All is quiet on the homefront.....for now.

Finally, the holiday season has ended. It was great though. Eric made it home on Christmas Eve. He called me around 4:30 am and asked if I was awake. Yes, I was. Didn't sleep all night knowing that he was on his way home. We made arrangements, he picked me up, drove with him to drop off the trailer that he had and then drove home. We had breakfast and off he went to do last minute Christmas shopping then 5 hours later Eric comes home. Takes a nap while I am at church. He was one tired trucker.

I woke up around 6:00 am on Christmas day. Eric was still sleeping. The dog realized that I was awake and belly crawled to nuzzle under my chin. Scratched him under the chin, on his shoulders and his hips. At one point I thought I saw him drool but then I recognized the drooler...it was Eric. Knowing that Santa had made his usual stop at our house (cuz we were good), I was wide awake. How am I going to wake up Eric without it really looking like I woke him up. I brought in my accomplice. I asked Sargeant in a soft whisper "where's daddy?" He got all excited and jump on Eric. Oops. Sargeant bad dog ::grinning:: "Oh so sorry, honey did sargeant wake you?" Well now that you are up...Santa was here. Let's go see what he brought us. Gifts were open. Thank yous given and received. What a good day.

Now off to the future-in-laws for breakfast and more gifts. Got a Boot-E bag. Just love it. A very nice home made sweatshirt/jacket. Something to keep the chill off and a tons of practical things that no one would ever think of except my F-M-I-L. Fantastic. Then lunch. I think I was going to explode if I ate one more thing. My parents house next.

It's a good thing that our parents live about 3 miles from each other. Makes holiday travel easy. Got more gifts. Eric got a fire pit for the backyard. Can't wait to use that. Had to leave it at my parents. Didn't have room to fit it in with the rest of the loot. Am going to get it tomorrow.

Picked up our daughter at the airport in Boston yesterday. Her plane landed at 5:51 am. 5 of her friends were visiting. Very loud now gone. Done explaining.

Now off to bed for me. Been a long week.

Day O Fun

Yesterday was the first day of the holiday season for me. Yeah. I went to my parents house to have an early Christmas with my brother and his family who are down from Banga' or for you non-mainers Bangor. I had gotten some free stuff from the drugs reps at work. Calanders, pens, candy, and a water bottle. These things are going to make great presents. I didn't have to spend a dime. I am brilliant. The wrapping paper and assorted accessories cost more than the presents. Brilliant I say, just billiant. My brothers (3 three of them) got calanders and my sister (one of her) got a bag full of "goodies."

That is after my mother slaved over the stove to provide us with food. Actually she went to Little Caesar's to get pizza. Easy way to feed 9 adults, 3 teenagers and 3 gradeschoolers. Me, I had left over chicken. Cheese and I are not on the best terms lately. But it was all good anyway.

This is going to be short as I am once again at my parents for my father's 80th birthday. So all is good.

Hopefully Eric will be home soon.

Happy Holidays.

Killer Poodle

My brother, Michael who lives in Georgia, is in Maine for the holiday's. He brought along is dog, Rosey the Killer Poodle.

He arrive with this significant other Kelly on 12/19 and since Eric wasn't home yet, I decided to mooch a meal off my parents. Homemade Spaghetti and meatballs. Yummy. Since I worked all day, I didn't think that it would be fair for Sargeant to stay at home all by himself. I thought that he needed to get acquainted with Rosey, so off we went.

But Rosey had other ideas. Like chewing off Sargeant face. She was not a nice dog. Actually......she's a bitch, no pun intended. Seriously. She had no intention of trying to get along with Sargeant. How could she not. He is a handsome boy. Just look:

How could you not love that face. He is even all cleaned up. Good boy.

So just as we were getting ready to leave, Rosey (hence know now as "evil dog") jumped down off my brothers lap and went after Sargeant. I scolded her. Stuck my finger right in evil dogs face and told her not to do that again. I thought I saw her thinking "should I bite the finger or not?" Good thing she didn't. My brother would have one less dog. No, not really, but one can only dream.

So, that is it in a nut shell. It looks like it is going to be crazy the next few days. Apparently, since my other brothers are going to be around this weekend, we a celebrating Christmas with Steve and his family on Saturday, having my fathers birthday on Sunday, Christmas Eve celebration with friends on Monday, Christmas morning with Eric's family and then Christmas afternoon with my parents. Busy, Busy and more busy....er.

Have a great Holiday Season.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

WOW.........look at all the snow. Good thing I had planned on baking/cooking my brains out today.

Actually, I didn't start the Christmas cooking until 11:00 am. Woke up around 7ish but didn't get out of bed until 8. I was trying to figure out a way to fake sleep so the Guard Dog would leave me alone. Didn't work. So, I decided that if he wanted me up it was because he wanted a tubbie. I got his towels down and he knew right then and there he was in for something not fun. When he was just a pup he loved the tubbies but now he decided that he is too old to have a tubbie. Since I out weight him I can tackle him to the ground and drag him into the bathroom. Ok, it is not that bad but almost. Got him all washed up, dried and combed. He looks so good when he gets cleaned up. Even though it doesn't last long, he was back to being a good looking dog for about 3 minutes. Oh well, at least he is clean.

Now my F-S-I-L is a great bread maker. So thinking that since I went to school for cooking/baking that I might try my hand a baking some rolls. This was my first project of the day. The recipe was easy. Not complicated. No sweat. As I said before I started at 11:00 and I am just now letting the rolls cool. It is 3:00. I think I am going to stick to baking cooking, pies and cakes. Waiting for the dough to rise is like watching grass grow. It says that you have to place the dough in a warm place to rise. Here is my dilemma. There isn't a warm place in the house, unless you open the oven door to heat up the kitchen. Brr. Sometimes it is so cold here that the dog has icicles hanging from his chin. Eventually, the dough did rise. I put the dough into round rolls and baked. The recipe says that you bake for 35-40 minutes. I was a bit surprised at this but since this is a new recipe for me, I followed the directions. Most people who cook or bake a lot can tell from the smell how well things are going. So after 25 minutes I "smelled" the doneness of the rolls. I ran down the stairs and opened the oven and sure enough almost over done. Thank goodness for the nose. The nose knows. These rolls are off the work for the office Christmas Potluck lunch. (Maybe they will taste better than the Hemits)

Now I am taking a little break from the horrible mess my kitchen has become. I have about 4 more hours before the season final show of Survivor to finish the rest of my Christmas cookies. Peppermint Puffs and Thumbprint cookies are all that is left to bake. I will be done tonight, I will be done tonight. That is my mantra. All together now.....I will be done tonight. (Hopefully)

The Christmas Cooking Begins!

So the slaving over a hot stove (oven) starts today. Today was experience day as well as candy making day. I have this recipe for Hermit Cookies. I used to help make these when I was doing work study in the Cafeteria at SMTC or as it is known now SMCC. The only problem with the recipe is that its measurements are in pounds and ounces while I need cups and teaspoons. I think I did a good job in converting (with a little help from Eric). Off to the grocery store to get the necessary ingredients for all my Christmas cooking.

The first thing I started with was the Hermits. After all was said and baked....they are good for only one thing.....door stops or off to work with these ones. I think I added too much flour. OK, I know I added too much flour. Next time, less is better. I know that they taste like flour, they weight about a ton a piece, still what do I do with them? Bring them to work. We are suppose to be having our Christmas potluck on Monday. I was wondering what to bring. Now I know. Everyone will be asking "who made these bricks?" With the look of an angel, I will shrug my shoulders and say "don't know". What a brillant plan. But in the end I will let someone know that I made them and my reputation as a good baker will be ruined. Good. That's my evil plan. No one will ever ask me to make anything again. (insert evil laugh).


After the sad attempt to make Hermits, it was off to something that I knew how to do. No, Ann not chocolate pie. I know, I know, life is cruel but be brave little one, things will get better. Buttercream candies was next on the list. I have been making these for years, first with my mom and brothers, then with Samantha, and last year it was with Samantha and Eric. Many, many years of experience in making these candies. I can make these with my eyes closed. Might be a tad messy since I have to dip them in melted chocolate but I think I could do it. Anyway, got the ingredients, mixed them together, melted the chocolate and dipped. Flavors this year are mint, strawberry and lemon. Yummy. They are all tucked away for now. To be distributed at a later date.


Off to bed. I have a mile long list of cookies to make. A tired baker/cook, is not a very nice person when she doesn't get at least 8 hours of sleep. Let's just hope that they don't plow again at 2:20 am like they did Friday. How did I know what time it was? I just wish the Guard Dog wasn't doing such a good job. Why couldn't he stay small....er. Like when we first got him.

What a Q-T pie!

Time to Relax

I have had some low back pain the last week and a half. It is a good thing I work at a doctor's office. I had asked Becky NP, who I work with, if she could take a peek at my back. She did the exam gave me some Celebrex but she also wanted me to have an xray and then a MRI. Told her that I would do the medication and if that doesn't work then the tests.

So, the next day when I went to work, I asked Dr. Courtney if I could use ibuprofen with the Celebrex. Her question was "why are you on the Celebrex?" Once again, I explained what had happened. She said make an appointment today to see me for OMT.

Now, last time I had OMT ( osteomanpulation therapy) there was a lot of snapping. That I didn't agree with. But Dr. C said that she does a "girly" OMT. So, what the hey, I made an appointment. Another perk about working there, I can schedule my own appointments. Off we went to the OMT room. Nice and quiet. No stress there. First, she had me stand so she could find my alignment which was off just a tad, not to bad. Then, she had me lay down on my back and put her hands under me. I thought "Oh no, here it comes," she is going to pull something and make me cry. To my surprise, it was pleasant. A little on the painful side but tolerable. After a few hours, I could move. WOW..........I am cured.

That was until last night. It was our office Christmas Party. Very nice night. It was held at the Marriott. Good food, good company. The music provided by the DJ was great. The karaoke was terrible but everyone was having a good time. Since I had taken it easy earlier in the day I thought I would hit the dance floor. Not to bad. I could move if I took it easy. After about 3 dances I knew I was done. If I didn't leave it would not be good. I started to say good-bye to people. At one point the CFO said why you are leaving we haven't had a dance yet, OK, one more, than that is it. Well, if you ever had seen the movie Dirty Dancing that what he was doing. I told him that he didn't want to go there because I could dance. The challenge was on. I am a little competitive. So off I go. I was great. Jennifer Grey eat your heart out. That is until my mind said "your back, remember your back." I stopped. Look at CFO guy and thanked him for the dance and went home. Got home, got in jammies, turned on electric blanket, laid on top of said blanket and read for an hour, hoping that the heat will make my back not hurt in the morning.

I am way wrong about that. This morning I am in complete ag-go-ny, agony. So I took celebrex. Will make another appointment for OMT and be back to almost normal in a few days. The price you pay to have a little fun.

Now, I am off to relax, watch a movie, and wait to talk to the future Mr. Who, by the way, was in Mississippi yesterday at 82 degrees and on his way to Texas. He was sweating. He had said that he was near the coast. I said that he should open the windows and get the cool breeze from the ocean. He said that they must have not paid the bill, no breeze. One day he was in Maine waking up to 9 degrees and now he is in the south where the temperatures are warmer. He had asked to be home for the 24th, 25th and 26th of December. Keeping everything crossed so he will be home for that.

Everyone have a good relaxing day. Go Pat's.

Christmas Tree and Stuff

Eric came home on Thursday, November 29th. The plan was to get everything done for Christmas when he was home. Before the festivities began, we took some time for ourselves. I didn't tell anyone that he was home (sorry FFIL) and neither did he. It was nice to have the time to be together and not have to share. Yes, I was begin a little selfish. Needed to have some QT with the Future Mr. We even had a Friday night date. Dinner at home and a movie on DVD. Wonderful, just wonderful.

The next day we were up bright and early......OK not early but we were up and out of the house by 9:30am and off to spend millions on our beloved families. Once again not millions but we got some great deals. I love shopping especially when there are SALES. 10% here, 15% there. I was in heaven. Even Eric got into the mood for the holiday's. What a trooper. We got all of our shopping done. We didn't buy any gifts for ourselves just yet. Kinda hard to buy a present for your honey with him standing right next to you. But I have a good idea that he will like what I get him. (It's not a watch just in case your reading this).

Sunday we went to Eric's Aunts birthday party. She will turn 80 this month. The same day as my dad's and he will be 80 also. After the party we went and got our christmas tree, came home and decorated it. See:

What a pretty tree if I do say so myself. Put together with all the love we could muster. Go us.

The rest of the time that Eric was home we just puttered here and there. Then off to Charlotte NC for Eric that was Wednesday morning. Wednesday night I went to Manchester, NH to see a concert with my sister. Yes she did it again. She won tickets off the radio to see Evanescence and to have a meet and greet with the band. So, just in case Samantha doesn't believe me, here's the proof:

In the picture from left to right is guitar player #1, guitar player #2, my sister Karen, my niece Nicole, lead singer Amy Lee, Nicole's friend Myriah, drummer, and guitar player #3. Why am I not in the picture? Someone had to take the picture. So as you can tell I am not a very big fan. The only reason I know the lead singers name is because it was easy to remember. She was really nice. As my sister said "very down to earth." Besides that the tickets were FREE and my sister needed a co-pilot. Another advantage under the belt.

Of course, I only knew one song that they played. It's not like I listen to that kind of music. Just ask Samantha she would know. Now if it was Toby Keith, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill or Taylor Swift, then I would know the words to all their songs. I listen to country. Which tortured her. Samantha always wanted to change the radio station in the car to another station besides country. I told her for years that the driver gets to decide what is listened to while driving. Didn't that one bite me in the butt when she got her permit. Now it was her turn to torture me with that head banging music. It was awful. Blood was coming out of my ears. I couldn't take it. I changed the station. I got "mom, you know that the driver decides what is played on the radio, so change it back" Damn, busted. I guess what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

Anyway time to rest. Didn't get home until 12:30 this morning so I didn't get my full 8-9 hours of beauty sleep. I am a monster when I don't get enough sleep. It's scary. Little kids run and hide that is how scary it is. Not really. Just a little scary. :) Until another time.