Santa Claus is Coming to Town (various)

Well, technically it's Christmas day. I'm so sleepy. It's 2:30am right now & I have no idea what I'm still doing up. I'm not a little kid anymore, waiting for my parents to go to bed so I can sneak downstairs & peek into my presents. In fact, I think Jeff is wrapping gifts for me & the only thing that separates us is a sofa.


Earlier this evening, we did our traditional Christmas Eve deal where we get together with our friends. We did a gift exchange at David's house in Puyallup, which by the way is incredible. We did dinner at Denny's. We didn't, however, leave our big tip for our server. We didn't have the worst service ever, nor was it the best. I think most people felt it wasn't that great & so, let's not leave a tip. It was decided that we would collect our monies (& then some??) & donate it to a charity of sorts instead. I'm not sure if it was 100% decided, but many were leaning towards some kind of animal charity such as the Humane Society. I'm cool with that.


We did our version of the white elephant gift exchange. I don't know if we did it right, but we did it & we had fun. I went home with a drink making set (comes with shaker & some other utensils used to make drinks). I'm really excited with what Jeff came home with (since I'll most likely use it more than he will) - some small bowls that are perfect for storing small amounts of food or for food preparation (maybe holding some chopped onion or something like that, a silicone basting brush (coulda used one of these yesterday) & a DVD: Love, Actually. The weirdest gift would have to be from Steve - a shocking game. You hold on to these joystick-like things & when the music stops playing, the last person to press their button gets shocked. When David, David, Katt & Steve were playing.. it looked pretty darn painful. I'm glad I didn't end up with that gift!



Oh, one funny thing happened tonight during our gift exchange. We hadn't planned for everyone to do a gift exchange for everyone, but Jeff & I wanted to give a picture from our Hawaii trip to everyone who was in it - a picture from our wedding day where we all stood giving our best impression of Frankenstein. Great minds think alike because David & Katt had the exact same idea. So, now we all have two copies of the funniest picture ever!


Jess - I don't know if you read this anymore, but if you do... happy belated birthday. Hope yours was spent with those you love. I was thinking about ya.


Today, I am thankful for:
1. My Stupendous Spouse
2. My Fabulous FrankenFriends
3. My Dynamite Dad
4. My Incredible In-Laws
5. My Kooky Kitties

Do Re Mi (Julie Andrews)

I'll be the first to admit we have a pretty crazy work dynamic in my department. My boss is sometimes the root of all that's evil, but mostly, she's just being her micro-managing self & I accept her for who she is. And, it's those times when she's being her goofy self that I really laugh out loud & enjoy working with her.

The other day at work, Faith was talking aloud & all she says was, "So...." to which Debbie answers (like she often does when someone says "So..."), "A needle pulling thread."

Usually, this mini-convo ends right there, but Faith continued with a, "La..." to which Debbie answers, "A note to follow so"

I pipe in with, "Ti..." to which Debbie answers, "And A". That was followed with about a minute of uncontrollable laughter as I was not expecting that answer from my boss of all people!

I love my job.

Today, I am thankful for:
1. Sense of humor
2. Envelope systems that work
3. My shortest post yet
4. Non-Lasagna
5. Employment

After the Rain (Nelson)

Who would have guessed what was going to happen after all the rain fell in November? It's been a crazy, crazy autumn season: Record rainfall in November. Enough snow to close my work for a day. Windstorms that caused power outages to much of the Puget Sound area. Crazy, I tell ya!

Thursday of last week, on my way to the train station after work, there was torrential downpour. It was almost reminiscent of being in Hawaii on October 16th. I can't tell you how many of those running ballerina jumps I did to try & avoid the giant puddles that accumulated at the curbs. The water was so deep in areas that I couldn't tell where the curb was; water was in the road & up over the sidewalks. My umbrella was pretty much useless because it kept turning inside out in the wind gusts. Well, regardless of how much I tried to avoid it, I was soaked by the time I got to the train station. Then, before we got to Tukwila even, the conductor stopped the train for about ten minutes while they decided if it was safe to continue Southbound. Fortunately, it was & I got home at a reasonable time (that is, after I finished some Christmas shopping for my in-laws).

We were fortunate to not have lost power at our house. I can't say others were as lucky. The other four in my department had all lost power on Thursday. I know how much fun it isn't to try & get ready for work in the dark. On Friday, Steve & Airi were going to stay over at our house as they had lost power at their house. When Jeff called to find out what time they were coming, their power had just come back on. Kat, who lives not too far from Steve & Airi wasn't so lucky; her power has been out for the last 4 days & she's staying with us until it comes back on.

Work on Friday was a little exciting. The building hadn't lost power, but the air conditioning in our server room had broke at some point & our IS team was scrambling to get the temperatures under control. Senior management, at one point, had "closed" the Credit Union. However, while waiting for a ride home, they told us to stay for a few minutes. Then they said we would open at 10am, but since some had already left for the day, they gave us the option of staying or going, but if we stayed we'd get a comp day. I opted to stay, but was a little frustrated that I hadn't left while I had the chance.

On Friday, we were going to have our department lunch at 13 Coins, but since Faith chose to leave, we didn't go to lunch; we are going on Monday instead. I'm looking forward to it, for sure. Trina & I used to recommend the restaurant to the hotel guests when we worked at the Hampton Inn a decade ago.

Saturday, we celebrated Jeff's 33rd birthday at Famous Dave's BBQ Restaurant down in Puyallup with Steve, Airi, Kim, Kat, David & Katt. I'm not a huge bbq rib fan but that's only because I find them so messy to eat. These ribs at Famous Dave's were SO delicious that the next time we go there, I just may get myself some ribs. On Saturday, I had a burger & it was mighty tasty! The fries weren't all that great, but the burger... Oh man! Drool....

Afterwards, we had a group shopping trip at Target. In a rather weird way, that was kinda fun to hang out with everyone at the store with everyone doing their own shopping. Some shopped for Christmas gifts while other shopped for their own personal items they needed at home. After the group shopping, we all came back to our place and watched a little VH1 I Love the 80's 3D. Talk about memories. Poor Katt... Maybe next time we'll watch some I Love the 90's.

I'm going to finish up watching another episode of Grey's Anatomy here in a second so I'm going to finish this post.

Today, I am thankful for:
1. Gas fireplace
2. Indoor heat
3. Generosity
4. Trotters
5. Red Door Revealed

They Say It's Your Birthday (The Beatles)

My 31st birthday was on Friday. Don't quite know what to say about it. My birthday has never been made to be an occasion where the day was all about me. So, today, in my "adult" years, I still feel it's like an ordinary day.

On Friday, I put in a half day at work & then Kat & I went & did our annual volunteering for the folks who make Holiday Stockings for homeless children possible. This volunteering event is a two-day process where on Friday, all the donated items gets sorted into age-appropriate tables & day two is when the real chaos begins - when the actual stockings get stuffed with the items. Then, let's not forget that throughout the year is when all the REAL work gets done - making (yes, making) over 2,000 stockings & collecting donations (money & stuff). For the past 3 years, I've only helped sort & stuff the stockings; for this upcoming year, I want to help making stockings & do some collections at work. This year, Kat & I were co-captains of the table for 4-5 years olds & we quickly ran out of hats & scarves. So, next year, I want to put a collection box out at work for those items.

After volunteering, Kat & I met up with folks in the Southcenter area for dinner at Claim Jumpers. While the spinach-artichoke dip was mighty tasty, I could have done without the rest of my meal (turkey supper). It was just 'okay'. Thank you, Trina, for my warm jammies. I'm wearing them right now. I love 'em & you're gonna love yours, too. I guarantee it.

I got THE best birthday present in the mail when I got home Friday night: Our marriage certificate. I've been waiting on that sucker so I can go get my name changed finally. Woo!! I'll probably take a day off this week to get that done. Though, I'm told I still need to work on my new signature. That's going to be a tough one to 'perfect' as I've been signing my scribble for so long now & I've grown to really like it.

My stamp camp was moved from yesterday to today & I'm still not quite done with my cards they're making. David, Katt & Randy are coming over to watch the Seahawk game today & I'm making a (pampered chef recipe) chicken enchilada ring & (tupperware recipe) guacamole. So, I better step away from the computer & get those things done.

Today, I am thankful for:

1. Ovens that work

2. Friends who celebrate my (non)birthday with me

3. Wine

4. Easy camp cards

5. Volunteers

Here I Go Again (Whitesnake)

Earlier today I started another blog to go along with my Stampin' Up!® business. I figured once I have my last name changed, I'm going to have to (eventually) order new supplies, including business cards. On my new business cards I'll reference my new blog, jenstamps.blogspot.com. On my new blog, I'll list SU company specials & any I'm offering for that month. I'll show pictures of my camp cards & projects. I'm hoping to somehow have a calendar on there too, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. More code to learn & learn to manipulate. Hmmm.... I'm guessing the calendar won't happen anytime soon.


Tonight, my company had our annual dinner at the Hall at Fauntleroy. Though there was a fairly small turn out, it still turned out pretty nice, I think. Dinner was mighty tasty - mixed fruit, caesar salad, chilled grilled veggies, meat & veggie lasagna, chicken skewers & dinner rolls. Dessert consisted of some chocolate cake/brownie of which I had none. I was busy gambling courtesy of West Coast Entertainment. How it was set up, each employee was to get $30,000 to play with & they did a raffle drawing at the end of the evening where based on how much money you had left over determined how many raffle tickets you got. I went through my $30k, Linda's $30k & Doug's $30k (Linda & Doug don't gamble, even if it's pretend money). However, as part of the regular raffle done throughout the evening, I was the lucky recipient of a gift certificate to get my nails done at some place in Tukwila. Woo!!

Tomorrow is my Tastefully Simple home party. I made 5 of the dips tonight in prepping for the party tomorrow afternoon. The directions I had for making these dips was to use regular mayo, sour cream & cream cheese. I used non-fat/low-fat mayo & sour cream. When I taste tested off the spoon, I thought they tasted rather scrumptious. I'm really happy about this because many of the ladies coming to my party are watching their weight in one way or another. How could I expect to sell this stuff if you're only supposed to use the full fat creamy white stuffs?

Could this possibly be my shortest post yet? I think so!!

Today, I am thankful for:
1. Mary Kay
2. Mickey
3. Craps
4. Free fun
5. Veggies