Settin' the place on FIRE!

It's a guarantee that when my girlfriends and I all get together, we have a good time. We've got story after story, and those stories have led us to nicknames and many inside jokes.

This past Friday, my mom & I hosted our annual cookie exchange and the usual gang of girlfriends came over.

My BFF, Melissa, came in bearing gift bags and asked us to open our special gifts. We knew it was something she made, but you could have never prepared me for what I was about to pull out....



She made us each a pair of slippers.....pad slippers. Pad as in Maxi-pad. They were custom to each of us. For instance, mine said "Snarky".

We howled with laughter, and didn't pay much attention to the candle on the table and the over abundance of tissue paper. Look closely in this next photo .... you'll see the glow of the flame and some tissue which appears to be much too close.



This is the photo I caption: DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!!

Yes, the tissue caught on fire.

And yes, the flames were probably a good 12 inches high.

And yes, it burned straight thru the tablecloth.

And while we're at it, yes, flaming tissue came at me and singed my shirt AND my hair.

No joke. I have some evidence:



After we extinguished the flames and calmed ourselves down, we went on to have a fabulous night.





I really couldn't ask for a better group of friends. I love you gals.

Merry Christmas to each of you!!

1 week til the big man cometh down the chimney

It's hard to believe in just a week, families will be gathering and children will be placing out cookies & milk and waiting in anticipation for Santa.

The holiday season never slows it's pace, and before we can blink it's time to pull down all the twinkle bulbs, pack away all the sentimental keepsake ornaments and chalk it up as another year gone.

I look forward to Christmas immensely. I always have, but I do so even more being a parent. Yet, I think about how close the holiday is, and already feel the little nag of depression that it's all going to be over with much too quickly.

This year I started everything just a little bit earlier; the shopping, the wrapping, watching the holiday movies... Yet, I still feel like I haven't gotten to truly enjoy it. I don't understand why. We've sat around in our jammies, by the tree, watching movies or playing a holiday Wii game. I've sat with the kids and colored in their Christmas coloring books. We've gone out to look at Christmas lights. We've read a few Christmas stories. We've baked a gazillion cookies. We've donated to the local food pantry, and attended the town tree lighting ceremony. We've visited Santa, sang along to Christmas carols, and helped out a family in need.

And that's not all. There is still plenty of festiveness to be had. Our cookie exchange, the holiday light show/Santa visit on our block, getting together with family, my holiday work luncheon, and a girl's night holiday dinner.

I'm truly blessed with what we've been able to do. Able to enjoy. Able to give. I just wish it was more....

New Site

Where I work, I'm always hearing stories of crazy tips the employees receive from customers around the holidays.

I've always joked & said I was going to compile it into a book. Well, I don't know the first thing about having a book published, so instead, the idea went the virtual route instead.

And so a new website was born!!!

Be sure to check it out, and share your story if you have one! Pass the word along! Can't wait to see what sort of crazy tips are occurring outside of my place of business!!