Technical Difficulties

OK, I am having technical difficulties uploading pictures to my blog, so stay tuned for more Vermont pictures, Halloween Pictures, and various other pictures I have been wanting to put on here.

On another note, they finally did it! Snickers - they finally produced a candy bar with just the best part - the caramel and nuts! :) Joy! I have always felt that the Snickers would be much better without that nougat crap on the bottom of it - and someone finally got smart! I found them much by accident and they are the mini ones in a bag, so they are probably a temporary item, but I was right - it is much better with just the caramel and nuts, covered with chocolate. :)

Hmmmm, what else could I tell you? Jeff's BWC claim was finally approved and his employer seems to have given up fighting it after this 2nd approval. They had 14 days to appeal the decision again, but I guess they waived that right because he got a check in the mail last week. Now we just have to get all of the claim info to all the doctors and hospitals who have been sending us bills. Fun, fun. But so much better than having to pay them!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and then Christmas... I love both holidays, but I am always a last minute shopper. And the day after Thanksgiving shopping day? I have done that ONE TIME. Not my cup of tea. I cannot stand rude people - it is Christmas, for goodness sake! A time for joy and giving. Kindness, sharing. All kinds of warm and fuzzy emotions. That is not what you get when you go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. People fighting over who gets that certain toy for their kid, or who gets that last sweater that is marked down 80%. Waiting in line hours before a store opens in the dark, cold hours of the morning - then pushing and shoving the people next to you to make sure you are one of the "first 20 people" in the store for that "special" gift. Isn't that just the perfect start to the Christmas Holiday? Not for me.

Jeff has always had the mind-set of, "Why go to the store and shop when I can get it all right here on line and have it delivered to my door by the brown elves?" While I like online shopping sometimes, you have to really know what you are looking for to shop online, and I like browsing in the stores - being able to physically touch the item I am thinking about buying when I find it. I do like catalogue shopping, too, though.

I have never been able to go out and just buy something for someone; I always try to make it something that they want or need, or something that they will love. My sister called me yesterday asking me what my kids wanted for Christmas - um, hello? I have no clue. It is just the beginning of November, I haven't thought about it too much! And she could have called me a couple of days ago to tell me that she was planning to do her Christmas shopping on Tuesday and would like to know what everyone wants. At least then I would have time to think about it. So I was really no help to her what-so-ever.

Anyway, who does their Christmas shopping at the beginning of November?? LOL I know- lots of people do. One of my co-workers is usually done in July. She is done now, and has even begun thinking of things for next Christmas. Wow, I will never be that organized! I am usually still shopping on Christmas Eve!

I have actually started early this year, shocking even myself. It sometimes helps to have Jean (Mrs. I'm done in July) sitting in the cubicle next to mine. At least once a week she tells us how many more days until Christmas - this announcement is usually met by responses of "What?? We don't want to know that! Please keep information such as that to yourself!" in a kind, joking way, of course. But sometimes when she says it, if I am not super busy, I will start looking at some online stuff. I have ordered a few things online, and have even received a few of them via our little brown elf, Stevie Brown. (For those of you unaware, he is our UPS guy at the office - and that's not his real name... but you will have to read one of my previous posts to find out about that! Here is the post.)

I actually bought some things with the thought that they would make great gifts, but I'm not sure for who yet. I have hidden some things, and that now that I am thinking about it, I don't remember where I hid them! I need to wrap them and find a place to put them all together so I don't forget about them.

Conor's birthday is also coming up in December; he is going to be 4! WOW! It's hard to believe he is going to be 4. He is very excited; he keeps asking me how many more years until he's grown-up, like me. He says, "This birthday I'm going to be 4, next birthday I will be 5, then will I be grown up like you, Mommy?"

"No, honey, it will be a lot of birthdays until you are grown up like me." (yeah, I feel so grown up - NOT)

OK, so, that is a long enough post for now, huh? A few of you didn't even finish reading it - I know who you are - because it was too long and you start getting fidgety half way through. :) I will get the remaining Vermont pictures up as soon as I can.