The holiday Christmas party

Last weekend was Buzz's office Christmas party. The party was held at a local Irish Pub, and we finally got the chance to use our karaoke machine. The karaoke was a hit! Everyone got into it...even a few people who weren't there with our Christmas party. I sung a Patsy Cline song, Walkin' After Midnight. Buzz and I even sang a song together from Grease.

The guys take at karaoke.

The women's turn at karaoke.

Plus our rendition of Summer Lovin'...at least as good as the original.

Back in NM

The first weekend of December we headed back to NM for the office Christmas party. We arrived on Friday and headed to dinner with an old neighbor. We went to an old favorite, a Thai restaurant. Who would of thought one of the best Thai restaurants we've found is in that small town? Anyway, it was great to eat at an old favorite!

Saturday morning we headed to breakfast at the Waffle House with another friend of mine I had met while in NM. It was the first time that I had met her husband, and the first time Buzz had sat down to chat with either. Breakfast was just as good as it use to be...they have great vegi omelettes and burritos. Can you guess who eats the vegi omelettes?

Before lunch, we ran a few errands while in town and then went back to the Waffle House. I know there isn't much to eat in town, but that wasn't the reason we headed back. Buzz's friends wanted to have lunch there.

And finally a few pictures from the weekend Christmas party.

Look at that dinner spread!

Our first Christmas gift.

The second gift. The first gift was stolen away as soon as someone got the chance.

And the best picture of the weekend...Kermit at the airport, welcoming us at our terminal.

Kitty and laundry

Since Kitty is sitting in my lap begging for attention, I thought it would be the perfect time to talk about her. Last week, while Buzz and I were attempting to fold laundry, she decided that she needed some attention. We have come to realize that she has one goal in life, to be at the center of all we do. I have to say that she did accomplish her goal on this particular evening.

Nothing like a little Kitty fur on clean laundry!

Happy Birthday!

Today's my birthday! So far it's been a great day. I've gotten several emails from friends and lots of phone calls. Earlier today a few ladies I use to work with called to sing Happy Birthday. As soon as the hubby gets home, I am opening up cards and presents! Then we are headed to dinner. Not too far away is the best Hibachi Grill. It's hard to believe that we haven't been there in months. That will soon be remedied!

New Appliances

We have gotten a new microwave. Our other microwave (roommates to be specific) is about to be taken to a new home. Plus, it has slowly declined in its ability to reheat items. Due to the unusual size of our cabinets, we weren't able to get a microwave that fits right above the stove. However, we found the perfect size to fit our countertop.

And to test the microwave, we decided to pop some popcorn. It popped in under 2 minutes! Pretty good in comparison to the old microwave that didn't have enough power to pop popcorn.

Turkey Day

For Thanksgiving, we headed to my Aunt's house. We got up Thursday morning and headed out early. Buzz and I arrived right at lunch time as the last of the food was being put out. Perfect timing! There was enough food to feed an army.

That afternoon a few of us watched football and a few of us put together a puzzle. My Aunt bought the puzzle. It was of a grandfather fishing with his grandson; the grandfather looked just like my great-grandfather. In the evening, we sat down and watched a movie.

On Black Friday, we decided to forgo the usual 4 am shopping. Instead of venturing into the crowds, we decided to enjoy the morning and sleep in. Later that afternoon, we headed back home and actually caught up to Mom and Grandpa who had left two hours earlier.

Thanksgiving at our house

Wednesday evening Buzz and I had Dad and Ryan over for Thanksgiving dinner. Before dinner could be eated in the dining room, we had a bit of cleaning to do. The weekend before we had sorted through boxes and moved a few things around so that we could enjoy dinner around dining room table.

Wednesday morning, I got up and started the turkey. I used a new recipe that I had found in O Magazine. The turkey turned out perfect! It could have been part of the original photo shoot for the article. Along side the turkey, we had stuffing, a salad, green beans, potato casserole, rolls, and a pie.

Luckily, we've been able to eat through all the leftovers.

Happy Halloween!

Earlier this week we bought a pumpkin, carved it and cooked the pumpkins seeds. Buzz had the honors of drawing the pumpkin's face and cutting it.

Drum roll........the final product!

Plus, we can't forget the pumpkin seeds. Per Mom's recipe, we boiled the seeds first (to keep them from drying out once baked), and then baked the seeds with lots of salt until they were nice and golden.

On Halloween night, we carved one more pumpkin, and placed both outside with our new fall wreath. Thanks, Grandma! It looked great on our porch.


We can't forget Dr. Rod with Abu Dobby (Dr. Rod is in the back).

We didn't have a lot of trick or treaters, but we had a good handful. Plus with the freshly carved lit pumpkins on our front porch, the front of the house smelled like pumpkin cookies. That was a treat in and of itself.

Moving back

As of this past weekend, we are no longer living in two places. Yeah us! Last Thursday all of Buzz's coworkers decided to give him a grand going away party. Everyone brought something for lunch and the whole group enjoyed a large pot luck. After work, we all headed to the local pub for dinner, drinks and pool.

On Friday, we got our U-haul and loaded up all of our things. And boy did we have tons of stuff! Plus we took a few last pictures of us at our apartment. Here is Kitty on her favorite perch....

Buzz ready to hit the road on Saturday morning.

The sunrise just behind our apartments.

All packed up and ready to go. We made a quick trip by Micky D's to grab breakfast and then we headed towards home.

When we arrived home, there was tons of wonderful food. Glenn had made chicken kabobs, pulled pork with corn and caramel apples.

A trip to Ruidoso

Saturday Buzz and I drove to Ruidoso. We went to a Billy the Kid museum and then to the Hubbard Museum of the American West. At the entrance to the second museum is a small park filled with bronze horses featuring seven different breeds. Each statue is one and one half times life size. When you walk into the museum, you see items from the early American West and life in the early 1900s.

After that we headed to Oktoberfest at the convention center. It was a lot of fun. Part of the center was set aside for a craft fair and the other part was dedicated to the Oktoberfest. Local groups set out German food...there were five or six booths with different food and of course German beer. Plus there was entertainment...their was a different singing or dancing group every hour. We watched two singing groups and two dancing groups.

Sunset Walk

This past Friday Buzz and I did the Sunset Nature Walk across White Sands. It was an hour guided walk through the gypsum dune fields to look at geology, plants and animals. We learned a little bit about the geology of the area. For example, the white streaks across the surrounding mountains are solid gypsum and the grass in the area grows off of bacteria in the sand. Also, we saw lots of plants, but no animals. However, there were tons of animal tracks all over the dunes. We had fun tracing the tracks through the sand. The walk is timed to end at sunset...hence the great sunset pictures!

Our New Neighbor

A few weeks ago while walking back to the apartment, we met our new neighbor...a tarantula spider. Though they are suppose to live all over the complex, I hadn't seen one yet. I suspect this one decided to take a stroll after the construction began behind the apartments.