Christmas Vacation

With only 4 days until Christmas it is time for the blog to have a little break, so I can spend time with my family and prepare for the holidays. I will still be around checking emails and finishing up the SSS event. Just not posting.

We have just a handful of people that still need to ship, a couple had family emergencies, a couple are still digging out of a blizzard and one has been hospitalized. I have faith in every single person that signed up. I also want to Thank you for your patience and personally apologize for any hiccups experienced along the way.

It was truly a pleasure to be your one of your Hostesses for the 2nd annual Secret Santa Soiree-I have had as much fun visiting your blogs and seeing what you received from your exchange partner as I had opening my own gift box. The diversity of the participants to the diversity of the gifts sent is what makes this event so wonderful.

A HUGE Thank you to a very special elf-who sent out her gift then immediately stepped up to send another all the while herself waiting patiently for her gift to arrive, to the Mission Mistletoe Elves-who truly made a difference in the lives of 3 other families and to Amy-I love you... You.ladies.complete.me!


My confession for today: I want to wish you ALL a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Friday Fragments

Hey Ya'll it's FRIDAY unless you live in Australia I think they are 13 or 14 hours ahead of us, the whole time zone and DST thing just amazes me...but then again I am easily amused, anyways...
in my best Wendy Williams imitation 'How You Doing?'

Today is the last day of the semester and that means no school for 2 weeks-this makes me very happy, no alarms, no carpools, no I need lunch money, no homework...ahhhhh

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The other night Jess was watching TV and she looks over at me and says...'Hey Mom, did you know it is 2 dimes past 9?' Since I am now a brunette I caught on very quickly didn't even have to think about what she meant...

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In other Jess news-that girl can't keep a secret, seriously, UNLESS it involves me, Eric has planned a lil dinner party for me tonight and I have no idea where they are taking me, so I ask the blabber-mouth and I tell you what, that girl ain't spillin the beans...I said BUT Honey I need to know what to wear and the lil smarty-pants said...I will pick out your clothes! pffft

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Reese, yanno the 'other' man in my life, he is 14, we went out to dinner this week he ate a HUGE meal, then we no sooner walked in the door that he grabbed a new box of cereal, the new gallon of milk I had just bought and the bowl that goes to my NOT kitchen-aide mixer(but it is big none-the-less) and headed to his room-I kid you not, he ate the entire box of cereal and almost ALL the milk inonesittingaftercominghomefromeatingout! I can't afford him anymore! BOY 4 Sale!

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Saturday we will start our first round of Christmas at my MILs she has asked me to bring dip and while I have a lot of dip recipes in my head none are just jumping out at me...I am considering making this recipe BUT would love some ideas from you...so tell me your favorite dip recipe Please, help a sistah out...if you haven't noticed I like easy and quick...

3-8oz pkg cream cheese(bring to room temperature)

1 stick butter(I like land’o lakes, again bring to room temp)

cream both together

add:

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 pkg Hidden valley ranch dip mix

Mix well and put in a shallow dish. Top with Cracked pepper and allow to chill for at least few hours so the flavors are absorbed. Serve at room temp with pretzels OR slice a french baguette and toast the slices, then spread over the bread

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A few weeks ago I won a lil blog contest over at Megryansmom place where I received 2 lovely soup bowls,2 spoons and a can of HIGH Fiber chicken tuscan progresso soup...let me just say if any of you are having number two issues, go grab yourself a can of this stuff itwilltotallycleanseyouout! Seriously!

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Can you believe it is 6 days until Christmas? Why is it the older you get the faster time flies?

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More and More SSS participants are receiving their goodies, if you have received your SSS pkg Please take a moment and sign the linky below by linking your post not just your blog-if you are still waiting for your goodies to arrive Please bare with us we are trying to make contact with the few that still need to ship-I am really hoping I do not have to put out a YELP for an Elf or two...If your SSS partner has received his/her gift, feel free to let them know you had their name...YES you read me correctly go forth and reveal...

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For more Friday Fragments or to link up your own why not visit Mrs Fours over @ Half Past Kissin Time she is really awesome!

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My Confession for today:Justin Beiber Concert on the 20th if you don't hear from me by Tuesday send out a search party

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BREAKING NEWS ALERT

****************This is Amy Amy Bo Bamey*******************

Just a heads up that Georgie and I closed comments for now because we are not happy with what is happening. It is with heavy hearts that we have had to sit back and watch things be said that cause drama and hurt feelings.

We set out this year excited because we increased our number of participants and were ready to spread lots of Holiday Cheer. We feel defeated right now that Secret Santa has caused some drama and hurt feelings for some and those were not our intentions and in turn that has deeply sadden Georgie and I. We DO NOT like drama especially when it is associated with something that we are in charge of.

What is going on in the comment section of this and other blogs is not okay with us and does not make us comfortable to sit back and read. We have to speak up about it. We were not calling any of the last minute people flaky however others have in the comment sections. However when you have a LARGE group that you are in charge of and half have not shipped the day before the deadline OF COURSE we are gonna stress out. We STRESSED OUT sent out mass email reminders and PEEPS followed through.

Comments we have read on another blog really have not only hurt us but I am sure the giver as well. I hate to see it continue on but we cannot control what happens on other peoples blog. We thought we tried to make it right and even had a elf step up ANONYMOUSLY to send to that person and the original SSS did something to try and make it right. I am sure after trying to do right she has to be more than upset that she is still getting comments hammered about her. Be that as it may true colors do show and people can do what makes them feel better.

We were freaking out when we still had 50 people that had not sent in DC#'s to us the day before the deadline. We did not think there would be that many last minute shippers. I an HAPPY to say that we are only down to 17 that we are waiting for to send us DC #'s.

I cannot fathom the idea that people would have signed up for something and not follow through with it. So I have faith that there will be follow through with the 17 we are waiting on.

So we are gonna try and move on and ignore any drama that continues because we don't want it to dampen our spirits. We have many other people that are gonna be receiving their gifts soon. We cannot wait to see the posts that will be coming in the next few weeks. We appreciate all the good and thankful emails that have been sent our way and they keep us going.

Thank You for Listening!

Amy

P.S. Please ignore any and all spelling or grammar mistakes, I was kinda writing in a hurry and trying to get these thoughts outta my head.

Holla! Secret Santa Participants

Today is the deadline to ship your SSS exchange partners gift we have 50 people who still need to ship and send us a DC#.
iamnotfreakingoutiamnotfreakingout....

That's A LOT

I sent emails out yesterday with a friendly reminder and several of you responded-Thank YOU

Now I feel the need to address a few issues-which means I gotta be serious and I don't especially like being all serious...seriously!

I will not name names but I got many emails saying that you can not ship by tomorrow, I understand things come up, I understand you needing a few more days, but what I don't understand is waiting until the last minute to even shop and then asking me to ask your exchange partner to wait until after the new year to receive their gift...This Is Unacceptable! It isn't fair! I am pretty sure I stated the rules aka 411 in a post then I personally emailed all 104 participants with reminder emails of what is expected of you AND what you can expect from me.

I am at a loss here, last year was such a huge success and I want this year to be as well. Many of you have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, how much work goes into pairing everyone up, then last minute additions want to join in and I don't like to leave anyone out so I boot-scoot and boogie (name that duo) so everyone can be included. I don't ask for references, an emergency contact or your first born, I work off the honor system here...

There has been some question on the dollar amount to spend on your exchange partners gift...it is $20 before shipping meaning your gift should total $20 not $5 or $10 but $20...that's all I'm sayin on this matter

Moving on....

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To my Mission Mistletoe Elves therearenowordsforhowmuchiloveyou....

To amybo whom my life would not be complete without Thank you for the very special gift you sent me...let me tell you bout amybo, after we had known each other for like a minute we were saying we 'go way back' that is the bloggy world friends, never under-estimate it...

To my mommie who got me the most beautiful key necklace for my birthday and she thought I wouldn't like it because I wanted a 'statement piece' I Love it mom and I love you....

To my bestie who reminded me that 39 is the new 19....

To my hubby who has a surprise dinner planned on Friday for my Birthday...ummmm it's not a surprise if I know about it...yes Dec 18th I will be thirty-nine errrr nineteen!

To Canon or Nikon my KODAK is broke I am asking for a new camera for Christmas so I can put pics in my posts PLEASE run a few specials so I don't have to do sexual favors for the rest of my life just to enjoy your greatness

My confession for today: I feel the confessional booth coming on....it's been awhile...

Important Secret Santa Soiree Info

Short and sweet today...

First I have to say Thank You to the 'ying to my yang'... Amy for covering for me in my absence.

A quick SSS update.... 75 people still need to email us a delivery confirmation and with only 4 days until the shipping deadline, it's getting down to the wire...

If you have received your gift and blogged about it PLEASE sign the linky below so we can visit and see all your goodies. Please be sure you link the Post where you blogged about receiving your gift NOT a direct link to your blog.

I will be out visiting all the Secret Santa participants today to say Hi and spread some Holiday Cheer

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My mom sent this to me in an email-I thought it was too funny and had to share it...

One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me. I was maybe 3 years old, and someone had given me a little 'tea set' as a gift. It was one of my favorite toys. Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought him a little cup of 'tea', which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home. My Dad made her sit quietly in another room, so mom could watch me bring dad the cup of tea, because I was so cute.
Mom waited, and sure enough, I came walking down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy. Mom watches dad drink from the tea cup.
Then she says, (as only a mother would know... :) 'Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach to get water is the toilet?


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And a couple snowman cartoons that my sister sent to me

My confession for today: Abby made the NEIMAN-MARCUS Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe last night and I am happy to report I only ate 1 cookie! Goodness they are good!

P.S.
if the linky doesn't show up bare with me and I will have it added soon

Random

Fair warning this post is all over the place-I got a million things swirling around in my head...it's random today very random...

A BIG shout-out to Danny Cahill he was The Biggest Loser last night and he is from our lil town of Broken Arrow. WTG Danny!

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My sweet lil Jess was looking for quotes to make me a special Christmas present when my PC was attacked by that dreaded virus. The guys over at PC Data Recovery in BA had to give me a new hard drive, while I lost ALL my programs, seriously I did have 3 rows of programs installed now I have a nice manageable 15 programs total(not rows).

They were able to save all my pictures, I was in the process of uploading them all to Picasa and when I took my pc in for repair I said PLEASE save my pictures even if the pc isn't fixable PLEASE save my pictures. I have 4 years worth of pictures on this computer!

So now that I am 'hooked' back up I am taking some precautions...

IE is gone I am now a Firefox user. For the most part the FF transition was easy but pages look different in FF every-bodys font is the same and I know that is not the case, so any firefox pros out there want to give me some pointers, tips and hints? For example FF has a built in spell checker-you should see all the red underlined words in this post-how I do I spell check a word? Where do I click in this new browser of mine?

McAffe is also gone I am now an AVG user and since McAffe is gone I was able to re-add spybot I really really really like having spybot back on my computer.

I am curious what everyone else uses to browse the netters and what program you use to protect your PC?

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Yesterday was the faloozies aka my sister Birthday-that's her up there, she won't mind me telling you her age, she turned 38 we are the same age for 10 days-yes you read that right...Happy Birthday sis I Love You!

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In Feb Eric and I will celebrate our 13th anniversary with a trip to my very favorite place Eureka Springs You may be asking yourself why is Georgie talking about her anniversary when it's 2 months off, well, I will tell you why...

There is no other town like ES, it is a victorian village, quaint and it runs on a slower pace, there isn't a stoplight in the whole town, it is the only place I never feel like I need a vacation from my vacation, I get giddy just knowing I will be there very soon and this is the time that I, Georgie start planning our trip. Last night we made our reservation for lodging and this is where we will be staying....

                                            all photos courtesy treehousecottages.com

We have wanted to stay at Treehouse Cottages for years, but this place books up months in advance and while we weren't able to secure an actual treehouse we will be staying in the lovely Hillside Haven Cottage and enjoying these amenities:

* Bathroom with double size Jacuzzi tub with shower
* Private deck with large outdoor Hot Tub, patio set, gas grill and a flower garden view
* Fully furnished kitchen/dining area nestled in a bay window with a deck view
* Private downstairs bedroom has a queen size bed
* Upstairs Loft bedroom has a queen bed, sitting area and a 3rd floor picturesque view
* Warm wood floors and Persian area rugs
* Comfortable living room with wood burning Fireplace and leather couch
* Flat screen Cable TV; DVD; CD; WiFi & iPod station
* Conveniently includes covered parking right at the front door

A little unknown fact about me-I have set the treehouse cottage site as my homepage and will read and re-read the site no less than 20 times a day FOR REALS leading up to the time we leave, I will imagine myself sitting out on the private deck sipping my morning coffee, I will imagine myself soaking in the jacuzzi ahhhhhhh

If you have ever been to Eureka Springs, Ar then you know the pull this town can have on you. If you have never been to ES then I highly recommend stealing your sweetie pie away for a weekend, you will Thank me...


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I have already burned through 2 ricks of firewood, today is the first day we actually qualified for a fire it is 22 degrees out. I think I might have a problem and may need a 12-step program or attend some firewood burners anon meetings-Eric isn't to happy about having to go get me some more wood today in this cold

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If your Birthday is this month don't forget to stop by Sephora for your FREE Birthday gift-I got 3 lil lip glosses that Jess has already laid claim to-oh well it was exciting getting them if only briefly

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While browsing through the pics on the pc I was reading some of the folder names-Abby has A LOT of folders and I was just a gigglin' at some of the names she gave her folders here are a few

'me i love me'-a nice collection of her taking pics of herself in the mirror

'amazing pics of abby' a collection of B&W photos

'FIREEEEEEE' well here I will show you one of these-I have no clue why she titled this folder FIREEEEEEE but that pic just freaks me out!

My confession for today: Gosh it's GOOD to be back!

I Can't Quit You!

I literally had to be like a real person these past 2 weeks...well once I got through the withdrawl symptoms...and still I wouldn't say I functioned like a 'real' person

The first day I only sat in your chair 30 times before realizing you were not here. I was sad, I felt disconnected, I cried...

The 2nd and 3rd days were H-A-R-D! I had the shakes, the chills, sweaty palms, I gave PMS a run for her money! I had to call my mom and ask her to check my emails. I sat in the chair and clickity clicked the mouse-that may or may not have helped with the shakes.

The 4th day Eric tells me I hit him in the middle of the night and said 'GO BUY ME A NEW COMPUTER PRONTO' He told me the next morning he seriously contemplated breaking into Best Buy @ 2am. He said I was in trance, drooling and speaking in another language saying things like 'alt and the #3' 'ctrl/alt/del' 'right click right click' I do not remember hitting him, I am not typically a violent girl...

By the 5th day I was sure my pc was unfixable and politely threatened Eric to take me to Best Buy. He refused...so I did what any good wife would do...

I 'schooled' him...for the next few days...

I took control of the remote and made him watch things like The Hills, Desperate Housewives, Americas Next Top Model, The City, Sex and the City, Big Love re-runs, Project Runway, I surfed the 900s aka the music channels on Cox and made him listen to all POP music, he dislikes 'POP' music very much and I sang along...loudly...and very out-of-tune.

I told him Abby has a project due that is now 1 week late because we don't have a way for her to type it up...I pulled out all the stops. He asked me to give the computer guy till Monday, I may or may not have asked him to wait till 2014 for sex.ever.again

Guys I had to do things like:

Laundry
Run the thing that makes your carpet look nice
Set something out for dinner every.single.day!
Watch the actual news on the TV
Read the paper
CALL people instead of emailing them
I gave myself a 2nd degree burn trying to make FLAN!
Shower
Get dressed
Go to Bass Pros customer appreciation night for 3 friggin hours
Make the childrens take pics with Santa @ Bass pro night
Threaten to make Eric take pics with Santa @ Bass pro night
Load the dishwasher
Run the dishwasher
Unload the dishwasher
Sweep
as opposed to burning pine-sol on my stove and calling it all good

I applied make-up out of sheer boredom... TWICE... in one day

I fixed my hair, I then colored my hair, I am now a brunette, yes, no working computer makes you do things you normally wouldn't do, strange things...

Today when I arrived home from daddys chemo appointment there was my beautiful tower sitting on the table, calling out to me...I ran to it and hugged her tightly, then quickly hooked a girl up...

So it's official I can't quit you, I have a problem and am proudly acknowledging it

My Confession for today: I am back and my my my how I have missed you ALL!!!! Time to get caught up...just as soon as Abby types up her report...

P.S.
Thank YOU Amy for keeping everyone updated with SSS info...received your SSS pkg sign the linky in the post below

JUST A REMINDER

I have been receiving Delivery Confirmations all week so that means more and more people are gonna be receiving their Secret Santa Gifts!

DEC 15th is the Shipping Deadline, which is creeping up on us. Don't forget to email us your Delivery Confirmation once you have shipped it.

Also after you receive your Secret Santa gift, please do a blog about it and after come sign our Mr. Linky with your post about your SSS gift so others can easily blog jump to comment and see what everyone received.

Tis the season! Happy Holidays & Have a GREAT WEEKEND!

My Confession for Today: I will be in Las Vegas this weekend & it is gonna be COLD! Brrrrr

P.S. Georgie is still out her computer, hope she gets it back soon :( 

Georgie Amy