Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Holiday Tagged!
My friend Pam tagged me on a holiday quiz! I'm totally excited, because I usually get tagged at the end of the list after everyone I know has already been tagged. Of course, I haven't checked to see who else has been tagged by other people yet...
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Egg Nog. While I love a good glass of hot cocoa, I only get egg nog once a year. Unless I persuade Mr. Honey to make it from scratch, but then I also have to persuade him to not put so much al-kee-hol in it. :)
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa wraps. He's very good at it, too. At least, he wraps when he visits. Some years we skip the gift-giving tradition in favor of a big vacation at Christmastime. Like this year. :)
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Colored! I think the white lights are very elegant, but I'm very much a color person.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? We have in years past, but since bringing the kittens into our house, it probably won't happen again unless it's fake. And what's the point of fake mistletoe?
5. When do you put your decorations up? Even though I'm fundamentally opposed to this, in recent years we've had our Christmas decorations up around Thanksgiving time. Usually it's because Mr. Honey is traveling much of December, or we have relatives coming for Thanksgiving and plan to exchange Christmas gifts with them over the Thanksgiving weekend, since we often don't see relatives over Christmas itself. This year, though, we've barely started thinking about it. We might not even do decorations, since we're on vacation until Christmas Eve. But if I change my mind, Mr. Honey is always very accomodating. :)
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Oooh, so many choices. I love Stove Top Stuffing. But I also love just about any holiday cookie. The peanut butter kiss cookies, the toll house cookies, the chocolate crinkles, Mr. Honey's favorite Mexican Wedding cookies and snickerdoodles, my new favorite peanut butter cookies with miniature Reese's peanut butter cup chips, soft sugar cookies. Yum.
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Going to Grandma's house on Christmas Eve. All my cousins would be there, and we'd have a fantastic meal (kids got to go through the buffet line first, all the food was put out on a table-clothed pool table), then Mom and her sisters would help Grandma clean up while all us kids begged and begged to open gifts. Then the mountains of gifts would be distributed and we'd all play and have a good time, and when we went home, it meant Santa was coming.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I was about eight years old, and I was a cocky little brat. One night Mom and Dad came into my room to tuck me in, and I said, "I know the truth about Santa Claus. I know you're really him." And they said, "Yep, just don't tell your sister." And then I was mad at myself because I totally ruined it.
I almost found out when I was about 5 - I'd made stockings out of paper for every single one of my dolls. I'd even named a couple dolls that had never been named before just so I could put their names on the stocking. I woke up in the middle of the night Christmas Eve to find Mom and Dad putting candy canes in each stocking. They told me Santa had asked them to do it because he had to get to everyone else's house.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? If there are any gifts under the tree, we'll open one or two on Christmas Eve. It's usually the excitement of finally being able to show Mr. Honey what I found for him that was absolutely perfect. (It's not easy for me to keep secrets from Mr. Honey.)
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? The year I graduated college, I bought a ton of those simple glass ball ornaments, because I was afraid I wouldn't have any other ornaments to hang on it. Now, we've got so many ornaments that we've gotten as gifts over the years, from the special glass ornaments Mr. Honey's sister picked out in cool art shops to the multitude of "Our First Christmas" ornamnts we got for our wedding and first Christmas together, to special Cherished Teddies ornaments Mr. Honey got me, to his Star Wars Hallmark ornaments, that we don't hardly have room for the ball ornaments I bought us 6 years ago. It's a mish-mash, and I love it. :) Our tree is a fake fiber-optic tree, so it lights itself, but we always put extra lights in to make it glow everywhere.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it! Especially since I don't see it down South. But it never quite feels like Christmas without it.
12. Can you ice skate? Yes, but I'm a little rusty.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? When I was about 7 or 8, Santa Claus brought me a Fisher Price weaving loom. He also brought a couple kits to go along with it, but he hid the wrapped weaving loom behind the couch. I noticed it before I unwrapped any of the kits that went with it, which was a big relief to Santa Claus, who apparently has a sense of humor. :)
14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? The overall feelings of good will that are supposed to accompany the holidays. It's not about who gets the best gift (even though it was as a child), but about appreciating the moment and being thankful for what we have.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Fudge. Or last year's Godiva chocolate box that Mr. Honey brought home from a business trip right before our vacation. Yummmmmmmy.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Sipping hot cocoa or egg nog and watching the lights dance on the tree in a mostly darkened room while snuggling with Mr. Honey. Dang, we might have to get the tree out this year after all. ;)
17. What tops your tree? Nothing. The tree speaks for itself.
18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving, so long as there's a personal touch to it. There's a great rush that comes from finding the perfect gift for someone, or sharing something that's special to us with friends and family. At the same time, it's fantastic when someone does the same for us, as Mr. Honey's sister did last year when she introduced us to Penzey's Spices.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Just one? *whimper* Probably the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Canon Rock or Dolly Pardon & Kenny Rogers singing I Believe in Santa Claus. Traditional, I love Silver Bells and Carol of the Bells, and also Rockin' around the Christmas Tree. *sigh* I just love Christmas music.
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? I can take 'em in small doses, unless we're talking about the raspberry or blueberry flavored ones.
Yay! I'm feeling more Christmas-y now. And I tag... Kristen and Lucy!
Posted by Honey ::
8:38 AM ::
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Tuesday, November 28, 2006
My New Diet
Warning: DO NOT read this if you're squeamish and/or eating. Seriously.
Now, on to business.
My cats introduced me to a new diet this morning. For simplicity, we'll call it the cat turd diet. (I warned you... it's not too late to back out now.)
I was just about to grab my lunch and my water bottles and head out the door when I noticed them scratching at a brown streak on the floor near their litter box. Since it was a bit dark in the room, I figured it was just a leaf. A big, long, brown leaf that'd been crumpled on the ground. Okay, so I was hoping it was a leaf. But nooo-oooo-ooooo. It was a flattened cat turd. Like they'd kicked it out of the litter box (which I changed less than 48 hours previously) and then slid across the floor on it.
To their credit, they were trying to clean it up. At least, I assume that's what they were doing by pawing furiously at it. Gotta give 'em credit for knowing the turd belonged in the litter box, or at least not on the tile floor.
So, being the good kitty mommy that I am, I grabbed a couple Clorox wipes (it didn't exactly look like a one-wipe job) and knelt down beside them. That's when I made the fatal mistake. I should've just let the cats clean it up.
I won't go into details, but trust me when I say cat poop stinks. Especially at 7:30 AM. I may not eat again for the rest of the day.
I suspected Jinx as the accidental culprit, so I grabbed a couple baby wipes (on hand for just such an occasion) and tortured her by wiping down her paws. She was hiding when I left for work, but I know my little kneading kitty will be glad to see me when I get home tonight. And I'll be glad to see her too. After all, with a cruise coming up, swimsuit season is approaching. Great time for a cat turd diet, don't you think?
Posted by Honey ::
8:18 AM ::
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Monday, November 27, 2006
Thanksgiving in Review
Mr. Honey and I got home yesterday afternoon from our long weekend trip to see family. Among the highlights:
One of my mom's plants attacked me in the dark the night we arrived. I put the evil eye on it, and it left me alone the rest of the trip.
We ate too much Thanksgiving dinner - especially Mr. Honey.
I shopped from 6AM until 4PM on Friday. Walked away with a new dress (60% off), a white elephant gift exchange gift for Mr. Honey's Christmas party (hehehe), the movie Cars, 2 new cookie cutters (mitten and candy cane), a new wallet for Mr. Honey (66% off), and a pasta maker attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer as a Christmas gift from Mom and Dad.
Had a great steak dinner followed by Cold Stone (not Stone Cold, Mom) ice cream Friday night.
Was so tired I cried in joy at the sight of Crunch Berries cereal Saturday morning. Then cried all over again when Dad offered to make pancakes for Mini-me's friend who had spent the night, but not for me. (Seriously - I get emotional when I'm tired. My family thinks it's hysterical. I think it's funny, but dealing with a clogged nose prevents me from thinking it's full-up hysterical.)
Played Killer Bunnies with the family. (Dad insisted - he said any game with a name like Killer Bunnies was worth playing at least once. Then he won.)
All said and done, Mr. Honey and I spent about 30 hours on the road. We went to bed at 8 last night. And we're not even 30 yet!!
Hope everybody else had a great Thanksgiving!
Posted by Honey ::
8:32 AM ::
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Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Packing List
Mr. Honey and I leave in the morning for a trip up north to visit family for the holiday. We haven't packed yet, but we've started a list. So far, here's how it looks:
Winter coats
Frosted Mini Wheats cereal
Piano keyboard and bench
Christmas presents
Pirates! for the computer
Cameras
Laptops
Books
Audio books
Killer Bunnies
Snacks
Mickey Mouse scrapbook paper
We might possibly find a way to be even more random, but I don't think I could find a legitimate use for a shower curtain, a broken picture frame, and eight balls of yarn.
Are you traveling for the holidays? What are you taking with you when you go?
Posted by Honey ::
10:16 AM ::
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Monday, November 20, 2006
Quote of the Weekend
"No, no, honey, you're too young to have beer." --Mr. Honey, talking to Jinx.
Happy Turkey Week!
Posted by Honey ::
8:35 AM ::
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Friday, November 17, 2006
Light of Humanity
Click here and read this.
Amidst stories of war, divorce, shady politics, and unthinkable "confession" books being published, just when I'd started to lose faith in humanity, along comes a story about a truly good person. And so today, we go from Happy Easter to Merry Christmas, and this time I don't care that it's not even Thanksgiving yet.
Have a great day!
Posted by Honey ::
8:18 AM ::
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Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Happy Easter
I refuse to believe it's November already. And I refuse to believe that Thanksgiving is next week, and that the meal I enjoyed yesterday for lunch was my company's Thanksgiving luncheon. So, with that in mind, I wish you all a Happy Easter. May you have a wonderful Spring and a mild Summer. And have an extra bite of ham for me, would you?
Posted by Honey ::
11:36 AM ::
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Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Almost recovered
Mr. Honey and I had a great time in Savannah over the weekend. :) So great, in fact, I gained two pounds. And the Thanksgiving luncheon at work today isn't going to help that any. *sigh*
Some highlights of our weekend:
Seeing our best man and his fiancee, who are absolutely fantastic people. Their sense of humor perfectly compliments ours, so we spent a good deal of the weekend giggling.
Winning Killer Bunnies at 12:30 in the morning after convincing another player not to steal all my carrots, since that would only prolong the game. (We all won, given that the game finally ended after 2+ hours)
Having a "who has the best-worst morning hair" competition with our best man (he won)
Spending an evening at Savannah Smiles Dueling Piano Bar, where we sang along to such piano-friendly ditties as Metallica's Enter Sandman and Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, along with other songs with profanity in the titles (And we were oh-so-lucky to get to see a woman show her boobies when the piano dudes played "Ring of Fire" for her - I didn't understand it either)
Eating lunch at The Pirate House, which is mentioned in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island as the place where Captain Flint drinks himself to death
But mostly, the highlight of our weekend was spending it with great friends. Wish we could do it every weekend. :)
Posted by Honey ::
7:46 AM ::
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Thursday, November 09, 2006
Weekend Celebration!
Mr. Honey and I are off to Savannah to meet our best man and his fiancee. In the meantime, here's a few kitty pics in case you feel like seeing something cute. :) I can't believe how big they're getting... and yes, I know they'll just keep getting bigger. They're 15 weeks old this weekend.
Jinx, she of 5 feet and 2 tails... er, or she who finally gets revenge by laying upon her sister.
I don't understand it, I just take pictures of it.
Aww, look! Their first pumpkin!
See Honey's desk chair. See two kittens in Honey's desk chair. Next time that word meter doesn't move, you'll know why.
I just love how cute they are when they play with each other.
Posted by Honey ::
6:40 PM ::
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Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Bear-y Scary
I had the most horrifying dream this morning.
Mr. Honey and I had gone to visit my parents for Thanksgiving, and my sister showed up. With two baby bears.
This alone freaked me out. Did she not understand that bears are wild animals? Baby or not, I'm not interested in being in a house where two baby black bears were kept as pets. And she totally didn't understand why I was freaking out.
So she brought home a grizzly bear.
Just like this one.
And I went beyond freaked out. I'm surprised I didn't scream and wake Mr. Honey. I was sure that bear was going to eat me.
A quick dream search this morning tells me this dream means I'm in need of a vacation. That's the shorthand version, anyway.
Have you had any interesting dreams lately?
Posted by Honey ::
9:00 AM ::
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Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Tagged by K...
Kristen tagged me to list 5 interesting things about myself. Without further ado...
1. My imaginary friends when I was little included the Brady Bunch kids and the Thundercats. I also wanted to be Ramona Quimby.
2. I got my forklift operator's license while working in a warehouse one summer in college.
3. I've visited 30 states and 13 countries (after our upcoming vacation, that is):
create your own visited states map
create your own visited countries map
4. I was a superhero in a different solar system in a past life.
5. By some accounts, I have eight personalities.
Posted by Honey ::
8:48 AM ::
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Monday, November 06, 2006
Up in the air...
Mr. Honey and I are living a curious life right now. We know we're moving sometime in the next 6-9 months, but not exactly when or exactly where. I know I'm planning on working those 6-9 months, but things are suddenly a wee bit uncertain as to what job I'll be performing come the first of the year. We're taking a cruise in December, but we haven't decided which shore excursion to do in St. Thomas. We know what we're getting some people for Christmas (we celebrate with half the family at Thanksgiving), but we're clueless on others. We're planning on taking a nice trip in June next year, but again, with the whole move-up-in-the-air issue, we're not 100% certain yet that it can happen. Fingers crossed, we'll know soon. And the baby boom of 2007 has been announced already. (Seriously, every time we turn around, someone else close to us is announcing that she's pregnant. In the last 3 weeks, I can count 3 announcements, and I'm pretty certain I'm forgetting someone... or maybe it's just that I know of 2 other babies born recently, which wouldn't count for next year.)
I say baby boom of 2007 because they'll be born in 2007. In 2005, I knew of a new baby every month. Some months there were 2. It was going around the neighborhood. All Mr. Honey and I did that year was buy baby presents. Oh, and we bought a water filter. But I'd much rather have baby boom years than death and divorce years, so bring it on! :) Baby presents, here we come. Oh, yeah, I just remembered the 4th baby-on-the-way.
Is anything in your life up in the air? How many pregnant women do you know?
Posted by Honey ::
8:34 AM ::
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Thursday, November 02, 2006
Sad Day
If you don't want to hear a depressing story, stop reading now. Come back tomorrow, when I'll have something happier to share. This calls for tomorrow to be a kitty pic day, as a matter of fact.
When we decided to adopt a couple cats, we made our rounds among the different pet stores/shelter organizations and friends who were giving away kittens. We ultimately adopted Saffron and Jinx from friends who were giving them away. They came from a litter of 6. One of their brothers was already claimed, so we knew we'd have our choice of 5 when we returned to make our final choice.
When I picked Saffron up that day, she let me hold her. I could tell she was a little scared - the kittens weren't used to being handled a lot by people. But when I went to put her down, so I could get re-acquainted with her other siblings, she let out a yowl of displeasure. I looked at Mr. Honey, who was chasing Jinx around the garage, and said, "I think this one wants me!" I've since decided she was actually afraid I was going to drop her, but as her favorite spot to nap now is my or Mr. Honey's lap, I don't think we have any problems.
Now Jinx I fell in love with during our first visit to look at the kitties, before we'd decided where we would "rescue" our yet-to-be-determined kittens from. When we arrived at the house the first day, the mama cat's owner greeted us with his grandson. One held an orange tabby, the other an all-black kitten. Mr. Honey and I held each of them for a bit, and slowly, the remaining 4 kittens came out to see what the fuss was about. (Well, that and food was put down for them, so they came running.) There they were, 2 orange tabbies, 3 black cats, and my Jinx, a precious little tuxedo cat. All the way home, I kept saying to Mr. Honey, "I just loved the black and white one! I hope she's a girl. I want girl kitties. Wasn't it precious?" And so the morning we picked them up, we verified that she was a girl. Then she jumped down and began running all over the garage, as if it were a game of hide and seek with Mr. Honey. Once he caught her, she went right into the carrier. Now she wakes me every morning at 4:30 AM to knead and lick on my face, then curl up with her head in my armpit and fall back asleep until the alarm goes off.
As we left that morning with our new kitties, I looked at Mr. Honey and said, "I hope we picked the right ones." And I couldn't help thinking, I would've taken all five if I could've. But instead, the three little black kittens were left behind, awaiting space available at a shelter or a family friend to hear of someone else who wanted a kitten.
And thus the sad news. I found out today that my kittens' siblings have disappeared and were most likely eaten by coyotes. I know it's nature's version of population control, that had they not died, they probably would've had kittens of their own soon enough (I was considering asking Mr. Honey if we could take them and pay for their "fixing" as well, with the owner's permission, but as they're still too young, it didn't seem pressing), and there would've been more unwanted pets sitting in animal shelters and pet stores. But it's still sad. Had we not been limited by our rental rules to 2 kittens, maybe we could've saved another couple kittens from near certain death.
But I can't live life with only regrets. Instead, I'm grateful for my precious pets. I found out my vet's office has a bulletin board where people can advertise for homes for pets. Instead of regrets, I know that next time I'll have better resources to help some unwanted babies find homes.
Posted by Honey ::
12:21 PM ::
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Wednesday, November 01, 2006
The Damage
I survived Halloween. Woo-hoo! And we didn't even have that much candy left. I'm sure that's partly because the only car driving kids house to house on a beautiful, starry, 68-degree night, contained two pre-pubescent kids not at all shy about reaching into our bowl and grabbing over 15 pieces of candy in every handful, two handfuls each, but we won't go there.
My stats for the evening:
5 adults sitting in our driveway
1 bottle of wine shared amongst 3 adults (the 4th is pregnant, 5th brought his own)
2 bowls of candy amongst us, containing 9 total bags of candy
5 kids under the age of 6
15 kids over the age of 10
1 car driving their kids door to door
10 pieces of candy I personally indulged in
3 foam pumpkins Mr. Honey carved in years past
2 kids pulling up the glowing feet in our front yard
2 hours of sitting in the driveway laughing and giggling with friends
1 American President who dropped by the other neighborhood to pass out candy and hand out pictures of the First Dogs, but failed to drop by ours
1 sighting of Air Force One
How was your Halloween?
Posted by Honey ::
8:40 AM ::
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Name::Honey
