10ft Xmas trees do NOT fit in 8ft stands!

We went Friday night and bought our Xmas tree. We highly recommend purchasing live trees from Target. We have bought ours there the last 3 years and the quality and price are great!
We went with a 9.5ft Douglas fir. We were able to do the taller tree since our ceilings are raised now. We didn't really think about the tree stand we had not working - we assumed it would. After we got the tree we ran a few more errands then went home to show the new tree its home for December.
Once we brought it in the house we put it in our 8ft stand. The fit was snug - like your favorite pair of jeans after the holidays. There was about a 1/4 of an inch of wiggle room between the side of the tree and the stand. We stood the tree up and it had the look of a tree that had enjoyed too much nog and was leaning! We took the stand off, moved it around and put it back on. Still leaning. Finally after several adjustments and a breakdown (note to self, after a stressful week - having your Christmas tree not work is cause for water works).
No matter how we put the tree in the stand – it continued to mock us by leaning. Even after wedging some records to counter lean the opposite direction it didn’t look so good. By now it was about 1015pm and we were determined to get the tree up before we went to bed. So we figured we’d run to Wal-Mart and buy a new stand, but they were out (how are you out of stands on 12 days before Christmas?) so we called Target – out. We drove to Lowe’s thinking they would have one but both them and Home Depot close at 9pm (don’t they realize it’s the holidays?). By this time we were tired and out of resources for a new stand so we decided to wait until Saturday morning to buy a new stand.
It all worked out for the best though – we woke early Saturday (well Rick woke early and then pestered me until I was awake too) and went to Lowe’s to look for a stand. Thankfully we got their last 10ft tree stand (in fact we they had to take one of the store trees out of it in order to sell it to us!) and they had all of their Holiday decorations on sale for 50% off so for the price the stand would normally have been we were able to get the stand and a new cute Holiday doormat!
Now our tree is up now and is comfie in its correctly sized stand!

17 days till Christmas!!

YAY! I love Christmas! And thanks to the good planning graces of Rick we are almost 100% DONE with christmas shopping! I know, I know I am usually the day before Xmas Eve shopper but not this year. My wonderful husband has kept us on track so that we only have a few more gifts to purchase. I also have not yet had the pleasure of going and finding him goodies - but then I am done!!

I am so hoping this year will be as lay back as last year. GO CHRISTMAS!

Recommitted

Okay - it's not even Christmas but I am having an early New Year's resolution:

I will blog regularly
I will post interesting and zany blogs
I will not leave my faith readers hanging for months on end
I will blog regularly

So hold me to this - If I don't post at least once a week - whip me with emails!!

Where did Summer go?

Summer is near close and as I look in amazement at the calendar I keep thinking "No way its August 20th already". Where were the trips to the river? Where was the camping? What happened to BBQ's in the backyard?
It seems like just days ago Rick and I were excite that it was warm enough to be outside and now we're faced with the end of August. I realize in Sacramento August and September are still warm however, they're not traditionally summer and therefore it seems unfair to do summer activities. You can't go camping, its September. You can't go to the river, its September. You can't run naked thru your neighborhood, it's September (OK, I've never actually done that, I just wanted to see if you were paying attention).
I suppose it is time to gear up for winter. Warm fires, rainy days spent sleeping and reading, hot toddies. . . wait a minute, maybe winter isn't that bad . . . . .

Real Time

Tonight I took a bath and prior to that I had a weird craving for beer. Weird I know, not the normal Terri but still it was there. Rick was watching a new show that didn't interest me 100% so I took a bath and took with me 2 cans of Budweiser - WEIRD!
I was done with my bath and on my Ipod, Elvira started playing. And suddenly I understood. I knew my father was trying to say "hey". It made me smile. It made me happy. And I wonder if in after life I can have a better relationship than I had during real time. . .

Its official, I am 11 years old again

So today it was all I could manage to not start screaming hysterically at work at my desk. I found time to do some much needed research on the NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK REUNION TOUR! Thats right ladies and gentlemen, I said it:
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK REUNION TOUR.
It's been 14 long years with none of my favorites. No Jordan, No Joey Mac. Absent from Danny and Donnie and alas Jon has been absent too. Well now its come time. People made fun of me for keeping all those tshirts, buttons, pins, wall hang ups, dolls and books but I've shown them. Whose the one laughing now?
Now all I have to do is figure out which concert to attend since I am pretty sure Rick won't be down for selling all of our stuff and becoming band groupies, I am going to have to pick a concert to go to....but which one to pick.
If you too need to schedule your concert events, please check out this handy dandy link for the NKOTB
. See you there!

The East Coast in 500 words (or more)

Memorial Day weekend had us jet setting from Sacramento to Connecticut to celebrate the graduation for my bro-n-law. He received his PhD in a lovely and very interesting ceremony at Yale.
We left Sactown Friday early afternoon and arrived in Connecticut around 1230am (EST - to us it was only 930 so it sounds worse than it really was!) and drove from Hartford to New Haven which took about 45 minutes. Driving there was a change for sure. First of all they have a lot of left side exits (which can really confuse a Cali girl like me)and they do not have mile markers (you know the ones that say 53 miles to Tahoe) which can make you feel like you're lost or have gone to far - all in all driving was an interesting experience!
Saturday we met up with afore mentioned BIL and had a lovely breakfast - I am not a big syrup fan, but let me tell you, there is NOTHING as good as real Vermont Maple Syrup on French Toast! Then we went on an excursion to try and find the graduation present we had planned. We had plans on purchasing a bottle of Dom Perignon at Sam’s Club (rather than transport it from CA to CT) however we quickly learned that not all Sam’s Clubs in CT sell alcohol, in fact of the 3 Sam’s Clubs in the state - only 1 does! Later I learned that CT goes by what is referred to as Blue Laws which basically make buying alcohol to take home difficult. Some of these laws include the following:
• you can't buy alcohol on Sundays
• you can't buy alcohol after 9pm
• the proof there is much different
Since we're used to being able to purchase bottles until 2am this was a bit of a culture shock for us, but we finally figured it out!
For dinner that night we all went on a fun road trip to Mystic, CT which is on the sea side of the state. It was everything you've ever stereotyped as Eastern State beach town. It had cute shops and mom and pop ice cream shops. It also is home to the very famous Mystic Pizza, that’s right ladies and gentlemen the original Mystic Pizza from the movie! It looked - JUST LIKE THE MOVIE! The pizza was super tasty and the atmosphere (much to the chagrin of my SIL) was a lot of Julia Roberts and other 80's movie icons.
Sunday sent Me, Rick and Mimzy to New York for some sight seeing. This was Rick and I's first trip to NY and since we only had 1 day, we tried to just pick a few things we wanted to see as to not over do it. We went to Battery Park and had a nice cocktail at the cafe that looks out to the Statue of Liberty. We went to Time Square both during the day and at night. We saw Central Park and sat outside the Met (unfortunately it had already closed by the time we got there). We went to the UCB (Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and tried to get tickets to ASSSSCAT but unfortunately they were sold out and the stand by line had about 300 people in it! We had an amazing lunch at Maze by Gordon Ramsay which was amazing and delicious. They let us tour the kitchen which was beyond cool! We also visited Rockefeller Center and then headed home on the train. By the end of the day we felt very much like New Yorkers!
Monday was the actual day of graduation and we watched in much pride and excitement as BIL received his doctorate. Then that night we went to a party hosted by BIL and a few of his friends. It was nice to get to meet the people he speaks so highly of when he is on the West Coast. They were all super nice and down to earth (I guess I was expecting stuffy and boring, I am not sure why though).
Then Tuesday we flew back home to the West Coast. It was an exciting and fun trip and both Rick and I can't wait to go visit again. I'll post pictures as soon as we download them!!

I am BACK!!

Okay, I know I know, Long time not blogging. My apologies things have been quite hectic and the pace is just now returning to normal. I'll do a quick overview of missed events starting where I last left off:

1. March 28th was my hubby’s bday which we celebrated at Viscontti’s in Folsom and he received a super fun Movie Theatre Popcorn machine that makes super yummo popcorn!
2. March 30th – April 13th is a period we’ll call crazy times. My grandfather went into the hospital on Sunday and then passed away on April 7th. This brought family from all over the Western states to town. My uncle came from Washington and then his 3 children all came with their families. For the first time since I was a toddler all of my cousins were around. It was so interesting to be around them and their families. I also had the opportunity to meet a second cousin I didn’t previously know. She’s a super sweet girl and I can’t wait for her to come visit this summer!
3. April 14 – Current has been us trying to get our lives back in order from the chaos that the last two weeks brought. Since we have the biggest house and because its what we’re good at, while my family was in town (all 25 of them) we made dinner every night and most nights had guest in not only our guest bedroom but also on a blow up mattress in our living room. After everyone had gone home, Rick and I felt a little empty nest syndrome (we’re over it now though – don’t worry).

So now we’re just back to normal. We’re getting ready for our trip to Connecticut over Memorial Day weekend and that should be super exciting! Rick’s had a lot of birthday party business lately which is a fun change for him and otherwise we’re just goin’ along! I’ll try to be more regular now that things have calmed (:

Food

I just made a rather interesting and yet not surprising discovery about food. There are quite a few items of food that I consume only because they are a vessel for the food I really want to eat. Examples:
Chips are used to get Nacho fixings to my mouth
English Muffins are a vessel for butter
Ice cream from McDonalds what you have to order to get the hot fudge
Biscuits get the gravy to the boat (any my artieries)

I know I am not the only one that has these. My hubby does to. Some of his:
Bagel for the cream cheese
French Fries for the ketchup
Hot Dogs for the relish and sour kraut

Hmmm - biscuits with gravy. . ..

My FAVORITE Saturday EVER

Today was my most favorite SATURDAY in a long long long while. To start with, Rick and I woke up late. Then we took Willow to Cafe Bernardo's for breakfast/lunch. Then we went to Sam's Club and bought some GREAT wines that we wanted to try from the list from Mimzy's birthday. Then to BevMo, the grocery store and home to make the marinade for dinner tomorrow (which is Carne Asada) and get ready for dinner tonight which was King Crab legs with Mimzy.
Dinner was GREAT! Then after we watched 'Hairspray' for the first time since we had Pay Per Viewed and DVR'd it. Its a super cute musical. And reminds me of something that at one time I would have wanted to be a part of.
So it's late now. 12:45am to be exact. And I am deflated and tired. It was a great day one that I wish could have numerous repeats and yet no repeats. So at this late at night I say ado. A fine fine fine ado.

CAUTION!

I was in the parking lot at the grocery store today and in the window of this heavily beat up wagon there was one of those bright yellow & black CAUTION! BABY ON BOARD hangy things. I regarded it as I got out of my own car and walked in side for some reason unable to let the sign go in my cogs and nuts brain.
I wondered - why do people put stuff like that on their car? I mean does the drive of that last leg heap really think that because they have that CAUTION sign - that will stop an accident from occurring. Or do they believe that people will see that and think "Oh my. I must guard that car. It needs caution because it has a baby on board". I don't understand the logic behind sign such as these. I mean at least put up something funny and entertaining for your fellow drivers - Unless your a hemroid get off my ass. Or - If you're riding my ass you better be pullin' my hair. But seriously the best expression of yourself you can find is CAUTION! BABY ON BOARD.

Where my Peeps at?

I love spring time. Birds are chirping. Flowers are blooming. And Cadbury Creme Eggs are out in full force. Why is it I can only get these tasty snacks from February 15th until the week after Easter? Cadbury Eggs along with our friends the Peeps should be around all year.
Let's start a revolution. A goodies revolution. Cadbury and Peeps 2008!

General Update

*Deep Sigh*
It's Thursday night. My dear sweet hubby instructed a class for the business until 7pm. Then he went to Mimzy's to help her - a really nice woman from FreeCycle is picking Mimzy's old kitchen table. I don't expect him home for at least another 30 minutes - or rather I hope he's not home for another 30 minutes (or more). As a surprise I made a yummy smelling dinner of fresh pasta with a quite tasty (if I do say so myself) meat sauce, fresh asparagus and I am even trying to branch out and bake! Yes you heard me correctly, bake. I bought one of those quick rising in a box bread things, we'll cross our fingers on how it tastes! But its in its final rising now and has at least another 30 minutes before I can even bake it.
So whilest the sauce is a-simmerin' and the bread is a-risin' I've been a-researching. Lately I've felt like I need more creative outlets for myself. I've signed up to take a pottery/ceramics class with the Folsom P&R and next month I hope to start guitar lessons. My first pottery/ceramics class was Tuesday and it's been a while I must say. But I did end up throwing a pretty respectable bowl. I really need to work on my cylanders (I have a height problem with clay) so I can make some vases.
I also want to take a few cooking classes. Now if you know me, I do pride myself on my cooking abilities. I feel I am quite good. However I also feel like my knowledge is limited and I'd really like to branch out into other foods (I feel my best is Italian followed closely by Mexican). So I've been looking at foods on the Sacramento Co-Op website (Sissy has taken some classes there and she seems to like them). So I found at least 2 (mediterrain and garlic lovers!) And I also found that they offer a "dinner" of sorts on March 7th that is all vegetarian - which while I LOVE my meat, Sissy and Mark don't so I would like to learn a different approach to making veggies main courses since Rick and I both love veggies. Maybe the four of us can go to this dinner thing. Might be interesting.
Now with only 15 minutes left before throwing the bread in the oven, I must go queue up the TV and try to get in some RealWorld/Road Rules Guantlet from this week - who will go home next?!

This weekend in pics

Buffy taking a little snooze



Willow interupting our little snooze

Good reason to be late for work

I chased a little Chihuahua this morning which made me a few minutes late for work and I couldn't catch the poor little thing. It was running around on Baroque (which is a pretty major street in our development). I felt bad what with it getting ready to rain and all. I am sure the poor little guy just got out when its owner wasn't looking since it had a collar. Much in the style of Willowmena T Fuzzer it wouldn't let me get anywhere near it without taking off at top Chihuahua speed (which is surprisingly fast for a little thing). It ended up losing me when it took a cut through path that I couldn't drive down. I hope its okay.

How cute is she?

How cute is she? This is Buffy taking a little nap with the new play parachute that Rick just bought for the business. The box was on our kitchen table in front of the open sliding glass door with warm sun filtering through it all day. She just kept moving around and rearranging the parachute to be comfy for her. She doesn't like the paparazzi though so getting this picture was difficult!

LONGEST WEEK EVER - part 2

This is FOR SURE the longest week ever. Know whats worse that a Friday before a 3 day weekend? The Friday before a 3 day weekend where the week seems to have lasted at least 20 work days AND you've gone full fledged with the cold your hubby had.
Know what else is worse than that? HAVE A COLD ON A 3 DAY WEEKEND! Not happy not happy not happy!

Eve of Saint Valentine's Day

Yes and tonight Mrs. Fields ain't got nuttin' on me Bitches! Tonight I baked 90 cookies. But not just any cookie - no no my friends. Tonight I made 90 of the famous, the outrageous - Terri Boyd's Monster Cookies! All as a treat for those near and dear to my heart for tomorrow. And now I am tired and my fingers smell of oats and peanut butter and I must retire so that early tomorrow I can go about my Saint Valentine's Day trick or treating rampage (Hey, I know I am combining holidays here but give me a break - I just baked 7.5 DOZEN cookies)! Love to all!

Is it Friday yet?

Longest week ever! My poor Rick is SUPER sick and has been off work almost all week. My poor Willow dog has a bladder infection (I think). And work has been crazy! I am just glad we have a 3 day weekend coming!

Love it!

Lawson's Landing @ Dillon Beach is one of my favorite memories of young adolesence. I used to go camping with the Woods there and it became a place that I LOVED. It looks like they're catching up in times and now have a pretty decent website and a fisher blog!

Don't tell Rick - but I am hoping we can make it there to go camping this summer!

Seemed only fair

You Are a Fun Girl!

You are all about having fun - and you don't need to drink to have a good time Sure, you've thrown back more than a few every so often But getting totally stupid and wasted is not your style You're the life of the party, by keeping everyone laughing and smiling

Are You a Party Girl?

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

You Are Ernie

Playful and childlike, you are everyone's favorite friend - even if your goofy antics get annoying at times. You are usually feeling: Amused - you are very easily entertained You are famous for: Always making people smile. From your silly songs to your wild pranks, you keep things fun. How you life your life: With ease. Life is only difficult when your friends won't play with you!

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

Have a drink on me

The Recipe For Terri

3 parts Laughter 2 parts Class 1 part Glamour Splash of Mischief Sip slowly on the beach

What's" the Recipe for Your Personality?

New show aleart!!

This weekend when I was trying to evade helping Mimzy move I started a new obsession on TV. Somehow I wandered past the BBC chanel. How have I NEVER watched this before. When I first started I was watching some show about women who come into others house and clean it up. WOW.
But then the real magic happened. I started watching Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. This is a wonder of shows where Gordon goes into struggling restaurants and tries to help them rev up their business. After watching a couple episodes of this, I decided to DVR other episodes as well as Gordon Ramsay's F-word. LOVE THIS SHOW. Everyone should watch it. I have spoken.

Saturday oh Saturday

Today is Saturday. I love Saturdays. I love "sleeping in" (although this morning my sleeping in was only until 8am) and wearing my PJs until 10am. I love having breakfast with my husband - something we NEVER get to do Monday thru Friday. I love watching pointless TV and becoming adicted.

I do NOT love - having to move (especially when the person moving is NOT me and I've just moved). Today Rick and assisted Mimzy in moving. This move chaps my hide for several reasons which I do not deem worthy of discussing at this point let me just let it be known I am NOT HAPPY that she moved! (IR)Regardless we helped her and it was COLD and it was misty, sharp raining and she lives upstairs - need I say more! So we are now home for the evening but slated to return to her apartment tomorrow morning to assist in "bossing" the movers. The "best thing" about this move is that Rick talked Mimzy into hiring movers to take the furniture. So hopefully we'll have the move settled up by 2pm tomorrow in order to allow us to come home and relax before going out to dinner to help my wonderful cousin Mike celebrate his birthday.

As a side note, whilest moving some of the crap out of Mimzy's "new house" we found some old vinyle and in that we found treasures of untold wealth. One of my favorites was Beastie Boys License to Ill - ON VINYLE! Right now we're listening to Ray Charles What'd I Say side two, we just finised [Ray's] Rockhouse, one of my favorite songs. I think I shall go hunt out some others to listen to.

Saturday oh Saturday!

Today is the BEST day of my life

New Kids On The Block Stage Comeback

Just this morning in the shower I was thinking about all of the NKOTB stuff I have and if I should get rid of it. Guess this answers that question - HECK NO!

Work place appropriateness

Its really sad but we all have those individuals that work with us that say and do inappropriate things in the work environment. I am not talking about BIG inappropriate acts like sexual harassment or general harassment (although I am sure most of us have had to deal with that as well). I am talking about the people that sit next to us that say something that makes your spidey senses say "Please tell me I didn't JUST hear that".
My example for today is brought to you by the unusual woman who sits behind me. She has sat behind me for about 2 months and since she isn't in my department and our job functions don't cross mingle I've never really had a reason to strike up any type of conversation with her. Also I haven't really conversated because, well honestly she's just an odd duck and I'd prefer to NOT get involved. But I digress, this morning the lady who sits across from my neighbor said, "Oh that looks good, what are you having for breakfast?" to which my behind sitting coworker says "I am having my high fiber cereal and I like to mix with yogurt" now usually that would be where most of the population would cut off their commentary but NO fear not she continued with "Yeah you know have to eat it - gotta keep regular, keep everything flowing like it should". Could ya, could ya not? Please I mean could ya just NOT say that type of thing at work where I can hear. Please?

Mad at myself

I am irritated. Irritated at myself. I am irritated that I allow people to bully me around. I am irritated at myself because I let people make me feel like I should do things I don't want to do. Why do I do this? Why do I allow myself to be bullied. I am unsure. Maybe it goes back to watching my mother allow people to bully her my whole adolesence or maybe it goes to I was taught you always sacrafice yourself to make someone else happy. It could also be my overwhelming desire for everyone to like me. Regardless of the reason I don't like that I allow it.

Its funny because I have a strong personality. I am a strong person. I just have no ability to stand up to people when the arguement comes down to being either my feelings or theirs, I always let theirs win. I'd really like to say that I am done doing that. That I am done keeping my mouth closed about what I desire to let the desires of others be the main focus. But alas, I know that will not happen. Maybe its something I need to work on.

Professional politeness

Have you ever met one of those people who you say something in politeness and they take you for real.
Like you're on the phone with a professional contact (who you don't speak with that often) and they say "Oh its sunny and warm in Florida - you should come visit us" you know they don't really mean 'jump on the next plane and stay at my place' but some people actually are like "WOW I just got invited to go to Florida with a place to stay - wonder how much airfare is!!! " People are idiots.

Vegas Pics!

Rick and I on my birthday at the dueling piano's. The very cute guy in to Rick's right is his brother Jeffrey who kept me in drinks all evening!

Heather and I waiting for the shuttle to after my birthday dinner at Guardanio's! The on looker in the back is my cousin Mike!

This is me and Mimzy (although she is trying to say no to the paparazzi) at Guardinio's! You'll notice the HUGE and tasty looking margarita's that are all over our table. This is just ONE of the reasons I love this restaurant - my fav: Coconut Margarita with the glass rimmed with honey and toasted coconut!

Catch up!

I know. I know I am terrible. I haven't updated in almost 20 days. To say that I've been busy would be an understatement FOR SURE. So to catch you up - here we go:

The first week in January I of course went to Las Vegas to celebrate my glorious arrival into my 30's! I was accompanied by my wonderful husband, Mimzy, Auntie and my dear cousin Mike. It was a great weekend. Friday we spent touring around, we introduced Mimzy to Fat Tuesdays (Mmmm) then we went to dinner downtown and were able to take in for the first time in all our travels to Vegas - the Fremont Street experience, which was very cool! Saturday was my actual bday and we started by a champagne brunch at Harrahs (where we all took back quite a lot of champagne and food!) then we headed to see the Mac King show - an old favorite! We spent the afternoon at the Harrah's Outdoor Party Pavillon where Mike won the whole bar shots by letting the bartender throw a snowball at his bottom!! After changing we headed to dinner at my all time favorite resturant Guadino's which is located at the Palms. Dinner was FAB as usual and after a quick waredrobe change (apparently when I turned 30 I also turned in to Cher and need at least 3 outifits for a single day) we met up with my favorite brother in law Jeffrey at the dueling piano bar where we spent the rest of the evening rocking out to our favorite songs played by 2 different sets of 2 amazing piano duelers! It was a great night to say the least. Sunday we toured around more and caught another show before hopping our flight back to Reno where we stayed the night and then headed back home! Pictures to follow!

The second weekend in January we spent finalizing our move. My wonderful husband presented me with a grand surprise and hired movers to move all of our furniture so there was really very little to do except put it where we want and finish unpacking. Saturday evening Mimzy and the Brown family joined us to christen our new home with dinner and a night of butt kicking in air hockey! With our new house we've been able to make our ideas come true for a game room in the garage, with such a sucessful first "party" that Saturday, I feel bad for what the neighbors may have to put up with during future parties!

Week three of January found me impecabily busy at work. After some accounts moved to me, I found myself out of the office in client meetings as well as overwhelmed with day to day work. Since I am now procrastinating and blogging rather than working, it seems that I have caught up and figured out how to manage my new work load.

As we head into week four of January, I am again busy. Work wise I am out of the office twice this week in client meetings, Friday is Bunco! YAY! I've missed playing!! Saturday we are having dinner with friends.

Since things are getting back to normal - I will hopefully again be full fledged blogging (also our home computer DSL connection has been out since moving - so work has really been the only place I could blog).

Know what I love best about flying from Reno to Vegas

Being able to look out the window at the snow covered moutain top though low cloud cover. That vantage point makes you really understand what a vast and amazing planet we are lucky to inhabit.