I've been really busy lately, but it's been fun for the most part (aside from having the absolute worst bout of asthma and allergy issues this summer!). Last weekend was memorable for two reasons.

First Reason: We had Jenna and Jared over Saturday night. It gave reason and motivation to go about cleaning the house and actually making the table pretty and usable (doesn't happen very often but it's nice to actually sit down at the table for a meal with friends rather than with tv trays in the living room). Everything was really tasty, the company was great, and the conversation was interesting. It makes me wish we did travel in the same circles more often. It was really nice to spend the evening with both Jenna and Jared. I had thought for a while given our history and all that that might not be possible or comfortable, but I'm glad to know that we can be friends and enjoy each other's company. Trying on shiny outfits, browsing our combined toy bags (you'd be amazed at the variety we have between the four of us), and watching Steffie's screen saver as if it was a movie *giggles.* It was all very fun and entertaining. Repeats will be required. I can see getting together on a regular basis for dinner, a movie, etc.

We also reserved a bit of time for a scene too between Jared and I, and that was a LOT of fun. It makes me super happy that everyone involved seemed to be very okay with idea. We've all kinda been batting around the idea for a while, and I just didn't want anyone of the four of us to feel uncomfortable with it. I know Steffie had the option at any point to stop or turn things in a different direction if she'd wanted. That's totally her prerogative in my opinion. Jenna's too. It was definitely an intense scene. It went from warm up to full tilt in next to no time at all. I had forgotten how quickly things could move for us as scene partners, and I'm glad to know that things still fit quite nicely even though the dynamic is different. It was quite a rush. My ass still hurts. Anytime he wants a rematch, I'm up for it.

Second Reason: Steffie and I got to go with Rae to Iowa to her sister's baby shower. I've been looking forward to it for a while now, and I'm so happy my schedule change went through just in time for me to be off work on Sunday. (I did not however think through the really intense scene followed by eight hours in the car and another couple of hours sitting on wood picnic benches). I made a diaper cake for Desi. I'm glad both that she seemed to like it and that it made it there in one piece. Buster has been attacking the ribbons for weeks. I don't have a little sister, so it makes me happy that Rae and her family have adopted me so I get to share.

Wow, the last few weeks have been crazy busy. I can't believe it's already June. The first half of the year has just flown by!

We've been doing a half dozen things all at once. My dad is coming up to visit next week, so I've been working on finally getting his outfit for the Twig Renaissance Faire finished. I have his shirt, his vest, and his boots done. I'll just have to find him a pair of pants ... black sweat pants would probably be the most comfortable. We've also been working on getting our gardens finished. I have the garden beside the sidewalk and we have our vegetable garden finished. I have almost all of the butterfly garden in front finished too (yay!). Plus we bought some new appliances for the kitchen. Our dishwasher has been going ever since we moved in. It doesn't clean well and it smells like burning wires when it's going through the dry cycle. Now we have a pretty nice, middle of the road Bosch dishwasher that's an energy saver and it's quieter than our old one. They delivered it today and Steffie is working on installing it now. We'll be picking up our new refrigerator next week (finally a fridge that actually has some room!). We got a really good deal on both too, so that's cool.

Rae, Steffie, and I went to see Phantom of the Opera the weekend before Steffie's birthday. It was a pretty good consensus that we were all three very happy with the show if not totally impressed by the way the person who played the Phantom portrayed the character. I've always seen the Phantom as an obsessive, possessive, very dominant character. He's talented and charismatic and alluring despite his deformity. That's not how the actor played him. He came off as Steffie said, very gollum-ish. He was a pitiful character. I actually ended up almost sorta routing for Raoul, which I never ever do. It was odd. Although, aside from the portrayal of the Phantom, I was super impressed with everyone and everything else. I loved Carlotta and the theater managers. The ballet mistress was fantastic. And the sets were just amazing, and they blended so well with the Orpheum Theater too. It was very realistic and looked like it all belonged there.

Steffie and I went to Jenna and Jared's house for supper last Friday night, and we both had a really good time. It was nice to visit with them both. I finally got to meet Elizabeth too (she's adorable), and I got to see my friend Kim again who I hadn't seen in a long time. It was really nice to get out of the house for a friendly, low-key visit with friends who we don't get to see that often. Very enjoyable for both of us. I'm hoping we can all get together more often at their place and ours for play dates, possibly some DnD gaming nights, and just hanging out. It would be a lot of fun to do on a more regular basis.

We're also both excited about going out of state to Sioux Falls tomorrow for the Renaissance Faire there this weekend. Steffie has a bunch of bottles to sell this year again. She made more colors this year, and I think they are all really pretty. Black, dark blue, pink, and brown for the fairy bottles. Hopefully they will sell well. And then we'll have next week to work on getting my new belt and skirt hikes made before Twig.

Calling all Riblettes .... what do you think about writing up reviews for the restaurants we go to?


I mean, Stephanie and I find ourselves always sitting there discussing in foodie talk how good or icky a restaurant is, how good the service was or was not, if we liked the feel of the restaurant, and if it was worth the price. I thought it might be fun to post up some reviews to share with other people looking for good restaurants in the twin cities area here on live journal.

I did create a separate journal for it called riblettereview ( http://riblettereview.livejournal.com/ ). If no one else wants to, I'll edit the descript a bit, and Steffie and I will post up reviews. But if you want to do it too, I'll email you the live journal log in and we can all post up reviews.

I'm not going to go into any important details about what happens or doesn't happen in the movie because I don't want to give anything away for someone who does still want to see it. But, I have to voice my undying hatred of this movie. It sucked. I hated it. I feel cheated so much so that Ron Howard should pay Steffie back her 19.00 that she spent for us to see his piece of crap movie.

We both loved the book and were super excited by the prospect of seeing the movie. I had issues with the DaVinci Code movie too, but they were for the most part minor. I thought if they did a similar job of making this one it would be enjoyable. I was so horribly wrong. I was expecting small details to be changed or left out, but they left out HUGE chunks of the story and totally deleted important, key characters and events. Characters died who weren't suppose to. Other characters lived who were suppose to die. Details that are important to understanding the motives behind key characters were left out completely or very briefly glossed over. It created a very chaotic and disorienting storyline. If I hadn't read the book I would have been 100% lost. As is, having read the book, I was left wishing I was more lost.

I didn't care what happened to any of the characters. I had no motivation to want them to reach their goal. None of the characters were engaging, and that's very sad since there are some amazing actors in the movie. My favorite part of the book, the movie took a snippet of and injected in a totally different part of the story to a very blah effect.

I can't even clearly express how disappointed I am in this movie and how much I to a core dislike it. It leaves me feeling like Ron Howard sat down and said, "Well we pissed off the known Christian world with DaVinci Code, so we'll make it up to them with Angels and Demons by throwing out the core story and history behind it." I feel like this was a movie made to passify and reflect a better light on the church when that is not what the book did. The book didn't necessarily villianize the church as a whole either. It presented the facts of what the church had done and admitted to doing in the past. Yes, there were deranged fanatics in the book, but there were also truly faithful people as well that the reader could respect. It was a balancing act between good and bad. This movie white washed it all.

I feel like ranting more, but I'm not (at least at the moment). To end it, I'll just say, if you read and liked the book please don't watch the movie. I can't imagine anyone truly enjoying both. If you haven't read the book, I beg you to skip the movie and read the book instead. If you watch the movie first, by the time you're done with it you won't care enough about anyone in it to read the book.

We finally got our cross finished and put together and christened thanks to a friend. Here's a picture of it.




And if you check out the link below you can see pictures of the progress we've made so far with our gardens.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9631756@N03/

Wow, it's been a while since I've made an actual post on here. Things have been so busy though, I just haven't made the time even though I probably should have. From the look of things it doesn't seem like our pace of life will be slowing down anytime soon either.

We have several kinky events planned for the summer. Plus we have lots of gardening both flowers and vegetables to get done along with other outdoor projects. (I posted up pictures of what we've done so far with the gardening on my flickr account.) My daddy is coming up to visit the second weekend of June, and I'm definitely looking forward to that. We're taking him to Twig Renaissance Festival and to Duluth sight seeing. That should be fun.

We've been trying to make it to more social things as well. I mean we usually make it to TIES, but we want to do more. We have been going to the Count's game nights. That's been fun playing different board games and poker. We also have some dinners planned with friends and some upcoming play dates at home since we have a cross now. Hopefully we'll be able to get our coffee table/spanking bench done soon too. (I'll try and get some pictures of the new cross made sometime this week and post them.)

Aside from the gardening and planning for the summer and furniture building. Things have been going pretty well for the most part. I'm still struggling with the whole losing weight issues, but I have more of game plan at this moment than I have had for the past few weeks. I feel ... fat. Yep, there's no other word for it. I mean, yeah, I haven't been skinny in a very long time if ever really. But overall, I've never felt horrible about myself. In general I'm totally okay with not being a size two. But I'm not feeling good about it at the moment. So, more exercise and cutting carbs are in order for me. I hate low carb stuff, but I know it works. And since it works, that is really what I should be doing. All of the outside work will help and more walking for Steffie and I after work. Plus I'm going to start to go by the gym at work when I get off in the afternoons for a half hour or so. I really hope it works.

http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ralene%40gmail.com&ctz=America/Chicago


If you see anything missing from the calendar that I should have on there. Let me know.

Wow ... I haven't posted here in almost a month. We've been busy!

We started going to the gym about the middle of January. It hasn't been bad ... kinda good in fact. It's a really nice gym with an indoor pool, sauna, and jacuzzi and every type of exercise equipment I can think of. Thank goodness for the elliptical machines that aren't hell on my leg (I have this knot that swells up whenever I do a lot of walking or any other high impact activity. The elliptical machines don't really affect it and they give me the best workout). We also have been trying to watch more what we eat. Steffie loves the pasta and potatoes and things like that (I do too!), but I know carbs are my weak point. If I can watch the carbs, I know I can lose at least part of the weight. I have done it before. I was miserable on the atkins diet but it did work. We've kinda come to compromise. I'll try to limit the heavy starches to a couple times a week and keep a closer watch on portion size. Lots of fresh vegges and smarter choice snacks. We just have to stick to it. Steffie and I were both feeling kind of icky one week this month and didn't go to gym, and then my birthday and valentine's kinda dashed the diet for a couple days too.

Speaking of my birthday and valentine's day ... it was an awesome weekend. My birthday was on the friday before Valentine's day this year, so I had the day off. It's nice to have my birthday on my off day so I can sleep in and just have a lazy day if I want. Steffie took me to the Bourbon Street Steakhouse in the old stock exchange building in St. Paul off Grand Ave. It was really nice. I loved the whole french quarter atmosphere and Zydeco music. I order the shrimp and crawfish etouffee and Steffie had the jumbo. I tasted of Steffie's gumbo, which was really good with spicy andouille sausage, but my etouffee was to die for. It was rich and creamy and butter with just the right amount of spice. It was best I've had since I was in New Orleans. Along with dinner we had hurricanes to drink (very yummy), an artichoke and crab dip with bread for an appetizer, and a lemon cheese cake with maker's mark whipped cream (MMMMMMMMMM) for dessert. Dinner took a little longer than it should have getting there, and I would have felt a little grumbly about it. But, the waitress recognized it without us having to say anything and gave us our dessert free. I would so go back there again. I haven't even mentioned my birthday gift yet. Steffie got me hotwheels and a hotwheels car mat to play with them on! Yeah ... she got me boy toys. :-D Everyone needs a toy for a birthday now and again. She had wanted to get me a wheel car carrier too so that I could organize all the cars, but she couldn't find one. However my mat did come in a nifty zip up case that I can fit my cars in. I have an awesome girlfriend to try and play to OCD about organizing by getting me something I can use to store and carry the toys she got me.

She got me a stuffed puppy (so does not let her off the hook for getting me a real puppy!), and four yummy caramels from the candy company that is near where we live for Valentine's day. I got her a hand picked box of chocolates from Abdallah candies too. I thought it was really cool that they let me pick each piece of chocolate I wanted included. I got a balloon to go with it that's the shape of a monkey. It was so cute! Buster was afraid of it. That was funny. On valentine's day we slept late together and well ... did fun stuff *g*. Then that night we went to the MSDB Valentine's Day Massacre. That was a lot of fun. I liked the whole 1920's Italian gangster theme. It was too cold in the dungeon area though, and I don't normally say that. We played, and I never did warm up. Everything hurt 20 times more than it normally does, and it just never seemed to blend as it normally does to an enjoyable level. A ribbon flogger finally made me cry. I felt ridiculous, but I had to ask to stop. I was uncomfortably cold and it was affecting how everything felt. That really bummed me out since the parties are some of the few times we get to play using the equipment. Maybe next time will be better. I had sunday off, so no having to get up at four in the morning after getting bed after two. Yay for that.

Speaking of equipment, we went hardware shopping last week and bought the supplies we'll need to make ourselves a new cross. We've had it in the works for a while now and haven't had the time/money/supplies to finish it. It's a really cool idea. The cross breaks down to form a plant stand and shelf, so it's completely disguised when you aren't using it. The foxy furniture website listed up their plans for making it, so that's what we're using as a guide. We'd also like to eventually do a bondage bed / coffee table too for the living room. It will be really nice to have it at home so we can play and we can invite friends over to play. Here's a picture of what we're making.

Steffie Says that she makes the rules and they must be followed ....



1. You cannot use Steffie's words against her later.


2. Because Steffie said so.


3. It's Pink ... it can't hurt.


4. "It needed it," is a valid reason/excuse followed by the validation of, "It told me so."


5. No cold feet near the pink bits!


6. If it twitches, I can pounce it. (I particularly like this one. *impish grin*)

Here's an updated pic of my tattoo now that it is mostly healed. I do really really love it. There are a couple minor things I want touched up next time I'm in Alabama, but overall I am super happy with it. I just want more red added to her hair so that it is a bright red overall instead of more blonde and I want her skintone lightened up a bit since it healed darker than I expected. Otherwise, it's genuinely just like the picture or even better than the picture I gave to my tattoo artist of what I wanted.

*thinks about making this picture one of my lj icons cause Steffie managed the impossible by getting a cute picture of my tushie*

I'm just sitting here after work taking a moment to just relax and slow down after a hectic day at work and I was thinking that I want to make a new years post. Not just of what I want to happen in the next year but also of all the things that have happened in the past year and all that I'm thankful for.

1. I'm thankful for my friends, my tribe, my self-made family. They've helped to make the last year amazing for me. You're supported me when I've had rough times, which have been plenty, prodded me to take action when I was too blind and nervous to take the first steps myself, and have been part of one of the best years of my life. *hugs to each and every one of you*

2. I'm thankful for Steffie and her place in my life and my place in hers. She's one of the most amazingly generous, loving, and caring people I ever met. She's allowed me and encouraged me to explore more places within myself than I ever have before. I feel comfortable being me around her without feeling self conscious that she'll judge me or think less of me for it. She laughs with me (and at me sometimes). She makes me smile everyday and look forward to every day after. Thank you so very much for a spectactular year.

3. I'm thankful for my family and their willingness to let me live my life the way that makes me happy. I wasn't sure how they were going to respond to me having a girlfriend or to us living together, but they handled everything remarkably well. They had two choices. They could either learn to tolerate my choices or they could learn to live without me in their lives. Luckily for me they didn't seem to choose either of those. Somewhere they found a place where they could be accepting and happy of me and mine and Steffie's relationship. They've seen me through some tough relationships that haven't ended well at all for me. Perhaps they see that I'm happy and have decided to be happy for me. I hope that's the case. Either way , I'm thankful that they made my Christmas holiday pleasant and relatively peaceful this year. In the same vane, I'm thankful for Steffie's family as well. They make me feel supremly welcome in their home and their lives. I don't feel like I'm a guest so much as becoming part of the family too. Eventually I will learn all of their names and become a more challenging Risk player.

4. I'm thankful that I have steady job that is not only working full time but offering overtime when so many are on short time or out of work altogether. Im thankful that Steffie was able to find a job this past month with Wells Fargo, which kept her in the mortgage industry and will hopefully open doors for future promotion within the company. I'm thankful for a roof over our heads that is paid for and no snooping, annoying landlord to deal with on a daily basis.


And to a few things that I'd like to accomplish this year ...

1. I'd like to lose weight. I've never felt terribly bad health wise before, but I'm starting to experience some things that I think losing weight will definitely help relieve. And I want to be able to wear cute clothes and dress the way I want without having to spend a fortune or get things custom made. Is it so bad to want to be able to just buy things off the rack in a regular store? I don't expect to be a size 4 by the end of the year. It would be unhealthy and well, icky. By this time next year, I'd like to fit back into my 16 clothes. It would be an absolute treat to fit into my 14s, but I'd be happy with my 16s. That isn't a too out there goal to set.

2. I'd like to get some bills paid off or at least substantially paid down so that I have hopes of trading in my truck for something newer and more gas efficient this fall. If that means more overtime, super budgeting, whatever I have to do. I don't think my poor truck is gonna make it through another year.

3. I want to try one new thing every month. I don't care what it is. It can be a new food, going to a new place in the city, a new sexual/kinky experience, write a new poem, read a new book, meet a new person, volunteer for something. I just want to keep learning and trying new things as much as I can.

4. I want to get my Daddy up to Minnesota to visit for at least one weekend during the fest season this year. It means he will to grow his beard back. We can't have a Gimli without a beard, after all, but I think he will love it.

5. I want to build a better, less stressed relationship with my mother. I love her dearly, and I would do almost anything for her, but we havent had the best relationship. I have to stop letting her push buttons that set off my temper, and I have to stop reacting to them when she pushes said buttons anyway. I wish we could have a regular, adult relationship without all the beating down and negativity and general tenseness that seems to ruin even wthe best of conversations. I don't get to see her often. When I do, I don't want our visits to end in a fight with one or both us leaving hurt and angry. I honestly just want her to be happy with herself and be happy with me as a daughter.

6. I want 2009 to be as good or better than 2008 for myself and Steffie and all of our friends and family.

I love Saturdays. Saturdays in our house when we don't have any outside plans made are days of snuggling on the couch and naked fun. Today was really good.

We got a new porn in the mail from Sugar DVD and decided to watch it today. It's called Hearts & Minds #2: Modern Warfare, and it was actually very good. The first scene was blah, but the next couple were pretty hot. They involved woodworking and car mechanics and sex in garages and on top of cars.

Apparently we both liked it lots. Things went boing and well I had to investigate. I found new, fun buttons while investigating too. And well, pushing buttons is fun! Steffie made all sorts of good sounds... ooo ooo's and mmmmm's and lots of heehee's. There were some growlies too. I like growlies. Things went WHOOSH... a gyser *giggles*. It was very WOW all around. I played more and there was another woosh, and then another.

We were both like, this shouldn't be possible. SIX... cound them SIX... wooshes in one day, in less than six hours. *bounces* I didn't even know that was possible. Our couch has a huge puddle on it and then a few little ones. I took a picture! Steffie and I both had to have a shower and her robe is all wet.

Every saturday should have lots of woohoos like today. *big huge smile that will last a week*

The Tuesday before Christmas Steffie and I flew to Atlanta and then drove over to Alabama to spend Christmas with my family. We only stayed a few days, but it was a nice trip. (Honestly it was probably a nice trip because we only stayed a few days). I was super happy that Steffie was able to come home with me. We were worried that she wouldn't get to just starting out with her new job, but she did.

We went out to my grandmother's house for Christmas Eve where we had LOTS of food, more food, and did I mention food? Steffie got / had to go to go through meeting my whole family while we were there. It's a lot of people to meet all at once. There were fifteen there at Grandmother's plus we went by to visit my dad's brother as well. All the family seemed to like Steffie. My aunts cornered me in the Kitchen while I was fixing Steffie a dessert plate and told me that they liked her, that she was a sweet girl, and that I should bring her back.

On Friday after Christmas I went and got a new tattoo from my tattoo artist Turtle. It was so cool to see him again and he was super excited about doing the tattoo I wanted. People came in and took a peek of it as he was doing it. Steffie got to watch, which made me happy since I didn't get to watch her get her tattoo last Christmas. We're hoping to get Steffie another one from Turtle the next time we're down to visit my family. More photos of the tattoo when it gets all healed and pretty.

Steffie smuggled a GIANT salt cured ham home with us when we came home on the Saturday after Christmas. It took up all the room in her carryon bag. She was so cute being all happy about bringing home a salty ham.

All said, I enjoyed Christmas. It was a nice change from the normal round of screaming and bitching at eachother that normally goes on. I was very happy that it was a remarkly peaceful holiday, and most of all I was very happy to be able to spend the holiday with Steffie this year along with all my family back home and have them glad for me that I've found someone I can be happy with.

I've been meaning to make a couple entries for a while but with the couple different christmas get togethers and travel preparations and going home to Alabama and everything else I haven't had time. So, I'll catch up now.

Tribe Christmas / Yule was awesome. I had such a good time. It so great to be able to celebrate the holiday with friends and it just be relaxing and low key. I get to (and am actually expected to) wear my monkey pajamas, snack on yummy food and drinks, hang out with friends, and give out fun Christmas presents. What more could you want for a holiday celebration?

Friday night was super low key. We just hang out, hand soup and snacks, and played with the dogs. It was a lot of fun. This year the house was overflowing the people and pets. Steffie and I were there, Rae and PC, Tanya, George and Tianna, and Jen along with Jen's dog Roz (sp?), Rae and PC's dog Porky, and George and Tianna's dog Libby. The dogs took a bit getting use to eachother, but it was good. Roz was so cute feeling the urge to protect Porky from little bitty Libby.

We all got up Saturday morning and had a really fantastic brunch featuring PC's yummy egg bake and an oh so tasty ham cooked by Steffie. After eating we spent the next couple of hours opening presents and watching Hogfather on dvd. Steffie and I gave out kinky stockings which was a lot of fun. They seemed to be a big hit. Steffie was happy that Tanya liked her Aquasaurs and I was happy Rae liked her ceramic fountain pieces. Kinda bummed that PC's shoes didn't fit, but hopefully he'll be able to exchange them for some that do. We were both super happy that Jen's presents were a hit since we didn't know how well they would go over. We just aren't very good at giving "normal" gifts all the time. And we got some great presents. A giant cupcake cake pan, ice cream cone cupcake pans, silicone baking mats, a new bird feeder for our house, pocket knives, glass icicles for our christmas tree, christmas panties, christmas socks, lots of stocking stuffers including glow in the dark hair barrettes. I know I left some out. There were so many cool things.

It was a LOT of fun. We were all ready to drift off into a food coma by the end of the day, warm and happy in our respective monkey pj's. I wish all holiday get togethers could be as relaxing and enjoyable as this one. Thank you to each and every one of you for a great Christmas. You are all my family, and I can't imagine spending my holidays with anyone else. I love you all.

I gots a new tattoo while I was home for Christmas. It's so awesome! More to come about the trip home an updated pic of the tattoo when it's no longer red and blotchy.

Tribe Christmas / Yule is tonight!!! I'm super looking forward to haning out at the farm in my monkey pants, warming up with a bowl of soup before opening presents. How many christmas dinners / parties do you get to and actually are expected to wear your pj's to? I can't think of a better group of people to spend a holiday weekend with either. I love Steffie dearly and we have the best friends ever.

We ended up with two huge bags of presents. We combined our christmas shopping so we could get a good gift for everyone, but some of the boxes are WAY bigger than I remember. I thought I'd fit them all in one big box for transport, but that so didn't happen. Then we have a big bag of food (ham, cornbread, grits, cookies, and sweet potato pie). Plus our clothes for the weekend too.

Tanya and I both have to work on Sunday, so we decided to carpool down to Le Center. Let's cross our fingers and hope that we can fit all of our combined stuff in one of our cars. lol

Here's a great night with friends. I hope everyone else has a merry christmas, a happy winter solstice, and a safe weekend with all the incoming snow to arrive tomorrow.


P.S. *hugs* Welcome to the tribe Jenn!

I've been meaning to post these for a while now, but I just haven't had the time or haven't thought about it when I have had the time. It's so nice to have a house to decorate for Christmas. I had fun doing that this year. Tim's was okay, but I didn't have a lot of space for my little tree, and I didn't have anywhere else that I could decorate.

We bought a new tree right before thanksgiving, and I love it. It's HUGE. It's so big that we didn't even put the last rung of branches in, and I can still barely put presents underneath it. It's nice and full and really tall. Thank goodness for our sunken living room and high ceiling. It looks really nice in front of the bay windo too. We actually have a tree big enough to fit all of my ornaments that I've collected over the years plus lights and beads. We still have room for more ornaments .... that is if Buster didn't enjoy knocking them off the tree so much. We started out with the tree all pretty and decorated and over the past few weeks the ornaments have slowly migrated toward the top of the tree to keep them out of buster's reach. Grrrr at the kitty. If he weren't so cute and so good at keeping my feet warm I'd have violent thoughts toward him as he climbs up the middle of the tree to bat at the glass globes and bells.

We have seven stockings hanging above our bay window. Some of them I made last year and refilled with goodies this year, and a couple are newly made this year. Steffie has a ballerina slipper, Rae and ice skate, Pork Chop a pirate boot, Tanya a Victorian boot, Jenn a shiny black biker boot, and Buster has a blue stocking with a mouse and a block of cheese on it.

Here are some picturees to show you what they look like ...

I almost became a snow woman today. I was leaving to get some groceries and things around town and Steffie was heading out to an interview downtown yesterday afternoon, but her car wouldn't start. So, I gave her my keys and she went in my truck. I walked back to our door and was like, oh crap ... the door is locked!

I tried to flag Steffie down, but that didn't work. Next I tried to use an old credit card to get into the house at both the front door and the back door with no luck there either. I thought, well, maybe the park office has a set of keys to our house. I didn't know if they would since we own the home, but it was worth a check to see. I walked to the office and found out that they for sure do not have a spare set. I then asked if I could use the computer there to email Rae or Tanya since they have a spare set of keys or if the lady in the office would mind sending an email for me since I know both of the their work emails. She wouldn't. She said it was a company computer and company email so she couldn't send one for me about my keys. She offered the phone, but I haven't memorized everyone's number. I have them stored in my cell phone, but my cell phone was in the house. So ... no email and no phone call. I walked back to the trailer and rummaged around for a while in the car to see if I could find anything with a phone number on it. Managed to find my address book with Tanya's number in it, so I walked back to the office to call Tanya and left a message to see if she would come by after work and unlock my door. Walked back home and got in Steffie's car.

By this time my toes are FROZEN and hurting. We didn't eat breakfast or lunch, so I'm super hungry and thirsty (I ate a handfull of left over pringles chips that were in Steffie's car and I attempted to eat a package of gummi snacks. 10 Degree weather turns fruit snacks into adamantium chunks of frozen metal. There were two drinks in the car too, but they only taunted me because they were frozen solid in the bottles). I waited and waited. By about 3:30, I was ready to go back down the row of neighbors again to see who was home and if I could wait in their house til someone got there to let me in. I tried one more time with the credit card to open the door but that wouldn't work. I did happen to find a paper clip though and decided, what heck, I'll see if I can bend it and attempt to pick the lock on the front door. And it WORKED! Sheer dumb luck I'm sure, but I got it open. My toes were not going to fall off. YAY!

I got inside, called Tanya to let her know she didn't have to come and unlock the door, and jumped into a hot shower to thaw. BRRRRRRRR. I will have an extra set of keys in my purse from now on!