Didn't Get the Memo on the Snowstorm!

Whoa!

A shot out my back door

I'm glad I woke up early today and had the opportunity to get out to the store before it got REALLY bad outside!  You see, our New Year's tradition for the past few years has been to just stay home and have a seafood dinner, so normally that day I (or we) go to whatever store is having a sale on live lobsters and if we're lucky, king crab and shrimp, and we pick up what we want for dinner.  Then later on, DH cooks it all up and we basically gorge ourselves on seafood and champagne.  (Our DD truly has NO IDEA how lucky she is.  However, believe me, DH and I still remember back when we were first married and we probably had Kraft Mac n' Cheese for our "special" dinner.  Or probably we splurged and had Velveeta Shells and Cheese instead.)

Anyway, when I woke up and DH informed me we were supposed to be getting 4-6" of snow, I threw on a baseball hat and left for the store.  Hannaford, to be exact.  They had live lobsters (under 2 lb ones) on sale for $4.99 - SCORE!  I also got king crab legs and shrimp.  When I left the store I felt like I should be carrying my precious cargo in one of those Rimowa suitcases (you know - those aluminum ones that people always carry money in in the movies?).   I'll try to take some pics later at our dinner.  Usually we get some funny shots of the cats checking out the lobsters...
   
The roads weren't bad at all on the way to the store, but on the way back they were getting bad.  Of course I was in my truck with four wheel drive on, so I wasn't particularly concerned, but, I got stuck between a line of cars doing 15-25mph on a road where the speed limit is normally 55mph.  Oh well, I just dealt with it.  When I pulled up my driveway, DH already had the garage door open so I could pull up to the new plow we FINALLY bought (it's a Snowbear plow - just a small "homeowners" type plow - but it works!).  He got that all attached and ready to go (THANK YOU AGAIN JKMBA FOR HELPING DH PUT THAT ON!!!).  So, basically we're ready to hunker down for the last day of 2008.

Hope you are safe and warm where you are, and I wish for you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

And thanks for spending 2008 with me! :-)

Love, Carole

The end.
 

What I've Been Doing During Christmas Vacation So Far...

Been spending a lot of wonderful time with family.  And eating.  And eating.  :-O
 
Just to update you - we played the "dollar gift game" at two of the celebrations we attended, and I think I did really well.  The first time I ended up with a Christmas moose salt and pepper shaker - it's really quite cute.  The second time I got a digitized camo baseball hat that says USA.  Since my latest hairstyle was already likened to Sarah Palin, the addition of the camo hat, I was told, really solidified "the look".  (Was that a compliment?  I'm really not sure...)  
  
Keep in mind, these prizes seem stellar compared to the "prizes" I COULD have ended up with - like a ceramic woman's torso in a flowered bathing suit and a gorilla head you can hang on a wall.  Actually I think DH and one of my BILs made out the best - another BIL who is very handy and clever and has amazing MacGyver-esque "woodsman" sort of skills, made two mini-marshmallow guns out of I believe PVC pipe (last year he made a "weather stick" which was hotly contested).  Suffice to say, my poor MIL who hosted our family get-together is going to be finding mini-marshmallows for the next six months in her living room.
 
And in my spare time today, I read through the 8 months of blog posts that I hadn't read before discovering "City Mouse Country House" a couple of months ago.  It's about "City Mouse" and his quest to build a small home on his Adirondack property.  A thoroughly enjoyable read.
    
That's it so far.  Tomorrow's plans include church, and then DD wants to ride her new scooter out on the street, and it just may be warm enough to take Q-ee for a spin in the cat stroller (which if you recall, was an early Christmas present)!  Hope you are all having a chance to relax.  What have you been doing?
 
The end.
  
 

From My Heart To Yours...

...Have a very blessed Christmas.
 

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone around about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. " Luke 2:10-12

 
Love & Peace, Carole
 
The end.
 

Twas the Day Before Christmas and While Vacuuming the House...

 

   

I was vacuuming up the dog hair and pine needles before Santa comes, and luckily I looked closely at this before I was going to move it - how cute is this??  She's got the little table all set, over to the right is a little "log" seesaw, that bluish green thing at the bottom to the right of the crib is a rocking chair - do you think they even have little tiny sleep number beds?  Actually, I don't see it in the photo, but there's a little ladder and the two beds stack to make bunk beds.  She got the beds, the log seesaw and the two kittens in the crib when we went to FAO Schwarz (see earlier posts to read about our trip).  Some of these pieces are from the Fisher Price dollhouse. I'm surprised none of her Polly Pocket stuff ended up in her little scene - she loves little figures like this - we have three copy paper size boxes full of teeny tiny furniture, animals, dolls and doll clothes.  Have you ever seen the SHOES for Polly Pocket dolls?  You practically need a microscope.

   

Anyway, a nice example of some creative play, huh?  

  

(I vacuumed around it, btw - I didn't want to risk disturbing her hard work!)

  

Nice and clean and ready for Santa! :-)

  

The end.

 

Trip to Foster's in Rhinebeck, NY and Christmas Lights

 

  

Every year at Christmastime we take my MIL to eat at Foster's in Rhinebeck NY, then we go look at Christmas lights.  My MIL loves this restaurant, and since it's a bit of a trip to get there, it's not someplace she'd just go on her own to eat, and so it's a nice treat for us to all go together.  The full name of the restaurant (as you can plainly see on the sign) is Foster's Coach House Tavern, and inside the feel and decor is that of a horse stable.  It's cute, even in the bathroom they are like actual "stalls" and the handle on the door is a bent horseshoe.

  

(The year I was pregnant with DD I was already overdue when we went to Foster's and I remember we all crossed our fingers and hoped I wouldn't go into labor in the middle of dinner. (I didn't!))

   

Rhinebeck is a very picturesque village with beautiful tree lined streets and little shops and restaurants.  There is a very historic inn just a block or so away from Fosters called the Beekman Arms - it's America's oldest operating inn - operating since 1766.  This is also an enjoyable area to visit because it's close to some other nice attractions, namely the Culinary Institue of America (I've eaten there!), the home of FDR, as well as the home of Eleanor Roosevelt and the Vanderbuilt Mansion, to name a few.  You can get anything in the village from a lovely wool Pendleton sweater, to a fine wine, or even MP3 players!  It also has a lot of good antique shops.  Something for everyone.

  

Anyway, in between the snowstorms the northeast was pummled with this weekend, we managed to get up to Fosters.  Everything looked especially pretty with a blanket of snow on it.  After dinner we drove over to the fairgrounds, where they always have a large display of Christmas lights.  Then we drive south and then take the bridge over the Hudson to see a remarkable light display in a housing development.  This first pic is terrible, but I'm showing it to you so you can see how huge this display is, and I couldn't even fit it all in the picture.  It stretches across the lawns of at least three homes at the end of this street:

  

 

The display is made up of painted wood figures from every cartoon or animated movie you've ever seen.  They are spotlighted and they have Christmas music blaring.  It's pretty awesome!  Here is a close up of some of the figures, this is just a small portion of the display:

 

    

Every year the display grows.  We usually drive past at least three times and despite the arctic temperatures we roll the windows down to see better and we all shout out the different characters we see.  They even had Gumby & Pokey, the Jetsons, Chip & Dale, Shrek, Lady & the Tramp, the Cheshire Cat (which is a fave of ours to find each year), and a million more.  I don't know who these people are or why they do it, but I thank them!

  

We then head toward home but make detours through developments or wherever we think there might be some good lights to see.  Eventually we end up back and MIL's and we always cruise around her development to look at the Christmas lights before we drop her off and wave goodbye.  On our own way home, we make a small detour for a spectacularly lit house - the photo came out amazingly good:

  

  

Do people where you live decorate like this?  Or is this just a regional thing?

  

So, this finally finishes up all our traditional holiday trips - thanks for letting me share them with you, I hope you had a good time too! :-)  

  

From my heart to yours, I wish you a blessed holiday, and health, peace and prosperity in the New Year!

   

The end.

  

Central Park and Snowflake Show at Saks

 

View of Central Park, New York

  

So, to continue about our trip, after we left Balto we walked around in Central Park a bit.  It's a beautiful park, although these rather dreary, winter pics don't do it any justice at all.  We only explored the southern area a bit.  The park itself is huge - not enough time for us to see it all.  I'd like to go back in the spring and just explore Central Park for the day.

  

At this point it was time to turn back and head down 5th Ave.   By the time we were passing Saks again, it was dark and we stopped to watch the "snowflake show".  Saks has huge, lit snowflakes all over the outside of their building, which by itself, is very cool.  However, every so often, music starts and the snowflakes are synchronized to the music and it is a really wonderful show.  I happened to find a clip of it on YouTube - watch it if you can, it's so neat:

After watching the musical show, we went to TGI Fridays and had a bite to eat, then back to Grand Central Terminal.  We have a little routine before boarding the train home - we always go to Hudson's News and pick out a magazine for the trip home.  Then, Starbucks.  One for the road, you know. :-P  We usually try to board the train early enough so we can get the set of seats where there are either 4 or 6 seats and they face each other.  This year DH didn't even get a magazine - he and DD brought their ipods to listen to (DH listens to geocaching podcasts - Podcacher, to be exact.  Yes, this man lives and breathes geocaching.).  Finally, after about an hour and a half on the train, our station is called over the loudspeaker and it's time to say goodbye to the train, and our wonderful day in NYC was over.  Thanks for coming along with me - it was really fun to share! :-)

Well, believe it or not, I have one more small holiday trip to tell you about that we managed to fit in between snowstorms this weekend.  It's not nearly as exciting as this trip, but it's something I look forward to every year.  So stay tuned...

The end.

I THOUGHT I was done Christmas Shopping...

    
...but I just found out I need to make a trip to the dollar store for two more "dollar gifts" - turns out we're playing the "dollar" game at my MIL's get together too. 
   
We have this tradition started by my BIL of playing this fun game at Christmas - I think there is an official name for it - maybe someone knows what this game is really called?  Everyone brings a gift worth a dollar (if you're really savvy you can look for something on sale marked down to a dollar!).  Then everyone picks numbers from a hat - the numbers are from 1 to however many people there are.  The numbers determine the order you go in.
 
All the gifts are put in the middle and the person who has number one goes first and chooses a gift.  They open it and show everyone.  The second person can either take the gift from the first person, or open a new gift.  Each successive turn, the person can choose to "steal" another's gift, or open a new one.  However, a gift can only be "stolen" three times, so if a person steals it and it's the third time it was stolen, they get to keep that gift and no one else can take it.

The gifts can be cool, stupid or funny.  One year my SIL ended up with a 10lb hunk of coal.  I think she put it in her front garden - she actually wanted it! :-)  Another year we had this bass fish figurine thing (pictured above) that everyone wanted, but *I* was lucky enough to score - amazingly, the next year I found another at the dollar store to bring to the game!  Sometimes DH and I even team up to help the other get the item they want.  Another year I ended up with a duck mug.  Usually someone puts in a lottery ticket as one of the gifts - that one is usually stolen three times.

Anyone know what the name of this game is??

The end.
 

Our Walk up 5th Avenue to Central Park

So after lunch at St. Andrews we headed over and up 5th Avenue.  Many of the stores have beautiful window disaplays.  Here are a couple of shots of the windows at American Girl Place (surprise, surprise):
 

 

  

 

  

Saks is famous for their windows and I'm sorry I don't have pics of those, but we did stop to look at them.  These windows are so famous and popular they have metal barricades set up to funnel people past them.  There are also barricades at the edge of the sidewalk so people don't spill out into the street.  It can get incredibly crowded in front of the windows.  One year a few years back we were coming through and I had DD in an umbrella stroller.  There was such a crush of people - I've never been pushed a long in a crowd like that - it was actually frightening.  Now we walk on the other side of the street if it looks crowded by the Saks Christmas windows.

  

There are a lot of other interesting stores along the way like a giant Build-A-Bear Store and Disney Store, Takashimaya, Tiffanys, the shops at Trump Tower (this is a neat building - there is an illiminated indoor waterfall inside which is pretty cool), Cartier, Bergdorf Goodman and FAO Schwarz, to name just a few.

  

We always go into FAO Schwarz.  Yes, they do have the big piano on the floor from the movie "Big", and yes - you can "play" it!  We didn't do that this year, but we've played on the big piano before.  It's a really fun store.  Sometimes it's so crowded you have to actually wait on line to get in.

  

Just past FAO Schwarz you come to Central Park.  It's a beautiful place.  You can even take a horse and carriage ride though the park if you like, and the driver will tell you all sorts of interesting things about Central Park.  We did that last year, and it was kind of funny because our driver was Russian!  How New York. :-)  This year we went to visit the Balto statue:

  

 

  

   
The inscription reads: "Dedicated to the indomitable spirit of The Sled Dogs that relayed antitoxin six hundred miles over rough ice, across treacherous waters, through arctic blizzards from Nenana to the relief of stricken Nome in the winter of 1925.  Endurance - Fidelity - Intelligence"

  
If you're not familiar with the heroic and interesting story of Balto and the sled dogs, you can read more here.

  
I think this post has gotten long enough - come back soon to hear about the last "leg" of our trip. :-)
 
The end.
 

Rockefeller Christmas Tree Facts

 

  

If you walk right up close to the tree there are a couple of 

security guards there and this year they were passing out postcards with a picture of the tree and this interesting info on the back that I thought maybe you'd find interesting too:

    

Tree Facts

  

Dimensions:  72 feet tall X 40 feet wide

Age:  Approximately 82 years old

Weight:  Approximately 16,000 pounds

Species:  Norway Spruce

Lights:  30,000 LED lights

Origin:  Hamilton, NJ

  

Hours of Illumination:  Daily 5:30am - 11:30pm

Christmas Day: 24 hours

Last Day:  January 9th, 2009

  

More info at www.rockefellercenter.com

       

Be sure to check out this news article that tells the sweet story behind this year's tree:  "Miracle Tree"

  

 (Much thanks to Tedder of Tedder's Random Thoughts for sharing this link in the previous posts' comments.)

   

 If you're interested in what the city looks like from the "Top of the Rock" (the top of the GE building in Rockfeller Center), 

you can relive our visit from back in April here.

    

The end.

 

Here We Are at the Rockefeller Christmas Tree!

 

   

As you know if you're a regular reader, for privacy's sake, I don't ever post pics of myself or my family with our faces shown in a recognizable way.  But sometimes I feel bad that I don't show pictures of us on our adventures.  So this time, since my Dad was along with us, I asked him to take a picture of the back of the three of us with the big tree at Rockefeller Center so I could share this with you.

 
So it's been our yearly tradition for many years now to take a trip to NYC during the holidays.  We always go with my Dad.  At first is was partly because we didn't know our way around the city, but now it just wouldn't be the same or as much fun without him (love you Dad!).  We never drive in, we always take the train.  We enjoy riding the train.  We only live about 15-20 minutes from the train station, so it's pretty convenient.  The train takes us into Grand Central Station.  It is such a beautiful building, I love it.  It's hard to take pictures in there because the lighting is not the greatest, but here's a picture to give you an idea, if you've never been there:
 

 

  

This is just the main area, there are many hallways that lead to other tracks but that also have shops and restaurants.  There are also a lot of shops and restaurants on the lower level as well.  That's the ticket booth there in the middle.

  

First we usually go see the tree in Rockefeller Plaza.

   

 

  

Within view of the tree are the NBC studios.  This is where they broadcast the Today show from:

  

Not far from there is St. Patrick's Cathedral.  We visit every year.  The architecture and beauty are amazing.  

  

  

  

I'm not Catholic, but I have my own little tradition of lighting candles and praying for loved ones that have passed away when I go there.  At Christmastime they have a nativity set up and they also have a huge display of roses in the alcove with the Virgin Mary statue.  Here's a pic of the nativity:

  

  

After St. Patrick's it was time to go have lunch.  Each year we choose a new restaurant to try.  Over the years we've been to quite a few places.  This year we ate at a place called St. Andrews.  It's a Scottish restaurant, but they have lots of "regular" food too.  They have something like 100 different Scotch whiskeys and like a million different beers.  I had a type of beer called Fraoch - Heather Ale.  (If you're into beer, the website is here.)  I really liked it.  For lunch my DH and Dad had Cock-a-Leekie Soup, which they said was delicious.  I ordered Shepherd's Pie for myself and Fish and Chips for DD.  Dad had Fish and Chips also, and DH had some sort of hot roast beef sandwich.  DD decided she didn't like the Fish and Chips and so we ended up trading lunches.  St. Andrews got two thumbs up, very enjoyable and I thought quite reasonable for Manhattan.

  
To be continued...
 
The end.
 

Bendaroos!

 

   

Ok, we resisted the steak knives, Bowflex, diet pills, and Mighty Putty, but we succumbed to the Bendaroos!  Ok, to be honest DD saved her own money and asked to purchase them.  After some investigation, I decided I was ok with it, so after making it through the online ordering where I was offered to triple my order, get two more sets for less, get free shipping on a third set, free steak knives...I finally made it to the end and managed to order just the doubled set of Bendaroos they advertise on tv.

  

Happily, the Bendaroos came much faster than the 4-6 weeks everything ordered off the tv seems to take.  And the Bendaroos are actually pretty cool!  They are as much fun as they seem on tv, and they are a toy that really encourages creative and imaginative play, unlike so many of the toys out there today.  The pic above is DD's copy of the snowman they show on the commercial.  Pretty cool, eh?  She literally played with them ALL DAY the first day she got them. 

  

I'm sure if you're a mom of young children you've seen this commercial 3,000 times by now and I figured I'd just let ya all know, I give Bendaroos a thumbs up!  (This isn't a paid post for Bendaroos, btw - just my opinion I wanted to share.)

  

The end.

   

Crossing My Fingers...

Gah! We could potentially have bad weather tomorrow - which is when DD's orchestra concert has already been postponed to once, from bad weather LAST week! If it gets postponed again I am praying it falls on a night we are free... Worst case scenario is if it falls on the night we have 4H - we already baked the cookies for the cookie swap and bought the grab bag gift - DD is SO looking forward to this special meeting!

I try to be laid back and understanding about winter weather, but I REALLY hope it holds out for us!

CROSSING FINGERS!

The end.

Well, I Did It.

I bought my own domain name!  I should have done it waaaay sooner, but I didn't realize it would be so easy.

Please update your bookmarks to:  www.carolesthoughtfulspot.com

If you forget, don't worry - Blogger will redirect you.

I want to tell you we went to NYC to enjoy the holidays on Friday and I have pics and lots to tell about our trip (yes, we saw the tree in Rockefeller Center), but I had some technical difficulties and wasn't able to get the pics off the camera right away and so I don't have my post ready for today.  However, I had such fun with my "Randomivity" post the other day, here are more of my random thoughts to tide you over...

* I hate when you go shopping and they give you your receipt and they tell you "call this number and answer the survey and you can win a prize".  You know what?  10,000 people are gonna call and there's gonna be like one prize of $100.  I have NO interest in contests I have no chance of winning.  Well, except Publisher's Clearing House.

* I like this version of "The 30-Second Rule" that I saw at The Man in the Moon:  "Food that gets picked up off the ground in less than 30 seconds is still edible and may in fact contain additional vitamins and minerals making it even better for your body than it was before."

* Gettin' a liiiiiiiiittle tired of reading about Dragon Naturally Speaking, and being told to "Be a Magpie". 

* Yes, there ARE a lot of cat blogs on Entrecard, but I'm lucky 'cause I like cats.

* If you don't update your blog in a really long time I won't return your Entrecard drop.  I beg of you, for the love of Pete, stop dropping and use that time to write a post!  (I'm tired of looking at that hamster!)

* Someday I'd like to go to las vegas nevada.  Just to see it.

* We don't have a "Sonic" restaurant around here, but from what I hear, people seem to love Sonic.  I wish I had Sonic.  I think I'm missing out on something good.

* It's kind of astonishing to me that egg nog is sold in half gallons.  Can anyone really drink all that egg nog?  At best I can drink like, a cup of it.  I mean, I like it, but whew, that stuff is rich.

The End.

A Very Soggy Geocache - Side Note from Our Trip to Yankee Candle Flagship Store

We geocached on the way there and on the way back (found six total for the day - all cache-n-dashes though, weather was not good enough for anything more than that!) and on my geocaching blog I posted about one of the geocaches we found, if you're interested:
   

    

  What Happens When You Don't Use a Waterproof Container

 
The end.
 

Here's My "Randomivity"

I'm giving a nod to fellow blogger "Mags" from Maggie Moo Talks 2 U. She does "Randomivity" posts, and today seemed like a good day for me to try one...
  
* I am trying to reduce my use of exclamation points.

* I can't find a replacement for our broken Apex remote.

* You will not ever see me wearing Crocs.

* Marc Summers (from "Unwrapped" on the Food Network) has had too much plastic surgery.

* I am sorry people, but I LOVE WINTER!  No sweating, no bugs, no having to put sunscreen on every time I want to go outside!

* If I could have picked my own name I think I would have chosen Laura.

* I recently ordered American Girl doll Samantha because she's being "archived" (retired) and I always wanted her, but thought I'd always have time to get her.  So she'll be my birthday gift.  Only thing is, my birthday isn't until...April. :-(
 
* I like Balto.  I've seen the statue in Central Park of him.

* Why do singers have to remake songs that were already great?  Now I have to listen to your crappy remake, which now cuts in half the amount of times the radio station is going to play the good original!  My current gripe is Barry Manilow's remake of Bing Crosby's version of Jingle Bells.  Bing Crosby, people!  How dare he??
 
* It's just easier to be me.  It's too hard to try to be someone else.  (I was going to put an exclamation point there, but I resisted.)

The end.

Our Trip to Yankee Candle Flagship Store Part 2

(Part 1 is here.)
 

  
Now unfortunately these pics are not that great - it is very dark in the area where the Dept. 56 villages are so there was no way to take pictures without the flash.

So, this was one of the major reasons we wanted to come - not only to purchase additions for my Christmas village, but also to get ideas of how to display it.  The entire room has all the different villages on display and it's really beautiful.  Here are some more pics:

 

  

 

  

  

Anyway, you get the idea.  And no trip to Yankee Candle would be complete without buying...candles!  We had a fun time in the candle area sampling all the scents.  I think they have every scent that Yankee Candle makes at the flagship store.  They usually also have a good deal going, like this time it was buy one candle, get one 50% off on selected scents.  I also happened to bring with me a $15 off coupon I had gotten in the mail (score!), so it made our checkout a LITTLE less painful.

  

Somehow it's become tradition, after going to the Yankee Candle Flagship store, to eat dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  Up until recently we did not have any nearby - now there is one a mere hour away.  But before that, this was the closest one.  There's also a Texas Roadhouse in Lancaster, PA (another favorite vacation destination of ours) that we always eat at too when we're there.  Have you ever eaten there?  We LOVE that place!  Loud country music, BBQ, peanut shells on the floor - it's great!  I'm sure to you southerners Texas Roadhouse is lame, but up north it's the best we got and we love it!  :-)  I'm not sure if I should admit this but...I even washed down my "rattlesnake bites" and BBQ chicken with a 22oz beer.  Oh yes I did.  :-P

 
It ended up taking us about 2 1/2 hours home, but we got home at a reasonable hour - about 8:45.  Unlike the Adirondacks, we even had a cell signal the whole way, ha ha (no need for cell phone repeaters).  All in all, a very fun day.
   
We have another fun and interesting "holiday" trip planned, so stay tuned for that coming soon... :-)

The end.
 

Our Trip to Yankee Candle Flagship Store

 

 This is the Mass Pike  

  

Well, the day started off a bit snowy and cold, but we somewhat spur-of-the-moment decided we wanted to visit the Yankee Candle flagship store in Deerfield, MA this Christmas season.  (Not REALLY spur of the moment, but we decided just a few days before.  We usually plan ahead more than that.)  We've been to the store before, and it's a really fun place to visit.  A big part of our motivation to go is that they have a fabulous display of Dept. 56 villages, and as you know if you're a regular reader, I have some pieces from the New England Village and DH wanted to get me a couple more pieces for Christmas this year.  (You can see *my* village so far in this post.)  The other Christmas disaplays they have though are really beautiful too - they even have an area devoted to different countries of the world.  Probably the coolest thing is there's an area where it snows every four minutes!  (I think it's actually soap flakes.)

  

Of course we had to take the opportunity on the way out for some quick cache-and-dash geocaching along the way.  If you're ever at a rest stop, and you see something like this:

   

  
It's probably a geocacher!  (That's DH "hunting".)
 
So we arrived at the big Yankee Candle store and I was so happy to see it wasn't nearly as crowded as I had feared.  The store itself has many sections - including a cafe and toy store.  It takes awhile to go though the whole thing.  There's even an area where they demonstrate how to make candles, and another area where you can dip your own, it's a pretty cool place.  And have you ever seen a bigger candle than THIS?
 

 

  

 

  

To be continued...

  

The end.

 

So I Quit Being an Avon Lady. Wanna See My Wrinkle?

Yeah, I did.  I sold Avon for over 5 years, but it just seemed like time to move on. Business has stagnated (and with this economy I had little hope of that improving) and lately I'm finding blogging so much more rewarding, I decided to focus on that.
   
So, now that I'm not committed to using Avon skincare if I don't want to (though I really do love my Anew Alternative), for the first time in like five years I decided to look around and just see what else is even out there.

I came across something called Dermalastyl - it's an anti-aging skin cream designed to reverse the loss of elastin and prevent wrinkles.  From the website:  "Think of collagen as a kind of rope, strong but very stiff. Elastin acts as a rubber band, firmly pulling these stiff ropes of collagen fiber together."  I don't know about you, but I'm 38 and apparently my "rubberbands" are failing BIG TIME.  I have this one especially annoying wrinkle over my left eyebrow.  Here, I'll show ya:

   (I can't believe I'm taking pictures of my wrinkles!  And whew, good thing I dyed my hair recently.)

Nice, huh?  And if you're like me and have no interest in getting within 100ft of a needle or a surgeon's knife, Botox and surgery are not even remotely options.  Now this Dermalastyl says that you'll see a difference within 30 days if you use it twice daily, and it can help you postpone, defer or replace more expensive procedures to help you look younger. 

What I especially like is that they offer a 100% money back guarantee.  I always feel more trusting about a company that stands behind it's product.

This might even be a good gift for someone in your life who maybe wouldn't splurge on really good skin care.  (Be careful with this though - make sure you give it to someone who knows they have wrinkles - you don't want the wifey opening this Christmas morning and spending the rest of the day crying in the bathroom because now she knows you noticed her crow's feet.  Consider giving it to her anonymously so you don't end up eating your Christmas dinner with Rover in the doghouse.)
    
So if like me, you'd rather not look like "Father Time" this holiday season you should check out Dermalastyl. Remember, Uncle Fred will be snapping lots of pictures - I know I don't want my "Christmas Wrinkle" immortalized forever.  (Worse yet, I'm a scrapbooker - so those pictures WILL be saved for many moons!)
  

The end.

So You Wanna Go Geocaching?

That's my other blog!

If there's not something new here, you can always go peek over there:

So You Wanna Go Geocaching

  
The end.

P.S.  Yes, we found the DNF I posted about this morning!  Yeah!
 

Part 4: Holiday Weekend Wrap Up and We Have A Winner!

  
And, so here finally is our tree!
 
I was amazed that the very first person to comment got the price on the nose in my little guessing game!  We paid $45, which DH and I thought was a fair price.  I am also going to give credit to Krissy, who guessed $48.75, which is probably about what it cost with tax, which they did charge us.  (I'm too lazy to get a calculator and figure it out exactly.  I hate math.)  So I hereby bestow link love and fame and glory to:
 

AK Mom from What's Baking  

(if you scroll down a bit on her blog and look at her dishes, I have the same ones!)

&

Krissy, who also is one of my Top Commenters

   
I have to say, it is nice to have the tree up already, but it was a lot of work to do the very day after I hosted Thanksgiving.  I don't know where we got the energy to bring ALL THESE BOXES OF CHRISTMAS STUFF up from the basement, and then put back down when we were done!!
 

 

  

The day after we put up the tree, I set up my Dept. 56 New England Village.  That was not work.  That was fun!

  

 

  

 

    
 

   

 

  

I kinda can't believe I ended up posting all week about our Holiday weekend - hope you didn't mind! :-)  If the weather holds out this weekend, I will have something interesting to blog about next week...

  

The end.

  

HA HA! Bratz (aka Tramp Dolls) To Be Taken Off the Shelves After Christmas!

Good Riddance Bratz Dolls!
   
(Sorry, gotta interrupt my string of posts about our holiday weekend for this (scroll down for today's post in that saga).  Also, sorry about that Kmart banner on the bottom, that'll be gone tomorrow, too intrusive - it's not how I thought it would appear.)
  
Number One:  I can't believe people actually thought it was a good idea to market these tramp dolls to YOUNG GIRLS.

Number Two:  AND PEOPLE ACTUALLY BOUGHT THEM FOR THEIR DAUGHTERS, GRANDDAUGHTERS AND NIECES!!!!

Not that Barbie is a shining example either but she looks like an innocent schoolmarm next to Bratz.
  
Maybe MGA Entertainment Inc. (maker of Tramp, I mean Bratz dolls) can explain away the dolls' disappearence with a story about how Yasmine, Chloe, Sasha and Jade were caught by undercover cop Ken doll (he works for Mattel), who posed as a John and they're all now in jail on prostitution and drug charges.
 
Anybody out there willing to admit they bought these for their kids?  Can you tell me why you thought it was ok to give them such a trashy, trampy looking doll for them to play with?  This I would love to hear!

The end.

Part 3: Holiday Weekend Wrap Up & Guess How Much We Paid For Our Tree

Part 1 here, Part 2 here.

So, after cutting our trees, we drove up the hill to another field where the attendant and baler were:

 

  

 

Most tree farms have a "baler", which is a device that holds plastic netting, and the attendant (or sometimes it's do it yourself) pulls the tree through the baler (sometimes there are different sizes of balers) which squishes the tree down and contains it with the plastic netting.  This is super helpful for two reasons.  First of all, if you don't have a pickup truck you're going to either have to put the tree in your trunk, or tie it to the top of your vehicle and it is WAY easier to fit it in the trunk or tie it down if it's been bailed because it's much narrower.  Secondly, it is WAY easier to get the tree into your house if it has been bailed - trying to get a large tree like ours through doorways results in a mess of pine needles all over, plus you can scratch or get sap all over the place too.  

   

So here are the trees back in the truck after having been through the baler:

 

   

So THEN we had to drive back down the hill and down the road to the main field to pay.  I am heartened that in this day and age this farm can still operate on this "honesty system".  Because we could have TOTALLY taken off with the trees without paying (WHICH WE WOULD NEVER DO).

We drove to my Dad's and dropped off his tree, helped him get it in the stand and bring it inside.  (We are going over later in the week to help him decorate it.)   Then we went home and put ours in the stand and brought it inside.

   
(Again, sorry for the overexposed pics.  The only features I know are how to turn off the flash and set it for macro.  There must be something to deal with bright conditions, huh?)
   
Link love and / or "fame and glory" to anyone who can correctly guess what we paid for our tree.  Here are the details: it's about 7 1/2 ft. tall Douglas Fir.  What do you think?
   
The end.

Wordless Wednesday: A Shot from my Christmas Village

(If you're interested, stay tuned - future posts will have more pics of my whole village.)

Hurry! Great Deal on Charter's Ultimate Bundle Online! Free $250 Gift Card! How's That For A Deal??

Charter is still running their cyber Monday deal - check out  Charter's Ultimate Bundle or their other services sold separately (Charter High-Speed® Internet, Charter Digital Home™ and Charter Telephone™ - Buy 1 Charter service- $25, Buy 2 Charter services- $75, Buy 3 Charter Services- $150).  If you get the Ultimate Bundle you get a $250 gift card AND are automatically entered to win 1 of 45 X-Box 360 Game consoles!  (You would probably even have a decent chance of winning - it's not like they're giving away ONE game console - they have 45 to give away!  That's a good sweepstakes!!)

Seriously - you have only 2 days left for this amazing offer!  It's THE Best Holiday Deal Online right now for bundled services!
 

For $165.97 you get the Charter Communications Ultimate Service Bundle which includes:
  

High Speed:  10 Mbps High Speed

   

TV: Digital Home, Charter HD, Sports View, Digital View, HBO/Cinemax, Starz/Encore, Showtime/The Movie Channel

   

Phone: Unlimited Calling

   

$250 Gift card with purchase AND a chance to win an X-Box 360 game console

This is a really great deal - why not order now and get the best price for 2009, a $250 gift card and get a chance to win an X-Box for yourself or for an awesome gift?
  
Don't wait - this Black Friday / Cyber Monday deal is only good through this Friday, Dec. 5th! 

The end.

Part 2: Holiday Weekend Wrap Up

(Part 1 of this story is here)

So, the day after Thanksgiving the plan was that we would meet up with my Dad, brother, SIL and niece at a local diner where we would have a bite to eat and decide where to cut down our tree this year.  You might not realize what a big decision this can be.  We have probably tried every tree farm within a 20 mile (or more!) radius over the years.  We have never been able to find the elusive "best Christmas tree farm ever".  One year we actually went to THREE different tree farms trying to find a decent tree.  Well, lucky for us, last year we went to one of our usual places and when we couldn't find a tree in their main field, they informed us there was another field they had opened, so we went there - and there were some GREAT trees in that new field.  So this year we quickly decided to try that place again, and crossed our fingers that particular field would be open again, and it was.  In fact we decided to even go back to the same "section" we had cut a tree from last year, which happened to be Douglas Firs.  (There are quite a few different varities of Christmas trees.  They can vary quite a bit in appearance, color, fragrance, needle and branch size, and some varieties last longer after being cut than others.  We just usually cut what looks good to us - we're not usually stuck on getting a certain variety.)

 

  

Because the trees were so nice it didn't take long to find a tree that we liked.  (If you're interested to know how we ended up using the GPS at the tree farm, you can read about it at my geocaching blog: So You Wanna Go Geocaching.)  DH got out his bow saw and quickly had our tree down.  

  

 

Here's a pic of the tree we chose before DH cut it down

      

In the meantime my Dad had found a tree he liked, and he and my brother cut that tree down.  Then we threw them into the back of my truck and drove up to the top of the field where the baler was.

  

 

(Can you see DH's hand waving?)

     

(Sorry these pics are so overexposed, by the way.  It was a very, bright, beautiful, clear, sunny day that day, and my camera doesn't have fancy settings to accommodate for that.  Or if it does, I don't know how to use them.  :-P )

  

To be continued...

   

The end.

  

  

Part 1: Holiday Weekend Wrap Up

 
Well, Thanksgiving finally came.  No mishaps with the food and I didn't hear anyone gasp in horror over a cobweb hanging off the bathroom lighting or clump of dog hair, so I think I did ok.  :-P
 
A fun thing that happened was that I decided to go play some Christmas carols on the piano, which is not something I normally do with a house full of people.  However, I've been thinking lately that it's a bit of a shame to have spent all those years learning to play, and then not using that talent.  In the past there have been times where I have played in church, but it's been quite a while now since there's been an opportunity in my life where my talent has been needed.  So, anyway, I figured what the heck - maybe it would be nice to play for my extended family, maybe some of them would enjoy it.  Well, much to my surprise, right away my brother came over and started singing!  Then my Dad came over and grabbed the guitar and started playing along.  Then my mother-in-law came in and joined the singing too!  Eventually even my brother-in-law came in to add his voice.  I had such a great time making music with family - what a blessing that was to me! 
   
At one point my sister-in-law brought in a tip jar.  We didn't get any actual money but we did get a bottlecap, a poker chip (other family members were playing poker) and a Ferraro Rocher candy.  Oh well, better than "boos".  :-D
  
Also I wanted to mention, before the big day, DH and DD opened our glass-topped coffee table in the sunroom and took out the seashells and put in my "doo-dads" I took last time we were up at our Adirondack property to remind us of our special place.  So as promised, here is a pic of how it turned out:

  
DD I think pretty much laid it all out herself.  She did a great job, huh?  And if you look closely, we have the bonus of having a "fungus among us" all the time now.  Har har.
 
There is more to tell yet about our weekend, but it will have to wait until the next post...
 
The end.