TSO

While I was at home I went down to the Rosemont Horizon (it will never be the allstate to me) with Kate and Danielle to catch TransSiberian Orchestra. There will always be a place for rockers with hair of a certain length as they move into a slightly more responsible phase of their life.

A couple of days late...

...but never a dollar short, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas was fun times at the Jersey Household. Stockings will filled with fun and the 80's classic Real Genius. Gifts were given and much food was consumed! Kate and I played chef de cuisine and sous chef, bringing our style to the traditional dinner. Dad cooked a fab prime rib... Plus there was a brunch to die for -- carbohydrate fabulousness that kate, dad and i put together. Us kids were the superstars of 2009, bringing dad into 2005 with a new flatscreen monitor!

Christmas eve

Christmas eve was a fabulous affair! Traditions were held in so many ways, and I was reminded of how I do love Fox Lake in so many ways!

We picked dad up from the train station and hit the Domminicks -- because it just wouldn't make sense to have completed our shopping any earlier.

Much baking was done! Dad introduced us to potato chip cookies. K made Matthew some peanut butter cookies.

We prettied ourselves up for Midnight Mass. I forgot how much I love St. Bede's. Where else but here is it acceptable for an usher to wear a hawks jersey to Midnight Mass?!?!? Love it!!! I also enjoyed going to Midnight Mass at MIDNIGHT instead of the traditional Mississippi 8 PM Midnight Mass.

There was a Christmas Miracle -- Matthew shaved.

We did traditional pictures in front of the tree followed by the opening of the new jammies. I felt like an amazon woman. The 3 in. heels didn't hurt my case.


Sarah Clause came after church and gave the JG's their present. They took to it pretty quickly.

We still love it!

It snowed. A lot. Daisy bunny hopped. Madison scampered and shook her thang. It snowed more. Then it sleeted and rained. Cars slid around. It got cold. It got warm. It rained. It seems to be snowing again.

We love it anyways!!

Pet Wars II

There is a lot of gazing and adoringly looking into one another's eyes.

Pet Wars

The pets are slowly coming to a state of Mutually Assured Destruction..... The war isn't over, but there is some sort of Peace on Earth, just in time for Christmas.

Daisy and Smokey spend much of their days looking at one another from opposite sides of the baby gate. Madison thinks Smokey would be a great playmate if she would just come out and play. Smokey thinks these thugs should just go away and let her sleep. I consider it a testament to hope that we got them into the same room for a few minutes.

Snowy Snowy World

I must introduce my Vicksburg Peeps to SNOW. This IS SNOW!

The snow on Fox Lake!!! Yes for those who are wondering.. there are some ice fishing shacks out there! We've been heading down there during our walks... The girls love romping in the snow, sniffing it, and digging in it. It is uber fun!

Along wtih the lake fun comes the other snow not-so-fun... The P's don't know it but I'm planning to take off with their snow brush/scraper. For some reason the best one they have was in the basement while thye were using the junky ones for themselves. Ooops.. you snooze you loose peeps.

A long long drive

Welcome to the Jungle...

Sunday I loaded the car up with gifts, pillows, and dogs. We took the Loooooong drive to my parents. Kudos to Madison and Daisy -- they did an excellent job as road warriors!
The drive was pretty good... until Pesotum IL. The snow started to get rough and there were three wrecks in a .5 mile stretch. Traffic was pretty slow there.

I got to join up with one of my best friends from college, Nikki (from In the Nik of Time) for a quick dinner. We would have liked to have a little more time... but I had a bit more drive ahead of me. Seeing Nik reminded me of a December past in which we all met in STL for the annual Border War. Good Friends. Good Times.

Here is the first trip out into the snow at the Tolono rest stop on I-57....

It's not goodbye, it's i'll see you this summer

My bestest and oldest friend in Vicksburg left for sandier beaches today :( We'll miss you Erin, but I look forward to using you as a hotel when I go visit said beach.

A promise kept

Thursday we had a 'Turkey Trot' at work. I know, you are thinking "Sarah, this is a month late. Thanksgiving was Nov 26th you moron." Really, I do know that.

Since the Brit's stayed at home and didn't need to befriend the Native Americans at Plymouth Rock they celebrate their Turkey Trots as part of the Christmas Season. Our Brittish Liason Officer decided to start out the season with a fun run/walk and mince pies at work the other day. In an impetious moment I told our coworker who was injured earlier in the year in Afganistan that I would bring in dessert if he did the Turkey Trot on his Segway. Webb did it, so I held up my promise... I give you Black Forest Brownie Bites. So rich. so bad for you. so good. plus, they put me into the holiday spirit!

And no, I didn't get to participate because I had a briefing scheduled for the same time as the Turkey Trot :(

Souper Sunday

Cooking with Sarah, the Sunday Soup edition returns. In honor of fall/winter tidings we had some of Rachael Ray's Harvest soup with bacon and apples. It was really good, although 8 servings sure is a lot of soup!!!

Rock and Roll all Night

We had a Rock Band Party to celebrate Erin's departure next weekend. It was *wickedly* fun. In fact, I would say it should be illegal to have that much fun. Quote of the night: I've had a lot to drink tonight. I'm going to spend some time with this pillow.

Kristen innaugarated a new event: Rock Band in a Snuggie. I think it is going to be the next craze.

Home and Happy.

Someone was happy to have me home. What they don't know is that they get to go on the next trip :)

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, You are only a day away

Tomorrow is the day... I'm homeward bound :) Just a litle happy.

No Snow Here

Just Lots of Fog!! This was the site at 7 AM! You couldn't see the tower from the end of the runway!!

Muppets :)

I'm rather fond of this video. It sort of cracks me up.

Road Warrior

I must appologize for the lack of blogging lately.... I'm on another work trip. This time I'm in central FL. In the last two months I've been to MS, TN, AL, LA, and FL. If you go back another month we hit UT too. This is the last work trip until next year, athough I'm going to Fox Lake for Christmas!!! Hopefully the JG's will get some snow. I guess I should stop by the Petsmart and see if I can find Madison a sweater -- goodness knows she'll freeze up there!!

The trip is OK.. nothing much to report. I'm down here by myself, which isn't as fun as trips with a big group. However, this is the view out my hotel room window.

Out with the roaring twenties...

And in with my boring thirties...

If night No. 1 of 30 is an indicator, I'll be spending a lot of time on the couch with a pair of snoring dogs. If that isn't super exciting.. i don't know what is. Who knew I would be so lame already!

In other news, I leave for FL tomorrow. I realized that if I just hit GA this month I'll have visited the heart of dixie over the last three months -- I've already been to TN, AL, MS, and LA... Any takers?

In other, more disturbing news.. what has come of our society? I saw adds for a made for tv movie that is essentially Home Alone... with a dog playing the Mcauly Culkin home saving character -- and voiced by Mario Lopez. Seriously... what has become of our entertainment standards?

Thanksgiving Project

I limited my shopping to the depot that is for the home today. It was probably a smart idea! I didn't drop money on crap i don't need. I did buy some mulch for the Thanksgiving Project.

Thanksgiving Project, you say, what is this project of which you keep name dropping. It started off with trimming the jasmine and getting things into fall order... It turned into pulling down all of the jasmine off of the trellis aroud the garage. From there I took out the morning glories atop the other trellis. We painted the trellises white. I trimmed back the rosebush on the far side of the garage. While attacking that bed I took out a 10 gallons worth of monkey grass -- anyone need any? -- from the edge of the bed. It was gross!!! I put a new border on the bed and did some lasagna gardening. We put out a layer of newspaper and covered it with a layer of mulched leaves from the yard. I covered the leaves with more cypress mulch. The leafy layer should decompose over the winter, giving us some great soil for planting in the spring. I have to say, I think it looks pretty nice. The project has also included placing pine straw around the oak out front and clearing up as many leaves as possible -- thats a never ending job. seriously.

A more recent before...

Anyone need monkey grass?

To lasagne garden, put out a layer of newspaper directly over the garden area - no need to remove existing plant growth, and wet it down.

The "finished" product. It needs a little more Paint on the upper trellis, but its getting there!

The JGs did a great job. They've spent the last several days in the front yard while I've worked. They've really taken to the wireless fence out front. 95% of the time they just wander and sniff and sit in the sun. When neighbor dogs come into theyard they are known to play together. However, they know exactly where that fence is! They don't go near it anymore, which makes off of us happy campers. Unfortunately, Madison seems to think that we were going on a trip rather than heading up yardwork central. oops.

Family Fun Time in the Big Easy

The family came to visit a couple of weeks ago. We took that oppertunity to head down to the Big Easy. Highlights of the trip included going to the Audobon zoo, the Aquarium of the Americas, Mardi Gras World, the French Quarter, and a Swamp Tour. Fun was had by all... and there was some good eating too!