Katerbug Blue

Christmas is up! That’s always the big announcement of the year. This year is the last year I will be pulling things off of bookshelves. I will be putting the Christmas decorations in storage bins in the basement, and using the shelves as an extended linen closet.

Currently the table downstairs is piled to the ceiling with sheets, blankets, towels and table cloths. So tomorrow, they will find a permanent resting place–and I will have to store Christmas like every other American does.

How was your Thanksgiving holiday? I did really good. Although I did pick a bit of dark meat before dinner officially started, I did NOT stuff myself. As much as I LOVE Thanksgiving dinner, and since we were guests there were no left overs for us…I still tried to just eat a bit of everything, and then, if there was room, I could go back in for a little bit more of something. That something…the freshly baked rolls! Mind you, they don’t work too well with my alli diet pill, but OH, I could not deny myself one more! A thin slice of pumpkin pie and an even thinner slice of apple, and my Thanksgiving was officially over! Yummy, but over!

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Well, we are off to visit family! Hope your “Turkey Day” is “All You Can Eat”!!

Tonight my oldest had to print out his Dare report for school tomorrow.  His last big assignment before the Thanksgiving break.  He worked on it all week last week, and it was pretty darn good.  Until we had to print it!  I don’t know what is wrong with my printer, but it seems to be dumping ink! Ok, so it’s not really, but holy cow we go through that stuff like there is no tomorrow…and that stuff ain’t cheap!

We got it all printed out, and looking OK, when I remembered that the two younger kids had been out of school all week, and had spent their days printing out coloring pages and coloring them in. See…I knew I had a new ink cartridge in there!

Before we got married, my husband and I worked for the same hotel chain. I worked in accounting, he was a manager. Since then I’ve moved on to wife and mom and he’s moved up to General Manager of his own hotel. Normally my day to day work doesn’t mix with his, but there are rare chances when I get to help out. The entire hotel is moving to a centralized accounting program and in order to do that they have to back up the entire system through tape drives. These tapes had to be driven out to O’Hare so that they could be shipped to the corporate offices really quickly. They would then take the tapes and convert them onto the new system. So starting first thing Monday morning, when the staff gets started on their work, they are on the new system and all of their old information has been integrated!

Ok, so my job wasn’t all that technical, but when they pay $.75 a mile…it was quite a nice little pay day!

A few posts down I showed you the new glass tile back splash I put up in the kitchen. The next stop…bar faucets! There are some really pretty ones out there these days, and the prices are amazing. There is a dark pewter one that would go so well with the tile. It just finishes the whole look of the kitchen. Along with it, I would love a deeper sink. I know, my list never seems to end. But I figure if we’re changing all of these things anyway, we might as well do them all right the first time. Next, you ask? Hardwood floors or new black cabinets. See, I told you the list goes on and on!!

I have finally dug out my treadmill. I figure if I get started now, I can have a worry free holiday season. Eat what I want, and work it off at the same time. I’m easy! Sadly, it’s missing one of the industrial knobs that hold it upright when not in use. It takes up way too much room if it’s left down, so I have to find one online to replace it.

My kids seem to find the treadmill a great toy! Even the three year old knows how to put the key in and turn it on. Not always the safest of playthings, so with the opportunity to put it up…it’s a must! I’ll have to let you know how my holiday workouts go!!

I just found out that my brother and his wife just bought a million dollar house for less than half of that! How do you do that?? They are selling their home (beautiful) and moving uptown. This home comes with everything. Each bedroom has it’s own bathroom, home theater seating in a huge room in the basement, and even a pond out back stocked with trout.

Mind you, this kind of home wouldn’t be possible here in the Chicago area for that amount of money, but in the West the economy isn’t quite as bad as it is here. I’m sure my property taxes are even higher than his…and my house isn’t worth nearly what his is! The green eyed monster is rearing it’s ugly head, let me tell you!

Do you watch any shows on TV? Nothing is more important in my house than my TIVO! I watch a couple of shows religiously. Right now I’m watching Cold Case. It’s one of my favorites, but there are moments when some of the clues are just too far fetched. For example, in tonight’s episode, a case was reopened based on luggage! A girl who died in 1989 has a bag show up (in perfect condition) on the arm of some ‘gangsta’…yeah right!! Still, even though it’s ridiculous to have that as a premise, the writers still do a great job weaving their tale. They do the same kind of things on “Without A Trace” which is another series I Tivo daily!!

Have you started thinking “Christmas” yet? It’s hard to believe that there is snow falling outside my window right now. It’s just too early in my mind, but truly I guess it’s here. I’m looking forward to this holiday season. I know there are tough economic times hangin’ around, but I’ve been saving for months to finally have a chance to spoil my family for the holidays, and if I want to buy my sweet husband one of those beautiful Movado watches, I’m gonna do it!

My kids are getting a Wii! They’ve wanted one forever, but have been happy to just have the opportunity to play it with their cousins. Now maybe we can have them over to play at our house.

We normally go to my husband’s aunt’s house for Christmas dinner, but I think I will invite the in laws over for a huge Christmas morning complete with gifts and a wonderful holiday brunch! I can just smell the french toast casserole right now!

Last year my husband and I took a trip to Europe. It was amazing, and we had the freedom to skip around different countries for a couple of weeks. With his hotel discounts and trade outs, we got away pretty light on the budget. This year our son is in his first year in Spanish. We’ve told him that if he gets A’s in Spanish on every report card for the year, we’ll take him to Cancun. That means he’ll need a passport, and since they seem to take forever to get, I’m thinking we’ll need to get right on it after the new year. I think it would be so fun to see his face scaling the pyramid in Chichen Itza.

I wrote a couple of days ago about the back splash tile that I purchased for my little buffet area in my kitchen. It came yesterday, and I spent a few minutes putting it up today. Yes, I literally mean A Few Minutes! I bought the premixed adhesive–and I do have to wait several hours for that to dry before I use my premixed grout–but honestly, this baby could be finished before the hubby gets home! That’s generally how I ease him into my hair brain schemes, like beautiful bamboo blinds above the kitchen sink. I could have said I wanted glass tile–and he would agree that it would look nice, but that would be where it ended. This way–he doesn’t have to even think about the dos and don’ts, it’s already done. And even without the grout (which is brown by the way) I think it looks really sharp!

I am bound an determined to get into some sexy swimwear come next summer. This weekend my son and I joined an online weightloss support system. My 11 year old was too young to join, but he and I will live, eat and exercise together. He only has a few pounds to lose, whereas I have plenty! I did, however, do 27 sit ups this morning. I would have done thirty, but my 3 year old tipped a clothes hamper over onto my head. I am not too excited to think about my sore abdominals tomorrow…but it was well worth it!

This weekend my husband’s hotel is having a huge trade show. These are my favorite things because he comes home with tons of fun promotional products for the kids. I’m particularly fond of the pens, we have a million of them, but you know, you still just never have one when you need it. Tonight at the grocery store I purchased one of those packages of 12 blue Bic pens. I LOVE those! But I will tell you, they will all be missing by Friday!