Prepare Yourself for a Long Post

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!! (Who can really believe it's 2008???)

First off, I should start in today, simply to say this: One would think that a week and a half off of work would serve to refresh said person and make it so that said person could arrive at work on time when required to return to work after the long break. However, in assuming such a thing, one would be wrong. Because when said person hits the snooze button 4 times, but only remembers hitting it once, said person winds up being later than she ever has been to work before... Hmmm.... Personally, said person believes this is a sign that she should stop having to go to work. But said person also thinks money should still arrive in the form of a paycheck every two weeks or so to meet the bills. So, said person is trying to find a solution to the whole idea of staying at home and still getting paid. Just thought you would all like to know. Oh, and coincidentally, if said person figures this out, she stands to become richer than she can currently imagine, because she can patent the idea and sell it ;). Haha... the dreams of the Nilla... Seriously, though. I don't know how I can't recall hitting the snooze button 3 of the times that I hit it... YIKES!

So anyway, now that I am back at work, I can catch you up on the last several days. And they were so fun! Oh, also, before I forget: I went back and made two of the pictures on the Rainbow Brite post clickable. The one with me and Kristin sitting on the Indian and also the one with the Elvis Peanut. And if you click on it, you can see the chest hair. I know it was a let-down that you couldn't see it before ;)...

Alright, so on Friday, at Julie's we went and took pictures with the Blues Brothers. Okay, there is no sign indicating why these statues are even there. But there they are, at the four way stop between the public library and a little Pepto-Bismol pink Florida motel. And you know we just had to go take pictures there. When else in this life am I going to have that opportunity??And if you'll notice, Julie is starting to get a little belly. So cute!! I got to feel Shayla move around a bit. I was expecting to feel something very strong, but it was barely a little bump. Julie says it feels a lot stronger to her. I'm sure it does. Anyway, after this, we went to Wal-Mart and got the ingredients for our girls' night. 5 packages of cream cheese later (and various other items), we were done. Yes, 5 packages of cream cheese. And we used them all that night. Yikes! Here's a picture of us working hard at making appetizers:

And here is the finished product (from L to R - kinda) ham and cheese mini frittatas, ritz cracker/peanut butter sandwiches dipped in chocolate, cheeseball and crackers, oreo truffles, Mexican confetti pinwheels, bacon and cheese mini appetizers (thanks Jeni!), and mini cheesecake bites. Not pictured are the little weenies that Julie cooked up in the crock pot in BBQ sauce and grape jelly (they are pictured on my plate picture though :) ).
There are no sweets on the plate, because we had to let this part settle first... And yes, this small amount of food made me feel totally full. Probably because I'd been snacking while cooking.... Oh, and here are the three chefs with their wonderful creations:

So we settled in to watch TV while eating our delicious appetizers and desserts. And since Julie owns all the "Frasier" episodes on DVD, I got to pick some to watch :). There are some of them that I classify as my favorite episodes, among them "The Ski Lodge" from season 5 and "Radio Wars" from season 7. And Julie's cat Lucky Sunshine decided to make himself at home:
Julie has a few more pics on her camera, so when she sends them to me, I might add another picture to this post...

Saturday I had to drive home (4.5 more hours in the car... yuck). I passed this sign and it's a sign I laughed at when Julie's mom and I went down to Julie's in September 2006. So I took a picture. How hilarious is this? I mean, how often do you see a pig and a chicken being chased by a pepper? (oh, and wasn't the weather lovely for driving?)
On Sunday, I went to church. I was able to see my friend Stacy's new baby, Ammon. They had his baby blessing that day, so a lot of their family was there for it and they asked me to take the family picture afterwards. So I got to hold Ammon too :). He's so little! He looks a lot like Brian, Stacy's husband.

Oh! While at my dad's, we were able to finish transferring all our Betamax home videos to DVD. I really was a bossy kid. And Brad... For the longest time, Brad just copied everything I did. And Christina was soooo cute. I can't wait to watch all these with my whole family next year. It'll be great! Oh and we even transferred "A B.C. Thanksgiving" and "A B.C. Christmas" onto DVD. I could not get the tracking to fix on the tape, so the DVD now has tracking problems. Which I think is kind of hilarious and authentic. We can explain to our children a concept they will never be able to understand or experience otherwise: what it means to have to "fix the tracking."

Yesterday, I ran by WinnDixie here and ran into someone with whom I graduated high school: Kristy (the name probably means nothing to most of you, but Lindsey, if you're reading this, you'll know her). We spoke and she got my number and said we'll have to hang out some time and catch up. That should be interesting. And because I'd promised Kristin that I would dig out some pictures (which I have, but have to find time to scan) and also my Monchhichi, I somehow waxed nostalgic. Well, actually, I was looking for the Monchhichi and opened a new box that was replete with memories. So, I pulled out a "time capsule" I was supposed to have made in 9th grade English (only they ended up changing that class and giving us a new teacher, so the time capsules became obsolete). I ended up using the shoebox for notes I received from friends in high school. Okay, I had some not-so-good friends (influence-wise) back when I was in 9th grade. And my attitude totally reflected that. But I ended up pulling out that shoebox and looking through some of the notes while watching my VHS tape of taped videos from MTV in 1995/96 (Oasis, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, etc - you know, when MTV actually played Music videos). So crazy to see what life was like through the multiple letters my friends wrote to me during class at Balboa High School 11 years ago. Anyway, here's my Monchhichi, waiting patiently in his box for the day Kristin comes to visit and we can take him to take a picture with Bear Bryant's statue.