch. It was glorious and I even paid bills, did 2 loads of laundry, and cleaned up the house.

It is 5 minutes to 5 and I feel great. I not only got a ton of work done but I am far less stressed than normal. I am actually looking forward to going back to the office tomorrow. Strange how one successful day makes up for weeks and months of torture.

Work Holiday Party

We had the pre-party and luckily all the people that said they were coming didn't all show because we had just enough room for everyone to sit and mingle comfortably. I had a couple glasses of wine to get the party going and then we headed over to Wannado City.

Now, everyone including myself, had some reservations about having our Holiday party at Wannado City. It is a kids place in the mall where parents pay $30 a kid to drop them off and let them wander around this "city" where they can play and do what they want to do. Let me just say it was so much better than the Science Museum last year! The place itself is really cool. We had multiple food and drink stations scattered around the city. Places to sit and people watch, tables to eat at, music, gambling, and many activities that we did not participate in. There was no slipping through the crowd and rubbing up against people when you tried to move like last year and there were no lines to use the bathrooms! (I heard the men's room had little urinals but the ladies had standard toilets). I drank a fair share but didn't hit the level of drunkeness that I did last year. All and all, a good party but thank goodness we are done with all of them for this year. I am partied out.

Today is going to be a lazy Sunday. I plan on reading some magazines, watching some dvd's, and basically being a sloth. The shopping can wait until the week nights when there are less crazies at the mall. In fact, yesterday in my search for a new pair of shoes I resorted to walking outside the perimeter of Sawgrass because I was ready to start hip checking people out of my way. For God's sake people-MOVE when you are strolling the aisles. If you are going to stop, move to the side. Also, this is America, we drive and walk on the right hand side of the streets and hallways. If you bump into me and I almost crush an old lady, don't pretend like I didn't feel it-say excuse me or I'm sorry in English, then keep moving. Tis the season to hate all mall shoppers.

Annual Friend Holiday Party

Last night was our annual friend holiday party and gift exchange. It was a very fun night. There was plenty of food, all of the group was able to make it, plenty of spirits to share, and everyone exchanged great gifts (and...it wasn't at our house so no after party cleanup for me!).

Tonight is my work holiday party. I had a crazy idea a few nights ago and invited a ton of people over here for before going to the party (since it is less than a mile down the road from here). I had thought a lot of people wouldn't come but it sounds like more are coming than anticipated. Oh well, the more the merrier right? I need to do a little house cleaning (which it is rather convenient that the hubby decided to go hunting this morning to get out of it) and a quick trip to a few stores.

Oh, and to my readers who were too lazy to register with blogger, I changed my settings so you can post without an account now. Some of my blogger friends gave me some tips...I didn't even know I had chosen that setting! Ah...the joys of being a nerd.

Wrapping Presents

I have decided there is a chore just about as tedious and hateful as ironing. It is called wrapping presents. Every year I am excited to wrap the presents I purchase for friends and family. I suck at it. I don't have the patience, proper wrapping space, or cool tools and supplies. I start out with good intentions but after 3 hours of wrapping I get frustrated. I know, I should do it in smaller chunks just like my ironing but by the time you take out the supplies, clear out a space and start working on it, it would seem counter productive to only wrap one or two presents. Anyhow, all of the presents purchased to date have been wrapped. I have a few people left to buy for. At least I know what I am getting some of them. I have two main people that I am coming up clueless on. One is my dear sweet hubby who only likes expensive toys and the other is my mother in-law. Normally these are two of the easier people to buy for but this year...I am spinning my wheels.

Happy Birthday to Sean

Happy Birthday to my brother in-law, Sean! That's right, I got your day right on the first try ;) Just teasing!

Figure Skating

That's right folks! I got the whole group of friends (16+ people) to go ice skating for my birthday! I had a great time and I think everyone else did too. We went to a new rink since Hurricane Wilma destroyed the one we usually go to. It is a nicer facility but it was a Saturday night in south Florida and that equates to lots of cocky little middle/high schoolers. They packed way too many people on the ice and it was hectic but there were no major accidents. I was the most worried about Jess since she is running a marathon in about a month. I was worried she might slip and hurt herself and then I would have to live with the guilt that she wouldn't be able to race but...no injuries so no guilt! :) Whew!

I can definitely say it took me a good time to get my balance and comfort level back up (and my feet and ankles to remember how skates feel). I now understand why everyone complains about how uncomfortable skates are. I guess I was conditioned after 20 some years of wearing them everyday for hours at a time but after a two year break, yikes! they are not as comfy as tennis shoes anymore.

The hubby did a great job organizing everyone and getting cakes for us. Hopefully no one is too sore today. I am going to go tackle the crowds and get some Christmas shopping done. Wish me luck!

and it's up!

That's right folks, the Christmas tree, decorations, and outside lights are up! I love the feeling of a decorated house but man, it sure is a lot of work. This year I was rather speeding (at least I think) in putting the tree up. I was thinking while I was putting 8 or 9 strings of lights up how I would really like a pre-lit tree for next year but...will it have enough lights? I would hate to purchase one and then add more to it. I was also thinking about how one day our kids may not even know what stringing the lights is like.

I had a casualty this year too. My decorations have survived a move from MN and some are 28 years old now. Well, last year I had an adorable soap dispenser. I thought I had it sitting up right and that it was almost empty. Obviously I was mistaken. It leaked on a few things and destroyed itself and them. One was a christmas tin that was my grandma's so that was a sad moment to discover the soap ate through the bottom of it! The other were 2 out 3 candles that I love and have not been able to replace. Oh well...great excuse to buy some new decorations this year.

To continue with the Christmas spirit, we are going ice skating for my birthday tonight. I am so pumped. I haven't been on the ice in over 2 years (I skated for close to 20 years prior to moving to FL). I am sure there will be some fun stories. I will blog about it tomorrow.