Christmas 2006, part 4

Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3



Okay, okay I know it's been a long time coming. You know, this final part of my Christmas Story. So here it is ... 7:30am and I haven't even slept 5 full hours but my kids are up and yelling for me.




Normally they would just get up and come to my room but that would mean walking through the living room that the tree was in. I guess they wanted me to be there with them. So I went to their rooms and we walked out together. They were sooo excited when they saw all the presents. lol, then they ran upstairs to wake Josh up.



It was so funny cause Abby was opening gifts sooo fast so she had almost all her gifts open and Jordon was on like his third.


But they had a great time. By 11:30am we were on our way to my parents house. My mom hooked me up with a few sweaters and jeans from my favorite store NY&C, sneakers, and slippers. My sisters got me a gift card to get a pedi/mani (soooo excited about this!) a new purse and wristlet! Love my sistas. My brother didn't do gifts since he is jobless but he cooked us all a fabulous brunch. If he wasn't going to school to be some political big wig I'd say he should be a world renowned chef. The boy can cook! lol.

Anyway, of course they got Josh and the kids good stuff too. But hey we're gonna make that part about me.

After hanging with my family some more we headed over to Josh's parents house for dinner, an Eagles game and some more gifts. Fun fun. lol.

Usually my mother in law takes us out shopping and we just pick out our own gifts. This year I guess she thought she'd give it a shot on her own. All I can say is she got the gist of it right. I loved the two sweaters from NY&C she got me, can't go wrong in that store, but the rest? Well I wanted a robe, I got one, most uncomfortable material ever though. I wanted a track suit, got one in again the most horrible material. PJ's? To small, that's always embarrassing. lol. And to top it all off she got us a new bed set. Josh told me about it before Christmas and showed me what it looked like and I told him I didn't like it at all. He told her and she still gave it to us, which just made for some uncomfortable moments when I asked her for the receipt for it cause I didn't like it.

I know I sound like an ungrateful bitch here, but I'm not. Really. haha. I love my in laws. And my mother in law is great, she always over does it. But I don't know that she really does all that great on her own, picking gifts. We work better as a team. Although she was the ONLY one that remembered I collect Willow Tree Figurines. She got me the Wisdom one that is of a girl sitting down reading a book. Perfect for me.

And she did a ton of great outfits for the kids among other things.

Later that night we went to go home but had to swing by my parents house cause I forgot my phone there earlier. Well we ended up playing a card game called canasta from 9:30pm to 1:30am! lol, but it was lots of fun.

2:00am we unloaded all the gifts from our car and called it a night.

And a GREAT Christmas was had by all.




~ Nicole

Christmas 2006, part 3.

Read Part 1 and Part 2

Finally we pick up the kids from my In Laws and get to my aunts house for the party. Everyone else has been there for well over an hour, but of course the party doesn't start till I arrive. lol.

It was a fun time, I always enjoy getting together with all my aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Here's a pic of me and my sisters with our girl cousins. The only one's missing are my three in Florida and the youngest (2) who is running around.

I love this picture of me and my mom. Isn't she to freaking cute and funny! I love my mom.

Okay I know this one was short, but nothing overly exciting happened. We just all hung out and had a good time with each other.

Me Josh and the kids left around 10pm and got home put the kids to bed and then I stayed up till 2:30am in the morning wrapping gifts. Only to be woken up by very excited kids at 7:30am. Uggg, but it was all worth it....but that's for part 4.

And since I'm super tired right now, that will have to wait till tomorrow.

~ Nicole

Christmas 2006, part 2.

Read Part 1

It's Christmas Eve and I have to be to work by 11am, and I only work till 5pm. Which normally I'd be overjoyed since I've never had that great of hours on Christmas Eve before. BUT....there was one last gift I needed to get my daughter so I needed to run to two Targets (in case the first didn't have it) and they closed at 6pm. Cutting it close.

But I was determined to have a great day. I wasn't going to let anyone bring my mood down. And it worked. Shoot, I need to try this positive thinking thing more often, lol.

Let me tell you one of the funniest things that happened right before I left though. It is 5:35 and I'm hoping to sneak out a little early when this Chinese guy walks in. So I greet him and see if he needs help (I don't think he understood a word I said but that's neither here nor there, lol). Well not even 3 min. later this black guy walks in (normally I don't state color and all but it plays into the story) his first question is what's our return policy? Well I can tell this is going to be promising, so I tell him. I am now trying to stay with my customer will answering this other guys questions cause for some reason I am all alone up front in the store. A few minutes later the woman I don't like comes up and I ask her to take the black guy so I can finish with my customer.

Not even 5 min. later I hear this being YELLED in our store among all the customers "Somebody get over here! I want someone else to help me. Get this woman away from me, I don't want her help. I don't want her anywhere near me."

LMAO! Yup, the woman I don't like was doing what she always does. She was judging because of color and appearance and wasn't' letting the guy hold the merchandise he was looking at. And he made a scene! I ended up helping him and all was fine. He pulled out a wad of cash so large and then the other woman was wishing she hadn't treated him the way she did.

Karma's a Bitch! She's also the one that jipped me in the polyanna. lol.

It is now 5:15pm and I am leaving, so much for getting out early. I dash over to Target and they have one pair of boots left in Abby's size....with no box and scratches on the front! Decisions decisions....I grab the boots figuring I can exchange them after Christmas but at least she can have them to open.

As luck would have it though I got to the second Target at 5:50pm and decide to check and see if I would have any better luck...they had them! Yeay! I was so excited.

I dashed home grabbed Josh and some presents and was off to my family party....

~ Nicole

Christmas 2006, part 1

The Christmas post.....lol. Well you plan and shop and cook for it and it's all over now. How was your Christmas everyone??? Mine? FUN! No fighting, or none that I remember so it couldn't have been that bad. lol...

Christmas Eve Eve (Saturday) I got my first Christmas present. Me Josh and my BIL went out together to finish up our shopping. After we were done my BIL took us out for drinks and said it was his gift to us. So we ate drank and were merry. lol.

We went to this place called Cheeseburger in Paradise. I had never been there before, anyone ever heard of it? Well it was sooooo nice. It reminded me of Margaritaville in Vegas. And that's exactly what I had. Some of the best freaking margaritas EVER! It was a layered drink with all different flavors and it was sooo yummy!

After we had some drinks and food we decided to go to the mall and shop some more. Now mind you I thought the mall closed at 11pm, but my BIL told me it was open till midnight. So we were on our way (it took all the drinks for me to get the guys to the mall). The mall is not far from where we were, maybe1/4 of a mile, not even I'm sure.

So when we were walking to the car I said that we should walk. Of course the guys looked at me like I was nuts so I said fine I'd walk alone. It is now 10:45pm. What? It was a nice night and I was hot. They obviously didn't think I'd do it and went to the car. I did do it. lol. I half ran and half walked and by the time they wasted driving next to me and trying to get me in the car and messing around, and parking I caught up to them before the mall entrance.

We get in the mall and it's now, 10:53pm and we find out it does in fact close at 11pm. But what the hell we're all a little extra happy from our drinks so we go off to our stores to be the annoying customers that walk in right before you pull the gate down. Yes I know I hate these customers. lol. 10 minutes later we are walking out with Jordon's sneakers, and my BIL bought a build a bear. lol.

Now I was going to go right through till the day after Christmas but this got kinda long so I'm just going to post it all it sections. So tune in for the rest in a bit....


~ Nicole

Almost time....

My friend posted this to me on my myspace page. lol. I thought it was pretty cute.

The time is getting closer. I have today and tomorrow to finish any last minute shopping. Just a few more things for the kids and we're good.

How bout you? Are you done or are you going to be out on Christmas Eve driving yourself nuts?

My holiday kinda starts today. Josh is off of work, so I don't' have to do the kid thing all alone today. Weew, that is a break in and of itself. lol.

Well okay, I don't have much to say this morning. So everyone have a great weekend. And a Merry Christmas if I don't talk to you again by then. Which I doubt very much will happen, cause I'm addicted. lol.

~ Nicole

Am I being a total Bitch?

I don't know if I am being a total bitch here, which wouldn't be out of the norm, or if I'm justified it the way I feel about this. So what do I do? Come to you lovely readers for your opinions.

Here it is. Every year at work we do a pollyanna and then we list three things on a sheet of paper in the back that we want. Our dollar amount to spend this year was $30 and if you went over you went over, but you spend the $30 at least. Personally I think it was a little high for a co-worker, but whatever, I still participated.

Okay I'll be honest I'm friends with the woman that put the pick bag together and had her rig it so I'd get my friends name that I had already planned on buying for so I didn't' have to buy for someone I didn't like. But that's besides the point. lol.

So somehow I got out of someone that the woman (little Indian Lady) I can't stand the most in the store got my name. Uggg! So I decided to be a bitch. Suprise suprise right? lol. Well on my list I put all detailed very specific things I wanted, and then wrote that I'd take a gift card to this one store for whatever the remaining amount of money was. lol.

About a week ago I was working with the woman that had my name and she took her break at 9:30 pm. When she came back she had a NY&C bag (which is where I wanted stuff from) and just hands it to me. She says "Happy early Christmas". The other woman working looked at her and said "Your just giving it to her like that? Not wrapping it, or waiting for Christmas Eve when everyone else is exchanging?" and she responded saying "Well she is such a spoiled brat I know she want now" (I do know how to type out full sentences but I'm typing exactly the way she speaks in her broken English, lol)

I just laughed, I really didn't care that I got it early. The purse I wanted was there, but the scarf I asked for was wrong. I wrote the exact name of the scarf I wanted and wrote Black or Red. I got the wrong named one in grey. But whatever, still not mad, I can exchange it.

Now here is the part that got me mad. As she was walking away she said "Store has good sale. You get all that and it worth $50." So I'm already thinking oh shit what did she spend? So I said out loud "It doesn't matter what it's worth, it matters what you spent". She didn't reply.

I went down to the store that night to exchange the scarf and looked around. Guess what she spent? $22.47! Am I being totally horrible here or do I have a right to be pissed??? Everyone else is spending $30 on the person they got and she spends $22.47 on me???? That's just not right! She could have easily gotten me a little something in that same store to make up the difference.

You know if it were a friend of mine I wouldn't really care. It's the thought that counts and all that, right? But when it's a work pollyanna and everyone is supposed to spend the same amount and a woman I don't like and doesn't like me gets me AND jips me! I think I have reason to get bitchy!

What do you think???



I just think this is totally cute. lol. Had to post it.



~ Nicole

I've been tagged (again): My Favorite Christmas Songs...

My 5 favorite Christmas songs are:

1)Same Old Lang Syne
2)All I Want for Christmas is You
3)Santa Baby or maybe it's called Hey Santa. The one with the girl singing and asking Santa for all the presents, like a diamond bracelet and a car. lol.
4)Winter Wonderland
5)The one that says, I hear those sleigh bells ringin' and ting ting tinglin' too? Whatever song that is, I like it.

and if I could have six songs the last would be Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.

The rules: List your 5 favorite Christmas songs. Then choose five people to tag and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says you are tagged in their comments!

I tag: Charmed, Drake, Cece, and Season.

Below are the lyrics to my favorite song. I swear I wait every year for this song to come on the radio. It always makes me sad. But before you read them let me just say that in the past year and now I have never been able to figure out what the title of teh song was. Even when the DJ announced it I couldn't grasp what he was saying because of the last two words, Lang Syne? What the hell is that? Can anyone tell me what those words mean, and what they have to do with the song? But whatever, I love the song! So here it is...

Same Old Lang Syne
(Dan Fogelberg)

Met my old lover in the grocery store,
The snow was falling Christmas Eve.
I stole behind her in the frozen foods,
And I touched her on the sleeve.

She didn't recognize the face at first,
But then her eyes flew open wide.
She went to hug me and she spilled her purse,
And we laughed until we cried.

We took her groceries to the checkout stand,
The food was totalled up and bagged.
We stood there lost in our embarrassment,
As the conversation dragged.

We went to have ourselves a drink or two,
But couldn't find an open bar.
We bought a six-pack at the liquor store,
And we drank it in her car.

We drank a toast to innocence,
We drank a toast to now.
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness,
But neither one knew how.

She said she'd married her an architect,
Who kept her warm and safe and dry,
She would have liked to say she loved the man,
But she didn't like to lie.

I said the years had been a friend to her,
And that her eyes were still as blue.
But in those eyes I wasn't sure if I saw,
Doubt or gratitude.

She said she saw me in the record stores,
And that I must be doing well.
I said the audience was heavenly,
But the traveling was hell.

We drank a toast to innocence,
We drank a toast to now.
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness,
But neither one knew how.
We drank a toast to innocence,
We drank a toast to time.
Reliving in our eloquence,
Another 'auld lang syne'......

The beer was empty and our tongues were tired,
And running out of things to say.
She gave a kiss to me as I got out,
And I watched her drive away.
Just for a moment I was back at school,
And felt that old familiar pain .........
And as I turned to make my way back home,
The snow turned into rain ..............


~ Nicole

Dear Holiday Shoppers,

This is a jewelery store, we sell high end merchandise (for the most part). Do not come in and ask if we sell baby phat earrings, or name plates, or engagement rings with your names on the OUTSIDE of the ring, or spinning rings. If that is what you are looking for go to the corner of any major city and ask the guy standing on the corner wearing the trench coat, he'll be able to help you I'm sure.

Do not come into the store on the weekend we are having a three day sale that features a 1 cttw ring for $199 and wonder why there are inclusions in the diamonds. IT IS A HUNDRED AND NINTY NINE DOLLARS FOR ONE CARAT OF DIAMONDS, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?????

Do not come in to the store and huff and puff for 20 min while nobody is available to help you cause we're all with other customers and then when someone is available to you ask us to clean your jewelry. It is Christmas time. CLEAN YOUR OWN DAMN JEWELERY!

Do not ask when I am ringing up your $1,000 sale or more if we have a box and if you can have one. Do you really think I am going to ring you up then just drop your purchase in your hands with no box??? Are you really that dumb????

DO NOT come into the store spend an hour of my time looking at merchandise, get my card with all the information on it for the piece you want, then come back when I am not there and not show my card and there for screw me out of a sale. Have some freaking common sense! I work off commission, how rude is that!


Please please do not ask every time I take a piece of jewelry out if the "white" stones are diamonds! YES YES they are! We do not sell fake diamonds, any "white" stones are going to be diamonds.


When I ask if you need any help don't say "No" and the second I turn around say "Oh but I do have a question...." Let me explain something, if you have a question that essentially means you do in fact need my help.

I've worked in Jewelry for 4 years now. Please don't come in and try to act like you know exactly what you are talking about meanwhile mispronounce every damn word out of your mouth.

When I say the price is 1999 why would you assume that I am saying $19.99???? You are looking at DIAMONDS!!!! Do you really think that is what I am saying? Lets try again....$1,999.00. Good job.

Don't come in on Christmas Eve two hours before we close look around for a half hour then say you are just looking! Do you know what day it is????

Sincerely,
Your sales person

~ Nicole

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love you all my readers/friends! I hope you all have a great holiday and stuff yourselves silly. I know I will. haha.
It's been a quiet week here on my blog, but I'll have some new stuff after the holiday. Don't forget about me!
Eat good and shop shop shop!!!

~ Nicole

Haunted Houses???

Okay so who likes to go to haunted houses? I love getting scared, I always want to go but when I get there I keep my eyes closed almost the entire time. lol. Saturday night me, Josh, Jose, Sarah, and Hannah (my brother and sisters) went to one. All of them were like $20-$30 and I'm sure they were good but we just weren't up to spending that on a HH. So we found one right around the corner that was only $8, and said to be the 'best of 'said' county', chances are it could have been the only one in said county. But whatever. We get there, and buy our tickets (oh this is after we tried to hit up the liquor store first and they were all closed. freaking stores, why the hell would they close at 9pm!) and my brother proceeds to ask EVERYONE if it was scary. This kid that had to be about 9 said it was funny. Uggg.

So we go to the house, here's the picture, and I'm already getting freaked out! See that doctor guy standing on the porch? He kept staring at us and he was freaking creepy!
Then there was this fat guy that looked dead that was walking around by the line and would just walk up to you (like an inch separating us) and look at you, while we was holding an ax. And then he threw the ax at the porch and it went in. IT WAS A FREAKING REAL AX!!! And he could tell I was scared so he kept coming at me.


Anyway once we got in the house, this guy was giving us this shpeel on not touching and dying and all this crap, basically telling us the rules in a creepy way. Oh and while he was talking a guy's hand was reaching out of the wall and trying to grab Josh but he was to far away, to bad cause it would have been sooo funny to see him get scared.


So my brother is such a dork and took these kind of pictures all night, and pretended to be scared of everything. Which he wasn't he only made fun of me and Hannah (the only two to get scared) the entire time.
Oh but something really scary/funny! We went around this one corner and there was a hole in the wall, well Sarah thought it was this fake thing that made you think there was this big drop like we saw in this other room. So she runs up and yells "oh no I'm falling" and pops her head into the hole then SCREAMS!!! cause there was a person in there that was supposed to jump up and scare us and they hit heads. OMG we were laughing soooooo hard, my sides hurt.

Just for fun here are some pictures of Sarah messing around with all the 'scary' stuff they had in the house. She's such a freak.







When we were done we were still wanting more scare, so we went to see Texas Chain Saw Massacre The Beginning. And OMG I would be stretching the truth if I said I saw more than a third of it. I had my eyes covered and peeked through most of it. It was soooo gory gross. Every time something would happen or jump out I'd jump a mile, hide my face in my hands and my brothers shoulder and scream "OH JESUS!" Not kidding! So all in all, it was a fun night. I love hanging with my brother and sisters. Aren't they so cute! lol. And I swear Josh was there, but he just didn't' get in any pictures. ha ha.


Off topic, but to cute to pass up......

Alright, I know this is sideways but I don't' know how to edit it to flip and this is how I recorded it. But I was on myspace and Abby heard the music on someones page and says mommy look at me. I look and she's dancing, so I pull out the camera and she went to town. lol. Oh and of course you can all tell she had dressed herself, and no I did not let her leave the house like this.


~ Nicole