Sugar cookies are to Christmas. :)

I never blog anymore. John and I have been SO busy! I feel so stretched thin sometimes (if only I looked it, HAH!). Honestly, I'm so glad Christmas is here. This has been a year of much testing and it's ending on a wonderful, mostly happy note! I feel like I've been through the meat grinder and back emotionally this year.

We've got oodles of cookies and candy at work today and a party tonight at a restaurant nearby. I got a sweet bonus AND a Yankee Candle from my boss, so I'm happy . The party should be a good time, as usual. My brother will be there this year! He's been working with me for about a month now. I'm hoping it's open bar, but not for my sake. I won't drink anything, but I know John and my brother will. Also, at 2:00 today we have our big "lottery swap". Everyone that signed up brought in a $5 scratch ticket and we will draw names for picking order and then everyone scratches (the cards) and if you win, you win. Woulda been nice to split the winnings, but whatevs. Wish me luck!

ALMOST done with Christmas shopping... but we will be braving the crowds tomorrow to get the last few odds and ends. Then the crazy schedule begins. Saturday night is John's parents' (groan), Sunday maybe John's bro? We need to talk to them and figure out what's up. Monday is my Mum's, then my aunt's. Then Tuesday is going to be my dad's, John's sister's and then my other aunt's. AAAHHH! I guess we will rizlax on Wednesday and finally play some Xbox 360 (which we are getting from my Mum!!)

Okay, back to work, I guess.

Scrabble

John and I just got done playing Scrabble. I said I was going to beat him, but sadly, I did not. Here is the fruit of our game:

I'm trying to decide if I want a rematch. I'm feeling uncomfortable with "snawing", which John used but later confessed that it was Scottish slang for snowing. Hmm. This is what you get when you Scrabble with a Magario. Wordy punks.


****UPDATED 2 hours later**** (now listening to: Cradle of Filth)

I challenged John to a rematch and lo, he beat me again. He is a wife beater, spread the word.

but you can't say I didn't hold my own...


It makes it even worse to know that John started with no vowels:


...then had NO consonants


...and at some point had FOUR A's in his tray.


I guess I am the inferior Magario.

I'll let YOU know when it's okay.

Well John's 28th birthday was fun! I got him the Lego Imperial Star Destroyer and he was giddy. I gave it to him Saturday night and he was up until 4am working on it. My mom gave him a USB turntable so we can convert all our records to mp3's. Yay mom!

Yesterday, we went over to see his parents because they wanted to see him on his birthday. I pretty much ignored his mother the whole time because I really can't stand her at the moment. For his birthday, she gave John an autographed picture and certificate from the guy who played the Lone Ranger which John got when he was a kid. Also, she gave him a little homemade medal he got in 1983 for being a "freefall expert" (he fell out of a 3rd story window) at the family reunion. Yes, you read that right, she gave him things that were already his..."for his birthday" she said. I swear, the woman has a cache of his things and she is slowly giving it to him over the years. Last Christmas, she gave him some ornaments that belonged to him already...like, in a gift bag, as a gift. I'm not saying she needs to go out and spends all kinds of money on him, but $10 on a movie or something? I don't know...don't give him stuff that is already his, that's all.

Then, as we were walking out the door...I knew she was going to try and hug me 'cause she kept eyeballing me. She hugged me just a little too long for comfort and then took my face in her hands and said, "It's okay." I looked at her with an eyebrow raised and said, "What is?". She just laughed and walked away...and then the father-in-law hugged me. It pissed me off that she said, "It's okay.", like I had somehow offended her and she was forgiving me. I didn't say I was sorry and I hadn't planned on it. Sorry for what? For calling her out on her lies?!?! All she knows how to do is play the victim. I'll let her know when it's OKAY, thank you very much. She should be apologizing to me for telling LIES about me!

Oh, fantastic.

Get your fingers ready.

Let's hear it for biometrics!

This is work?

It's Halloween everybody! Happy, happy!

At work today, we had a pumpkin carving contest and a "Fall Treat" contest. Here are the pumpkin submissions:

Minez is 10:

I won 1st Place! $60! Woowoo! At first, I thought I might feel a bit guilty, for two reasons...one is that it is not an original design and two is that John carved it. But hey, I figure the money benefits us both so who cares who carved it??? AND! AND! John entered the same pumpkin in a contest at his work on Monday and it won the $100 1st prize!

For the "Fall Treat" contest, I made Banana-Pineapple bread. It's nothing fancy and was quite simple to make...AND I still won 2nd place! $25! Woowoo! The conference room table was full of food:

and honestly, my favorite was pizza dip this girl brought in. She actually won 3rd place ($15) for it. I'm glad she didn't win 1st because I think the competition was obviously for desserts although you could argue that pizza dip is still a treat. Whatevs.

I made $85 y'allz...booyah! ($185 if we include John's winnings!)

I didn't dress up today. We didn't end up going to any Halloween parties this year, so I had no reason to spend $50 on a costume just to wear it to work. A couple of years ago, I wore my little white horns from King Richard's Faire to work and so this year I stole John's. His are much cooler anyway. I just like my white ones because they look like bone and I guess I thought that made them believable...

John and I are going to my dad's tonight to see Mikey and Julia and for John to scare the trick-or-treaters with his freaky mask and cloak. I'm sure I'll post pictures later.

******************

So this morning as I'm trying to prepare for the party here, my boss comes in with a couple of children's books and asks me to scan in the pages with pictures and make a powerpoint presentation out of it. What? Yes. You read right. I had to make him a presentation because he was going to his son's school today to read the books to the class and he couldn't just read a book like everyone else. Took me like 2 hours to crop all the pictures.

Is that what HGH does do your legs? ;-)

Chances are, you don't visit the town of Warren, MA all that often. I happen to have the pleasure of driving through not only Warren, but also West Warren on my way to and from work M-F. During this month, I've been seeing more and more "scarecrows" popping up on the town commons. It wasn't until tonight, on my way home from work, that I noticed the newest addition and busted out laughing. The legs are funny, but it's the face that kills me.

The back of the shirt has his number and name on it. hahaha.......

Also worth showing are the headless horseman:

...quite impressive, if you ask me.

And the "Shadow Cat":

...also pretty sweet.

STFU & DIAF

Do I have a 'COMPLAIN TO ME' sign on my forehead? I work with a pregnant girl who complains to me about being pregnant like I am going to have some sympathy for her. I don't. She wanted the baby, she planned this, so why the complaining? Deal with it, it's what you wanted. She annoys me to no end with this crap and I don't feel like listening to the drama in her life on a daily basis. She's something like 5 months along and her boyfriend hasn't told his mother...so of course I hear about that all the time. Then, she complained to me today that her chest is...growing. Well, yeah. Idiot.

Oh yeah, I won $50 at McDonald's in the Monopoly game. John and I went there one night and I got a Big Mac. The two stickers on top were Mediterranean and Baltic, woo! They make it pretty difficult to redeem prizes. I had to call a number to get a website where I had to fill out a form and print something. You have to initial the stamps and sign the form and send it in the mail. I made a photocopy and I'm sending it out today. I'll do a little clerical work for $50!

Surely, they aren't serious.

Who are these people and why do they have jobs in advertising? It wasn't bad enough that we had:

"What can brown do for you?"

now we have:

"Let's Pink Together!"

Are you serious? I'd rather not pink together, thank you. I'm not like that.

My hasty review of the ntrnt

I am so bored right now. You don't even know. So...here I go typing to hear myself type.

You know what I love/hate about the Internet?

You can basically give yourself an education rivaling anything you could get at a college simply by searching for the information. History, Science, Design, Mathematics, Metallurgy, Medicine, Anthropology, etc. It's all out there just a Google search away most of the time.

however...

There is far too much accessible to anyone who cares to search for it. I could find 10 beheading videos in the next minute if I wanted. As horrible as that is to see, there are far more vile things than even that to be seen. There are some dark and evil spots on the intarweb. There's some hatred out there. It's desensitizing.

Another thing I love/hate about the Internet:

It's endlessly entertaining.

however...

When people spend all their free time surfing the 'net and downloading music and playing games, it's a waste of life! Put down the mouse and go DO something people!

The one thing that I just love/love about the Internet is:

You can easily keep in touch with friends and family via e-mail or networking sites such as Myspace. Author admits to being a Myspace addict. I've been in touch with lots of old friends and with cousins who I haven't seen in forever!

N-N-N-now th-th-that don’t kill me, can only make me stronger. :)

What is it with waitresses talking to patrons as though they were little babies or 2 year olds? It's SO annoying! John and I go to a restaurant and the waitress uses the baby voice...why? They say the normal things, "What would you like to order?", "Can I get you a refill?", "Did you save room for dessert?", but they say it like they're talking to a child. I overheard a young female waitress say to an elderly woman, "Wow, you did a good job on that!" I'm sorry, that just seems disrespectful to me. I also do not like it when they say 'we' all the time. "What are we having tonight?" Lady, I know what I'm having tonight and you will have no part of it. So, if you want a good tip, speak to me like an adult and...just...don't say we.

Oh, you know what else? Toilet paper has no business coming from underneath the roll. It goes over the top. kthx, bye.

And why is the lettuce always rotten at Subway?