Black Friday

I think the "tradition" of getting up way to early (on a day off), waiting in (long) lines in the cold, is a pretty awful one. I don't do it. Well...I did it once. 2006 I got the Target add and they had a great "Early bird" sale on a few items that were on my list so I did the getting up early thing. Last year I was alone with the Girls and this year I wasn't feeling it. But as the day went on I decided to drive to South Carolina (less Sales Tax) and check out a few sales. I was successful for Christel-Ann. I found the object of her desire: a CD Player that she can mount on a wall (slim design). It is also a Radio and an Ipod docking station. Now I am not sure that it will play her Shuffle, but will see. And the best part: I paid less than $50 for it! I found the CD she is asking for and one for Emma-Louise and a CD with Christmas songs to add to our collection. A new decoration for the front yard and then the hunt was on for some "Christmas clothes" for the Girls. I don't do all the miniature formal gowns, we don't have fancy events to attend with our children, and spending that kind of money for pictures? Don't think so. Anyway, Target had nothing suitable, on to the Outlets, where I found less than formal clothes, but again nothing they would wear regularly. I am not quite sure what I was looking for, but I wanted something not necessarily the same thing but style/color wise it needed to match. No such luck. What I found for Emma-Louise wasn't cool enough for Christel-Ann, and really I didn't find anything for Christel-Ann that I thought she'd wear. Eventually I gave up on my idea of red/green something and found some really cute clothes at Old Navy. On Sale. The colors match the Blog. Pink and Green. And plain red shirts. Now how difficult was that? Plain red shirts.
The rest of Black Friday was spent decorating the house for Christmas. Photos should be coming later today.

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Thanksgiving Meme

1.Do you cook all or part of the meal? Every single bite of the meal will be cooked by either me or someone who is coming over.
2. Do you eat at home or go to someone else’s? This year we are staying home and are having company over. But there is no method to our madness. Last year we went to California, we have eaten at the Dining facility and in Restaurants. It just depends...
3.Describe your perfect bite?Mashed potatoes, , stuffing, tiny bit of turkey and cranberry sauce on top. PERFECT!
4.White meat or dark? White only.
5. Stuffing with giblets or without? Seriously? Disgusting! Oh maybe that's the reason why I only cook Turkey breasts and not the whole bird!?!
6.Anything you won’t eat at the Thanksgiving meal? No, if I put it on the menu it means that I like it and will eat it!
7.Carve Mr. Gobble at the table or serve on a platter? On a platter!
8.Favorite pie? Pumpkin Streusel Pie
9. Formal or Country China? Formal
10.Your menu:
Turkey
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
Sweet Potato Casserole
Rolls with Butter
Green Bean Casserole
Stuffing
Cranberry Chutney
Cranberry Sauce
Ham
Orange Jalapeno Glaze
Pumpkin Streusel Pie
Pear Cake
Pumpkin Mousse Cake
11. Favorite leftover? Everything
12. Extended family, friends, both or just the immediate family for dinner? Just the immediate family and friends this year. But the more the merrier!
13. Do you dress up a bit or just dress casual? We usually dress "nice" but casual. This is one holiday that's about family relaxing and enjoying, not being prim and proper for me.
14. After dinner, do you go to the latest movie or watch football on TV or just a turkey induced snooze? The guys will surely be watching football, however no TV during Thanksgiving Dinner!
15. Do you watch the Macy’s Parade? Always have it on in the background.
16. Christmas decorations up before or after? No Christmas until the day after!
17. Black Friday shopping or sleep in? This year: sleeping in and then it's time to decorate for Christmas and bake Christmas cookies with the Girls! No Black Friday shopping this year.
18. Any special Thanksgiving tradition? Not really. We just go with the flow.
19. Favorite thing about Thanksgiving? It’s such a wonderful day and usually surrounded by family and loved ones! I do most of the prep the day before. The meat, rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing are the only things that need prep that day. We spend it playing, talking, relaxing and enjoying each other’s company. I LOVE THANKSGIVING!
20. Favorite Thanksgiving memory? I don't think I have one special one....every Thanksgiving is my favorite Thanksgiving. Well except for Thanksgiving 1997, that went seriously wrong.

Christmas Wishes

What are the kids asking for this year?
Christel-Ann would like to have her own computer, a CD Player that she can put against the wall, several CD's, a few books, beading stuff, clothes, a subscription to National Geographics Jr to name a few of her "ideas".
Emma-Louise is asking for: everything her sister put on her list and a Nintendo DS, like her sister has.

The Amazing Race

The world stands still on Sunday night.
20:00, Chanel 6, I am watching "The Amazing Race".
It would be so totally awesome to be able to participate.
My Sis'. I think we would totally rock. Who knows, maybe I will apply for the 14th season. Maybe we will get picked. Sis' be ready!
There are such adverse teams. I admire the mother and son team. No question, I would go with my Papi in a heartbeat. My Mom? Never ever. By the way, she would never ever want to do it either.

Promise

We promise that we will keep our "Day Jobs". But we do a really good job laying tiles.
After we ripped out the old flooring. Old...our house is new...we prepped the floor and laid out the tiles, figured out how they had to be put down and then we got busy with the chalk line, mixing quickset, laying the first tiles, putting down the accent tiles, cutting tiles, mixing thinset, laying down more tiles, and the evening went on until it was 10pm and we decided to call it a night. Friday the work continued, and Saturday I decided I had enough. I skipped out on Paul, who had only the most difficult to cut tiles left to do. My friend and I went to "Christmas in the South" Bazaar where way too creative people sold their mostly overpriced merchandise that had a Christmas spin to it. One of my favorite: wooden rockers. I dared to inquire about the price. $899.00 and up, I quickly got up and wished that fella a good and prosperous life! The there were the signs, coasters and wall hangings with beautiful and funny sentiments, lots of jewelery, some food, hideous sweaters, great toys, and lots of things Christmas, making me wish I was just a little more creative. Hummingbirdfeeders made of interesting old bottles, windchimes made of old silverware and talking about old bottles (think wine), they seem to be the "latest and greatest" reshaped into a flat surface, they were sold as cheeseboards.
Today the 4 of us took the day off and spent it at nearby Ft McAllister with our friends Alex and Cassie. We went one a hike through the woods, including me jumping on Paul's back when an Armadillo spooked me, Emma-Louise getting a "big hug" by a Staffordshire Terrier (yes I was terrified) and Christel-Ann doing all of this with her pneumatic walking boot. Back at the house we enjoyed Cassie's homemade chicken noodle soup, the girls watched a really cute movie about fairies and leprechauns in ireland featuring Whoopie. Cassie and I enjoyed the fireplace and Alex took Paul for a bikeride.
Tomorrow our project will be closer to finished as we will grout the area and by the end of the week the grout will be ready to be sealed and we can move all of our things back and go on living until we have another great idea for a project. The new rule is as follows: don't start a project unless you are prepared to spend twice the money and at least twice the amount of time completing it!
By next week-end you may get to see a picture. Don't hold your breath, Thursday is Thanksgiving. The girls and I will be off on Wednesday, doing some of the cooking/baking that can be done ahead of time.

Runway

A couple of years ago a runway extension project of Runway 9 was planned, Runway 9 is the main east-west Runway at the Savannah Hilton Head International Airport(which, by the way, has no scheduled commercial travel going to international destinations at this time). The Runway needed to run through a small family plot, and when the family of the deceased was contacted about relocating the graces, they denied. Those graves are of the original owners of the property that has now become the airport. The gave markers remained exactly where they were. Runway 9 is the only runway in the United States (worldwide?) that has grave markers in it.

I find that story fascinating and really need to find one of our pilots and hitch a ride to take a picture!

Sneak Preview

That is the accent tile.

We opened one of these last week.....

It started simple. We painted the kitchen. Same color, just washable paint. Then we had leftover paint and the hallway needed some touch ups. We had just a little bit of paint leftover...just enough for the small entryway downstairs, when you first come in from the Garage. That was the project for Tuesday, Paul and the Girls were off, I went to work. By break time Paul called to inform me that he was taking off the door frame. We used to have a door at the bottom of our stairs, but never really liked it, it was always in the way, we took the door off in January and never regretted it and were not planning on putting it back. Once the door frame was off, Paul had to get drywall etc to fix the wall. More paint because now he had a much bigger area to paint. AND: underneath the door frame there was not flooring. We were planning on tiling that area "eventually". Now we had to do it. And not just the entryway, but now we have to tile the entire area that has the Linoleum flooring. Shoe closet and the laundry room. That means I had to decide on tiles that I will like "forever". Research about the different kind of floor tiles, price comparison, what color grout to pick. We went to Home Depot and found a lot of tiles that were "out of the question". And I was certain that Granite was the right choice for us. Nancy (Coworker) suggested that I look on our Intranet Discount Page. Several businesses in the area give discounts to our Employees. I did and there was one wholesale flooring company that operates as a Club (think Sams/Costco etc) that offers free membership and 30% off the final price to GAC employees. Yesterday I asked a friend of mine who had recently finished a tiling project (and has learned some valuable lessons along the way) to give us her opinion. Natural stone/granite was quickly out of question...$20 a tile wasn't going to happen even after the discount. Pech. We did find a tile that both of us like and I got my heart set on an accent tile that we "have to have". While the can of worms is open, Paul will stack our washer and dryer and install more shelving in the laundry room. Since we are busy down there...why not? But please, please, please let that be it. I would really prefer not doing any home improvement projects during the Thanksgiving Holiday! I am hoping all will be complete next Sunday and I can post some pictures for everyone.

Back from the Bahamas

Do you know why 2 beautiful girls do that to their faces? Me either!



The three Ladies got their hair done. Definitely Different, maybe their way of preserving a little bit of the summer feeling.

Christel-Ann had an awesome time on her first cruise, and really enjoyed the Bahamas. The Girls had a great time together and they explored the ship, enjoyed unlimited food and drinks, a lot of entertainment and time spent together!

Election '08

Paul has exercised his right to vote per absentee ballot a while ago, so election day meant nothing to us, but the end to the political messages on radio and tv. And I am so glad that election day has come and is almost gone.

Both Girls had the day off from school and in the evening we started watching the election coverage. While I was in the kitchen cooking Christel-Ann would yell out certain states and who was in the lead. Emma-Louise was playing with her marbles in the kitchen.
Christel-Ann:"If it's up to Kentucky McCain will be our new president"
Emma-Louise:" John Wayne is our new president?"

That's all from me on the election '08.