The Morning After

[Colliemom]

A Cheery Good Morning to you all,

I am up, can't say I'm full of energy, but at least up after being at the party last night till 11 p.m., which really isn't late, but late enough for me, especially when one of your dogs wakes you at 5 a.m., although I did go back to bed after that for awhile.

Had a good time at the party lasl night. As our former lead Ranger said last night, it was so nice that everybone's together again. All of us with the exceptions of husbands or wives of course have worked at Otsego Lake and four of us were still working there this past summer. The thing I find fun is watching how much the younger folks have matured over the years. Most of the ones there started out as college students, worked summers at the park and returned back to school in fall, a couple of them going for a number of years to reach their goals. Now they all have good jobs, some have gotten married and have chidren of their own. But we have all remained friends over the years. Always seemed like family there at the park. The which of course if no longer the case since we have a change in leadership and everybody's gone their seperate ways. Over the years we have had three sets of sisters working at the park. One of them specialized in the training, nutrition and what not of hourses and got a job working for one of the big horse farms in Lexington. She now has quit that type of work and returned to Michigan to be closer to her family here and my old boss hired her to be his lead
ranger at Petoskey State Park. So she is back with the department, but now a full time employee. Was so nice seeing her again too as she could never come up for previous parties. It was nice seeing the old boss again too, not that I haven't seen him a couple of times this year. He encouraged me to follow our old lead Ranger up to Burt Lake State park and from some of the conversation I was in with a couple of others, they too don't seem to think much of the new guy we have at Otsego. Of course they aren't going to say anything, but it was just in the way they were talking. You know, those who work in the Department as full time employees always know those things that those of us who are temorary workers don't.

The White Elephant gift exchange was a hilarious thing this year with many funny gifts and some gift swiping going on. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Some of us were actually almost crying from laughing so hard. And then we got into a marshmellow fight as one of the gifts had some marshmellow in it. Did that last year too. Course we cleaned up the marshmellows aftterwards so they wouldn't stick to the carpets. And ate way too much food and I'm sure there are going to be a few with sore heads this morning too.

So after all this, I don't know what's going to be on my agenda today. Probably not much. It snowed lightly again last night, but didn't amount to anything much. Wasn't too neat driving home from the party though as the roads were getting snow covered again and made it hard to follow sometimes. I guess we will have our guarantee of a White Christmas this year. I have two sort of limpy dogs here today too, so no dog walks. I guess the old ladies had a bit too much bunny chasing yesterday.

Well, off to start the day. Hope all is well with everyone this moring and if you are still shopping, that you can get it done without too much hassle and crowd fighting. If you are under the weather, get better soon, if you are traveling, be safe.

[Irmi]

Good morning Sue & everyone!

Sue, I'm so glad you had such a good time at your Christmas party last night. It's wonderful getting together with with friends and co-workers from years past. I'm glad to hear you made it home safe & sound.

I attended the in-office Christmas party where I work yesterday evening. There were lots of appetizers and snacks to nibble on with an assortment of drinks to choose from. I received a retirement card which was signed by all the workers and I also received a retirement gift from one of the employees. I never thought it would be this hard to leave such a wonderful group of people.

The grocery shopping is done, but we're going to try to eat out of the freezer this week as we'll be heading south the day after Christmas. I bought some more of the little hooks with the sticky backs to put on the back on the linen closet door in the motorhome to hang some more of my earrings. Today will be an afternoon of baking, everything from cookies to individual pineapple upside down cakes fixed in the muffin pan. A roast is in the crockpot for dinner, so other than fixing a few sides, I don't have to worry about that.

Have a wonderful start to your weekend!

[Acadianmom]

The club I belong to has the gift thing. They call it Dirty Santa. We all bring a $20 gift but don't get to keep someone from stealing it. We had to put a limit on how many times one gift could be stolen or it would go on forever. There always seems to be one or two gifts everyone wants. After a gift has been stolen 3 times it can't be taken again. Some of the ones I use to work with would get together at a restaurant once a year but that has fallen by the wayside. I seldom even run into some at Walmart anymore. Most are still working and guess I manage to get to Walmart before they do.

It is sunny today after all the rain yesterday. I think it is about 65. I would like to go shopping but I know what the traffic will be like. Guess I will have to make my cake balls today. I have been putting it off because they are so messy. My friend and her family have been on a cruise all week and I have been on dog call. Her Aunt stayed at her house with her son and the 2 dogs. The dogs get sick if left at the vet so they were going to leave them at home and see how that worked. Her Aunt has never had dogs so she wasn't sure how that was going to work but looks ok. The Aunt doesn't know that she doesn't have to sit and hold them all day and the dogs take advantage of that.

Martha

[Liz]

Was sure wondering what "the morning after" meant for you, Sue.

Today is my last day in McIntosh this year. I'm off to GA tomorrow for a 2 week stay at a corps of Engineers cg near my dd's. Taking my 16 year old gs with me, so we'll see how I survive that. His family will be coming up Christmas eve, so will only have him camping with me until then. Sure hope the weather stays mild.

From there, in January, I will head west toward Texas on my almost year-long adventure. I will start a new blog for 2012. Should have one more post to do on the 2011 blog. It's been a great year full-timing. Don't see any end in sight; what a great way to live!

[Echo]

GOOD AFTERNOON SISTAHS!!!

See, I know it's not morning anymore! Would have been in sooner but got waylaid and sidetracked. ~sigh~ Such is life.

I am about ready to go bonkers here. The (**$%&# wind has been blowing about non-stop for the past 4 freaking days. Temp wise in the afternoon it's not bad in and of itself but the wind sure makes it seem much colder. And at night? Brrrrrr Wish Shade could open the door and take herself out to P, especially at night and let Mom stay warm. Right now the TT is rocking and rolling and it sounds like a small hurricane outside. Kelly woke up and started crying "Auntie Em, Auntie Em"! It's chilly enough here I sure don't want to end up in Kansas!! One good thing about being parked here instead of the campground where we were last winter is the fact of no major dust and dirt blowing around! Whew!!!

Don't really have any plans for today. Might run into town to the grocery store? They are having an open house today with the local high school choir singing carols, demonstrations and tastings thru out the store. Hmmmm? Free food, sounds pretty good.

Hope ya'll have a good day and please remember to do so safely.

Love to all

[BarbaraRose]

I know it is WAY past morning, but I worked a long day today. Yesterday, I called in sick because of my bad coughing. I went in today to see how it would go. Had a few coughing fits but not too bad. Was scheduled for 9 hours today but just made it to 8 hours. The gals all had their own "remedies" for my ailment so I was taking all sorts of things all day. Then I started getting really dizzy, like the room was spinning, so I think I took too much stuff!

Irmi, I would love to have your recipe for pineapple upsidedown cake in the individual cakes! Can you post it on the Recipes thread?

Got a nice little Christmas goody bag from my new manager today. She is very nice. They moved her there from another shop and she's not happy there either.

Time to get some dinner...gotta work all day tomorrow again