Pink Glove Dance

Ok, this is soo blog worthy ! I received it in an e-mail, which is where I get a lot of cool stuff from. I think my Aunt Betty sent it to me - she seems to find the coolest videos and such!

I know it isn't October which is officially Breast Cancer Awareness month, but I'm posting this anyway, because people don't just get diagnosed with Breast Cancer in October!!!!

It is called the Pink Glove Dance, done by Employees of the hospital, all wearing what else? PINK GLOVES!!

It is really cute and the music isn't bad to boot either:)

So please click 'STOP' on my silly Christmas songs and please click 'PLAY' on the video. Hope you enjoy it and pass it on too. Please feel free to post it on your blog as well - the more people we have aware, the faster a cure might be found!!!!

Whew! Time to Relax!!

I had a wonderful Christmas. From catching up on other blogs last night , seems like most of you did too! Thats a good thing:)

Unfortunately no pics, but here is how things went in a nutshell...

Thursday morning it was raining, but snow was predicted. Chris went off to work, while Sue, Nicole and I headed to my moms. We saw the rain turning to snow on the way. Once we got my mom safely back at our house, we hunkered down because they said the snow was definitely coming, expecting 2-4 inches.

Huh? now we have had snow here before, but not on Christmas - not for a verrrrry looong time!

We visited and were having a good time, when Sue and Chris decided to go to Gamestop. On Christmas Eve no less. Crazy. Anyway, Nicole went to play on the computer at that time, so my mom wanted to try out our Wii. She used to bowl in a league as well, so we tackled the bowling and had a blast! First time ever using the Wii and she scored a 129. She then did her fitness age, which consisted of three events and she scored well - only three years above her real age! mIne? not so much.... we then had a boxing match, which I ended up winning, but she did knock me on my butt at least once:)

After dinner we opened presents. We decided to open all but one and leave that for Christmas morning. Everyone got a lot of goodies, mostly what they had wanted and some they wanted and didn't realize!

I got : pretty new sheets for our bed; two books; a new purse; shower gel; a Scentsy pot with three different scents of wax; and we got a huge paper shredder which we had been wanting.

Then there was what Chris got me. He told me it was hidden, and if I didn't find it, he was going to just take it back and get his money back. Nicole gave me a hint though and said all I had to do was look for a new ornament... what??? an ornament for Christmas. It couldn't be that simple, or it wouldn't be Chris!!!!!

Do you realize how many ornaments were on our tree??? I looked. Then I went back and looked some more. What made it funnier, is that there were several mini presents all wrapped and stuck through out the tree! It also didn't help when Nicole is saying, " mommy I'm looking right at it , don't you see it??" NOOOOO!!!!!

The third swing by the tree I spotted a Helzberg Diamond bag. A tiny Helzberg Diamond bag... hung right in the front. It was red, as were most of the ornaments on our tree. So I did find it , and it was an absoutley beautiful pair of Pearl earrings!

We then woke up Christmas morning to my delicious sausage, egg and cheese breakfast casserole and went to see what Santa had brought. Of course Nicole had a huge pile of stuff, and so did we! Santa had brought us several Wii games along with the accessories, including a golf club, baseball bat, two steering wheels, and two rifles!!!! And it was a white Christmas to boot, so it was good all around!

Later after dinner, we took my mom home, which was fun. Only because all the ice had not melted from in front of her house. Throwing a ton of rock salt down and holding on to each other for dear life, we finally made it to her front door. And stayed there. Till Chris came to get me a few hours later after visiting his cousin in the hospital.

The rest of the weekend was spent mostly in pj's and just lazing around. On the down side, Sue is sick and going to the doctor today - and Chris got sick last night - so we will see just pray that Nicole and I don't get it:)

My mom goes back to the eye surgeon tomorrow for a recheck and then if she is cleared to drive, Nicole is going to go over there for the rest of the week!

Hope everyone has a great start to their week!

Christmas Cookies Rules

In light of the fast approaching holidays, I thought you would all be wise to follow these rules. Cookies are sooo good this time of year, they are so cute, and pretty... to bad they don't last very long.....

☺☺ Save the Earth; It's the only planet with chocolate!

☺☺ Christmas Cookie Rules

1. If you eat a Christmas cookie fresh out of the oven, it has no calories because everyone knows that the first cookie is the test cookie, and thus calorie free.

2. If you drink a diet soda after eating your second cookie, it also has no calories because the diet soda cancels out the cookie calories.

3. If a friend comes over while you are making your Christmas cookies and needs to sample, you must sample with your friend. Because your friend's first cookie is calories free rule #1 is yours also.
It would be rude to let your friend sample alone, and being the friend that you are makes your cookie calorie free.

4. Any cookie calories consumed while walking around will fall to your feet and eventually fall off as you move. This is due to gravity and the density of the caloric mass.

5. Any calories consumed during the frosting of the Christmas cookies will be used up because it takes many calories to lick excess frosting from a knife without cutting your tongue.

6. Cookies colored red or green have very few calories. Red ones have 3 and green ones have 5 - one calorie for each letter.. Make more red ones!

7. Cookies eaten while watching Miracle on 34th Street have no calories because they are part of the entertainment package and not part of one's personal fuel.

8.. As always, cookie pieces contain no calories because the process of breaking causes calorie leakage.

9. Any cookies consumed from someone else's plate has no calories since the calories rightfully belong to the other person and will cling to their plate. We all know how calories like to CLING!

And finally...

10. Any cookies consumed while feeling stressed have no calories because cookies used for medicinal purposes NEVER have calories. It's a rule!

Eye Surgery and a Mini Vacation

Well, I've been at my moms house since Wednesday and am enjoying my little mini vacation from my normally hectic life.
Chris brought me over to my moms Wednesday and she was kind enough to take us out to breakfast. The rest of the day we didn't do much , we just got a few groceries, watched TV and then made chicken and eggplant for dinner. Then it was early to bed due to us having to be at the Day Surgery center by 630am Thursday.
For a while now my mom has been having what looked like hairs hanging in front of her left eye. Come to find out the back layer of her retina was coming off. Sounds painful right?? She said it really wasn't really painful , just reaaalllllly annoying. All fixed now though, and she should be back to normal activities in about a week.
Since I wasn't there to help with the last day of school before Christmas vacation, Sue volunteered and had fun. She was there till they got out at 1230 - needless to say she is tired but happy.
Today my mom and I rented he movie Julie and Julia. If you haven't seen it, it is really cute. Basically it is about a lady ( Julie ) who decides to cook and blog her way through Julia Childs entire cookbook. It is really a sweet and endearing movie. Not a chick flick - my mom and I thought there was a little something in there for everyone - although younger kids might not understand it.

Well, I hope everyone is done Christmas shopping and almost done wrapping all the gifts! I will finish wrapping mine on Sunday after I get home. We did finally put our tree up Tuesday before I came here, and I think that is the latest we have ever put it up. I'm happy to hear from Sue and Nicole though that Korie has NOT tried to eat the tree.

The only bad thing that happened Wednesday that I heard about is that our washer went kaput. Some part broke on it and Chris said it would have cost more to fix it then to get a new one, so he and Sue went washer shopping. Fun all around!

Hugs to all and hoping everyone is great!

Already??

It seems like we already celebrated Christmas recently. It can't be time for another one so soon can it? According to the calendar another one is almost upon us!

This year has really flown by. As I sat wrapping and bagging presents this morning I was thinking of friends and family. Family that is no longer with us, what Christmases were like with them around and such. Thankful for the friends and family that is still around and that I am able to share this holiday season with.

I was also thinking of friends and family who have recently lost a loved one in their life. It is never an easy thing to do , but it is worse around the holiday season. For some, this will be there first Christmas without their loved one. I know how that is and I will hope and wish and pray that they find comfort in some memories. One particular memory I have is when Nicole was born.

She was born two weeks after my Uncle Dave passed away. All he wanted was to hold on long enough to see her born safe and healthy. It was not meant to be. I did take some comfort that he met her in Heaven before she was born though. I was not able to go to his funeral since I was on bed rest with the pregnancy. I was sad and cried a lot during that time. However, after she was born, the only crying I had time to do was for lack of sleep and when Nicole wouldn't stop we'd cry in unison.

Anyway, that first Christmas we went to my cousin Julie's house to be with my family. My Aunt Cecilia decided to give everyone a very beautiful picture of her and my Uncle Dave in a silver frame. I was happy and laughing, everyone was enjoying newborn Nicole and we were opening gifts. When I opened that picture up, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't my uncles face for sure and I totally lost it. I put the picture down and ran to the bathroom to cry. Once I calmed down I really looked at the picture and saw my Aunt and Uncle together and thought back to all the teasing and stuff that he had done and it made me smile.

I'm hoping that along with tears there will be smiles of remembrance and joy for my friends Margo and Marda, who will be dealing with their first Christmas without their fathers. Someone gave my mom a poem at Christmas when it was our first Christmas without my dad and she had gotten it from a friend when her husband had passed. My mom gave it to me, and I intend to get it to my friends to help them .

In regards to this post, please go read this post and give all of your love and prayers to the young mother mentioned here.

__________________

On a totally different note, I am once again going to stay with my mom tomorrow through Sunday. She is having another eye surgery - this time to repair her retina because the back layer is peeling off!!!! OUCH! she says it doesn't really hurt, but it is affecting her vision because it constantly looks like a hair hanging in front of her eye.

Hope everyone is well!

More later

I Did Not Know This ( Christmas Story)

( This was shared with me by email via a family member - it is a beautiful story and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!)

There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me.

What in the world do leaping lords, French hens,

swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out

of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

This week, I found out.

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were

not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone

during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.

It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning

plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each

element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality

which the children could remember.

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John .

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness,

Gentleness, and Self Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol ...so pass it on if you wish.'

Santa Swap Package

I had mentioned a few times that Shannon had once again put together a blog swap. Once for Halloween , this time for Christmas. The Santa Swap was done a bit different this time as whoevers name we got, also got ours.

Well, I got Lyndi of the Clan Lou. We each filled out a little questionnaire about our holiday likes and dislikes, if we had kids, what kind of candy we like, etc... Shannon did ask one thing that would make it more meaningful. She asked that we try to send something to our blog buddy that was a token of our home state, city or whatever.

Thursday when I got home from work I had my package. I mailed Lyndi's on Monday so she should be getting it soon. I got the cutest and sweetest letter ever from her. She said she had a lot of fun shopping for me, as I did for her.

I will wholeheartedly apologize right here and now , since I am unable to post pictures due to my camera going kaput, but I LOVED EVERYTHING!!!!

I received just a plain shipping box, but when I opened it, it was filled with all sorts of goodies.

I had written I liked chocolate - she sent me snowball whoppers. I said I liked lotions and candles and such - she sent me a homemade candle and some lotion that was made in her hometown. ( let me just say here that the Lemon Cookie candle smells good enough to eat, and the cucumber melon lotion is divine!)

She also sent me a mini box of chocolates, a snowman refrigerator magnet, and since I mentioned I liked Santa - she sent me a rubber duck dressed as Santa!!! Also mentioning I loved snowflakes, the entire box was scattered with silver snowflake stickers, since she loves to Scrapbook. She also included a box of mini Christmas lights and peppermint tinsel for me to decorate with.

I'm not going to list here what I sent her, but I put a lot of thought and time into it too, and I hope she loves her box of goodies as much as I did mine!

Well, thats it for now, its early Saturday morning and I'm going to go hunt me down some breakfast!!

Have a great weekend!

Noel, or No Well ?

The other day when I was at the school, I happened upon the music room where the Choir was practicing for their concert. I thought they were singing The First Noel, which is a favorite Christmas tune of mine, so I stopped to listen. It quickly became apparent that that was NOT what they were singing.

Today I asked the teacher what words they were singing, since it definitely was not the traditional version. She told me it was the Animaniacs version.

I found it on YouTube, so please click off on my playlist and sit back and enjoy this very twisted version of The First Noel.