Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas/Channuka/Kwanza  whatever you want to call the holiday at this time of year.  (Why am I trying to be PC now, I never have before!)  LOL 

I had a good holiday.  I went out to my ex-roommate’s house in Northern Virginia for Christmas Eve, and it was great!  No drama, no arguments, and lots of laughs!  It was a very welcome reminder as to why I love that whole family!  I’ve been bad about not getting out there to see them enough since I moved into the city.  I’m not going to even try to say I will be out there more often, but at the same time, I hope I am.  They’re good people who keep me grounded.

Christmas Day I took a HUGE step.  A friend of mine has been going through some difficult times and doesn’t get along with his family lately, so he was planning on staying home alone both days, so I took the plunge and bought a turkey to cook and had him over for Christmas dinner.  The smallest turkey I could find (I did want a real turkey, not just a turkey breast, because I prefer dark meat, and found out he does too!)  was a 13 pound turkey!  So…  I made a 13 pound turkey, mashed potatoes (instant, yeah, so what!), corn in butter sauce, stuffing (Stove Top, made, and stuffed in the bird), and homemade gravy, from the drippings (was kinda bland, but hey, it wasn’t lumpy, and it wasn’t store bought!)  What I DID forget was the cranberry sauce, and (get this) the DESSERT!!!  I can’t believe I didn’t get anything for dessert, but totally had NOTHING!  Luckily, he brought some cookies he had made, but we didn’t really eat anything for dessert.  We just ate, then watched the Dane Cook cd I got from my ex roommate.  Had a good laugh with that.  Can’t wait to see the Ron White one now.  They’re both stand up comic’s, so a good laugh is always good, right?

I’ve been thinking about the past year, and what all has occured.  I have been VERY blessed!  I think it was May 7th when I ran out of cigarettes before I went to the grocery store.  I didn’t buy any at the store, and haven’t had a cigarette since.  i just didn’t smoke anymore.  I’m not going to say it’s been without cravings, even still, but it has been a LOT easier than I ever thought it would be, and I’ve made it more than the 5 weeks I made it the last two times I quit.  I have a coworker who had quit about a month before me, and he has not been as successful as I have, but it hasn’t given me any bad thoughts, either.  I was worried about going to the bar to play pool the first weekend, so I was going to stay home, but that just made it harder, because I wanted to go out, AND I wanted to smoke.  So, I went to the bar, and told my "biggest" friend, "I’ve gone 1 week without smoking.  I want you to help me.  If you see me with a cigarette tonight, you have my permission to ‘take me out!’"  Of course, he was ALL for that!  LOL  I have had very supportive friends with my quitting, and it just makes me feel so good that I have been able to do it for this long!  Of course, I’ve gained weight in doing so, but I can lose the weight, but I believe the quitting smoking has enabled me to get my next blessing!

The next big blessing was finally being able to buy a house!  I talked about that last week, so I don’t need to go too far into that here, but let me just say that the house was bought as an investment.  I plan on fixing it up to sell it.  When I get it all fixed up, I am going to put it on the market for $100K more than I bought it for.  Hopefully it will be within a year or two.  I’ll then buy another one to do it again, but I will have some cash in the bank.  Another thing I’m proud of is that I am doing all of the repairs on this house with cash.  I’ve decided I’m NOT going to run up my credit for it.  I’m just going to get it as I can afford it.  In order to make that happen faster, I’ve offered another friend to move in, so I might be getting a roommate on February 1st.  Money won’t be so tight then, and I’ll be able to PAY for the supplies, and will just be waiting for time to do it!  🙂  I’ll like that better. 

Well, I hope everyone had/is having a wonderful Holiday Season, and is as blessed as I am feeling this season!   I’m off to sleepyland! 

Quick Edit!!!  I did not mention my having quit smoking to take away from my favorite cousin’s successes with her quitting smoking, only just letting everyone know.