9 Things I saw in Sin City.

1.  You gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.

2.  This photo has not been altered in any way.

3.  This was a real bar inside Planet Hollywood...

4.  Pausing for a drink and a break after our 5 mile walk down The Strip (Mommy Dearest).

5.  Now I have been to both Eiffel Towers.

6.  Dancing Waters at the Bellagio.  This was incredible.

7.  Painted umbrellas hanging from the ceiling in the Bellagio.

8.  I lost $1 to this slot machine, but it was totally worth it.

9.  A tramp stamp on a man infused with tigerblood = BI-WINNING!

Love and Rockets,

A

Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?

I have been extremely slack with posting lately.  Don't worry, you haven't missed much.  I've been working and making jewelry and babysitting and trying to stay well.  Daddy has bronchitis and Mommy Dearest has an upper respiratory infection.  I fear that I'm coming down with a deadly combination.  Stuffy head, sore throat, lots of snot, coughing, sneezing...awesomeness.

We celebrated the BFFAE's birthday on Friday.  I did my best to orchestrate a get together, but a big chunk of people couldn't make it.  It was lots of fun.  Two of our best friends from high school days came (M.Elmo an Vron).  We had about 12 in all.  Of the 12, four of us wore argyle sweaters.  We. Are. Old.  After a very long dinner, we went to another bar to listen to a live band.

Saturday, my family trekked down to Alabama for Christmas with Daddy's side of the family.  It was a slightly smaller gathering than normal...only 19 people.  We have moved away from giving gifts, so it was just an afternoon of food, games, and conversation.

Sunday, we had Christmas with Mommy Dearest's side of the family.  We had a huge spread for lunch.  You'd have thought it was Thanksgiving all over again!  There were about 27 people there.  Since Mommy Dearest is the baby of 9, there are 19 years difference in age between her and her her oldest sister.  My Aunt Joan (the oldest) passed away in January of 2008.  She has 2 sons, one of which has a daughter a few years older than me.  That being said, the other has a daughter that is 10 years old and her name is Skylar.  Skylar desperately wanted to learn how to play the piano/keyboard, but had never had a single music lesson.  I took it upon myself to Google some Christmas songs to teach her.  Bear in mind, I have not touched a piano since I quit lessons in the 7th grade.  I "relearned" how to read sheet music so that I could teach her some basic Christmas songs.  I numbered her fingers, and wrote down a string of numbers for her to play.  That was much easier than trying to teach her how to read music.  She successfully learned "Jingle Bells" and "Deck the Halls."  Sweet kid.

I have way too much to do and literally no time in which to do it.  I haven't wrapped a single gift, and I'm still waiting for some to arrive via UPS.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute...

Daddy is having knee and ankle surgery on Thursday.  Yes, that would be December 23, two days before Christmas.  Thanks.  I will be spending my Christmas vacation playing nurse, all while trying to relax and not catch "the crud." I wonder how successful I will be...

The BFFAE and Mr. S flew out this morning, bound for Mexico for the holidays.  Bon Voyage!

A special thanks to S.E.Dubs for bringing me coffee and a muffin this morning.  That's probably the only reason I am still (barely) awake.

I'll post pictures and more stories later.  Right now, I'm trying extremely hard to not fall asleep on my keyboard.  Eyelids...heavy...

Snuggles,
A

Furry underwear and homemade streamers always make the day better.

I survived the weekend in Gatlinburg and I decided that it is truly the Myrtle Beach of Tennessee.  [I love the Dirty Myrtle, so check yourself before you wreck yourself on that one.]  Here's my recap:
Mommy Dearest and I went to Gatlinburg for the weekend to attend The Norton Show (a wholesale jewelry and accessories expo) for my business, Copper Alley.  Needless to say, we saw some pretty interesting things.

A one-eyed, one-horn,  flying purple people eater.  A purple fur bikini, for all those classy ladies out there.

And a fur jock strap for the gents.  Don't worry guys, they didn't forget about you.

And don't worry.  It has a tail.  'Coon skin hats are so last year.  The future is clearly in 'coon skin junk holders.

I managed to resist the fur, but I did walk away with some nice jewels.  I'll post pictures later when I get the chance to create some things with my new supplies.  Mommy Dearest and I also decided to drive/walk around town and soak in the local culture.

It's Christmas 24/7 in Gatlinburg.

[Silence] Dubya Tee Eff. Someone call Hoarders.  This storefront is ridic.

Winning combination.  Why didn't I think of that?

Fall foliage.

Good ole Rocky Top.

Today is a very important day, and you should all mark it on your calendars so that you remember next year.  Today is Her Highness, Princess Fiona's 1st birthday.  We will obviously be celebrating tonight so I will have pictures of that tomorrow.  However, here she is inside her favorite shopping bag.

Can I help you?

And here is the scene I came home to at lunch today:

Buttface had unrolled and entire roll of paper towels and opened the toaster oven.  She clearly didn't trust me to decorate for her party, so she decided to get to work on the homemade streamers herself.  And attempt to bake a cake in the toaster oven.  Apparently, she opened the oven and then remembered that she doesn't know how to bake cakes.  Silly Fiona.

'Coon skin covered hearts,

A

Stop diagnosing yourself via WebMD and go pack my suitcase for me.

Time is literally crawling today.  Crawling like a small toddler who hasn't quite gotten the hang of things yet.  Unacceptable.  I spent my morning trying to solve a frustrating issue at work.  Then, I spent my lunch break on the phone with CVS Caremark trying to explain to them that they've messed up my prescriptions for the jabillionth time.  I'm so over them.  If they didn't control the distribution of my precious migraine drugs, we'd be having a nasty break up.  This CVS drama has been going on since October 1.  In case you're counting...that's a month and a half.  I want to punch a pharmacist in the face right about now.  Now I just have to make it through a little over 2-ish hours at work and then go home and race to finish packing so that Mommy Dearest and I can hit the road to Gatlinburg.  We are spending the weekend at at jewelry/accessories expo and then doing some outlet shopping.  Hopefully I will come home with some new pretties to show you!

I'm cranky.  I have things that I need/want to be doing right now, but I can't.  I probably should have done them last night but I was busy watching Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, and playing with my iPad.  These are all valid activities, but that meant that I did not pack.

Here's another reason why I'm cranky.  I've been minding my own business today.  Out of the blue, I get a chat message from The Ex.  I haven't heard from him since he called to tell me Happy Birthday (the day before my birthday because he had plans on my actual birthday and, heaven forbid that I be an inconvenience).  I actually haven't even really realized that we haven't been speaking.  He sent me a message saying that he'd been in the ER today.  That sucks.  Why is he telling me?  Go call your girlfriend.

The Ex: Was in the ER today.

Moi: Are you ok?

The Ex:  I messed up my knee.  It's all torn on the inside.

Moi:  How did you hurt it?

The Ex: I don't know.

Moi:  You're in enough pain to need to go to the ER, and you don't know what you were doing when it happened??

The Ex: I worked out 2 weeks ago and it started hurting a week later and it was really hurting this morning.  I sleep in ball and it locked up and when I stood up this morning, it made all these cracking and popping and tearing noises.

Moi:  My knees always sound like that.

The Ex:  I need an MRI but no one will give me one.

Moi:  They aren't candy.  They don't just give them out.  You need a referral from a doctor and you have to schedule an appointment.

The Ex:  They did an X-ray but you can't see torn ligaments on it.

[Yes, genius.  You are correct.  BONES show up on X-rays, not muscles and ligaments.]

Moi:  I wouldn't jump to conclusions if I were you...

He's a hypochondriac.  Bless his heart, every time he gets sick, he thinks it's the plague and that he's going to die.  He is always looking up his symptoms on WebMD and that's never a good plan.  He called me one time (after we'd broken up) and told me he thought he had cancer.  He said that when he was in the shower, he found a lump on his man bits.  I tried to keep him calm and urged him to see a doctor if he really thought it was serious.  I told him that it was probably nothing and that it could just be a swollen lymph node or gland or maybe he just had bumpy bits.  He cried and argued and complained and moped.  He finally went to the doctor.  Here's literally how that went...

The Ex:  [Gulp.] So, Doctor...what is that lump on my testicle?

Doctor:  Um, son...that is your testicle.

The Ex:  Oh.  Okay.

I laugh every single time I think about that story.  Typical him.  However, there was one time I accused him of crying wolf and he was actually sick.  He had a bad case of Mono and an ear infection and got so dehydrated that he was admitted to the hospital overnight.  He used that one instance as basis for all of his medical woes and assumptions.  The guy was right once and got a big head about it.  Anyway, I feel bad that he's hurting, but why tell me now?  Thanks for randomly messaging me so that I will take pity on you.  Sorry that it didn't work this time.  Get well soon, but I kinda don't really care how soon that is.  Now I sound mean.  This is just the crankiness talking.  Kinda.  I'm sure he will update me later because he probably thinks I'm holding my breath.  I'm not.

Sending grouchy feelings your way,

A