Monday Monday....

'Tis the Season of Chaos.  Last night we went to the mall to get a tad and I mean a "tad" of shopping done.  We were meeting Austin and Mia at Khanki (Japanese Hibatchi Restaurant) at 8:30 pm.  Well we didn't get to the mall until around 7:15 pm so we were very limited on what and where we could go.  Of course - the first stop was LUSH.  This is one of Syd's (my niece's) favorite places to go.  If you are not familiar with LUSH it is a froofy place that sells soaps, masks, and basically spa essential items. It doesn't take much to spend over $100 to put it in a nutshell. Well, with that being said, the sales staff was uncapable of handling the 5 or 6 customers in the store but the best was when we checked out with our purchase and were told "Sorry - we ran out of bags so you'll have to carry your items in your purse or hands to your car"  - I thought it was April fools rather than the week of Christmas. Was I being punked?  Candid camera?  Really???????????????????  I looked behind her on the shelf and there was a box of garbage bags.  She so kindly gave me the smaller garbage bag to tote our items out of the store.  So does she not think Mall Security would wonder why we had no bag?  Did she think this was normal?  - There had to be a full moon or some kind of crazy gas being spread instead of Holiday Cheer.  "Just sayin'".............

J. Jill was great.  Huge sale - 30% off everything - sale or regular price and they are always soooooooo nice in there. Always looking to help and save you money.  The woman helping me said - next time you order online call the store instead - shipping will be free or at most $5.95 instead of $11.95 you paid.  Of course went in to return one item and came out with 4. Merry Christmas to me.

We finally made it to Khanki where we had dinner. I think that will be our last visit there. It's just not the same.

I got up this morning and Keith and Justin had left for work, Syd was up watching TV in her room.  I went downstairs to let Piper and  Crystal out and found a puddle by the back door. Good morning to me. Well got the mop cleaned it up and then went to put Crystals bed out. She's our 14 year old dog.  When I went to put her bed out I noticed a HUGE puddle by the tree into the presents. I immediately thought "#%@#" Leo, my grandcat decided to mark the gifts and tree.  I was getting ready to call Justin and tell him what his cat did when I awoke enough to realize there's no way he could have peed that much. Plus there was no smell.  So I grabbed the wet things and sniffed closer.  I know - those that don't or have had no animals probably think ewwwwwwwwwww but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.  No smell.  This was a good thing. I then looked further and found that the $3 contraption that you put a 2 liter of water in, to water the tree, had detached from the tree. It's a small hose the thickness of a straw.  I'm sure one of the cats decided to play with it but which one I don't know. So I blamed poor Leo - and he wasn't the bad one.  He got a few extra treets from his Grammy.

such an angel - LOL...he's even balancing on the edge of the couch. 

Syd and I then headed to Publix to grocery shop.  3 hours later..............we had our groceries.  We had both worked up an appetite and decided to stop for a quick burger at Five Guys.  Then to Capri Flavors for the annual Cannoli filling - quick stop at Starbucks and then home to then unload all the bags of groceries.  Syd took a quick nap - I did some cleaning and now Syd and Keith are having quality time cooking - 

 Syd shredded the Mozarella

Keith Preppring the Lasagna noodles..........

then on to making snickerdoodle cookies.......

well - snickerdoodle-ish...............

some were soft, some crunchy and from what I'm hearing from the kitchen the last set are great for using as hockey pucks. 

Layering the noodles for a big tray of Lasagna. 

In our house it will be 3 days of cooking. I can't complain- my husband does love to cook. So tomorrow will be wrapping and baking, he'll do some more cooking when he arrives home and then Wed we have to hit the mall for the last minute crunch.  I would normally not participate in that yearly even of my husband but Syd needs to go to the Apple Store. 

So good night for now, 

Although I'm not sure how. 

I've been lacking in sleep and it is not something I deal with well, 

So I'm off to bed now or else it will be "#$@#".

I AM going to have all presents wrapped before Christmas eve.  I have never made that goal - no matter how hard I try - but I AM this year!