Monterrey Night

Last night some of us "old" friends met up at a favorite local watering hole to drink swirls and reminisce. It was nice to see everybody outside of FaceBook for a change...



Nolita and Stacey



 

Christmas Roundup

After the blizzard, we braved the Oklahoma highways and drove to Stillwater to attend a family reunion. No good stories to tell but we survived!! See pics here and here.

Nolita and Keri

Jurie Preeze in her Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Snuggie

Merry Christmas Random Pics!

Emi after getting into her stocking.

Handmade ornament from Emi.

Durley, our Christmas kitty.

Emi before opening her gifts.

Emi playing in the snow after breakfast (blueberry tea ring...yum!)

Watering my plants in the sunroom before heading to a family gathering...

My new camera has a "makeup" setting that I wish I could use in real life! Not a stitch of makeup on in this picture and my camera fixed that for me!

Christmas Eve (aka Okie Blizzard 2009)

Today was crazy weatherwise and forced us to hunker down at the house. I tried to work a half day but only made it to 2.5 hrs hearing about the freezing sleet on the roads. By late afternoon we had white out blizzard conditions and were forced to cancel travel to my parents' house for Christmas Eve dinner. Instead of a nice traditional Cuban pork roast with black beans and rice, we got 2 different kinds of queso for appetizers, biscuits and gravy for the main course and chewy raisin bran cookies for dessert...also some cava. It was a nice peaceful night in watching The Hangover and waiting for Santa...so glad we didn't venture out because all of the major highways in Oklahoma were closed.



We let Emi open one gift tonight following our Christmas Eve tradition and she just happened to love it!

Sweet Kirby Boy...

...he's a cuddly one...

Favorite Christmas tunes

Good Old Standbys:
Pretty Paper - Willie Nelson
Please Come Home for Christmas - The Eagles
Greensleeves (A Charlie Brown Christmas) - Vince Guaraldi
Blue Christmas - Elvis (Nicole Atkins does a nice version on the Hotel Cafe presents Winter Songs)
Up on the House Top - Jackson 5
Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses
Feliz Navidad

New favorite Christmas songs:
Frosty the Snowman - Fiona Apple
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - Jack Johnson
Donde Esta Santa Claus - Straight No Chaser
White Christmas - Michael Buble
Mistletoe - Colbie Caillat
I'll Be Home for Christmas - Holly Conlan

I previewed the songs from The Hotel Cafe presents Winter Songs and really liked them, but later when Scott previewed them at home, many of the songs sounded like something you'd want to hear whilst crying in your beer...Hauntingly Beautiful. Guess my favorite Christmas songs are about the blues or angst or emotion (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) My favorite song on this album is Frosty by Fiona! I totally recommend purchasing this album...and maybe listening to it with a little spirited nog.

Windows Upgrade

Office Window Before

Office Window After

Bedroom Window Before

Bedroom Window After

Glossified

So I totally glossed over the Thanksgiving holiday. It's because the weekend that followed Thanksgiving was Notso Great. Actually it was just mostly Sunday that sucked....and I will get to that in a minute.

Thanksgiving was very nice.

Tuesday Night: Scott and I opened up a bottle of red wine and we: painted the freshly texturized Sun Room walls, shampooed the Living/Lounge carpet, laundered the tablecloths, mopped the floors and wiped down all flat surfaces. The place looked good and cared for...(for once) and Emi had a night of debauchery at her Grandma Babe's house.

On Thanksgiving Eve we: took a load of stuff to the Tip (Dump, Transfer Station), purchased extra white plates (more plates, not more white) from the Salvation Army Store (and scored some pants for the kidro), grocery shopped, picked up the Disco from the shop and managed to not make it to the liquor store before it closed. ;.( The Disco had received another left rear axle and yet it still squeaked on the way home (Aaaiiiieeeee!). Emi and I baked Lemon Zesters and Pumpkin Swirl Brownies that evening and prepped the veggies for roasting and Scott saw Ninja Assassin with his best friend. Girls Night In!

Thanksgiving Day: Scott's family came over and we had dinner potluck style. I wasn't responsible for the turkey so I was relieved. Yet I made gravy which was very labor intensive considering I had to roast turkey parts to get the "brown bits" for the authentic flavor (with love, of course). I made mashed potatoes (yum!) with lots of help peeling from Scott and Christy; and I roasted veggies (cauliflower, brussels sprouts, butternut squash, and asparagus) and punted the corn casserole.

Friday was hard for me because I had to schlep in to work. I guess I could have taken the day off, but then I'd be 8 hrs lighter in the Leave Area and I would have had to clean up the mess that was my home. A quiet day at the office it was. That evening we worked on detangling Emi's hair in preparation for an appointment with a local braider. I was having a hard time with combing out her hair because my CPS flared up with the Weekend Warrior projects we'd taken on as of late. Rat tail comb in hand for an hour combing out the dredded braids (only had 4 left at the time) made my right hand numb and tingling so Scott and Emi helped me out. [We will be SO, SO, SO happy when Emi can do this feat on her own....]

Saturday was even harder because I thought it would take "just a minute" to comb out the little braids that I had worked on for the past 2 weeks but the dreds that we combed out got gnarled already and the little bitty "yarn strand" braids that I had done were taking a lot longer. At one point we just had to leave to get to her appt. The lady was was busy braiding another girl's hair when we got there so we learned a bit about the process. She added synthetic hair to the natural hair in sections, then braided box braids, then she lit the end of the synthetic hair with a lighter to seal it. That part was a little alarming to Emi and me, but she assured us that she was not burning her real hair.

Not wanting to burden this woman with combing out Emi's hair, I stayed for a bit and detangled some, then the woman said it would be better if I left. I was excited for Emi to have a new hairstyle not created from my amateur hands and I left. I had to peel Emi off of me in the process because she wanted me to stay and I promised her a meal at Pop's and that we'd get her Style Lab Jewelry Design for her DS if she was good. An hour later we were on our way to pick her up because she had changed her mind. Her scalp was tender and she wasn't giving the new lady any chance at combing or braiding. Emi has a very strong will so I guess we shouldn't be so surprised.

I was very disappointed because I had high hopes with this hair endeavor. The last time I let anyone attempt to work on her hair didn't end so well...

So we took our girl home thinking we could get her hair combed out and braided into big soft braids enough to get her back to the stylist. That's what we were thinking Saturday afternoon. We decided to give it a day so we could rest and recoup, so Emi went to bed in her satin scarf and we watched Slumdog Millionaire (I know, finally!) and all was good.

The next morning I really got a good look and feel and her hair seemed even more dry and gnarled....(think Buckwheat). I was definitely not up for the task of getting her hair conditioned and styled any time soon. I was upset that the 2 weeks of work I had done was erased and I was way further back in this task than I was 2 weeks ago. I sprayed some leave-in conditioner into the matted mess and sectioned (as best I could) 3 "puffs" of hair into rubber bands. That was as good as it got before she went to see her MeeMaw and PeePaw.

Later that evening, I shampooed her hair and slathered in a blob of the Khoret Amen Hair Smoothie to start loosening the knots. I combed out some tresses in the front and made 4 braids, only wanting to attack this chore in smallish chunks for both of our sakes. It's a slow going process but we got through Sunday (which is a HUGE deal considering the funk I was in). I got a few more braids in the other night and it's looking better and more manageable each day.

I am so thankful that her hair is natural and healthy and growing out. I don't want her to think she has to have straight hair to have "good" hair. I still don't quite understand the adding of synthetic hair to the mix so maybe it was a sign for her to not go through with the braiding the other day. But I truly do understand why I should braid....

Treat Me Right

I've seen so many lists on other blogs for gift ideas for you to purchase this holiday season and it inspired me to make a list of my own. Only these items are gifts that I already have, rather, products that make me happy or just less crabby...which is a gift to my family!
1) Tui Hair Smoothie This stuff is SO AWESOME! My little girl has kinky, curly, wild, napptural hair and this stuff is the ONLY stuff that truly detangles her hair. It's so yummy smelling too. We love the Tui and Black Vanilla, but baby girl does not like the Khoret Amen scent. We order direct from Carol's Daughter and sometimes we get the stuff from Macy's if we are already shopping there. Other Carol's Daughter products we keep in stock at our house are: Tui Leave-in Conditioner, Black Vanilla Leave-In Conditioner, Healthy Hair Butter, Some of Marguerite's Magic, Lisa's Hair Elixir and Tui Hair Oil.
2) Chick-Fil-A

Why oh why didn't I treat myself to a Peppermint Chocolate Chip milkshake too?

3) Hobby Lobby

I was there at lunch today (hence the drive through Chick-Fil-A) just to pick up a bag of pom poms for baby girl's class project. Thrice I had items in my hand that were not pom poms and had to put them back on the shelf. Hobby Lobby is so inspirational for us that we often leave with a cartful of items that we may or may not use once we get home and start baking cookies. Not sure why that is...

4) Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Basil scented hand soap.

Doesn't leave an obnoxious scent on your hands afterwards. I find the scent pleasant. That is all.
5) Amazon's Subscribe and Save: Grocery service.

I am not good at budgeting money or sticking to lists at the grocery store (I did prove today that I could stick to the list at Hobby Lobby, but it was VERY HARD) so I really appreciate that with this grocery service I can "set it and forget it". Here are some of the items that I have auto-shipped to me that save me quite a bundle (discounts, gas and schlepping): instant oatmeal, chicken stock, fruit and nut bars, artichoke hearts, diced tomatoes, dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent & fabric softener. These are staple items and the food is organic! I pay no tax, no shipping and get a 15% discount for auto-shipping when I want. I get an e-mail when the next shipment is getting ready to process and I can cancel if I have enough product or I can have the shipment shipped early if I run out. Love, love, love this!!!