Mmmm...

Nothing beats good leftovers. J  Well, I suppose that’s not entirely true, but I’m enjoying some high quality seconds right now.  The DH, puppy, and I hosted two meals for Christmas day; the in-laws for brunch, and my half for a late-afternoon supper.  For brunch, we prepared: baked French Toast, a Denver omelet casserole, cheesy hash brown casserole, cornbread casserole, muffins, and a spinach quiche, plus two kinds of salads.  The words “Martha Stewart” were tossed around. For supper, I marinated chicken cordon bleu in Italian dressing and drenched it in cheeses.  Not too bad.  Now I’m enjoying the remains of the meals and man, I must say… I’m a good cook! J  Not to brag or anything…

 

It was an excellent Christmas, but it was a very long day with all the family and cooking.  My nephew is 20 months and has the accompanying patience (or lack of) of a toddler, so we had to stop opening presents to eat the second meal.  Ryker spent a good portion of his evening barking at my grandmother, who was unfortunately enough to be sitting next to the bag of dog treats my mother brought him. 

 

I was super proud of myself for not cheating this past week – I had directed my family to my Amazon wish list for gift ideas and I managed to refrain from looking at it all week to see what they’d purchased.  Therefore I was pleasantly surprised to receive a wireless router for my netbook from the DH, and several craft book from my brother and his girlfriend.

 

Tonight we are going to Mahoney State Park, where my dad rented cabins for the weekend.  We are meeting my cousins out there; I think this is actually the first time we’ve ever attempted a family get-together that didn’t just involve meeting at my grandparents’ house for a few hours.  I’m excited about this gift exchange as well; instead of the usual $10 gift exchange, we all were instructed to spend our $10 at the Goodwill – this way, when you get a crappy $10 gift, at least you know the money went to a good cause, and you also don’t have to feel bad about re-donating it if you hate it!  And who knows, you might get something great!  I did the GW shopping for the DH and I last weekend and I really stretched our combined $20 (plus picked up some great refashioning stash additions for myself). 

 

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and here’s to a good weekend!

 

Some good new, for a change

According to the NTY, the recession has actually been good for something – increasing the making and buying of handmade gifts.  I’m giving several handmade gifts this Christmas, although I’m not sure how much money I’ve saved in the process. J  It’s been fun though – cutting, sewing, embroidering, taping, stuffing, etc.  And I’m sure I’ll be done with all of it by Christmas (crossing fingers)! J

 

 

Cutesies

I was browsing the Emsies website today; she sells customized onesies and other baby items.  If you remember this story in the news, Emily Wentz’s daughter, Lauren, was seriously injured by her babysitter and has a long developmental recovery ahead of her.  A very tragic start for such a cute little girl. L 

Since Emily now stays home with Lauren, she started Emsies as a creative outlet.  These little shirts would make the cutest baby gifts!  Now I just need to convince someone else to procreate so I can buy one…

 

best eavesdropped convo of the weekend

At dinner last night, the DH overheard the following conversation from the pair of older couples at the next table:

Older Lady 1:  "We saw the movie Mamma Mia last night."
Older Lady 2:  "Oh, how was it?"
OL1:  "It was very cute.  Did you know they had a play about that now?"

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there are folks still living under rocks in this day and age.  And apparently, we dine at the same spots.

c-c-c-cold times in the winterrrrr...

I know that the winter solstice wasn't technically till today, but man, it's cold here.  So cold that I convinced my dear sweet husband not to run outside (believe me, hell has to freeze over for that to happen).  I believe the current temp in Hades is somewhere around -3F...or maybe I'm getting it mixed up with Omaha...  And let's not ever discuss the wind chill factor!  Whoa.
Despite the chill, we've had a good time this weekend.  Friday night, the DH and I braved the icy streets to see "An Evening at the Purple Peacock" at the Baby D Theater in Benson.  It was a Christmas musical revue and it was Fabulous.  Yes, the capital F is deserved.  It was basically 4 prominent local actors impersonating great singers of the past (Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Carol Channing, Marilyn Monroe, Patsy Cline, to name a few), which a few other "characters" thrown in.  It really put me in the Christmas mood, plus it benefited Nebraska Wildlife Rehab and all those cute little bunnies and raccoons.
Since we were already in Benson, we swung by Pulp Art and Paper gallery for the latest artist reception and exhibit opening.  The show was "Benenden Girls", by Scottish artist Mark Gilbert, and consisted of roughly 106 charcoal drawings of girls at an elite English boarding school. It was wonderful, and I can't wait to hit Bemis and see Mark's other local exhibit, "Care Packages".  Mr. Gilbert is the artist-in-residence at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and has been drawing portraits of the patients and staff for what looks to be a truly awe-inspiring show. 
Of course, all this would have made for an early night, so we then stopped at Barfly for a birthday celebration with the guys from Lowell's band.  Ah, yes, nothing like a bunch of drunk guys together on a Friday night, especialy when said guys can't act older than 12 around each other when sober.  Let's add alcohol, shall we?  Woo-hoo!
Saturday was mostly shuffling around the house, staying warm, putting up our Christmas tree (finally), and then bundling up for a Mexican dinner, some shopping, and a movie downtown at Film Streams.  We saw "Slumdog Millionaire", and I cannot more highly recommend this film; it was Excellent!  It was about this kid from the slums of Mumbai who wins India's version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire to win the heart of a girl. It was so Good! 
So, despite the rotten weather, good times can be had in Omaha in December!  OK, starting to get chilly...

yucky, icky, miserable sickness

I have been home sick for the past 3 days...this is highly unusual for me.  I don't generally get ill, and when I am a little under the weather, I usually ignore it and go to work anyway - what's the point of a sick day if you're too sick to do anything?  Might as well be at work, right? So when my slightly sore throat from Tuesday became a very scratchy cough on Wednesday and then turned into body aches on Thursday, the DH insisted I stay home on Friday.  And I've pretty much been here ever since.  By now the sore throat has mostly dissipated and I've moved on to the fun of drainage.  Ugh!  How gross!  Fortunately, I've got the best husband in the world, and he's kept me well-fed and well-medicated all weekend...and the best small furry dog, who insists on cuddling with me to keep me warm...

Merry Diva Christmas

Ow. Just a slight headache this morning, as I stuck to mainly white wine last night and then switched to pop after the guests had left... Last night was the annual Diva Soma Christmas Party, a can't be missed soiree that's hosted by the Happy Little Goddess and her DH, the Enchanted Wizard of Rhythm. And their cheese-snatching, broccoli-begging fuzzy black Schnauzer, who, as always, was the life of the party.

This has been a party week for sure - Wednesday was the Holiday Hafla as Gnosis, Thursday was the Toy Presentation at My Closet (we had a toy drive and this was our opportunity to present the bundle of donated toys to the good folks at Together Inc.), Friday the DH and I continued our December tradition of seeing The Nutcracker at the Orpheum (fabulous as usual), and last night was the Diva Party. Phew. I almost need another weekend to recover from my weekend!