Too lazy to blog...
It's not that I haven't had anything to say lately - I've just been too lazy to blog. Christmas was good, although busy - this year I really intended to simplify, but it somehow ended up more complicated and stressful than usual. Now I'm getting my house ready for the new year. It just feels better to start a new year with a clean house and all the laundry done.
posted by Sarah Reilly 4:27 PM -

Snowmen
Not that I'm anywhere near the Martha Stewart-level that Jenny has acheived, but I did make a fair number of the gifts I gave out this year. My favorites are the little wooden snowmen. (I'm pretty sure everyone - or at least those that read this - have gotten theirs, if not *don't look!*)

As you can see, they looked like a little army, all waiting to do my bidding...which was to become nifty little gifts for all my friends! The carrot noses were the best part. To cure them, I had to bake them in the oven, so I had all these little carrot noses sitting on a cookie sheet. Now I just have a few more gifts left to finish (yes, I know, Christmas is only 4 days away) and then I can relax. Ahhh.
posted by Sarah Reilly 2:41 PM -

Talk to the Monkey!
Tony got me a monkey bobblehead doll for Christmas! It's definitely the most bizarre gift I've gotten (maybe ever!) for Christmas... Now when people want stuff from me, they'll have to go through the monkey first. :D

Of course, I got so many cool things from my friends this year, I don't even know where to begin! Jenny made everything - the gifts, the paper, the tags - and my favorite part is the set of shrinky-dink EAT team members. (I'm easy to pick out, since I'm the red-head.) I got neat Harry Potter stuff and lotion from Abby, Tina gave me a Star Wars calendar, and Jo's blueberry scented lipgloss and lotion smell so good I can't wait for blueberry season again! I hope I didn't miss anybody - if I did, it's only because I'm on a sugar-high from all the cookies and rice krispy treats... Once again, I can only say that I have fantastic friends! I love you guys!
posted by Sarah Reilly 2:06 PM -

Wow. That was a great movie! It didn't even matter that I hadn't finished reading it, although that made some of the more suspensful parts in the second half a little harder to handle - I think I jumped three feet when...well, I won't give anything away in case someone reading this hasn't read the book or seen the movie. I'd go see it again. Just maybe not on a weeknight - I can barely keep my eyes open this morning.
posted by Sarah Reilly 9:00 AM -

Lord of the Rings
Ok, so between helping my grandparents with their tree, wrapping gifts, and finishing the Christmas cards, I didn't get a chance to finish reading Lord of the Rings last night. Oh, well. We're going to see it tonight instead of going to Sonnenberg gardens - Lisa and I decided that the lights would wait a week! I guess I'm just going to have to wait and see what happens after they leave the council. It's actually kind of better this way, because we're going to an 8 pm show, so we should be just about at the part I got to right around the time I'd normally get sleepy (it is, after all, an almost 3-hour-long movie). Hopefully, it will be less of a disappointment than Harry Potter was. Not that it was a bad movie - it just wasn't as good as it could have been...
posted by Sarah Reilly 12:57 PM -

Holiday Travels
Whew! What a crazy weekend! We headed down to NYC to visit Denis' family. We got to play with our three nieces, and we only got a little ribbing about when we're going to have kids - actually less than expected since I played with one or another of the girls pretty much the whole time...after all, I only see them around once every three months, so I have to spend lots of time with them so they remember me the next time I see them! It was one family gathering after another, but in between I managed to get most of our Christmas cards done. Yay! It also probably wasn't the best week to go back on weight watchers, but I managed to do ok anyway.

Denis' sister gave us one of those Nomo quad-cam cameras - which is pretty cool considering I was planning on ordering one for myself and it turned out to be back-ordered! I'm going to see if I can catch Molly wagging her tail - I think that would be kind of cute.
posted by Sarah Reilly 8:02 PM -

I have such wonderful friends and family. I had a fantastic birthday yesterday! I went to my favorite restaurant, went for coffee and had a mocha which kept me really wired until about midnight, and got really neat gifts from everyone. Oh, and my mom and dad sent me pretty flowers at work, with talking snapdragons. I'm with Lisa - I think snapdragons are just about the coolest flower. Thanks, everyone!
posted by Sarah Reilly 8:47 AM -

A lovely night
Last night Lisa and I did the girls' night out thing - we went shopping and got our nails done. Then we met the guys at Richardson's Canal House. Mmmm. The food was excellent, everyone was all dressed up, and all-in-all it was a wonderful evening. Thanks, Lisa!
posted by Sarah Reilly 9:36 AM -

The only thing worse than having a dentist appointment first thing in the morning is having a dentist appointment, then having to go to the DMV first thing in the morning. Yuck!
posted by Sarah Reilly 11:01 AM -

Busy Weekend...
...as usual! Almost all the Christmas shopping is done - I still have a couple things I want to get for Denis, and I'm making a bunch of things which are all in states of being half-done... Seeing as it's only the 10th, I'm still fairly sure I'll get everything done in time, though. Probably. :) Of course, I bought all my Christmas cards before Thanksgiving, with the intention of spending that long weekend writing out cards and planting bulbs, right? So far, I've planted two dozen bulbs and the boxes of cards aren't even open yet... Phooey. I wonder how late you can plant bulbs, anyway?

I had my very first (and probably last) Tupperware party last night. It's not that it wasn't fun, and I did get a lot of free stuff, but somehow I feel guilty inviting people over, making them listen to some boring stuff, and expecting them to get their wallets out afterwards. It's a great excuse for a party, but I think next time I'll just have the party and skip the Tupperware. Amazingly enough, aside from a little post-party cleanup that I was too tired to do last night, my house is sparkling - another side benefit of having people over.
posted by Sarah Reilly 9:21 AM -

Not to dwell on it, but here's Lisa's contribution to my car color issue. Apparently she sought out the car in our parking lot just to park her blue car next to it and make it look more green. :D
posted by Sarah Reilly 11:19 AM -

...and the color is?
We picked up the car Wednesday... Unfortunately, we haven't been home yet when there's enough daylight to take a picture of the car. The title says it's green. It's not green! The jetta is green. Put them next to each other, and the wagon looks blue. Hopefully tomorrow will be sunny enough to take a good picture or two. Then I can get a collective opinion on what color this car is!

Now I just need to buy one of those nifty mesh barriers to go between the way back and the back seats and Molly can ride around in the back of the wagon. We saw a dog riding in the back of another wagon on our way to work. It was so cute - the dog was going back and forth across the car, looking out both sides, and the whole time his tail was wagging against the back window. He looked really happy.

I confess, I totally spoil my dog. Last night I went out and bought her Christmas presents. Yes, I buy my dog Christmas presents. She even has her own stocking. I might have gone a little overboard, though. I bought three new bones, a package of four tennis balls, a snake that has squeakers in it, and this container of what looks like playdough, but is actually "doggie-dough". It's like edible (well, doggy-edible) playdough that you shape into fun and exciting treats to feed your dog. Ok, I admit, it was a totally impulsive thing at the checkout. Especially since we don't normally feed her soft treats since they're bad for her teeth. But, hey, I'm sure I've wasted $3 on things that didn't make half so good a blog topic before! :)
posted by Sarah Reilly 9:24 AM -

new look
I had to get rid of the leaf banner, since it's supposed to be winter. Of course, it's currently 59° (F) out, and sunny... The last time I remember December being this warm and snow-less was the year I really had my heart set on a sledding party for my birthday. This year, I have no such plans, so I have to blame it on Denis for going out and buying a snowblower. :D

Being "graphically challenged", I found these images at Graphic Garden. They have some cute stuff there! The design may change a bit in the next couple of days, but I'm happy enough with it to post it now. Oh, and I also took down the "links to me" section, since they were all people listed under "friends' blogs".
posted by Sarah Reilly 10:29 AM -

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...
...unfortunately, I don't know any more of the words than that, but we got our tree yesterday! :) Tonight I'm going to put a fire in the fireplace, pipe my iPod with all my Christmas songs into some bigger speakers, make hot chocolate, and decorate my tree. Yay! I love December. It's my birthday month, and Christmastime, and there's (usually) lovely snow. <sigh> Now if it would just start snowing tonight, everything would be perfect! ('Specially if tomorrow ended up being a snow day!)

posted by Sarah Reilly 9:14 AM -

New (to us) Car
We finally found a used wagon, with most of what we wanted - it's not a standard, but how hard can it be to drive an automatic? (You must understand, I've only driven manual transmission cars - except for an occasional rental - for the past six years.) It's a very different color. The sort where when you first look at it, you can't really say whether you love it or hate it. My mom thinks it's a light silver green. I would have called it aquamarine - almost the color of my birthstone. (Which led Denis to believe he was off the hook for a birthday present. I don't think so!) The dealer just said it was green. The loan guy (who's color blind) thought it was gray. I'll have to post a picture and get everyone else's opinion on what color it actually is.
posted by Sarah Reilly 9:13 AM -

Dance the Night Away
Saturday night was our holiday party at work. It turned out great! The food was wonderful, the DJ was good (although, not many people danced), and the hall was beautiful. Our dance instructor will be very proud of the fact that we got out there and danced a lot more than we would have before we took lessons. All in all, a very memorable evening.
posted by Sarah Reilly 9:06 AM -