Friday, December 08, 2006

On your mark...get set...Party!

Tonight is my company holiday party. And DB’s holiday party. Fortunately, there aren’t many places in town to have events like this so they’re both in the same civic center. Right around the corner from one another, actually. Works out well. I’ll hit the chocolate fountain at my party, mosey over to his and see if they’ve got better door prizes...come back to mine and get my two free drinks...go round the corner to his and get my other two free drinks... :) I think I’ll definitely forgo my 4 inch Stuart Weitzman shoes for my Pelle Modas with a 1 inch heel so I don’t lay myself out on the floor of the VBC. Oh...I need a pedicure too for my open toed shoes. Hmm...

This officially kicks off my busy holiday season. Yes, last week was the big board meeting trip, but I can’t officially call that holiday related, it just timed out that way. Tomorrow is our HOD Holiday Party and dirty Santa. That’s a day trip to another part of the state, so that’s it for the day. The following Tuesday is my work potluck and dirty Santa. I’m taking off the next Friday to bake cookies and make candies. I have a chocolate and champagne party at a friend’s house that Saturday. Yes, there’s a dirty Santa there too and I promised her I’d make chocolate covered tuxedo strawberries. Next thing I know it will be Christmas Eve and my in-laws will be at the door. I’ve totally got to scrub my house from top to bottom in between all these parties, setup the bed in the guest room... we haven’t even touched on going to get a Christmas tree, decorating it and rearranging ALL my living room furniture to fit it in. I have to mail my gifts to DB’s brother and his family. Oh, and the last three blog winners of mine (sorry!).

At least my Christmas cards are out. I was about two cards short though, so I may have to go buy another box (which means another book of stamps when I finally hit the PO again).

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I aggravated my carpal tunnel and my right arm has been useless for 2 days. Yeah, that’ll slow you down.

Notice there hadn’t been the single mention of me writing anywhere. This time last year I was on restriction and had to write (and post) 1 page a day so the other Playfriends knew I was actually getting something done. I may have to unofficially enact something of that nature. I had told myself I’d finish this book by the end of the year. HA! 250 pages to go...that’s what? 11 pages a day? Doable. At least by someone. Not me. Especially in the middle when I’m not sure what’s going on and the story usually changes drastically.

Ok. My arm hurts, so I’m going to stop now. I'm sure everyone else is busy too. What upcoming events are you excited about? Any you’re dreading? What’s the worst Dirty Santa gift you’ve ever given or been stuck with? I've been known to give a few Mr. Potato Heads in my day...

SP

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
27,750 / 90,000
(30.8%)

25 comments:

Pat L. said...

Sorry about your arm.

Dreading finishing up the last minute gift shopping and having the bills come!

Pat L. said...

Oh, yes, the book came today. Thanks so much. Cant wait to read it.

Katherine Bone said...

Hang in there, Smarty Pants! Someone's got to go out and have all the fun! It's probably a good thing we have to wait all year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. If we didn't have all year to recoop, I don't know how we'd handle the joy and the stress, combined.

Sorry to hear about your arm. With a torn ligament in my left wrist, I know what a kink that can put into writing and craft-making.

I was at a party once where someone got a hat with mullet attached. Also, someone else got a fake Owl to post on their fence. Oh, the memories. Good times.

Kathy
(Still undecided what to wear tonight.)

Katherine Bone said...

Oh, what am I dreading? The longer I look forward to time alone spent writing, the more I dread going to parties. Not neccessarily looking forward to tonight, having to smile, look my best, stand like a statue while the DH talks to everyone he knows.

Kathy
(Feeling like a party-pooper.)

Playground Monitor said...

I'm excited about the party tomorrow!!! And because it'll be late when we get back and I'll be tired, I get to skip the DH's office party. But he's going to go by himself and maybe he'll win one of those neat-o doorprizes they give away like airline tickets or nights at a B&B or sizeable gift certificates to nice restaurants.

Worst dirty Santa gift? Personally it was a brown pottery jug with "Wildcat Juice" printed on the side. Totally useless. The worst I've ever seen was our campground's Labor Day White Elephant Sale, which is run just like dirty Santa. This year someone who brought a strand of Christmas lights with no bulbs in them ended up with a one-night stay at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. Talk about some very unhappy participants. TPTB put a note in the campground newsletter that in the future folks should think about what kind of gift they'd like to receive when they bring something.

As for not writing -- give yourself a break. It's the holiday season for goodness sake. I had a piece I wanted to submit to Chicken Soup for the Red Hat Soul and the deadline is January 1. So I've spent all week writing 1000 measly words. And I had to squeeze that around shopping and wrapping and mailing and decorating and parties. It's just not a great time to write, IMHO, cause there are too many distractions.

PM

Problem Child said...

Sorry, but I'm too cold to think of a response that relates at all to your post. I tried crawling back under the duvet, which was nice, but I must get up at some point. I think I'll go empty the water heater with a shower and see if that helps...

I'm in ALABAMA for Dog's sake! Why is it so freaking cold?

Andrea Laurence AKA Smarty Pants said...

We'll have a good time, Kathy! No one says you have to stay glued to his side all night. You can dance with DB. (Snicker...) He's not much of a dancer, but its fun to watch him try. A couple drinks will loosen him up.

I wish our company did really cool gifts for door prizes, but there's this corporate tax limitation nonsense that limits us to $50 gifts otherwise they take taxes out of our paychecks for our prizes. Boo! I'm hoping DBs party will have better stuff. I want a TV! Well, not really, but I want something other than a gift card to the Home Depot. (Although I wouldn't turn it down...) When my mom worked at an airline, they gave away tickets. It was awesome - two round trip international tickets to anywhere? Yeah, baby! Never won them, of course, but still, they were an option!

Kathy - does that halter top separate from the skirt? I think that top with some slinky black pants would be quite sassy...

SP

Andrea Laurence AKA Smarty Pants said...

For those of you not in the area...we broke the 1927 record for low temperatures this morning. It was a whopping 12 degrees when I drove to work...

Anonymous said...

Smarty Pants, sorry about your arm. Pretty darn inconvenient time to have it useless. :((

Okay, hate to admit it, but I don't know what a dirty Santa is. But hey, have fun tonight!!

Playground Monitor said...

12 degrees???

I knew it was cold. I slept in a sweatsuit last night to stay warm and that's with my DH who radiates heat like a furnace. Even he had his feet over on my side next to the heating pad in the foot of the bed.

Playground Monitor said...

Dirty Santa is a gift-giving game where each person brings a gift in a pre-arranged price range. In some order (usually drawing numbers or drawing names from a hat) the first person selects a gift from the pool. Then the second person selects a gift, but before he/she opens it, he/she may opt to steal the first person's gift instead. This goes on throughout the entire gift selection. Some groups put a limit on how many times a gift can change hands before it's frozen. Invariably one or two gifts will be the big hit of the party. Some people do this with gag gifts. Others restrict it to nice items - something you'd like to receive yourself.

Ask the Problem Child about her dirty Santa coup last year. Go ahead. Ask her.

PM

Problem Child said...

Dirty Santa basics:

Everyone brings a gift. Each person particpating is given a number and you play in order.

Person 1 selects and opens a present. Everyone oohs and ahhs.

Preson 2 has a choice. She can either choose her own present to open, or she can steal the present person 1 has.

If she chooses to steal from Person 1, then Person 1 gets to chose another present to open.

Once a few presents have been opened, then it gets dirty. Say person 8 steals from person 6. Person 6 can steal from antoher person, who then gets to steal from someone else. This can get extreme.

In our game, once a present has been stolen 3 times, it's locked. No one else can go after it.

The game ends when everyone has a present and no one else has anything to steal.

Versions vary.

Angel said...

I'm excited about tomorrow too! Except that before I can leave I still have to write a resume/cover letter combo for a client, cook, bake, deliver said combo to client, create baskets, and find something to wear. Oh, and check to make sure the suburban has gas.

It's already noon because I had a chiropractors appointment today and had to get groceries for cooking. I'm already tired. How am I going to get all this done?

So I'm dreading the rest of my day, but once it is over I'll enjoy tomorrow. :)

Sympathies on the arm!!! My back is better.

Angel

Problem Child said...

Also, notice how SP neglects to mention that she had invited ME to be her date for her company Christmas party.

Then she dumped me.

For a GUY.

Andrea Laurence AKA Smarty Pants said...

How was I to know what Mr. Anti-Social would take the night off from work to go?? And it isn't as though I blew off a long standing girlfriend engagement for a date with a flavor of the month...

I bought her family tickets to the local botanical gardens light show to make up for the girlfriend faux paux. Doesn't mention that, of course... :)

SP

Andrea Laurence AKA Smarty Pants said...

Anyway...subject changer...you're supposed to be telling everyone about your dirty Santa tricks...

SP

Anonymous said...

What the heck! I've been doing the dirty Santa thing for a couple of years and just didn't know that's what it was called. I LOVE our Dirty Santa exchange. This year I gave chakra earrings that I bought while I was in Sedona that were made from Swavorski crystals. I STOLE -- yes, I admit I stole it after my gift was heisted -- a Celtic goddess necklace made of moonstones and amethyst (I'm a jewelry *&%*). Okay, I have to run out now, but when I get back I expect to see PC's DS coup....

Problem Child said...

Oh, all right.

It was getting close to the end of the game, so things were getting really dirty and a lot of the "good" presents were locked. Except for this lovely set of shoe-themed bookends that I thought would be great in my office. So I stole them.

A new member (who didn't know me at the time, and therefore didn't realize how I could be) stole my bookends. (huffs)

Well, our one male HOD member had stolen a lovely bottle of wine that had one more steal before it got locked as well. I knew he really wanted that bottle of wine.

So I stole it.

BUT, as I stole it, I made him an offer. If he'd steal my bookends back, I'd then trade him the bottle of wine for the bookends, thereby giving us both the present we wanted as well as locking them both so they couldn't get stolen again.

It worked like a charm.

And my bookends are lovely.

Anonymous said...

Oh, PC, that was some smart thinking!! And I bet they're lovely in your office. :)

Katherine Bone said...

Hey, SP! Finally got back online. The top is a separate piece but I don't have slinky black pants. I have black pants though. Should I go that route instead of wearing the skirt? All I can think about is how cold it's going to be in a halter top. Yikes! But I do love the top.

PC, I knew you played dirty. LOL.

I agree about the cold. I checked my outside temp when I took #4 to school today and it said 16 degrees. Too cold for Alabama.

I'm excited about tomorrow, too. Dirty Santa always makes me nervous though cause I hate it when someone steals from me. Hint, PC. Watch out! LOL.

Kathy

Andrea Laurence AKA Smarty Pants said...

Sounds like a challenge to me, PC. Watch out, Kathy.

I'm hoping my gift is steal worthy. I sure like it. I'm not above stealing my own stuff. And a moonstone and amethyst goddess necklace sounds awesome. I'd be pretty torqued if that got taken too...

SP

Anonymous said...

Sounds like fun! And I had no clue what dirty santa was, but that's what my extended family plays in Regina (thankfully i don't go there for Xmas) but the best one my uncle apparently did was blow up a photo of one of my other uncles and got him to sign it without knowing what it was for, put it in a frame and wrapped it up. :o) I don't think anyone tried to steal that one!

not looking fwd to much personally, putting the tree up maybe but that could turn ugly if the lights don't work

Kira Sinclair - AKA Instigator said...

I'm so looking forward to tomorrow! I hope my gift is steal worthy too - it's a bit different than my normal fare...no naked men calendars or anything. The girls like part of it though so I'm not above stealing my own gift :-)

We have a jam packed weekend - the part tomorrow. Cutting down a Christmas tree Sunday. I have to bake chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge, buckeyes and pecan pralines with the girls this weekend - was hoping to put it off until next but realized I need the gifts for Thursday. Plus I have to read over these revisions one more time before I send them out to my CPs for their stamp of approval.

Instigator

Playground Monitor said...

I don't have to steal my gift. I bought one just like it for myself. LOL!

PM

Lois said...

I want my ice cream cake for my birthday already, but I still a little bit to go. LOL :)

Lois