Hubby and I were discussing Christmas songs...the fact that NO ONE should EVER re-record traditional Christmas songs. We went to the MOA on Sunday and I think I heard 5 different versions of "Sleigh Ride"....and only one was good!! If you can't write your own holiday tune, don't bother! Or at the very least, don't turn traditional carols into crap. Amen :)
Oddly enough, Lileks (as in James Lileks) talks about this very subject today! http://www.lileks.com/bleats/archive/05/1105/112805.html
Ok....brief rant on the MOA. We got there at 9:30am, so the crowds weren't bad. BUT, Sears had been open for two hours and still didn't have all their sales signs pulled. So, one item we bought WAS on sale but didn't ring up as such. Yeah for the sign. Another item we bought was no longer on sale but they still had the signs up. Luckily, the "register" was nice enough to honor the sign and gave us the sale price. Hubby told him he should make sure the signs come down so they didn't have to change prices all day :) I've worked retail and have done sales...but we always had the signs changed either the night before or before the store opened the day of.
The other BAD thing...the "hawkers." I refer to the T-Mobile guys who are required to hover at their kiosk or outside the store, "Do you have T-mobile?" By the third time I ALMOST said, "No, cell phones are of the devil, heathen boy" but I didn't think about it till it was too late :) Also, the other kiosk people....Hubby and I were talking, both looking at each other, as we walked. A sales guy stepped out and said, "Can I ask you a short question?" Hubby said, "no." "Oh, it will just take a second." "My wife and I are talking. Don't interrupt." :) I HATE when they interrupt!! It's one thing if you are meandering around, window shopping or whatnot, but we were talking! We were moving briskly because we were sort of on a mission (we were headed to the last store of the day!). I KNOW they are trying to make a living and all....but you don't have to be rude about it.
One last "observation:" Apparently, you can put up signs saying that your store is under camera survallience, please watch your children, shoplifters will be prosecuted, etc....and that means you can ignore your customers and sit behind the counter talking on the phone! I walked out of a store yesterday because of that...the guy just sat and yaked on the phone, not even stopping to greet us or ask if we wanted to see anything specific (or other customer service nonsense).
BUT, I am almost done with my Christmas shopping. Whoo-hoo!! I just have to get a few more things for Hubby, and maybe something else for my mom, then something for Hubby's cousin (we draw names for his mom's side of the family and I drew the cousin....who has EVERYTHING he could possible need, including money!). I am working on a cross-stitch for my person at work....I figure if I put in at least an hour each day, I should be able to get it done by next Wednesday.....if not......I don't know!!
Ok...off to finish my shopping!!

So long Cinema Grill...

Let it be known that Yorktown Cinema Grill is closed. For good. So sad....although the place DID smell like nursing home!
Just for giggles, I went to their website today to see what they were showing. It said they were closed and would be opening in New Hope soon. I called the movie listing number and sure enough, they ARE closed. That means that there are no cheap movie theatres nearby. Hopkins, I guess, but that's 15 miles away! Oh well....Sister and I went there a few times...they had good potato skins....mmmmm...potato skins.....
Ok...time to wipe off the drool and go work on my cross stitching. Sister, I found a 8x6 floating frame at the M-store. Should work, but I'll have to go to your store to get paper to mat it, as well as some letters or something, since the M-store didn't have them...dumb M-store. OH! And all the stuff I needed was on sale so I couldn't even use my coupon...dumb M-store!! Thought you'd like to know that your store rocks :)

Snow Day!

Ok, well, I ALREADY had the day off, but still...it's snowning! We were supposed to have 1-2 inches by tonight....but it's almost 2pm and we already have 2 inches. Hmmm...guess they were wrong :)
Hubby called a while back. His GM called to say that managers can go home whenever. Guess sales weren't as good as expected. So, Hubby's only working til 4. Sister and I are meeting at her work at 4 so I can do some shopping, then her and I can go look at stuff for Mom. I'm still in my jammies, need to shower AND shovel before I can go. Hmmm.... BUT, I got my online homework done (although I haven't finished all the reading). I still have to see what this week's assignment is....I think it's a short paper about my state's government website or something. Oh! And i have to make the bed and finish that laundry. I'll make the bed before I go....the laundry MAYBE....
Thanksgiving went well. The turkey caused a few problems at first, but we fixed them and it all worked well. However, I'm going to start looking for a large shallow pan to use instead. No more turkey propping! My mashed potatoes were PERFECT!! I've never made them myself...my mommy always does it. This year I just did it....I was feeling more like being alone, for some reason. Everything was YUMMY! I ate TOO much!
My MIL and SIL were SO chatty. I felt bad for my parents....they were so quiet all night. I guess like I am when I'm at the in-laws :( I hope everything was ok....
Ok, just switched to CNN (I was flipping through the channels...) and they are showing a search of a pond in Cedar Grove WI...apparently a man and his 9 year old daughter were out ice skating and fell through. WTF! There is no snow on the ground and it hasn't been THAT cold yet! Sad that they are showing what is now recovery on national news....but that's just stupid! Almost as stupid as the people out shovin..I mean SHOPPING at 5am! This might be the first year that I have EVER shopped on Black Friday. I did buy one gift online...and will probably get a bit more before the weekend's over. Unless we go to Southdale tonight and I buy the stuff in real life. We'll see how crazy it is over there....
Well, I suppose I should become motivated again and shower before switching the laundry and all that.....

Almost Turkey Day

It's almost Thanksgiving...two more days. I still need to clean......clean the bathroom and kitchen, vacuum again, find the hutch, dig out the steps...I'm thinking of waiting until Wednesday for most of it because I'm a procrastinator! Turkey is in the fridge, thawing. All the brine fixin's are ready...I just need to find room in the fridge. I actually bought a REAL onion and will have to cut it all by myself! I think I'll do that Wednesday when I make the brine. Hmm....and I have homework...maybe I should start some cleaning tonight!! At least I have Friday off. Hubby has to work 8am-7pm!! Maybe I can convince some people to drive Nort' with me and we can all go to dinner or something!
Ok..time for dinner!

no subject...

Not feeling creative today....sorry :) I tried to make a bingo game for work and just couldn't make it happen. I'll pow-wow with the others tomorrow and see if our combined energies can figure something out.
Car is fixed, I think my computer MAY be clean...no pop-ups all night *knock on wood* Other than the impending winter storm, all is good here. Yeah, apparently there is winter weather coming, but as of 5pm, it is supposed to stay south and north of us. So, we may get an inch.....or maybe 8. I want 8 :) Then, perhaps snow Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Yikes!
One "real" class left for school...then the final Capstone class. EEEK!! 6 months til graduation...is it really possible. I REALLY need to work on my Capstone. I guess I should look at the calendar at work and find 5 Fridays to take off to work on my paper between now and February....I have 2 more weeks to take, but I'd like to TRY to use one to GO somewhere (DC if I'm pregnant, Disney if I'm not, maybe??)...so maybe one more week in February or early March to work my butt off on the Capstone. We were talking about it at the end of class....most people haven't touch theirs in the last 4 or 5 weeks, so i don't feel bad. I'm trying to get up the guts to contact my chair and see if we can meet on campus or phone conference or SOMETHING to just talk about this. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Ok, I feel marginally better :)
Note to Sister....BILOSORD was sad that we didn't save/share any of our yummy dessert with him the other night....so I had to buy some today. I told him we should SHARE one, but he took one look at the package and said there is NO WAY he was sharing! Good thing I got two :)

OY!

Ok...it's REALLY bedtime, but I haven't updated in FOREVER! Who knows if I'll be able to figure out the computer to post before class tomorrow. So, figured I'd pop in and say I'm not dead :)
I downloaded this security program from Road Runner Online (as part of our subscription, apparently) and it includes a firewall...and it shut off my network! I THINK I got it fixed so I don't have to tweak it everytime....But, the "security" program also shuts off all animation and banner-ie type stuff...so I go to Parenthood.com and half of the stuff comes up as the "blocked image" box. So, I shut that off and it all works. I have yet to find a place to adjust the settings for that. I was just hoping for something to remove this stupid Winfixer thing....oh, and the lovely "sexBuddies" pop-ups I've been getting. I blocked a few of those, and then found another "restrict this" thing and I haven't seen once since. Ugh! I think I'm gonna have to get everything off the computer Friday before Dragon comes over, and then have Hubby re-do Windows and the machine while I'm at my stupid first-aid class Saturday.
Ok...it's midnight and I have to be up by 6am....so I had better shut down and go to bed. Hopefully I will have access to the internet this week so I can continue to fill you all in on my exciting life :)

I'm a lurker

Ok, so I lurk on many different blogs. Some of people I know, some of people I don't know. So, one blogger that I do know posted a very depressing post the other day. It worried me a bit because she is one of the more upbeat people I know. Anyway, so today she updated it and said that he husband does not have cancer...WHAT??? Was that even an "option"? I want SO bad to comment to her and let her know that I'm thinking about them and all...but sometimes that makes people feel weird, and I don't really know what she thinks about me in the first place. (See, I have this strange mental thing where I think everyone is cooler than I am, or more mature, or more whatever....and I am still 13 and gangly and dumb)
AHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I am such a slacker!! I have not done ANY work on my Capstone. Every week I say, Wednesday for an hour and at least 3 hours on the weekend. Yesterday was Wednesday...what did I do?? Cleaned the upstairs crap room. Why? I don't know!! I DO know that I threw out 2 bags of garbage. And I DO know that half of the piles are not mine, which surprised me. It also made me nervous about Christmas, since one of the smaller piles (one of mine, actually) were a few Christmas gifts from DH....from 2 years ago, that JUST came up from the basement. We still have some (MOST) of last years in the basement. I am grateful for the thoughts behind the gifts and the friends and family that give them....but we just have so much stuff!!! I mean, what do you do with Cat magazines from the 90's?? Chuck 'em, I suppose, but I just can't! And I have a ton of school (Early Childhood/work school) stuff...sort of organized, sort of not. And I never touch it! Why do I have it?? Because once in a GREAT while, I dig in it, find something, and then don't touch the stuff for a while.
OH!! My dad was here tonight, getting something from the freezer. He went into our basement play room to say hi to Hubby. When he came out, he met Sunny on the steps. He said, "hi cat" (like he does) and Sunny HISSED at him!! More than she's ever hissed at anyone...even Sister!! Then she ran up a few steps and hissed again. He just keeps walking, he doesn't care, and I'm just laughing! I've never seen her do THAT!
Ok....time for bed, since I'm not doing anything productive. 3 hours of school work this weekend...I PROMISE!! Oh wait....I have a scrapbooking party to attend in Waconia at 10am Saturday, and then Star Wars date night with DH that night.....hmmm...then maybe another storm door maybe Sunday???
Ok...bed or snack or something!!