Tagged! Christmas Traditions

I've been tagged by Lauren of LiveLaughLove. So...on to our Christmas traditions.



This is the 7th Christmas that Mr. P and I have spent together. (Holy cow!) We haven't really started any serious traditions of our own, but I expect that will happen over time, especially once we have kids. It's pretty important to me that our children are in their own home on Christmas morning (hopefully we have a fireplace)!

That said, the biggie in my family has always been Christmas Eve. Our tradition is to have a huge meal of appetizers - everyone gets at least one of their favorites :) This year's (partial) list:

1. Mini tenderloin sammies
2. Shrimp & cocktail sauce
3. Cheese tray
4. Swedish meatballs
5. Veggie tray
6. Spinach balls (personal favorite, sounds weird, but I am OBSESSED)
7. Toasted ravioli
8. Chicken livers wrapped in bacon (for the old people - aka my folks - GROSS!)
9. Dessert tray (complete with almond rocca made by yours truly)

There's more to the list, but I can't remember it - which probably means I'm not all that interested.

After dinner and dishes are done, we gather in the living room and open family gifts. When Schmoogie and I were little, we'd open gifts from Santa on Christmas morning. This usually involved games and movies to keep us busy during Winter Break (and out of Mom and Pop's hair).

This year will be a little different, not sure how it'll go yet, but I'm looking forward to Christmas day dinner at the folks' place with MomP joining us. And of course, it's Miss Bailey's second Christmas, so I'm sure we'll have fun with that, too.

I'm tagging Carrie, Jenn, N, Teresa, and the Pamster :)

Happy Holidays!

Oh, Walmart...

I'm at Wal-Mart (not a fan) waiting for my prescription to be filled, and there was a page on the overhead system:

"Customer needs assistance in little boys pants."

BLINK.
BLINK.BLINK.

"I repeat, customer needs assistance in little boys' pants."

Yes, I heard that right.

Sometimes there are ways of wording things to avoid sounding absolutely, ridiculously awful. And most of us have made the mistake of poor phrasing before, but hopefully it wasn't over a PA system, causing the customers to glance at each other to see if they heard what they thought they heard :)

Day 3: The New I-64

Door to door in exactly 30 minutes (weird). I think I can live with that.

Hanley N --> Page E --> Kingshighway S --> 40 E

To the Powers that Be:
Thank you for not letting this morning be another ice-filled day of snowy, slush-covered streets. And, if my leaving 1/2 hour later than normal and making decent time is any indication, you don't really hate me! I'll take it as a sign that I should start coming to work late everyday (and make every day a self-imposed "jeans day"), if that's OK with you :)

Day 2: The New I-64...Part II

40-->FPP-->(passed a van that had crashed into the median between the right lane of FPP and the Union exit) Union North-->Page West (inch...inch...inch...inch)-->Hanley South to HOME :)

Total Time: 50 minutes.

But it is what it is.

Today's been a relatively crappy day across the board. It has been for a LOT of people. So rather than being bitter (again) about my commute, I'll just say that I'm thankful I have a job. I'm thankful for my amazing friends, and my inspiring husband.

I can't say enough about the latter two, but it means the world to have such a great support system.

To those of you who also had crappy days...I'm continuing to think of you.

Day 2: The New I-64

This morning wasn't really any better, and I'm discovering that nasty commute time = possible rise in (childish, ineffective) road rage.

I took the alternate route suggested by MODOT. This means that from my house, I go up to Page, east to Kingshighway, and north to Hwy 70, east to downtown STL.

I have a slight aversion to this route, but I took it anyway.

Total Time: 50 minutes.

Reminder, this is up from the 20-30 minute commute I had up until yesterday.

Sure, the snow probably had some affect on the drive. It wouldn't hurt the City of STL to actually clear these roads a bit, especially during a HUGE construction project that requires people to drive roads they normally never would, but do because MODOT suggests them as "alternate routes."

And to the butthead driving the yellow Mustang who thinks it's funny to intentionally fishtail...HEY! ASSHOLE!!! NOT IN RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC, OK?

So it's Tuesday. Day 2 of the craziness that has become my once pleasant commute. And I will be trying yet another option to get home this evening.

I'm wishing I'd taken Leftturnyielder's commute suggestion from yesterday. She let me borrow a couple of Jen Lancaster books, and I've already finished Bitter is the New Black. Got through the first few pages of Bright Lights, Big Ass last night, and I'm loving it, too.

Today's bright side? My hair was already dry when I left this morning :)

The New I-64...Part II

Ahhh, the drive home...that joyous part of the day during which I get to decompress and look forward to seeing Mr. P and Miss Bailey...

I hopped onto 40 from downtown, veered right onto FPP westbound, and promptly got stopped just after the Union/Lindell exit. And we inched. And inched. And inched. And inched, until I decided to say screw it and head up to Delmar.

(Well, I thought I'd head up to Page, but didn't realize that DeBaliviere stops at Delmar, so I just turned on Delmar instead.)

Did you know they're doing work on a bridge on Delmar? Right around the Delmar Metrolink stop? Um...I didn't. The two lanes merged into ONE FREAKING LANE!!! So we didn't even inch and inch and inch anymore. We...centimetered? Whatever. It sucked. Again.

Tomorrow morning, I will be attempting Route #2. I'd tell you what it is, but I haven't decided yet. Hopefully it goes better than today.

On the bright side, at least my car got fixed a couple weeks ago so I don't have to worry about the brakes anymore. And at least the heat works, right? Because I think that if the heat didn't work, on a day like today, I might be justified in completely giving up :)

Oh traffic, how I detest thee...

Anybody have any better luck taking other routes?

The New I-64...

...is annoying.

So this morning, I'm already running late. I go outside to start the car, and MY DOOR IS FROZEN SHUT. F@#K! Mr. P kindly helps me get the door unstuck, and then we spend a joint 30 minutes scraping ice off the car. (OK, let's be honest - we all know that Mr. P did most of the work while I called the office to say I'll be late, and try to deal with the mess of icicles that is my WET HAIR.)

I finally get on the road, and people A) don't know how to drive, B) can't figure out how to do ANYTHING without Hwy 40, and C) are generally just a pain in my ass.

My normal commute of 1/2 an hour (taking Forest Park Pkwy) turns into an HOUR LONG clusterf@#k. Most of this time, mind you, is spent between Big Bend and Skinker. Seriously?! How far is that, like, a MILE or something? (It's not even that far, but I'm being generous.)

Basically, it took me an hour and a half this morning to get to work. Sure, some of that can be blamed on a frozen car, and some of it can be blamed on people not knowing how to get where they want to go.

The way I figure it is this: I have about a year to find the easiest way to get from U City to downtown STL in rush hour traffic. By the time I finally find the route that works best, it won't matter anymore - the construction will be done. And unfortunately, even though I *may* have a few options available, there are some things I just won't do - like drive through scary parts of STL in the dark.

WHY couldn't the second half of this closure been done first? I honestly believe this will be much worse than the western half of the highway construction project was. And don't get me started on what happens when Big Bend and Hanley are closed at 40. I'm right between the two, which will put my major North-South options at quite the standstill.

Grumpy.

Oh, and for those who are wondering? Icicle hair is, naturally, a pain in the ass, and results in the frizzy mess that rests upon my head today.

Christmas Thanks!

I grew up in a 100 year-old home, complete with wood beams in the living and dining rooms, and a mother who loved nothing more than to get the Christmas decorations out. It was FABULOUS! There was something about that house in particular that was perfect for decorating, and around the holidays it always felt so warm and cozy and...dare I say it...festive without being overdone? One of the best parts of coming home for winter break was opening the front door and walking into such wonder.

So, I moved in with Mr. P, the folks moved to a new place (not nearly as conducive to holiday decor), and the wonder that was is no longer. I miss it!

Mr. P and I agreed that we're not going full-out with our Christmas decorations until we actually OWN a house...so it's going to be a while. We put up our little 3-foot tree on a side table (and for the love of me, I can't seem to get a decent picture this year), but outside of that, we don't really decorate :(

Anyway...the point: THANK YOU to all you wonderful ladies who've been sharing your Christmas decorations! I can't wait to do our own, but for now, getting to see everyone else's makes me all warm and fuzzy inside (and a teensy, tiny bit jealous!) :)