I'm "IT"

I was tagged today (here in the blogging community). This day just has too much excitement! :) (See blog entry posted earlier today...)

Here are the rules for this tag game:
~The rules are to link the person who sent this to you and leave a comment on their blog so their readers can visit yours.
~Post the rules on your blog
~Share 7 strange/weird facts about yourself

1. When I was in 4th grade we had an assembly in the gym. Different people had to 'do' different things. I had to fold my arms under under my arm pits like they were wings and flap like a chicken and cluck around the stage.

2. I own 7 different comforters for my bed. They are all pretty different from each other - I like variety and figure this is a great way to change things up a little from time to time.

3. I love silk pillowcases. I have always had one as long as I can remember. I've had to replace them many times over the years. I just got a new one for Christmas and it is so silky, it is too slippery! It slips off the other pillows (that have cotton pillowcases) - I'm not sure how to fix that problem.

4. I have worked at McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Domino's, Giant, a children's clothing store, a Napa Auto Parts Store, a bank, Wolf Trap, some terrible job at a local airline (small planes) *(only lasted about 2 months), and a mortgage company. I always wanted to be a lifeguard (I'm not a great swimmer, but I love pools and water.) I also now wish I had become a teacher. I so wish I had summers off to spend more time with Matthew, and now my new baby to come - SOON!!

5. I got my hair cut today - much shorter than it has been. I like it! I have wanted a change and figure I won't be 'doing' my hair much in Kazakhstan, OR when I get home with the baby.

6. I am terrible at saying goodbye(s). I don't like it when people move away. Friends, family - I never seem to really get over it. I hate changes like that. Although I'll be back from Kazakhstan, I dread saying goodbye to Matthew for 7 weeks too. At least it is not a permanent type goodbye, but it will be awful. The longest we've ever been apart is one week, the past two summers when he went to summer camp. Ugh!

7. I love summer. I love the beach. I love water and swimming pools and hot days in the sun. I love to play in the sand (if I'm not napping on a blanket or in a sand chair). I love to be in a hamock and read and/or take a nap. I love warm summer breezes. I love listening to the waves crash on the shore. I love watching the sun rise (we live on the east coast!). I love watering flowers in the yard or on the deck and getting a little wet because it is so hot outside.... I am going to Northernmost Kazakhstan in FEBRUARY (Imagine WAY WAY NORTH in Canada).... Something doesn't quite add up here.... hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

There, that was HARD! I'm not sure if they are all weird/strange, but I tried. I guess I lead a rather boring life... or perhaps others could remember things I didn't recall... I'll be back to tag others. I have to research who has already been tagged and who is not private!

It was just a normal Tuesday...

Today, my alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. I hate alarms. Always have. If something has to wake me up, then I'm not ready to get up. I guess it would help if I would go to bed before 1:30.... So, the alarm went off. I got up about 7:20. Yeah, that's right, 7:20. I rushed out of here at 7:50 to take Matthew to school then I had to head to an appt. with an International Adoption Doctor. That appt. was at 9:30. The parking situation there is so great, they told me to allow 20-30 minutes to find a place to park. (Gotta love Northern Virginia!!) So, I thought, well, I should just leave after dropping Matthew off and head straight there. It is 14 miles to this place... it took me over an hour on Route 66 to get there, but the good news was it only took 5 mintues to find a place to park! I went to the top of the garage... plenty of spaces. (Until I came out of the appt. and every last one was filled.) I'm sure the rainy/dreary morning made for a slightly slower commute, but for the most part, that is normal life around here.

The appt. with the doctor went well. Since I am traveling blind (that means without a referral) when I go to Kazakhstan, he told me what to look for to try to determine the health of the child based on what I observe as well as what the records might say. It was quite informative. I just hope I remember it all when I'm over there.

Then I went to the Post Office to get a passport picture taken to send with my Visa application. That was exciting... another step in the process. Even though I don't have my dates to travel, I was going to send the Visa Application to the travel agency so that I could have the paperwork there when the Confirmation number finally decided to come. Then I was headed home for lunch.

I was on the main street in my neighborhood when I got the call!!! The Confirmation Numbers have finally been issued!!! I am expected in Petropavlovsk on Saturday Feb. 9. Although I haven't booked the flights yet, it is looking like I will travel on Wednesday Feb. 6th and arrive in Petropavlovsk on Friday the 8th. It finally came! Can you believe it? It finally came... and it was just a normal Tuesday...

What do you think I did next?? I went shopping for shoes! Yup, shoes.

Now, before you laugh too hard... I actually filled out the Visa paperwork and took that to FedEx first, THEN I went to get the shoes. What I wanted/needed is a pair of shoes to wear at court in Kazakhstan. Nothing I have is really great with a dress. I wear a lot of pantsuits here, rather than dresses/skirts and those are different shoes than those I wear with skirts. Anyway, I found a pair of shoes - just what I needed! Shoe therapy to calm me down. :) I love shoes. OK, OK, I admit, I bought two pair of shoes... but I WENT to get shoes for COURT.

Tomorrow will bring a lot more stuff to get done. It is never ending. I guess it will end when I board that plane next week!!

So, who said I would travel by Feb. 8th? I guess you win the Blogging Voter Prize. Congrats. Too bad no one said Feb 6th! :)

Last chances to vote for names. You can write in your choices too if you'd prefer. Who voted for what? I like to know and don't. :) You don't have to tell, I just like to know.

Alright, I have no idea what else to say now as my head is sort of spinning. I knew this was coming but it is still a little like WOW when it comes because now I truly only have a week and that's it!! Tick tock, tick tock.

Saturday slo mo

I am in slow motion today! It's a chilly, quiet, blah sort of day... I watched a movie and now I just want to curl up and either watch another one, or read!

My mom was here the past couple of days and just left earlier today. She brought all the stuff she has packed so that we have everything we are taking in one place. All our suitcases are in the middle of my living room... (4 rather large suitcases!) We have almost 100% of what we are taking in there, so we are feeling pretty good about that! We did take my bathroom scale to the living room to weigh all the suitcases. One was HEAVY, over 50 pounds. It was 56.1 or something like that. We removed a bag of Trail Mix Mom had packed... and were down to 43.9 - two pounds of mix! We are trying to shuffle things around now so we don't have to at the airport... I'll tell you - this is the hardest part so far!

I am still waiting on dates for travel. My agency does have a copy of the LOI that shows it is requested and in process, but no news/actual dates yet! It's been 16 days now since I heard the LOI was in process. They do anticipate it any time and I will likely have very little time after notification to get on a plane! That's why I'm packing and making sure it is all done, NOW. I don't pack well under pressure! LOL. This was hard enough with 'time' left. Now the trick is to get what's left over in the carry-ons! :)

Matthew has a 4 day weekend this weekend which is great! With Mom, we ran errands yesterday, but today we've taken it easy. We are both just chillin' right now with our laptops! We will play a game in a few minutes and watch a movie tonight. We are just enjoying quiet time together before I leave. We are both ready for the WAIT to be over. The anticipation of saying good-bye to each other is not getting any easier as the days go by.

Stay tuned for more details about travel! I certainly will update when I hear anything... :) whenever that may be...

Back to my roots (and I'm not talking about my hair)

OK, I keep playing around with my blog background and I should know better. I always end up going back to what I originally liked. It's just the way I am. I like to try different things, but in the end, the only one that looks good to me is the original. Call me crazy...

OK, you can stop calling me crazy now.

Another day of crossing things off of my to do list. The weird thing is, it seems to get LONGER each and every day, even though I am crossing things off. I guess I'd better pick it up a notch, wha'dya think?

I am still hopeful that THIS IS the week I will get final confirmation and begin making actual travel plans. I really need my drier to be fixed tomorrow so that I can finish doing the rest of my laundry for my trip... and be DONE with it!

One 'note', if you look at the weather tracker in the daytime, it's really weird. It shows the temp in Kaz at like 45 degrees. The forecasted high is only like 14 and the windchill actually shows as quite cold, but the actual temp at the time shows real high. I don't understand it and have no idea why this is the case, but all I know is it isn't real, and I wish it were. I'd be much better off at 45 degrees than 14, or -4, or whatever!

Last note of the day... what a disappointing weekend in football. Both teams I wanted to win lost and I so don't want the Patriots to win the SuperBowl. Oh well... it looks like it may be a year for the history books for them. Shoot!

Prepping, Packing and Projects

What a busy couple of days! It finally occurred to me that although I have requested many packing lists from people who have preceeded me to Petropavlovsk, I decided it was time to really do some packing and not just pretending. (I just had to be goofy and write as many P's in that sentence as would come to me...) What I mean is, I kept reading lists and reorganizing them, but I hadn't really packed anything, or bought much, if anything, for the baby, so I had to get going.

I went to Target on Friday and bought, well, a lot. LOL. I bought most of the meds I will take 'just in case' to Kazakhstan. The thing is, I've heard you can't really get over the counter meds there, and certainly not what we're used to, so if I wanted or needed something specific, I'd better take it! And plan for the unexpected. So, motrin, tylenol, nose drops, gas drops, diaper cream, shampoo, lotion, baby powder, pacifiers (different kinds because I don't know what kind she is used to), sippy cups, baby oragel, baby teething biscuits, pedialyte, vitamins (she'll need them!), a few pair of socks (I couldn't resist), a white furry hat and mittens (I really couldn't resist!!), and so on. I think that was pretty much most of everything, so I was headed out.

But, do you really think I made it out with those 'small' items? (Even though I had 50 of them?) I had to pass the strollers on the way out and they were on clearance! So, I thought that was a good deal, like 1/2 price! I ended up with two because I couldn't decide which one of the two to get. (You couldn't test them at the store because they had them all chained up, high above ground level.) To make a long (boring!) story short... as it turns out, I got home and put one together, and I love it. The other is still in the box, but when I got to the checkout, it was only $35.00!! So, I might just end up keeping that one as well so I don't always have to load one of them in and out of the car. I couldn't deal with putting another one together yesterday though, so it is still in the box in case I do decide to return it. Anyway, that was all fun yesterday buying all the stuff for the baby.

Today, I packed my clothes for the trip. It took forever to decide what matched what, and what I need for near 60 days on the road. At long last, I THINK I've narrowed it down to the final stack of clothes. Let me just say, sweaters are BULKY. I did go ahead and wash all of them so that they are good and clean before I wear the same 5 outfits for 60 days... I know I'll get to do laundry there, but I'm thinking it won't be the same as here, and even more worried that it will be with that orange/brown water everyone posts on their blogs. yuck. So, they are good and clean now and ready to roll. And even better, they all fit in one (large!) suitcase. (Actually, my drier is on the fritz, so some things are still trying to air dry. Tomorrow all should be dry and packed away.

Anyway, I also got all her stuff ready. I boiled the paci's, and cleaned all the toys so they are ready to go. I picked the books I want to take for her, and the dolls, etc. Yeah! That part was fun!

This weekend has been fun with Matthew. On Thursday, we got a little snow. Between 3-4 inches. It only ended up getting the kids out of school 2 hours on Friday morning, (and boy was Matthew mad about that!) But then we made Friday night 'fun night' and then 'pajama party night'. The first part we got subs and watched "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" (that we had to Tivo from the night before). We love watching that together. We watched a little more TV and then when we saw that Cheaper by the Dozen was coming on. So, we decided to get comfy and get all the pillows we could, and have a pillow, pajama party in my bed while we watched Cheaper by the Dozen. It was fun!

Today, he had to finish his Science project. Due on Tuesday. We decided to work as long as it took today to get it done (not like us!) so that on Sunday and the holiday Monday we can just relax and do what we want! Success!! He finished and we are done with it. Yeah!! It is nice to know that is all done and we can watch and enjoy the football games tomorrow!

On the adoption front, other than knowing what I heard a week ago, (that I should be leaving within a few weeks as I've been told the region has requested my LOI be processed) there is nothing new. Based on the timeline I was given then... I should hear something Monday or Tuesday. Then I'll have a week or two to get totally ready to leave. I'm feeling better and better about the packing I've been doing and hopefully won't need to freak out when that 'time comes'! I will still have to get my visa and plane ticket, etc. (For both Mom and me). The only other thing now is, I have no idea what I will name her. I change my mind daily and even have started considering new names that I never thought of before. So, I guess I won't know until I am there and meet her. THEN I will decide. :)

Like sands through the hour glass... these are the details of my life.

New poll

Hey everyone - be sure to check out the polls on the right hand side and vote! There is one for the travel date and one for the name of the baby girl. It gives me something to 'do' when I'm looking, so vote once, or vote 1,000 times, I don't care! Just vote. :)

Check out the weather in Petro too, and once you are done laughing, pray for me! I think I might die in that weather!

LOI Extended!!

well, i got another call today! this time, with good news!! my coordinator had an update on my loi. :) if i get the terminology right... it has been issued regionally by the region i am traveling to, petropavlovsk, and has been sent to the 'national' government of kazakhstan to be processed. once processed, the loi will be issued a confirmation number which is what i need in order to get my visa issued here in the states. at that time, i will also get actual/exact travel dates. this process is expected to take about 10 days.. from that time, i will have about a week or two to get my visa issued, get plane tickets, get everything else done, etc. so, i have ten 'calmer' days to try to accomplish things, and then i'll have 7-14 days of total chaos with a known travel date. yeah!!! yes, now i'm going to get nervous, i'm sure!

i'm not thinking straight enough to say much more at this point... but i'm sure i'll post more in the near future! happy thursday!

Cold week and more waiting

For Northern Virginia, it has been a crazy, cold week! The temps were 'low' but the wind made it brutal. What really makes me laugh is that it was a good 30 degrees WARMER than it will be in Kaz... bbrrrrr! I can't even begin to imagine that. This was plenty cold enough for me.

I did find out this week that I will NOT be traveling exactly when I thought. We are still awaiting my LOI and although it 'could' come this week, I was told that when it comes, I will have 3-4 weeks to prepare. Now, I know others who have had much less time than that once their LOI's came, so I'm still not 'sure' that that is true... but I will 'listen' to my agency and take their word for it, for now. Anyway, the original date would be less than two weeks away at this point, but it appears that will not happen. Tick tock tick tock.... the waiting is hard, and it is killing Matthew. He wants/NEEDS for the anticipation to be over - that is going to be the hardest part for him... preparing for me to leave! (For me too, I think!) At this point, it is still anticipated I will travel by the end of Jan. or early Feb., but of course that is a guesstimate until I have the LOI in writing in my little hands and it could change again at any moment... I think I will be happiest when I get that 'letter' in my hands and the unknown part will be over.

I am hoping and praying that that is a reality because the sooner I can leave, the sooner I can be back, and for Matthew's sake now, that would be best! The one thing I think I do know is that since the government is closed for the Russian Orthodox Christmas (on Monday I believe) and people are on vacation, I won't hear anything in the early part of this week pretty much for sure, because no one is working! Oh well, all in good time my pretty, all in good time.

That's about all that is new from here. Waiting waiting waiting!!

More pictures of Ezra

Well, I have to post more of the fam. It was a great day today. The other kids met their baby brother and were SO excited on the way to the hospital. Kate, the 2.5 year old started singing (unprovoked) and looking out the window of the van as we were going to hospital, "I'm going to meet my brother, I'm going to meet my brother." When I understood what she had said, I looked at her, and repeated it and she just GLOWED - she then started 'jumping up and down' in her car seat - sheer excitement!! When we got their, they ran in the room and all took turns holding him and loving on him. They were also very excited to see their Mommy and Daddy!! They will be coming home tomorrow from the hospital. So - I'll post (probably too many) pics from today.

Well, the spacing on these are not what I was hoping for, but I tried. I am still trying to play with the pictures and get them to do exactly what I want. I'm still learning, that's for sure.

We will see what tomorrow brings! The excitement of Ezra coming home. It is so neat to be here for this...

On a different note, still no update on the LOI or confirmed dates... Tick tock, tick tock.

I'm an Aunt... again!

My sister had her baby!! Yeah! And the really awesome part is that we came down to SC today to 'visit' and today was the day she had her baby... totally cool! We were getting off on the exit for our hotel when the call came that she had the baby... talk about timing!

To her total surprise, she had a BOY! (Matthew and I thought it was a boy...she was sure it was a girl!! She was right with her three other children, however.) His name is Ezra Fuller (last name not listed) and he is 8 pounds, 15 1/2 ounces... Another rather large child for my tiny little sister! We went to the hospital this evening and got to visit them and meet him. He is gorgeous!! Just gorgeous! And he may be a 'big baby' but he seems teeny tiny to me!! Here he is...

Wow! What a day! I'm not sure I've ever seen any other baby (besides Matthew) so early in life! Anyway, he wasn't even 5 hours old when I got to meet him... how special!

Well, we got up early today, and I drove 550 miles, all by myself, so I am tired and ready for bed!! The trip was very uneventful (which is always a good thing). Oh yeah, except for the fact that my tire was almost flat 100 miles in so i was afraid I'd have to get a new tire. I filled it up though, and so far it seems to have held... I kept checking it on the trip down. Thank goodness it didn't blow! OK, time for bed - enjoy the pictures of Ezra as much as I am... :)

Christmas 2007

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! We had a fabulous time together. My brother came out and stayed two days from the city and my parents were here a week. We wrapped and wrapped, and watched Christmas movies, and listened to carols and just had a great time! This was really the first year Matthew has gotten up 'early' and wanted to get started. I've been lucky until now, I guess! He woke me up at 6:30 and I was 'ready' by 7:00 or so... (I was stalling a little bit!) It was a great day and we had a lot of fun. I hope you all did as well!

It was a little sad this year - missing friends I haven't seen in too long, not being able to be with my sister and her family as well as knowing that my little baby girl is spending her first Christmas without her family in Kazakhstan! I thought about her a lot, and I did get some gifts for her, both from my parents and from Matthew (who went shopping with my parents!) They were really cute. Next year will be really awesome to have another little one around on Christmas morning!

My sister, although she had some close calls, has not yet had this baby. She'll be induced Friday if she doesn't have it tomorrow. Matthew and I have decided to go down there Friday and come home Tuesday! That'll be awesome!! Can't wait to meet and greet my new niece or newphew! It'll be great to see the other three too!!

My grandmother taught my sister, me and my brother how to crochet when we were growing up... Neither my sister nor I can (or do) this at all. My brother, on the other hand, is gifted and has made many nice blankets for us over the years. Well, he had already bought me my Christmas present this year, and wasn't going to get me anything else, or so I thought, but he 'got' me another one. A hand made blanket that he had done. It is INCREDIBLE!! It is huge (so that when I cover up my feet are not hanging out the bottom of the blanket!!) It would easily cover a king sized bed!! Here it is....

So, that was a total surprise and is just so lovely!! I don't know where I'm going to put it yet, but I've got to find just the right place for it.

I am still waiting to receive my LOI. I am waiting for that phone to ring!

Baking Fun

Matthew and I finally got to make the Gingerbread House today. Now, it's not like I do this from scratch or anything, but it was fun nonetheless. Actually, you never know with Matthew if he will be in the mood to sit long enough to help and 'do', but he did. I helped construct the walls of the house, and he did 100% of the decorating. THEN, he frosted cookies and decorated them too. I was totally impressed. Usually he'll do about 3 cookies, eats one or two, and is done. :) Here is some of his handy work.

Then we decorated cookies, and he did all the red ones.

I did the white ones and the yellow ones... (we had done green on another day.)

We had a great time! I am so glad i am here with him for this Christmas! (The chance of travel was always there, but of course, it is now pushed to beyond Christmas, yeah!!) What a blessing to be home with him.

The other thing I've done this weekend is paint the nursery! The green is exactly what I wanted. The other walls were supposed to be 'creamy' and they are in some light, but in other lights, it looks very pale yellow. I like pale yellow, it's just not what I wanted. But, by the time I put all the furniture I bought in that little room, there won't be much wall left to notice the variation in color, so I'm going to try not to fret about it. Here are some shots of the room.

Exciting stuff, right? Well, exciting or not, it all had to be done. I am sore from painting. It seems so easy, and yet at the end of the day... muscles I didn't realize I had hurt. Oh well! Now, the room just needs furniture, and a little girl from Kazakhstan to make it complete! :)

Are there others who use blogspot who post pictures? Am I doing something wrong in that it posts them ALL up top and you have to edit the HTML to fix it? I feel like I must be doing something wrong. Also, can't I line two or three up across instead of having them all post down the page? Just wondering! Help!

I have my third interview with that company I've been waiting to hear from, tomorrow! Yeah! But, I'm traveling soon and will be away for two months, and then need the time when I return to get the baby adjusted... so, I would LOVE a job... But I need my first three months off, ok?? Ugh! I hope that all works out so I know the new job thing settled before I travel. That would be awesome.

I also need to START my shopping, so tomorrow after the interview I will be shopping... before I get to pick Matthew up from school like a Mom who doesn't work! :)

Friday night

How does this happen? It is Friday night... and I'm sick! I should be enjoying this time, right? Man, I hope it passes FAST so I can do the 8 million things I have on my to do list! I'm not as bad tonight as I was last night, but I'm not good... my fever is keeping the chills 'around' which is a bummer, I can't get under too many more blankets. :)

I hope Matthew and I can make our Gingerbread house tomorrow. It'll be fun. Right now we are watching Christmas Specials (Charlie Brown right now.) We're about to watch Home Alone, one of our favorites.

I hope everyone has a great night and weekend! Stay well and enjoy the season - :) What a wonderful time of year!

So I'm getting pretty darn excited for the baby to be... and I HAD to buy something!

So, I've been waiting and waiting, and wanting and wanting to buy SOMETHING, and I gave in on a few small things. But, I really wanted to start buying some of the bigger things for the baby. I want baby gear... the problem is, we don't know the age, or the size, or anything - so buying the small stuff is hard. But I had to buy something, so I bought the furniture!! So, below is a picture of the furniture - i just LOVE IT! :) I can't wait to get it delivered! I plan to paint the room later this week so it is all ready for the furniture...

Anyway - to spare you any more pictures (and spare me from trying to upload them (not hard) and get them where I want them to show in the blog (this is hard!) I'll just tell you what else I bought. I bought the mattress for the crib and a high chair.

OK, so I quickly changed my mind, I had to show one more picture. I put the high chair together today... For now it's in my dining room, I'm sure I'll put it in her room for a while once I decide I need the space in my dining room for the holidays! I thought this was a really neat high chair and will really match my dining room table and chairs! It's cool too that over the wood tray is a plastic tray that can be used and then put in the dishwasher! neat! Such different choices even since Matthew was a baby!

My parents are here until Monday morning. Today, we made some Christmas (cut-out) cookies. We went to make the frosting and only had a tiny amount of sugar, so we'll have to frost them tomorrow. My brother came out from DC to visit us again today too. It was a really great day - I had an awesome time and it just felt very Christmassy!! Music, and decorations, baking, all spending time together, putting together high chairs... fun stuff!

My brother (Bobby) showed us a picture of a child he just signed up to sponsor through World Vision. He is so cute! That was really neat to hear about and look at the info on the website! I can't wait to look at that website some more.

One last thing... I got new windows for the house on Oct. 3rd. Ever since then, my bedroom and sitting room have had lovely sheets and towels hanging on them because I had had blinds on the windows before and decided not to put those back up. So, I've had old sheets in the nice new windows. My mom and I finally bought some new curtains for those windows which I put up today. They look great - at least much better than the sheets and towels... Since my room faces the street, I'm sure the neighbors will now appreciate my curtains as well! :)

Monday Monday

There really isn't much going on around here, but I thought I'd give an update anyway! I was hoping to hear something today about the job interview I had had, the man was just back today from vacation... but I heard nothin'. Oh well, I know how things are when I first get back from vacation, so maybe there just wasn't time to worry about hiring someone... I'm hoping that's the reason, anyway!

On a brighter note, we did get our Christmas tree this weekend! Matthew and I went with my parents and my brother. It was chilly, but NOTHING compared to what Sunday and today are! Wow, the wind outside is brutal!! I got the lights on (only ten strands this year) and then many of the ornaments. I still have one box of ornaments to go though - I'm running out of room. This years tree is smaller than last year, but not small!! Last years tree was just huge! The tree is nice, I am a little afraid it won't last til Christmas, there are already a few droopy branches! (And we're watering it twice a day!!)

My parents did come up on Saturday for the Patriots vs. Ravens game tonight in Baltimore. They came Saturday so they could go get the tree with us. The bummer is, my mom got really sick on Sunday and is still under the weather! Poor thing. She is just miserable, and only marginally better than yesterday. Anyway, because of her illness, she couldn't go to the Ravens game, and Matthew couldn't go because of school tomorrow and he wouldn't get home until about 1:00 a.m. So, I thought about going with my dad, but then broke out laughing at myself. I'm cold when it's 70 degrees outside... so this would NEVER do! it's like 35 degrees with 50 mile an hour winds, and they just showed SNOW (flurries) on the screen. Although flurries would be 'cool', I would be so cold it just wouldn't be fun!! Anyway, my dad decided not to go by himself and sit in the cold either, so we are all home tonight, watching in the warmth of the house. It also helped to make the decision KNOWING that the Patriots are going to KILL the Ravens tonight. :)

I can't wait until tomorrow night. My friend Judy and my mom (I hope) and I are going to a concert at my church. It is a speaker who is one of the funniest ladies I've ever heard speak and also the singer Kathy Troccoli. I have been to this event many times (3 or 4) in years past and it is just AWESOME. I just hope my mom feels better enough to go along with us!!

I went and got some bourbon from a friend tonight to make my bourbon balls. She said, I'll just put it in a mug... I thought, um, no... I really don't want to drive home with a cup of bourbon in an open container. I can see it now!!! Anyway, we found a travel cup (with a lid) so I felt better about having it in the car! Besides the bourbon balls, I also plan to make our Christmas cookies (frosted cut-outs) this weekend. Does anyone have any great cookie recipes? I'll be home (not working!) so I'd love to try something new this year!

It may not last, so I have to say it now... THE RAVENS ARE BEATING THE UNBEATEN PATRIOTS!!! Yippee!!!!!!!!!!! (and WOW!)

Don't forget to vote for the Christmas decorations (I think you can do more than one vote at a time!) and girls names too!! :)