Last night a couple of girls came over and we (or at least me) had a very nice time. I really learned a few things.

The one thing that we briefly discussed was how quickly things change, and the loss of formality.

Every Sunday as a child we would venture to my Grandparent's house. We'd be dressed for church (even if we skipped it, my grandfather would wear a full suit) and we ate off the good china. Every week... who does this anymore? Now (if you even own china, which I don't) you may bust the china out a couple few times a year...

Men used to wear suits to work. My one friend PF is an accountant and business owner and I know he rarely even wears a dress shirt. We sort of concluded that perhaps the public at large don't make assumptions based on appearance (uh, not if you watch Sex in the City) as much as they used to. Who wears suits everyday? What man owns more than 2? A CEO maybe.... the odd Realtor?

People used to dress up to travel on planes. Now TV segments are dedicated to showing consumers how to travel in comfort and practicality.

When I was little, I once wondered (after being scolded by my evil aunt) if one day I would prefer to sit up perfectly straight with ankles crossed. Well, I'm almost 35 and I rarely sit like a probably should...

So... is it perception, or have things really changed that much? I think perhaps both.

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The week-end has seemed to have escaped me. Where did it go? Let's review:

Friday: Billy had the boys over and I hung about, not really wanting to sleep at my mom's, (no heat upstairs), so I ended up in our room with the TV on... Billy had fun.

Saturday Billy took his mom out to shop for cars and she ended up ordering a new Ford Edge. Sweet. I'm trying to think of excuses to borrow it. So far I haven't come up with any.

I finished painting the office on Saturday, and it looks nice, it's a little darker than what we have, and *greener*. A little too green I think to do the entire house in... I think it would like nice in the bathrooms, we'll see I guess. I estimate to paint am 11 X 12 room from beginning to the end takes me 14 hours. There are only 2 touch ups, and then a few spots I need to fix with primer when the tape pulled the paint off. Super. So all in all worth it, and I'm planning my next room this week...

Last night our camping friends ventured our way and took us out to dinner in Essex. Who knew that Essex has a nice restaurant? DiVino was awesome and we had great food, conversation, wine and dinner, oh and they treated! How cool is that? They came back to our house after with their daughter and we had a few drinks and laughs. It was a great night.

Did I mention that it's frickin' freezin' outside? According to MSN, right now it is 10*F. That's cold. The wind chill makes it feel like -8*F. Brr. I haven't been outside yet today, (Billy did a coffee run, good man) but I have to go to (crinch) church later for Jake's confirmation, then over to MomG's for dinner.

Right now in Green Bay the actual temperature is -6*F and the wind chill makes it feel like -27*F. That's going to be one damned cold football game today! Brr!

Life is great, really!

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It's Friday, and the week flew by.

Yesterday I painted the ceiling, doors and trim of our office. So far, so good. We're trying a colour in here first to see if we like it enough to continue it throughout our house. There is one, possibly 2 more colours we'd like to try, we'll see how this colour works out. It goes on tomorrow while Billy is taking his mom out to test drive some Fords... I hope she buys the Edge and gives it to me, (just kidding, really I have a practically brand new Fusion... but those Edges are pretty sweet....)

Today I cleaned the house, which worked out great because:

1) I would have wanted to paint otherwise, and it's better if the trim and ceiling sit for an extra day before I tape everything up...

2) Billy is having the guys over tonight.

3) I think our camping friends are coming over tomorrow, as we're all going out to dinner for JB's birthday, can't wait, should be fun!

So, good to have a clean house.

Tonight I'm having dinner with Billy, Davey and BW. I'm going to have a couple of drinks then meander over to my mom's house and stay the night. I may try to sneak home later as we have the TV in our bedroom now to A) keep me entertained and B) block out the noisy boys. We'll see, did I mention that my mom has not turned her heat on upstairs yet? Did I mention that is supposed to be 12*F tonight? Yeah, I might sneak home...

It should be a great week-end!

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I noticed that I haven't posted anything for 3 days. How unlike me! Oh, where to begin...

1) I feel better, thank god

2) I've read 5 books already this year, that's what I might have been doing

3) I had a little visit with a resident of 'Crazy Town' on the week-end

4) The surprise birthday party went really well on Saturday night. It was a good time, and required an hour phone conversation a day later to recap the highlights

5) I can't believe that Indy lost. Poor Payton!

6) Dear Payton Manning,

See what happens when you don't try your hardest in the last week of regular play? I warned you! Maybe if you had a good game (and not looked so happy about the backup quarterback playing instead of you...) against Tennessee two weeks ago, you wouldn't be in that 'losing' frame of mind, and you would have beat San Diego on Sunday! Not to mention if you beat Tennessee, then Cleveland would be in the play-offs.... Are you consoling yourself knowing you won last year? Because your little brother is in the quarter finals? (That's what my husband thought...) I think you'd rather be playing on Sunday... So next year, play your hardest every game!

7) 2 kids slept over on Friday night. Myles and his friend. MacNZ went home at 1am (wasn't feeling well) and Jake ended up staying in Essex at a friend's house. I picked them up at the dance at 10, and although MacNZ warned me that there is a lot of traffic, there was a cop directing traffic! Over 200 kids attend this dance every month! Crazy!

8) I hope to make wonton soup this week

9) It's 9:17am, and I'm hungry

10) That's all folks!

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I'm feeling better, and looking forward to the week-end.

The kids (at least 2 of them) are sleeping over tonight. Actually we're getting off pretty easy because I'm picking them up from a dance at 10pm. Makes my evening easier...

Tomorrow night we are going to a surprise birthday party, which should be great, BUT, of course someone I try to avoid will be there. The problem is, you never know which version of her you're going to get! Sometimes normal, sometimes gushy, sometimes uber bitch faced.... you just never know. It keeps me on my toes I guess... there will be lots of people there to keep her away from me...

I'm grateful for feeling better today and to my husband who takes great care of me when I'm sick.

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Here are some holiday pics for your viewing pleasure...

This was Halia's holiday picture. I discovered from BW that I (we) are not the only childless couple that sends out holiday cards featuring a picture of our pooch. Good to know that we are not alone!

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Billy posing with MacNZ's pillow. I like his other face better!

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Myles, Kaitlyn, Jim and Terry on Christmas morning, oh and Rat too. 

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This is Rat the amazing drooling cat, (Gus lookalike) admiring the Christmas insanity. Rat hasn't a tail (t'was a very bad car accident) please don't tell him, he may get a complex about it. After his surgery my mom changed the spelling of his name to $$$Rhatt$$$ (the dollar signs are silent).

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Me and Madisyn on Christmas morning. One is certainly cuter than the other.

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Here lies Halia chewing on a bone amongst her Christmas booty. Spoiled dog!

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Billy and BoBo. We all had our pictures taken with BoBo. I bet you can guess what the bottam of this picture depicts... typical male! 

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Billy and Barry admiring the fancy dancing by Kiks, Jim or Beth.

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Kiki celebrating her boxing victory with Jim looking on in (perhaps envious?) in the background.

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Beth reveling in her boxing triumph. We kicked ass.

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Fun, fun, fun.

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Yesterday afternoon I was still recovering in bed and when Billy came in to check on me, I told him that I hated 2008. It ain't great.

I had a hang-over to beat all hang-overs, and I thought is was going to be a hang-forever because I felt mc'shitty until about 8pm. Yes, 8pm.

I must say that this New Years was absolutely fantastic. The night flew by! The dinner was exceptional, (if I do say so myself), the friends, the laughs, the games, the drinks, the snacks, the hot tub, (it was really windy and snowy...) everything. Best of all, Billy and I had a great time, and he totally helped out with food and cleaning up whilst I entertained... (watching me DDR is entertaining...)

Awesome!

This is why you don't Dance Dance with a cocktail:

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I also would like to thank my friends that came over. I hope that you had as good of a time as we did.

Lastly, (well nearly) I love our house. It is so perfect for what we do. We're able to all be in the same room, some boxing, or playing tennis while others are snacking and conversing. It works so well for us, and it makes me happy.

Now re: resolutions, I don't really have any that warrant reviewing. Be a good person, possibly attempt to earn some money, (l love having no pressure to do so...) be a better wife, daughter, friend, dog mom: read more, and spend less time watching TV... etc, etc, etc.

All the best to y'all.

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Christmas was great! I was spoiled rotten yet again! The friends, family and all that goes with the season was just perfect.

Billy bought me, (although we 'agreed' not to exchange gifts this year, and instead get a TV for the bedroom) a sweet Browns' Santa's hat, a Cleveland Browns' scarf and a Joshua Cribbs ball cap. Sweet. I received great clothes, some Lush bath bombs, (yummy) a futuristic herb garden, a booze dispenser (awesome, can't wait to use it on New Years..) a new DDR game, a mini crock pot, perfect for brie dip (yes!) a Rhodesian Ridgeback calender, a little hat, a couple of books, and more if you can believe it. I also learned what to do in case of a Reindeer attack! (whew!)

I think that everyone liked what we got them too. My mom loves her new monitor, and me thinks a certain husband may get one like it soon... The boys always like anything from West 49, and MacNZ is the easiest person in the world to please...

So obviously not only about the presents, it was fun at my mom's with all the kids. They had a great time, t'was a wee zany. At Mom G's we had a fantastic dinner and player a card game for several hours. It was a night of F bombs that will not soon be forgotten.

Life is so good, and I'm so lucky to have family, friends, and the necessary wherewithall to enjoy it all. I hope that y'all did too!

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Okay, I've got a lot to cover, so let's get started...

Last night's party was really good. Many of us met at a friends' house beforehand, and they put out a really nice spread of drinks and apps for us. Although I've occasionally mixed lime Perrier with vodka, I never thought of doing so with Orange vodka, and little slice of lime. It was a very mellow and delicious Cosmo type drink.

We were going to cab it to the club, but decided not to, as the cab company couldn't tell us when they could send a car, and it was getting pretty late. So Billy drove us downtown.

I was fairly mortified that Billy's boss put it on me to chose the wine for the evening. I really don't know wine at all, but everyone seemed pretty happy with what I chose. Thank God. Although the boss may not be that happy when the bill comes as the red was pretty expensive...

The Windsor Club has a great view of the Detroit skyline and Belle Ilse. The weather was coming in pretty good and the party broke up fairly early, but it was a really nice time.

I only had a glass and a half of wine so I drove the 5 of us back to J&S, and Billy had another drink and we decided to attempt to drive home as opposed to staying the night. This proved to be an excellent decision, as although it was freezing rain, this morning it was worse... Billy did have to drive into the city this morning, but he is assuredly less of a nervous navigator than I am... He is working now which Really Sucks.

For once, the Detroit media has seemingly not over exaggerated the storm we are having. It is really coming down and blowing. We've had about 6-7 inches so far, and more expected. Some counties getting the Lake Effect are even under blizzard warnings... yikes!

I will not discuss how I spent an hour this morning getting my mom's van unstuck, stuck then unstuck again in multiple snowdrifts. Suffice to say I was in a pretty pissy mood, AND my mom has come to the conclusion that attending church is not as important as her youngest (and most favorite) child's sanity... 'Nuff said, I'm over it, and now, with the exception of feeling bad that my husband is at work, I'm in an excellent mood.

Now for point form...

- I find the NLF pre-game coverage on FOX far superior to the coverage on CBS, and even ESPN. I prefer to watch the actual game on CBS, but lose my mind at the half or anytime that I have to hear Shannon Sharpe speak. That guy sends me around the bend!

- Why are they declaring this week's "game of the week" to be Jets at Patriots? The spread is like 26 points and it will not be very interesting. There are games that matter more than home field advantage, such as Buffalo at Cleveland, Jacksonville at Pittsburgh and Tennessee at Kansas City... anyways...

- It would be totally crazy to be at the Cleveland game today. They have almost 2 feet of snow by the end of today and wind gusts up to 50 mph. Insane! That will be a great game.

- All my cosy joggies today where still in the washing machine, leaving only my capri Eeyore joggies my only option save the Vols pajama bottoms which are in the trunk of the car and a little too cold to put on. My shins are chilly.

- I wish Billy has home. If he was here we could watch the game together, eat grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, have a nap, shovel the drive together, and end the night with left over Chinese and the Survivor finale.

- Halia is pouting over at MomG's, and apparently blaming her for the snow, and refusing to go outside. When pushed out the front door, (too much wind in the back) she stepped into a snow drift up to her belly and was not impressed. It was all too much for her, so she is now napping off her anger.

Well all in all, life is very good.

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It's Saturday morning and Billy is at work. That sucks.

Tonight is his Christmas party and it is always a good time. In the 6 years I've attended, it's been at Beachgrove once, and the other times it's been at Pointe West. Tonight it's at The Windsor Club, which I never heard of until recently. According to TOL, the food is fantastic, (she knows everything about those things... never underestimate the knowledge of TOL) and the location is right downtown, overlooking the river. (The best part of Detroit, some say, is the view from Windsor, and I couldn't agree more...)

We're going to a friend and co-worker's house first for some cheer, and that should be good. We're cabbing downtown, and depending on our level of intoxication, we may stay at said friend's house.

The smalled background issue is that it is supposed to snow tonight. However, Detroit news is famous for blowing any little change in weather way out of proportion. WAY. Like is we're expecting an inch of snow, they will break into broadcasting will alerts and warnings. In the summer if the UV index is high, we're reminded to wear sunscreen, seriously. I thought it was a normal thing, until I started paying attention to TV in Tennessee, where if it snows 6 inches truly everything shuts down, but they don't make a big deal out of it. So anyways...

Because we're located between Detroit and Toledo, often the Toledo forecast is more accurate, and they don't go nuts with dire warnings: South of Detroit (us) is expected to get more snow... 6-8 inches of snow is expected with blowing and drifting in Toledo, we'll see about that, usually when they predict that much we get less than 3. That's the general rule. 

It probably won't be like this:

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Now Cleveland is expected to get 1/2 inch of rain which will freeze, then 8-12 inches of snow on top. Sunday's game should be interesting... Do I wish I was there? I'm not sure...

I'm going to go and think about finishing up Christmas shopping, except for my brother John, as I have No Idea what to buy him aside from shrimp, yes I said shrimp.... 

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