for fun: Do/Would you still put on all your makeup and decent clothes if you are quarantined

[awhfy]

We haven’t had a bit of snow here in CSprings. The mountains have tons. Our SIL was worried that he’d have to lay off most of his crews (he owns 20+ plow trucks). The horrible wind storm we had this week has enabled him to keep his crews employed for at least another month (hopefully we’ll have snow by then!!!) cleaning up the tree damage. He only dies commercial landscaping for mostly medical complexes.  
 

Merry Christmas Eve & Christmas to all!

[cruise kitty]

Merry Christmas Eve to all who celebrate!    Our mountains are covered with snow...  we thought about skiing today, but it's still snowing pretty hard up there.   

 

Finishing up some wrapping & then need to figure out what to do with the rest of day lol 🙂

 

[Lois R]

Merry Christmas to all of you from me as well🙂.  I appreciate this thread very much and hope we will continue our chatting into 2022.  Boy, that sounds a bit weird......22. 

[slidergirl]

Yoyeux Noel a tous  e buon Natale a tutti!!!!   Sorry, my work keyboard doesn't do accents...

 

Well, it's me and me and a building full of owners and guests tonight.  I'm listening to Andrea Bocelli and his Christmas albums, sitting in the Lobby with the fireplace going, and eating Christmas cookies freshly cooked from some guests.  And, it's snowing.  Absolutely a White Christmas.  

1-3 inches more tonight, 4-8 inches more Sunday day-night, Monday 6-10 inches more Monday day-night.  It's going to be brutal.  I hope it's more light snow than yesterday-this morning.  It was maybe 4-5 inches on my driveway, but really thick and heavy.  I was exhausted when I finished.

 

OK.  Small world tidbits:

One of my owners just flew in earlier this week from Paris.  A brief conversation found out that the family was in France and Italy for a few weeks.  I said "that's what I'm doing this coming Summer."  We chatted and I said I have no plans yet other than my barge trip and that I have to be in Florence on the 28th for Andrea Bocelli.  She says "we own a house near there in Tuscany!"  Small World.  Well, I see the Mrs. again today when I get to work.  She stops and tells me they are actually going to be at their house then so she bought tickets this morning to Teatro del Silenzio!!!!!!   Now, I have to work nicely on her to see if I can "sofa surf" ☺️  I wouldn't do that, but if she offers, I would accept. 

 

I'm up to $250 in Christmas tips!!!  Best I've ever done so far.  Add that to my $250 from the nice people from Tennessee the other week, my Vacation Fund is off to a good start.

 

Melody - you may get some of our snow the next few days - what we got came a day late.  Or talk to Mother Nature and tell her that I said you all can have my snow...

 

OOTD:  My gray Boden embroidered sweatshirt and my Vuori yoga pants.  I think I'm going to dress up tomorrow in what I wore for Bocelli - maybe a different shirt so I can wear a necklace.  

Edited December 24, 2021 by slidergirl

[awhfy]

We hoped for snow yesterday, not here, 10 miles north got snow. Just wicked high winds & now a fire up on a mountain peak. 
 

Hope everyone has a great holiday. We did ugly sweater cookie decorating yesterday…it was hysterical. All of us participated. We were each given a secret ingredient that we had to incorporate on our cookie; meatball, Altoid, cashew, craisens (I laughed so hard I hurt!) Really fun after an eggnog or two (seriously, try it with Crown Royal Salted Caramel. I’ll post some pictures later. Turkey going into oven now. Melody

[Lois R]

[Lois R]

Hope all of you are having a good day🙂....Cynthia, hope you made it here safe and sound and that your parents are doing well too.

 

Melody, that Ugly Sweater Cookie sounds fun😃............have a great time with the family.

 

Debbie, you too!........and to the rest of you as well. I know I  am missing names........Sherri, PH, Kat and whoever else is lurking out there.

[cruise kitty]

Merry Christmas Everyone!   Cats are in their basket in front of the fire, Cornish hens are in the oven...& I'm drinking morning wine getting ready to do Christmas for the parents 😉 

 

Hope everyone hs some version of a wonderful day !

[cruisemom42]

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!

 

We are in Jacksonville with family and enjoying the time so much more than 2020 when it was not safe for us to get together.

 

Below is a photo of an incredible light display done as a neighborhood effort on a street near my sister and BIL's place. It attracts hundreds of cars every year:

 

 

The whole street strings hanging lights in trees that then cascade down to the ground. It's a very pretty effect, especially because everyone participates.

 

I hope you all wind down the year doing whatever makes you happy, and that 2022 will finally turn the corner on the pandemic.

 

🎄🎉

[slidergirl]

Oh My *****.  Today was chaos!!!  From driving in a snowstorm that was putting down heavy, slick and slide-y snow on the roads, to lots of checkins for the 3 of us to do, to housekeeping forgetting to clean one of the arrivals, to guests asking if we knew anyone they could pay to go get groceries because they were afraid to drive...  it went on and on and on and on.  I'm the only one here now for another hour and I have 4 more arrivals to go.  If they don't show up within the hour, they have to call the Main Office for directions.   I had some oatmeal at 8am and a can of V8 at 5pm.  The 3 of us were on the go the entire day.   Now, looking forward to a slip and slide home - it's not bad enough for me to sleep in my car (I have my air mattress, sleeping bag, down comforter, pillow, and a change of clothes in the car).   But, there is a bottle of eggnog and a bottle of rum waiting for me when I get home!!!!

 

OOTD: leggings, teal Athleta hoodie sweatshirt, my gray Chaco boots.  In the car I had my parka and a toque if I needed them. 

[cruise kitty]

Cynthia, what a gorgeous photo of the lights, yes, this year is SO much better than last...  had a lovely brunch with the kiddos...

 

Kat, hope you made out home safely to your eggnog & rum!   Sounds like quite a work day... yikes !

 

Iv'e been putting my eggnog in frother w/rum or whiskey for a treat....  so good like a boozy milkshake 🙂

[awhfy]

I made eggnog this year with 2 additions to the blender, French vanilla ice cream & a generous amount of Crown Royal Salted Caramel. Even hubs had some (& he despises eggnog). 
 

grand pup liked her Christmas gifts (she carries the fleece bone around with her, it’s so funny. She tried to take it out the doggy door, once). She’s a 2 year old silver lab, her name is Winter

[slidergirl]

I gave my Goldie one of those big bones one year for Christmas - he wasn't impressed with it.  It did make a nice pillow on the sofa, though. 😄

 

I did make it home fine last night.  Getting to work this morning was another situation.  Going up the mountain as I do was OK if you kept your momentum going.  But, there were cars skidding into the side berms all the way down - I counted 4 of them.  One connector road was backed up all the way down the hill - not good when you're stopped on a slippery uphill!.  The last mile of my drive was very slippery and I had to stop for 2 cars waiting to get in the garage.  Hopefully, the plows will take some of this down and get the roads sanded some before tonight.  Now I remember why I keep finding a job down on the flats!!!!!

 

The eggnog was yummy.  I have more waiting for me tonight.  I was just too tired to cook anything at all, so stopped by Cafe Rio on the way home to get a burrito.  Tasted good as my only food since breakfast.  

 

OOTD:  my blue and white striped boyfriend shirt, my old big wool vest and my yoga pants.  I kinda like this ensemble.  A little sassy but still real casual.

[Lois R]

6 hours ago, awhfy said:

I made eggnog this year with 2 additions to the blender, French vanilla ice cream & a generous amount of Crown Royal Salted Caramel. Even hubs had some (& he despises eggnog). 
 

grand pup liked her Christmas gifts (she carries the fleece bone around with her, it’s so funny. She tried to take it out the doggy door, once). She’s a 2 year old silver lab, her name is Winter

Hi Melody, that picture is darling🙂

[cruise kitty]

Hi all, sing this to the tune of 12 days of Christmas:    "On the day after Christmas, my family brought to me.... covid of the omicron variety".   😉

 

one of the the SIL's started showing symptoms Sunday after our brunch.... we're all fully vaxed & boosted, (so is he) but he's in bed with fever, chills.... haven't tested ourselves yet since it's too soon... we'll test on day 5 unless we have symptoms before then...not terribly worried as if we should get it, it should be mild...or even asymptomatic 

 

our community center is giving away home tests today... it's a drive thru process, so I'll have them throw a couple tests in my back seat lol 😉 

[slidergirl]

I knew I hadn't "seen it all", but I was not prepared for this one.  Someone "dropped trou" and performed a messy poop between 2 cars in our garage.  It was messy enough that it leaked into an owner's cage.  Like, they could not wait 2 minutes????  Poor maintenance guy had to clean it up.  

 

Big snow squall came through last night.  I waited awhile before trying to get home.  Our main road down the mountain was closed so we all had to take the windy way down.  I was part of a 10-vehicle "train" winding our way down at 10-15mph.  I just saw DOT closed the snow gates again about 30 minutes ago, so I may be slowing inching down again.  AND, I volunteered to give up day off tomorrow to come back in the morning so our supervisor could help out the short-staffed Main Office.  Ugh.  But, gotta keep in the management good graces.  Boss lady said she'll bring me a bottle of 19 Crimes Cali Red - I said "great, as long as I still get paid 8 hours of overtime." ☺️

 

OOTD:  mint green Athleta hoodie (now spotted with cocoa from fixing the machine today), my Woolx leggings and my trusty 9 year old Sorel Cate The Great boots.  Still my favorite boots for when I have a cold, snowy day.

 

[cruise kitty]

Kat, people can be so awful sometimes....yuck!   glad you did to have to clean up, but horrible that someone had to.

 

woo hoo for overtime, boo, on road closures...  I would be terrible driving in snowy conditions, but I do have the narrow, windy roads down.

 

The community center that was supposed to be giving out home tests for the next 3 days ran out in the first hour.... & then didn't put out any signs, so people (including me were left to drive in circles round the parking lot wondering if we're in the right place lol....  luckily I have 2 tests that we can take over the weekend.  

 

Well, it's so cold here, & just stopped raining, so I'm headed out to sit in jacuzzi...will enjoy the last few days of our backyard Christmas lights 🙂 

[cruisemom42]

@cruise kitty  Wow, just can't believe the spread of Omicron. One of DS's friends and the friend's GF also came down with covid right before Christmas. They had just returned from a trip to NYC.  Luckily my son hadn't seen them recently.  If you do get it, I hope it is very mild.

 

@slidergirl   Your weather sounds crazy. (As do some of your customers, yeesh...). Stay safe!  

 

My new washer/dryer were to arrive today but things took an unexpected turn -- the installer couldn't get the hot water to turn off so that he could disconnect the old washer, so now I have to get a plumber. And as that was happening, they also found out that my new w/d tower had a big dent. 😱 So that will be a do-over. 

 

 

[cruise kitty]

15 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

@cruise kitty  Wow, just can't believe the spread of Omicron. One of DS's friends and the friend's GF also came down with covid right before Christmas. They had just returned from a trip to NYC.  Luckily my son hadn't seen them recently.  If you do get it, I hope it is very mild.

 

@slidergirl   Your weather sounds crazy. (As do some of your customers, yeesh...). Stay safe!  

 

My new washer/dryer were to arrive today but things took an unexpected turn -- the installer couldn't get the hot water to turn off so that he could disconnect the old washer, so now I have to get a plumber. And as that was happening, they also found out that my new w/d tower had a big dent. 😱 So that will be a do-over. 

 

 

Thanks, it's crazy, seems like everyone has it....  I guess we'll see what happens...it's been so cold we've been turning on heater a bit...which gives me a little headache, which makes me paranoid lol

 

Bleh, on washer/dryer tower dent... so great you have this extra time because finding a plumber in the few days would probably take a miracle 😉. 

[Lois R]

Hi girls,  Cynthia, sorry about your washer/dryer......... Debbie, really sorry to hear about the covid.........

 

I have been feeling kind of blaahhhh lately.........maybe it is because I took so many cruises recently and being home just doesn't feel so great anymore😲........I know there seems to be way more cases on cruise ships right now but I would still rather be on one LOL..........

 

I went to Fresh Market today and got some good stuff for this New Year's weekend........a couple of dips, some fresh veggies, some wings,  some goat cheese and crackers.  Some fruit......they were having a sale on blueberries/raspberries/blackberries.  And I got some fresh shrimp but when I took everything out to put in the frig I could not find them!  I had the receipt and was charged but the cashier (and me) must have forgot to put them in the cart.......so I called the store and tomorrow I will go back and pick up a new bag of shrimp. I also got a couple of "prepared meals"........they have some really good items. Got an Eggplant Parmigiana......it is all layered fresh. I just bake it.  I love it😃 

 

Kat, I was going to drive to the beach and hit Trader Joe's but Fresh Market is closer and there stuff is really good too.

 

Anyway,  hope everyone is having a good week.

[cruise kitty]

Lois, I feel the same blah.... time to get on a cruise, right?  Or some sort of change...maybe it's winter blues...need more sunshine. 

 

It's good that you're out & about a bit... & the treats you got for this weekend sound great... I should get up & organize something in the house but have zero motivation right now... feels like the rain & cold are endless. 

 

Boy, I sound like a Debbie downer... I really, need to get off my butt & do something around here lol 

[Lois R]

1 hour ago, cruise kitty said:

Lois, I feel the same blah.... time to get on a cruise, right?  Or some sort of change...maybe it's winter blues...need more sunshine. 

 

It's good that you're out & about a bit... & the treats you got for this weekend sound great... I should get up & organize something in the house but have zero motivation right now... feels like the rain & cold are endless. 

 

Boy, I sound like a Debbie downer... I really, need to get off my butt & do something around here lol 

If you think you sound like a downer, then so do I.......LOL......but it is good we can both post about it on here🙂.  I am not motivated really but I love football and want to make sure I have goodies to eat because there are lots of games on all the way through the weekend😉

[cruise kitty]

1 minute ago, Lois R said:

If you think you sound like a downer, then so do I.......LOL......but it is good we can both post about it on here🙂.  I am not motivated really but I love football and want to make sure I have goodies to eat because there are lots of games on all the way through the weekend😉

Ha!  I cleaned out one cabinet shelf....  SIL test results just came back... it's covid...  amazingly, he's already starting to feel better!

 

Football this weekend,  thanks, because that is something to look forward to!

I think I might order a grocery delivery for some treats for the weekend games...  New Years Day is my eat tortilla chips with French onion dip day... I know it's crap, but it's good crap!

[Lois R]

The College Playoffs are on Friday😃.......first game is 3:30 (Eastern time).......2nd game is 7:30 (Eastern time).

Just in case ya'll are interested🙂that is Dec 31st........not sure if the times will work for you but just a heads up.

 

Saturday are more games  and I bought some dips too..........one is "Roasted Onion".......the other is a Veggie Ranch.

[cruise kitty]

thank you Lois, I have nothing but time for the next few days lol,  will look forward to watching those games..... I have exciting evening plans... going to to take a shower, wash my hair, & then soak in the tub with a glass of wine...   we have one of those big freestanding tubs that we never use 🙂