Happy New Year to all my blogging buddies! You all put a smile on my face every day. May the New Year bring you love, luck, health, and peace in your hearts.

Happy 2007!!!

So, as you know, my parents took Alicia with them to Mexico before Christmas. On the second to last day, my dad had a few cocktails with some friends that were with them, and then proceeded to go outside and play some soccer with some local Mexican Kids. I think they were about 12 years old. Anyway, during the game, one of the kids stuck out his foot, and tripped my dad, sending him head first into a brick wall. He really smacked his head good...about 14 stitches good.

Like me, my dad is not a fan of going to the doctor. When I had 5 stitches in my eyebrow from a tip ball gone bad on the ball field, I opted to take those suckers out myself when they were ready. Now, Dad can't reach the top of his head, so he asked my mom to remove them. She almost passed out at the notion. However, when he asked me, I said, "sure." So today I went over there, and with some sterile household objects, I snipped and plucked until they were all out (I hope.) My poor mom in the next room, was lookin a little pail while I was doing it. My brother, who is visiting from Whitehorse with his wife, was also opposed to the idea of "home health care." It's just that it's so stinkin easy to do these things yourself!

Incidentally, the song that my sis and I wrote for Christmas had a verse that went like this:

(to the tune of Jingle bells)

Dad, he banged his crown
now he wears a frown
guess he learned that alcohol
can make a man fall down.
Hey!

So I happened to notice that all my blogging friends stopped by Alicia's blog to check her out. That was really nice of you all, thank you.

I'm having a hell of a time refueling after a busy Christmas. The mental and physical preparation is very draining. Now I have to get on the horn and return a bunch of calls from clients who didn't manage to get in before Christmas. I don't wanna. Is it too early to retire, and spend the rest of my days lounging?

Everybody I talk to is fighting off a cold or getting over one. My sis was off of work today with a soar throat and chills. Drew is complaining of tummy troubles. Hopefully, by new years, everyone will be ready to boogie.

I got a Christmas card today from my girlfriend, Donna, whose wedding I sang at. She even included a couple of pictures of me singing! I didn't know anyone took any pics of that, so it was a nice surprise. Drew was so busy watching and listening to me sing, it completely slipped his mind that I'd given him instructions to video tape it. So it's nice that there is some photographic evidence that I did, in fact, sing at her wedding. LOL. I hope you all have a wild and crazy New Years Eve, and a peaceful and happy 2007!

Happy Ho ho, everyone!!! I hope you all had a great Christmas and are now having a relaxing Boxing day. Man, that takes it out of you, eh?
Sigh. I got completely spoiled stinkin rotten yesterday, and we all had a fun, but exhausting day. We ate lots of yummy food and laughed a lot, as predicted.

I decided to just leave Drew's Susanne Summers rower in the box and let the chips fall where they may, and he surprised me with his attitude. After questioning me as to whether it was really the same one we saw, he didn't seem to care that much about the picture of Susanne all over the box. Go figure.

My sister, Sheryl and I wrote a Christmas song about our family members, to the tune of Jingle bells. It was funny, cuz Drew's Verse began with
"Hope drew doesn't mind
Susanne Summers' behind
He doesn't mind the leotard
except he finds they bind.
Hey!"

Anyway, too lazy to write a big post and upload pics, so I'll save it for another day.

By the way, if anyone's interested, my daughter Alicia started a blog of her own! She's only just started it, but she posted some of her art, so take a look if you like. She's at funkyblueeyes.blogspot.com

AAAAAAAAh, Christmas... I've always loved it and I always will. Is it busy and costly and stressful? Yes. But I'm a sucker for family and laughter and prezzies (I love getting them, but I especially love giving them.) I love beautifully wrapping my gifts in curly ribbon and glue-gunning cinnamon sticks and decorations in the middle of a big bow. I'll have to post a picture of it when I'm done. It looks so pretty under the tree, and I can't tell you how many times I've gone to someone's house and spotted one or two of these "gift decorations" somewhere on their tree. Gives me the warm and fuzzies.

This year, Christmas will be at my house, where we will start at about 10:00 in the morning. Sheryl makes one of those wife-saver breakfasts (yum-my) so we scarf on that with some bailies coffee or mimosas. Then we open prezzies one at a time (no diving in like animals, please) so we can see what everyone got and socialize. At this time I start just loading everyone up with 7 layer bean dip, and other appies. And if anyone wants a little drinkie-poo I will certainly be a good host and join them. Don't want to be rude. The funny thing is, nobody in my family are really drinkers, but I always want to have a couple on Christmas day. So usually I'm like, "C'mon, Sheryl, pull your head out and have a drink with me!" Nothing like a little peer pressure on Christmas! Fortunately, my Mom doesn't need much coaxing. She'll usually be game for a cocktail. LOL

So, anyhoo, after assembling everything that needs assembling, and a lot of laughter and talking at an extremely high volume, we all role on over to the table to try and cram in even more delicious food. And by God, every year we succeed! The de Konings are not quitters! And this year will be no exception.

I'm pooped.

Today I took a mysterious gouge out of my thumb. Then I bent down to pick up a towel and thrust my head forcefully into my cast iron shampoo sink. Then I wrapped a perm and opened the perm box to find that the activator that you mix with one of the solutions is empty. So I had to leave the lady with a stack of magazines whilst I hauled ass to the drug store to replace it. This threw me off my schedule so that the next clients, who were 10 minutes early, had to wait 20 minutes past their appointment time. While I was conditioning the lady's hair, I somehow splatter conditioner all over the salon wall, while trying to shake the last inch out of the bottle. It's a good thing my clients love me...It's a good thing that I'm so stinkin' adorable...but I digress.

I'm pooped

A wise woman (my sister) once told me, "behind every successful man........is a surprised woman."

I know, I know, that's a sexist thing to say. I'm deeply ashamed.

In other news, I'm frantically getting ready to send Alicia to Mexico with my parents on Saturday morning. Today I have to go to work, and then pick Alicia up from school so we can return the runners I bought for her and buy some that fit. Incidentally, I almost inadvertently stole them last week when I was wandering out of the store chatting with my mom with them under my arm. The alarm thingy sounded and I realized I was shoplifting. OOPS!

Then I must come home and dig in the storage for our luggage. Alicia's been putting a lot of effort into cleaning her room and doing laundry, so we know what to pack. While we're at the mall later, we'll probably finish up her Christmas shopping, too.
I've just been boogieing along with my shopping. While the girl is away, I'll be able to finish up completely. Then if I go to the mall close to Christmas day, I can point and laugh at people who are bustling around. After all, it is the season of laughter and good cheer!

Drew doesn't have a computer, so I'm not giving anything away by telling you this. We were at Canadian tire a couple of months ago, when he noticed this cool rowing machine on display that was on sale from $300.00 to $150.00. We both tried it and agreed that it was really affective. In the following months, he had mentioned a couple of times that we should have bought it when we saw it. So I filed that away until I was ready to Christmas shop, when I made my way to Canadian Tire to buy the rower for him. After some too-hoo and a trip to two different stores, I located the rower and asked the dude who works there to get one for me from the shelf. As he pulls it down, I realize that it's a Suzanne Summers rower which has her picture in a leotard covering one entire side of the box. On the other side are pictures of women using it in all different ways. Now I know for a fact that if he opens the gift on Christmas morning, it's going to put him right off if he thinks it's a "girlie-rower." Not to mention my Dad and two brothers will be there to razz him about it until he refuses to ever take it out of the box! So now I have to find time to assemble the damned thing so he doesn't have to know that it has any association with Suzanne Summers.

Sigh...anyway, better get on with it...