'Appy Neu Jear...

Oh, go watch Bachelor Mother

We spent an eventful several days in Libertyville, Ill. We left around 8:30am on Thursday, 12/22, drove roughly 15 hours westish with stops at a Starbucks, a Longhorn, a Wendy's, and several gas stations, and arrived at G-ma's I think about 11pm. (Yes, the math is right. Don't forget, we lost an hour)

12/23 Friday. Costco, Trader Joe

12/24 Saturday. Most of the family (Gma, U. Richard, Auntie M, Carl, A. Susan, U.Dave, Vickie D., Kyle, and Justin + us) came for a chineese gift exchange. It was pretty tame. I got a nice silk tie and a sear gift certificate, Julie stole a silver pocket watch from Victoria (who stole it from poor Justin), and lucky Mom got the 365 days of StarWars book, while Dad stole a SD memory card from Grandma (Don't look so shocked, she wouldn't know what to do with it!). Needless to say, we did some adjusting, and now I have a Star Wars book, Julie has a gift card, Mom has a new camera chip, and Dad made out like a bandit with a new tie and a pocketwatch worth much more than the $25 limit we put on the gifts.

12/25 Sunday. Another Deering get together (Gma, U. Richard, U. Dave, A. Susan, Vickie D., Auntie M., David Breck + Jenny, Mike + Tara, Dan + Praier (Prayer? Prair? Praer? I'm sure I've botched her name...). Presents exchanged, food eaten, good times had. Oh, and engagements and weddings announced! Dan + Pra...whoever, officially halfway engaged as of the 16th. Who knew a Deering had any romantic inclinations? (Sorry, guys) But he did good - Confided in her boss, met her in London, flew to Rome... So we'll be having a wedding sometime in September, October, and December. (If only I could remember which cousin is which month...)

12/26 Monday. We were suppose to visit Justin and Kyle in Chicago, but Justin was feeling 'under the weather'. Sure. Just a convenient excuse :-) So instead...Gurnee Antique place again, so U. Richard could check out the litographs. Then to Gurnee Mills Mall, for to shop like there were after-christmas sales! I got a perfume, Hanae Mori.

12/27 Tuesday. Gurnee Town Center: Another Ulta, Borders (where I spent WAY too much money) Bath & Body Works, Pier 1 (Which will be one of the main places I shop when I have a house to buy house things for) and Cost Plus World Market (which will the the other main store from which my house will be furnished)

12/28 Wednesday. Wisconson area. Antiquing at places like School Day Mall, shopping at Farm & Fleet (Where I bought a riding crop and some syringes - for wood glue, not animals, but at least I knew right were to look. Unfortunatly, my family always knows to look for me around the horse aisle. Am I that transparent?) Nelsons, the awesome five-and-dime mom-and-pop establishment we storm every year, and finally Golden Corral. Yummy rolls!

12/29 Thursday. If I ever remember what we did, I'll let you know. I think it may have been another Trader Joe's, in which case, we also went to T. J. Maxx, where I bought 4 pairs of jeans. This may not be exciting to you. I however have the hardest time finding a pair of jeans that I like, and to find four at one store? Ambrosia!

12/30 Friday. Ditto 12/29

12/31 Saturday. This is the house U. Dave built: (Coming Soon)
This is the house across the street from the house that U. Dave built: (I think it's adorable, and I want it.)
This is the ($2-3M house being built in the same neighbourhood owned by the owner of a gas station near my Grandma's:
(The 'This is the house that Jack built' reference just died painfully)

Dinner @ 100 Melody Lane: Pizza. Loved the Justin pizza (chicken, garlic, red pepper). Played lots of set, then return to 612 McKinley to watch the last 2 installments of White Christmas (Before and after Chicago's countdown). This was our brief "Woohoo. Happy New Year"...
before we got back to Bing and Rosemary, Danny and Vera-Ellen. Yeah, don't worry. I had to look the one actress's name up too...

And if you're wondering about the green hair: Yes, it's a wig. We have a 'bling' tradition. You just can't see all the paste jewelry we're all wearing. Deal.


1/1/2006 Sunday. Type. Drive lots, arrive home about 3am EST.

Fun with Cellphones

So, we just got new phones. They have speaker and voice command. Mom is playing with voice command:

Phone: "Say a command"
Mom: "Go to Hell!"
Phone: "Service not available"

And who said inanimate objects don't have a sense of humor?!?