More Catch up

So the weekend after Thanksgiving was my SIL's annual wine fest. All my SIL's have great friends (not sure how we, ahem Mike ahem, ended up being so anti-social) and there's always a lot of fun and drinking. We dropped off our kids to my parents house in Jackson to spend the night and turned back north to Lansing. On the way, we were able to stop at ToysRUs in Jackson to look around without kids. The Lego Troll Warship which was to be $79 was our target. I had a 20% off coupon for one item and that was going to be it. Little did I know they were having a weekend Lego sale that day: buy one, get one 50% off. No trollship to be had though. So we looked at all the Legos for what seemed forever! I saw a pirate ship that I thought he would love but seriously $100 for Legos?? I told Mike he needs to get out of Automotive and get into toys.
If I remember right, this is what we ended up getting them: One was around $50 which I used the 20% off coupon on plus I get the other set ($40) for 50% off. So really just over $60 for the two sets. I'm hoping they're OK with what they get. This is what we got for both of them:
A pirate fort with boat and croc
Girlie type legos with horses and a cat.

I get small stuff during the year if I see something they may like but it's had when they're at an age to make lists.

Mason asked Santa for : #1 Batmobile, first thing out of his mouth everytime. A few other times he'll throw in some things that I have NO IDEA what they are but then find out later that they are really expensive items.
Mia wants: Easy Bake Oven, a Wii, A puppy purse toy that I just figured out what it was.

Here's how I think the Christmas Day will play out. They'll like what they've opened but still be disappointed as the aunts that are bringing the toys that they really like won't be seen until Friday after Christmas. So there will be a few days of the questions...." why didn't Santa bring this?'After they see all they've go they'll be ecstatic. Joy and Peace that's what we really want out of this right.

Enough of the toy talk though I digress. I hit the ground running at Col's party. So at the wine party I started out with a nice not to dry wine called Menage a Trois. I had a glass of it and it went down really easy. I REALLY liked it so I had another.....after I killed the bottle (by myself) I realized there were other bottles so I had another glass. Then that wine was gone so I tried something else and didn't like it as much so I started drinking some water. I did graze a little but I realize now when you fill up your plate with a shrimp, a meatball and some crackers. Even 2 and half plates really isn't enough soak;) I got the headache but didn't get sick. Around midnight or so I felt the need to lie down for just a little bit with the intention of getting back up. Eventually Mike just told me to get my pajamas on and get in bed. So yeah we ditched the late crew, I couldn't believe the "late" guests didn't leave until 3am. Luckily Colleen didn't put away EVERYTHING and I could help with the clean-up in the morning. I was feeling super guilty that I went to bed and wasn't able to stay up and help her put things away. It was nice however to not throw up for a change. Of course, like Atlanta, I didn't take any pictures. I'm letting down those fellow Japanese I know.

FYI: A lady in one of my groups went to Birch Run last week and told me they just opened up an Under Armor outlet there. She said there were some really good deals. Too bad it's so far away and not within an hour's drive. Now I have to figure out a way to get me and Mike time alone at Birch Run. We could get a hotel but everyone will want to shop....who will watch the children?
Things to ponder.

Anyway have to sign off. not because I'm tired and re-capped it all but because my brain is just not right. I took an Ambien to get me to sleep and it's starting to kick in. As Mike will tell you, it's like I'm dizzy and drunk. I know I should re-read what I posted so far but screw it...I'm finally getting tired.

Love to the lurkers. (those of you that come to read about my lame-o life but never write comments). I'm thinking of running a contest soon to see if I can get those others of you (that are not my mother) to post. Back me up here. I love my mother but I do have friends right? Right ladies?! Oh for Gosh Sakes Christie go to bed already;)

and I'm off. literally and figuratively.

Thanksgiving Part 2

At this rate I'll blog Christmas next Christmas.

Oh Yes, Thanksgiving was an awesome feast. I probably went through the ads 4 times for Black Friday...made a list and at the end of it didn't get up early (wasn't anything I wanted THAT much) and didn't get anything on my list. My SIL's however had no list and ended up finding things that they wanted. How is that fair?

Friday night they invited their friends over and we drank and rolled dice. We play this game at most of Mike's family gatherings and instead of chips we use dollars. So it's a $3 buy-in to play. What's a little gambling among family. We played 7 games and Mia rolled my dice...
and was the big winner winning 4 out of the seven. She had never seen that much money before and was giggling with her hands over her mouth and eyes bulging. She leans over and tells me she wants the "webkinz backpack". I have no idea what this was but she talked about it non-stop from that point on.
I figured it out after we got home, this is what Mia was talking about:
http://www.jackpopz.com/jackpopzshop.html
Our store only had the Livvie bag in multi-color and the Jackpack in Green. She was set on the Jackpack so I let her get it. I figured she won the big money rollin the dice she should at least get something for it. Mike and I went down early for the night (yes, I hurled yet again) and I think the other adults went out for 2 more beer runs. Mike and I just can't hang anymore.
Saturday afternoon we headed home. Mason stayed up until about midnight and said, "are we sleeping in the car again for real?". Yup, 13 hours later we made it home. The kids do not like sleeping in the car....they can't get comfortable. Soon after we made it home a big snow storm hit so luckily we didn't have to drive through it. That pretty much sums up our Turkey festivities....

Making it back to reality

It's been a whirlwind last month and I still don't feel like I've caught up to present day/present time. So last you heard from me I was sick, suffering from migraines and getting ready for a craft show. Craft show was OK. I did alright considering it wasn't really busy. After the show that Saturday I got to come home and watch the rest of the Michigan/OSU game. Mike being the OSU fan that he is wouldn't turn it off....I really didn't watch it but would get the updates when I walked through the room. Thanks for that (too bad you can't write sarcasm so everybody gets it).

Then I cleaned the house and packed in anticipation for our Thanksgiving trip to Atlanta. We left Tuesday and drove straight through arriving at precisely 3am Wednesday morning. We tried to get some sleep but once the kids cracked one of their eyelids open and glimpsed COUSINS we really couldn't sleep. Alice (Mike's sister, 5th out of 6 kids) had a sitter lined up so we went to the bar that night to hear a Bon Jovi cover band. We went with Mike's two sisters, Alice and Sarah (5 and 6, Mike is 4), their husbands and some of their friends. A good time was had by all. True to form with any night of drinking since I've birthed children....I threw up. Alice said she saw something on Oprah about how Asians process alcohol differently...like we're allergic to it? That would explain a lot. I woke up drinking water, downing Advil and stuffing myself with bread rolls. I think I finally soaked up all the alcohol in my system by around 10pm. Thursday was pretty much an all out eat-a-thon. Thanksgiving dinner was great. Alice made this sausage stuffing that was killer (a Paula Deen recipe of course). It was great at dinner, for breakfast and while drinking again Friday night.

T-Day summary to be continued in next post.