Christmas is in the air!!!

Here's a recap of our long weekend:

Thursday: Cooked, stuffed ourselves - but not the turkey. Ate. Ate. Wallored around on the couch. Ate. Looked at sale ads from the newspaper and plotted our attack for Friday morning.

Friday: Woke up at 4am to get semi-decent for our shopathon. The husband slept until about 4:30, so he had to get decent really fast! I was in no mood for waiting around! We arrived at Sears (located in a mall approximately 12 minutes away). We decided that there was nothing there for me, so I went straight to the line in the tool department as he browsed the aisles hunting for the things he could not live without. He was finished just as it was my turn to pay. Yeah! What a team! Since that particular mall does not have a JCPenney or anything else good, we had to travel to mall #2. This one is about 10 minutes away from mall #1, and about 5 minutes from our house. We got to this second mall by 5:45am. I was going in Bath & Body Works for my selfish splurges and the husband was going to JCPenney for my Espresso maker. It was only $19.99 (Doorbuster) and I thought I had to have one. The husband just so happened to forget his wallet, so I had to run to JCP to meet him, where he was next in line to pay for my newest kitchen appliance. It's a good thing we make a good team, or he would have had to cover the Espresso box with a blanket and lay on top of it in the corner or something, so nobody took it away from him because he had no method of payment! I didn't even know how to make espresso, but I do now!!! From there, we went to K-Mart to get The Office Season 1 on DVD. We were on a roll, but it was only about 7:15 at that point, so we decided to stop by the house and drop off what we had bought so far and catch a second wind. The husband wanted to pick up his work boots and I wanted to pick up our clothes to take to the cleaners. We went by the Red Wing store so the husband could get new soles put on his boots, but we realized it was only 8am, and they didn't open until 10. Oops! We felt like it was already noon. The boot store is right next to a tool store, so we had to go in there. Circuit City is right next door, also, and Best Buy is across the street. We were glad we weren't going in either of those stores. There was an ambulance outside of Circuit City. I'm not surprised! People were parking blocks and blocks away for both of those stores. That's dumb!
Next, we went to the cleaners to drop off our clothes. Hallmark is next door to the cleaners, and Starbucks is right next to Hallmark, so we took in the entire shopping center. I got my Christmas cards, some Starbucks syrup and coffee and some helpful tips to get my Starbucks home barista off to a good start. From there, we went to the shoe store to drop off the boots and then we went home to nap. The husband did his homework while I took a really long nap! We finished the evening by eating some leftovers and guacamole I picked up at Baja Fresh. I know - what a winning combination! I also made us some Caramel Macchiato drinks that tasted just like Starbucks! I'm a good coffee barista!

Saturday: The husband and I put our Christmas tree up Saturday night. Of course, it come straight from storage closet, but before that - the Wal*Mart forest. This is the fourth (maybe fifth) year we've had it, and I'm ready for a new tree. Since the tree I have picked out is $349.99 in stores, my Mom told me to wait until after Christmas to get it. So, this is the farewell tour for our very first tree as husband and wife. It's been a good tree, though. It's been knocked over twice by Jackson the cat. He also tried climbing it in 2002 (the year we adopted him). That incident caused a bottom limb to break. It has been dragging close to the ground for the past few years. It must serve as a reminder to him, because he hasn't done anything but sit underneath it since then. He does, on occasion, pick a fight with the low-hanging ornaments, which we find in various locations throughout the house. I will take pictures of the tree soon, so everyone can see how gaudy it is! I don't think a branch should be without a colorful ornament! I got lots of ornaments back when I lived in Missouri and I worked at Silver Dollar City. They had a day in December that was "1/2 price day" This one day was the time you could get all of your Christmas presents or decorations for more realistic prices!

Sunday: I did homework and a little more decorating for Christmas. I had a migraine part of the day, so I rested a lot. I planned to call in sick Monday to visit the doctor for migraine medicine (too late for this one, but I need it for next time) and I needed a flu shot.

Monday: I called in sick to visit the doctor. I've worked at the university for over a year, and this is my FIRST sick day. I hate calling in sick, but I did today. I went to the doctor and he gave me a prescription for a few migraine pills and stuck me with a big fat flu shot. What a day!