I usually just stay home and watch the festivities on the TV. There are too many crazy/drunk people that end up on the roads around where I live, so it's safer and also I don't have to dress up lol.

get better soon! Health is always more important then anything else

not a New year person but my family will be here, so more things to prepare. And then hide....

Same! Too many people don't know how to drive on non-holidays! I would love to be able to get all dressy, but I don't own anything fancy lol.

I can understand that. I live in a tiny one bedroom apartment, so I really don't have anywhere to hide lol.

I got the ach for 25 days too, now I'm just trying to make sure I don't miss a day until the 31st. I hate having to avoid the site for a few days due to unbearable lag. I'm glad I missed most of the problems when the servers were changed back in November. I just hated not being able to have the blinds open on the windows. I wanted to let sunlight in, but I didn't want random people looking in. I wish I had a laundry room. My washer and dryer are in the bathroom and I hate having them in there. Our bedroom has this weird, thin paneling that's made to look like wood but then it was painted tan. I really wish we just had sheetrock that was painted in that room. That's how Chris feels that way too. Hopefully, the fridge and oven don't quit on us while we are here. We did start working on a puzzle and watched a Christmas movie. We didn't make it very far on the puzzle though, it's of a red dragon protecting his stash of gold, so most of the pieces are red, black, or gold. Not very many people decorated their houses in town, I'd say maybe 6 houses had lights up or yards decorated. The food at Texas Roadhouse is really good (as long as the cook is good, I have been to a bad TR) I always get the country fried steak because it's so tender. I'll watch the first episode of the Loki movie/show to see if it's any good. The first season of the Mandalorian is completed. I think the last episode was this week. I haven't heard anything about when the second season will start. You're welcome! 😀 I hope more Baby Yoda merch gets released soon. I wouldn't mind having a plush Baby Yoda, but I don't know as I want on that makes noise. There might be, but his parents have a bunch of boxes stacked up around the end of the bed, so there's just a small path around to either side of the bed. We just stick a pillow between the headboard and the wall whenever we spend the night there. I would think most people would love to get a personalized gift that had a lot of thought put into it. Chris and I have just decided that we aren't spending much on gifts for his parents. We had Christmas with the in-laws yesterday. FIL forgot that he had to work in the morning, so we took our time getting to their house. Got there, ended up standing around and talking for about an hour (I didn't say much). Then we opened gifts since Chris had told them days prior that we had things to do in town after lunch then needed to get back home. (that shocked us because we assumed she was going to make us wait until after lunch). I got money from the in-laws to buy new floor mats for my truck (don't need, Chris wants to buy nice floor mats for our new car, so they automatically think that I need new ones too). I used the money to buy Pokemon Sword. Lunch plans got changed too. TR isn't open for lunch on Fridays, so we ate at Umi's instead. I have helped go through lights to figure out which one is the dead one. The handheld testers don't work like they are supposed to either. I need to buy a short strand of standard lights with removable bulbs so I can plug in my ornaments that light up and move.

Hey and Hi everyone! *waves* I hope you are all having a great weekend!

I had to go back and check last night that I had visited. I need to buy more ornaments boxes, I always forget to do that. I went through my ornament inventory and removed the ones that I know I'll never use. It would be nice to get some more ornaments, I'd love to see more realistic animal ones. The windows of our apartment looked out at the sidewalk, so anyone walking by could see in. Our duplex windows either overlooked the street or the window of the duplex next door. I think I only ever opened the window blinds at either of those places when I had the Christmas tree up. It is really weird to have the washer and dryer in the bathroom. I noticed I have to wait to start laundry after taking a shower because the steam creates an issue with the buttons. Most of the fixes that were done to this house were done in the 70s and they did the remodeling themselves, so I think they did find the cheapest materials that they could. I'm going to assume that the fridge and stove would get replaced with a basic model similar to what is already here. If we could give input on the fridge, I'd recommend one without a built-in ice maker/water faucet thing. The puzzle drove us bonkers for the hour that we tried working on it. Right now, I'd say I'm a collector of puzzles too. I've got maybe 30+ puzzles that haven't been opened and put together yet. We plan to frame a bunch of the video game-themed puzzles. At TR, you also get two sides with your meal. I always get the seasoned fries because they are yummy. So far, all the Marvel shows are still in the promotion phase. I don't know if any filming has been done yet. The Mandalorian had 9 episodes and each one is about 45+ minutes long. It does seem like a lot of shows are starting to have shorter seasons with longer episodes. Hot Topic and Gamestop have a few shirts that have Baby Yoda on them. Pop Sockets (for smartphones) also have Baby Yoda themed items (I bought one before Christmas). It really isn't. Chris spends the night there whenever he has drill for guard and he doesn't like being there. Exactly! That's one of the reasons why I try to make gifts for Chris and my family. I typically make things geared towards what they like or enjoy and since it's handmade, you typically can't find the same thing in a store. It went better than I anticipated, but I did go in with fairly low expectations for gifts. I think MIL may have figured out that I didn't really want to be there, which may have been one of the reasons she asked if we wanted to open gifts before lunch (we got there and I never put my bags down because I assumed we would be sitting downstairs waiting). I ended up getting two pairs of socks in my stocking from them again, haven't tried them on yet to see if they fit. Lunch was probably my favorite part of the morning. We ate at the hibachi grill at Umi's, so we never had much chance to talk to the in-laws while eating since they were on the other side of the grill. I did find it rather odd that TR wasn't open for lunch on a Friday. I figured they would be since Longhorns Steakhouse is open for lunch every day of the week. Hopefully they new lights work next year too. I've used the lights on my tree for two years now and my mom used them for at least 5 years or so when she had them. One of the strands is stored on a plastic wheel and the other strand would get jammed back in a box, but I'm going to try a different storage option this time. Most of my light-up/moving ornaments came from thrift stores but a few came from my mom. I assume that most of them work, but I've never had a chance to try them out.

I managed to not miss a single day. I would love to have lifelike ornaments of each pet and minions too! I pretty much only use the lifelike cat and bird decorations on my tree. If they did release more lifelike ornaments I would probably clear all the other ornaments out. I have a little bay window area in the sitting room that the tree fits in nicely. I have to move some stuff around to make it work but it's just a card table. I'd love to put lights up around my windows but I just don't have enough lights or a nice way to hang them. Chris and I try to fix what we can around here otherwise it's the landlord and his son-in-law (who has done a great job). Chris replaced the flapper in the toilet earlier this year. He still needs to go back and shorten the chain and retighten things because it has a slight leak out of the tank. I would hate having a toilet that moved around. I already have to deal with a toilet seat that slides around because it's slightly the wrong size. Ooh, yeah, framing her Lion King puzzles would be great and would add more decoration to her room. We plan on framing all of the puzzles eventually and hanging them up around the house. The problem is finding decent frames that won't fall apart or cost an arm and a leg. Seasoned fries are the best and if they are shoestring seasoned fries, they're perfect. I don't like thick-cut fries because they are always soft. Yeah, I want to see previews for the Marvel shows too, but it seems like we may only get one show at a time. I wouldn't mind having a shirt with Baby Yoda on it, as long as the printed image isn't super big. Shirts that have a lot of stiff printing on the front never look good on me. Either a tent or sleeping in the barracks. I think the main issue is that his parents always want to chat forever when he's there and catch up on everything that's happened in the month since they've seen him. I've made two handmade Star Wars canvases for Chris and he really likes them since they are unique. Now if I had gotten handmade socks from the in-laws that would've been better than the cheap socks with a scratchy seam at the toes that I got. A Simba and Nala calendar would be lovely and I'm sure there's a way to figure out how to make one that could be reused each year or month. I was prepared for getting asked when we'd give the in-laws a grandkid (I had a few snarky remarks ready and I was also planning on really putting them in their place and shutting down that question for a good while) and to be asked when we could celebrate Christmas next year. Neither of those things was mentioned so my remarks are stored away for another time. I don't like buffets either (unless it's a Chinese buffet) because the food is always cold by the time you get back to your table. I would try to find a place that has hibachi grills that you can be seated around. Your food is made right in front of you and the chef/cook interacts with you too. Yeah, I found it really odd that TR wasn't opened earlier on a Friday. I have two Christmas trees, but I only use one of them at the moment. My parents gave me their large tree that they've used for years (at least 15 years) because my mom wanted something smaller. My other tree is a flocked one and he's really sad. He leans and has a lot of empty spots because the branches aren't very full. The best time to get a new tree would be during the after Christmas sales. I saw a tinsel tree at Walmart for under $50. You could probably find the older ornaments on eBay but I'd hate to see what people are trying to sell them for. The is one Hallmark store near me but I've been there since it moved to a new location. They've gotten too expensive.

Hey and Hi everyone! Happy almost New Year!


@Beren
Happy Birthday Hun *hugs*

I didn't even add the individual little lights to the tree like I normally do. I just tossed some cats on there, a few birds and Dungarde. My tree didn't even show up at first for me to decorate it, had to refresh the page. I love bay windows and I love windows that are set into thick walls so you have a little space to sit (I grew up in a limestone house that had those). When we get a house build, we plan on putting in a secret library with a reading nook set into the wall by windows. And I think we'll have a bay window on the ground floor too. Ugh...that was the one thing I hated about living in an apartment, filling out a form online to get maintenance to come and fix something. You would think when a resident fills out the form and then calls because water is pouring out of a light fixture in the kitchen that they would show up right away....nope. I have two rooms upstairs that have turned into storage rooms and a closet up there that is the coat closet because there isn't one downstairs. We found some nicer frames at Walmart but I think they cost $20 to $25 a piece. That adds up really fast when we have 15 puzzles we want to frame. I'm picky about fries. Seasoned fries are always a winner. I love curly fries as long as they have a slight crunch to them. The only truly bad fry is one that hasn't been cooked long enough and is still cold. I wouldn't mind having a shirt that had Baby Yoda poking out of a pocket, that could be pretty cute. It's an improvement over them wanting the weekly video chats with Chris during deployment. He has drill coming up soon for this month and he isn't looking forward to spending the night with his parents. Stormtrooper This is the first one that I made a few years ago. I need to get pictures taken and uploaded of the Darth Vader one I made. Darn technology. I swear sometimes things seem to act up for the hell of it. I've had PS4 controllers freeze until I put them down. Either they are learning or the chance for them to ask never came up, either way, I'm fine with storing the comebacks for another time. I've been to a Chinese buffet in Mankato, MN a few times but I mostly just get chicken and rice. It seems like most buffets have gone downhill. I think there's only 2 near us and I haven't been to either one for about 10 years. The one on one interaction is mostly when they start tossing shrimp or chicken for everyone to catch. I always say no and most of the cooks just move on without much fuss. They're just really showy with how they cook the food (like an onion volcano in the middle of veggies), but it can be pretty loud at the start. I'm really hoping that my tree will last for another 10 years. So far it hasn't lost any branches, just needles. I love shopping after Christmas too, but most of what I wanted was already gone at Walmart 😢 Shopping at thrift stores after Christmas is always the best. It's crazy what people will just get rid of because they got something new.
I've found some pretty ridiculously priced used items on Amazon (found a video game guide for $350, it has since dropped to $120). People just get too greedy and think they can charge whatever they want for something. Hallmark has some really neat stuff but I can never justify their prices.

Happy New Year Sharkies!

Happy New year my dear Shark brothers and sisters!

Happy New Year hugs

Hey and Hi everyone!
Second day of the new year. Anyone break a resolution yet? I have *sigh*!

Sleep is important. I was up past midnight on New Year's Eve due to a migraine...I think for once the caffeine in the Excedrin Migraine kicked in and worked cause I was wide awake. Now I've been super tired every day. Should probably have taken a nap, but it's hit or miss on if I feel rested after one. I just did a hard refresh on the page, then waited for everything to load on the tree. After I finished decorating I didn't mess with it for the rest of the month. I just hope that I can find cushions that are comfy enough. Or I just fill the window seat with big, fluffy pillows. I'm sure he was probably the cheapest plumber they could find. You'd think they would want to hire someone who could fix the issue in one visit. I'm sorry that you are having to deal with that 😢. Sleeping in the living room is no fun. I had to do that for over a week before due to being sensitive to the smells coming off a newly varnished shelving unit in my bedroom. The couch is only comfortable for so long. I have no walk-in closets, just three closets that have racks extending past the door so I have to half-crawl in over clothing. I need to reorganize one of the storage rooms. I've gotten lazy and have just stacked things on the floor to deal with later. They are nice frames, but at that price, we'll probably only buy one or two a year. And the price depends on the size of the frame we need for the puzzle. None of our puzzles are small. McD's fries are hit and miss for me. Sometimes they're really good, other times I can tell they've been sitting in the warmer for hours. Every now and then I'll get a fry that just doesn't taste good at all. I'll have to look for Baby Yoda items on Etsy. I'm sure there's loads of neat stuff on there, maybe even a shirt with a little Baby Yoda. Yeah, his drill weekends always end up being stressful because they mostly sit around and wait, then try to get everything done at the last minute. His folks always seem to think that he'll go early to spend more time with them. I need to get a photo taken of it. It's at a half-complete stage right now. If Chris decides that he wants some of the empty spaces filled in, I can fill them in later but I didn't want to make it too hectic. I'll try to get a picture of it this weekend. I spent all afternoon on my old laptop going through bookmarks on Firefox. It froze on me 3 times and I was ready to chuck it. It's 10 years old, so I try to give it some slack. It is, especially when I don't have the option to go to a different room, but I guess I always have the option of just walking out of their house. Yeah, it's pretty noisy at the start when they smack their spatulas around on the grill and the fan and then it can get noisy when chefs startup at the other grills. It gets loud enough that it bothers me sometimes and starts up a headache. I'm going shopping again tomorrow, so I'll check for additional Christmas sales. I did really well at the after Christmas sale at Joann's last week. It's crazy what people will get rid of! Vera Wang stuff isn't cheap, I found some VW stuff at the thrifts but never anything NWT. Yeah, I found a CW that's on my wishlist selling for over 95 mil. I can afford it but I don't need it that bad. I mostly look stuff up online too, but I like having the game guides for my favorite games as they sometimes include behind the scenes art and extra info. I spent most of my afternoon cleaning up my side of the office and getting a decent workspace set up. Now to keep it clean. Then messed around on the old laptop and installed a drawing tablet. I also tried out SWTOR for the first time and got hooked.

I took a nap yesterday and ended up feeling worse because I slept for too long. My trouble with naps is I get some warm and comfy that I don't want to get back out of bed. I think I'll have a hard time finding big, comfy pillows, so I may have to make my own for the reading nook. Most pillows I have right now are comfy enough. I have too much stuff for my house but most of it is sewing and crafting supplies that I don't want to part with. I have gotten rid of a few crafting supplies when I reorganized the sitting room. The next thing I need to go through is my cookbooks. I have way too many so I need to thumb through them and just copy down the recipes I want to try. The puzzles I want to frame all have over 1000 pieces and I think the frames are 20"x26" (I'd have to measure the first frame). I think you'd be able to find some nice frames for smaller puzzles that wouldn't be terribly expensive. I went to a MacDonald's that was super busy (line out the door busy) and still got hours old fries. I try to go at the beginning of the lunch rush to try and get fresh fries. I found an online shop that has some Baby Yoda shirts and they have one with Baby Yoda peaking out of a pocket, but it's a fake pocket that's just printed on the shirt. I'd want an actual pocket. They do. I think it was just before his October drill that his mom thought he would be at their house Friday afternoon to go to a football game just to watch his youngest brother play in the pep band. Apparently, they think his family is supposed to still come before me. Darth Vader I got it uploaded to DeviantArt last night. It has more white space than the other one but I just didn't want to take away from the details in the white space. When I got my first laptop, I only used Firefox, then I switched over to Chrome because Chris recommended it as Firefox had gotten really sluggish. I have told Chris that it may reach the point that I don't even go visit them for holidays or random visits. He can go because I don't want to drive him away from his family but I just can't stand to be around them. We've discussed just skipping spending the holidays with them for a year or two since we are always the ones that have to drive. I would recommend going during lunchtime because it can be a bit less busy. There were only 3 other grills being used while we were there and another one starting up when we left. The evening is when it can get really loud. The Joann's I shop at is in the mall and I really hope it continues to stay open. Most of the jeans that I own have come from thrift stores and they are all pairs that sell for $60 to $100+ new and I got them for $4 to $6 with most of them looking fairly new. I've bought most of my game guides used for under $10 from either Amazon or Hastings. A few I found at thrift stores. I love special editions that give you extras too, but some of the SE can get really pricey. Speaking of Kingdom Hearts 3, there will finally be some DLC (reMIND) released for the game this month on the 23rd. I'm just playing SWTOR with Chris. If I do play the game by myself, I'm just going to try and avoid other players.

I had a hard time falling asleep last night because my nap had been too long. I thought about taking a nap this morning but decided against it. I hate when pillows go flat. I've got a few that I can wash and when they come out of the dryer they are back to their fluffy selves. Which reminds me, I need to wash my pillow. I've got a stuffed animal collection that is starting to take over the spare bedroom upstairs. It doesn't help that I get a new stuffed toy every time I go to the zoo. There's also my beanie baby collection but most of that is in storage. Hobby Lobby has puzzle glue for $3.99 and you can use their 40% off coupon on it. That's the only place that I've looked for puzzle glue. I think it also depends on the location, too. There are some McDonald's locations that are just never good. I wouldn't use the pocket but it just makes more sense to have an actual pocket. Maybe in a few months, there will be more cute t-shirt options available with Baby Yoda. It was the last home game, supposedly, but it wouldn't surprise me if they would have wanted him to go to more games. They wanted us to drive to his little brother's summer league baseball games two years ago after we had moved out of town. That got a big no from us as it didn't make sense to drive two hours to watch a one-hour game. Thanks! I want to do some additional characters, like a Mando helmet or maybe Baby Yoda but the canvases really kill my fine point sharpies. I'd like to say that we could leave whenever we want, but his mom always finds something to make us stay for an extra half hour or longer. When Chris and I start hosting family for holidays, I think we'll have an itinerary in place so that way there is a known end time. But tossing them out is always an interesting option. That's basically what Chris's step-grandmother would do, just less forceful. And it may all depend on the location of the place that has a hibachi grill and how popular it is. There's a hibachi grill an hour east of me and it seems like the restaurant side is busier than the grill side. I love Joann's, but I have to watch myself and make sure I don't buy extra stuff I don't need at the moment. I've got about 8 thrift stores that I shop at. Some of them I end up just browsing because the prices have gone up. I scanned over an article that overviewed the DLC and I was still confused. I guess it will add in some stuff that happens before KH3 but then adds some new stuff for the main game. I need to see if there's a way to hide the chat in SWTOR and in Guild Wars. I don't use it and it only gets in my way. I pretty much try to ignore it so I don't notice if anyone is trying to make fun of me/be mean.

I dropped by and couldn't stop without letting you know how awesome I find your HA! I still love the box with the bird as my ultimate fav... but oh la la you work it, gal friend!

Ah, thanks! <3