Caption this.....!

Here are 2 belated pictures from Christmas afternoon/evening at my house when my family was over. Both are kinda funny & I want some suggestions for funny captions. One is of the men (left to right: my mom's new husband Jim, my hubby Skip, & my uncle Jim). The other is of us ladies (left to right: my cousin Jennifer, me, my mom, my aunt Shirin).

Go for it gang....gimme your best captions!

ZZZZZzzzzzzz.....

Yes...I'm being lazy today & proud of it! I've done virtually nothing so far (it's now almost 5:00 pm), except sleep until about 1:30 or so. I haven't slept that late since I was a teenager or very sick. Guess the ol' body just needed it.

We had a great day yesterday, but very long. My family was here from 4:30 until close to midnight & I didn't unwind & go to sleep until 2:00~ish. Lots of great food, presents, company...the best way to spend Christmas.

I'll post a picture or 2...or 3...another time, but my brain just isn't functioning (still!).

Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas!

A Gaggle of Questions!

My dear friend, Carly, is playing along with the whole "Ask Aunt Nub" game & has asked me a whole gaggle of questions for me to answer this Christmas Eve. As usual, I should be doing the last of my wrapping & getting ready for Christmas...but I'd rather answer these right now. Thanks for the questions, Carly!

1. If you could be any one of Santa's Reindeer, other then Rudolph, which one would you like to be? The first one that entered my mind was Vixen...always wanted to be considered a sexy thing! LOL

2. What is your favorite song? I've got a lot, don't know if I could narrow it down. I guess it depends on my mood.

3. If you could be in charge of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, what new balloon would you add? Hmmmmmm...good question. A giant, beautiful butterfly perhaps.

4. If you could have one famous person, living or dead, over for the holidays, who would it be? Lauren Bacall has always fascinated me, plus she reminds me so much of my Aunt Elaine who passed away in 1993.

5. David Duchovny or Dylan McDermott? David Duchovny...but I'd much rather choose Vincent D'Onofrio. ;)

6. Chocolate Mousse or Chocolate dipped strawberries? Mmmmmm...both good choices, but I'd pick the chocolate mousse.

7. Where oh where has my little dog gone? (Have fun with that one!) "Oh where, oh where can he beWith his ears cut short and his tail cut longOh where, oh where can he be?" Perhaps Lucy is staring at her stocking, wondering what Santa has brought her this year. Either that, or she's harassing her sister, Stella, the cat.

8. If you could have a completely different name, what would it be? Victoria Marie & I'd call myself Tory. However...Mom, if you're reading this...I do love my full name, Elizabeth Ann.

9. What is fantasy gift would you like to receive for Christmas? A fully decked out giant~sized RV, so I could travel around the country with Skip, following the good weather.

10. If you could go on any game show, which one would it be? Deal or No Deal fascinates me & I'd like to think I'd do OK on it. Plus I've always liked Howie Mandell.

11. If you could own an exotic animal, which one would it be? Two total opposites here...either a big beautiful cat, like a Jaguar, or a monkey of some sort.

Feel free to play along & answer the same questions, either here or on your own journal/blog. Consider yourself tagged! Please feel free to ask more questions, even if you've already asked one!!!!

Now I really must go & get stuff accomplished. Merry Christmas Eve everyone!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

Here it is, Christmas Eve Eve already. Tomorrow night I go to my mother~in~law's house like we do every year to celebrate Christmas with Skip's family & exchange presents with her, my sister~in~law, brother~in~law, niece & nephew & what have I done in regards to wrapping? Nothing. I've got 4 or 5 presents wrapped & I don't think any of them need to go with me tomorrow night.

::::big sigh::::

We picked up the lasagne that we ordered from a local place that makes the best pasta & will have that plus chicken & prosciutto tortellini, lemon chicken, garlic bread (all from that same place) & salad for dinner on Christmas day when my family comes over to our house.

I'm prepared in just about every way...in every way but the wrapping. I'm going to have to enlist Skip to help me & some of the presents will have to go into bags with tissue paper or funky cloth bags called Wrapsacks. Tomorrow, Skip is opening the store for 1/2 a day (10:00 ~ 1:00) on his own (I'm staying home), so I'll be able to get his stuff wrapped while he's gone & also do some last minute cleaning/organizing.

Thankfully, we're closed not only on Tuesday for Christmas, but on Wednesday, too. I desperately need these next 3 days off, not only to enjoy the holiday, but for my own sanity...you know...a little relaxation, whatever the heck that is. Maybe I'll get a little time to catch up on my stuff that I TiVo'd. In the meantime....don't anyone dare tell me what's going on this season on "Project Runway" because I haven't watched a single episode....they're all sitting there on the TiVo waiting for me with a ton of other shows.

Since I do have the next 3 days off, I'll be able to post more.......so somebody, anybody, send me some questions...anything you like, doesn't only have to be holiday related...just ask away!

Insane in the membrane...

I must be insane in the brain...or something like it. I'm in need of a full frontal lobotomy tonight. "Why" you ask? Because I had a doctor's appointment this morning at 10:30, so I decided it would be today, 1 week exactly before Christmas, that I would take off & jam the remains of the Christmas shopping (which was just about ALL of it) into 1 freakin' day.

I did a few odd stops at stores along the way, but most of the shopping was done at the Palisades Center (a H-U-G-E mall about 15 minutes away from my house). Unfortunately, I think most of Westchester County & Rockland County was there, too, with the same thing in mind. I circled the parking lot like a vulture, following anybody coming out with packages, ready to swoop in & fight off anybody else trying to get into that spot. I parked so dang far away, I might as well have parked at home & hoofed it. Y'all would've laughed your butts off watching me struggle to the car at the end of the day with all of my packages & having people in cars follow me.

99.9999999% of the shopping is done (just 1 last easy present), it needs to be wrapped, & I'm exhausted. Next year I plan better...............

Oh Christmas tree...

OK....besides curling up into bed for about an hour with my heating pad (bad cramps) & dozing, doing 250 lbs of laundry, catching up on some of my TiVo'd stuff, actually wrapping some Christmas presents ahead of time instead of in a wild frenzy in the last 36 hours before Christmas (that's the usual with me)...I actually, finally got my Christmas tree decorated!

Skip & I decided to go the artificial tree route this year. We figured that: 1) we'd be saving a tree; 2) since we're working so much now that we wouldn't enjoy a real tree as much as in the past; 3) we'd actually be saving money (instead of shelling out at least $60 around here, we'd be paying that ~ or less ~ & be able to use the same tree for several years). It's not a very big tree (not a lot of space in our living room) & has been up & lit for a few days now, but no decorations on it. I took advantage of the lousy weather & got it done. I'm still going with the "less is more" look this year, so I didn't bring out all the tree decorations & only used a few special ones. It actually looks quite nice, but I must apologize for the blurry picture above. I wanted to show off the lights, but my camera phone didn't want to cooperate. Oh well...c'est la vie!

Christmas Memes & Snow Storms

Aloha! My brain may be wishing it could blink me away to Hawaii right about now, but in reality, my body is still in the NYC metro area & in the middle of a big snow storm. People in upstate NY or Colorado or Minnesota or other similarly cold/snowy places may be laughing at us southern New Yorkers with our forecast of about 8" or so of snow, but to us this is a lot. I get nervous on days like this...like I'm trapped or something...even though it's beautiful when all is said & done. Crazy as it might sound (since I talk about it a lot), I'd rather have the depressing, gray, sunless days than too much snow. At least I can get out & do things. Anyway...I always make the best of it & catch up on stuff & be lazy with other things. Soooooo....here goes a Christmas themed meme that I found on both Phinney's & Martha's blogs. How about you 2 ladies get over here & have some hot chocolate with me? We can build snowpeople later!

1. Eggnog or Hot Chocolate? I'm really not a hot drink drinker, but I'd choose the hot chocolate.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa definitely wraps. What fun is it if the he just sits the presents under the tree?

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Colored lights on everything but the wreath outside. We lit it up for the first time this year & used white lights.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No

5. When do you put up your decorations? We usually put it all up the first week of December, but with working so damn much, we've kinda be doing a little here & there, so it has taken a little longer this year.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Anything but fruitcake.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: I remember the joy and wonder of Christmas morning. It was all just so magical to see the tons of presents & the great big giant stocking my grandmother hand sewed for me practically bursting at the seams. My parents really made sure I believed in Santa & that was special.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I have no memory of learning it, and it doesn't matter to me. (Ditto to this ~ in fact, I still like to believe:D)

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, but only at my mother~in~law's house. We celebrate & open gifts with Skip's family Christmas Eve; Christmas morning is for Skip & I; that afternoon is with my family here at my house.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Lights on first & then some special ornaments. I make sure the non~breakable ones go around the bottom portion in case Lucy (our doggie) or Stella (our kitty) decide to investigate.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I think I already covered this above.

12. Can you ice skate? Yeah...but I'm not that good...can only stop by crashing into the walls of the skating rink, so forget about skating on a pond. LOL

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I've had so many favorite gifts over the years. Last year, Skip got me Sirius Sattelite Radio.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with my family, counting my blessings.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Bananas Foster.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Probably the stockings! Not sure if Skip & I will do this year, though.

17. What tops your tree? A really pretty light up star.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving of course!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? O Holy Night ~ gets me every time.

20. Candy Canes? Sure...why not. Rather have chocolate though.

21. Do you feel Christmas is too commercialized? Or is it still magical for you? It has gotten too commercialized, but I'm trying to keep it as magical as possible.

SNOW!

AAAACCCCCCKKKK! It fuckin' snowed while we slept last night!!!! It wasn't supposed to do that until later in the day! Skip & I have been so busy working 6 days a week & not getting home until around 7:00 pm, that we were going to put up our Christmas lights outside this morning. Now everything is covered in about an inch of snow & rain is possible later! YUCK! I really, really, REALLY wanted to get my Christmas lights up today!!!! Maybe...just maybe...we can still get them put up since the snow isn't too heavy. Keep your fingers crossed! Hooray! We were able to put up the lights in front of the house! The lights & the big inflatable Santa can wait for another day this week ~ those are the easier ones to do.

I'm just not ready for winter; not mentally at least. I love Christmas & all that, but the long winter months really get me down. I started dealing with S.A.D. (seasonal affective disorder) a long time ago, but last year it was really bad ~ so bad that I got myself one of those lightboxes that simulate sunlight (but without the bad UV rays) to help combat it. I got it late in the season & it helped, but the real test will be this winter. Just need to have it near me for about 15~30 minutes in the morning on gray days.

I wish I had more to write about. I get here to my blog with a ton of things on my mind that I want to say, but then my mind goes blank or I get distracted & I forget about what I wanted to say. Just getting old, huh? I'm going to start the new year off with a journal jar, suggested by a good friend, Becky. But....in the meantime...if there's anyone out there actually reading my blog (Hi Phinney & Becky! I think you're the only 2!).....why not ask me a question...any question...& I'll answer it here. Either leave the question in the comment section or e-mail it to me at my montaukny address.

PS I mailed out all 120 Christmas cards (yes...you read right...120!) late on Friday night so that they'd be in the early mail on Saturday, December 1st! That means that if you're on my Christmas card list, you should be getting a card from little ol' me any day now!

Gobble...Gobble..Burp!

Thanksgiving has come & gone. It was nice, unseasonably warm (but no complaints here), & I ate too much of my mother~in~law's delicious cooking. I wandered around my m.i.l.'s backyard, snapping pictures on my camera phone & came up with the 1 above ~ kinda diggin' it myself.

Skip & I have the morning basically off today...not opening the store until 1:00 (no, we're not like JC Penney's or Kohl's who opened at 4:00 am for Black Friday)...but we'll probably go in a little earlier in order to start decorating for....gasp...could it be?......Christmas & Hannukah! Garland & the like will be going up & the holiday toys & treats for the pets will be going out on the shelves today.

Speaking of the holidays, I haven't started any of my own shopping, nor have I decorated my own house yet, but I have started my Christmas cards & am about 1/3 of the way through. Planning on getting those babies out of my hands & into the hands of the postal service on December 1st.

That's all for now. Gotta go shower & get ready to do my part for Black Friday. Hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving! Don't forget to participate in my entry below called "One Word." Later........