Christmas, Fruit Cake and All That Stuff

I put the tree up today. I was totally not feeling in the holiday spirit and I really didn't want to put the tree up, but with kids in the house, I feel that would be a terrible thing not to decorate the house. It didn't take me long to get into the spirit once I started unwrapping the ornaments.

Every year I buy each person in the family an ornament that symbolizes something about them. Also each year, we take the kids to Bronners in Frankenmuth and let them each pick out an ornament. These ornaments become property of the recipient and he or she gets to hang them on the tree each year. I figure by the time the kids are out of high school I will have to have a much bigger tree or two trees!

Today I was smiling and remembering the stories attached to each ornament. Where did I buy it, what does it mean, etc....

With all the Christmas memories I started thinking about fruit cake and my grandma (my mom's mom). She used to bake, a lot. And fruit cake was one of her specialties. So if you've ever made fruitcake, you know that the candied fruit that is the main ingredient, is pretty expensive. Well, when my grandma passed away my mom got all of her recipes and when she sorted through them she found 6 or 7 different recipes for my grandma's fruitcake. Each one progressively called for more fruit until the last recipe that was almost all fruit. Apparently as she got more money, she would increase the amount of fruit.

I find that story so charming and I was thinking about it today so I thought I share it with all of you. What Christmas memories are you thinking about while you unwrap your decorations?

A Bright Spot

Today I got to surprise a few of my employees with end of the year bonuses that were somewhat unexpected. Finally I got to call someone into an office and give them some good news. It made me smile and I haven't been doing much of that around here lately.

Creepy Restaurant Guy Goes to Jail

My first date with Dave was on Valentine's Day. It just so happened I did not have any plans that Valentine's Day (not actually so out of the ordinary) and he did not even realize it was Valentine's Day when he asked me out. I had been meaning to e-mail my friend "the Roach" and ask him if he wanted to have a poor me I'm single and alone friends night out, but had not ever gotten around to it. I won't go into all the details of the actual asking me out part and how I was planning to say no, no, no but ended up saying yes because that isn't what this post is about.

This post is about the restaurant we went to that first date night of ours. The date wasn't very well planned. We didn't make reservations or anything, he just showed up at my house and we decided to try Outback. The wait at Outback was 3 hours. No kidding. Forget that. So then we were stuck wondering if we were going to have to eat McDonald's and I was struck with a brilliant idea. There was a greasy spoon Mexican dive down the road that had fabulous Mexican food and never a wait. So I suggested it. And Dave thought I was kidding because he used to go to greasy spoon type places with his dad all the time. I guess his dad always refused to eat a chain restaurants. And he fell in love with me right then and there. Okay, again, not the point of the post. We went to the Mexican restaurant and got seated right away, had a wonderful meal with outstanding conversation over which Dave fell in love with me. Okay, I'm kidding. Sort of. But we did always sort of think of it as the place where our relationship started. So to commemorate our love, every year on Valentine's Day, we would go to that Mexican restaurant for dinner. Did I mention they have the best margaritas in town?

But, as the years ticked by (and we were going there a couple times a year), the place started getting kind of gross (sorry no other way to put it). The building had never been all that nice, but the staff and the food started not to be all that nice either and when those start going, you start noticing what a craphole the building is. There was one corner of the place that was actually on a slant. Again, that would be charming if the place had good food. The two servers that had always been there disappeared and the frozen margaritas started having big lumps of ice in them that would clog my straw. It was sad and we kept trying it hoping they would shape up. We were pretty sure the place had changed hands.

So one night probably over a year ago, was the last time we ate there. And the person waiting on us was this strange man who claimed to be the owner and was complaining that all of his servers had called in and he had to wait the tables even though his son's wife had had a baby earlier that day. The food wasn't that great and we decided it was finally time to say good bye to the site of our first love.

Last week we drove by the place and there was a sign out front stating that you could get 10% off your bill if you pay cash for your food. I remarked that it probably wouldn't be long before they would be out of business.

Fast forward to last night when I was reading the local news and I looked at this little blurb with a mugshot of a man in an orange jumpsuit. He looked oddly familiar. And the light went on. Guess who? Yep, the owner of the Mexican restaurant. Ha. He's being charged with the following crimes. #1 For filing a false report about a local police officer shoplifting #2 For selling liquor after his liquor license had been suspended and failing to post notification that his liquor license had been suspended and #3 (this is the best/worst one) for installing a camera in the office at the restaurant and spying on a female employee while she changed. I knew there was something creepy about that guy.

I'm going to be even more scarce than usual this week. I am being forced into a prep class for a certification I don't even want but have been told I must have giving me yet another reason to hate my job.

The class is Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. 8am to 5pm and I have been told to expect 3-4 hours of homework a night.

Then Friday I have to spend 8 hours in another meeting learning how to do a spreadsheet. (I'm serious)

So I'm really looking forward to this week being over. But then I think, I don't want to be wishing my life away and I feel like I have been doing that a lot lately.

Why you should not blog while on Ambien

How did my blog become pink? I do not remember doing this.

I Should

Exercise everyday
Read more books
Give more money and time to charity
Call my brothers more often
Stop being afraid
Never waste time
Sleep more
Sleep less
Travel more
Travel less
Be gracious
Focus on my blessings
Get a mani and pedi at least once a month
Complain less
Smile more
Budget better
Learn something new
Run a mile
Be confident
Give 110% at work and at home 100% of the time (okay lets shoot for 98% of the time)
Go skydiving
Have a martini (right now...it's 8am)
Pay off my debt
Be happy
Write a book, write a short story, write a poem, for God's sake write something!
Bake a cheesecake
Clean out my closet
Dance
Sing
Adapt
Contribute

The Whole Truth (the quick version)

Fact: I am in a hotel by myself in Columbus, OH.

Fact: This is not a pleasure trip.

Fact: I don't like sleeping away from my man. Gag if you want, but I hate it.

Fact: I got a "friend suggestion" from one of my facebook friends and the suggestion is a person who made my life a living hell in junior high. Maybe living hell is an understatement, but it's the best I can come up with right now. I am 33 (and 3/4 but lets leave that for another post) and if I am going to a place that I know this person will be at, I break out in hives. I'm serious. I am still deeply disturbed by how this person treated me and I believe that there are portions of my personality that exist today, solely because of those events.

Fact: I ignored the friend suggestion and I hope the person in question has the good sense not to send me a request herself.

Question: Am I seriously disturbed?