Here Is Your Christmas Card From Me

Well, this week was a bit slow. I've been trying to get all our ducks in a row for the Big Day. I wrapped the last of the packages yesterday, and we are ready for Christmas to arrive! Oh - there was some excitement; we had a lot of ice and snow this week, and I got a WHOLE SIX HOURS OFF OF WORK. I went in two hours late on Monday due to administrative close, and FOUR hours on Thursday! It was terribly exciting to get snow... um... hours? It reminded me of being a kid and sitting in the early morning pre-dawn winter dark by the light of the TV thinking, "C'mon Knox County.... C'mon Knox County." Although, I must say - modern times has kind of poo-poo'ed that fond memory. I found out about Monday's delay via overnight emergency text from UT, and found out about Tuesday's delay via Facebook. Thanks, modern communication/social media!

Thursday's delay was a bit bumpy, however. I woke up at 5:30 and checked the news and UT's web site; no delay. So I sighed, got dressed and did a Jane Fonda workout on demand. Mr. Smith woke up and wandered in about the time I finished the last of my leg lifts and I was about to get in the shower and get ready for work when I got the delay from Facebook until 10 AM. So I went back to bed. I got the jerk text message at 8:20 WHEN I WAS STILL SLEEPING but got up and got in the shower to get ready for late work. It wasn't until about 9:30 when I was about to walk out the door when I heard the news announce that UT wasn't open until noon. SIGH. Peeps, I got to PLAN my snow day, plzkthanks...


What to do... what to do.... I know! Alter pants!


I have a pair of cute pink pants that I wanted to wear to work that day, but they were boot cut and I don't like boot cut anymore. So I altered the boot cut out!

one boot cut-ey, one not...

And ready to go!

yeah, now that it's done, i don't like it so much either....

In other pre-Christmas-prep news, I pick up little cousins Bobbye Nicole and Ashton and we go get our nails done courtesy of Mama!

me with silver toes in black flippers, big bird ki ki with red toes, bobbye in gold with blue flippers and ashton with her neon orange/pink flipper combo

I love this picture in the nail salon:

No! Yes..... And what's with the rainbow?

After, we went for ice cream! Bobbye ordered the most unusual combination: peppermint ice cream with Butterfinger mix-in. Huh. Interesting. Both the clerk and I tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted and ate a whole large order *puke*

ashton insisted on the more conventional chocolate with marshmallow route. me? cinnamon with graham cracker!

Jonny Oh was in town and we all went out for a fun supper! It's fun to go out with Jonny for supper the night before he leaves town because he never finishes his supper and lets me take home the leftovers! I'm a pig. Oh - one of my pet peeves is girls being matchy-matchy. Now, if you COORDINATE the matchy-matchy, that's one thing. Like if you plan to wear the exact same t-shirt, or carry the same bag or wear the same necklace - ok. But I HATE beyond HATE seeing a pack of girls all wearing generically the same thing. Like... all wearing skirts with girl t-shirts and flip flops. Or... fancy heels, fancy jeans and designer top. Or... all wearing tennis shoes with cut-offs and concert t-shirts. It's obvious you've consulted and wore almost, but not exactly the same thing C'MON. Think for yourself. So. Imagine my surprise when Kristina and I:

showed up matchy-matchy. tall boots over skinny jeans with long pea coats. DANGIT! five years of friendship, first matchy-matchy incident, though - pretty good record.

Tommy and Jonny aren't matchy-matchy, but they couldn't resist a making-fun-of-the-girls photo:

whee! let's cuddle by the christmas tree!

We don't care. We go take a self-photo with a creepy life-size Santa:

i was a little weirded out by him

Lastly, I leave you with two items of interest. I have always wondered who in the world orders mattresses or finds jobs via handwritten crappy signs posted on interstate on-ramps. I mean, honestly, is this a viable marketing tactic? How effective is this form of communication? And do you really want to enlist the services of someone selling mattresses or offering jobs via hand-written crappy signs posted on interstate on-ramps? I'm just sayin'... Recently, a crop of signs in our area have sprung up promoting legal help for those requiring assistance in the areas of citizenship, child support and divorce proceedings. I don't mean to point fingers or anything, but....

but i will not be calling this number for assistance on any leal issue

And Loki Smith has gotten into the spirit of the season:

and volunteered to run a scene as baby jesus. actually, he didn't volunteer; i shoved his butt in a blanket and make mr. smith take a photo of my sad baby loki.

All right! Christmas Eve/Day is a mere four/five days away! More adventures to follow!