It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!!!

So, now Thanksgiving day has passed...and what fun it was!!! I love getting together with my family every year for our Thanksmas party. It's always fun. There is never a dull moment with us.

Thanksgiving morning, when Cletus and I stopped at his uncles house, I noticed a screw in his tire. We went to a few gas stations and a RiteAid trying to find some Fix-A-Flat. Finally found some, and were on our way. Stopped at my dads house to grab something for my step-mom that they had forgotten and headed back to the expressway. A little while later, I got a call from my brother. He was about 3 minutes behind us and asked us to slow up a little so he could have a 'travel partner' since he was having issues with his vehicle. We wound up riding about half the way with him following us. Once we got to g-ma and g-pas, the fun got started!!! We hung out for a while, had a fantastic dinner, and then did our grab bag gift exchange. It seems there's always one or two things that get stolen and passed between hands multiple times. This year it was a calendar with all of the birthdays and anniversaries of the family. After that, about 10 of us sat down to play Fill or Bust. This game is AWESOME!!! I highly recommend it to anyone. Around 8 we headed to Cletus' parents house for the night. It's soooooooooo relaxing up there!!!

Saturday afternoon, we headed back down to get ready for the costume party we were supposed to go to. He went as Moses, and I went as Peg Bundy. It was alright, but I wasn't feeling that great so we didn't stay long. I couldn't get my hands on a wig, so I had to make do with my own hair (which NEVER cooperates....)



Today, we got the Christmas tree and all the decorations down from above the garage. Luckily, it's not an all day adventure when it comes to Christmas decorations. The tree takes the longest. It's a 7' "realistic" tree, so there are a lot of branches to fluff and place. Let alone the way I put the lights on it. I like lots of lights, which means each layer gets a few 'rounds' of lights before the next layer gets put on. All in all it takes about 1.5 to 2 hours to set up. I love this time of year!!!



Merry Christmas everyone!!!

~Peanut


"He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree."
-Roy L. Smith

Yet Another Update

This post is going to be pretty much a mish-mosh of stuff. I don't want to do 3, 4 or 5 separate posts, so it might be a little long!

So on Saturday I let you all know that we have a florist. I'm very excited to see what the flowers all look like together!!! I'm so, so, so glad that we didn't have to make too many changes to them to reach a tolerable price. However...after finalizing everything, I remembered that we're going to have a cantor (singer), and two people doing readings that should have boutonnieres or corsages. Well, we will have to come up with something for them.

On Monday night, Cletus and I went downtown (not too far from the florist actually), to find out about tuxedos for the guys. Cletus tried on a few different jackets and decided on a very nice jacket and vests. The guys will officially be wearing silver herringbone patterned vests and ties. He tried everything on (pants and all), and it looked fantastic! Honestly...he looked yummy when he put on his vest and tie. So here's the rundown...Cletus will be wearing a white herringbone vest and tie, the guys will be wearing the silver herringbone vest and tie, and the dads will have black herringbone vest and tie. He made an appointment for all of them to go in within the next few months to get sized and order everything! I'm getting so stinking excited!!! I did take pictures, but I don't want to spoil it. :-)

Tomorrow morning, we leave for my family Thanksmas (Thanksgiving and Christmas) party!!! It's so much fun when we all get together. I'm just bummed that my oldest sister won't be able to be there because she has to work. Either way, its going to be a riot. We will get to see my youngest cousin...he's only about 6 months old now...and SUCH a cutie pie!!! My aunts, uncles, other cousins, brother, sister, dad, step-mom, and grandparents (of course!) will all be there. I can't wait! The wedding in May is going to be the biggest party of the year because of how crazy we all get when we're together. Add in Cletus' family...and it's all over... After the Thanksmas party, Cletus and I will be heading to his parents for Thanksgiving. It's always good times when we go there. It's so relaxing too...which is very much needed at this point!!!

Saturday....now that's when the REAL party gets going!!! We're going to our second costume party together. Last year the theme of the party was heroes and villains. I went as super girl (see pictures on myspace), and Cletus went as Jason. This year, the theme is 'favorite tv or movie character. He is going as Moses (who'da thunk it?), and I will be attempting to pull off Peggy Bundy...yeah, we'll see how well that goes...hahaa

Anyways...I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving tomorrow!!!

~Peanut


" If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice."
-Meister Eckhart

We Have a Florist!

Yay! One more check mark on the to-do list! We went for a second appointment this morning with the florist down town. Really, it was my third time there, but our second time meeting with the designer. We managed to knock the price down enough to make it tolerable. The only thing we changed were the bouquets for the girls. Eliminating the second white flower dropped almost $50 off!!! I'm excited to see how everything turns out. I'm sure it will be beautiful!

I took a couple of days off this week from work, and it's been fantastic. I slept in until 8 on Thursday, didn't really do diddly squat all day...I screwed around on my computer until about 1:30, did the dishes, and worked on my grab bag gift for Thanksgiving weekend...which can be done from the comfort of my own couch. I think that's all I really did...can't remember!!! lol Yesterday, I woke up to a phone call from my niece at about 7 am. She had a splinter in her foot and couldn't get it out. I talked her through it, and went back to sleep for about 30 minutes. When I got up, I hopped on my computer for a couple of hours, then got going. Took my shower and started cleaning the house. I stripped Cletus' bed and threw the sheets in the washer, tackled the bathrooms, swept the floors, and sat down for a quick break. This is is when it gets interesting. I'm sitting on the couch in the living room with the picture window in front of me when I see a guy walk through the front yard (about six feet from the window) with a big ass 10' extension ladder. Now...I'm home alone...and there's a guy (a big guy) walking across my front yard with a ladder. It kinda freaked me out! No big deal though. He was a utility guy and was gone within 10 minutes. I cranked the music back up for a bit, finished some more cleaning, and made Cletus' bed.

Anyhoo...I'm gonna get back to my addiction...
Hi, my name is Peanut, and I'm addicted to Mobsters on myspace....

~Peanut


"Housework is something you do that nobody notices until you don't do it."
-Author Unknown

Today has been strange...

I woke up this morning (not very easily), got up and started getting ready for work. I kept thinking to myself "woohoo! only a half day today!" No...I don't have a half day today, and why I thought I did is beyond me...all I know is that I have tomorrow and Friday off. Yay! Those two extra days are very much needed, and I'm hoping to get a lot done.

Now back to why today has been strange...I woke up in a decent mood, but felt weird for some reason. I felt really good after Catechism on Monday, and RCIA last night so maybe it has something to do with church. Or, maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm about to have a four day weekend!!! Either way, I woke up in a pretty good mood and just took my time getting ready. I left about 10 minutes later than I really wanted to, but that's no biggie. I got to work, and my mood started to change. Something just felt off when I got in today. Maybe it's everything that's been going on here, but it just felt weird. Now, I just want to go to sleep. It's been a mentally and emotionally draining day. I think I'm going to take a nap tonight when I get home! lol

Gotta get back to it now...lunch is over...

~Peanut


"Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling."
-Margaret Lee Runbeck

Aren't Kids Great??!

Last night, I was a substitute teacher for the first time! I was teaching 5th grade Catechism at my church. Yes, I was teaching Catechism even though I was JUST baptized in April. It was a lot of fun! I absolutely love kids. They're so innocent, and so incredibly honest. They really are a joy...even when they won't stop talking so loud that people 1/4 mile down the road can hear.

The class I subbed for was only 6 students (thank goodness!!), 4 boys and 2 girls. I'll give you 3 guesses as to who the loud ones were! It was alright though. I didn't mind. I covered probably 98% of what we were supposed to. Considering I'm such a quiet/shy/hate getting in front of 'crowds' kind of person, I was pretty proud of myself! We learned about the sinful tendencies of Americans as a whole, and what good a single random act of kindness can achieve. It's amazing how good you can make someone feel just by saying 'Hi' to them!!! I'll be subbing again in January (at least), it will be for the same class, and I'm already excited! There are five of the six names stuck in my head with faces to match!!! lol That in itself is a huge accomplishment for me...especially after only an hour with them!

I can't wait for tomorrow...it's my Friday!!! Hooray for four day weekends!!!!!! I have no idea what I'm going to do during the day, but I know one thing is for sure. I'M SLEEPING IN!!!!! Hopefully I'll get some more stuff unpacked and put away so the spare room and my closet aren't so full...pray for me!

Anyhoo...RCIA is tonight, so I'm going to church again! :-)

~Peanut


"You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance."
-Franklin P. Jones

Not the Gumdrop Buttons!!!

I love Shrek. It's such a great movie!!! Cletus and I were watching it last night.

Anyways...the last few days have been, well, interesting to say the least. Tuesday I took a half day at work, Wednesday dragged on like no other. I didn't get to bed until 1:15 am, and Thursday went relatively quick, then yesterday...well...gentlemen, if you don't want to know what it's like to be a woman with really bad menstrual problems, you may not want to read on...

Yesterday sucked. I went to bed around 1 am again Thursday night. Just haven't really been that tired. I was starting to feel a twinge of pain but thought I could just sleep it off. I didn't take my meds cause I figured I would be fine. Boy was I wrong!!! I woke up Friday morning doubled in pain. Got out of bed cause I had to get ready for work. That was a fiasco in itself. I went ahead and took one of my pills even though it had already been 6 hours. I could barely walk because I was so weak, crawled up the stairs to get in the shower, and almost passed out while in the shower, but all I could think about was getting to work on time. That plan changed really fast. I sent a text to a co-worker, made a phone call and went back to bed for 20 minutes. As the morning and the day went on, I started to feel a little better, but was still extremely week and lacking energy. Around 2:30 pm, I started to get a migraine!!! UGH!!! At least I can tell when one is coming on...I wound up leaving work 2 hours early because of that. It totally sucked!!!

Anyhoo. I have a bridal shower to get ready for, so gotta run!

~Peanut


"A woman wears her tears like jewelry."
-Author Unknown

Oh boy...

Am I going to be one sleepy girl tomorrow!!! Er, actually later today. I wasn't really tired until now...and of course my laptop has decided to intermittently FREAK OUT on me. Apparently, it doesn't like being on for 20 hours a day! lol

I'm going to go get 5 hours of sleep now...

~Peanut


"Leisure time is that five or six hours when you sleep at night."
-George Allen

Adventures with Baking (and Insulation)

Ok...I love to bake! Cheesecake is my favorite, but I also love to bake cookies, cakes, cupcakes, breads (mmmmmm, lemon loaf!!!). I just don't seem to have the time to bake...However, tonight I decided to use the Betty Crocker Butter Pecan cake mix that I bought at Kroger about two weeks ago. I made some cupcakes with it, just because it's easier for people to take individual portions at work...where the majority of them are going! A couple of years back, I bought some of those little paper cupcake cups because I was almost out and had every intention on making more cupcakes very soon. I accidentally bought these Reynolds Baking Cups. These things are a great invention!!! You don't have to use a cupcake pan, just the aluminum cups on a cookie sheet. They're fantastic...as long as you don't over fill them. I made that mistake. It wasn't too bad, they just aren't "pretty" after they've spilled over a little bit! :-)

All the while, Cletus was upstairs putting more insulation in the attic. There was 6" blown in, but he bought the pink fiberglass rolled stuff to put on top of the blown in stuff. I helped, a little. I handed him the rolls! lol Hopefully that will help keep the upstairs just as warm as the downstairs! Yes, our house is bass-ackwards. The first floor is warmer than the second...oh well though, that's about to change!

On a much more Patriotic note, Happy Veteran's Day!!! I send my utmost respect, love, honor and thanks to the men and women that currently serve, or have served in the past. Without their selfless commitment, and their love of this country, we wouldn't have the freedoms that we do now. God Bless Our Troops...past, present, and future!!!

~Peanut


"When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep?"
-George Canning

What a fricken day...

So today, Cletus and I went to help my sister move her and her 3 kids out of house 1 and into house 2. When we got there, my dad, other sister, my aunt and uncle were all there. My brother showed up a little later on and my mom was at house 2 working on cleaning it up a bit. We got to house 1 at 10ish this morning, and didn't get home until about 7:00. It was a loooooong day, but she's probably about 98% moved into her new place! I'm so excited and happy for her!!!

Tomorrow, my mom, my other sister and I are going to David's so that I can get my undergoodies for my wedding dress. That should be fun...I will get to try my dress on again, so I won't complain!!! I also made another appointment with the florist to go in and 'fine tune' some things. That won't happen for a couple of weeks though. We really need to buckle down and get registered, get maps and directions figured out for the invitations, finalize the guest list, and some other random stuff...like figuring out what kind of cake we want! lol

Anyways...I'm pooped...and I think I'm going to go to bed...and it's before 9!

~Peanut


"Between a man and his wife nothing ought to rule but love."
-William Penn

It's all good...

So, I'm alright. For now anyways. I might go to the doc if it ever happens again, but for now, I'm not going to worry about it. Here's what was going on...let the blogger-md's come out!!!

1) I was feeling depressed/useless/unwanted/un-needed for about 2 weeks. No big deal right? Just a frump.
2) I didn't want to go to work for at least a week.
3) I felt like I couldn't do anything right. Letting things slip at work that should never slip etc.
4) I was falling WAY behind at work due to a severe lack of motivation every single day...for 2 weeks straight...
5) My body felt like it just didn't want to work anymore for a couple of days
6) My appetite was no where near where it should have been...
7) It was taking me a lot longer to figure out simple things than it should have. For example, when I was filing yesterday, it took me twice as long as it should have because I couldn't remember the order of the alphabet.
8) I haven't been able to type for squat for the last couple of weeks. Yesterdays post took me almost 15 minutes to type.
9) I was forgetting the regular things like bringing something to work with me, or a discussion I was supposed to have until after the fact. Yeah, the whole lack-of-memory thing runs in the family so I didn't really think anything of it until......
10) I was sitting at home Wednesday night because I just didn't feel right. I started crocheting. I've been crocheting for at least 5 years, probably 6 so I've got the basics pretty down pat. I sat there crocheting for about 45 minutes straight, took a quick break to say something to Hoopah on yahoo messenger, and couldn't figure out the stitch I had been working on when I tried to start again. It freaked me right out. It took about 5 tries before I figured it out again.
11) Oh yeah...I was on the verge of tears at least 5 times a day for the last 2 weeks too...not to mention practically crying myself to sleep on Wednesday night.

Maybe I am doing too much. I don't think I am, but I think that night crocheting on the couch was my body's way of telling me to slow down. I honestly don't think I had a single thought running through my head the whole time. Until I couldn't remember the stitch. Then my brain started swimming...

I'm working full time, planning a wedding (which, hasn't really seemed too bad!), going to RCIA on Tuesday nights, I have volunteered to help stuff bulletins on Saturdays and teach children's Catechism at church on Mondays but I haven't done that yet, and there has been a lot going on within the family that I guess could be contributing, but I just don't see how...I'm doing my darndest to make sure I'm not "involved" if you know what I mean. I also still have a lot of stuff to go through at the house to get organized and put away or ready to sell...

I had a nice chat with my honey last night, and a pretty quiet night over-all after we went to Kohl's and grocery shopping. I think a few low key days is what I needed...what I still need.

Anyhoo...leave your diagnosis!

~Peanut


"For fast-acting relief, try slowing down."
-Lily Tomlin

Ok, I'm getting a little freaked out...

No, it's not about wedding stuff. Just things that have been happening over the last few weeks that have got me thinking. I'm sure it will all be ok and I'll be fine, but it's kind of starting to scare me. I'm probably overreacting and overanalyzing everything...we'll see. I'm going to keep an open mind, and remain positive until I find out otherwise. I'll fill you all in later.

~Peanut


"It doesn't hurt to be optimistic. You can always cry later."
-Lucimar Santos de Lima

Lost for words...

I don't even know where to begin. I'm sad, and somewhat afraid from how the Presidential election turned out. Obama is a smooth talker and a very intelligent man...but he has no experience, and in my opinion, no right to be in office. Pulling all the troops out of Iraq is not the answer that country needs. I guess we as Americans will have to just wait and see how it all pans out. Putting a (probably monetary) penalty on people that don't have health coverage on their children is just plain ridiculous. There are people that can't afford health care for themselves let alone their kids...and now, he's going to penalize the fact that they don't have money. Higher taxes for small businesses and married couples that make more than $250,000 a year? That's not the answer we need. I heard many people saying they would vote for him for the simple fact that he's black...I also heard that people wouldn't vote for him because he's black. Well, I hope those people that based their vote on the color of his skin know what they were voting for in regards to policies. I hope they can sleep at night knowing that they've just given every woman in America the right to kill their baby before it's born. I hope they can sleep at night knowing they just voted for higher taxes. I hope they can sleep at night knowing that they just voted to get all of the troops out of Iraq before they're ready, and I hope that all those people are prepared to deal with the ramifications of pulling those troops out. It's not going to be pretty, and it honestly scares me. Don't get me wrong, I will be happy to have my family that is over there come home...but our job there is not done. The first thing I'm going to ask people when they start complaining about the direction this country is going is "Who did you vote for?" As long as they have an answer, I'll continue listening to their conversation. If they didn't vote, I won't listen anymore. Plain and simple.

Well, I could go on for a long time on what I feel about Obama being elected, and I CAN bitch about it because I voted...but I won't keep wasting your time.

**EDIT** Don't get me wrong, I am not a racist, and I am proud of our country for being able to elect a man of a mixed racial background. It just goes to prove that we are starting to get past all the racial boundaries that we've been dealing with all these years. It just scares me that we have just elected the first black Muslim to run America...

~Peanut


"Character is higher than intellect."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Election Day!!!

Hello world, I am an American and I have exercised my right to vote! I hope you do as well.

This morning, I left an hour earlier than I normally would for work. When I got to my polling place, the line was wrapped around the side of the building...I thought for sure it was going to take at least 2 hours to complete the process. Well, after standing in line for less than 5 minutes, and reading half a chapter in the book I brought with me, a volunteer came out and said "If anyone is positive that you're voting in precinct 'x', please go inside and go through the doors on the right.' SWEET!!! Once I got inside, I was still in line, but only behind about 15 people instead of 200. I was done within a matter of 10 minutes once I got inside the building. It was fantastic! I was still early to work even though I went off my normal route by about 4 miles to vote! It was great. Now, I'll be watching the results like a hawk for the hour that I have at home between work and RCIA.

Now, when I say I've exercised my right, I'm talking about my hard earned right to vote as a woman. Since women have only been "allowed" to vote since 1920, I feel very privileged, and will do my best to make it to any and all Presidential elections as possible. I know my vote counts and always will. Sometimes though, it's hard to see how one measly little person can make such a difference in the world. Back when Kerry was running, I voted for him. Every person that I talked to voted for Kerry...and I mean EVERY PERSON, yet Bush still won the election. That year I told myself I would never vote again because 'apparently my vote didn't count.' Wrong. It counts, sometimes it just doesn't turn out the way YOU may have voted for it. Either way, I hope everyone realizes how important it is to get out and vote.

This year, America will have an historical Presidential election, no matter which way it goes. If John McCain gets elected, we will have a female Vice President that will have to take over if something detrimental happens to McCain. If Barack Obama gets elected, we will have the first President of African American descent. However, if Barack Obama gets elected, we will also have the first President that technically might not have been 'able' to run due to the fact that he may be an illegal...hmm.

I personally voted for McCain. I think he's more what this country needs right now. Obama is a smooth talker. That's it. He's an extremely intelligent man, but he dances around the issues rarely giving a straight answer. I want to know your stance. Period. Not how you might tweak things to make it more appropriate, but how you feel about it, and exactly what you're going to do to change it. Don't get me wrong, I don't think either of them really gave to-the-point answers on some of the issues, but I feel that McCain did a better job of saying "this is what needs to happen and this is what I will do". Not to mention the fact that McCain has actual military experience along with leadership experience that should be necessary to running in a Presidential race. Now, don't even get me started on the abortion issue...it's wrong. Which is where at least 80% of my decision came from. Cletus posted It's Election Time on his blog. He actually wrote to the Obama Campaign to ask a question about the abortion topic. You'll notice that they didn't really even answer the question that he asked...

Anyhoo...I hope EVERYONE will make it out to vote today. There really are no excuses. If you don't vote, don't complain about what's going on in this country. Today is your ONE CHANCE to let your voice be heard, and to make your choice on which direction YOU want this wonderful country to move.

~Peanut

"Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote."

-George Jean Nathan

Yesterday was FUN!!!

So, Cletus and I had an appointment with a florist in downtown to talk wedding flowers yesterday. My mom, my sis and my niece were there also. We pretty much got all the flowers hashed out so that's all taken care of now! Yippee!!!

My bouquet will consist of these:

with and

My girls will be carrying these:

with or

The guys will have boutonnieres of these:

with

Cletus' boutonniere will be:

with blue fillers and a blue ribbon. He wanted our colors to be maize and blue...I told him no way! lol So I said he could have maize and blue for his boutonniere.

We figured out the corsages for the moms and grandmas as well, but I forgot to write them down! WAH! I'm pretty sure they are calla lilies and white roses.

I also went and had my hair played with yesterday. I officially have my hairstyle figured out, and I LOVE it!!!!!! I can't wait to see the finished product, veil and all!!! I would love to post pictures of that, but a certain someone would see... :-)

~Peanut

"Those who flee temptation generally leave a forwarding address."

-Lane Olinghouse