Ready For 2018 To Be Over

Christmas 2018 is over and I can't wait for 2019!

After being out sick from work all week, my health began to be on the mend.  Christmas Eve Steve invited me to spend with his family so I took him up on the offer. Delicious dinner at his sister's house in Oregon City and it was great catching up with his family.

Christmas Day Jordan, Candy, her granddaughter Hailey and her mom Trista, and Sam came over for presents and ham dinner. Over the weekend had picked through some of the boys old t-shirts and made each a quilt from them, which they loved.  

I was still not feeling well so spent most of the day lounging on the couch.  No shower, hair up, and overalls.  The next day I returned to work and it was nice to get back into the swing of things.

Wednesday evening met up with the Blue Jacket Divas for Christmas dinner at the Mill City Grill. We spent over two hours catching up, exchanging gifts, and laughing. Had been a long time since we had seen each other.

Thursday at work I began feeling odd. I had to go pee frequently and my nether regions were feeling uncomfortable. I took an early lunch and ended up spending the whole time in the bathroom. What was going on?? Continuing urge to pee, burning and I was in misery.

After Googling my symptoms, I suspected I had a urinary tract infection.  Called the doctor and was able to get an appt at 5pm.  Arrived, gave a urine sample and yep, it was, as the nurse said, a raging UTI. 

They prescribed antibiotics and painkillers and Sam was kind enough to pick them up for me as I was in no shape to venture 5 feet or more away from the bathroom. Never had a UTI before and never want one again! Doc signed me out of work today so I could recover. Thankfully the painkiller is working although it's turning my pee a neon shade of orange.

And so it goes. On the upswing for getting better and looking forward to a healthier 2019!

Christmas Parties and the Crud

Company party last Friday - Fun, great food, open bar, and funny CEO. Didn't win a raffle prize but scored two table floral settings and regifted to sis and stepmom at the family party. Co-worker Peyton won second place in the celebrity contest so whoo hoo! Highlight was getting my caricature done.

Family party last Saturday - great to see almost everyone. Makes me nostalgic for the old days. 

Sunday - the sickness set in. Ended up with a cold/cough/temperature that has settled in for the holidays.  It's now Wednesday; tried to get back to work yesterday and today but it's just not happening. Congested, coughing til I wet my pants - not having a good time here. Here's me on day four of riding the couch.

Party On Dude!

One of my co-workers is going to the company party dressed as a character from "The Big Lebowski." As part of his costume he needed a fishing vest tailored. Word got out (yeah, I'm looking at you, fellow co-worker Pam) that I could sew and therefore I volunteered to help him out. Last night I added some fabric, did a few tweaks, and the vest turned out great!

He tried it on when he got to work and it fit perfectly!! He was happy, I was happy, and all was right in the world. I hope he wins the costume contest.

Also today we let the cat out of the bag and identified ourselves to our secret pals. Both Pam and I knew we had each other but, in the spirit of the game, played along, feigning innocence each time we received a surprise from our secret pal. It's been a lot of fun over these last six months and I'm sad it's over. Perhaps we will get paired again for next year's secret pal program. Lord knows we've got the acting down for the parts!!

Tomorrow all five of us in our team will be riding together to the company party. It's gonna be epic! Unbelievable! And seriously entertaining!! 

Ethel is Not Coming Out to Play!

Tonight did a little pre-show with the outfit for tomorrow's company party. It was long, sparkly, fur shrug, gloves - the whole shebang.  I looked in the mirror and who did I see looking back at me? Ethel Barrymore. Yep, straight out of "The Parradine Case" with Charles Laughton. It was just overkill and I was feeling like the matron of melodrama when I'd rather be feeling like Valli from the same movie.

Dug into my closet and found a nice simple black dress with rhinestone trimmed cuffs. Elegant. Classic. And much more comfortable than being strapped into an outfit that screams costume rather than good taste.

The one thing still needing to be figured out is my hair. Was going to wear it up but in the different dress you would be able to see my back tattoo. And I hate that tattoo!  So think I will go for a half up/half down kind of style or at least one where tendrils are covering the offending skin pic.

Painted my fingers tonight a sparkly red to match the party mood, not only for tomorrow but for the Shepard family party on Saturday.   It's going to be a busy weekend!!!

Birthdays, Baking, and Broken Bones

Yesterday was up bright and early to bake.  Influenced by my addiction to the Great British Baking show, cooked from scratch a white birthday cake for daughter-in-law Candy. While that was in the oven made a batch of wild huckleberry jam. There were several tiny stems in with the berries so halfway through tossed the whole steaming batch into the blender. Great idea as it pulverized the stems and berries and turned out a nice batch of jam.

Once the cake cooled, I sliced it into four layers. Two layers with huckleberry jam and two with chocolate frosting followed by the whole thing being covered with chocolate frosting. Even melted some chocolate and added swirls to the outside. It's not perfect but looks edible!  Happy birthday Candy!

Just finishing up cake when Marie stopped by and dropped off her dog Lilly for me to babysit overnight. Such an easy dog - quiet, gets along with Stubbs.

Yesterday afternoon stopped off at the Oddities Dark Market bazaar where Jordan and Candy were selling their wares. Lots of interesting booths with a variety of crystals, jewelry, art, skull-themed items and the like.

Sam stopped by yesterday and filled me in on my "third son" Jimmy. Jimmy and his girlfriend had a car wreck Friday night. Jimmy got a fractured neck and vertebrae and his girlfriend had to be life flighted to OHSU. Thankfully both will be okay and Jimmy was released yesterday. Big sigh of relief. Felt better after talking to him on the phone.

This morning finished working on my 48 cent work party dress then sewed together sections of two sweaters to come up with a faux fur type of wrap. Will definitely be red carpet.

After whipping that up, I made an infinity purple sequin scarf for my secret pal at work. This is the final week of secret pal for this year and we are supposed to reveal our identities on Wednesday to each other.  Will be giving her the scarf along with some purple huckleberry jam.

Finally hauled out the Christmas tree and put it up along with my large porch snowman. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! !

Jordan and Candy stopped by tonight so we could cut into the cake. Turned out yummy!!

Here's to having a busy week. Work Monday and Tuesday, training in Tacoma at 8am on Wednesday  (ugh), company party in Tacoma on Friday, then family holiday party in the Gorge on Saturday! Will be a whirlwind!!

Passing President and Party

Due to George Bush passing away, yesterday work gave us all the day off - paid!  In George's honor, my day was spent cleaning the kitchen then, believe it or not, cleaning my bedroom! All the clothes have been hung up where they belong and my loveseat is once again visible!!

Next Friday is the company party. Looked around to find a dress for the red carpet/celebrity look alike theme; found one at Ross but it wasn't working for me so returned it. Dug out a dress I bought at Ross about a year ago for 48 cents. Yes, 48 cents! Long, black, sparkly but just a wee snug so tonight I sewed in a little extra fabric in the back to give me more breathing room. Doesn't look bad but now the search is on for a wrap of some kind. It is sleeveless which I hate so gotta come up with something to hide my batwings.

Was digging through the closet and found a gold window scarf and thought "hmmm....this could be made into a wrap or even a dress."  Yes I've now morphed into Cinderella but probably more along the lines of Carol Burnett.  Actually that might play well into the celebrity look alike contest!

Highlights and Happenings

So fulfilling Thursday evening to have my hair trimmed and colored by hair stylist extraordinare Abbie. It has now come back from the brassy dark/blonde mess I had created into the streaky blonde that I love. She's a Godsend to my locks. I toyed with the idea of snipping it into a bob but decided to keep the length and had her cut lots of layers into it so the bulky mass on my head would have a better chance of being styled.

Friday night found me cruising to bestie's house for dinner and catch up. There's nothing finer than to bend a friend's ear when you just need to vent, bitch, whine, or cry.

Saturday night met up with bestie and Marie to watch the local Christmas parade. The highlight is my work sits two stories above the parade route so we sat in a dark office out of the cold and rain and watched the festivities through the windows.  Lots of marching bands, lighted log trucks, the Grinch, Santa, and horses led the way.

After the parade we popped over to The Shamrock, a local pub most famous for its green beer on St. Patrick's Day.  Don't have a regular drink as love to try out new flavors so my drink of choice was the espresso martini. Very tasty, so much so a second just had to be ordered.  It was a fun evening people watching.

This morning met bestie early for breakfast then came home and took a nap. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful - binged on a season of Top Chef, did a load of laundry, ate popcorn for dinner, painted my nails, and now it's not quite 9pm and I'm in bed. Meant to put up the tree but will get to that this week. Only 23 more days to Christmas!!