Overflowing toilets and midnight laundry

After shopping all day on Friday, I was just about ready to go to bed after my long (but productive day.) I flushed my toilet, and I had a major overflow. I'm talking MAJOR. There was water all across the bathroom, and I even got the water going into the toilet turned off quickly.

So I had a huge mess to clean up before I went to bed, and then I decided to do laundry of the towel I use as a bath mat since it was soaked.

So, I didn't get to bed until real late. I was so happy to see my bed that night! I was so tired I think I was asleep before I even got to bed!

Merry Christmas!

Eleven months, 3 weeks, and 4 days until Christmas. Can you believe I almost have my shopping completed? I start early, usually in January, but this year I started today.

I hit sales at Bath and Body Works, KB Toys, Lowe's, Target, and Barnes and Noble. I bought lots of stuff at Bath and Body Works as their body was was only $3 for a full sized bottle. Can't beat that price, and with three people in my family who love Bath and Body Works, seemed like the time to start buying gifts. (Even though I don't have the Christmas decorations down yet!)

I need to get the Christmas decorations down. I haven't turned on the tree in days. It just seems like it shouldn't be Christmas with Dad gone this year. I miss him a lot.

99 listings on ebay so far, 99 listings. . .

Everyone sing with me:

99 listings on eBay so far, 99 listings to go, get one listed and ready to go, 100 listings on eBay so far. . .

Okay, so perhaps yesterday fried my brain a little. It was a discounted listing day on eBay and I tried to get a number of things posted. In years past I have had up to 707 listings on eBay at their holiday listing day, but yesterday I ended with 138.

I'm hoping to put the money I make towards visiting my friends in Russia. You can view their blog here: http://masonsinrussia.blogspot.com/

Just have to check out what I'm selling? Then go here: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZebooksandbargains

I tried putting things on eBay that have been sitting around for a while. I did some relists as well. Plus there are some things I have dreaded packing, but it all adds up to visit friends. :)

Happy Hanukkah!

Another big news story to come out of our household recently was that my mother won NPR (National Public Radio's) create a Menorah contest. Her prize hasn't arrived yet, but it's a book, cd, and a $20 bookmark. (It must be some bookmark.) Her menorah was "The Miracle of the Oil Prices" and it commemorated the high gas prices at the pump this year. The menorah was to tie in a news story of the year with a working menorah. One of the judges is an editor of Crafts magazine.

So, I wish everyone a Happy Hanukkah, or as my 8th grade Gifted teacher used to call it -- "Chan-ooo-kah". He also told us it started on December 4th annually, and it was a Hawaiian holiday.

So regarldless of what holiday you celebrate -- Hanukkah, Chanookah, Yule, or Christmas, I hope it's a great one.

Our family is headed here in a half hour to eat and then open gifts. I can't wait. Personally I'm hoping for stamps and cash. I'm saving to visit my friends in Russia. You can visit their blog by clicking on "Mason Jars" on the side of my blog. I talked to them this morning, although I called a wrong number and who knows what country I called -- maybe Djoubiti? I got a message in French. As far as I know Russia hasn't changed their national language to French, so I can only guess what country I dialed with my wrong number!

Oh, the memories of concrete

I had an interesting win this week. . . I won an atlas from a contest sponsored by the American Concrete Pavement Association. I had to write about a memory of concrete pavement, and honestly, doesn't EVERYONE have a favorite concrete memory? LOL!

I wrote about the time Dad took a back road to Ohio, making a trip six hours that should have only taken 2 1/2 at the most. After that time, every vacation I'd see the sunrise over the Interstate as he never took a back road again.

I shared my entry with Dad not long before he died, and he really grinned remembering the time we took a back road through West Virginia to get to the Ohio border so we could ride a ferry across the Ohio River. The ferry, as I remember it, was a rickety wooden thing we drove the car onto and then it was about one minute until we crossed the river.

At least now I have an atlas to help me find the Interstates now and I can make more concrete pavement memories. :)