Is it Christmas Time Already?

Our house is completely decorated and I spent about 2 hours last night wrapping presents. Our Christmas photo cards have been ordered and will be sent soon. I have 2 more people to buy gifts for, and tomorrow is the first holiday celebration I will go to this season.

It is 76 degrees outside - is a really Christamastime?!?!?!

Fantastic Thanksgiving

Despite all of my stressing, we managed to have a great Thanksgiving. Bill ran in the Turkey Trot in the morning, and did very well in the 8K coming in just under 45 minutes. When he got home, he prepared the stuffing and the bird, and I did the veggie tray and cleaned up a bit. Bill's parents came over, and we had a lovely time. I was able to use all of my inherited Herend China and Sterling Silver. The table never looked so beautiful. After cleaning, we enjoyed a night of TV, though nothing interesting was worth watching.

On Friday, we got up early to have breakfast with Bill's parents before they left. We pretty much stayed around the house all day waiting for the new stove to arrive. Fine day for a new oven, huh? One day after Thanksgiving!! Of course, they did not show up until about 7:15pm, so we stayed home for really no reason. Of course, it is still better than being in the mall. I love to shop, but the day after Thanksgiving is just too much for me! Now, the day after Christmas is a whole other story...

Saturday and Sunday were for decorating the house. All of our multitude of holiday decorations are now in place. I wanted the house to be ready for my book club meeting on Monday night. It was, after a bit of sweat and tears, and a little cursing. Everyone complimented the house, so it was worth it.

From one stress to another - we have to get ready for our Holiday Open House now!! Countdown to December 16 starts now!!

Thanksgiving is so hard!!!

Thanksgiving seem to be so hard this year. We spent this weekend cleaning the house and buying food. Even after 2 days of cleaning, we had more cleaning to do last night after we got home from running. I guess, though, some of the things we have been doing are not strictly cleaning. Bill has been re-painting the trim to clean it up. I have been polishing all of our pieces including some very old brass bookends. We even bought and assembled 3 new bar stools for our counter. They look great. At least now the guest room is done and the beds are made. The downstairs looks pretty good - just a quick window cleaning for dog nose prints and a vacuuming on Thursday.

The food is coming along as well. We have all the fixings, I just need to get that pumpkin pie baked! Hopefully tomorrow night after we do all of our last minute running around to get the packet for The Turkey Trot. Still, it's the second best holiday of the year, so it's worth it.

I love beer

Beer is the best drink. Bill and I have recently started to be beer aficionados. I bought him a Mr. Beer Kit ( http://www.mrbeer.com) kit for his birthday and we have started to brew our own stuff. We have done an IPA that turned out very well. Then, Bill got creative. We brewed a cherry wheat beer that is absolutely wonderful, and this past weekend, we made a raspberry porter. I don't generally like porters, but I can't wait for that batch to be done.

In addition to homebrewing, I love to drink beer out. This past weekend, we went to The Flying Saucer (http://www.beerknurd.com) with our fellow beer lovers, Michelle and Jon. "The Sauce" as we affectionately call it offers 200 beers on tap and in the bottle for those of us who love the drink. There is no better way to spend a Saturday night than to tailgate, watch the Carolina Hurricanes win hockey, and drink beer with friends. Of course, I should have stopped before that last Blue Moon...

Whoever invented E-Bay is a freakin genius

I love E-bay! Where else can you go and bid on anything you want to buy? You can find anything your little heart desires and then enjoy the competition of bidding on it. It is a competition. I bid on something the other day. I entered what I determines that I wanted to spend for the piece (including shipping) as my maximum bid. When I was outbid later, I entered an even higher bid because I DID NOT WANT TO LOSE!! I did not want the product for that price, but at the same time, I did not want cmdv93 to get it either. In the end, I was outbid, so I did not get the product nor did I pay more than I wanted. I guess sometimes it does work out the way it should.

Of course, there have been those times when I lost the product in the last seconds and wanted to throw my computer across the room in a bit of rage. I stayed up one night until midnight to see my "winning" bid on a pair of bookends. As I refreshed the page to the last seconds, I saw my bid lose with about 2 seconds remaining. As hard as I tried, I could not get another bid in before time expired. I couldn't sleep - I was so mad that I have not put in a higher bid to cover myself. I wound up painting and embellishing a pair of bookends I already owned, but it's just not the same as the one that got away...

UGA Football

Here is an e-mail that I sent my sister-in-law on Monday. She went to Auburn and I went to UGA. It's fun to pick on losers...



UGA's Football Season
Beating South Carolina for the first SEC match-up -good
Losing to Vanderbilt - Devastating
Losing to Florida - Expected
Losing to Kentucky - the nail in the coffin
Kicking the crap out of Auburn by 22 points andruining their chances at a title bid - PRICELESS
Have a good day!!!

I love to organize!!

Ok, I am such a geek. I really do love to organize things. Putting things in their proper place just feels so good. This past weekend, I rearranged my closet. It was wonderful!! I moved my tall show rack to the side wall so that I can have more space for my sweater buckets. Yes, I have organized my sweaters, too. I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond (http://bedbathandbeyond.com) and bought these great canvas buckets for all of my sweaters. Now, they are all neatly folded and color coordinated. It makes going into my closet so nice. If only my obsession also included cleaning...

Yet Another Great Weekend

On Friday, Bill and I had a first. We went with some friends to a restaurant called Sage. The restaurant is 100% vegetarian. It was great fun, and the food was pretty good. I would go back, but I would not pick the same entree I had this time. Of course, the best part was hanging out with our friends and just chatting. It's good to have friends.

Saturday, we got up bright and early. Bill headed to a car show at the fairgrounds, and I headed to the mall (are you really surprised?) I needed to buy clothes for my sweetie for his new job. I have a great morning. I met up with Bill in the afternoon to work the booth for our car club. After that, we were pretty much exhausted and spent the evening at home.

Sunday was a day for reorganizing and catching up. We went to the Carlos Mencia show in the evening. I love the fact that the man is not politically correct and doesn't care. It is so refreshing to hear. The show was great. We tried out The Borough afterward for dinner, then went for a drink at The Flying Saucer. The perfect way to wrap a weekend - beer.

The Big Leap

So, I took a pretty big leap last night. I volunteered to be on the Board for our homeowner's association. I am really interested in serving on boards in general. I think The Junior League has had influence with that. I went to a non-profit board seminar with the JL, and the speaker said a great way to get started is with your homeowner's association. At least I am not the only newbie - three of us will start next month. It should keep life interesting!

It's like Christmas has come early this year

Donald Rumsfeld resigns!! The Democrats win The Senate!! Things just seem to be getting better and better. Over the course of the last few days, I have really found politics to be interesting. I have never really followed it before, but I think it is something I want to pay more attention. I have requested information from the Democratic Women's Society in my area. It could be a very interesting path to follow, particularly as we start seeing the campaigning for 2008. McCain vs. Obama - man, what a campaign that would be!!

I have 2 Things to say today...

#1 - Yeah to all of the people who got out to vote yesterday. I was up last night watching returns and was thrilled to see the Dems take over the House. I went to sleep thinking that the Senate race was over, but was pleased to see that this morning Virginia and Montana are still in play. I'm sure that the final election will take weeks to tally, but I should say the next 2 years will be interesting.

#2 - Britney and Kevin split - seriously, is anyone surprised? We all knew it would happen, it was just a matter of when. Looks like Kevin's ride on the money train is over. Thanks for the picture, MSN.com.

If these 2 entries do not show my divergent tastes, I don't know what does!!

Election Day 2006

I can't believe it, but I wholeheartedly agree with Bush:

“We live in a free society and our government is only as good as the willingness of our people to participate," Bush said, his wife, Laura, at his side and an "I voted" sticker on the lapel of his brown suede jacket.
"Therefore, no matter what your party affiliation or if you don't have a party affiliation, do your duty, cast your ballot and let your voice be heard." (courtesy of cnn.com)

In this day and age, it seems even more important to cast a vote. With all that is happening in this world, our elected officials take on more and more decision making power. It is important that you have the right people representing your interests.

I am so thankful to live in this great country and to enjoy this right. I voted this morning before heading to work even with the rain. I hope that my fellow voters feel the same way and will exercise their rights today!

My Motto?

Most days I feel like my motto should be "I will do it when I have time". I don't know how life becomes so complicated most days. It seems like I am going crazy during the weekends trying to rush around and get everything done. I never seem to get to exercise on the weekends because time runs out. Even during the week, I feel like I can't get things done. Bill laughs at me because I got out and run errands at lunch time. How else will I accomplish anything? Sadly, the most free time I seem to have is 9-5:30 M-F.

And the Canes lose...

There is nothing worse than watching your beloved team lose and lose badly. Bill and I went to our 3rd game of the season last night. The Canes have not yet won when we have been at the game, and they let us down again last night. Not only was it a loss, it was a shut out at 4-0. It really hurts to see the team lose particularly after reaching the pinnacle of hockey last season. They just couldn't get anything going last night. At least the beer was flowing and our good friends Michelle and Jon were there. It would have been more fun to see the win, though.

Better luck on November 18!!

What a great weekend

This past weekend was so great. I had one of the best birthdays ever!!

Friday - Dad came to town. The three of us went to City Beverage (a great local restaurant) and enjoyed dinner. We went back to our place and chatted for a bit. It was so good to see Dad and to be able to catch up with him.

Saturday - Bill took me to a surprise dinner at Second Empire in Raleigh. He had me convinced we were going to a different restaurant. I was completely surprised. The restaurant made a menu that had "Happy Birthday, Susan" written across the top with the date. The chef even signed it for me. I had a fantastic meal and a wonderful bottle of wine. Bill really enjoyed his food, too. For dessert, they brought out a plate with Happy Birthday written in chocolate. It was fabulous.

Sunday - Bill, Sammy, and I took off for the NC mountains. We enjoyed the beautiful leaves changing on our drive up. We stopped in Black Mountain for lunch in our favorite little pizza place, then shopped downtown. The weather was so nice - sunny and about 70 degrees in October! We got some beer and headed to our hotel. The Madison Inn is a kitschy place in Black Mountain. Each room has a different theme. We were in Cedar's Retreat -a 2 room, 1 and 1/2 bath suite with a 2 person shower made on stone. It was so cute. We chilled Sunday night and watched TV. It was so relaxing!!

Monday - I finally got to open my presents. I am very good at not opening them until my b-day, but then all bets are off! I got some great gifts and even a surprise. My aunt got a federal tax refund check from my mom's estate. That was a nice chunk of change I was not expecting! We went in to Asheville for the day stopping in Biltmore Village and then downtown. It was another beautiful day to walk around and just enjoy the day. We had dinner at the inn - really great seafood in the mountains, no less!

Tuesday - We had breakfast at the inn - a full, freshly made breakfast is complementary. It includes fruit, eggs, meat, toast, potatoes, and pancakes. Not healthy, but it sure was good!! We left to head home, but quickly changed course. We wound up going to Linville Falls and seeing the water. We were so close to Blowing Rock, we decided to go there as well. We wandered the town and had a relaxing afternoon. We even got back home in time for 6 trick-or-treaters.

I had a fantastic, fabulous birthday. I have to thank my wonderful husband, my cute dog, my friends, and family for making it so wonderful. Love you!!!