(no subject)
OK...so I told you about the property taxes; pretty cool, I think.
Last week, we were continuing to play "catch up" at work after Thanksgiving and then a port strike. We were finally getting close to getting back on schedule. But now vacations are putting us really behind again. And another port strike looms. At least the parties were fun.
Our first "party" was lunch brought in on Thursday by one of the contractors. Free food always makes us happy. Only downside, they didn't bring enough sides for 50 people. We had a choice of slaw, potato salad or chips. And even by taking only one thing, we were still short. The next day we had lunch again, ham brought the day before but not carved. So we added tons of chips and dips and sides and had a wonderful lunch. After lunch, we met in the open hallway to do a white elephant gift exchange. My $20 gift was a kitchen can/bottle opener set and a really nice bamboo cutting board. My white elephant (the only thing I had at the house that I didn't want/need) was a bottle of sweet white wine my youngest son bought last year (not realizing it was sweet). My gift was "stolen" all 3 times and was out of play.
I was lucky enough to have done this type of gift exchange many times before and knew exactly how to get what I wanted. I did "last steal" on a huge bottle of Capt Morgan Spiced Rum. And with it I got a dollar store doll that had hair glued to the legs and underarms and a razor in the package. "Shave With Me Barbie"!! Hysterical!
Saturday was the company party downtown. I got lost trying to find the place but was only a few minutes late for the 3pm start. We had the basement "billiards" room of a local micro-brewery. There was an open bar for the first 2 hours or so. Then we had dinner of salad, fresh green beans, pork loin, carving station prime rib and the worst mashed potatoes ever (could have used them as mortar). Dessert was a selection of cookies. We had to leave at 7pm since there was another group coming in. And that was the only bad part of the party.
It seems that IU and Butler had played a basketball tournament just around the corner from where we had the party. So traffic was a mess. And with the rain and not knowing my way around downtown and being slightly night blind, the drive home took me over an hour. Every time my GPS had me ready to turn one way, the police forced me to turn the other. What a mess!
Sunday, I finished my shopping for Christmas. This included getting a tree and getting it set up. And like last year when I had the excuse that it took me 30 minutes to get the tree home and into water, this year my tree still won't drink even though it got into water within 10 minutes. At least I only need it to survive until next Tuesday so I can turn on the lights while we open gifts. After that, it can do whatever it wants.
Well, I have a rough week ahead at work with only 3 of us in my department to do the work of 5. And some of them will be off later this week. UGH! So I need to get to bed early so I can handle the extra workload.
Last week, we were continuing to play "catch up" at work after Thanksgiving and then a port strike. We were finally getting close to getting back on schedule. But now vacations are putting us really behind again. And another port strike looms. At least the parties were fun.
Our first "party" was lunch brought in on Thursday by one of the contractors. Free food always makes us happy. Only downside, they didn't bring enough sides for 50 people. We had a choice of slaw, potato salad or chips. And even by taking only one thing, we were still short. The next day we had lunch again, ham brought the day before but not carved. So we added tons of chips and dips and sides and had a wonderful lunch. After lunch, we met in the open hallway to do a white elephant gift exchange. My $20 gift was a kitchen can/bottle opener set and a really nice bamboo cutting board. My white elephant (the only thing I had at the house that I didn't want/need) was a bottle of sweet white wine my youngest son bought last year (not realizing it was sweet). My gift was "stolen" all 3 times and was out of play.
I was lucky enough to have done this type of gift exchange many times before and knew exactly how to get what I wanted. I did "last steal" on a huge bottle of Capt Morgan Spiced Rum. And with it I got a dollar store doll that had hair glued to the legs and underarms and a razor in the package. "Shave With Me Barbie"!! Hysterical!
Saturday was the company party downtown. I got lost trying to find the place but was only a few minutes late for the 3pm start. We had the basement "billiards" room of a local micro-brewery. There was an open bar for the first 2 hours or so. Then we had dinner of salad, fresh green beans, pork loin, carving station prime rib and the worst mashed potatoes ever (could have used them as mortar). Dessert was a selection of cookies. We had to leave at 7pm since there was another group coming in. And that was the only bad part of the party.
It seems that IU and Butler had played a basketball tournament just around the corner from where we had the party. So traffic was a mess. And with the rain and not knowing my way around downtown and being slightly night blind, the drive home took me over an hour. Every time my GPS had me ready to turn one way, the police forced me to turn the other. What a mess!
Sunday, I finished my shopping for Christmas. This included getting a tree and getting it set up. And like last year when I had the excuse that it took me 30 minutes to get the tree home and into water, this year my tree still won't drink even though it got into water within 10 minutes. At least I only need it to survive until next Tuesday so I can turn on the lights while we open gifts. After that, it can do whatever it wants.
Well, I have a rough week ahead at work with only 3 of us in my department to do the work of 5. And some of them will be off later this week. UGH! So I need to get to bed early so I can handle the extra workload.