wittenlover

Fun seeing all the pictures of the packages that have arrived. Helps me as I continue to stalk my mailbox daily waiting for mine to appear so I can set it aside for Christmas morning. [emoji102][emoji16][emoji106]

Congrats to all the winners from last year’s “big prize” winner! Hope you all enjoy them! [emoji16][emoji106][emoji322]

Happy December! Got word today from the “powers that be” that our annual Christmas bonuses will still come this year. This wasn’t necessarily expected, given all the fallout from COVID. People ask why I’ve stayed with my company for so long (marked 20 years this year). This is one of many reasons why. Management understands how important it is that the people are taken care of. [emoji170]

I actually have two albums that basically live on repeat in my car once Black Friday arrives: TobyMac’s “Christmas in Diverse City” and MercyMe’s “The Christmas Sessions”. There are other songs I enjoy and appreciate (like Hallelujah Chorus) but these albums really help keep me in the spirit of the season. [emoji4]

Just got my order wrapped up. Contrary to what the site had said just before the sale went live, one of the throw patterns was only available for shipping, not for in-store pickup. The pattern wasn't a deal breaker, so I just chose a different one that is available for in-store pickup. Done. If I'd realized that in the first place, I could've been in bed already!

Gah... The throws I want that were showing as available for in-store pickup just before the sale went live are now showing as "pickup not available" and I'm not ordering enough for free shipping... GRRRRR!!!

Woot! And my first post will include... A picture of what was in my mystery box that I won over on GD discord! (For those who haven’t joined us there, we have some fun random discussions and great convos about deals we’re finding.)

Kohl’s throws... (Too obvious??? [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]) In all seriousness, cat litter. Usually the best deals I get all year on it so I try to buy a full year’s worth. Not “fun” but absolutely necessary.

I always make these for one of my best friends. He loves them. Not really holiday cookies specifically, but he gets a full batch to himself in his Christmas box every year. I juice & zest the lemon myself, so about as truly from scratch as it gets. Edits I’ve made to recipe as written: - Double the amount called for of lemon juice & lemon zest - I roll them in granulated sugar instead of powdered for some sparkle. (I’ve been known to mix yellow sugar crystals with the plain white sugar as well) https://www.food.com/recipe/lemon-crinkle-cookies-473806

October already. Crazy. I’m headed to Charlotte for the “Roval” race, leaving on Tuesday next week. Can’t wait to be back at a race track and just back in Charlotte. I’ve missed being there. Working out details with some of my cookie monsters on how best I can still get them some treats while I’m in town. Some, I’ll meet away from the track/race shop entirely, others will have deliveries dropped at front door of the race shops. All hinges on keeping them within the protocols they need to follow. Baking begins tomorrow. [emoji106]

My pins were in my mailbox yesterday. Thanks, Brad! [emoji16][emoji106] (Still no expense check... [emoji35])

Still waiting on mine. Course I’m also still waiting on an expense check that should’ve been here a week ago... [emoji58]

Info sent! Woot! [emoji16][emoji16][emoji16]

Pass. Not spending $500 on a gaming console, especially with how little time I’d actually get to make use of it. Heck, I haven’t even been able to talk myself into a $300 Switch that I know I’d get more use out of. [emoji23]

I’m going to miss getting up far too early to go out and get... kitty litter! (Half hoping they still do that sale this year - I usually get a whole year’s worth in one shot...) I’m glad I still have my GD crowd here to hang out with. Wouldn’t be the same without all of you, for sure.

I still remember what a blessing it was that I was the lucky “big winner” last year. I was in a pretty tight spot financially and the gift card went a long way to help. While I definitely am not expecting to win anything this year, I definitely enjoy participating every year. Thanks for doing this, Brad! [emoji16][emoji106]

Made it to September. Survived the road trip to Daytona. Had a blast. Met some awesome kitties. Got fried. Yay FL sun. Totally worth it. PM will be headed your way soon, Brad! [emoji847]

I leave in less than 36 hours on my road trip down to best friend’s place in FL for the Daytona road course race this Sunday. Will be masked up, making minimal stops along the drive, and looking forward to seeing dear friends again, including our third amigo I’ll be meeting up with at roughly the halfway point in SC. May not quite be the race trip we all thought we’d get but we’re going to take advantage of the opportunity. As word has spread among our “track family” (pit crew/spotter buddies) that we will be at the track, we’ve gotten a lot of excited versions of “really?!?!?” from those that can reach us directly via social media/texting. Warms our hearts to know they’ve been missing us as much as we’ve been missing them. [emoji170][emoji170][emoji170] Saw one of our spotter buddies on Friday when the NASCAR crews were in town for the MIS double header. Stayed masked up/socially distanced, save for two brief moments: (1) when we exchanged a shirt (that I’d bought from him) for about 5 dozen fresh chocolate chip cookies (that he then took up the spotters’ stand to share) and (2) when I asked if I could grab a pic of his smiling face as a hello to the other two cookie girls (aka the gals I’m going to the race with this weekend). He stood back at an appropriate distance, then took his mask off for a hot sec so I could snap the picture. (And yes, he’s one of the guys who was excited to find out we’d be in Daytona. [emoji4])

We’re in 172, row 7. [emoji16] Will definitely be looking at that list. I know they were still working on finalizing it when I last checked. Good to know it’s at least up for us to look at. lol

Checking in for August and maybe we’ll see you there, riven3d??? One of my best friends lives close enough to do the same, so I’m taking a road trip down from MI, picking up our third amigo on my way through in SC, and we’re headed to the track. No hotels required - we’ll be crashing with her and her family, so exposure risks are minimal. We all decided it was worth taking the chance. Meanwhile, still mainly working from home here. That said, boss, coworker, and I literally pulled an all-nighter this past Monday (my “shift” was 21 hours from time I walked into office to time I walked out) to crank on a software reflash project that went from “oh as long as we finish half the units by the end of this week, we’ll be fine” to “by the way, the customer just told us they need them all by COB Wednesday” on Monday afternoon. (Not even kidding.) Caffeine was our friend and three of us was the right number to pull it off. Boss’s boss is now very pissed at the team that dumped this on us and will be giving the three of us a couple comp days each to make up for it. The best part of this past week, though, was lunch with my “little” brother on Monday (shortly before I found out we’d need to work all night). I hadn’t seen him face to face in at least 5 or 6 years. Bear hugs freely given, pandemic be d***ed. Selfie taken to show dad we did, in fact get together. Good, good, times... [emoji170][emoji170][emoji170] Hope all of my GDers are staying healthy. Much love to all as we keep navigating this crazy time we’re living in.

Agreed. Pretty much all the local-to-me pro displays have been cancelled. And I’m a pyro who’s not willing to risk losing her lease to buy some and fire them off in my complex (plus, with all the kids & doggos around me, I wouldn’t think of being that rude/reckless). Think I’m taking a chance, taking my mask, and heading to IRP (Indianapolis Raceway Park or, technically, Lucas Oil Raceway) to take in an ARCA race Friday night. It’s a small track and will only sell tickets up to 50% of capacity. I’m going through live racing withdrawals and I know a couple of the racers in it personally. I plan on doing a “down and back”, taking a nap break if needed on the way back, since the race doesn’t start till 8 pm and it’s about a 4 hour drive for me each way. Hope my GD fam has a safe & happy 4th weekend! [emoji4]

Got some awesome news this afternoon. A dear friend of mine who’s been working his tail off for the past several years for one of the restaurant chains in a bid to become a GM officially got that promotion today. I was among the first to get the news. So thrilled and proud, as I’ve been staunchly in his corner rooting for this all along because I know he can be great at it. He just needed the chance. I told him now it’s time to go knock their socks off and leave them wondering why they waited so long to promote him. [emoji16][emoji106]

Made it to June... A bittersweet month for me. 12th will mark 14 years since my mom passed. The 16th would have been her 70th birthday...No race at MIS (and associated time with my track family) to help distract me this year. In between those two dates, the mom to one of my nearest and dearest “track family” members celebrates her birthday (14th). She’s an awesome lady, so that’s something to look forward to. Bummed that all of the virus stuff has put the kibosh on a planned trip to Cedar Point with a fellow coaster-loving buddy that would’ve been happening later this week (his bday is this Friday - we were going to party it up screaming our heads off lol). We’re going to reschedule but obviously no idea when yet. On the positive side, while work from home isn’t ideal for me, I know I will not regret for even a moment all of the extra time I’ve gotten to spend with my precious kitties. At 12 and 7, neither is a kitten anymore and, while a pet parent always hopes we have many, many years with our furbabies, time sneaks by in a flash. As I write this, my girl (12) is curled up next to me for her afternoon nap. The boy (7) is on his “scratcha-lounger” a few feet away, also sleeping. [emoji170][emoji170][emoji170] The birds at my feeder also bring joy. Fun to see them enjoying the food I put out, more fun to shoot the squirrel that visits with my $0.50 water gun. Got him right in the butt one day. The look on his face as he whipped around and took off had me crying I was laughing so hard. [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] I just wish I could’ve caught it on video to share!!! I hope and pray all are staying safe and healthy. Love my GDer family! [emoji4]

Anybody else having issues accessing the forums via the app right now? It all of a sudden started throwing errors over the weekend and signing out/attempting to sign back in is giving me “unauthorized app detected” errors... Hmmmm... That said, it’s a soggy one here today but I’m okay with that. We kinda need the rain. At least I got out on my bike for a while Saturday. Bought it last year when one of our local bike shops was closing and hoped I’d get to ride it but it sat for most of last year. (For those with bike knowledge/curiosity, it’s a 2017 model Marin San Anselmo. Scored it for less than half of retail.) With all this time at home these last couple months, I’ve finally gotten to get my “bike legs” back. Haven’t ridden a bike on the regular in probably 25 years. Only took a couple outings to feel pretty comfortable with my skill level again. (Giving more credence to the old adage “it’s just like riding a bike - you don’t forget.” lol) Now I just need to invest in a proper bike lock so I can actually use it to go to the store and such.

Shame I live in a no fun complex... Boo hiss.