Merry Christmas!

Hi all. Hope you had a good Christmas! This morning we had a big breakfast at my sister's house. Mimosas, waffles, pancakes, hash browns, coffee cake, omelets, and some other breakfast stuff. Very laid back and relaxed. Johnny had a blast opening his presents. I think next year will be the big 'Christmas' year for him. He's only 3 now and I don't think he really grasped the whole Santa Clause concept. Then we all went to my parent's house and my brother-in-law installed a ceiling fan in their living room. The ceiling was vaulted so it was a little tricky getting up there. But, everything turned out ok and no major injuries were sustained. Then we had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. All in all, it was a pretty relaxed Christmas.

My parents gave my sister and I money for house improvements. I need a new fence and new siding, but I'm not sure how much it will cost. Next month I'll get some guys out to give me estimates. I know my neighbors will all chip in for their portions of the fence (not sure about the people behind me though..don't know them). And for siding, since the front of my house is all stone and the back of my house is protected by my screened in patio, it's really just the two sides that need to be done. That siding is so rotten, I accidentally broke some off while squishing a bug. That was distressing. So, I guess I'll have some fun next year. I've also got some other house projects I've been meaning to do: new tile mosaic back splash in the kitchen, sand and paint kitchen cabinets, sand and paint master bathroom cabinets, paint dining room. I think that's it. I'm looking forward to the back splash. I'm just going to buy some tile, smash it with a hammer, and just have fun with it. That's the great thing about mosaics - don't need to measure!

Another thing I want to take care of next year is opening one of those school fund saving accounts for Johnny. I gave my sister a lot of money for his birthday, to be put in his savings account. She let slip last week that she actually didn't deposit it, but instead used it for bills, and whatnot. She said she'd put it in later. Uh, what? I didn't give her that money for bills. I gave it to her so in 15 years Johnny has some money for school (or whatever he needs). I talked to my Dad about it, and we are going to open an account for Johnny that my parents and I can deposit money into. I know it's tough to think about now, since he's only 3. But, that time is going to fly by and we need to plan ahead. It'll be interesting to see what it gets up to in 15 years.

If I don't post......HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Holiday party

Well, what a night. We had our company holiday party tonight at Green Pastures. It's an Austin landmark - built in 1830. It's an awesome old house that's been turned into a restaurant. We had 58 RSVPs and I think 56 showed up. Pretty good, plus all the doctors showed up which is aweseome. The food was amazing and everyone seemed to have a good time. No inappropriate drunkeness, which was good. We also did a little trivia game and handed out prizes. I'm so glad that's over. Don't need to worry about it for 10 months.


btw - a lot of the girls in my office are pop/country fans. One had the Kelly Clarkson CD and lent it to me. Holy cow - the whole thing is pretty good. I never really watch American Idol, but I must say I do recommend her new album. It's pop with some rock too. The last song 'Beautiful Disaster' is my fav.

What a morning

Have you ever had something happen to you that made you wish you were a writer? I woke up this morning from the weirdest dream and I had such an urge to write the story. Unfortunately, I know that I suck as a creative writer, but I so wanted to call in sick and spend the day in front of a computer typing it all out. The dream I had was so vivid, for about 10 minutes after I woke up I was trying to figure out if it was a movie I had seen. Clive Owen and James Duval (from Donnie Darko, which I saw over the weekend) were in it and it had something to do with vampires, a serial killer, and a 70s muscle car. Very very odd. I wish I could dream it again, but that's not how it works, is it?

In the Christmas Spirit

My neighbor sent me these. Merry Christmas!!

New movie rec

As you know, I love Netflix. It's lead me to some wonderful movies I'd never heard about and never would have seen (among them: My Life Without Me and Dangerous Beauty)
So, here's my recent rec:
I am a huge fan of Colin Farrell. I think he's gorgeous and a good actor. I really liked Phone Booth and SWAT. So, I put several of his movies in my cue that I hadn't seen. One of them was A Home at the End of the World. Amazing, amazing movie. And, what shocked me was Colin played a really sensitive person and kisses a guy in it! I've heard so much in the news about how he's a womanizer and likes to go out and drink and party. I never would have expected him to take that kind of role. It was such a good movie. It's about how you can find a 'home' wherever you want to. Check it out! (and this is such a small world. The actor that plays Colin's brother in the beginning of the film is now on The O.C. I was like hey, isn't that....? And this guy is hella cute! I guess I'll have to keep watching the crap that The O.C. has turned into.)

I also saw The Recruit, which was good. Al Pacino was excellent. The cool thing is that Colin does a commentary and you can hear his Irish accent. He's done so many movies with an American accent I forgot what he really sounds like.

C is for Cookie

Yeah, I think my mom was right when she said 12 kinds of cookies would be too much. Heh. Instead, I made 6 different kinds to hand out for Christmas to my neighbors and at work. Sunday was going to be my big cooking day, but after 2.5 batches, I burned my right hand pretty badly. This is actually par for the course. It's amazing how many times I've badly burned my right hand. Really, it's not a holiday unless I have ointment covering my right hand. My right index finger actually never heals all the way now. I think it's in permanent shock. This time I picked up a right-out-of-the-oven cookie sheet without a mitt (which was on my left hand). So, I took a bit of a break on Sunday and didn't get them all done. I finished up tonight and I'll hand them out tomorrow. Here's a pretty pic of my handiwork.

I've got regular Tollhouse choc chip (a classic), a chocolate pudding recipe from my mom (which is awesome), oatmeal with mini choc chips, a Heath bar cookie, a peanut butter and choc chip bar cookie (didn't like this one, but oh well), and a reeses pb cup bar cookie (would've been better as drop cookies instead of a bar I think). The Heath bar cookie turned out really good (a new recipe). I think I put too much almond extract in the oatmeal cookies. I didn't really like how they turned out, but my roommate LOVED them, so I guess to each his own. At least I didn't have to throw any batches out.

I also sent out all my Christmas cards today (btw - Jason I need your address). I had almost 40 this year with family, high school and college friends. And of course, all my Christmas cards have panda bears on them. :P
My mom and I keep a look out every year and when I find a pattern, I stock up. I've got like six different types to choose from now. And, I made cute address labels with Christmas pandas on them. I LOVE making my own address labels. If you want any for yourself let me know what kind of picture you want and I'll print some for you. I've got a template made in excel and have a ton of crazy fonts.

And for my Netflix update: Just saw Dog Soldiers. Awesome! It's the British army vs werewolves and it's actually a really good movie. I'd recommend it for a fright fest. I also saw Phantom of the Opera. That was my first experience seeing that story and I wasn't really impressed. I just could not get into the opera so I ended up fast forwarding through most of it. But, the cinematography was beautiful. Oh, and my last movie was The Forgotten. Utter crap. That's all I'll say about it.

stupid UTI!

Sometimes when I volunteer at the Humane Society I also help out with adoptions. I've done the training for it, so I can approve applications and process adoptions for cats. Most of the staff are knowledgeable about dogs, so I try and help people interested in the cats. One of the parts of the app is to explain how expensive pets are. Sometimes people come in and they don't really understand the costs involved. The cat adoption fee is $115 and then you have food, toys, and vet bills. Some people say they have to wait for the next paycheck before they can afford to adopt. Excuse me? If you can't even afford to adopt, how are you going to feed and care for this animal? Yes, Friskies is pretty cheap, but vet bills are not. We tell people to budget $100 a month for a cat. It sounds like a lot, but it really adds up with food, toys, and vet bills. Of course, that's assuming they take their cat to the vet.

Speaking of vet bills...for awhile now I've had a sneaking suspicion that Spike and Asher had urinary tract infections. It's not something they can catch from each other so I thought I was just being paranoid. But, over the weekend I finally talked myself into taking them to the vet just in case. I dropped them off this morning and the clinic tested them. Yup, they BOTH have it. Yippee. Now I've got them on pills twice a day for 10 days. And my cats catch on pretty quick. They'll learn fast what I'm trying to do. It's going to be fun trying to catch them every morning for their pill. I'm gonna have to wake up an hour early just to get this done. It kinda pisses me off cause I have them on really expensive dry food. It must be the wet can food I give them for treats. But, I can't stop that...they so look forward to it. Oh well. There's another $240 to add to my kitty bill.

What exactly is this music called???

I'm so tired of using 'alternative'. What is the name now? Rock? Hard Rock? I know grunge isn't used anymore, but the music hasn't changed that much. Is it still just 'alternative'? Blah. It's been 15 years now!

I finally listened to all of Franz Ferdinand I got from Nathan. Really didn't like it. Take Me Out is still the only song I really like. Then I tried listening to the Modest Mouse I got. Again, didn't like much of it, though I liked it more than FF. My fav for MM are Float On and Ocean Breathes Salty. I did like One Chance and Dance Hall too. Now I'm listening to Jet. Damn. This is a good album. I didn't even realize they were the ones that did Look What You've Done. That song sounds so much like the Beatles. I love it. I cannot stand Coldplay or Death Cab for Cutie. I feel like a traitor, and I know Nathan loves DCFC, but I just cannot get into any of their songs. Coldplay just makes me nauseous. Luckily my fav radio station out here doesn't play them too much.