Not too shabby....

The Christmas festivities at mom's house was good.
My brother, unfortunately, was not in good shape though. He managed to nearly cut his pinky finger OFF a few days ago so he's in a sling and his hand is all wrapped up. He has to go in for a consultation with a microsurgon on Tuesday to see about getting everything reattached. The poor kid ! He was just NOT himself at all.
On the upside, he LOVED the sweater I got him (which is a miracle seeing as how he is VERY hard to buy clothes for).
And I think maybe my mom was a little blown away by the flowers I sent to them on Christmas Eve and the gifts I got her.
Driving home last night was a bit of a challenge...with the rain and fog...but I got here in one piece and fell out.
Today we have no work, and mom may possibly be coming down to do some shopping at the outlets...not sure if she will or not - but we'll see.
Anyway...
Hope everyone's having a great holiday season !
:)

LOL

I just realized...
I'm TOTALLY Lucy from the Charlie Brown series ! ! ! ! !
I'm watching the "Charlie Brown Christmas" movie....and I am SOOOO Lucy !
:)
The worrysome part is that I do believe J is Schroder !
EEK !
:)

Who has the most generous boss in the universe?!?!?!?

I DO ! ! ! !
I am SO completely blown away at this point !
This past week has been like "a gift a day" from my boss !
There's the tower of breakfast stuff that was delivered to the house.....
Then the bottle of wine....
Then the Happy Bunny t-shirt which I ADORE...
Then a big thing of cookies....
And now...
Now.....
And AMEX Gift Card which is being delievered to the house !
I am just SO blown away ! ! ! !
I totally don't think I deserve all of this and all of the accolades he's been giving me as of late....
It's funny...
I went from a job I HATED with a boss who was a schmuck to a job I like with this boss who lavishes me with compliments and gifts !
J and I were talking last night and we agree - what I gave boss-man and his wife was not NEARLY enough ! ! ! !

I know it's not "PC" to say it...

but what the hell !

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE ! ! ! ! ! !

Betrayed

Am I the only one who feels COMPLETELY betrayed right now????
I mean....
QUENTIN?!?!??!?!
UGH !
What the fuck were they thinking???
Let's take this obvious guy....and be the type of show who NEVER uses the obvious person...a show that has built a reputation for being unique and throwing big fat curve balls to the audience...and then unveil your biggest mystery as being the obvious guy ! ! ! ! !
AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGG ! ! ! ! ! !
And once that went down you could TOTALLY see the Kit thing coming !
GGGGGRRRRRRR ! ! ! ! ! ! !
I am TOTALLY annoyed here !
The whole Ariel/Ariel's Dad thing was intense and unexpected - I'll admit that one.
AND !
All of what Kimber went through and what she looked like - VERY NICELY DONE !
And the fact that she's been so swayed and now doesn't want Christian....that was a good twist.
But they TOTALLY pumped the whole Carver unveiling.....
And THIS is the pile of shit they give us?!?!?!??!?!
I am so agitated right now !
NOT COOL !
Ya know, the last two seasons I was pissed after the season finale because I'd have to wait so long until the next season started.....
This season I don't really care...
I mean, I care...but I'm not hanging on the edge of my seat and chomping at the bit....
*HUFF*
I think I'll go sulk now.
:(

B-U-S-Y

This has been a CRAZY week for me !
And today was chock full of things to do.
We were up at the crack of dawn and went into the city.
There we showed my cousin all the typical tourist attractions and then made our way through the museum of natural history (the kid's never seen dinosaur bones and that's just not right !).
We headed back home around noon or so and grabbed lunch en route.
Once home, I launched into wrapping the MANY gifts we have bought.
Then we decorated the tree - under which I then stuffed all of the newly wrapped gifts.
THEN !
I realized that the house was a MESS (not really "realized" per se, but I just decided I couldn't deal with it anymore) so I started cleaning.
Then J and I decorated for Christmas.
Then I thought "huh...let me do some laundry !"...so that's what I'm still doing now.
FUN !
It wouldn't be such a big deal but for the fact that I have my cousin's clothes in the wash and he's leaving tomorrow morning ! EEK !
So I'll be up for awhile until that's done.
Some "vacation" I've had !
Mel and I were talking about doing a girl's day in the city coming up - that could be fun !
I have 1 1/2 days left to take off from work - - - now if only I can actually be "off" from work to go enjoy myself !
:)

No Rest For The Wicked

I'm STILL not on real vacation...
And I likely won't be until tomorrow.
This week has been HELL in a handbasket and I would love nothing more than to be able to have no worries for at least today and tomorrow...but no such luck.
I signed off my e-mail on Tuesday night with 7 messages left in my In Box...
When I signed back on last night that number had jumped to 75.
Fun !
I need to log in again this evening as well - can't WAIT to see how high that number is then !
I also have class this morning and my final tonight...so whatever I can CRAM into this afternoon I'll have to make the most of.
To top things off, J is going to some dinner with his friends tonight ! So my cousin is left to either go with J (where he'll know NO ONE), to come with me to my final (which I'm sure will be a LOAD of fun), or he can sit at our house, by himself, until I get back from school or J gets home from his dinner - whichever comes first.
I feel so bad.
My cousin has been up here since Friday and I've hardly been able to spend ANY time with him !
Bad me !
:*(

Almost There....

So, the cousin made it in - about 3 hours late - but he's here with us now and seems to be enjoying himself.
:)
Sunday went considerably better than I could have EVER expected. My parents are DEMANDING to pay for EVERYTHING. They really like the place we picked and, to my amazement, my mother didn't expect me to kiss her ass after she put the deposit down. We'll see if this trend continues, but for now I'm not going to complain - I'll just be happy that it's working out better than I'd anticipated. The strangest thing she said to me was that she REALLY wants to go dress shopping with me. I look back at last time around and she and I were fighting so much at that point that I went dress shopping with my best friend and bought it myself. Last time they demanded that my step-father walk me down the aisle - something I'm still opposed to. This time they are 110% o.k. with my request that my brother walk me. Come to think of it, the last time EVERYTHING was an argument with her and NOTHING was pleasant. I guess things have changed...I'm just suspicious as to why. I've been hurt and scared by these people too many times to not tread lightly and wonder when they are not acting the way I know they typically would.
Huh.
At any rate....
Today is supposed to be my last day working this week - and MAN is it shaping up to be a hell of a day ! ! ! !
I'm supposed to work from home today.
Not gonna happen.
I have class at 8 am and I then have to trudge to work to take care of some unfinished buisness from yesterday that HAS to get done today. Once all that's worked out I'll drive home and work from there.
Yesterday was CHAOS in the office and I have a VERY long list of "To Dos" for today to make it possible for me to relax and enjoy my next 5 days off....
The price of taking vacation time, I suppose.
Tomorrow we're supposed to go chop down a tree to bring home, set up and decorate. That should be fun !
And on Friday we're taking cousin to the City on a grand adventure.
I think it scares him a bit - the way things work up here as opposed to down South - but I guess we'll see how everything turns out and what decision he goes with.
For his sake, I really hope he does choose to move up here. He desperately needs to get the hell out of the "Small Town South" way of life seeing as how he wants more and he wants a career and he wants to be successful. This is a great opportunity for him and J and I would LOVE to be able to help him get set up and established. I know his biggest hang up is our Grandmother - he feels he'd be abandoning her as he's been her primary caregiver for YEARS and lives with her - and I completely understand where he's coming from. However, he has to give himself permission to do this for him...and understand that there is a whole family unit still down there that can take care of her.
I don't know.
I just really hope that whatever he chooses that he doesn't have regrets.

O.k.
Must run and get ready for the "exciting" world of SCHOOL ! ! !
whoo hoo.
(I am NOT enthused)
Let's get this day going and over with, shall we????

Going Nowhere

At least not anytime soon.

Here are our cars as of 8am...


Luckily I have the ability to work from home - which the majority of my office is doing as well.
J has to go in - so I'm going to have to go with him and work remotely from his office seeing as how we have to go pick up my cousin from the airport tonight.
If nothing else, at least he's flying tonight and, so far (crosses fingers) his flight is on schedule.
I cannot WAIT for him to get here - it's so exciting ! ! ! !
:)
I talked to him last night and he was all nervous about the snow possibly canceling his flight.
(He's too funny)
I do have to be in the office on Monday and am working from home on Tuesday - but J took the entire week off so my cousin will be all set.
Also, mom & step-father is coming down on Sunday.
It started out as mom's birthday dinner...
Then they want to go put the deposit down on the place where J and I are getting married and having the reception - so I made an appointment since they'll be here and that way they also can see the place.
Then I mentioned that J and I were going to take my cousin to a tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree...and mom wants to do that too !
So...
Sunday is going to consist (most likely) of my parents coming down early in the morning. We go to breakfast and go chop down a tree for us and a tree for them. Then we come back to the house, get cleaned up and go to the reception place. Then lunch. Then home for birthday dinner.
YEESH !
It's a good thing I'm on vacation the last half of next week - I'm going to need it ! ! !

From Miss Margo...

7 things I plan to do before I die:
1: Move to a warmer climate
2: Scuba dive
3: Go to Japan for a month or two
4: Get my degree from Penn State
5: Own a great dane
6: Buy a victorian house
7: Set up the victorian house as a bed & breakfast that I'd run

7 things I can do well:
1. Baking
2. Planning (I am a little crazy with the planning of EVERYTHING)
3. Nag (I've even gotten an award at work for this !)
4. Put on a good "game face" for the world so I always appear to be upbeat even when I'm not
5. Taking photographs
6. Make a mean drink
7. Fellatio (*snicker*...if you'll admit it's something you're good at, Margo, I guess I can too....)

7 things I cannot do:
1: Deal with my mother when she's acting up
2: Get a hangover
3: Resist Nip/Tuck
4: Deal with morons
5: Cook much of anything
6: Keep my nails from breaking
7: Complicated math

7 things that attract me to another person:
1: Good sense of humor
2: Measured sarcasm
3: Being interesting
4: Kindness
5: Honesty
6: Open-mindedness
7: Having an opinion of their own

7 things I say most often:
1: "Oy !"
2: "Where ARE my keys???"
3: "Christ on a stick !"
4: "Where IS my purse???"
5: "What's shakin' bacon?"
6: "No worries"
7: "What the fuck?!?!"

3 screen names I have:
1: SassySouthernBelle
2: EvilLizzie77
3: Lizzilla77

3 physical things I like about myself:
1: My hair
2: My teeth (never needed braces and never had a cavity)
3: My nose

3 physical things I don't like about myself:
1: My big booty (it's genetic and there's NOTHING I can do about it short of lipo !)
2: My fucked up knees
3: My chipmunk cheeks

3 parts of my heritage:
1: Irish
2: German
3: Some sort of Asian (not sure as my father was adopted and we don't have all of his info)

3 things that scare me:
1: Monkeys
2: Actually going through with the wedding (not the marriage, but the wedding itself)
3: Heights (actually, it's more the falling from a great height moreso than the height itself)

3 of my everyday essentials:
1: Soda
2: Cuddles from my kitties
3: These days - layers and layers of clothes to keep me warm

3 of my favorite musicians:
1: Deep Banana Blackout
2: Elton John
3: Led Zeppelin

3 of my favorite songs:
1: Walking on Sunshine (Katrina and the Waves)
2: The Ocean (Led Zeppelin)
3: Breathe (Anna Nalick)

3 things I want in a relationship:
1: Trust
2: Openness
3: Really knowing and understanding one another

3 lies:
1: My house is ALWAYS spic and span
2: My bunny is not psychotic
3: I love winter

3 of my hobbies right now:
1: Making cards (currently making my own holiday cards)
2: Making gift baskets (which will account for a good portion of my Christmas gifts)
3: Scrapbooking

3 things I want to do really badly now (with a special someone):
1: Play board games (what can I say? I'm not a good loser)
2: Talk hockey (we are fans of teams that hate one another)
3: Work in the kitchen (it's too small and we seem to be in each other's way constantly)

3 careers I've considered doing:
1: Shark researcher
2: Teacher
3: Project Manager

3 places I would like to go on vacation to:
1: Ireland
2: Turks & Caicos (I've GOT to get back there ! ! ! !)
3: Arizona

3 kid's names I like:
1: Clay Aaron
2: Anya Elizabeth
3: Aiden James

3 ways that I'm a stereotypical guy:
1: I think like a man
2: I'm horny like a man (Again, if you're willing to fess up, Margo, I will too !)
3: I LOVE hockey

3 ways that I'm a stereotypical girl:
1: My slight obsession withe gossip magazines
2: When channel surfing, if I stop on the Lifetime channel for more than a minute I'm hooked
3: I can't resist buying a pretty dress when I find a really great one on sale

3 people I would like to see take this quiz:
1: Uncle Traveling Steve
2: Jane from Biting my Tongue
3: The Absynthe of Truth

WHAT.THE.FUCK?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!??!?!??!

I am SOOO annoyed right now ! ! ! !
I just saw this commercial pushing breast feeding !
Sponsored by our "lovely" government ! ! ! !
It was a whole schpeel about how your baby won't be healthy if you don't breast feed them for at least the first 6 months of their lives.
Hmmm....
What about women who are unable to breast feed????
Are they destined to have unhealthy children???
Or perhaps they should find themselves a wet nurse ! ! !
This is just so adgitating !
It's like when my friend had her daughter and her father-in-law berated her about not breast feeding ! The poor woman was not ABLE to breast feed ! ! ! ! ! And she was being treated HORRIBLY as a result.
And what the HELL does a man know about breast feeding?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
My opinion?
This commercial is not a good sign in terms of what is being pushed on women by our government.
I'm already VERY concerned about a women's right to choice being threatened...
What next?!?!??!

BLECH ! ! !

I feel NASTY !
I decided to work from home today because my stomach/digestive tract is a TOTAL MESS !
YEESH !
Can NOTHING go right???

If nothing else, at least I can look forward to my cousin coming to visit with us.
And though I feel like poopy today at least I can kind of slug around and do laundry and work tidying up at least a little.
He arrives on Friday and I have to hold off on cleaning his room until Thursday night seeing as how my cat, Panya, seems to think it's HER room and he LOVES to lay all over the bed - leaving TONS of calico hair EVERYWHERE !
He'll be here for a week or so and we figure it'll be a good visit since he's my favorite cousin and he and J are like "in love" with each other since they both ride motorcycles and are into the same sorts of things. They are TOO funny together ! ! ! !

Hopefully my staying home today will give my bod the chance to recoup so I'll be rearin to go come Friday ! ! ! !
:)

What NOT to do when you're the manager of a reception hall trying to sell your venue to an engaged couple looking for a place ot have their wedding

I'm sorry, y'all....but I just HAVE to write about this ! ! ! !
This weekend was for J and I to start looking at venues for the wedding.
We had 3 appointments - two yesterday and one today.

Yesterday we were semi-impressed with our first appointment...
His faux pas ?
#1 - Not being READY for the appointment - we were kept waiting for 20 minutes ! ! !
#2 - Not knowing who we were and not knowing what we were inquiring about (though we DID have an appointment and I HAD given the secretary this information)
#3 - Admitting that he had a meeting at 1pm which he was still not prepared for
#4 - Excusing himself multiple times to go prepare for this meeting
#5 - IGNORING the bride-to-be and answering her questions while looking only at the groom-to-be (also, looking at and speaking to the groom-to-be 99% of the time)

So, though we were not blown away by his performance we understood that he's an old school WASP and in his universe the "man" makes all the decisions.

Our second appointment yesterday?
FANTASTIC ! ! ! !
This guy should be the poster boy for "HOW TO" do his job ! ! ! !
Both J and I LOVE him and his establishment !

The appointment we had today, in all truth, is what the title of this post is all about.
The man we met with has a VERY long list of faux pas which ensured that we will not only refrain from using his establishment but will also be sure to not recommend it ! ! !
Let me count the faux pas of today:
#1 - Not knowing who we were or why we were there when we walked into the appointment.
#2 - Computer system is down and so cannot check availability of date (which, if he'd been more prepared he could've ALREADY done before the system went down !)
#3 - When showing us around, taking 15 minutes to stop and b.s. with a group who was there for another party all the while seemingly completely forgetting we're there.
#4 - When finished showing us the upstairs lights a CIGARETTE while taking us to the lower level of the building ! ! ! AND smoking for the rest of the appointment !
#5 - Stopping multiple times during our tour to b.s. with co-workers.
#6 - Blathering on and on about how his staff works so hard because they're all "green cards"
#7 - When showing us one of the social hour rooms, upon realizing that his dishwashers were taking a break in that room, smoking cigarettes, not shooing them out but rather saying "It's o.k. guys ! You don't have to leave !"

YIKES !
This place was AWFUL ! ! !
I walked out of there with the willies feeling like I needed a bath !
Not to mention being pissed off ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
J just kept snickering because he "told me"...though he TOTALLY didn't.
I asked him right before we were going to leave if he thought it was worth going...
He only said that there wouldn't be any place for good pictures and that it would be the type of place that a prom would be held. He failed to mention that it would be guitoville and that we'd likely have to deal with such a character ! ! ! !

At this point I think we've determined that we're done looking.
We both LOVE the 2nd place we saw - - - absolutely LOVE it.
The next big hurdle is figuring out how to pay for it seeing as how my parents are now wavering about paying for much of anything though they initially said they'd pay for everything.
So this coming weekend will be "sit the parents down" time to ask them to lay out EXACTLY what they're willing to contribute.

Ugh.
If it's not one thing it's another !
I'm SOOO tired of the drama - - - all this stress will hopefully go way once we figure out the site and the money. Until then I'm going to have to continue to try not to grind my teeth or clench my jaw (the newest bad habit I've developed as of late).

Sorry for the rant y'all !