Cutie Bunny-Fairy

    Apparently, everyone has a Christmas Elf Name!  Check it out:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/derby/fun_stuff/christmas/santas_little_helper_names.shtml

My name, appropriately is:  Cutie Bunny-Fairy!  Ironically, I go by the name "Coelha"--(girl rabbit)!  Isn't ironic..doncha think?  HA..  Find out what your Elf name is--it's fun! 

This year, in particular, I really do feel like the elf.  If you see me at the mall AGAIN, please, just SHOOT ME.  I was up again late last night up to 1:30 this morning wrapping Christmas gifts, and putting things away for the next day.  I'm looking forward to next Monday more and more each day...  I plan to just put my feet up and have a kahlua on ice.  That is all I want this year Santa..just a hour of relaxation with no interuptions and a kahlua, peace on Earth, and a digital camera...  :) 

 

      

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

It's Christmas time YAHOOO!!!  Celebrate, celebrate...dance in the streets incoido! (naked--only if it's warm out of course.)  It really isn't warm here in sunny California--yes, it does in fact RAIN, and it has been raining off and on since Saturday.  Today, it's just clear and cold, but the sun came out again, and I actually wore my sunglasses to work!!

I had a bit of a scare last night.  My in-laws are coming down from Arizona, and they had planned on coming down on Wednesday.  They are going to stay in my daughter's room, which, is not clean.  My daughter did do a good job cleaning up her closet--I was impressed because everything was nice and neat and tidy, however the rest of the room was quite a mess.  On our answering machine, my mother- inlaw announced that they were thinking of coming over tomorrow instead.  I kind of freaked, and rushed upstairs to start the cleaning frenzy.  I love my mother-inlaw, she is great---but I can't shake the feeling off that my home must be spotlessly clean before she can enter!!  Well, hubby called, and she and father in-law changed their minds, and are coming down on Friday instead.  I asked hubby, you didn't tell her to come later, did you?  He insisted that he didn't, and I believe him.  I guess they just changed their minds.  Then I felt a little guilty.  It was sort of a relief because I knew I could have Lizzy finish cleaning her room, but kind of a let down too.  Oh well...  I cleaned my oven a little last night--can't have her see a dirty oven.  Too bad I can't clean windows at night--damn rain.  I sighed a heavy sigh of relief, and decided to put off the vacuuming until Thursday night, that way the carpets will still look nice and fluffy looking when she arrives.  I just wish my son would work on his target.  Boys and toilets...eeek!!  I'm constantly worried that someone is going to sit down on a wet toilet seat.  Sorry...maybe I shouldn't share that bit of information.. :) 

I'm glad to say however, that I'm almost completely done with shopping.  I have started shopping since Thanksgiving, but my list never seems to end.  It's always something.  After promising myself I wouldn't involve myself in planning the office potluck this year based on the fact that the people here automatically assume that it is part of the job specifications for all clerical, one of the probation officers decided to plan it.  Bah humbug...  I wanted so much to go out for lunch with the clerical pool and have margaritas during working hours instead. Oh well.  Of course, someone has already left a present on my chair.  I'm guessing by the size, and the sound (yes, I did shake it), it is chocolates...  Hmmmm....chocolate...my BIG weakness.  Enclosed was a really nice card from one of the probation officers that really calls me quite often in regards to her mentally ill clients.  That was really sweet of her, and she is a really sweet lady, but now I'm faced with a dilemma.  Do I give her a gift?!  Eeek..  I did buy a whole bunch of stocking stuffer things from Avon (don't tell my mother-inlaw--she sells Mary Kay!), but I only bought for clerical.  Damn..  Bah humbug!!  Oh well... 

It's Christmas time!!!  YIPPEE!!!  I love Christmas, and I don't want my last entry wasted on my EX to be the last entry right now.  I might just delete it.  I just needed to vent you see.  Just be thankful you aren't here to HEAR me vent.  :) 

Poem for the EX

                                    A Woman's Poem

He didn't like the casserole

And he didn't like my cake.

My biscuits were too hard...

Not like his mother used to make.

I didn't perk the coffee right

He didn't like the stew,

I didn't mend his socks

The way his mother used to do.

I pondered for an answer

I was looking for a clue.

Then I turned around and smacked him...


Like his Mother used to do.

(or in this case, maybe she should have done it a little more often)

 

I had a unworthwhile conversation the other day with my ex-husband, who reminded me "how good he was to me and the kids".  Excuse me?  Can you say light a match near some gasoline?  Could I really catch myself from exploding after that comment?!!  Oh yeah, mister, you have been really good to me and the kids!  Gee, you were the one that decided to move all the way to the east coast to be with that woman you met on the internet after your two week, get to know you rendez vous, away from your two children, so I could be left working three jobs, and have you still send me to court to reduce your child support payments!  Gee, golly gee---I'll never forget those handwritten payroll slips that were done in your own handwriting that the court accepted as your payroll documents.  Gee...and how can I forget those threatening emails and telephone calls from you and your ex-girlfriend--(you know the one from Canada that was married?  Yeah, that was before you met your current wife) threatening that you would leave the country and make me go on welfare.

Gee...you have been good to me and the kids.  Thanks for the judge in NJ who threatened you jailtime--for the last three years you have paid your child support.  And thanks again for the generous Christmas gifts and birthday gifts for the kids, and your visits every two years, and your 3 or 4 calls a year.  Gee..you have been good to us... 

Okay; it's out of my system. 

After getting off of the phone with the EX; I rushed towards my husband; so glad to be in the arms of a REAL, caring and loving man who has been good to me, and my kids, and his son, and our little one--there isn't anything better.  Thank God for him.  You can't appreciate a good man until you've been with a real loser. 

Assignment # 90 Holiday Memories

I've been fortunate to have many special Christmas memories.  Growing up, I remember going to midnight mass on Christmas Eve; sitting in our cold, crowded church, all huddled together singing Christmas carols in our good clothes and coats and hats.  My mother made sure that my sister and I were always dressed like we just popped out of the Sears catalogue with our matching outfits (that she usually made) with big bows on our heads.  I didn't realize  what impression we had left on the other parisherners, until one day, a few years ago when I was working part time at a retail store during Christmas.  A woman came up to my register recalling how she remembered me as a child with my brother and sister all dressed up for church.  Aww...the memories of having my hair pulled back so tightly with rubberbands and ribbons in my hair..ouch.  Little did we know we were part of the Christmas scenery.  Still today, Christmas isn't Christmas without midnight mass; it's the smell of the candles, and the celebration of the birth of the Savior is all that it's about.

Another Christmas memory that I have very fond of is the Christmas I spent overseas in the Azores.  It was the first Christmas I could remember when gifts weren't really important to me; I just wanted that special dress with the gold piping and matching leather shoes so I could go to the new years dance with my cousin Adelaide.  I was 15, and it was just so magical to be there at the time.  I had met a boy earlier that summer and I was in full anticipation of dancing the night away with him that new years.  Of course, it didn't happen; I danced with someone else, but it was still a lot of fun.  I will never forget the carolers coming to our door with violins and guitars, and the way the church smelled, the cold wind blowing, and the slippery cobblestone streets, or the way I felt the day after New Years--the room would not stop spinning!! 

Still, another Christmas I hold dear to my heart is the last Christmas spent with my father, and the first Christmas spent with our new expanded family.  My son Nicholas was only a month old at the time, but it seemed as if he had filled the missing part that my father had left on my heart the Christmas previous. 

Extra Credit:  Fruitcake?  Bolo de Natal (translated to Portuguese)...  I love my aunt's fruitcake--she makes it by scratch, and in Portugal, making one is a MUST.  I have tried others, and they just don't compare.

I hate the mall...

I'm sorry, I know the picture above betrays very dark holiday humor, but I got it in the mail today from a friend, and just had to post it.

I'm so sick of shopping at the mall.  I'm tired of the endless Macy commercials, and the dozens upon dozens email from different retail stores offering free shipping.  I am proud to say that I'm pretty much DONE with my holiday shopping.  I just have to finish my hubby's list, (should I REALLY buy those enormous bear claw slippers he wanted?) and all I need to buy is food for the 25+ relatives that will be dining at our home on Christmas Eve. 

I'm actually not stressing over dinner, but I would really LOVE to take some time off so I can take the kids out and about; see a movie, look at Christmas lights...etc..etc..  These errands I've been making are really getting to me.  Yes, I have to stop at the drug store again today, because my mother discovered she has no Christmas lights, and she has another prescription to pick up. 

Last night, I found myself at the mall AGAIN because my daughter forgot to buy her gift for the little girl she chose for the Salvation Army gift drive, and of course, instead of going to only one store, I found myself in about 4 others.  The mall is crazy this time of year, and I'm noticing that a lot of "odd people", or should I say, LOUD families coming in who are pretty much stressed, talking out loud about personal family problems that really should be left unheard by strangers.  For example, here is one conversation I over heard between a mother and her apparently delinquent son, "I'm not going to give you nuthin' until I see your report card!"  Or, by another couple and their elderly mother in a wheelchair.  (Please imagine the husband carting a very elderly woman wearing un matching socks with her pant legs both pulled up, while he is munching on Hot Tamales).  "I want to look at other places at the mall!  I'm sick of standing around the damn ole dog toys!"  Wife:  "Okay, Harold, for God's sake!  Hand me a Hot Tamale--you are hogging them all!"  Husband:  "Your pants are tight enough, you don't need any!  These are mine!  Can't a guy have a box of candy at Christmas time?"  During this exchange of conversation, the poor elderly woman is shaking her head in disgust. 

Aww...the Christmas season.  I am going to make a point of doing something outrageous this weekend, go to church, and like--do something FUN!!! 

My lunch hour

Today, like many days, my lunch hour involved many stops and errands. 

First errand:  Pick up child from school.  This went rather smoothly.  My child was in front of the school at his usual corner standing there with his 6th grader friends. 

2nd errand:  Go to the drug store.  I am not exaggerating when I say I LIVE at Longs.  I seem to find myself there everyday!!!  If I'm not mailing packages, I'm buying tissue paper, or candy...  Today I picked up my mother's medication, tissue paper, wrapping paper, and stamps to mail my mother's cards.  I see these people that work there more often than some members of my family.

3rd errand:  Drop of child with his grandmother.  Once there, my mother asks me if I can stop and get a new urinal for her specimen she has to drop off at the doctor.  She insists that her urinal container does not work because there is no "hole" to put the "specimen" in.  I wait in car while she retrieves the urinal so I can take back to the clinic.  After careful inspection, I notice there is nothing wrong with it.  This is when my mother asks me to pick up a Christmas tree.

4th errand:  Pick up tree.  Knowing that I don't have to go to the clinic to get a new urinal, I am relieved, and willing to do this task.  As I drive up to the Rite Aide, I run into traffic, and of course everyone is all full of the holiday spirit, and are honking away at each other, and exchanging rude obscenities.  Apparently, the ole' converted school bus, that is now the Jerry Garcia Dead Head Mobile is blocking the intersection and no one on the turning left  lane can move.  The two young people in the car in front of me are having a hard time dealing with this problem, because no one in the right lane is letting them change lanes.  It comes to a point where the young man in the passenger seat, actually gets out of his car in desperation.  He gets out of his car and pulls up his pants which are practically down to his knees, and throws his hands up in the air in frustration.  Oh brother..  He then gets back into the car, and traffic in his lane starts moving, but of course, the driver still seems to think he needs to get into the other lane, and quickly darts in front of the blonde in the Camaro.  They both exchange the honking of the horns and the middle fingers to each other.  How charming. 

As I drive up to the Rite Aide, I spy the perfect little tree standing there.  The tree wasn't exactly perfect, because I couldn't get it to fit in my car.  Of course, I may have been able to, IF the 100 men who passed me by would have helped.  Not one of them offered.  I stood there and thought.  Would they have stopped if I was blonde?  Where is the blonde wig when a girl needs it anyway?  Anyways, there was no way I was going to leave the parking lot without this tree!  Sure, I do have siblings that live in town that own trucks; but of course, they weren't asked to get the tree.  I have a truck at home; but I live 40 miles away from town however.  I eventually had the idea of stuffing the tree in the backseat, and have part of hanging out of the car window on the baby seat side. 

My car will have the beautiful scent of evergreen for months.  How wonderful is that?!

Yes, all of this was accomplished during a working hour.  Where is my martini?

 

 

Christmas Funnies