Brrr!!!  It was -24 here this morning and -35 with the wind chill.  This weather is just RIDICULOUS!!

We had family Christmas yesterday.  We normally have this one on Christmas Day but due to the blizzard, it was rescheduled.  And I forgot my camera!  What is wrong with me?    We didn't stay long, Randa was running a fever and not feeling well.  John was sick Friday and Saturday - both girls have been fighting colds - just trying to keep any bugs away!!!

Bella and I went to see Avatar last night.  AMAZING movie!!!  If you get a chance to see it, I recommend it!  And in 3-D if possible!  Bella has been hounding me to go and see it since before it came out.  I had no idea what it was and she's telling me "Avatar comes out on Friday mom!  I wanna see it!  They're from a different planet and they're blue!"  And then I saw a commercial for it and I'm like "Um......do you REALLY want to see that?  That doesn't really look like a kids movie Bella!"  And she's been insisting on it!  It doesn't help that the commercials were on advertising it all the time and they had Avatar toys at McDonalds advertising it to kids.  We were going to go to it a couple of weeks ago when we got to the theater and it had already started.  I was figuring that it would start around 7-7:30 but it had started at 6:45 so we went to see The Princess and the Frog instead and Bella was SOOOOO upset that she didn't get to see Avatar.  That's when I realized how LONG the movie was and I was just not sure if we could do it in the theater.  I told her we should wait till it comes out on video......etc.  But she just kept insisting.  So just her and I went, left Randa with John because I knew she wouldn't make the whole movie.  About 1.5 hours into the movie Bella said she wanted to go home and I told her that I had been TELLING her that it was a long movie and I wasn't sure if she'd make it through, I paid $20 for us to see this movie and if she made us leave at that time, we would NOT be doing that again!  So she sucked it up and made it through the movie.  She was really into the movie though, kept talking about it, asking me questions about what was going on and the characters and stuff.  When we left there I asked her "Well, was that movie what you thought it was going to be?"  And she said "Yes mom!  I liked it!"  Apparently she was gushing about it today so I think she really did like it.  It's not really a movie for a FOUR year old though!  Nor should we probably have gone to the 7:10 show last night that got out at 10:00pm when she had school this morning but oh well.......Mother of the Year right here!    She's so smart for her age though that I forget she's only 4.  She hears and sees worse on TV and around her and she knows what's appropriate for her to repeat so I guess she's learning that well!

Back to work for a regular LONG week!  Did I mention I hate Mondays?  And the cold?  Ugghh!  I'm already ready for bed............

I tend to browse, fuss, and him-haw over everything before I buy it because I'm always worried that it will cost too much or .......do I really need this?  I hate spending a lot of money on something so instead of forking out a chunk of money, I tend to go a cheaper route and then realize that putting the money towards something of VALUE would have been better.  I don't know if I'll ever learn this lesson before I go through this process every time with something though! 

I have purchased 3 other table cloths that ended up showing that they were worth their value.  After I took down the Christmas decorations, I spent most of the day surfing the internet for a tablecloth, hanging paper lanterns, a stamp, and some stationary.  REAL PRODUCTIVE I KNOW but John has been sick for the past 2 days and the girls have some kind of head colds going on too so they're all miserable and I'm just lounging around and waiting on them when needed. 

Side note:  Where can a person buy NICE stationary? Not holiday stationary, just pretty stationary..... I know it's a dying art to handwrite letters but I hate plain white paper!

I digress.....the only thing I found today was a tablecloth that I like but it was WAY out of my price range!  After some hunting, I found it on eBay in an auction that was ending in an hour! 

Isn't it pretty?  Festive, fun, whimsical.......I just love it!  What luck!  I love eBay, the problem is that I always end up browsing forever but never buying anything.  When it comes down to buying something, I swear there are people sitting on their computers waiting to pounce at every stupid little thing I've wanted to buy because it has always happens that someone else ends up winning the item in the last seconds of the auction.  It is SOOOOO frustrating!

But not this time guys!  I came, I saw, I conquered!  And now I'm heading to bed..........

It's one of these kind of days.......

I took down the tree today, along with all of the holiday decorations and it's feeling a little bare in here.  We went from Halloween decorations to Christmas decorations this year because of my busy-ness and also because of the fact that I didn't host Thanksgiving this year.  It just gave me a reason to not worry that the Halloween decorations weren't down in time for that gathering!   Now to see the house without any decorations, just feels ......empty.  I feel like I want to string some popcorn or make some paper banners anyway just to have something magical and festive.  Autumn is my favorite season and I feel like it flew by and took the holidays in a blizzard with it.  My birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, so maybe I just need to decorate for that! 

I'm telling you right up front that this entry is a HOT MESS!!

I'm not sure why the camera didn't come out until the 3rd drinking establishment we visited but it didn't.........we started out the evening eating some delicious Mexican, margaritas, and cervezas; swallowed down with some loud laughs and colorful conversation at El Jimador.  Afterwards we visited the shaddy basement strip joint Book 'Em Dano's......which we were lovingly calling Stabby Joe's last night.  After we left there, we went to Prime Times for some more drinks and twirling on the dance floor.  Which leads us up to Beer: 30 where these pictures were taken:

And then on to Homer's bar to ring in the New Year and finish the evening:

They wanted to ring in the New Year on top of the bar with champagne........

Coyote Ugly style!

Note to self:  Looking away from the camera does not make you look any less drunk and/or dumb!

Nobody gets away from Homer's without some Stevie lovin'.........

Of course I wished I could've had all of this fun and NOT participated in National Hangover day, but sadly I did.  I was not a functioning member of society until about noon.  Luckily John had the morning shift for me to get my act together before he started getting sick.  I think he caught a bug some friends of ours passed around this week because he started getting sick around noon and has been sleeping/puking for the rest of the day.  The girls and I went to town for dinner and a movie.  We went to see Alvin & the Chipmunks.  They just love going to the movies and I thought it would be a good time for us to have a girls night out and give John some rest too!

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I hope that everyone had fabulous New Year's celebrations filled with good food, great friends and family, and laughs, hugs, smiles, and everything else!  2009 was a good year for us and I hope that 2010 brings even better things!  Be healthy and happy!

  Pictures from Randa's 3rd Birthday Party! 

Eating.  Bella has a funny face in this picture.  I think I caught her mid-bite:

I must be really good at catching mid-bite shots! 

Singing Happy Birthday to the birthday girl!

She wanted chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles, so that's what she got!

The after cake damage wasn't as bad as Birthday #1 or Birthday #2! 

Since we were in the middle of a blizzard for Christmas, the girls and Gracie also got to open their Christmas gifts from Jean, Bob, and Jeanine:

Gracie opening her gifts:

A new Dora bike!

Thanks for letting me share....