Back from the Woods

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  As it was Veteran's Day, I had three days away from the office, and went with my mother, daughter, and Mom's new dog Mischka (not sure about the spelling - the name is supposed to be Russian for Teddy Bear) out to Mom's cabin way off in the woods.



All dressed up for a walk during hunting season!

 It was a totally gorgeous weekend.  If you live in New England, you're most likely aware that the foliage this year was way less than stellar, so I didn't really have any of those moments when I gasped "oh my gosh, what an amazing view." That is, until I took Mishy (as I like to call her) for a walk along the dirt roads through the barrens (blueberry fields for the lay person).  If you're interested, here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend.  I think the color of the leaves in the Blueberry Barrens are SPECTACULAR - and Mishy is wicked cute, right???

Later on this week, I'll be updating the Netflix Christmas Streaming posts, I'm going to try to consolidate them all into one post, as it feels pretty goofy to be cutting and pasting all over the place.  But - without further ado - here are some weekend in Northfield, ME pictures!

Three Day Weekend

The one big drawback to a three day weekend is the feeling of sadness that infiltrates your Tuesday morning (or Monday morning if the third weekend day was a Friday) - I woke up this morning all bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed, for about five seconds, then I realized that my clock was telling the truth about it being 6:37 am and I had to get up shortly. That's when the disappointment slipped in.

Of course, I followed my usual routine and hit the various snooze buttons (I find that a total of three alarm clocks with separate alarm times and different snooze settings are what it takes to get me out of bed on time-ish), and got up a little after 7:00.  Around 7:30, I went out to start the car and discovered that it was bitterly cold out.  It was somewhere in the realm of four degrees (that's what weather.com said it was when I arrived at work at 8:00), which is cold on its own, but it was this icky damp chilly cold - the kind that makes any exposed skin start to ache the moment the ice-air hits it.  A positive about this horrid air-situation is that all of the tree branches I drive by on my way to work were sparkling like a four-year-old girl's art project.

Now, you know I'm the queen of the positive in this lovely 2011, and I'm not trying to be unpleasant and whiny - it's just that I REALLY wish I could be back in bed right now!  I need to remember that, since I made a delicious chicken stew for dinner last night, we have leftovers and I don't have to cook.  Did you know my stew is world famous?  Okay, maybe not world famous - but it's family famous, and honestly, they're about the only people whose opinions matter to me anyway.  My nephew Aaron won't eat anyone else's stew anymore (including his mother - my sister Conni's stew - which is a bit of a sore spot for her).  I didn't bake any bread, but I did make gingerbread for dessert.  Yum yum yum.  See - now I'm starting to looking forward to going home and eating food.

Aaron required blue icing and a theme that incorporated
rainbows, kittens, and slick rick.  I think Conni
did an absolutely AMAZING job.

Well, as you know - it's 2011 - and of course some good things have been happening since the 11th!  Here we go!

Today: I won a contest!  I won a Cream Perfume from http://www.withourbest.com/!!!! 

Monday, January 17th - I slept until noon and then spent the afternoon reading and making chicken stew. Azi and I watched "Once More with Feeling" - the musical Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, and that awesome daughter of mine brought me breakfast in bed! (not in that order)

Sunday, January 16th - Sunday was a completely and totally lazy day.  I stayed in bed roughly 90% of the time and read four novels. How can you beat that???

Saturday, January 15th - went to Heather's housewarming shindig - had a great time - ate some AWESOME spring rolls, and played Apples to Apples.  ALSO - Two $10 iTunes gift cards came in the mail from a contest I won!!!

Friday, January 14th - My awesome nephew's "not-so-sweet-sixteen" birthday party.  Most of the fam was there, with the lovely additions of Janice, Holly, and Matthew.  The best thing about that was the cake my sister made - I'm putting the picture up here - wish I could take credit - but it's all Conni!!

Thursday, January 13th - I won two contests!!!! I won Project Runway stationary & candle from http://confessionsofanover-workedmom.blogspot.com/, and a set of house pillows from http://becausecheaperisbetter.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, January 12th - say it with me - SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Tuesday, January 11th - I got to see Azi compete in the school-wide Geography bee.  I didn't realize how impressive this was until they explained that out of the entire school of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, only 30 kids qualified for it - and my sixth grader was one of them!!!  She did a great job - made it through the first round of cuts, but had a harder time on the second round - regardless of that - I'm SOOOOOOOO freaking proud of her!!!