Sibling Rivalry...

I made the trip back to Akron with LDBoy last night to pick up things I had left there Christmas Eve...

While looking through the fridge/freezer to see what was left that I could leave for New Years Eve - oh yeah...I have been invited back :) ....

I found a full pan of Mint Brownies and Peanut Butter Fudge cookies that I left there at Thanksgiving ...

LDBoy: Oooops...I forgot about these...I guess I will trash them...
ME: Noooooo....cookies and candies do keep well in the freezer....put them back...

Whew...one less thing to do this next week!

When I got back to Willoughby, G-Man and one of his friends (one of my favorites) were in the basement and asked me to stay upstairs for awhile.

It was after midnight by now, so I had no problem obliging. It was way past my bedtime anyway...

At 5:00 AM this morning they woke me and asked me to come to the basement...

And what to my wondering eyes did appear???

Nothing...

...no dust or dirt...
...no trash laying around from previous overnighters...
...no holes in the wall (don't ask)....
...no scuff marks on the wall....
...no crude drawings or poems on the wall size white board...

I was totally impressed and awed...

They picked up ...
They vacuumed...
They scrubbed...
They painted....

For five frickin' hours....

While I slept...

It was like a Cinderella dream come true...

I was so stunned I could hardly get a thank you out....

G-Man: Merry Christmas, Mom...I know it's not a day at Salon Preston, but Dan and I - we do what we can....

You do it well, guys, you do it well...

Thank you!

It is a Merry Christmas Morning!

Yesterday was pretty awesome as far as Christmas Eve's go...

I first arrived at LDBoy's about 9:00 AM and we immediately hit up the Giant Eagle and Target for a couple of last minute things...

Because what is Christmas Eve without the last minute shopping experience???

It provides some good bonding time as well...

Till I realized what time it was and that if I did not get the turkey started soon we would not be eating til Christmas Day...

So back at the Stone House - in the awesome kitchen - I was frantically trying to cut the wrap off the turkey, with a knife, because I was too impatient to wait for LDBoy to bring me a pair of scizzors...

Yeah, you know where this is going...had to slow down a bit to take care of the gash in my arm...

Don't worry, the spurting blood missed the turkey and other food....

And butterfly bandages with a little neosporin and a lot of ice and I was good to go....

At least good enough to supervise LDBoy while he got the rest of my casseroles ready for the oven...

Luckily for him, I did most of the preparation the day before, because he had enough of his own stuff to do without having to do my stuff and worry about whether or not he should take me to the ER despite my insistence that I was ok....

But it was more good bonding time...

Then I headed back North to pick up my Mom and Dad....

And I made time to stop home and see G-Man for a bit.

Long enough for him to help me change the wound dressing and determine it really was okay.

Unfortunately, G-Man had to work for Papa John Christmas Eve, so he was not able to join the family festivities in Akron. He laid the guilt trip on pretty good - must be part of the Catholic influence shining through...

Then I headed back to the Stone House with Mom and Dad...

CareBear and K and Taz were there when I got back. I was excited because they had missed the family Thanksgiving.

K is great in the kitchen; he made one of my favorites - corn pudding...

And he finished up my stuff....

And Carrie continually made sure everyone had anything they needed...

As G-Man said, when they are not there, there is a gap....because they are a big help and great company.

We feasted on ham, turkey, mashed potatos, green bean casserole, salad, corn pudding, and desserts....

But not sweet potato casserole, because we left that dish in the oven - totally forgetting to serve it.

That's seems to be a tradition with us....

Last year left the green bean casserole in the microwave where I had it keeping warm...I realized I forgot it the next day when I went to warm up my coffee...

I guess everyone is just too polite to ask "I thought you were making..."

At least then I'd remember where it was...

Or maybe there was enough food that noone missed it....

Then it was present time...

Not that I needed another thing..getting together with family and friends is my holiday wish come true.

But...

CareBear made me an awesome photo bulletin board....

Included a few photos and left room for me to add my own...

And LDBoy made appointments for CareBear and I and himself at his friend's salon.

I do not have to color my own hair this week...yay...

And it will last a lot longer...

And there is hope that I may be beautiful for the start of the New Year...

And more good quality family time at Salon Preston!

But for right now I am just relaxing and looking forward to another family Christmas Day tradition - going out to a movie.

Have a great day, everyone.

Happy Holidays!!!

That's right, I said Happy Holidays....

And do not even think about giving me any shit about it...

What is the big deal????

Yes it is Christmas...

And to my Christian friends who celebrate Christmas, I say Merry Christmas. (Although, shouldn't it be Blessed Christmas if you really want to get all righteous about it???)

But there are other holidays as well this holiday season.

Hanukkah, Kwanza, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day....

To name a few...

And I have friends who celebrate all of them.

Well some of them celebrate some of them and some of them celebrate others of them, but you know what I mean...

And we do not all have to be Christian, do we? (Okay, forget I asked that - I do not want a lecture.)

Let's just say I am okay with you if you are not Christian...

Who says my God has to be your God?? (Again, that is rhetorical, people...no lectures will be acknowledged.)

Just so you are not killing people in the name of your God or some such nonsense.

So to all of you....

No matter what you are celebrating this season....

Happy Holidays!!!!

Lessons Learned....

As I mentioned in an earlier post, LDBoy and friends hosted Thanksgiving.

They are also hosting Christmas Eve.

It will be fun I am sure...

After we get a few things taken care of...

Ya see, by the time Thanksgiving dinner was served and enjoyed, I was tired and decided I would ask LDBoy and G-Man to take over the clean-up duties...

First mistake...

Second mistake was not believing G-Man when he told me later that night that they had not even looked at what needed cleaned up.

After I left, apparently the boys enjoyed a few rounds on the trampoline and a whole lot of video games...

So when I stopped by earlier this week just to inventory what was leftover from Thanksgiving by way of non-perishables and to see what ovenware I had left there that I could use again...

Well, I found a whole lot more leftovers than I bargained for...

I had left 2 roasters there and figured I really only needed one for Christmas.

I found them both sitting out (not where I had left them) with the lids on them...

I flipped the lid on the one I was going to take....

Holy Green and Black and Ripe...WTF????

Well, you cooked the turkey in a bag - we thought the roasters were still clean...

And remember the industrial size fridge???

Yeah, well there is a downside.

There is so much room in there that there is no hurry to clean out leftovers...

As of last Thursday, there were Thanksgiving leftovers galore...

Green potatos and ham, black beans, and wtf is that???

You boys got some work to do before christmas Eve.

I will be sending daily friendly reminders...

It's A Christmas Carnival!

From now til Christmas....

Come Join the Fun at Humor bloggers dot com!

My Christmas fun began when ex-Mom-in-law (aka Grandma to G-Man) sent him an early Christmas card...

With a nice chunk of change...

And what does G-Man do....


Thank you Grandma...