A Kid in a Candy Shop

Yesterday my friend Lori & I went on a day trip to the Berkshires in Massachusetts...destination...the great big mama store of the Yankee Candle Company in South Deerfield. The place is fabulous & I'm like a kid in a candy shop!

I've been heading up there at least once a year since I first discovered Yankee Candles about 15 years or so ago & my how they've changed & expanded big time over the years. The "headquarters" ~ the candles used to be made right there, but that part of it is down the road a bit now ~ has everything from their candles (of course ~ duh!) to stuff for your home & garden & a Bavarian Christmas village & the Black Forest. Although there are Yankee Candle stores in malls & Yankee Candle candles to be found at Bed Bath & Beyond (among other places), no place has the immense selection of scents that they do here in South Deerfield, MA. Thee's every scent from tea & honey to dune grass to gardenia to fresh ground coffee...& everything in between! I myself, picked up 29 different scented tarts (wickless "candles" that I put in an electric tart warmer)...& 2 of each of those different scents! I had this trip planned & saved my pennies so I could go a little nuts. I also picked up some of their jar candles. It's no exaggeration when I tell you that 1 of these little tarts scents my entire house for the day...so I'm pretty well set for a while, don't ya think?

I took a couple of pictures on my camera phone of the Bavarian Christmas village & thought I e-mailed them to myself, but they haven't shown up yet. Bizarre! Sooooo....you'll have to make do with the picture I snapped here at home of my basket~o~tarts & what I've lifted from their website.

Another Weekend

Yet another weekend has come & gone, passing in the blink of an eye. ::sigh:: It was a busy & productive one, but I should've gotten more rest than I did, since I'm paying for it with hand pain tonight. It's supposed to start snowing here in the NYC metro area sometime late tonight & we might be gatting a decent amount of snow. I've found that I've gotten to old to enjoy winter & snowy days (although it does look pretty just after the snowfall), but I'm also finding myself desperately wanting a snow/mental health day tomorrow...probably because of my hand (still typing slowly & like a spaz). Is this so wrong of me? Why do I feel guilty?

Speaking of my hand...It's still wrapped up & braced in the same stuff as pictured in a previous post...will be until my 1:20pm doctor's appointment on Thursday, January 20th. That's when it should all come off & the stitches come out...hopefully. My hand is still pretty sore, but it's very itchy & sweaty under there. I'm taking it all as a sign of healing, just wish I could get off the percoset, but don't think so yet Bathing, brushing teeth, dressing, even what kinds of shirts I can wear are still pretty awkward. I haven't shaved in nearly 2 weeks & that's driving me bonkers!!! LOL Cooking is out of the question & so is writing anything, unless I want it to look like a first grader wrote it.

Saturday found my mom & I at my cousin's wife's baby shower. Another cousin held it at her beautiful house about 1/2 an hour from me. Both are pregnant & look fabulous! She got a lot of great stuff & the food was delish.

Today then found my mom & I together again, but on a sadder note. Tommorow is the 1st anniversary of my grandmother's passing, so we went to the cemetary today. The cute little angel statue I left several months ago is still sitting on the headstone, watching over her. My grandmother was quite the character & I miss her. I then stopped for some mik (like 12 million other people) & went to Best Buy with a gift card Skip got for Christmas & got us some really cool new corless phones that we so desperately needed as our other ones suck.

Tonight, my dear, sweet friend Lori came over for about an hour while Skip was at the firehouse watching the Giants beat the Cowboys. She's called me several times since my surgery to check up on me & now she wanted to do it in person. She rought some delicious looking homemade chicken parm, since she figured I was probably tired of take~out. I can't wait to have some tomorrow night! The hug above is for you, Lori!

That's enough for me for tonight...my hand can't take much more......