Happy New Years!!

I hope that all of you have the best year ever!

Today is a nice sunny but very cold day here in Missouri but I am so happy that there isn't any snow on the ground!

Last night I tried to watch "Red Dawn" from NETFLIX but the disc was so scratched that it wouldn't play. I went online and told them about it and they are sending me a fresh copy as soon as they can. I really like NETFLIX and I'm so glad that my oldest son talked me into it. I only get one channel out here in the country and it can get a bit boring. Sometimes there are two other channels I can get in but they are pretty fuzzy at best when they do. Renting movies from town is a mess because it is 50 miles round trip and I really don't like the late return fees at all. This isn't a paid advertisement at all. Just wanting to share a good thing with you.

Another good thing I would like to share with you is my love for Sees Candies!!! I grew up in Southern California and Sees Candies was the only boxed candy that we had in our house. We were poor so we didn't have it often but we always had it at Christmas. Friends and Family all knew and shared our love for Sees and if they would buy it for us. Then when I got older I found that I could go to the store and just buy a few pieces and it didn't cost so much (at one time) plus they gave you a FREE piece! Now, that's how to do business! The free one would be what they had on special and if you hadn't tried it before, what a great way of finding out if you like it or not! I grew up on "Nuts and Chews" and thought that the "Cream Centers" were yucky (because that is what Mom thought) but, when I was able to pick them out myself I found that my favorite was the "Cream Centers" and although I have always liked the milk chocolate the best the dark chocolate was perfect on certain flavors. I love, love, love, Sees Candies!!!!

Winter Fog

The day after Christmas I looked out and saw fog coming up off of the snow! It was beautiful and I don't think I have ever seen this before. I ran outside with my camera and started taking pictures hoping to be able to get the whiffs of fog floating around but so far I don't have the camera experience for it. I just got a new Nikon 40 and I am fully in love with it but it, not so much with me. It insists that I read the book or it won't do what I want it to do. Years ago I was able to take awesome pictures with my SLR film camera but I have long forgotten all of that. Getting old really sucks the memory right out of me. Damn it! I really think that everything is filed away somewhere in my brain but because I don't focus on any one thing I can't find the file. I just have way too many hobbies and I have let some of them go by the way side, like stained glass, cross stitch, candy making, plaster painting, candle making, crocheting, knitting and I am sure there are others that I have forgotten all about. The bad thing is I still make soap and body products, work on family history, sew (not very often), and take pictures and with doing so many things it is very hard to be a "master of one". I think I just want to know how to do everything. Hum, is it pride or boredom that causes one to want to know everything? I also look up history a lot on the net.

How did I get into all of that just by wanting to post some pictures of fog?

Here are the pictures:

This is my back yard. Can you see the fog floating around?

That is the area of my once frozen sewer. It is running nicely now. Thank you very much.

This is across the road from me. The road was too ice for me to cross it without falling on my butt so, being the chicken I am I stayed safely in my yard and snapped way. Neighbors were driving past me giving me a little wave kind of like they didn't know if they should acknowledge me standing there taking pictures of nothing. lol

Hey, can you see the cow standing in the fog next to the tree? I think it was getting ready to start charging me for being a model so I moved on

to the corn fields behind me. Can you see the mouse? Just kidding. I'm sure there's one there somewhere but I bet he's snug in his little home with the wife and kids around a little fire place eating lots and lots of corn.

Christmas Eve!

Oh, Man, have I been sick! It is just a cold but even with all the medicine my doctor loaded me up on I still had four very bad days.

Let me start with Wednesday. My work week starts on Thursday and I work every other Sunday. On my weeks that I have Sunday off I try to sign up to work on Wednesday if they need help. I was lucky and they needed me to work. I was starting to feel ill at that time. Once I got to work it turned out that they didn't need any extra people but they weren't ready to send anyone home yet. I asked the boss when he planned on letting someone go home because I was getting sick and wanted to try to see the doctor. He was very understanding and told me he would have someone there to take my place right away and he did and I got an appointment and a shot, 2 pills and nose spray! With as sick as I ended up being I am so grateful to have been able to see the doctor and get started on the meds so soon.

Then on Thursday we had snow on the ground and then got lots of ice on top of it. Snow under ice is so much better than snow on top of ice because you can break the ice and get to the snow and be able to walk, but still, ice is not good. Five miles of the road that I drive home on is called a "roller coaster" road and there is no way around it for me. I live on that road. Everyone, including me, was worried about me driving on that road and if I would make it home or not. I was thinking I might need to get a room at the motel but I really couldn't afford it so I was going to try to go home. When I got to my car my son's best friend was sitting in his truck parked length wise in front of my car waiting for me to tell me to spend the night at his house. I gladly followed him home. He even scraped the half inch of ice off of my windows! When we got to his house his poor wife was laying on the couch, sick. I have stayed at their house before and I know I am welcome but it has been a few years since I have needed to. He and I used to work together but I went to a different department and I now work different days and hours than he does but he worked that night and decided to leave three hours early in order to catch me. They gave me their son's room to sleep in and they woke him up and had him sleep on the couch. The only thing he asked was if school was called off and it was and he was happy. His room is decorated in Red and blue for the Cardinals and his collection is displayed in a case that his dad built for him and it was awesome. In fact their whole house is awesome. They also have a little girl that is so cute she is going to be a heart breaker. I worry about my grandsons..... lol. They have 2 very well behaved dogs that my very unbehaved dogs need to take lessons from. When I got up they made coffee for me and we had breakfast and visited and I didn't want to leave to go to work! They told me to come when ever I wanted and that I am welcome to wake them up and spend the night any time I don't think I can make it home. I really love them!

Friday I started to feel sick but I worked the whole night. It wasn't good because one of my friends got on my nerves and she got abused by me most of the night. It was awful. When I am sick I seem to want to fight. When I'm not sick I see things a lot differently. I will apologize to her when we go back to work. She knows that I am not like this usually so I am sure she has already forgiven me. People were telling me not to go home that night but I hate to be away from home so I tried it anyway. The roads were covered but had been treated so I made it home. I couldn't get into my driveway though. I thought that since I couldn't get into my driveway I would just go to my other driveway and drive across my yard and park in front of my house on the yard. No problem. I couldn't believe it! I couldn't even drive on my yard the snow and ice were so thick. So, I backed out of there and just parked in the road in front of my driveway. Getting to the house was hard to do too because I have to go up a hill and I had to step very hard to break through the ice for each step and make sure that I wasn't still standing on a sheet of ice. I made it in the house and my doggies were very excited to see me. I always leave them with lots of food and water just in case I can't make it home.

On Saturday we had to do "clean up" and I was very, very sick by then. I thought about calling in but I thought we would be able to get it done quickly and get out. The roads were covered again but had been treated so I didn't have any trouble. It turned out that we had to do a lot of extra cleaning and I wasn't doing well being around all of the fumes so the boss let me go home. When I got home I wasn't able to do anything but sleep.

Sunday, sleep and eat anything in sight. When I am sick I never feel full and I just want to eat and eat and eat (that is when I am not sleeping). I had made some of my chicken hominy soup and it was good.

Monday, still sick. Waiting for my new Nikon D40 camera to be delivered by UPS but I was afraid that the roads were too bad for him to get here. He didn't show up.

Tuesday, feeling much better. Yeah! I realize that I need to go to the grocery store for a few things and worry about the UPS man arriving before I get back. Ran into a neighbor and we visited for awhile and when I got home there was a note on my door! It had a phone number on it and I called and asked if I could meet the driver someplace and get my package. The lady in the office called him and he called me back and we made arrangements for me to pick my package up at a store about 10 miles away. He laughed and told me if I wanted he could bring it to me on Wednesday and I told him "No way!" I wanted that package. He told me that the reason I didn't get it on Monday was because it had been on the wrong truck. I trust UPS to deliver to me but I can't get FedEx to come out here without lots of calls and actually filing a complaint or two. I guess I am at the end of his route and he doesn't want to come out here. When I was talking to my neighbor he was telling me that another neighbor was waiting for a package from FedEx and they asked him to come an pick it up, the drive is over an hour away! Crazy FedEx people. Well, back to my camera. I love it and I recommend it to anyone that is looking for one.

Today, I am making lots of candy for my family and friends. Anyway, that is what I have planned.... If I hadn't been sick all of this candy would have been made already. Tonight I will be visiting with some of my neighbors and for Christmas I will be going up to visit my sons.

Lip Balm

You remember I told you that I won Bees Wax from here: http://bodynaturalsoap.blogspot.com/

Well, I just finished making lip balm with it and it is so yellow and beautiful! I can't wait for you to see it!

I won!

I won a wonderful gift basket of goodies for my feet from Heather at "One Bubble at a Time".

Check out her blog here:
http://twinbirch.blogspot.com/

I have been pretty lucky lately. I won bees wax, a gift basket of foot goodies and the Power Ball. Yep, I won $4 on the Power Ball lottery, my prayers have been answered. I guess just praying to win the lottery might not work out the way we want. Details! You have to give details! So when you pray to win the lottery don't just ask to win it. You have to say something like "Please, let me win the BIG lottery prize" or something like that. I already know that I don't know how to pray for the big win so if you have any suggestions on what to ask for please let me know.

Exercise - it's good for you

Our local fitness center had a special of 10% off for one day only and my best friend pressured me into joining. She goes there all the time and she wants me to go with her (not that I in any way need to get in shape. ha!). She took me around and showed me how to use the equipment and it felt good to do something that is good for me. I am kind of short and the machines there are made for taller people and I found one that the seat couldn't be adjusted and I could tell by looking at it that if I squeezed myself down into the seat that I would never be able to pull myself up to get out of it. I also could see that if I sat in the seat (as apposed to on the back of the seat as I was doing) I would not be able to reach to do the exercise that machine provided. I was very content siting on the back of the seat doing "curls" with the lightest weight they had. My friend though wasn't having any of it. She kept telling me to sit down. It went a little like this:

Her: sit down

Me: I can't

Her: sit down

Me: I can't

Her: sit down

Me: Ok, shit. I'll try.

Me: Uh, I can't reach.

Her: Get up

Me: I can't

Her: Get up

Me: I can't! Give me your hand. Help me out of here.

She is messing with something and not paying any attention to me.

Me: Give me your hand and help me out of here.

Still nothing.

Me: Damn. I'm going to have to fall to the side onto the floor to get out if you don't help me out of here.

Silence and no hand, she just stands there looking at me.

I said, Bitch! (with a huge grin, she is tall and in fantastic shape. Don't want to piss her off)

And then I rolled out of the seat and my head and shoulders are on the floor and my ass and legs are in the air and slowly sliding down to the floor. It's a good thing I have a good sense of humor or I would have never gone back again. Plus, I doubt that anyone was watching. I'm sure they are all so busy with their workout that they aren't paying any attention to the grey haired old lady stuck in the curling machine. I was so wrong. When I got on my feet and looked around I saw that everyone in the gym are laughing. Most are trying to be quiet about it but one very athletic woman is not shy about letting me know that this was the funniest thing she has seen in a long time. You are welcome. I do what I can to please. Sheesh.

I will pay her back. I don't know where I don't know when but I will pay her back!

Keen Giveaway on Absolutely Bananas

Absolutely Bananas is having an absolutely fabulous giveaway on Keen shoes and bags! Just go to her blog and she will tell you all about it.

http://www.absolutelybananas.com/2008/12/giveaway-have-your-way-with-keen.html

I won Bee's Wax!

I got lucky today and because of that some of you are lucky too. I just won 2 oz of fresh organic Bee's Wax from Sha-Marie at "My Adventure With Soap" http://bodynaturalsoap.blogspot.com/
She was very generous and gave away 2 prizes because her son pulled 2 names out of the hat. What a nice woman!
The reason some of you got lucky too is because I will now be able to make a lot of lip balm!

"Watch for Deer"

"Watch for deer! They're moving"

That is something you hear a lot when you live in the country. I usually counter with "To your town I hope!" which in turn just ends up with me getting a "look". You know, the one where they really aren't so sure of your IQ and really wondering if you actually have one.

You see, I am relatively new to country living since I grew up in Southern California and just moved out here in the early 90’s but I have learned to always watch for deer. My drive to work is 25 miles and only about 10 are on a state highway. Most of my drive is on county roads and there are days when I only see one or two cars until I get to the highway. Even the highway isn’t very busy. I absolutely love it!
After leaving work at midnight I ran into a co-worker at Wal-Mart and he told me to “Watch the deer. The weather is changing and they’re moving.” I thought to myself that I never stop watching for deer.
After leaving Wal-Mart I was driving down the highway listening to oldies on the radio and singing along when a police car that was parked on the other side of the road turned on his flashing lights and sounded his siren enough to get my attention. I do what every normal Southern Californian girl would do in that situation, I panic and can’t figure out if I need to pull over to the side of the road or slow down or what? What do you do when a parked cop flashed his lights and sounds his siren but stays parked? I slowed down to 35, turned my blinker on, and started to pull over to the side of the road (you’re supposed to do that when the flashing lights and sirens are coming. Aren’t you?), then I decided that since he was just sitting at the side of the road I didn’t need to pull over so I pulled back onto the road. I couldn’t figure out what was going on and I franticly looked around and then I noticed he was spot lighting something along the side of the road (on my side) and when I got there I saw the rump of about the largest deer I have ever seen! Of course, I wouldn’t have even thought about pulling over if he hadn’t of done what he did. Thankfully when I started to pull over it was quite a ways from where the deer was laying. I decided he was waiting for someone to come and pick it up and was warning drivers of the problem (I drove past it the next day and it was still there, I wonder how long the officer sat there). About a half a mile up from there I saw a smaller doe that had been hit lying on the side of the road and it surprised me to see two dead deer so close together. (Where was her officer with the spotlight?) Once I got onto the county roads I saw seven deer and most of them were stopped at the side of the road just waiting for me to go by before they crossed. They are so polite.

Contest alert!!!

I have been sending out e-mails telling my friends about awesome contests I come across on the blogs I read but, now that I have my own blog I am only going to post them here. That way, if you read my blog you will know about the contests. If not. Well, it's your loss, baby. (Is that from a movie? Or am I just being a smart ass?)

The two blogs that are linked to here are giving away Wii and or Wii Fit and all you have to do is leave a comment. Also, if any of you win you have to leave a comment here and let the rest of us know!

http://blogs.chron.com/goodmombadmom/2008/11/wii.html

http://www.happykatie.com/dailies/2008/12/wiis-make-people-happy----win-one-of-your-own.html?cid=141199772#comments

Now, get to posting and good luck!