I hope you've all enjoyed the first day of 2009. Hard to believe it's already here, but it's exciting to have a fresh start to a new year. Did you eat your blackeye peas, greens, or cabbage for good luck today? I tried a new recipe for a blackeye pea casserole and it was WONDERFUL! It was basically an enchilada casserole that called for blackeye peas. VERY yummy!
Well, I had a bit of excitement the weekend after Christmas. About a week before Christmas, I had made a routine trip to Wally World for some basic household things. I had an hour to kill at lunch, so I decided I'd browse through the holiday section. I found a 6.5' white tree that was pre-lit with white lights and immediately envisioned teal and hot pink ornaments adorning it. The tree was $35. By the time I had the ornaments in my cart I was mentally calculating my total and then talked myself out of it. I thought to myself... "Self... it's only a week until Christmas and if you wait just a wee bit longer, you can get that tree AND all the ornaments for half price." Needless to say, I talked my tight-wad self out of buying the tree, and made another lap around the holiday section to put everything back where I had found it. Forward one week... It's Christmas day and as I'm getting ready for bed I'm thinking to myself again... "Self... tomorrow is the day after Christmas and you're STILL thinking about that white tree. Why don't you get up at the crack of 5:00 AM and go get it?" So, I set my alarm for the crack of 5:00 AM. The next morning I got up, brushed my teeth, brushed my hair, put on my finest pair of sweat pants and a sweatshirt, bundled up and headed out to stand in line at Wal-Mart and wait for the doors to open at 6:00 AM. The lines weren't long and I got my tree and LOTS of blue (they didn't have teal, which was a little disappointing), silver, and hot pink ornaments, and a tree topper. I paid for my purchases, loaded my loot in the vehicle, and started backing out of my parking spot. As I turned to look over my left shoulder, I realized that I was VERY close to the vehicle parked in the next space. ...maybe even touching... hhhmmmmm... so I pulled my vehicle back into my parking space and got out to inspect. Sure enough... I had scraped the front left quarter-panel of the other vehicle with the rear right quarter-panel of my vehicle (I had pulled into my parking space and they had backed into theirs if you're trying to figure out how I managed that little feat) and the paint on theirs was DEFINITELY scratched. About that time, the owner of the other vehicle approached and I explained what had happened and we exchanged information. She was VERY nice about everything and said she wouldn't be able to call the insurance company until the following Monday. I got the call from them yesterday and found out that I have no deductible to meet for the damages to her vehicle. My damages amounted to one scratch about an inch to an inch and a half long, so I doubt mine will even cost $200 to fix. For that reason, I didn't turn mine in on the claim since the deductible for my vehicle is $500. I'll have to call "Houdini", my auto-body guy and tell him I backed into something again! It was the cabinets inside the garage last time. This is my first auto insurance claim involving another vehicle, so I'd say that's a pretty good record... only one claim in my entire 29 year life! :) OH... about the tree. I went home and put it up and decorated it. I know, I know... it's the day after Christmas and that's just plain crazy! My in-laws were due in later that day, though, and I wanted it to be pretty when they arrived so I HAD to put it up. It was absolutely BEE-YOU-TEE-FUL and I'll try to post some pics later.
I've done absolutely ZERO crafting since I finished my Christmas projects. I'll post those pics a little later, as well. (I'm writing this post from my laptop and all my photo software is on my PC in the other room.) Let me tell you about what I HAVE been doing, though! Several weeks ago, I had borrowed a couple of books from a friend at work after I'd heard him talking about how good they were. The books were "The Gold Coast" and "The Gate House" by Nelson DeMille. "The Gate House" had just been released and I'd heard enough about them to pique my interest, so I accepted when Scott offered to loan them to me. About halfway through the first book, the girls at work started talking about the "Twilight" series of books. Before I get any further, the Nelson DeMille books ROCKED!! I had seen previews to the movie and knew that it was a teenage vampire love story and had absolutely no interest in it. Well... the girls at work continued to talk about the "Twilight" series and everyone started calling it "crack for women" because the books seemed to be so addictive. Before I finished my Nelson DeMille books, I found myself looking for "Twilight" at Sam's one night. I bought it, but kept thinking I probably wasn't going to like it at all, so I didn't buy any of the subsequent books in the series. I've never been much of a romance reader... most of what I read is mystery/suspense/thriller novels or non-fiction. I finally finished my Nelson DeMille books on Monday evening of this week. I began reading "Twilight", the first in the series, on Tuesday evening around 8:30 PM. I finished it earlier today and started the second in the series, "New Moon", and am 120 pages into it. OH... MY... GOSH!!!! This stuff is crack for women! Who knew I'd get so wrapped up in a teenage vampire love story! My step-daughter is reading the first book now... I read it first to "screen" it and she's been asking me the last couple of days how much longer I think it will take me to finish it. I took it to her tonight as soon as I finished so she could get started on it and, hopefully, finish it before she has to go back to school after her Christmas break. I told her we'd see the movie after we'd both finished the book, so she's excited about that! Actually, I'm probably just as excited as she is, if not more! I'm not going to give away ANY details about the books. You'll just have to read them and see for yourself. If you think you wouldn't like a teenage vampire love story I'm almost willing to bet you have another think coming!
I guess I'll wrap this post up for now. I'll try to get some pics posted in the next couple of days. I have some painting and other projects to do around the house, so I'm sure I'll stay busy between that and reading. I got a new RotoZip RZ20 Spiral Saw System for Christmas and I'm just DYING to try it out! If only I could put these books down for any length of time!! Toodles!
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