Ho Ho Hello

It just seems like I dropped off the face of the earth. I'm still here. I'm just in that category of 'occasional' bloggers, now.

My holiday party was a little over a week ago, and as usual, it was a lot of fun. Emily and Rob were huge helps to me in the set up, and Rob, especially, as a host. The house is just now (with a little help from the occupants) reverting back to some clutter. The newspapers and TV guides can only stay in the laundry room so long! Still, it's pretty neat in here, and I do love seeing the house all dressed up for the holidays.

My shopping was finished up last week, so there's really no stress left. Actually, the shopping was fun. I'll be having Christmas Eve dinner with my parents and sister at The Annapolitan. Emily and I normally spend Christmas morning together, but I'm not sure what will be happening this year. I'm going to my neighbors for Christmas dinner. Kelly has always extended an invitation when I didn't have any other plans. Rob works every weekend, so he won't be around for Christmas or New Year's. It will all be low-key for me.

I had to bring my car into the shop today because of a very bad oil leak. It was streaming. I also had to rent a car, something I've never had to do before. I've always had my parents car as a loaner. Paying for this car repair, whatever it might be, in addition to the rental comes at a bad time of year, especially following paying for half of Emily's new rebuilt transmission. I reminded myself again that it's a car problem and not a car accident. You have to look at the sunny side.

I'm on a quest to scan old family photos. I can't wait to find more.

Ho Ho Ho!

It's a party time of year

There's nothing like a party to clean up a house. At least that's always been the case with me. I'm down on the floor wiping around the edges when I notice the grate on the bottom of the refrigerator. So dirty! I take it off to wash when I notice the coils have 1/4" of dust on them. I probably haven't cleaned them since getting ready for last year's Christmas party. I go to put the grate back on when I notice the baseboards. And that all the doors need to wiped around the knobs. And the slats in the intake grills need to be dusted. And there's dust on the edges of the ceiling fans. And on and on and on. The house is now pretty clean. That's a good feeling. I grew up in a spotless home. I live in a neat one, but not necessarily an always clean one.

My salon party was on Saturday night at Pam and Mason's, my wonderful bosses. Great food, music and dancing with all my Mason and Friends co-workers. I'm still hoarse from trying to talk about the roar of the crowd. A great time was had by all.

Yesterday I hosted my book club for our annual holiday gathering. I count myself as being so fortunate to be part of such a wonderful group of friends. We typically spend about 4 hours talking, eating, drinking, socializing and oh, talking a little about the book (usually 20-30 minutes). We've considered putting together a cookbook, because our food is really so awesome. This was our repertoire yesterday:
sambossas (an Ethiopian appetizer) with a wonderful sauce, vegetable curry with Nam, vegetarian egg rolls in rice paper with peanut sauce, chicken salad on rolls, chicken chili, veggies and dip, steamed shrimp, and chipped beef dip. For dessert we had pumpkin cheesecake and carrot cake bites.

I got a call mid-party that my mom had fallen and although she said she was fine, the ambulance was on the way to get her. I was so upset when I saw my mom 6 days prior because she was walking unassisted and she's such a fall risk. She should never ever walk alone, yet there she was. Another fall waiting to happen. Last night I knew she would be OK, and if not, then I'd go to the hospital. As soon as the party was over I called the ER and spoke to my mom's nurse who said she was off getting X-rays. She also said they had been watching America's Funniest Home Videos before she was taken and my mom had her in stitches. The X-rays showed Mom has a fracture to her collarbone, which is something that will heal on it's own. She went home by private ambulance. I visited her this morning, and fortunately, she's not in any pain. At least not yet. And so it goes, until the next fall, because my mom will only ask for help with her walking for a little while. She was lucky this time. She's not always so lucky.

I had a successful Christmas shopping day today. Yay! I'm excited to be giving gifts that I think people will love. I'm excited that I've somehow come up with good ideas. I also think I'm getting in the mood for Christmas. Thank goodness.

I'm gearing up for my annual holiday party at my house next Saturday night. I love entertaining. It's going to be a busy week!