It's November Already?

I just checked the date of my last post. Where have I been?! Oh, yeah. Working like a dog, that's it. I'm starting to feel the pinch of my coworker being on leave. People tend to gear up for school just before the holidays, then they disappear almost entirely until the new year. Let the gear up begin! Phew! They're making me nuts over here. My coworker can't get back fast enough. Although, it's been pleasantly "happy" around here, since she left. Don't get me wrong, I totally empathize with the stress that she's dealing with (medicaid is backwards, nursing home snafus and a mother who barely knows she's there) but her negativity could sometimes bring down the entire floor. I hope that this time away has given her a better perspective and has allowed her to make peace with her mother and herself.

Halloween was a blast! We had such fun at work and I got so many compliments. One lady was like, "I can't believe how much weight you've lost!" For real? I'm still not in the bracket I'm aiming for, yet. I guess the weight training is doing more glamorizing than I thought. I'm kind of getting addicted to it, again. Hurts so good!

The babe went trick-or-treating with her dad and the neighbors and brought back way too much candy. With only a piece or two every couple of days, I'm predicting the bag will be empty by June of next year. Her sister is demolishing it, too, but I promise that bag ways eight pounds! Who needs that much candy? (How about me just before my TOM/rag. Haha!)

We've been diligently finishing up the small touches on the basement. Can I say that I'm sick of talking/looking/thinking about the basement? Ugh! Can't we just move down there already? I've begun my "decorating" for it, while we finish up by purchasing prints. From the beginning, we've said it would be our movie/work-out area. These are just a few of the prints I've purchased that you see pasted here and there are still many more to buy. It's going to be so cool when it's all done (um, if it ever gets done). I'm tired of basement talk even now. Moving on.

Christmas shopping has begun. Our goal was to start early (which we did), stick to fewer toys (which we have) and try to have it finished before Thanksgiving. Hmm. We'll see about that. Unfortunately, I think we're skewing off the road a bit. We've already bought the oldest a treasure trove of DVDs. How in the world has this happened so quickly? I had a list and I shared the list with hubby. I also said that we didn't have to buy everything on the list. Somehow, we've managed to buy nearly 3/4 of the list. Yeesh! We haven't even done the winter/Christmas clothes shopping, parent shopping or neighbor shopping yet. As for Indy, there is many an Elmo to buy that we haven't even started purchasing (luckily, Big Lots has them for El Cheapo prices). I'm unsure of what to do for my coworkers. Last year, I was the Martha-Stewart-of-Color and made the gifts. I'd like to do something similarly, but by the time my vacation starts, I won't want to be bothered. Christmas usually isn't a very hectic time for me. I've got to get this under control before it becomes so. This is a time for great happiness and creating new memories, not stressing about gifts.

Finally, on the hair front, I found a red that works. My "ravishing" blend from the Clairol Professional line never really was what I thought it would be. So, I broke down over the weekend and went for a box kit. It's still Clairol, since I trust that it won't set my head on fire and make my hair fall out. Burgundy is who I am for the time being. I think hubby is seriously missing the blond, but he won't say that out loud (men). That's alright. I think I'll surprise him by being blond at Christmas dinner. This is the first year he's had to work on Christmas morning in years. I'm really bummed about that but, I'll make sure that we all have a wonderful Christmas eve to make up for it.