yay! best present!

Best present in the morning!!!!

Christmas Night

But this was probably my favorite present. It's good to be me with my grandparents and kittens on Christmas night.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, 2009!

It ended on the 20th.

That's me as a baby on the lap of my favorite uncle.

Mark,
Your father, mother, brother and I went to your memorial service today.

I think your momma is going to miss you the most.

Albert will sure be impressed to see the man you became.

Your grandmas will be glad to see you again. I know both Bessie and Evelyn are proud of you.

You will always be the uncle who was in a Rock Band.

52 years old when he passed away at the change of shift on Sunday, December 20th, 2009.
Rock on, Mark. Rock on..

The Christmas Parties~2009

Some pictures from the Christmas Parties at Work. The first was held at El Tor*to, and the second at Mim*s.





We are not-for-profit. What can I say? It was fun!

Making time while waiting.

When you are waiting for a "life event to happen," time can wear on and on. Whether it is for the birth of the latest baby, or the passing of a loved one, time takes on new meaning. Once the waiting period is over, though, it seems like it was no time at all. Well, this family is in a waiting period. So I had the brilliant idea of baking cookies. Always a good timefiller. (I use the term "making" very loosely here. Mainly I just broke off pieces of cookie dough and plopped them on a cookie sheet.)

Best chef in the house! (that day)

While we "baked" we talked, and joked, and talked some more. Turns out cookie making is an excellent time filler.

Grandpa was pretty darned good. Of course, I said I would make them, but then my hands just happened to be full with camera documenting the event.

We got them out of the oven and taste tested them to make sure they weren't poisoned.

And, yeah, they came out burnt. I mean crispy. Cookie making really should be left to the grammas!

And after...

First up, a dimmer switch! (Ok, so this post will probably only be interesting to homeowners, but I gotta brag on my daddy and his skills)

Got the light in the hallway working again. Nice!

Brand spanking new faucet! It even pulls out and has 2 spray settings. It was a bear to get all into working function.

Brand new garbage disposal that works very well!

Another view of the new disposal, as well as somewhere back there the new hose going from the dishwasher to the sink.

New spiffy elegant hardware for the kitchen cabinets made the room feel so much more home-like.

And finally, the light in the kitchen is fixed, and it is just amazing how much brighter and happier my kitchen is now!

Thank you Daddy! I mean Jose! It looks great. You are awesome!

Parents in town

I am very happy about my parents being in town, and the kittens have new favorite people in the world! What a family!

Yup, my momma worked hard!

Before and after shots to follow...

Dear Dad,

OK, Dad, here's the pics you asked for. For everyone else out in bloggerland, my awesome Dad has volunteered to come out and be a handiman slave for me for 2 whole days!!!! The kittens requested that they play jingle ball with them the entire time, but I have some other plans. I am sure they will get a bit of jingleball in though.
The kitchen light:

Closer up of the light in the kitchen.

Top of sink:

Underside of sink:

CLose up shot of the disposal.

An undershot of the sink and disposal. The disposal is an optional project. I don't have the new one yet, since I was a bit nervous to buy the wrong one.
This is the light I installed that worked before I put it up, and now it doesn't, and, yes, I changed the bulb and also switched the wires. They are lavender and pale yellow.
This is the light in the bathroom that I would love to have moved over to at least be over the sink. I am going to be getting a new light fixture, so maybe we don't have to move it, just get one that will cross over?

...and these are the kittens who need to be entertained.

Thank you Dad!

Mint.

Last night I decided to celebrate the last of my 4 day holiday stretch off work. My "celebration" consisted of a nice hot bath, candles, (OK, just 1 candle) 2 kittens snoopervising, and some nice music. What celebration bath is complete without a fizzy-ball? None.
(Fizzy balls are fantastic solid powdered bath salt thingies, that once you drop into the water begin to fizzle, releasing pleasant aromatherapeutic scents, soft skinned fantabulousness.)
So I had the bath all prepared, slipped into the water and dropped my newest fizzy-ball into the water.
Now, I was all into the Christmas scene yesterday, so I grabbed the one with the shiney green wrap. Most are lavender, or melon, or strawberry or some other girly smell.
What I was not expecting was the intriguing scent that then filled the room.
Mint.

I felt like I was in a tub of toothpaste.
I tried to relax, I tried to think of relaxing, but I simply could not get past the mint smell.
I felt the draw to go brush my teeth taking over me.
So take it from me. Mint is not relaxing. Mint is not a soothing scent. Mint is not romantic, calming, or anything else happy.
Unless toothpaste makes you happy.
The bath ended up being cut short. Not even the kittens liked it. They wrinkled up their nose at it. Very unkittenlike.
Anyhow, learn from my mistakes. Don't choose Mint for your next fizzyball bath.
YOu can thank me later.

Pictures from Thanksgiving