We had a wonderful Christmas. Very relaxing and so much food!
Hubs and I don’t give each other gifts, so until we went to my parents house in the afternoon, we had a couple of hours to burn in the morning. And, when you don’t have gifts to open first thing in the morning, you lay on the ground and take lots of pictures!
Gift opening was a good time. My mom got a very unexpected and thoughtful gift from my brother and sister-in-love:
The week before Soldier deployed, he and Chelsey had pictures taken on the beach. For Christmas, they framed one of the pics. Aren’t they cute?
Ever wonder where I get my laugh from?
Notice the big black eye on the Mothership? Yea. She fell in the parking lot at the grocery store last Tuesday. She conked her head on the pavement and the next day she had a big shiner. Here’s a close up (I promised her I’d wait to post this until it looked a little better. it looked HORRIBLE the couple of days right after it happened):
Poor Mama Mia!
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and loved having Shennie in town to celebrate with us!
December 26th, 2007
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Jessica |
Life |
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(Click to view full size)
December 25th, 2007
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Jessica |
Life |
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From the associated press:
“BOSTON — What was supposed to be a festive New England Christmas tradition has turned sour for two former friends who are taking their fight over a $200,000 winning lottery ticket to court.
Brenda White, 55, of Plaistow, N.H., won the $200,000 on a Massachusetts State Lottery $5 scratch ticket appropriately called “Bah Hum Bucks” during a Yankee swap party on Dec. 15 in Haverhill.
In a Yankee swap, participants have the option of either keeping a gift they choose, or swapping for a gift selected by someone who preceded them.
White swapped for the lottery ticket originally selected by Franco Sapia, 39, of Derry, N.H.
Before scratching the ticket, she promised to split any winnings with Sapia, according to a complaint Sapia filed in Essex Superior Court. She didn’t, and Sapia is claiming half the jackpot in his lawsuit, saying there were several witnesses to the promise.
A judge has agreed to freeze the jackpot until the matter is resolved.”
Seriously? You can’t make off-the-cuff comments to anyone anymore! After they pay between 28-39.6% in federal taxes, plus any applicable state taxes and probable penalties for failure to make estimated tax payments during the year, they’ll spend a good portion of their after-tax earnings going to court.
Depending on how the judge rules, even if they are ordered to split the earnings, each could end up paying taxes on the ENTIRE amount (the IRS sees “sharing” as your choice and therefore can tax you on the entire amount even if you’re giving a portion to someone else).
After all is said and done, they’ll be lucky if they walk away with $30,000/piece.
December 24th, 2007
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Jessica |
Life |
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My irrational thought for the day (yesterday):
While shopping at the Jewelry and Handbag outlet, I saw the cutest bag. It was green and pink and was patterned much like a Vera Bradley purse. It had all kinds of pockets that I would find very useful. It was only $20 so I wanted to snag it and use it as my efficiency bag.
After further inspection, I realized it was actually a diaper bag– complete with a removable changing pad and all.
My next thought was: I could totally turn this into a laptop bag!
December 23rd, 2007
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Jessica |
Life |
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We get some of the cutest Christmas cards from our friends, I hate keeping them to ourselves. So, I decided to post them!
Good friend from work, Arlene and her husband, Kirk
College friends, Ryan and Debbie
Madelyn, Kendall and Roger’s daughter (Kendall was my college roommate and sorority sister)
Craig’s cousin, Eric and his wife Katherine
College friends (and sorority sister) Elizabeth and Shelly and their kids, David and Jack
Coworker and friend, Amy, and her husband Jon and baby Abby
Good college friends (and sorority sister) Sara and Dwayne’s baby Brayden
High school friend, Jeff, and his wife Karen and their new baby Xavier
Our niece, Searcy!
Update: And Max, Heather’s dog (Heather was a sorority sister, but we never were in college together, she graduated before I started, but we’re good friends now!):
I love receiving Christmas cards so I’ll keep posting them as they arrive!
December 17th, 2007
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Jessica |
Life |
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Coop and his first snow proved very entertaining! He wouldn’t walk in the snow, he liked to prance and jump. It was too funny!
Enjoy our babes first Snow!
Coop has learned how to get the newspaper for us in the morning, but when we got home yesterday from being in KY and there was no less than 4 inches of snow in our driveway, Coop was really confused about what to do with the paper (it didn’t help that Hubs and I were standing in the garage waiting for the paper and Coop normally brings the paper to the front door).
December 17th, 2007
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Jessica |
Life |
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The flood of Christmas cards into our mailbox has begun and there are some early winners to report:
The “Most On the Ball” Award (for the first card we received) goes to: Roxanna and Matt
The “Cutest card as of December 16th” Award goes to: Ben and Amy (keep in mind we’ve been gone all weekend so I’m sure we received more cards, especially the one from our niece, Searcy)…
The “Longest Distance to Travel as of December 16th” Award (for the card we’ve received from the farthest distance) goes to: tie between Ben and Amy and Shennie (both live near Boston, I’m Googling each place and see who technically is farther). OK, according to Google maps, Ben and Amy live 1,176 miles away and Shennie is 1,153 miles away! Ben and Amy win again!
The “Most money received in the card” Award goes to- No one. This award is still up for grabs! I expect stiff competition for this, though, so better get on it.
December 16th, 2007
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Jessica |
Life |
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Me to hubs (handing him the TiVo remote after I forgot to fast forward during a commercial): “here, you’re better at this than me”
Hubs (to himself): “Translation: Good night Hubs. I’m going to sleep even though it’s only 8pm. Enjoy watching the shows by yourself. Remember not to delete them as I’ll make you watch them again with me at a later date and time when I’m not as tired.”
*******************
While making the bed the other night:
Me to hubs: “Good gravy! You stole ALL the covers last night.”
Hubs: “Yummmm. Gravy.”
Me: “I’m serious. It gets cold at night! Don’t it?”
Hubs: “Yummmm. Donut.”
********************
December 11th, 2007
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Jessica |
Life |
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I am on fire!
I’ve probably accomplished more in the past 3 days than I have in the past 3 months! I don’t know what it is, but I’ve got a fire in me that won’t go out! My house is clean! My kitchen is clean. My living room is clean. My dining room is clean. My bedroom is clean. My office at work is clean!
Just about the only thing that isn’t clean is my car- and, well, I’m working on that.
I’ve been cleaning a room every night or two for the past week and have really got our house looking good!
It’s amazing how much more I get accomplished when things are clean.
Saturday morning I volunteered for the local food pantry and served all-you-can-eat pancake breakfasts at Applebees in town. It was so fun! We had a little over 250 people come in during the breakfast! I originally volunteered to bus tables, but approx 30 seconds into the breakfast, I was seating people, taking orders, getting beverages, delivering food…then I bussed. I always wondered if I could have been a good waitress and now I know I can!
A few things I learned, though:
I prefer tables closer to the kitchen- my arms can only handle so much weight
I am terrible at remembering drink orders. Three adults sat down. One ordered an OJ, one ordered ice water and decaf coffee, and the other ordered milk. Halfway back to the kitchen, I could remember ANY of the order. It was ridiculous 
Snapped a few pictures during all of the craziness.
After the breakfast, I came home and started organizing the outside christmas lights. Hubs was with a friend who was changing the breaks on his truck, then he stopped by Wal-Mart on the way home to grab some decorating accessories. About 10:30am, we began hanging lights. At 6:00pm and TWO more Wal-Mart trips later, we finished. RIDICULOUS! There’s still one section of the house that requires more lights, but for the most part, it’s done. Here are some pics of the lunatics on our roof.
Sunday morning we woke up to find the newly hung christmas lights NOT working. SNAP!
Sunday I went to the grocery store and later that afternoon I spent several hours baking. I made 2 dozen cookies (peanut butter and chocolate chip), rice krispie treats, and brownies. During the baking, I cleaned the kitchen. And folded two loads of laundry.
Today, I came home for lunch and ordered Gentry’s Christmas gift online. Should arrive before the end of the week.
Tonight Hubs made Spaghetti for dinner and we finished decorating outside. I also vacuumed and did dishes.
See what I mean? En fuego!
Tomorrow night, Martha, Patrick and little baby Owen are coming over for dinner. I’m making pot roast, potatoes, and veggies. Martha is brining cake for dessert.
What a great couple of days.
Oh yea, did anyone see Dr. Oz endorse Vitamin D on Opie recently?! huh? Huh?
December 3rd, 2007
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Jessica |
Life, Vitamin D |
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