What Santa Brought Me.....2013 Edition

**I promise, this is my last post about Christmas.  I know most people are anxious to "move on" from the Holidays and get it behind them, but not me.  I would keep my tree and lights on the house up for Months if I could. lol **

I know everybody is anxious to know exactly what presents Sluggy received for Christmas in 2013.

Oh come on.....you KNOW you want to know.  ;-)

Yes, we are lavish gift givers around here.

It's all about the bling.......the luxury........the decadence........
 

No, around here, we don't expect anyone to spend a big wad of cash on a pile of gifts for us.  We gift sensibly.  We give what someone wants/needs(within reason) and we try to get a deal if possible.

Here are a couple of gifts I got from family & friends......

 

First from my brother and his wife....a blender sports bottle......

 

 

 

And Tanner sent this awesome set of HUGE coffee mugs if you missed that post.......

 

 

 

 

We do an immediate family Secret Santa gift exchange and #2 Son got my name again this year!.....

Ollie's....One of my favorite places to shop thus one of my favorite gifts this year!

 

 

 

#1 Son bought me....

 

2 lbs. of sugar-free gourmet Chocolate.  From caramel thingys, to dark chocolate nut clusters to ginormous peanut butter cups......mmmmmmm

 

 

Plus he got me a 4 pack of Sprecher's Hard Root Beer.  I discovered this stuff on our Summer Road Trip in the liquor store in Sonya Ann's town and have been looking for it/craving it ever since.  Of course, you can't get this anywhere around where I live!  Figures, right? lolz

 

Here are the goodies Hubs/Santa gave me--

 

"Santa" filled my stocking with this strange mix of goodies....

 

 

A metal Spatula with a silicone edge(so you can use it on non-stick cookware)

A Chocolate Bar

A pack of Batteries? (It's best not to try to think too hard why he puts some things in the stocking.)

A canister of Lens Wipes
A GOOD manual can opener(It got put to use immediately as ours was on it's last legs so it's not in the picture.)

A small Rake with a purple handle

 

I asked for the small Rake with a purple handle actually.

 

It's a telescoping back scratcher......

 

Wish I had one of these when the kids were little and acted up in the car.  I could have smacked them while driving.

 

And the "big" gifts.......

 

 

2 Bottles of hard cider I have never had before....one is an imported Irish brand.

A box of dark chocolate. Mmmmm!

A $25 prepaid Visa card

A rayon batik tunic.....

 

I showed him a couple of tops I wanted(this one and another design)and he said he wasn't "doing eBay" to get gifts.

Sigh.

So I went ahead and bought a couple of tops from this seller in early December because I needed some new shirts AND since this sort of clothing is "out of season" now, the deals were really swell.

One of the tops I got was this particular one.

 

A classic case of "Don't buy yourself anything around the Holidays" happened.

Doh.

Now I have 2 of this one, so when I wear one out, I'll have a spare.

Good thing I REALLY like this tunic! lolz

 

And that is all my gifties for this year.

 

I am almost shocked that I did not get a book this year, as Hubs usually gives me a book(in his mind, it's the PERFECT gift).

I guess since I still haven't finished the book he gave me last Christmas he figured out maybe buying me reading material I didn't ask for isn't the best use of his gifting cash. 8-))

As you can see, we just live on the edge, walk on the wild side, spend money like it's going out of style!!

Not.....

 

So what did Santa bring you this year?
I want to see it all!!!

 

Sluggy

 

It's Almost Time for the Abbey

About an hour and a half to go before the premier of Season 4 of Downton Abey on my local station.
Can't.
Hardly.
Wait.

Until then, check this parody out......lolz......

 

Sluggy

Update On My Family Drug Dealer....Er, Doctor

And while I am digging through local newspaper articles, here is an update on my family doctor....you know, the one who almost killed me last year.......HERE.
He has been in jail since May 2013 and there are a few more details in this report.

What a train wreck!
And he hid it so well from so many patients, including me......up until February when he was obviously drunk during my appointment.

The man has big problems.  If he hadn't almost caused my demise I might feel more compassion toward him.....

Sluggy

 

Dodged a Fraud Bullet Last Month

First there was the Target card theft ring on Black Friday and now this......
I just saw on the news a few days ago that Hubs and I dodged a credit card scam bullet a couple of weeks ago.
We had gone to the Ollie's in a town south of here(remember my James Brown Christmas CD?)shopping a bit before Christmas.  We ate out afterwards and had I not had an Applebee's gift card with me that day to use, we would have gone to the Chinese Buffet Restaurant in that shopping center.

Thursday there was THIS REPORT on the local news.
Geesh!
We probably would have paid with a credit card had we eaten there that day.
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, with having credit card info. stolen.

It just never ends, does it?   8-)

Sluggy

Christmas 2013 at Chez Sluggy

Christmas morning before we had to chisel #2 Son out of bed at the crack of 10.....

#2 Son missed  breakfast of scrambled eggs, Smithfield salt-cured ham(sliced ever so thin)and Great Aunt Lula's Rolls.....

Presents waiting to be opened.....

 

 

Max the dog says, "Get that boy out of bed already, willya?!?!".
 

Seems like all our ornaments anymore are "kiddie" themed.....sock money, peace bear, Lamb Chop, Dudley the Dragon, Power Rangers, Pokémon, Big Bird......

Doing my Carol Merrill impersonation.....if you are under 40, Google the name.....

Me--

Carol--

Finally!
He lives........well, after his morning coffee.....

Opening gifties of smelly stuff......

From my brother and his wife.....

Look!
Santa left us an old beagle under our tree.....just what we wanted......

Hubs Secret Santa gifties.......I think these books are going to lead to more expenses, but hopefully, with yummy results!

Hey! It isn't Christmas without sox and undies.....

#2 Son opens his "big" gift(a new $$$ amp), plugs in his bass and cranks up the volume.....thankfully the windows didn't crack!......

Note to self--next time you give a gift like this, be sure to wear earplugs when you come downstairs....

There are never any pictures of me opening up presents.......must be because I am the only one who takes photos.

Can you believe the beagle slept through that?!?  Now I KNOW she is deaf....

The second batch of rolls waiting to go into the oven.....

.....so they can turn out like this.....Hey! Who stole 3 rolls?!

 

After presents and while food was cooking I set about setting the table.  We are still using that folding camping table for the dining room table, but no excuse not to put out the Christmas dishes and good table linens, right?
So I found a gold tapestry table cloth that was the proper length to cover it and pulled out some coordinating cloth napkins.
But for gosh sakes, look at the size of the TAGS on them!

Couldn't hide them when I tried to fold the napkins either......they kept flapping out.....

Snip, snip, say, "Goodbye Martha!".  If you want to come to dinner here, you have to be an unobtrusive guest.....

What an egomaniacal witch she is to have to have a tag that large on a napkin!
I can see a tablecloth(the tag on the table covering was the same size),but a skimpy 12" x 12" piece of fabric too?
Heck, I could probably seam these together and make another napkin! lolz


Forgot to photograph the dinner(too busy eating it), but here is one of the desserts, a Trifle.
Except I don't own a trifle bowl.....oh well, it still tasted fine.

It was a cheap dessert since it used up some items I got cheaply that needed using.....a chocolate Entenmann's cake from the bakery outlet($1), 2 packs of instant vanilla pudding($2), half a container of leftover Cool Whip from Thanksgiving(.44¢), a few squirts of aerosol whipped cream(.50¢)and a bag of frozen strawberries($1-Dollar Tree).
It was by far the biggest hit with the young'uns....

No pictures of the dinner guests, just the desserts.....Hey!, you saw them on my Christmas Eve post and they hadn't changed much in the 18 hours since then.....lol

So how was your Christmas Day?

Tomorrow we take down the tree and decorations and pack 'em away for another year.....

Sluggy