Happy Holidays!

I'm going to take advantage of this lull in the holiday action to post some recent Christmas pics from around the Love Shaque.  

I ordered these ornaments from Michigan in Metal.  Love them!  The blue on the angel is stunning & they even said on the site that the color is hard to photograph. 

I bought my nativity scene for Christmas 1992.  My first Christmas in the Navy / out of my parent's house. It's very special to me!  And the red scarf was originally my duty fire party shirt that I wore on the USS Canopus.  I usually have a white porcelain Santa hanging out with the scene, but he's now with the white porcelain reindeer that I picked up this year.  Funny that most of my decorations are brightly colored and/or funky but my nativity scene is plain white.  Guess that's what makes it stand out!

Here is the yard in the snow.  It includes one of the 2 nutcracker blowmolds that I picked up before Christmas at 50% off.  I really hate paying full price for anything!

Jack chilling on our coats on the way to sister Laurie's Christmas Eve. 

Last weekend there was an ice storm that thankfully hit north of us.  We started seeing evidence about 1/2 way to Laurie's so it didn't miss us by much, 15 miles or so!  She had a lot of ice around her place, but never lost power, thank God!

This is sister Linda's puppy that she adopted at Thanksgiving.  He's 3.3 lbs of "puppy love" now.  He's growing like a weed! So stinkin' cute!  

I ordered the JOL ornament from the etsy store of one of the bloggers I follow, Shellhawk's Nest.  She makes/paints/fires all her ceramics herself and I can now attest that her work is stunning!  The ginormous clear bulb was a gift from my niece.  She chose well!  It's right along the lines of 'funky' that I like! 

Angel's stocking on her door. 

Santa's cookie plate and Mexican Coke bottle.  

My nutcracker collection has grown significantly.  I think my total army is numbered upwards of 80 now. I'll count for sure when I finally put them away.  I need to buy another tote or two!

 I ordered the Rockette Toy Soldier one online and Angel wrapped it for me, so I only saw it online until I opened it.  I got the farmer from Laurie.  It was funny that it was in the Tractor Supply ad last weekend, so she got to gauge my reaction to it beforehand.  And Miss Angel got me the blingy zebra guy. 

 I picked these guy up at Walgreens on my way to work on the day after Christmas at 50% off.  This is my first bagpiper.  I thought he was neat. The middle guy is very Austin Powers with his red velvet suit and lace instead of a beard.  And the cheetah guy is just so fabulous! 

I was tickled to get my second bagpiper at JoAnn Fabrics the same evening.  The tallest one is missing half his mustache, but I can repair that.  I couldn't pass these guys up at 70% and then another 30% off! 

I actually got these guys over a week before Christmas at JoAnns.  They were already 70% at that store and I had a 25% coupon.  Angel was tickled at the ballerina and the tall one has silver leaf on his suit and the gold one is covered in gold leaf. 

I'm going to start putting the away all the blowmolds from the yard tomorrow.  It's supposed to be back in the 40s again like today and then drop into the teens for the rest of the week.  Ugh.  I was going to wait until after New Year's but I'd rather not have to deal with frostbite while doing it.  Last year, my chenille Gingy and the flying pig were caked with ice, so they got put in the garage until it all finally melted.  Putting them away cleanish is so much better! 

The inside stuff can be put away at my leisure.  For some reason, I have my Christmas totes labelled with what is in it (but not the Halloween ones!!) so I can grab one at random and can easily get that much put away.  Of course, I have to re-do the labels since some things I'll set aside to get rid of and of course there's always the new goodies. 

Ooo, I was so excited!  Randy got me a 6 month membership to the local Anytime Fitness!  This is exactly what I asked for!  I stopped in on the 26th and finished filling out the paperwork and got a quick tour.  Then set up an appointment for yesterday for my fitness consultation and had my first workout.  I got to visit with one of their trainers (imagine the 0% body fat, petite little trainer chick going "ooo high five -I'm 40, too!  ~grumble~) and she asked me a bunch of questions and measured my body fat and she decided that cardio & weights was going to be best for me to get to my goal.  So she showed me the circuit machines and how to use them.  Then basically that was it.  I did all the circuit machines 3 times, 10 reps each time, (like she recommended)  then got on the elliptical for 10 minutes and the treadmill to walk for 15 to cool down.   I was surprised that I was only a bit stiff today.  But I still decided to pass on the Zumba class for the time being.  I wasn't sure how I was going to be feeling this morning.  But I will get there!

Oh crap - it's 1 am!  So all the times I mention tomorrow, it's actually today.  I'm really surprised that little Miss Maddie hasn't come by meowing at me to go to bed.  She must have been in the catnip again and is passed out!

Any exciting plans for New Year's Eve?  Nothing here.  We stay home, eat snacks, watch Dick Clark (well, not this year) and have some wine.   NYD we will watch the Rose Parade on HGTV (no commercials!) and probably later watch the Rose Bowl since MSU is playing.  

Such party animals!