Trim the Tree & String the Lights!

This week, post-Thanksgiving, sure is a BUSY one! My goodness! K, enough said.

This coming Friday, my friend Ry-Ry is going to come over and help me dig through all my storage boxes full of christmas decor before the angel boy-O flies in that night! I can't wait to decorate like mad, I tell you!

And Saturday evening [drumroll going in my head], we'll be shopping for a Christmas Tree! WOO-HOO! And Sunday [drumroll firing up again, with greater intensity], it'll be time to trim the tree and string the lights and to turn our home into Winter Holiday Central! [CLARIFICATION: In no way, will we be reaching 'Griswold Family Christmas' heights of holiday decor, however!]

Gobble-Gobble in L.A., Man!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Gobble-gobble to all fellow bloggers, family and friends! We spent Thanksgiving in L.A. again this year! We had a wonderful, most delicious spread ~ Most of the pictures taken include a family member, so I can't post 'em for all to see, sorry! However, Wendy gave me permission to post this beauty of a shot!

I so love it - makes me crack up every time!

And do you think we had enough dessert options?

""Everything Comes Down to Pooh" or "We're in Business, Baby"

Time for a Health Update: The latest is that they're really not sure whether or not I have a spastic colon, considering my pain is almost always localized in one area, among other things that all basically amount to a "No, it can't be a spastic colon." The general gist: They still don't know what's wrong, and so, about 4 weeks ago, I was scheduled for a colonoscopy late next month (geesh, not too fast people, come on, eh?). And for the most truly up to date info, as of this afternoon, I've gone to the bathroom more in the last 24 hrs than I had in the last 2 months combined = 9 times?!? Yeah. And I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be doing that either.

But time for some truly good news (and then we'll get back to the poo)! Today, I saw my gyno and after checking out 'clear' for a full year, and now officially off 'The Pill,' despite ovarian cysts galore on both the left and right, my doc told me today that I'm ovulating without issue. We could soon be in the business of making a wee baby! Yay! Not right now, not right away [SIDE NOTE: We can't with my colonoscopy scheduled first.], but relatively soon [TRANSLATION: 'Soon' being some time this next year, which ain't that far away.].

But Back to Poop: Considering I've got a colonoscopy around the corner, I think this video on YouTube from the TV show, Scrubs, is rather appropriate, don't you think? Wendy had told us we should seek this one out...

Purring Like a Motor

Both of our sweet kitty-boys, Otis & Owen, they're happy little purrers, but Otis is particularly loud at night, and while lying in bed before falling asleep, we often make comments to each other, amazed how loudly Otis can purr like a lil' motor.

Here was last night's conversation:

My honey-man: "You hear him?"

Me: [Pausing a few seconds to listen first, before answering] That's a motorcycle.

And bed-shaking giggling ensues...

Googling for Cranberry Fluff

So, I get the site meter report for this blog emailed to me once a week, k? Well, normally, it just gets checked off for 'Trash' without my ever opening it for even a mere glance, UNLESS, in the subject line, I see an unusual surge in the number of my average daily site visits. One of the last times it'd happened (and it's been a long time), it was because of my "I Hit a Cow" story. And one of the times before that, it was because I wrote a post about my Popa-sahn and Katherine McPhee.

So yeah, the average daily number of visits to my blog this week? There's been a definite surge.

And this time? Apparently, I'm the #3 Google search result for Cranberry Fluff [RECIPE HERE]!?!

How appropriate.

And how cool is that?!?

(I am such a nerd, I know, I know.)

All the 'Strip' Shows I've Seen

I first began this post a lil' more than a year ago, after having gone to see Mamma Mia, but for some unknown reason, I forgot to post it. After we recently were given tickets to The Producers at The Paris, it occurred to me that this was still sitting in my Drafts folder. There's a good number of shows I've seen here on the Strip since I moved to Las Vegas in 1999 ~ Anything with an asterisk, I scored the tickets somehow at no cost, and those shown with a double ** were comped through work! I'm still hoping to someday see the Beatles-themed 'Love' at the Mirage, and Mystere, Ra would be cool too, along with Spamalot, and the Bodies Exhibit! UPDATE: Daly just suggested I somehow highlight my top 5 or 10 - so, using rainbow order (red, most preferred)!

The Producers** at The Paris - 11/2007
Everclear** [what a horrible show] at House of Blues - 01/2007
Mamma Mia* at Mandalay Bay- 10/2006
Hall & Oates* at the Mirage - 11/2005
George Clinton & the P-Funk** at House of Blues - 5/2005
Avenue Q** at the Wynn - 2005
Hairspray** at the Luxor - 2005
Dinner with The Sopranos - 2005
Celine Dion** at Caesar's Palace - 5/2005 [this was for a 2nd time, sitting at the center sound booth]
'Le Reve' of Cirque de Soleil** at The Wynn - 2004
Jason Mraz at the House of Blues - 6/2004
Freddy Perez at the House of Blues - 2004
Celine Dion* at Caesar's Palace- 2004
'Zumanity' of Cirque de Soleil* at NY, NY Hotel & Casino - 2004
Sarah Brightman* at MGM - 2004
Excalibur's Tournament of Kings* - 2004
'O' of Cirque de Soleil** at The Bellagio - 2003
Tim McGraw* at Mandalay Bay - 2003
Michelle Branch* at MGM - 2003
Dixie Chicks** at MGM - 2003
Buddy Guy* at the House of Blues - 10/2002
The V Show* at what was then the Aladdin - 2002
Paul McCartney* at MGM - 2002
Bjorn Again* at The Palms- 2002
Cranberries* at The Palms- 2002
Marilyn Manson at the House of Blues - 2001 [a big shocker for most]
Kid Rock at The Joint - 1999 [took my uncle Loren who, I knew, wanted to go very BADLY, but wouldn't ever go by himself]
Poweman 5000 at The Joint - 1999

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 17

I've been working kinda late this week, every night this week. Well, one particular night this week, my honey-man called to see if I would soon be on my way home. I then told him about the annoying last minute 'I-gotta-do-it-now-before-morning' task I'd been given...

He said he'd be right over with dinner, and to help me out! Once he arrived, he inhaled his food (as he almost always does), and then he did 30+ tri-fold brochures for me while I finished my dinner. What a sweetheart, eh?

I told him he'd be paid for his time in kisses.

Time for Cranberry Fluff!

About a month ago, when I'd gone to Trader Joe's for some of our grocery favorites and I saw that they had fresh cranberries in stock, as soon as I was home, as I walked in the door, I excitedly announced to my honey-man "THEY HAVE CRANBERRIES ALREADY! CRANBERRY FLUFF, HERE WE COME! I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL TURKEY DAY!!"

So far, though, despite three different trips to Trader's since the discovery of their fresh cranberry stock, I've picked up a package each visit, tempted to throw it in the cart and run home to make me some Cranberry Fluff right now, before Turkey Day...and each time, I've put the package back down. Three strikes yer out!?

Well, ya know what? This is my chance for Cranberry Fluff [RECIPE HERE], man! Next trip to Trader's, I'm gunna throw a package (or two) of fresh cranberries in the cart and make us some Cranberry Fluff, whether it's in time for Thanksgiving Day or not!

Guilty Confession #5

So far this week at work, I've been living on handfuls of snap peas and carrots sticks with spinach dip... and several snack size Snickers bars leftover from our Halloween candy. Oh and one granny smith apple yesterday afternoon!

I'm hoping this confession will help me feel the shame of it (and not deny it any longer) and finally knock it off for the remainder of this week!

OR - - I do have another package of snap peas and more carrots, with over 1/2 of the spinich dip container remaining... and at least a dozen Snickers bars left!

Just Call Me 'Red'

Me and my dear friend, Daly-girl, now also my private colorist!

All the blonde highlight "lifts" released - - still waiting on the "intense dark red" to get as much time as we can give it...

Okay, so it's really not all red - - not enough that anyone could call me 'red' - - but it's certainly different for me! I don't yet have a picture that truly shows off the end results... Turns out my hair is dark enough and naturally shiny enough that unless well lit with some overhead lighting, but not too bright, you can't exactly tell what was done. I'll probably toddle off to the bathroom in a sec to take some pictures in the mirror.

Okay, about 15 pictures later, most of them too bright and too close, etc... these are the best I got. This was the first time I've ever had my hair highlighted before, unless you count my personal affair with hydrogen peroxide at the tender age of 12 in 1987 - ?

Daly's already planning her strategy for thicker chunking, next time around.

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 16

Because in the passing of one day over a weekend, I can delight in the fact that I'm married to a man who wanders around the house happily singing little french songs to himself, who may have been a noisy pirate in a former life (arrgghh!), who also doubles in the evening as an italiano cinema voice over pro, who frequently whistles christmas songs all the year-round, to which the latter, many can attest to this. The rest of it? I think I may be the only one privy to these moments of his - - well, all except the year-round x-mas whistling and the pirate thing = He can be quite the grump when he's working on his geeky tech stuff, and the angel boy-O sure loves The Pirates of the Carribean, so Daddy's had a lot of practice fine tuning his inner pirate!

I'm Sorry, I missed that... you were saying?

Too many times to count, sadly, this was me today: "I'm sorry, I just wasn't with you there - - what were you saying?"

Man (heavy exhale).

The last couple weeks have been mentally and emotionally exhausting. Can't got into detail, sorry. (Dooce has provided more than adequate 'what will happen if you blog about work' warning for us all).

Hopefully, once everything settles down (and my next French exam has come and gone), I'll be in the right mind to post. I'm going to go home now -I plan to gorge myself on all the leftover Halloween candy we have. We didn't get a single trick-or-treater last night?!? = NOT ONE :(

(just kidding about the gorging - - kinda)