Reindeer Names

Do you have kids that like to shake and guess what their gifts are under the tree? A friend of mine does this cool thing with her kids that prevents them from messing with the gifts under the tree.

She assigns each of her kids a reindeer name and puts that name on the gifts under the tree (she changes their reindeer name each year). She then takes and puts that name on a piece of paper and places it at the bottom of their stocking. Instead of spending their time shaking and guessing what is in the box, they spend their time trying to guess which reindeer they are this year. On Christmas morning, they open their stocking and when they get to the bottom, they discover their reindeer name.

I thought this was such a cool idea. She started this when her kids were in elementary school and still does it today even though they are grown.

Chocolate Stout

Okay, I am having no luck with the wine drinking thing, so I switched to beer. I went to Central Market where you can buy signles and just picked one out called Chocolate Stout. I picked it out solely by the name; how can you go wrong if it has chocolate in the name. I sat down to do a little blogging while I drank my beer. It actually had a very nice taste that I could learn to like. I needed to go check on something in the other room and this is when I realized this was no ordinary beer. Admittedly, I am a light weight drinker, but I felt this one in my legs as soon as I stood up. When I checked the bottle, it said it was 5.2% alcohol instead of the 2%-3% of a typical beer. Guess the hubby didn't feel it necessary to point that out to me when I purchased the beer. I actually like the taste of thisone; however, I am not sure I would have named it chocolate - unless they were referring to the color.

New Office

My team and I moved in to our new office location today. It felt very odd going to a new building to work. I had been going to the same building for almost 9 years. We are doing the same thing, just in a new location. The old office was very noisy and always filled with chaos. The new office is very quiet and no interruptions. We had our typical first day challenges; computers not working, no fax machine, no printers, etc. We will get settled in and all will be running smoothly in no time, but I definitely have to get a radio to add a little noise in the background.

Transiberian Orchestra

Transiberian Orchestra is coming to Austin for a concert on January 4th. I desperately want to go see them, but just don't have the extra funds for the tickets. I was lucky enough to see them in concert 2 years ago and that was the most spectacular concert I have ever seen.

Sometimes when you go to a concert you talk about it for a couple of weeks and then you kinda forget about it; well not this one. Hubby and I still talk about that concert two years later. The music is phenomenal and the laser light show if the best I have ever seen. The band members all stay afterwards and greet anyone who is interested. You can't help but have the holiday spirit after you leave. I have their CD The Lost Christmas Eve and play it all year long because their music is so spectacular.

If you have the chance to go see them in concert, you should definitely go seem them.

White Elephant

I am going to a White Elephant gift exchange in a couple of weeks and I don't know what to bring. I want to bring the gift that everyone wants. You know, the gift that keeps getting stolen. Last year, that gift was a box of lottery scratch-n-win tickets. The only thing I can come up with is to go to Specs Wine and Liquor and getting some type of beer or wine gift basket. Everyone in that group is fond of alcohol.

What kind of gift would you like if you were going to a White Elephant gift exchange?

Photo Phriday

What a difference 6 months can make! My sweet little Riley was only 6 pounds when we brought her home. Six months later she is over 6 times that weight. Yep, she is weighing in now at a whopping 37 pounds. Unfortunately, she has not learned that she is getting bigger. She still wants to be held and snuggled at night while she watches television. I guess that could possibly be my fault.... nah, that couldn't possibly be the reason.

Stephenville - No Longer Dry

I spent most of my childhood and teenage years in Stephenville, Texas. Stephenville is the county seat for Erath County and it has always been a dry county. Anyone who wanted to purchase alcohol had to go to a neighboring county; usually a town called Proctor. Some of the smaller towns truly made their money from all of the college kids and young adults in Stephenville who would make the drive just to purchase alcohol. Every time the subject of making alcohol sales legal in Erath county would come up for vote, the townsfolk would always vote to keep the county dry. In the most recent election, that was again on the ballot. This time, the town actually voted to allow alcohol sales in Erath County.

Unfortunately, for many of the merchants, it can take up to 6 months to get approved for a license to sell alcohol. The sleepy little town of Stephenville is finally waking up.