Happy Holidays....

Despite my best attempts this year, i was unable to get home to Georgia for Christmas. Ken and i just couldn't get our work schedules to coincide, and i didn't want to spend Christmas without him, so we decided to just have a quiet day alone together. Then our friend Marcus called, and because of the horrible weather we have been having in the midwest, he too was unable to make it home for Christmas. It was a no brainer....the three of us spent Christmas together and had a wonderful time. We had so much fun that the day after, we decided to have more friends over for dinner and keep the celebration going.

My family has recently started a tradition of not exchanging gifts for Christmas. It sounds a little weird, but our gift to each other every year is the time we spend together during the holidays. Of course we all buy things for the the children in the family, but the rest of us use the money we would have spent on gifts and splurge on things for ourselves during the holidays. It has now become one of our favorite traditions. One of my Christmas puchases this year were new porcelain servers, that ended up being delivered on Christmas Eve......perfect timing for our day after Christmas dinner! On the menu? Paula Dean's Vegetable Beef Pot Roast (a one pot wonder) over brown rice, and sweet potato casserole.

We topped off the evening with 3 hours of Rock Band on X-Box.....my second favorite thing to do with a large group of people (karaoke is #1).

I thought this Christmas was going to be a bust, and i am happy to say that i was completely wrong. It might not have been the Christmas i had planned, but i loved it exactly as it was. I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas as well!

Put a Ring on it......

I love Beyonce.....always have and always will... I think my favorite thing about her is that she writes most all of her music, and her songs always have such strong ultra feminine lyrics. Her latest song "Single Ladies/ Put Ring on it" is definately on my list of top 10 favorite Beyonce songs. If you have seen the video, you know the amazing dancing she does in it. Secretly, i have been watching this video from time to time with my Comcast On Demand, and trying to learn all the dance moves. I teased Kenneth, that when i toned up, i too was going to throw on a leotard and bust it out for him......unfortunately, someone already beat me to the punch. ENJOY!

It's not nice to throw things....

When i saw this, the first thing that popped in my head was...

"I would have been knocked the hell out."

I mean, could you imagine being in a press conference, standing there, trying to speak as eloquently as possible, then out a the blue a shoe comes flying threw the air directly at your head? President Bush has some of the best reflexes i have ever seen in my life. That shoe would have decked me right between the eyes. I felt really bad for him, he was caught completely off guard. There was no real way to know that some crazy Iraqi journalist was going to attempt something like that. I mean, what was he thinking?? I can't sneak a gun in, so i will just throw a shoe??

Then i thought, how uncivilized is that? You can't just go around throwing things at people because you are mad at them?! Okay....hypocrite!! I did the same thing on Friday!

Let me preface this story by saying that if you have ever driven in downtown Chicago during rush hour, you will appreciate this story, and not judge me too harshly.....I was driving in my car and it was snowing so everyone was driving slow in front of me. A cab driver decided he didn't want to wait, and proceeded to drive in between 2 lanes. When i saw him doing this, i was thinking that it was much too tight of a squeeze for him to get through...i was right... BECAUSE HE HIT MY CAR!! AND THEN KEPT DRIVING!!

I pulled up next to him, rolled down my window and said, " Hey!! You just hit my car!!" His response was, " No i didn't." Well lets just say that this is where the out of body experience began. The next thing i know, a few four letter words came out of my mouth, in very loud tones...he responds with some stupidness, still denying that he hit me...although his side mirror was completely bent in towards his car....MORE EVIDENCE to the fact that he DID INDEED HIT MY CAR....and the next thing i know, he starts to drive off. Of course he doesn't get very far because there was so much traffic, but i was so pissed that he was trying to drive away, after hitting me, and was denying it like it didn't happen. The next thing i know, there is a soda can flying out of my window headed for the back of his car....

I, like the Iraqi journalist....missed.

A few minutes later, after i had calmed down, i was really embarrassed by my actions. If I had not been in a fit of rage, when he drove away and stopped, that would have been my opportunity to write down his tag number, and report him. This would have been a much better punishment, then my failed attempt to break the rear window of his cab...(although that would have been pretty awesome, right??...that is until someone took my tag number down and reported me!) So, this weekend i was reminded of a lesson i learned in kindergarten that is still true today....

It's not nice to throw things....

Sidney the Spaz....

My dog Sidney truly is a sweetheart....he is gentle and loving....and i can count on one hand how many times he has barked out loud in the past 3 years.... However, as great as he is...he is completely passive aggressive, and emotional.....for example...some dogs, if they know they are in trouble, will run away....my dog will sit there, hunched over, give you the saddest look you have ever seen....and then proceed to pee all over the floor..... or a more recent occurrence was this weekend, when he heard the water in the tub running, and got so scared of getting a bath that he ran under the dining table and pooped....

The way he acts, you would think he was an un-housebroken abused backyard dog from a shelter.... but please believe that this dog is most certainly housebroken, lives in the lap of luxury, and is immersed in love and tenderness nearly every second of the day.... in fact, he often gets sweeter words from my husband than i do!

Sidney's spazticness never ceases to amaze me, and this was made even more apparent a couple of weeks ago when I bought this sweet little bed for him, so he wouldn't have to sleep under our bed... Mind you....the whole sleeping under the bed habit formed when we were dog sitting, and the dog we were watching chased him under our bed...where he remained for the next 4 days until the dog left......So there i am, all excited at Target picking out something comfy for him that matches the rest of our master bedroom....but of course...when i bring it home, my dog the spaz is completely scared of it! He will sit in it for about 30 seconds....and i have to pet him the whole time....if i stop he runs away scarred.....see the proof below...

Oh well....i tried....i guess as long as he doesn't have any "emotional outbursts" under the bed at night....we can leave well enough alone....

It never gets old...

One of my favorite things about the holiday season is the fact that Office Max offers the Elf Yourself site....I could literally do this all day.... Enjoy!!

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