Preparations are under way

Tomorrow will be the 2nd annual New Year's Eve party in the 'burbs!!!!  I'm so thrilled that our friends will once again make the trip up to ring in the new year with us.  This year, I'm excited to welcome both old and new friends into the mix and a couple of canine pals as well!  As I'm learning more about the in's and out's of party hosting (hostessing?), this process has been getting more and more efficient.

One important lesson:  people WANT to bring stuff, so let them!!!  Instead of saying, "bring whatever", I've given out assignments, in sort of a divide and conquer type of approach.  Since I made assignments, I know that only the A-game goodness will be showing up for the celebration.  A few highlights...Sheila's veggie pizza, Brian's buffalo chicken dip and of course the New Year's Pretzel (custom ordered without the maraschino cherries, which make the whole thing a sloppy mess).

Cheers to 2009!

The spoils of a wonderful December

When Nick and I returned home after approximately 4 Christmases (New Lex-twice, Our Christmas and Pittsburgh), this is what our house looked like.  Every available space was covered in one or more of the following:

a.  Christmas presents

b.  Trash

c.  Mail

d.  Dog paraphernalia (toys, treats, hair, etc.)

e.  Christmas decorations

f.  Laundry

g.  Dishes

When we took a step back, all we could do was laugh.  Before we began the massive clean-up, I had to snap a few pictures because the mess was even beyond what Nick and I are normally capable of.  Yes I know - hard to believe but even the two slobs have standards.

The first phase of clean up happened last night, which was mostly general organization, trash and recycling.  Tonight, we begin Phase 2:  putting away (hopefully). Tomorrow is Phase 3: cleaning and tumbleweed removal.  Our incentive:  not subjecting our friends to this disaster area and knowing that drunk people sometimes don't navigate through these types of obstacle courses all that well.

I smell bacon....

Do you smell bacon?  Why yes, I definitely smell a pork product of some type. (WAYNES WORLD!!!!).

How much fun is it to take otherwise dry and  boring websites and add a big ole' slice of bacon!!??!  

Click here to try it - c'mon, you know you want to.  Just sit back and bask in the ironic bacon goodness.

My Happy Hubby

Here's a snapshot of Nick's afternoon off.  This unplanned 1/2 day vacation interrupted Chino's 12 hour nap with bright lights and loud noises.  Chino's revenge? Going all Gene Simmons on Nick to show him who's boss.  After which, he immediately went back to pretending not to care. What Chino doesn't know is that these spontaneous bursts of affection are quite enjoyable, since it gives us a small inkling that Chino likes us, just a little, even if he chooses to fake indifference.

In the holiday sprit

To the right of the monkey, beneath the palm tree, on top of part of my napkin collection and to the left of the Buddha, orchid and stress ball, you will find my contribution to the office cheer. Incase you're wondering, yes coffee does taste better when sipped from this mug (on sale at Kohl's with a coupon of course)!

Scandalous

Tonight is our self-declared night in.  Nothing on the agenda except staying home.  I took the opportunity to catch up on some DVR and Friday night trash TV.  The evening evolved into an episode of The Biggest Loser with a side of pizza and chocolate chip cookies.  For dessert, I tuned into Celebrity Rehab with a splash of Yuengling.  Does that make me a contestant for the next reality show?  Probably, yes, but not for the reasons listed above.  I promise that I will not gorge myself to the point of food coma, followed by a drunken incident resulting into me doing the tango across the kitchen floor with the dog.  Amen.  

Voyeur

With part of his Christmas bonus, Nick decided to buy a web cam.  He was inspired by Top Dog Daycare's web cam, which lets us watch our boy in action. Action is a bit of an understatement, its more like a state of awake.  He's not so much running around as he his monitoring the perimeter, taking things in, occasionally jumping into the action.  Awake is good though, and is worth the $25 we pay because it beats his normal state of sleeping on the couch from 7:30am-6:00pm.  

The web cam is capturing what we already knew was going on.  Aside from the occasional shredded piece of paper or chewed up pen, Chino pretty much passes his day with a series of naps on the couch, love seat or floor.  He used to call our bed his own, but the baby gate put an end to that in the interest of preserving his knees.  So today, I tuned in to see which cushion he'd be occupying or which side he'd be flopped onto. Yesterday, he seemed to favor the middle and the right.  Today it looks like he's feeling a little lefty...left cushion, left side.  Thank goodness the woot-off! is over, I'm not sure my workday could handle any more excitement.