Happy New Year!

19 years ago tonight...well actually a little after midnight....I met my dear Hubby.

For several years before meeting Hubby, I would spend New Year's Eve at my girlfriend's house with her and her boys. She has 5 boys and when they were younger, if I showed up and we made a lot of food, it was a party. LOL! So on 12/31/95, I went over in the early evening and we started to "party". That entailed drinking some wine, making food and watching movies.

A little after midnight, after we had counted down to the New Year, my girlfriend said, "Let's go to the Hop." The Hop was a disco, yes disco, that she liked to frequent. Since I was a raging workaholic, I did not go out at all. She had decided that my New Year's resolution should be to get a life, so she convinced me to head to the Hop. I was wearing flat shoes, a sloppy sweater and flat hair. Not my typical mode of "going out" dress. But we went. (her oldest son was old enough to leave at home with the other boys and my gf had a pager and we could be back in 10 minutes if something happened.)

When we walked in the door, I looked across the bar and saw a tall, good looking guy in a white shirt that made his broad shoulders look even broader. Hmmm... I thought. But figured I was not dressed to pick up any hotties. LOL! My friend said, "Oh look. There's Bob!", and headed across the room. This girl knew everyone in that place! Yes, she was a partier, but only when her kids were with their dad. She walked right up to the broad shouldered hottie and said hi. OMG! That was Bob and she knew him!

We ended up talking and dancing with each other until the bar closed. I figured that was it until my gf invited him to follow us to her house to continue our New Year celebration. He agreed and followed us to her house. While in the car she told me all about how she had seen him there for the last couple of years and what a nice guy he was. He was divorced with 3 kids and loved his kids like crazy. WELL! I knew he was not for me in that case. I was not interested in kids and didn't want to date anyone with kids. I actually didn't want to date anyone. After my divorce several years previously, I had decided I was better off on my own.

We got to gf's house and ended up drinking wine and talking into the early morning. We had sobered up by the time we decided to leave, so Hottie said bye, got in his car and left. And I got in my car and left.

That might have been the end of it, but gf decided that Hottie and I should get together so started playing matchmaker. It took her a few weeks, but she finally got us out together. I thank her regularly for her perseverance. LOL!

There, isn't that a good New Year story?

Every one have a safe and Happy New Year!

Hubby handed me a barf bag.

Not for Christmas! LOL!

I am going to catch up on the happenings around here. Friday, 12/19, I had scheduled a day off to go with Hubby to pick up his new leg. Yeah. On Thursday before, I got up and "felt funny". I don't even know how to describe it. My tummy was mildly upset, but I figured it would go away so got ready and went to work.

When I got to work, I felt worse. I didn't know if I had a stomach bug or something I ate had disagreed with me, but I was just feeling worse and worse. I told my boss I might need to leave and he told me to go if I needed to. Hubby called me around 10 and when I told him how I was feeling, he offered to come get me. I have NEVER asked Hubby to come get me from work. I said, "Yes, please." So he came to pick me up. When I got in the car, he handed me a couple of plastic bags, 'In case you need to throw up." Isn't he sweet?

I got home and crawled in bed as I felt like I needed to throw up, except when I was lying down. So, I spent the next 18 hours in bed or in the bathroom. Hubby has never seen me sleep that much. He said he had come in the bedroom a few times to make sure I was still alive. LOL!

The next day, I felt better, though a little "wrung out", but I went with Hubby to pick up his new leg. Good thing I did, too as that thing is heavy and with the other stuff that went with it, it would have been a bit difficult for him to get to the car, though I guess someone would have helped him if I had not been there.

He cannot walk on it for long amounts of time, but he can wear it and stand on it. (He starts PT to learn how to walk with it today.) But he wore it on Saturday, 12/20, when we had our get together at his mom's. He walked into her house on his own two feet. Yeah. He spent most of the day sitting and used his walker to get around when he did. He probably only spent about 30 minutes total walking on it. So not too much.

The get together was nice. Our kids and two grandkids were there. Jacob, our middle grandson, was not there. Chance gave some mumbled excuse. I think maybe he just didn't feel like going to pick Jacob up. Oh well, we just sent his gifts home with Chance. I took some pics but no group shots. Got some of those on MIL's camera, so hopefully she will send us some. Here is a typical pic of Hubby and our kids.

Last week I had a busy few days at work, then got to have a totally relaxing 4 day weekend for Christmas. Hubby and I took it easy pretty much the whole time, though I did have to grocery shop yesterday.

Christmas Day was nice and relaxing. We had way too many gifts to open, but they were all fun. Hubby thinks I need lots of presents to open. Don't tell him, but I love it.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas 

filled with family, friends 

and lots of love!

Why I am not having Thanksgiving dinner at my house.

Oh, don't worry. I AM cooking Thanksgiving dinner for Hubby and me. I will not deny us my awesome cooking. LOL! But we are not having anyone over for Thanksgiving.

Hubby and I both figured that our kids would do as they had done in previous years and attend the Thanksgiving get together that Hubby's sister has. The sister that Hubby has not spoken to in 4 years. I did have to message the kids about Christmas as MIL wanted to figure out when our family Christmas would be. Then the kids started asking what we are doing for Thanksgiving. I told them we figured they were going to their aunts, but they wanted me to cook sometime, too. I bet they did! LOL! We had decided on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Then last Friday night I came home to this:

It did not look like this when I left for work. And this is only one view. It was just as bad behind me. Boxes and wires and cables and electronics everywhere with paths just wide enough for Hubby to get through in his wheelchair. He decided he felt like hooking up his electronics. Fine with me, but when will you be done? LOL!

I had told him about the Thanksgiving plans and he told me we would have to meet the kids at a restaurant as we were not ready for anyone to come over. I told him fine...he would need to make arrangements with them. So, he started working on that.

A couple of days ago, the living room looked like this:

I just laughed. It kept getting worse and worse, but stuff WAS getting hooked up and Hubby was busy and happy every day.

The plan now is that we will be meeting the kids on Saturday at Olive Garden. But I want Thanksgiving food, so I will be cooking up a storm for Hubby and me tomorrow. I plan to have LOTS of leftovers. Yummy!

This year, I am thankful for my family, friends, good health and financial stability. Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

"Frugal is the new cool!"

I am always looking for new information on how to save money and how do do stuff more frugally. I was watching a video, that I found through a link on About.com, on DailyFinance.com and a tag line on one of the videos was "Frugal is the new cool!".

I was hooked! So I have been exploring and found some interesting info. I am not advertising for the site and was not contacted by anyone at the site. I just wanted to share something interesting.

We have spent a little less money this week, thank the Lord. I did order a new computer to replace the one that dies, but after much shopping and comparing and pricing, I found a refurbished off-lease computer that more than fits our needs for a great price at TigerDirect. It will be delivered today. Hubby is happy as he has not been on the internet since ours died. I use my netbook and my Galaxy media player, but he is not interested in using those "toys".

Hubby said that our new computer will be "our" Christmas present and that is fine with me. Neither of us need anything, so it can be our big present and then we can get some little items for under the tree and since I spent right under $300, it will be the cheapest Christmas in a long time. LOL! Hubby generally goes crazy and buys me all kinds of things and does not worry about any stinking budget. The computer dying saved Christmas. Well, not really. We never go into debt for Christmas so I guess we will just have some extra after Christmas.

Maybe we can go to the casino. Yeah, that would be fun!

Hope everyone is having a good week. I am just working and when not at work trying to arrange Thanksgiving and Christmas get togethers. I thought I didn't have to worry about Thanksgiving as Hubby's other side of the family has a big blowout that we don't attend. You all remember about the feud years ago, right? I wrote about it here.

The kids go to that so I planned to just cook for Hubby and me. In previous years, they usually showed up later, not humgry so I didn't have to worry about making a ton of food. This year I have been asked when I will be cooking. LOL! I guess I am cooking!

Wine Makes Everything Magical!

I heard that line in a radio commercial and thought, "That is so true!" LOL!

I am not drinking wine right now, so this post will not be magical. Oh, and the fact that it is about our recent money hemorrhaging makes it even less magical. 

Fortunately, we have not been having medical expenses as Hubby met his max-out-of-pocket for the year a couple of months ago. Well, we did have to pay a $1600 bill from last year in the last couple of months, but it was a $2000 that I asked for a discount on and got it! WooHoo! Plus, I had been expecting that bill for about a year. Hey, I should not have to call a provider and ask them to send me a bill...so I didn't. It was for Hubby's wound vac from sometime last year. But they are paid off now and we are good.

Then we have had a few miscellaneous expenses, like nicotine patches for Hubby which the dr prescribed, we paid $80 NOT ON SALE and Hubby later decided he is not going to use. I am going to try to return them to CVS, but don't know how that will go.

Then Hubby needed a transfer bench to get in and out of the tub. The medical providers were dicking around with getting it to us, so I just ordered it myself. Around $60 on Amazon. I figured we aren't paying for other medical stuff...we can afford it. Hubby has not used it ONCE. Ugh!

Then Hubby saw someone with a wheelchair with wheels that come off making it easy to load in the car, so I got one, once again off Amazon for $165. I decided to do that instead of dicking around with medical providers and insurance. Now Hubby has used it, but the wheelchair we already had is lighter, so he prefers that one. Ugh!

Are you seeing a pattern here? LOL!

The week before last, my keyfob for my CRV would not lock the doors. I thought it was probably the battery in the fob until Hubby's didn't work either. So I took my car to the shop and told them while it was there, to check it over for anything else it needed. Since we have not done anything but oil changes for 2 - 3 years, it needed a brake job and a few other things. $1092!! But my mechanic gave me a discount, so only $1039. LOL!

THEN!! 2 days ago our computer quit working. I always think it is a few years old, but checked and I bought it in 2008. I have not had to do a thing to it, since I bought a monster with some casino winnings. It is still not obsolete. Unfortunately, it will not turn on. I did check another power cable to see if that was it and it isn't. I could probably start replacing parts until I got the right one replaced, but Hubby and I decided a new one will be a good Christmas present. So I am computer shopping.

See....hemorraghing money! On a good note, we have not had to take any money out of savings for any of this, so I am happy about that.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Getting a leg up....

Hubby has been doing so well since his surgery. Last week, his surgeon removed the steri-strips he had put on the incision 3 weeks prior when Hubby's stitches were removed. It is healing so well. The incision is totally closed. Of course, there is still healing going on inside, but the outside looks great!

I took today off off to go with Hubby to discuss the timeline of getting his new leg.

My baby's gonna be a pirate!! We have pretty good insurance, so he won't have to get a peg leg. LOL! We are not sure exactly when he will have his leg, but it will be no longer than 5 weeks from yesterday. Yeah! He will have his new leg for Christmas. We are pretty excited about it.

Oh to a nice long relaxing weekend. (I hope.)