I'm Making A List

I'm not sure I'll be checking it twice, but I probably should. It is time for the Christmas To-Do List from hell to take shape.

1. Clean living room so that the tree can be assembled.
2. Assemble and decorate said tree.
3. Get over the tree envy I'm feeling about a certain Priest's absolutely incredible tree!!!
4. Work on a grocery list for holiday.
5. Decide which cookies are going to be made and what items will be on the table for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner.
6. Burn the Christmas Mix CD.
7. Buy presents..though this year it will be slim pickin's
8. Buy wine...lots of wine.
9. Remember that it is not polite to kill people.
10. Enjoy the holiday

Italian Meatball Soup

Here's a recipe for a great soup I found on the Betty Crocker website

1 bag (16 oz) frozen cooked Italian meatballs, thawed

1 3/4 cups Progresso® beef flavored broth (from 32-oz carton)

1 cup water

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano, undrained

1 can (19 oz) Progresso® cannellini beans, drained

1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese 

 

• 1 In 3- to 4-quart slow cooker, mix all ingredients except cheese.
• 2 Cover; cook on Low heat setting 8 to 10 hours.
• 3 Garnish individual servings with cheese.

 

Christmas Tree Envy

This is my Christmas tree, or rather one of them. I always put up a tree in my computer room, because I see it more often than the one in the living room.

I spent several hours last night, assembling and choosing ornaments for my pretty red and gold tree.

I was damn proud of my tree.

Then I told Father Jerry about it.

He told me to go look at his tree in the rectory.

So I did.

OMG!!!!!!

Father Jerry has a tree that I'd say was 7 ft....beautifully lit with white lights...and the freaking thing spins!!!!!!!

The tree spins!!!

My tiny little tree has an inferiority complex now.

Crikey!

I've been one upped by a lot of people in my life..but this is the first time I've been one upped by a priest.

Blast it!

A Week Of Thanks: Day 7

Today's the final day of my week of thanks. I've found I'm thankful for a lot. Friends, family, music...answered prayers....a good bottle of wine...

Its the little things to that bring small joys to my life. Today I'm going to focus on some of the little things that I'm thankful for....

1. Starbucks coffee
2. McDonald's fries
3. Christmas trees
4. Good books
5. Hugs
6. Pretty clothes
7. Vodka (cherry please)
8. New ornaments for the tree
9. Snow that is pretty and doesn't make driving a bitch
10. Christmas specials

A Week Of Thanks: Day Six

My pets: Sure there are a lot of them. I'm a total animal lover. I love dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters etc. There has never been a time in my life when there weren't animals running around my house.

Here is one of my little fur babies now

This is Gizmo. She started out as part feral, but quickly adapted to the life of a kittypet. She is now happy and lazy and sleeping most of her days away. She wasn't amused by people overtaking her dining room though!

Top 5 On Friday

Top 5 songs that make you think about shopping
 
1. Culture Club - Mannequin
2. The Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love
3. Madonna - Material Girl
4. Elvis Costello - Green Shirt
5. Dolly Parton - The Bargain Store

A Week Of Thanks: Day Five

Today at 3 o'clock we got a phone call from the hospital. The doctor discharged my father! He got to come home for Thanksgiving.

For that I'm super thankful.

Oh and while I was up to visit him at lunch time I got to see my favorite person and I got a hug. So all in all it was a very nice holiday.

I'm truly thankful for answered prayers today.

I hope your holiday was just as good as mine

A Week Of Thanks: Day Four

I'm thankful for some really good, cheap wine that is keeping my sanity because we took Dad to the hospital again last night. He has a "touch" of pneumonia and will likely be there for a few days.

So much for the "best thanksgiving ever."

We are now shooting for the "worst thanksgiving ever" or something pretty close to it.

I have plans of drinking a lot of wine over the next few days. Thank the dear lord for cherry wine

A Week Of Thanks: Day Three

I am truly thankful for all the wonderful friends I have, be they online or close by.

This has been a tough year for my family and myself and if it weren't for my support system I really don't know how I would have made it through.

I send special hugs out to Bill, Mike,  and Jean Luc my blogger buddies.

I send even more hugs out to Linda, Jennifer, Tina, Father David and Father Jerry...because without them, my mind would have wandered off by now and probably would never have returned home.

Friendship is one of the most important things you can have in this world and I'm really happy that though my friends may not be numerous, they are the kind that will always be there for you.

Thank you for being a friend.....

A Week Of Thanks: Day Two

Elvis Costello: EC is the musician that I always go back to no matter what.  I have loved his music almost as long as long as I've loved The Beatles and The Monkees.

Whenever the chips are down or I'm in an angsty mood, this is music that I go to. My favorite albums are Brutal Youth, Blood and Chocolate and Imperial Bedroom, though I have to say, each album holds a special place in my heart.

His music has really shaped my life, plus I was lucky enough to meet him two times.

I'm very thankful for the many years of music he's brought...and hopefully there with be many more to come.

A Week Of Thanks: Day One

Starting today, I'm going to share one thing a day that I'm thankful for this year. Feel free to join in and share your things.

1. I'm thankful that my father is still with us this year. It has been a hard year for him health wise. Since last Christmas he has been in the hospital nearly once every month. It has been tough and a few of the trips to the ER have been life threatening and scary for both him and us.

I'm glad God has allowed him to stay with us, and hopefully he'll be with us next Thanksgiving and Christmas too.

This March will be a milestone year for mom and dad. On March 15th they will (God willing) celebrate their 60th wedding anniversay.

I am so thankful that Dad is still here...and mom too. They are the most precious people in my life.

Busy Bee

Let's see...this is what I did today:

1. Got most of the Thanksgiving shopping done. I still need a few small things for the meal.
2. Treated myself to some pretty things at Fashion Bug.
3. Went to lunch with my brother.
4. Rearranged the set up of two rooms slightly so that we can have Christmas trees up for the holiday.
5. Vacuumed. (BLECH)
6. Made an awesome Beef Vegetable soup.
7. Straightened up in the kitchen.

I'm about to do some laundry....

I've been up since about 7...and I'm thoroughly exhausted.

Tomorrow I need to go to Walmart, and I'm going to make nutroll for the first time.

When did I become so domesticated?

Top 5 On Friday

Top 5 musical things that you are thankful for this year

1. New albums by Lady Antebellum, Erasure, Nick Lowe and The Puppini Sisters
2. Great country artists that I really came to love this year...like Zac Brown Band.
3. The leaked video of David Tennant's farewell to The Proclaimers 500 miles
4. Discovering artists like The Gothard Sisters through my freelance job.
5. All the music on my computer that keeps me sane.

My Day

~ Managed to get almost caught up at work today

~ Sliced my finger on a broken brownie pan trying to get a cookie tray for the french fries I was making for dinner.

~ Had a whacky dream that I was slow dancing with my....erm...priest...that is...Father Jerry....erm...this is so wrong, and I am so going to hell.

~ Could not even last 30 minutes at the YMCA....hot, sweaty me = misery.

~ Hit the panic alarm on my car when I was loading groceries this evening.

One word to describe today: BLECH!

I Bought A Roaster Oven

Yup! That's the highlight of my day. I bought the $27.00 roaster from Target today.

Why?

Because my mother was sure that I'd kill myself making a turkey in our oven.

WTF!

I swear I did it last year.

No one died.

I didn't even maim myself, which is amazing, because I usually do damage to myself on our oven. I have more burn marks on my hands than you could believe!

Let's hope the roaster works well. It had some great reviews on the site...

While we're at it...let's hope that it arrives in time.

Getting Nothing Done

Work = crazy
Home = crazier

I just want to disappear off the face of the earth.

I really need some time away from all of this..all of my life.

There is too much to think about right now and none of it is good.

Better Late Than Never

My mind is a bit to frazzled for blogging. We thought dad would be coming home today, but things changed there.

My faith in the Catholic chuch is waning. Actually...my faith isn't waning..but my feelings about our church hierarchy is. It is a long story...dealing with our former pastor, who is still a friend...and the events of a few years ago...I don't know..but I want to knock heads.  My mother got along really well with this man we all did...and he isn't allowed to talk to us... ARGH...I shouldn't go there...but I will shake my fist in the air at the stupidity of this all.

That said...I can talk about anything to Father Jerry, but he didn't connect well with mom, and since she's a shut in...well that makes it all the more difficult.

I'm babbling now....so I should stop before I say something that I might regret...

Top 5 On Friday

Top 5 "medical" songs

1. Weird Al - Like A Surgeon
2. Thompson Twins - Doctor, Doctor
3. Bon Jovi - Bad Medicine
4. Cheap Trick - The Doctor
5. Oingo Boingo - Take Your Medicine

Dad's Back In The Hospital

For those of you that might not have guessed it, we took my dad back to the hospital Wednesday morning, with shortness of breath and some chest pain. His heart was out of rhythm there was also some fluid on his lungs.

So they are keeping him to monitor his condition.

The word pacemaker was brought up...but we aren't sure how we feel about that right now, considering all the other things he has going on.

Wish us luck, and keep us in your prayers.

Another Day In Paradise

~ Went to work...
~ Took dad to the doctors for his Procrit shot.
~ Teased my bff in the parking garage of the hospital...for those of you not in the know..my second bff is my priest. Oye vey.
~ Picked up prescriptions at the Eagle
~ Snacks at Dairy Queen
~ Drama on arrival home...
~ Voted for a bunch of losers
~ Ordered Chinese...

If this day doesn't merit a sigh...I don't know what does...

Where To Put The Tree

It is getting close to that time of year again.

Christmas and Thanksgiving are creeping up....but Christmas has more stuff attached to it. The Christmas tree to be exact.

There's a lot of new medical supplies in our house this year....potty chairs, oxygen compressors.

There's not a lot of room for stuff like Christmas trees.

I have 2.

We usually do one tree in the living room and I do the other in my computer room by the window.

This year?

I have no freaking idea where in the hell the trees are going.

However, I'm not sure we are doing anything for Christmas other than dinner and church. This year has been so bad financially (I haven't worked a full week, thanks to doctor's appointments in over a month) that we simply can't afford it.

I guess figuring out where to put the tree in our house is the least of my worries.

I Have Mad Cooking Skills!

I made my first jellyroll style meatloaf today!

It turned out beautiful!!

The recipe can be found here. I tweaked it a bit because I didn't need a huge loaf and I used cheese and a McDonald's BBQ dipping sauce on the top. I also used a meat loaf mix of meats rather than just ground beef. I think it turned out great.

Tasty Dinner

I made the refried bean soup that I posted about here today. OMG! If you like tortilla soup, you will like this. It was so good.

I made pulled pork with a wonderful pork sirloin roast I got at Giant Eagle and did my own homemade BBQ (1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup ketchup, 5 splashes of Worcestershire sauce) and cooked it on low for about 4 hours and 1 hour on high.

This had to be the nommiest dinners I've made in a long time.

As soon as everyone leaves I'm going to relax with an apple cider martini.

3 oz Vodka
3 oz Apple Cider

After that...I plan to pass out on the couch for the evening and watch old britcoms!

Top 5 On Friday

Top 5 ways music helps you get through the holiday season

1. Certain albums like Costello's Brutal Youth and Oingo Boingo's Boingo, remind me that "It's not polite to kill people."

2. Making holiday mix CDs soothes the savage beastie in me.

3. It gives me stuff to buy for me!!! I like presents...presents for ME!!!!

4. It puts me in the mood for the holiday...sing with me.."Christmas time...Mistletoe and wine"

5. It gives me an excuse to play "Don't Need A Reindeer" over and over while still looking moderately sane.

So Glad The Weekend Is Almost Here

Reasons to be happy for the weekend:

1. 48 hours to get some of the reading done that I've been meaning to do. Dear god, will I ever finish reading, One Day?

2. I get to gaze adoringly at my crush.

3. I won't have to work on the accounting for 48 hours.

4. No exercise this weekend, do to lots of things going on at the YMCA, meaning...no parking to be had there...therefore Andrea stays at home!

5. Get to make my refried bean soup!

A Few Random Thoughts

~ Re-entering a years worth of accounting = not fun. When it is for 2 companies it is double not fun.

~ Dole pink grapefruit cups = great but the juice is terribly messy.

~ The inappropriate crush I have doesn't care for cats. Boo hiss!

~ Discovered two easy sweet recipes for the holidays, Dark Chocolate Cherry Fudge and Magic Mint Chocolate Bark.

~ Sandpaper kitty cat tongues cleaning your arm can be strangely comforting.

~ Suddenly I'm wide awake until midnight. I hate that.

Yay For Freelancing

My freelance gig netted me an extra $93.00 bucks this month. I realize that's not a whole lot of money, but when I've had to miss work because of my dad's ill health, it really helps make up for lost time, so to speak.

But this is definitely a woo hoo moment.

Cos basically like that Capital One commercial with Jimmy Fallon, "Who doesn't want more cash?"

I know I do.

I've got bills to pay and I've got loads of people in my life with birthdays and whatnot in the next month and a half.

ARGH!

Curse all of you Nov and Dec birthdays!

Here's hoping I get some more reviews, because I've not even made $500.00 this year from that job.

Big sigh