It’s been so nice having Bobby off all week. Now I have to get used to the fact that he goes back to work Tuesday. We’ve been busy beavers around the house getting back to clean up and organization. I finished getting the Christmas decorations boxed on Thursday and we got all those boxes back to the attic yesterday. Bobby’s quest was to work in his garage as he’s wanted a nice clean garage for quite some time now. So this week he rented a storage unit to store some of the items we are no longer using like two lawn mowers, two wheal barrel type pieces, two blowers, the weed eater, an edger, a treadmill an office chair and a few other small items. It’s amazing how much room he has with all those items out of his hair. He still has some of his mother’s boxes to go through and sort out. I’m one who can just get rid of things without giving much thought but he’s a little more sentimental so I give him all the time he needs to sort through his things. After the first of the year, we’re going to make another run to Good Will to unload more stuff. And hopefully Bobby will have his nice clean garage very soon.

We’ve not only been working but we have also had our fair share of playing this week. We’ve gone out to dinner almost every night. Had breakfast at a wonderful French restaurant. Bobby took me to the mall the other day where we just strolled both floors at a snails pace. He enjoys letting me shop and he loves just hanging out with me while I look in all my favorite places. I love to hang out with him while he shops for tools or whatever manly thing he’s interested in. And we’ve played games, one of our favorite things to do almost every night. We’ve also enjoyed baking together; oh the calories are KILLING me! But I’ve got that base covered on my New Year resolutions list. Our time together means the world to me whether we are working or playing together, it’s been such a perfect week.

The outside lights are all taken down and I should have the rest of the decorations inside put away no later than tomorrow. I have a head start on the inside already and I may get a lot more done yet tonight. It’s amazing what a mess I can make during this process. It’s a job and one I like to get done as soon as Christmas is over.

Last night Bobby and I enjoyed ‘Ice’ at the hotel. Imagine a 14,000 square foot structure, kept at 9 degrees, did you get that,? 9 Freezing DEGREES!!! Filled with two million pounds of hand-carved ICE! The ice was carved into magical life-sized holiday monuments and sculptures by 40 artisans from Harbin China. There were a total of 1,400 LED lights frozen within the ice producing some really pretty lighting effects on the already beautiful carved ice. The attraction definitely kept us a chillin’. We were given parkas at the entrance to keep us warm but we brought our scarves and gloves from home to keep our hands and necks from freezing. As we passed through a themed portal, we left the last bit of sunny Texas behind. The ice presentation was definitely a freezing fantasy land, but not a place where we were comfortable spending the night or anything like that.

Can you tell by the end of our visit that our noses match Rudolph’s? Seriously, if we would have stayed in there any longer, I believe my nose would have snapped off. The rest of me was nice and warm considering I had 3 layers plus the parka they gave us, but my face came pretty close to freezing in there.

Ice was well worth the visit and we truly enjoyed all the beautiful displays of art.

We had such a wonderful Christmas season and took in quite a few fun activities. We’ve had some nice quality time together these last few days. For Christmas we had reservations at a beautiful Resort. We enjoyed a fabulous Christmas brunch in the gardens. The resort boasts their four-and-a half acres of atrium with lush indoor gardens and a river which streams through the entire area. The atrium is surrounded all the way around with hotel rooms. That was pretty awesome and Bobby declared that our next house will have to have an atrium. I can handle that. It’s hard to believe you’re actually inside but the comfortable room temperature reminded us that we were definitely not outside in the mid 30 degree weather. The resort kept us busy all day and through the evening hours. We enjoyed sitting on our balcony last evening enjoying all the beautiful lights and the atrium atmosphere from the 9^th floor. We had a wonderful brunch before leaving the resort this morning and look forward to another visit in the future.

P.S. – I had trouble with my snapshot and had to enter all my pictures in separately. I was able to get them all in one blog, but you’ll have to scroll.

Finding a good mechanic is not always the easiest thing. We have relied on our warranties up until now but warranties have a way of expiring as our vehicles have a way of aging, like us.

Bobby noticed a leak in his car and was having to add antifreeze. He made an appointment with the dealership service department as that was his first choice. Off to the dealer he went, in return he was handed an estimate for $1,200.00. That did not pass the sanity check with him so the only thing he knew to do was find a mechanic in the area. To find a good mechanic in Bobby’s opinion was to look online and check out the reviews. He found one with great reviews and decided that was the place to go. That turned out to be a terrific experience as they diagnosed the problem the same as the dealer minus a whopping $800.00. Bobby got his car fixed for just under $400.00 and will definitely be writing a great review for that mechanic. Needless to say, we will be visiting that wonderful establishment in the future.

Santa came early as there are already quite a few gifts under the tree. I’m a little confused though, he forgot about the stockings. Does he make second rounds?

Well, boxes keep showing up from the mail man, Fed Ex & UPS all week. The boxes were all addressed to Santa so Mrs. Claus dare not open them. One of the boxes received yesterday was light as a feather and cost Santa $20.00 to mail. The box was post marked all the way from Pennsylvania on the 19th and arrived the next day (the 20th) by 10:30 AM. Santa paid for next day delivery on that box, what could be in there? Santa has his own private room where he’s stashing things and Mrs. Claus has orders to stay out. However, Santa seems to be a little on the needy end of things this time of year and has asked for help. He’s given Mrs. Claus some boxes that need to be wrapped and she’s back into the wrapping business.

Today I plan to get this house in ship shape and get caught up on the laundry. Tomorrow will be catch up day on the ironing and prepare a dish for a Christmas party tomorrow night. Ok Mrs. Claus, you need to get out of park on the computer and put er in drive.

I was in the midst of gifts, gifts to be sent to all my family and all of Bobby’s family members. The gifts were already wrapped with pretty paper, ribbons and labeled with name tags. When all of a sudden Debbie Sue became overwhelmed and was having problems when trying to get all the gifts into the respective boxes and mailed. I had a mess and was getting flustered when Bobby stopped me in my tracks and said, let me help. He has that intuition when he senses that Debbie Sue (as he calls me) is on edge. He calmly took all the gifts and packed them all nice and tidy like into the appropriate family box to be shipped. I worked on all the postage and weighed all the boxes, logged on to www.usps.com to add the postage to the boxes complete with the delivery confirmations. The post man picked up the packages today at my front door which turned out to be smooth as butter.

I continued wrapping Bobby’s gifts today and pretty much have all the gifts wrapped and placed under the tree. There must have been 10 different spools of ribbon and rolls and rolls of wrapping paper strewn all over the family room floor. I had quite the mess going but proceeded with the job till it was complete.

This is Bobby’s last work week before the holidays and I can hardly wait. Lockheed closes from Christmas thru New Years and we are looking forward to our little time of R & R together.

Texas de Brazil provides a wonderful atmosphere for any type of gathering. Bobby’s group from work had the Christmas party here where they reserved most of the second floor for the party. It truly is a feast where we enjoyed a nonstop parade of deliciously seasoned grilled meats, served tableside by a troop of roaming gaucho-clad carvers from large sword-like skewers, accompanied by traditional Brazilian side dishes and an extravagant salad area fit for a king. And the carvers don’t stop coming till your tummy is completely filled and satisfied. As the carvers begin to carve we use our tongs to ensure the meat does not fall and that it makes a safe journey to our plates. Texas de Brazil is one of our favorite places to dine so we definitely let our tummies work up a good appetite to be filled with a host of sensational meats and side dishes.

This is a sample of what we do on Wednesdays. The Wednesday group always has so much fun out here at the studio in the beautiful park like setting with lots of trees and the nice rippling brook by our side. We once again came together for lunch gathering around the large table for a wonderful meal and great conversation. It was a gorgeous day and I must say a day well spent surrounded with good friends.

It’s so much fun to watch Ron wave his magic wand over his pieces. It’s also pretty cool to watch the horse hair and feathers burn their imprint on the very hot piece. As you can see when working with raku, heavy duty gloves are a must. Ron will take that piece home and add the glossy coating to preserve the work and will look so pretty when it’s all finished. His southwestern pieces always look so nice.

The Christmas party last night was the Pottery Studio party for all the members of the studio. Everyone who wanted to participate in gifts brought one. I brought two so Bobby could play too. The idea for our gifts was to be something pottery related. The gift exchange was the Chinese gift exchange AKA White Elephant exchange. The rules go something like this…

• Everyone draws a number from the hat

• In chronological order starting with number 1, the person retrieves a gift from the gift table.

• If the next person in line likes what someone else has already opened, they can opt to take that gift from them.

• The person who just got the gift taken from them and left empty handed, then goes to someone else with a gift or they may select another gift from the gift table.

• Once a given item has been taken for the third time, it’s frozen and can no longer be up for grabs and so on till there are no gifts left.

• Well Bobby and I happen to draw our numbers back to back (13 & 14) and we did some great playing, we did. (BIG SMILES HERE)!

The first item we won was a beautiful vessel that Bobby took from a gentleman and then I stole it from Bobby leaving me the WINNER!!! YEA!!! I absolutely love my piece and it was displayed on my kitchen counter the moment we got home. Don was the artist of this beautiful lidded piece and he does absolutely fabulous work.

The next item Bobby won was this beautiful piece that I decided to use as my wooden spoon holder and I positively love this piece too. I also happen to be very good friends with Darla, the artist of this holder. I unwrapped that piece and immediately displayed it on my counter complete with my wooden spoons. Bobby and I came home happy winners with pottery that we absolutely LOVE!!!

I took one of my vases and that vase was fought over and was just way too funny to watch. My friend Barbara won that piece and she gave me a great big hug and was so happy to be the winner. I also took a bowl that I added some vines to and the funny thing is that Don “the same artist I won my piece from” won my bowl. I’m still on a high from our new beautiful gifts.

Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial

3. When do you put up the tree? The weekend before Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? Right after Christmas and before the New Year, by the time the New Year gets here I’m ready to have everything all boxed and put away for the new year.

5. Do you like eggnog? No thanks

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I remember getting play dough and that was one of my absolute favorite things to play with as a small child. As an adult, it would have to be my engagement ring as we got engaged on Christmas morning of 98.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes

8. Hardest person to buy for? Bobby, because he always has a way of figuring out what I get him.

9. Easiest person to buy for? The kids, they normally get the same thing.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail them with our traditional annual newsletter

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Never been disappointed

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? It’s A Wonderful Life

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I started this past summer

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? To me, ‘Christmas Eating’ is all about the homemade candy like: chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge, peanut brittle and all the goodies…

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear lights

17. Favorite Christmas song? The Hallelujah Chorus – Brooklyn Tab Choir is awesome!

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? This will be our “First Christmas” just the two of us. None of the kids are coming home and my family is going to be strung out all over. Bobby and I have special plans this Christmas day and night, I can’t wait!

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeers? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph

20.Angel on the tree top or a star? An Angel

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? If we were at mom’s house, we would be opening ALL the gifts on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is a special night the family comes together for “party night”. It was always called “party night” from the time I was a kid and still lives on in our family. Mom sets the tone with lots of candle light and the Lights from the tree as the main light in the house. She prepares a wonderful meal and offers all sorts of homemade candy and cookies. After the munching and eating we then proceed to open the gifts. Oh, and continue munching and eating… In our home, Bobby likes to open gifts on Christmas morning. We go back and forth and have a little bit of give and take here but this year we will wait till Christmas morning.

22.Most annoying thing about this time of year? It’s hard to find a parking spot at Wal-Mart!

23.Does Santa leave the gifts wrapped or unwrapped? Wrapped with special ribbon bows

24.Do you have Jesus in your heart this Christmas? He’s in my heart now and always.

Merry Christmas

We finally reached temperatures above 50 and our high today was 73 degrees! I left the house in short sleeves and 54 degrees outside but I didn’t mind as I knew it was going to warm up. It not only warmed up but the skies were beautiful blue too. So at 10:00 this morning, I was on a mission. It was a mission to find my Christmas dress & one that I could wear to all our upcoming parties this week too. I not only found my dress but got a great deal on it. All the stores are having huge sales and I nailed my little black dress 75% off at Macy’s for just $29.00!

I proceeded on to Wal-Mart to cross other things off my list. Wal-Mart let me down as they were out of several things on my list so now I’m off to Kroger and to Albertsons if need be. My shopping list calls and I can’t stop till I’m all finished.

I’m trying a new feature to use for my pictures as I post new entries. When I want to post more than one picture, this slide show may be the ticket… I’ve added a few of my pieces from the last batch of pottery I made. I don’t have any more of these pieces left, but what I am working on is another batch of pottery that we loaded into the kiln today. I’ll be going back to the Lockheed rec center to glaze my work this Wednesday.

It was a nice quite day around the house with nothing pressing which was great! Earlier this afternoon while I was snuggled on the love seat with Bobby, I mentioned that my feet were cold. He got up, brought me a blanket, turned the heat up and put a log on the fire. I love these nice slow relaxing days around the fire this time of year. When I asked Bobby what he would like me to fix for dinner he replied “I would like to take you out”. We had a nice dinner at our favorite BBQ in town. And now we’re home having a little more R&R for the remains of the evening. I just turned on my computer for the first time around 6:00 PM & getting ready to finish checking up on all my other buddies out there in blog land.

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn’t supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it’s harder every time. You’ll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You’ll cry because time is passing too fast, and you’ll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you’ve never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you’ll never get back.

Don’t be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

My friend Carole sent this my way and I wanted to share with you.