Fairytales and Margaritas

So much to say!

I have so much going on in my little brain right now.  Pretty much all of it is about this new job.  The one I applied for back in February and was offerred in July and now FINALLY I am starting on January 5th.  I know it's a good thing.  I know being with the Feds is a good thing.  I know my benefits will be great.  I know there's a lot of room for movement and promotion.  But, I'm still nervous and anxious. 

I have been at my current job for almost 9 years.  That's quite a while in this day in age.  This was my first "career" job.  Everything before this was just a job.  This was the first step in making a career for me.  And I've loved it.  I love the people I work with, I love the job itself.  Truth be told, if my boss wasn't retiring soon I wouldn't have even looked for another job.  Yet, she is and I did.  I can rationalize with myself all the good things about this move.  And I am excited about it.

Yet, at the same time I am so so sad to be leaving my comfort zone.  I know what I'm doing here.  I know it in and out.  I can handle crises and problems and assholes that call on the phone.  I've made wonderful friends and always have someone to go to lunch with.  We have crafting days (ok, so we're a bit nerdy too) and potlucks and go to happy hour.  We know each other's children and can talk smack about our husbands.  It's comfortable.  It's funny.  Rarely is it catty.

My new job won't be like this.  It won't.  I'll be working with mostly men.  I'm pretty sure they won't want to have crafting days.  And I'll be working for the same department that my husband does.  So, there's no husband smack talk because I'm pretty sure it'll get back to him.  Plus, one of my good friend's husbands will actually be working with me. 

To be honest, I don't know what to expect at all.  I don't even know what my new job is.  I know the title, but it's a kindof catch-all title for all the administrative jobs. I really have no clue what I'll be doing.  Could be budget, could be HR, could be any number of things.  And I'm sure I'll be able to learn and get a grasp on it, but just not knowing is a little strange.  And all anyone tells me when they find out which office I'll be in is, "I have no idea where they're going to put you.  The office is so small."  Not too reassuring.

In the long run, I'm sure it'll work out.  I'll make new friends.  They'll find a place for me.  I'll learn whatever I'm supposed to learn.  But, the uncertainty is making me a bit anxious right now. 

We're Outta Here

So much to say, so little time.  I have WAY too much to do tonight.  I have to finish up my last minute wrapping, load pictures on my FIL's digital picture frame, pack for an overnighter, figure out what I'm making for Christmas dinner on Saturday, pick up the house, pack toys for the 5 hour car ride, tour the possibly new preschool (SINCE I FINALLY GOT THE JOB)....

We're off to the snow and the Polar Express tomorrow.  Head back on Friday and have Christmas with the in law family on Saturday.  So, I'll see ya Monday.  I'm sure I'll have some great pictures to show! 

And pray we make it in the snow.  They actually just had a big storm up there and are expecting more today and tomorrow morning.  We're heat people, so not experienced in the snowy driving!

Let the Baking Begin

This weekend we took this

 

Plus some sugar, eggs and butter and turned it into this

 

I had a little help from my elves

 

The Winner! And my See's Candies Review!

First things first, I have to do my review.  If I announce the winner you'll probably all skip over the rest!

I decided to try out the Marshmints and the Red Hot Swamp Goo.  Now, I have to admit, part of the reason I tried these two is that they were different.  I've tried LOTS of See's Candies.  So, I wanted to go with something different.

The Marshmints are described like this: " layer of fluffy, honey marshmallow coated on all sides with See's rich dark chocolate and topped with minty green jelly".  That is definitely accurate.  I have to tell you, though, the mint green jelly part was a little surprising.  It was very much like a jello jiggler on the top of the marshmallow and the chocolate.  Not that it was bad, just different from what I was expecting.  Overall, I really liked these.  The chocolate and marshmallow are EXCELLENT, the consistency of the mint part was just a bit different.  But, I can assure you that the box won't go to waste and will be eaten!

The Red Hot Swamp Goo is described like this:  "sweet and spicy combination of cinnamon jelly layered with fluffy, honey marshmallow and dipped in rich dark chocolate".  Pretty much the same thing as the Marshmints, except that instead of mint green jelly it's more like Red Hot jelly.  These I have to say weren't my favorite.  The pairing of flavors just wasn't working for me.  And again, the consistency of the jelly with the chocolate and marshmallow was just different.  Although, I'm sure the kids will finish these off, I'm not sure I can recommend them.

But, don't let this discourage you.  Here are some of my past favorites from See's Candies: Lollypops (seriously to die for), Foil Balls (reallly yummy and small enough to put in a candy dish), and the Deluxe Winter Fancy (my husband's aunt sends us this every year and we look forward to it).

So, just because I wasn't enamored by the Red Hot Swamp Goo it doesn't mean I'll stop buying from See's!  Next up to try, TRUFFLES!

And without further ado, the winner of the $25 gift certificate (chosen by Random.org) is commenter #16 TASSES from Random Wonder!  Thanks to everyone that entered!  Hopefully, I'll have more cool giveaways soon!  (Tasses, e-mail me at storybooklori AT gmail DOT com with your street address so that See's can send you the gift cert.)

The Amazing Race

  So, at our house we're fans of reality TV.  I swear watching it makes me feel SO good about myself.  It makes me realize that there are people out there that are WAY crazier than we are.  And usually, it's pretty entertaining.  Plus, the kids like it.  And Survivor and The Amazing Race are shows we watch as a family.  A few years ago, we had a Fear Factor party for Carissa and her friends loved it!  This year we decided on The Amazing Race theme. 

I got some envelopes from the Post Office (don't tell) and decorated them in yellow and black so that they could rip them open, just like the clues on the show.  I planned out the course, full of detours and roadblocks too.  We just kept it in the neighborhood.  I would've liked to have done it through town but that would have required parent volunteers to drive and frankly, I wasn't up for that.

Here are the girls before the race.  They broke balloons that had numbers inside to determine the teams.  Each team had a different color bandana.

For the first leg of the race they had to do it three legged style.  They had to go all the way to the end of the street and retrieve a puzzle, come back and assemble the puzzle.  Each puzzle had 100 pieces.  Let me tell you, these girls were talking smack the whole time!  It was so funny!

  Next, they had to choose DIMES or LIMES.  In Dimes they had to stack 50 dimes, in limes they had to peel and eat a whole lime.  They all chose dimes.

 

Next was a Roadblock.  They had to choose one teammate to find a specific house and eat what was on the front porch, which was a whole jalepeno!  They all did it, although I don't have pictures yet because I couldn't follow them around.  But, each team had disposable cameras to take their own pictures too.

After that they had to go out back and find a newspaper.  They had to find all of the circled letters and unscramble them.  Unscrambled they spelled:  Carissa is fourteen!

 

   

Next they had to choose BRAIN or DRAIN.  Either find two specific roads and count the number of houses on them or drink 8oz of soda from a baby bottle.  They all chose the bottles, until they realized how long it took and then they wished they had chosen the other!  It took them about 8 minutes to drain the whole bottle!

 

Next, they had to pick one teammate to go to the backyard and untie the strings for their team.  They had to find the one ribbon with an X on it.

 

Their final task was to memorize a set of symbols that were taped on the back wall.  Then they had to go to the driveway and recreate the order.

 

Afterward we had pizza and ice cream.

 

Then they played Hide and Seek in the dark until it was time to go home.  Overall, I think it was great!  I would've included a few more challenges, though.  They were done in an hour.

And Carissa told us we were the best parents ever because we finally got her a cell phone.  She was the only fourteen year old on the planet without one and now her life is complete!

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Remember!  You have until 7:00 pm PST tomorrow to enter to win a See's Canie's gift certificate!

A Giveaway! Chocolate!

Oh my goodness!  I've got to tell you that aside from making all these wonderful friends on the Internet, then next best thing is getting to try cool things. 

I was contacted by See's Candies a few weeks back.  They wanted me to review their candy!  Without even reading the whole message I was replying back saying, "Hell yeah!"  I LOVE See's Candies.  I know some of you have never tried See's, because it's regional, but you don't know what you're missing.  I LOVE their candy.  They have these awesome chocolate suckers that are to die for.  So, as you can imagine, I will be reviewing a few new products soon.  BUT, in the meantime, I have you guys in mind.  I didn't want you to just read about the wonderfulness that is See's, I wanted you to be able to experience it.

SO, I finagled a giveaway!  And not just any giveaway, this one if for a $25 gift certificate to See's Candies!  Now, even if you live on the east coast, you too can experience See's Candies!  I'm so excited.  All you've go to do it check out the See's Candies website and leave a comment here telling me what sounds good to you.  I will draw a winner on December 11th at 7:00 PST. 

While you're perusing the website, check out the cool chocolate fundraiser that See's does also.  They are so wonderful to the community!  Right now, my son's Cub Scout den is selling See's Candies as a fundraiser!  And, if you need business gifts for work, See's has you covered there too!

Take That Martha!

Martha Stewart doesn't have anything on me!  As you've seen from my last post, I've gotten my holiday decorations all up.  That means all 6 full size trees, plus a few smaller ones.  Plus all the garland, snowmen and other random holiday stuff.  My house is a freakin winter wonderland.  And yesterday I called in sick to work (shhh, don't tell) and got all my outside lights put up.  I'm so excited!

AND I got all my shopping done and WRAPPED! 

Now, I'll be working on my baking and getting ready for Carissa's birthday party this weekend.  Boy, do I feel accomplished!

I'd really like to get some better pictures of my trees.  Those pictures don't do them justice.  Especially the white one.  It's so pretty with all the jewel toned ornaments.  I was in quite a funk before the holidays hit, but now that I've gotten so much done and my house is decorated, I'm feeling quite a bit better!

(Sorry, but I pushed "mark all as read" as I was gone for 5 days and had tons of posts to read.)

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

   

Recession who?

Just popping in (OMG thank god I double checked that, I had originally said just POOPing in) to say, Happy Thanksgiving!  I'm outta here til next week.  Tomorrow I'm working then going home to make four pies and one cake.  Thursday I'll be elbows deep in turkey innards and making wonderful dressing and mashed potatoes (thanks guys).  And Friday, wonderful Friday I'll be shopping from 3:00 am til I hit the floor.  I can't wait!  The sales aren't even that great this year, BUT my aunt, grandmother and mother in law each gave me money to just buy gifts for the kids for them.  I LOVE spending other people's money.  Plus, I get to get the kids all the stuff I know they really want but that I don't have the money for.  It's really a win-win situation.  Have a great holiday! 

Dear Martha Stewart

Dear Martha Stewart:

I want to start out by thanking you for all of your wonderful ideas.  You have such great food and craft projects.  Your creative juices must be flowing 24/7.  You give us all something to strive for.  You show us all that perfection can be attained.

But, I do have a few suggestions.  It seems to me that your slogan "It's a good thing" is really an incomplete thought.  Every time I hear you say it I wonder how the thought really ends.  Here are some suggestions:

It's a good thing... I don't have children around while I make all this shit.

It's a good thing...I don't have to shop at KMart.  That store blows.

It's a good thing...I don't have a husband that wants to eat REAL food.

It's a good thing...I have 25 personal assistants to help me with these ridiculous crafts.

It's a good thing...I have millions of dollars to buy all these crazy supplies and unheard of ingredients.

It's a good thing...I have endless time to make all this crap.

It's a good thing...I don't have a REAL job.

It's a good thing...I don't have to clean my house AND make all this shit.

It's a good thing...I have someone that can do all the prep work so that recipes only take me 20 minutes to complete.  For most it takes two hours!

It's a good thing...I have a gardener that can grow herbs for me.

It's a good thing...that I only have celebrity friends.  They understand me.

Seriously, Martha, is anything you do for the "every day woman"?  Why do you set this ridiculously high bar for all of us?  Do you know that some people really believe we shoud be able to do it all?  Do you know that some kids see the cool things you make and want their moms to do it to?  Do you know that some husbands think you make it look easy to make your own holiday gifts and decorations and meals and think maybe we should be able to do it to (not my husband, he knows better than to go there)?  Do you know that you actually have some of US thinking (hoping) that we can do it too?

And then we're let down.  When we realize that we just can't do it.  The bar you've set is unattainable.  Unattainable to the real woman.

One day, I'd like to see you make an amazing tart with your fresh grown pears and fresh picked mint while four kids are running around you in the kitchen.  I'd like to see how you'd react when right in the middle of making the graham cracker crust (from real homemade graham crackers!) you have to run to wipe someone's bum.  I'd like to see you make that tart after working all day outside of the home.  Then, I'd like to see you make a beautiful centerpiece for the table that that tart will be served on.  And then, maybe you could wash some of those fine linens from KMart.  Then, you tell me if you really want to iron those bad boys or if you're just gonna grab them out of the dryer and slap them on the bed.  That's the show I want to watch.  That's the show I can relate to.  No more celebrities pouring premeasured ingredients into a bowl.  No more walks in the garden.  No more about your gazillion dollar horse barn with touch screen computers and radiant heat flooring.  For god's sake, your horses live better than I do.

Keep it real Martha.  Real is a good thing.

Sincerely,

Another Woman Who is Still Trying to Reach that Bar