Something About Nothing ... #12

[Lynne G]

. Why, yes, and have a

.

Thanks for the live reporting MonyK. And I hope they do the dessert party after the New Year Day. I'd do it, even when not as busy. Hopefully you have positive info on it. Love the pictures, and yep, have to always have a Scooby.

Schumi, hope you have safe travels back home, and the car filled with happy thoughts, and some nice presents. And for you,

Haha, had to get that mask in. LOL

Oh yes it is, and so happy. Even though the weather is for ducks. Huge puddles on the roads, and was a still raining hard commute. But hey, the weather this morning was 20 degrees warmer. Still felt like a cold rain though. Umbrella used. Sniff, the sunglasses are put away, and most likely won't be used for at least another day. Boo.

DH left, and I went back to sleep. Then the radio said, it's time. Wow, I moved like the wind. Have not done that in quite some time. Guess getting back into commute mode was not having it on a Friday. Blame it on the short week. Haha.

Patty, so nice to have the kids home until next week.

Charade, a nice long week-end is always a good one. Great way to spend the end of the year. Hope B is enjoying her new bookshelf.

And sometimes little one is a good kid. Going to drop us off at the train stop when we leave, and pick us up at the airport in the late hour.

Countdown is getting so close to a single digit. And another good thing, chopped a few dollars off the rental car price. Keep that discounting coming. Airfare, nope, even higher now.

Time for tea, well, the second cup of it. Have a great Friday, all you homies. After this week-end, you can say, I"ll see you next week, in 2019.

Don't start counting calories yet. LOL

 

[macraven]

My area will be monsoon season today

 

[Charade67]

Good morning everyone. I have errands to run today, but don’t really want to go out. Dh wants to tag along, but I’d rather he didn’t. It will take twice as long if he comes.

Great news from work. Remember when I complained about our office copier and said that the boss was going to order a new one once we used all of the existing toner? Yesterday she told me that the new copier has been ordered. This will be a nice way to start the new year.

Charade, a nice long week-end is always a good one. Great way to spend the end of the year. Hope B is enjoying her new bookshelf.

She loves the bookshelf, but needs more books. Her old, small bookshelf was completely full. The new bookshelf looks so empty.

My area will be monsoon season today

Same here. I think we get a break tomorrow, but then it will rain for several more days. I’m so ready for a dry spell.

One of the things on my shopping list today is a new makeup brush. I dropped mine on the bathroom floor yesterday, so I decided to wash it. I put it in a little basket on my bathroom counter to dry. Caspian stole it and batted it all about the house like a new toy. I eventually found it on the floor by the door leading to the garage. I should have known better. This isn’t the first time he has taken a makeup brush.

 

[Monykalyn]

I must b crazy. Dd wanted to get up early to shop Diagon Alley. Ugh. Line to get but moved fast and once past certain point able to get out of line that was waitin for gringotts. Lines were short fora while but grew quick as shopped. And shopped. Half of Diagon Alley going home with us. Hogwarts express to islands. Wandered around Jurassic Park. Decided o hop in “short” single rider line at Doom. 20 minutes and still waiting but we are now 3 back. Lunch at NBC Grille and nap time!
Dessert party fun. Not sure I’d do it in slow time but so nice to have space to spread out

 

[Lynne G]

Yay! More live from MonyK. Yep, shopping is a priority. LOL Glad to hear the dessert party was fun. Even if a slow time, I may still want to do it, as spreading out is worth it to me. That, and not having to wait to get that spreading out place.

Monsoon weather here too Mac, and I'm with Charade, wet and more wet for days to come. 2 inches to fall today, alone. We've had a very wet 2018, so far.

Hungry. Brought PBJ sandwich, but eh, not sure. Lots of tea though, inside feels almost too cold, and damp.

Afternoon, fly by please.

 

[macraven]

I need to go to town and pick up a few things to make dinner

We already received 3 inches of rain and due more today
If I don’t go soon, I’ll be staying home

I’m in a mountain/ridge area and by the time I’m off the ridge to the lower main roadway, it could be flooded

The creek at the bottom is almost risen to road level

Did a run to the store hours ago and saw the creek was high

Only good thing about today is it is now 60 and predicted to hit 65 later afternoon


Monyk will you be at the darkside for NYE?

Keep sharing your “johnny on the spot” with us!


Charade, now you can buy your daughter books to fill up her new book case
Birthday books and other holiday gifts will get her shelves filled

 

[bobbie68]

Afternoon SANS family I am back ...It has been a long week with the teens home, they always distract me from stuff. They are at the mall on a date and I thought I would have some time. However, Liv decided to text me on everything she saw to buy. I am glad she wants my opinions but I thought I would have a little down time. Anyway they are having fun!

I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for the wonderful thoughts, prayers and well wishes. It means a lot.

Liv is still on the schedule for Target only with 8 hours but hopefully will keep that. Charlie is not on the schedule but they didn't tell him he was fired. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

I have some cleaning out of closets and draws to do...Charlie is unofficially living with us now. He hasn't been home in over 2 months and doesn't want too. His mom isn't saying anything because she has her hands full with DCF because of her husband and her younger daughter. It is just as well he is here in structure and a safe home. He has been doing so good since being here. I just hope this isn't the calm before the storm with this family. Fingers crossed .

Mac Thank you so much for thinking about me after I posted. It felt so nice to hear you say that. I told Brian what a wonderful group I am involved with on here. It is a second family. I hear you on the monsoon it has been very rainy here. I think we will get a break for a couple of days then more on New Years Eve.

Monykalyn I am so glad to hear you reporting on your trip. It sounds like a nice time and so glad they fixed your room issue and gave you a discount. Look forward to hearing more. I have done the desert party several times and always enjoyed it.

Charade The book case looked so pretty. Your daughter will have so much fun filling it with new books

Lynne I hope you get back in to the commute swing. How exciting down to single digits now

Tgrgrl I was happy to hear you had a nice Christmas with your family even thought you were very busy.

Patty Enjoy having the "big kids" home for awhile. Glad Joe is better

Sue I am glad your shopping worked out for your daughter's gift. Oh the

Robo I am so glad you had a great multi-generation family Christmas. It doesn't get much better than that. Thank you for your thoughts

Schumi I hope your trip was great and you have a safe trip home

To any family I missed I hope you are all happy and safe and enjoying this wonderful time of year

 

[Tgrgrl]

I must b crazy. Dd wanted to get up early to shop Diagon Alley. Ugh. Line to get but moved fast and once past certain point able to get out of line that was waitin for gringotts. Lines were short fora while but grew quick as shopped. And shopped. Half of Diagon Alley going home with us. Hogwarts express to islands. Wandered around Jurassic Park. Decided o hop in “short” single rider line at Doom. 20 minutes and still waiting but we are now 3 back. Lunch at NBC Grille and nap time!
Dessert party fun. Not sure I’d do it in slow time but so nice to have space to spread out

FYI, OIA has a nice HP gift shop in Terminal A before you go thru security. Prices are same as the parks & they give you the pass holder discount ( if you have one). It’s small but they have wands, cloaks, chocolate frogs, et all & last night we were the only shoppers.

 

[Monykalyn]

BAck after nap. I was only one to go back to hotel. Short jaunt - got awesome parking spot this am and was reluctant to take car lol. Rest went to see aqua man. I really needed the nap lol. Kong EP we were told 45-60 minutes. Turned out to be 20. Waiting to see the raptor. Would like to make it over for Grinchmas show but may be pushing til tomorrow lol

Not sure about dinner plans yet...

 

[macraven]

Well.....where did you decide to eat tonight?

 

[Charade67]

Good evening everyone. We have had a rather productive day. Dh decided to go see Bohemian Rhapsody, so B and I took the opportunity to do some shopping without him. I picked up a few things for myself, but am still looking for a few more long sleeved shirts. I also picked up a book I’ve been wanting. One of these days I will learn that dropping hints to dh is useless. No matter how many times I mentioned that my favorite author has a new book out, it never occurred to him to buy it for me for Christmas. (And he complained that he had no idea what to get me this year.)

I must b crazy. Dd wanted to get up early to shop Diagon Alley. Ugh.

Maybe a little crazy, but I would probably do the same especially if I could get into the shops before they got too crowded.

We've had a very wet 2018, so far.

I think that may be wettest year on record, or at least in a very long time.

Charade, now you can buy your daughter books to fill up her new book case
Birthday books and other holiday gifts will get her shelves filled

Thankfully she loves to read. I just need to find out what books she wants.

Charlie is unofficially living with us now.

Just curious, do you have any difficulty with school, or is he already a legal adult?

Well, we are supposed to have sun tomorrow. I feel like I should spend some time outdoors and enjoy it while it is here. I have no idea what to do though.

 

[Lynne G]

Ack, with all this rain coming from the South, predicted by evening weather guy, 60 degrees at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Warmest in some years, but with rain still falling that night.

Pasta is our go to meal. Always good.

Now chilling, and so glad only zoo on the agenda this weekend.

 

[Monykalyn]

Hello Blue- great as usual. She did make me jump- very aggressive today. And we did make it to Grinchmas, really fun show! As you can see middle dd P is sporting some of the Ravenclaw merch she bought this am...

Well.....where did you decide to eat tonight?

Margaritaville- but outside on Porch of Indecision. Lol we all knew what we wanted. Live music too. But holy moly 2nd blackberry margarita was strong!! Wasn’t sure I’d be able to walk. Funny- coming back traffic this afternoon was crazy but I ended up in the same row as the morning- just at furthest end of the row.

No matter how many times I mentioned that my favorite author has a new book out, it never occurred to him to buy it for me for Christmas.

. My fave gifts are gift cards to bookstores or books from fave authors-even pre orders of the next in a series. I follow a fave author on twitter-he’s not a super huge name so he usually responds back to comments. Love it!

zoo on the agenda this weekend.

Love that you support local zoo- gave two annual memberships to zoos this year as Christmas gifts

Very nice muggy day today, loving it. After dinner we called it a day, boy convinced me to go to pool. Manager said they got heat in pool starting last Sunday- here to tell you it hasn’t heated pool up yet lol! Air was warm but water- not so much. DH got me and son drinks from bar (kid does love his virgin pina coladas) and we ended up sitting by fire pit to warm up after 20 minutes in pool.

Tallied up what trip has cost so far, bit outside budget. Told DH we could do much cheaper than what we do but he said he doesn’t mind. Food especially we splurge often. Plus we did add day at KSC at start of trip, and extra day tomorrow (although lodging is still coming out under budget there due to the discount from the scheduling-not bad for an extra day actually).

DdA said she’s applying to third DCP for next summer...omg my house is never gonna be done

Finally sleepy, wow only few days left of this year...
ETA- to say “HI” to Bobbie!!

 

[bobbie68]

Hi everyone was able to go out to eat just Brian and I. We have an all you can eat Asian Buffet with hibachi. Liv stayed home and Charlie was working. It still feels weird going out on a date with Brian by ourselves.

Monykalyn I like your pic of Blue. We so much enjoyed the raptor encounter. We like Margaritaville but haven't been there in awhile. The blackberry Margarita sounds really good. I use to like when I didn't have to worry about a budget so much. It sounds like you are still doing good and so nice DH doesn't mind. I hope you enjoy the rest of the trip

Charade - Charlie is going to be 17 in two weeks. We have two high schools one on each side of town. He goes to one on the east side. I live on the west side. Brian takes him to school every morning and I pick him up.The school as of right now does not know he is staying with us. Due to this there is no issue with school right now. However, I can't even call him out sick or anything. He would have to call his mother. I still would need guardianship from his parents for decisions. I don't see that happening just yet. I am not sure how we are going to proceed now that DCF is involved with his mother and other things in the house with his younger sister. We are willing to do what we need to do legally to be his guardian. His biological father is going to make things very difficult though. He has this control issue going on. Brian works for DCF and has spoken to case worker friends, who have told him once he turned 16 here there really isn't anything his parents can do. They can try and force him home but that is a long shot. At this point I am not even sure what his mother wants. Charlie says he is ready to go for emancipation if he needs too. Thanks for asking though.

Lynne the zoo sounds like fun I hope you enjoy even with all the rain coming.


Have a good night everyone

 

[schumigirl]

Haven’t managed a full catch up of all posts........

Although I did see a mention of a Blackberry Margarita from Monyk ..........lol.......one of my favourite cocktails in Margaritaville!!! Glad you’re having such a good trip!!!



So, Christmas was fabulous. Although took us almost 7 hours to get up there, longer than usual journey. We had the best time with family and friends.....managed a good catch up with friends we hadn’t seen for a while......we all did really well with presents which was nice ........but Christmas Day was lovely. Big family get together was just perfect.

So, while we were up there, I decided as all our friends were missing our Boxing night get together.......why didn’t we have a somewhat late Boxing night get together when we got back!! I must have been having a crazy moment....

But, called a few friends and everyone loved the idea........so a few helped and began preparing and getting a head start on Thursday........we got back late Thursday afternoon and began cooking and preparing......yep, I felt extra crazy at that point Tom got the rooms ready as a few sleep over which was a big help.

We did manage to open the gifts we had got each other as we didn’t take them up with us, we like to leave them till we come home......and Kyle really outdid himself with gifts for us.........one of the things he got me was the Stephen King book Doctor Sleep which is the follow up book to The Shining.......love it!!!

Yesterday was getting everything ready, some shopping and more preparing.......I did buy more pre bought food than I usually do though.......but, it was a huge success........loads of food and drink and I was grateful for the friends who helped and made a few dishes for everyone. We had around 20 folks here as only a few couldn’t make it. Such a good night and I’m so glad we did it.

We still have 5 folks here......sound asleep........have told them breakfast is going to be help yourself to pastries, cereals and toast.......although I do have bacon sandwiches as an option! Will vacuum outside their rooms if they’re not up by 10ish!

I’m up far too early though......only went to bed about 4 hours ago! I am whooped!!! But, so glad we did it after all....we love big get togethers with friends.......think I only had two glasses of wine the whole night and a taste of one of the cocktail pitchers!

Think I may snooze today!

Weather has been incredibly mild after the freezing cold Christmas Eve........although wind has got up during night the night, it’s not cold though.......sitting around the low 50’s, although cold weather is on the way apparently.

But, hope everyone is good and you all had a wonderful Christmas.........

 

[Lynne G]

Good Morning!

Fabulous report of your holiday trip, Schumi. Glad to hear you enjoyed all, family, friends, food, drink, and gifts.

MonyK, great picture of blue. We have some great shots of her too, as well as blue’s friend one, that I forget the name. Hoot, what she does. And yes, we enjoy our zoo, and being a member makes me not worry if we only spend a few hours each time. It is always fun, and we hope to see the new Asian bear that arrived last month. I like when the weather is not good, as it keeps the crowds down.

Bobbie, hugs, and hope all work out with Charlie. Nice work is working out for Liv.

Time for tea, then zoo, some shopping, and a few errands. Oh, and last night little one said she used up all the eggs. Thanks. Guess that will be in my shopping list. Was going to make french toast. May have cereal instead. We generally do a you make your own breakfast. That may include a bowl of my beef chili. I had made a huge pot of it, and wow, it tastes even hotter than first made. Yep, if you are going to make chili, you should feel some heat. I put cheese on mine, and crush up crackers too. That helps.

Later homies, be like Schumi, have a lazy Saturday.

 

[Sue M]

Ooo. Have to remember to try blackberry Maggie! Sounds wonderful.

Fun hearing everyone’s holiday plans.

Welcome home Schumi!

We drove up to Whistler yesterday without incident! Woke up to pouring rain today. For those of you who may not know- Whistler is a ski resort! Not supposed to rain ️. So much for cross county ski and snow shoeing today! Here with husband, oldest dd and brother in law till New Year’s Day.

 

[pattyw]

DdA said she’s applying to third DCP for next summer...omg my house is never gonna be done

Happy Saturday all!!

Bobbie- Charlie is so blessed to have you and Brian!

Glad everyone had a great holiday!!

Nice to have Kyle and Erin home!! We had a great dinner last night with Erin's family! We're blessed to have such a wonderful family as in laws to be!!

Gearing up for a family NYE party at our house!!

 

[Lynne G]

Our Saturday night routine Chinese take out for dinner, with enough left over, and will be breakfast or lunch, or both, tomorrow.

Rain is coming, but day started out with bright blue skies, that by just past afternoon, became cloudy, and by dinner time, clouds definitely looked like rain clouds, and no stars or moon to be seen.




Yep, screens are us tonight. Went shopping for a little bit after the zoo, and scored some huge baskets, that little one wanted for her shoe collection, at 70 percent off.

Zoo pictures below, and it was crowded, but we had a great time. This was at our little local zoo, as we belong to both the large city one and the little local zoo. They had reindeer for the holidays. Beautiful female ones that were really hungry, kicking their food bowls at times. The otters, when we came up to their enclosure, we said hello. They came right up to us, realized we had no food, and promptly went to where you see them, in the far side of the enclosure. Little one was also enamered with the numerous wild black vultures that were in and around the zoo.

 

[Charade67]

I’m up way too early again. Our smoke alarms started chirping and announcing “low battery” at 6:00 this morning. Couldn’t get back to sleep, so I’m watching the Doctor Who marathon.

As you can see middle dd P is sporting some of the Ravenclaw merch she bought this am...

We have 2 Ravenclaws in the family. DH is a Slytherin.

Tallied up what trip has cost so far, bit outside budget.

I don’t think we ave ever stayed within budget for vacations. We need to start working on our June trip.

Yep, if you are going to make chili, you should feel some heat. I put cheese on mine, and crush up crackers too. That helps.

Years ago I went to a chili dinner. Someone brought something that tasted like it was just hamburger and tomato sauce. Ugh! I have to have some spice, but unfortunately can’t tolerate it was hot as I used to.

Bobbie - I think Charlie is very fortunate to have you and your family.

Schumi - Welcome back.

We are supposed to have another nice day today. I should get outside and do something.