santa's big fall

I realized tonight, although it's something I've been thinking about for a few days now, that when one of your illuminated Santa's fall down from the window, it's officially time to take the decorations down.

I think I'll get a start on that tomorrow. That seems like a good "new years-y" thing to do.

Happy New Year gang. Have a fun and safe night!

installed!

installed!
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

while Mark was under the weather this week, there wasn't a whole lot of stuff I could around the house that wouldn't involve banging and clanging stuff around. admittedly, I'm a bit of a clanger / banger when it comes to cleaning and puttering. in an effort to be quiet while remaining handy in case he hollered for something, I tackled my office desk. it had become piled up with papers, some ours, some Joe's, some which needed filing, some which could be recycled, generally it was a mess.

it took me almost an entire day to get it all sorted out and sifted through. when it was finished though, I could finally install my christmas gift from Mark. He gave me a 300 Gb external drive for backing up and storing all of my media crap. I have a tonne of movies and tv shows on my machine which take up a huge amount of room.

it snowed again today. it's actually been quite chilly around here for the past couple of days and we actually have snow on the ground right now. earlier, while I was chatting on the phone, our neighbour came over and plowed out the driveway. he's so sweet isn't he? it was a light fluffy snow but it was so nice to not have to go out and shovel anything more than the steps and the porch.

Mark continues to feel better day by day. he went to work this morning but it was really dead so he packed it in early. I'm glad he did too, the roads were really crappy this morning because the city did not send the plows out until they were sure that it wasnt' going to melt by noon.

Mark feeling better and me tidying up my office aside, we haven't been doing much. We've watched quite a few movies over the past week or so. Metal: A Headbanger's Journey was much better than I expected and the film maker is Canadian which was cool. I particularly liked how Ronnie James Dio was making digs at Gene Simmons. Having watched the Simmons' family reality show, I had an appreciation for the digs that I may have not had before. The metal world is an odd place but then I knew that from my years at the radio station, talking to metal label reps on the phone!

On Christmas night, The Family Stone was on. Boy that sucked. I thought it would be funny. It was not. It was mean spirited and stupid. Oh, it was also predictable. Dumb!

The other morning, while poor Mark was sick in bed, I crawled in with him and we watched a couple of documentaries: New York Doll and Positively Naked. Both of these are worth seeing if you have a chance. I thought that while they both had sort of sad endings, they also said a lot about hope and the power of the human spirit.

Last night, we watched The Queen. Good stuff. I mean, I love love love Helen Mirren (what's not to love) and she was wonderful as Queen Elizabeth. Michael Sheen, the chap who played Tony Blair was good too I thought.

I have attemped, a couple of times, to watch Christmas with the Kranks and, despite the fact that the Raveonettes are on the soundtrack, I cannot get into this. It's another stupid pile of steaming christmas poo.

I'm sure that we'll watch a few more movies this weekend. I think we're going to try Thank You For Smoking this afternoon and see how that goes. If all else fails, we can always watch the Vicar of Dibley christmas special!!

sickness sucks

mark waits for soup
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

poor mark, he was sick over the entire Christmas Holiday weekend. He even missed two days of work (which he almost never does).

today, he's feeling better after a visit to the doctor and a bowl of noodle soup yesterday. the sickness was making it impossible for him to sleep on top of things so he was pretty exhausted. I made him stay up all day yesterday though. He actually had a decent night's sleep last night, the naps he was catching over the past couple of days got him onto a weird cycle.

we stayed home for the past couple of days and nicely avoided the boxing day madness. we did stop make a couple of stops yesterday though and the stores were practically empty. this was good. Mark was able to pick up a portable DVD player (with a case and a bunch of other doo-dahs) to use in the cab and we got a new dvd player for the bedroom (ours died - we got a floor model which is WAY better than our old one ever was, for $47.99). we also picked up the Family Guy Season 4 and the Simpsons Season 9 while were out. We've got lots to watch! I received the Freaks and Geeks from my brother for Christmas. I'm looking forward to watching that over the weekend. I didn't realize how much we used the DVD player in the bedroom until it died. We're spoiled, aren't we?

Anyway, Mark went back to work today and I'm just puttering around the house, doing laundry at the moment. I'm still off from work for another week and a bit and have basically no plans, which is nice. As I said, I'm spoiled and it's good!!

accumulation

accumulation
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

this morning it snowed.

finally.

folks had been whining about our green christmas and for a few minutes, it looked like they may at least have a white boxing day.

of course, the snow soon turned to wet rain and it was all green again by late afternoon.

yay.

I'm not one for shoveling it if I can avoid it.

it was a spongebob christmas

it was a spongebob christmas
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

did you have a nice day today?

I had a very nice day today.

We spent a lovely afternoon with my parents and brother. It was a lot of fun. We ate a huge meal and opened presents, played games and joked around. We all had a good time.

My dad in particular seemed to be having fun. This year, he received a nintendo game cube with a Tiger Woods golf game. I doubt very much that my mum will see much of him until the spring comes. He spent much of the day in the basement, in front of his big screen tv, playing golf and laughing. blissed out is probably the best way to describe it.

It was great to see my brother. This year, we gave him the "Mousetrap" game. We had it when were kids. I remember how we'd set it up and then drop the trap but I don't think we ever actually played by the rules. We did today and it was a lot of fun.

The only spanner in the works today was that Mark wasn't feeling 100%. He's not been feeling that great over the past couple of days and it seems to have caught up with him. We ended up leaving my mum's place earlier than we had originally planned because he really needed to get home.

He seems to be feeling a little better right now but when we first got home, he was in a huge amount of discomfort. Hopefully, tonight he'll get a good rest and will feel better tomorrow. Originally, we had plans to attend a family open house out of town tomorrow but we've decided to stay home and rest up. He needs a "do nothing day" and that will be tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm yawning a bit myself right now so I think I'll toddle off to bed. 'night all!!

not unlike a ghost town

Today my holiday baking project continued. I made my shortbread cookies in the morning and then, after lunch, I got my Almond Coconut Cookies made. Mark helped me by doing the chocolate dipping on the Almond cookies.

Late this afternoon, we realized that we needed a couple of things at the grocery store. These weren't things that we wouldn't be able to live without for a couple of days but we thought we'd take a chance and hit the shop while we still could. Surprisingly, there was no traffic. The store was dead, possibly the least busy I've ever seen this particular store. It was nice. We were in and out quickly and painlessly.

We also made cookie deliveries to some friends. I really wanted to get the bulk of them to folks before Christmas Day, while everything was really fresh. It was also a nice excuse to see some friends for quick visits on the doorstep. Next week, after the holiday is over, we can meet up for proper chats.

Right now, as I type this, the Woodland Critter Christmas episode is playing in the background, the neighbourhood is peaceful and Norad is tracking the "big guy" with all their fancy equipment.

Whatever you celebrate this week, or last, or don't, I hope that you all have a happy holiday tomorrow (because, if nothing else, it is a stat holiday in most places). For those that do celebrate, Merry Christmas folks.

Chewy Coconut Cookies

Chewy Coconut Cookies
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

Don't they look yummy?

They smell amazing. I haven't tasted one yet but Mark assures me that they are good.

I also made chocolate chip jumbos (made with Christmas Smarties instead of chips) today. Slowly, the baking is getting done. I packed everything up kind of early today because we were expecting some company.

I'll finish up tomorrow, I still have two more batches that I'd like to do. In particular, I'd like to make some shortbread. I haven't done that in a couple of years and my brother really likes it.

Admittedly, I'm having a lot of fun baking. It's all cookies this year, no squares. I'm sticking to what I'm good at. If I do say so myself, I can bake a mean cookie! I can't take a lot of credit though, it's in my genes. I come from a long long line of excellent cookie bakers!!

...must be christmas

ready, set, bake!
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

I'm finally starting my proper, cookie baking marathon today. I'm ready and actually looking forward to it!

btw, you can tell that the festive season is upon us again by the movies that pop up on television at this time year.

this morning I turned on the television and "Pink Flamingos" was on. nothing says "christmas time" like a movie about the filthiest people in the world.

I heart John Waters.

wrapping it up

"disco ball" ornament
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

This year, Mark and I did considerably less holiday shopping than we have in past year. Partly this is because his dad passed away this year so that's one less person on our list but mostly it's because going "nuts" isn't really necessary. Particularly when it comes to buying for each other. There are a few things that we'd like for the house and a couple of DVD sets that we'd like to pick up but we'll wait for after the holidays, when the big Boxing Week sales are on and probably get what we're looking for, for a fraction of what it would cost this week.

Having said that, it still took me several hours to get everything wrapped up this morning. At least that part's done though. It feels good actually. Now, if I could just bring myself to start baking, I'll be in really good shape!

no line-ups

holiday display featuring Santa on a bike!
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

Is it me or are the stores just not that busy this year?

I went out really early this morning with some parcels to post and I needed to pick up a few things and was shocked at how empty the shops were. There was no traffic, I could pretty much park where I wanted to. It was weird.

Tonight, Mark and I drove around in the west end of the city, looking at the holiday lights. I particularly liked one house that had a bike riding Santa on the lawn. It was motorized and Santa actually pedaled. I guess it's not surprising that Santa would be getting around by bike. Considering how mild it is, his sleigh is going to be useless if this weather keeps up (and I'm hoping it does!)!!

at last...

I'm on vacation.

Four weeks worth of vacation actually.

Today was my last day in the office until January 8.

Am I a lucky girl or what? It still doesn't quite feel real, that I'll be off for four whole weeks.

I have a few things planned for the first week but nothing really beyond that (besides the obvious holiday stuff later on in the month).

Not since I was a kid in elementary school have I had this much time off. It feels kind of good although, not entirely real at the moment.

holiday lights

holiday lights
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

I'm on another long weekend.

Lucky girl huh? Two in a row. And, a week from today, I start my christmas holidays.

We still haven't had any snow and it really doesn't feel a whole lot like Christmas but I'm starting my "baking" this weekend. Because next Friday is my last day in the office before the Holidays, I'm getting little gift things together for the women on my team at work. I'm giving them some Hershey Pretzel Treats and a DVD of some Christmas stuff.

Anyway, I should get at it, those kisses aren't going to unwrap themselves, are they?