I wrote a really long post the other day but it seems to have gotten eaten by the blogging gods. I hate when that happens. Anyway, it’s a new year. I am usually the type who looks forward to the new year with great anticipation. The new year is always like a line in the sand for me, I cross it and everything changes. I can throw off all that happened before and start new. If it was a bad year/month/week/whatever, I can start with a clean slate and none of what happened before affects me. This year is different. First because I’m literally in the middle of buying a house. We had the offer accepted about 30 days ago and the house closes in 27 days. So I’m smack in the middle. I can not throw that off – it’s there and it’s not going away. Second, last year was a pretty good year, as years go. It was not perfect at all but it was darn good. A lot of things happened that I’m very pleased with, not the least of which is the aforementioned house. So this year I was not all gung-ho about the new year and it’s weird to feel that way. But you know what? It happened anyway and it is a new year so here goes.

Today we are meeting the electrician over at the new house. The electrical needs to be upgraded and he’s going to give us an estimate for it. I have my fingers crossed that it’s not too much. We are trying to get the seller’s to pay at least some of it, we’ll see what happens. The house needs a lot of things the electrical is just the most urgent. It needs new tiles, new appliances, new Danze faucets, new paint, the floors redone, okay I’ll stop there, you get the idea.

Well, I have nothing else to say. I guess I’ll get ready to go for my run.

So it’s that time again. Time to start thinking about Christmas and all that entails. Hubby and I sometimes buy each other gifts and other times just buy something we both want. I don’t know what we are going to do this year yet.

I did just get myself a Christmas present though. About 2 weeks ago I saw an infomercial for the Yudu. Since then I’ve been going to the website and looking it over and debating on buying it and going back and forth about it. Finally today I decided to just go for it. It has a 30 day money back guarantee so I can always return it if I need to. But I’ve searched the Interwebs and most of the reviews I read about it are good. It clearly has some faults but nothing major. Also, a huge selling point, you can use other products on it not just those made by the manufacturer. That’s great because I found a forum for support and they list all kinds of inexpensive options for emulsion and paint, etc. I’m very excited.

So I placed the order and a few hours later get an email that my credit card didn’t go through. Ugh!!! Now I have to call them and see if I wrote the number wrong or something. I much prefer those sites that instantly verify your credit card. Plus now I have to call them, I just hope they are in the US and they don’t use call center outsourcing to some place like India or Bangladesh. I had to call HP one time and their call center was in India. It was the most frustrating call. The person the other end had a script and she was not going to stray from it no matter what. On the other hand, lots of places are using at home workers. I was considering doing that for a while but it didn’t work out with the time difference here in Hawaii.. Okay, why am I talking about this????

It’s Christmas Eve.  For folks with kids or large families it’s a time of excitment, gifts, and gatherings.  For those of us that don’t have family around it’s kind of a quiet day.  Hubby and I go out to dinner tonight and take a trolley ride around Honolulu looking at the city lights.  It’s always fun.  Tomorrow will be a quiet, peaceful day.  I also have off on Friday so it’s a very long weekend for me. Woo Hoo!!!

I’ve decided to try something.  In the great Google smackdown of ‘07 this blog got knocked from a PR of 4 down to 0.  My other blog went from a 3 to a 0 but has since regained it’s 3.  This one has never gotten anything back.  I’m on a mission to get some PR on this blog.  Not for any other reason than to prove it can be done without bowing to the Google gods.  I have a plan that I will start implementing tomorrow.  We’ll see what happens.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas…..

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.
It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit–Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit–Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed.

So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now you know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol…so pass it on if you wish.’

Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone

Well, it’s the last day of  a 4 day weekend.  I’m kind of sad but I got everything done I wanted to this weekend so that’s good.  This morning I just have to clean house then I can veg all day.  I’m very excited about that.  I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do but I’ll find some way to amuse myself.   I’m actually thinking of looking at furniture.  The furniture we have is really crappy.  Since we are moving in a year or so I don’t want to spend a lot of money but I’m up for checking out some discount furniture. Maybe we’ll see.

I do have to go grocery shopping and to pick up some dog food. I also want to make the dogs biscuits. I haven’t made their biscuits in a long time and they prefer mine over store bought. I’ll do that today. Well, nothing is getting done with me sitting here blogging. Time to get my butt moving.

the long weekend!!  Yea!!!  I have been so looking forward to this, you have no idea how much!!  I’m very, very happy.  I need to get things done but there will be time for relaxing and resting.  I have a ton of schoolwork to do, so that will be a real priority.  I want to go see the Bodies exhibit, that’s on Friday.  I need to get a haircut.  I guess that’s about it.  The list is not too long so you can see there will be lots of reading and relaxing.  Oh yeah, I’m also going to work out too.  Woo Hoo!!!!

Maybe I’ll do some shopping.  I generally stay far away from the malls on Black Friday but maybe Sunday I’ll venture out and see what’s happening. Who knows, maybe I’ll go looking for Festina watches. You just never know.

Okay, now I’ve got to go relax. I want to figure out exactly what I have to do for school and plan my weekend so I’m not sitting on Sunday evening cramming everything in. I’m off to organize…..

Last night in class we had to break into 2 groups and debate No Child Left Behind.  Our group was on the pro side.  Now, I don’t know much about NCLB and I didn’t do the required reading for class.  In our group was 8 people and only 3 had to speak.  I thought for sure someone else would jump up and take the stage.  Ummmm….no…… I ended up being one of the people who had to debate.  Now the debate part didn’t bother me.  I can get up in front of any crowd and talk, I have no problem with that.  But last night I was freaking out.  I didn’t want to do it and I was literally freaking.  When I tried to figure out why I realized it was because I didn’t know what I was talking about.  Also, there were very strict rules that had to be followed and that didn’t help either.  But the main problem was I didn’t know.  After the debate and on the way home I thought about this and realized that I am a control freak.

I am basically a very shy person, although that seems to be changing some.  I am extremely uncomfortable in new situations. The first day of class I was a nervous wreck.  The only thing that helped is that I knew all the other students were nervous wrecks too.  So we were all in the same boat and that makes it a little easier to deal.  But if I have to go into a situation where I’m the only new person, it freaks me out beyond belief.  Unless I know what I’m getting into.  So if someone has gone there before me and can tell me what to expect, that makes it a little better. When applying this to last night’s debate, I realized that since I didn’t know what I was doing (in terms of rules of debate) or what I was talking about (in terms of NCLB) I was freaked.  It was my own fault.  I knew last week that we were going to debate that this week, I just figured I’d get out of it.  If I had just read the required reading I would have been prepared a little and at least had some idea of what I was talking about.  So, lesson learned.  The lesson being that I am a control freak   Stepping out of your comfort zone is hard but it’s not as hard as dealing with mesothelioma, so I guess I can be thankful for that.

But, and this is an important but, it’s the last day of the work week. I have 4 days off and I need them so badly – you have no idea. I have a pile of school work to do and I’m actually looking forward to getting it done. Hope everyone has a good turkey day.

I almost forgot!!! I wrote a long post on Mother’s Day over at Cake so I’m not going to go into it here. Suffice it to say it’s a holiday I’ve never been comfortable with since I never felt like a very good mother. But, that aside, Hubby got me the nicest gift basket. It has bath salts, and body scrub, and lotion, it’s really nice. He worked but one of the girls had made a bunch to sell so he got me one. It’s really nice. I can’t wait to find the time to take a bath and use this stuff Of course, he could have got me a Patek twenty-4 but this will do.

I got up at 6 am. I was trying to decide what to do for exercise run, hike, weights, what. Instead of making a decision and actually doing something, I have sat at this computer dropping Entrecards. I have been very busy this week and havne’t had time to sit and drop. Once I got started I just thought I should finish. So I didn’t do anything. Now I have to go get ready because one of the dogs has to go to the vet. Avoidance??? I think so. Maybe I should have just gone to the gym and used one of the ellipticals. Oh well, too late now.

In other news, please, please, please, turn off the music on your blogs. I can’t say this enough and the list of blogs to avoid is growing.  On was playing Christmas music, as if that isn’t annoying enough during Christmas, and another had a music video. Ugh!!!!  I’m just not going to blogs that have music that’s all.

Okay, enough whining and moaning for one morning   Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there.  I do hope it’s a good one.