It's (finally) beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Today is the last day of work before Christmas!!! Tonight I'm going to my friend's house for Hanukkah dinner. Tomorrow Henry is driving up for Christmas Eve celebrations. Then on Christmas morning we will drive back down to celebrate with his family. Last night I made cookies and brought them to work this morning for my coworkers. Here is the recipe:

Peanut Butter Oatmeal No Bake Cookies

10 minutes prep.
Makes 12 cookies. (I find that it makes more than 12 - around 18 or so)

3 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
5 tablespoons peanut butter (reduced fat works great)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups brown sugar
½ cup milk (non-fat works great)
¼ cup butter

1. Mix together the first three ingredients. Set aside.
2. Stir together sugar, milk, and butter in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat stirring occasionally – full boil for one minute.
3. Immediately pour over oatmeal mixture and stir thoroughly but rapidly.
4. Spoon cookie size scoops (heaping tablespoon) onto waxed paper or plastic wrap and let set until firm (refrigerate if in a hurry).

Woke up yesterday morning to see that we had finally gotten a proper "dump." My car had about a foot of snow on it.

With flash:

Without flash:I made my bed up all nice and lined up my stuffed animals. Then Rocky jumped up there and squeezed himself in between two of them. He's such a snuggle bug!
Me and Rocky wearing our gay apparel:

Snowy View from Timmerman Hill

Christmas Cards

Below are some Christmas cards I made this weekend. I'm not quite finished yet. Click to enlarge.

ADD(epression)

Can't focus, stuff sucks. Don't even really feel like writing about it. Three characteristics of my life right now:
1. Numb
2. Distracted
3. Going through the motions

This week has been especially difficult (what do you mean, it's only Tuesday?! -oops, it's actually Wednesday). Getting up and going in the morning is a struggle. I feel sore and unrested. Work goes by in an unproductive blur. I get home with the desire to be creative, but I feel like I haven't slept in years, and I end up spacing out and/or watching TV until way past my bedtime, which doesn't make any sense.

I tried to do some scrap booking last night, but I was disorganized and uninspired. I ended up making one mediocre page, which I will probably completely redo.

After that pathetic effort, I ended up just watching several episodes of Lost, which keeps getting stranger and stranger. The plot is thickening, as my Dad would say. I'm on episode 21 or 22 of season 2. Check out Hulu.com. It's great for catching up on old (and not-so-old) episodes of your favorite TV show.

Rocky is very agitated by the guinea pigs. I think he wants to sniff them and chase them, but they also scare him. Every little noise they make causes him to run to their cage and whine and look at me as if to ask "What in God's name ARE these creatures?!" I eventually had to put him in his crate last night because he was just too upset by them to relax.

It's already 11:30, and I've accomplished nothing today. Now I guess I'll go force myself to work out.

Christmas Photos

Henry, Rocky and I took the tripod to the Snake River Canyon visitors' center and took some photos to put in our Christmas cards. Here is a sneak peak:

We are major dorks. Henry got these matching hats for us at some promotion at his work. He's Bud, I'm Bud Light.

This is my favorite. Henry's making a weird face, but otherwise it turned out well.

Henry and Rocky love each other. I think this is a very good picture of the pair.

I love Rocky! He adds so much joy to my life.

More fun with Rocky

Rocky meets my friend's dog, Bear.
Bear is lots of fun!!!

Rocky does not know what he's supposed to do with the ball. Bear, on the other hand, knows exactly what to do with the ball. This is how big Rocky is compared to a Coke. He weighs 9 pounds. Cozy new blanket; only cost $3.50! Rocky took a liking to Henry as soon as they met. Henry was sweet enough to get up early and go with me to the animal shelter and offer moral support.

Meet Rocky!

Meet the new addition to my family! Rocky is a chihuahua/shiba inu. I rescued him from an animal shelter in a nearby county. He's a great little guy! Gets along with everyone, is happy-go-lucky, walks well on the leash, and snuggles with me in my bed.