The Final Christmas Post

I figured I'd show off Chancho's Christmas tree too. I really am not a fan of the colors, in fact, I really hate gold, but his sister did such a nice job in decorating the tree that I needed to share. He got their tree from the volunteer firefighters this year. Our close friend volunteers so he supported them with getting a tree.
Here's the tree all decked out.

They don't have a fireplace so their radiator is their chimney. I think they do a pretty good job in decorating it to look Christmas like. However they don't know the tradition of what the stockings are for so they just hang there unused.

This is Chancho's ornament. It doesn't match any of the other ornaments, but it's allowed on the tree. I was going to get it for him last year when I got my roommates their ornaments, but I made the mistake of taking him with me to pick up their gifts and he saw it and got it for himself. It's from a store that opens only during the holiday season and they sell ornaments that can be personalized. It's a neat store. I can always find something for someone. They have tons of ornaments.

I believe that sums up all of my Christmas pictures, which means the season has come to an end. :( I'm gearing up for the New Years party tomorrow. First I'll be going to see Chancho at work. We've decided to have dinner together, even if we can only eat in his car. It's an hour together that we normally wouldn't have. I'll take it though. Let's hope he doesn't get a call so our plans don't get canceled!

Christmas Day 2 & 3

Coming home so late from Chancho's house, I forgot to put up the stockings for Santa to fill. Therefore waking up Christmas morning, I didn't have anything to open up. We skipped the opening of stockings and headed straight to Connecticut to my cousin's house. Chancho joined the family this time. We spent the entire day there. We opened up presents and Chancho handed out his PBA cards. He decided that he would only give them to the adult relatives rather than everyone in the family. They were of course a huge hit. My aunt jokingly said that this was the sign she was looking for that allowed her to be naughty this new year. Everyone loved my M&M trees. Almost everyone opened them right away to get at the candy. It was a good Christmas Day, very enjoyable.

The day after Christmas, this is when my immediate family gets together and celebrates Christmas all together. We go to my brother's house. It is midway for everyone now. Chancho got sick from eating something at my cousin's house, so he sadly did not make it to my brother's. I was finally able to open up my "real gifts" as I like to call them. I know that these are the gifts that I want off of my list and that someone put a lot of thought into these ones, not to say that my other relatives did not put thought into theirs, but these gifts won't be re-gifted for sure. Here are few pictures of what I got:

 Here is my scanner from Chancho. It scans photos and negatives. 

This a Coach wallet from my sister and her husband.

My new camera from my brother and his wife.

Now on to New Years. Chancho got the call. He has to work. I am so bummed out about it, but I am slowly letting myself adjust to the idea of having another New Years without him. Hopefully by then I'll be alright. I really do need to learn how to not get my hopes up. That is where I go wrong.

Listening to: "So What" by Pink
Quote of the Day:  "Happiness is a place between too little and too much."

Christmas Day 1

Christmas is split up into 3 days for me and my family, starting the holiday, with a busy Christmas Eve. This year I was able to get the majority of the day off because I worked an overnight the night before. So I went into work on Wed. night and didn't get home until Thurs. morning at 6am. I was delirious around 4am. I don't even remember the drive home at 6. I was so tired struggling to keep my eyes open. I got home and had to keep the cat locked in my room (mind you I'm allergic to him) due to my sister and brother in law coming to stay with us with their dog. He's a cranky old man and very finicky. Therefore, as I attempted to sleep, he thought it was the perfect time to paw at my face and meow all the while walking up and down all over me. None the less I only got 4 hours of sleep.

Remember that outfit I bought for Chancho's holiday party? Well since we never went to that holiday party, I wore the outfit for Christmas Eve. At least I got some use out of it. The family, minus my mother, brother and Chancho, traveled to Long Island to my grandmother's house to have dinner and open a few presents. It was a very nice evening. I got to eat my favorite holiday dish prepared by my grandmother. She makes the best German dish called Grunkohl. She did however manage to mess up the eggnog. I believe she left out the eggnog part and only added rum. It was a tad too strong.

After stuffing our faces and opening the presents I hustled back home to make it to Chancho's for his families celebration. They always celebrate on Christmas Eve at midnight. When I arrived they had eaten already and were waiting around for it to be midnight. Chancho's godson is 5 and was waiting impatiently for the clock to turn. It was a lovely night. They all were very happy with their presents. I thought I would have been uncomfortable because as they open presents they go one by one and take pictures as you sit there opening the presents. You are truly in the spotlight. However, for some reason, maybe me being extremely tired, I didn't mind and was very comfortable. I'd like to think that that was a major stepping stone for me. The fact that there were about 10 people starring at me and it didn't bother me, I can check that insecurity off my list.

From there, I left a tad early and crashed. The rest of his family stayed until 4am. There was no way I was going to make it that long. When I got home I was eagerly greeted by Leela, my sister's dog. She wasn't locked in her crate so she was licking me as I walked in the door. Luckily, I was so exhausted that i passed out that I had no idea if my cat was tromping over me or not.

Listening to:

Part I

Just a quick post to let you all know I made it through the holidays alive. A lot has gone on in the past few days. A lot of traveling and working. I am beyond exhausted at this point and still have to wait til Wed. to get a break. A quick preview: I got a few great gifts. Here's a picture of one of the gifts that I'm in love with. It's a PostSecret book. The link to the left will bring you to the website, but a brief summary of what it is: A man, Frank, decided to ask people to mail him a postcard with their secret on it. From there he has posted these postcards online for everyone to see every Sunday. He has also published 4 or 5 books with all of the postcards. It's pretty neat.

I took this picture with my new camera! The battery in my camera was coming to an end. Guess I took care of that problem by replacing the whole thing. I'm still learning about it, but so far, I like it!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and was able to enjoy themselves! Hopefully, I'll be able to post more on Wed. Tune in then.

Quote of the Day: "Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying 'i will try again tomorrow'."

Superstitions

I'm really not that big on superstitions, but reading these in a Christmas book, I couldn't resist, I had to share.

• If a girl scout comes to your door anytime in December, buy what she has got. She is an angel in disguise.
• December 15th, kiss a pomegranate, all xmas wishes come true.
• Drop a shelled nut in one of a tray of Christmas cider mugs ~ whoever chooses it will play a big role in your life. 
• Draw a heart in pencil on a plain piece of paper; send it to the one you love on Dec. 21st. He will be yours.
• Hard boil an egg Christmas morning, if it cracks you win your heart's desire. (Tip: drop ice cold egg in boiling water.)
• Drop 3 cranberries on the ground ~ the furthest one out directs you to the one you love. (Drop with a certain flamboyance.)
• If you find an orange in the toe of your Christmas stocking, Valentine's day will be glorious (as opposed to Christmas)
• Listen to "I'll Be Home For Christmas" 3 times in a row, and you will be. (If not, try clicking your heels together 3 times.)
• During the Christmas season of your 16th year if a baby smiles at you ~ true love is near by.
• Pull out a gray hair on Christmas day and a child will kiss you. Possibly all day long.
• On Christmas Eve put three pink peppercorns under you lover's pillow; he will do the Christmas dishes.
• Smell a yellow rose the morning of the 17th of Dec. & there's a good chance you'll get diamonds for xmas.

 Listening to: "Christmas Is All Around" by Billy Mack

Busy Elves

Thought I'd sneak in a quick post since I have been MIA for the past few days. It's not that I've been extremely busy, but busy enough that posting went to the wayside. My one day off last week was spent at my brother's finishing up Chancho's gifts. They came out great! I think everyone will love them, the embroidery really made the gift personal. It's amazing what little embroidery can do to a pair of sweat pants.

I've been working non stop and dashing to stores when I'm not to pick up last minute gifts. Remember that gift that I bought for my brother and sister in law that wouldn't be here til after Christmas? Well it showed up on my doorstep today! I had already went out and bought them each a little something so they would have something to open up Christmas Day, but I guess now they'll have extra, and who doesn't love opening up more gifts? I also found on my doorstep today a package from my best friend up at school. She really went above and beyond, she got my a whole outfit. I wasn't expecting it at all. I finished wrapping up the glass tree jars and they came out so pretty. I also bought wayyyy too much candy, I'll be bringing the extra bags into work so everyone can enjoy them, besides me. Tonight is the first night of the overnights at my job, the candy will help with keeping us all up til the crack of dawn.

To add to my busy schedule, I went on an interview to my mother's friend, she needs a babysitter for when she returns to work. She has a 6 1/2 month old son who is the cutest little guy. I said I'd help her out while she's getting readjusted to working again. It can't hurt to get some extra pocket cash while searching for a job. I'm looking forward to it, giving me something else to do.

Right now, I'm waiting to hear back from Chancho if he has to work New Years Eve. Since we've been together, we have yet to share a New Years Eve kiss. I'm hoping this year will be different. Although, it doesn't look good. Everyone around him is getting their assignments so I figure it is only a matter of hours before I get a text or phone call that he will be working. Which I am prepared for, or at least what I keep telling myself. Two of our close friends are having a party which I am taking part in planning and am looking forward to that as well. As long as I am surrounded by friends and get to see the ball drop, I'll be content. I know I can't complain too much because I have him for three days during Christmas and that is more important to me.

Have a wonderful Holiday and be sure to bring the New Year in right!

Here is a recipe for happy Christmas for you all to enjoy!

 Fill a house with equal parts of Love, Hope & Peace

Add the joy of children & the strength of older people

Season with the music of laughter & some mistletoe kisses

Warm before a crackling fire & serve with tidings of Comfort & Joy!

Listening to: "My Grown Up Christmas List" by Kelly Clarkson

10.5 hours

I am so happy to have today off. Yesterday was a draining day for me. Coming off of a night shift of unloading the truck at work, which I usually don't like to do because it actually requires effort. We run, sweat, lift heavy boxes and work very quickly. (Not my style for working late) I decided that I would be a nice coworker and pick up another coworkers hours because he had some other thing he had to do and couldn't find someone to cover for him. At the time I thought it was a good idea, low and behold ten and a half hours later, not such a good idea. I have come to realize that staying in a location for more than 8 or 9 hours is too much. Especially when it comes to dealing with the public.

Chancho on the other hand has been at work for probably 48+ hours now because he got 4 arrests and it wasn't worth his time to go home and come back. He loves it though. It isn't something that he needs to take a break from afterwords. (If it wasn't for my day off today, I'd be going nuts!) I was able to see Chancho when he picked me up from work last night. A quick 6 minute ride, but it was enough to hold me over until today. We're going to my brother's today to get his Christmas presents embroidered. He has about 7 items that need to be done. It will be nice to see him and my sister in law and their dogs. Then on the way back we get to eat at Red Robin. I love that place! We don't have one in any close proximity to our house so this is a treat for us.

Chancho also received his PBA cards for this year. He's deciding how to distribute them out. How do you guys figure that out? Do you only give them to immediate family members or do you give them to anyone that you feel deserves them?

Listening to:  "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey
Quote of the Day:  "Seek joy in what you give... not in what you get."

More Presents

I sadly have not finished my Christmas shopping. I was doing so well with it too. I did however receive my dad's xmas present in the mail yesterday. I think I may be more excited about it than he will be. It's a personalized frame from 1stframe
 Inside the frame I made a collage of pictures ranging from the day all of his kids were born up until today. I included a few pictures of my mom and him from the earliest that I could find until now. I'm in love with it. I should have made it for me. I'm not sure if the icons on the side are big enough to see, but the one on the left is of a guy in a canoe, and the one on the right is of a deer. The bottom saying is "From Great Oaks, Little Acorns Grow."

The next gift I got, which I don't think will be here in time for Christmas is a personalized tub from Personal Creations. It's a pretty big tub and I think it's neater than using a cooler to hold drinks. It's for my brother and his wife. They are always having people over to hang out, I figured it'd be a cool thing to have in their back yard. I didn't realize though that the personalization would delay the day of the shipping so it will probably arrive a couple of days after Christmas.

Speaking of shipping. The US Postal guy today arrived in front of my house and slid open his door, threw our package from his seat to our front door (which is probably a good 35 feet), slid the door shut and drove off. I was shocked to see that! How can they treat packages like that? I know that most packages are marked fragile when things are obviously fragile, but still. That is just rude! I wonder if he would have done that if he knew I was sitting in front of the window watching.

All I have left to shop for is my mom and Chancho's mom. I know exactly what I'm getting for Chancho's mother. However, my own mom is still a challenge. I'm still waiting for that "ah ha" moment to come along.

This is also the season where everyone is putting up lights on their house. There are always those few houses that you know are going to put up the same lights as last year and you expect it, well without fail the house on speed, as we like to call it, is up and flashing away. Every year as we drive down the bottom of our hill and look across the highway there is this one house that has multi-colored lights that are flashing like crazy. I swear if someone with epilepsy drove by they would have seizure. Anyways, I made Chancho drive by the house last night. He didn't want to because it was going slightly out of our way and why would I want to get that close to something so obnoxious? As we got closer there was a sign all lit up and on it it told the driver-byer's to tune in to 107.7fm. We did as we were told and low and behold there was Christmas music playing. The lights on the house were flashing to the tune of the music! I was shocked, amazed and sat there smiling. Here I was hating this obnoxious house for years and now that I finally understand it, I love it! I think it is just the coolest thing that they could do. I'm glad that I took the journey over to see the house up close and personal.

Listening to: Silent Night by Trans-Siberian Orchestra  
Quote of the Day: "One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly." -Andy Rooney

It's a New York Christmas

Chancho and I took a day to ourselves. We started the day out with putting "Big Bertha" into storage for the winter. He braved the blustery wind and drove his motorcycle to the storage place in 17 degree weather. From there we traveled into the city. For one reason only, to see the big tree. Here are some pictures from our journey to the storage, Rockefeller Center and the tree in all it's glory.

Here are some pictures of our dessert. We had dinner in little Italy. We didn't have a place in mind so we just stumbled across a little place, that I can't even recall the name of now. The food was okay, not good enough to go back again, but it filled me. We stopped off for dessert at Cafe Palermo for a cannoli and cheesecake.

And lastly, here is my decorated Christmas tree. We put the lights up last night and tonight Chancho came over and sat on the couch while I decorated. My mother cleaned out our ornaments tossing some of the old ones and putting some in the "tag sale" box. I swear this tag sale box that she has is one that she just picks out of and puts the items right back into our closets. I never see her dragging the box to any tag sale.

Quote of the Day:  "Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more."  --Dr. Seuss

Let's Say Thanks

This is a quick 10 second thing that I thought everyone could do. Visit this website. It will give you the option to pick out a card that was handmade by a child and then you get to pick out a message, or write your own. Then you send it and it will arrive to a soldier overseas! So quick and painless and yet so meaningful. This holiday season I have been very much involved with the soldiers overseas. I'm not sure why this year is any different, but I have been sending cards and care packages like crazy.


Quote of the Day: "I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month."

Candy Galore

I started to fill my candy trees and well my plan has changed a bit. They didn't have just regular M&M's in red and green. So I went with the holiday mix of chocolates. I figure everyone loves chocolate, can't go wrong there. It has Reeses mini cups, Hershey's milk chocolate, and Hershey Kiss'. They all are wrapped in red, green, silver and gold. It met my criteria so I got 4 huge bags and they didn't fill them all! I also had to take the bag of peanut M&M's in the red and green to fill the smaller trees. I was mad that I wasn't able to fill the rows with a separate color, but I think this way is a lot easier. It doesn't look bad so I can be okay with it.



I took this next section from Because of Love, she posted up some quick questions about Christmas and we all know I love Christmas so I couldn't resist.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Definitely wrapping paper. The only time I use gift bags is if it's way too awkward to wrap.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real tree, I love the smell.

3.When do you put up the tree? We don't have a day per se, we just put it up when we have the time. Last year was Christmas Eve. I'm hoping for this weekend this year though.

4. When do you take the tree down? Again, that depends on when we have time, but some time in the week after Christmas.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, very much so. My sister-in-law makes some really good eggnog.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? The only memorable one that I have is a sleeping bag or my American Girl doll.

7. Hardest person to buy for? I'd say my brother. I can never tell what he'll like. I also feel like he has everything.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Chancho.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? I have a few.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. Everyone lives so far away and I feel like mailing them is more personal.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I don't think I have ever gotten anything too bad. I would probably say some sort of jewelry or something like that.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I have two. Elf and The Family Stone.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I will start in August if I see something I'll get it. Otherwise it really begins Dec. 1st.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes, I have.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My grandmother's homemade Grunkohl.

16. Lights on the tree? I love the big lights that are multicolored, but these past few years it's just been simple white lights.

17. Favorite Christmas song? This is a hard question. I would say my all time favorite would be Silent Night, but I also love A New York Christmas, Baby It's Cold Outside and All I Want For Christmas Is You.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? All traveling. Four different homes in three days.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Nope, that's one thing I can't do.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither, we have a Santa. He holds a candle in his hand that lights up.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Well I do open presents Christmas Eve, but they are from my mother's side of the family. The rest of the presents get opened Christmas Day and the day after.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The people who are scrooges.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Red and White or the mixture of everything from all the years.

24. Favorite thing for Christmas dinner? The same as the other question, Grunkohl!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I already got what I wanted, it came today! A scanner for my pictures. I am hoping for a battery for my camera though.

Now it's your turn. Go ahead and fill out your own answers and post on your blog!

A Week In

We've completed the first week of the new DVO position and all I can say is that I am loving every second of it! I am so nervous to say that, but it's just working out so wonderfully. Chancho has had the most normal hours that I've ever experienced. He's been home every night this past week, with the exception of his arrest day. He will have the same schedule this upcoming week as well. What's even better is that he's up early enough that he's not sleeping all the time anymore!

As for the job itself, he's still feeling it out. He was able to shadow his new partner and learn the ropes as well as he could. He did well up until he had a bunch of paperwork and then he got overwhelmed, but that's understandable with never having done it before. He's also noticing the type of people that he's dealing with now. He has female victims the majority of the time, who are have been obviously abused, but won't do anything about it. Very very different people compared to the suspended licenses and marijuana arrests that he's been doing. I think it's going to take a lot of time to understand these victims and learn how to talk to them and help them without causing anymore harm. I can tell already that it bothers him, I try to remind him that this is a problem that these women have been dealing with for a long time and that this isn't the first time the cops have been called. Unfortunately, it's an awful cycle that he's being pulled into. There are so many options out there for domestic violence victims. I just hope that he will be able to help someone when the time comes. With patience, practice and his personality, I think he'll do great with this after he's gotten comfortable with himself.

Chancho also sang for the first time in his choir at church this morning. It didn't sound too bad. It was a quick mass, in and out in an hour. I was able to sit with his cousin for the entire time, so I wasn't alone, like I had originally thought I was going to be. It wasn't a bad experience at all. I surprisingly enjoyed myself. Right after church, we headed to our friend's volunteer firehouse and picked up Chancho's Christmas tree. He supported the firehouse this year, instead of getting one from my father. Chancho decided that he's going to alternate years so no one gets their feelings hurt.

Quote of the Day: "When you're a kid, it's simple. Christmas is magic. It's a time of miracles, when reindeer can fly, and Frosty never melts. Then you get older. Somehow, things change. The magic begins to fade. Until something happens that reminds you at Christmas time... miracles still can be found. Sometimes in the most unexpected places." - The Wonder Years

M&M Trees

We had our first snowfall! and it actually stuck to the ground and all of the cars. While I was at work yesterday it snowed all day long. Only 2 inches stayed, but still there is still snow outside. I finally feel like it's winter time. In the spirit of it feeling like winter I actually went out Christmas shopping. Instead of buying something unique for every individual in the extended family I decided upon something very simple and inexpensive. The Container Store sells these wonderful jars in the shape of trees. They come in two different sizes. A large and a small. All of my cousins will get a small one and my aunts/uncles and grandmothers will get a large one. I'm going to fill them with M&M's. Each "branch" will be a layer of red and green, alternating. Sam's Club will be a huge help in providing me with a bulk package of the two colors and for a great price. The great part about these jars is that the tops have a suction piece to them so that when you open the jar all of the M&M's don't come flying out at you.

I'm going to wrap them in cellophane so that they can see them and I won't waste boxes or bags. I'll be tying them off with this ribbon. I'm excited to see how they turn out.

Now that I have the extended family shopped for, all that is left is the immediate family. For some reason I always find them harder to shop for.

Listening to: "A New York Christmas" by Rob Thomas

And The Winner Is....

This is the outfit that I picked out for the holiday party that is this upcoming Wednesday. I'm hoping to find a necklace that has red in it to make it more of a holiday outfit, but I think that even if I don't this will do just fine. I'm still searching for the right pair of shoes, but I have a ton of black shoes that I'm sure one will go. I'm also debating on whether or not I should wear some sort of black patterned stockings?

According to Chancho a lot of his buddies are bailing on the party so he doesn't even want to go anymore, but will go to show his face to the bosses. We won't be attending the after party either because he has court the next morning. It wouldn't be too great if he showed up to court with a hangover. I too have work early the next day.

Starting tomorrow, I'll be going to church to watch Chancho sing in the choir. I'm not sure if it will be a regular thing for me, he is Catholic and I am not. I commend him for doing this. He has a great voice and he really should be using it. Plus the fact that it is getting him to go to church. On that note, I'm going to bed so I won't be late for church tomorrow morning.  

Quote of the Day: "May the love hidden deep inside your heart find the love waiting in your dreams. May the laughter that you find in your tomorrows wipe away the pain found in your yesterdays."

Tis the Season!

I began my first round of Christmas decorations today. This is the first year in 4 years that I am home before Christmas Eve to decorate. Unfortunately in the past years we haven't had the time to decorate and it didn't look like Christmas at all in the house. I took it upon myself to bring it back this year. I hadn't realized how out of control the attic was with all of the decorations scattered around so a lot of my time was focused on cleaning it up. I now have 3 huge boxes of Christmas items that are ready to be brought to a tag sale or donated somewhere. Sadly, that took up so much time that I didn't get to finish all of the decorating. I am also waiting to put up the tree for another day, once everything else is finished. Hopefully this Sunday or Monday will be that day. Here are some pictures of what was put up.

This is over our fire place, that is used everyday to heat our house. (the stockings will hang there later.)

Some garland over the entryway to the dining room.

A mini village in the dining room. I'm working on finding lights to light the inside of the houses.

Some outside decorations. I plan to put garland around the doors with white lights.

More garland going up the stairs. 

A tiny manager set on the living room table.

These next three are decorations from Germany. My family sent them over as gifts a couple years back.

This one actually spins once the candles are lit.

That's all for now. I'll post more as I decorate.

Quote of the Day: "Live, but not out of fear or hate, live out of love."

Police Shift

I thought I'd share this cool website, courtesy of my cousin, PoliceShift. She started this business on her own after attending school. It is a place for active off-duty officers and retired officers to go to sign up for extra shifts. My uncle is a retired police officer and has been participating in this and he is very happy with the shifts that he has been able to pick up. I figured that if anyone has the need to pick up extra shifts this would be a good way to find them. You just register (free) and fill out a bunch of general information and then you're contacted. Chancho has just signed up. You can pick the amount of money that you want to get paid in general and then in some instances the merchant that contacts you will ask you to pick your price as well. If anyone in your area needs security and is signed up you have a greater chance of being called. Give it a look, see if it's something your PO would be interestd in.

First Day of being a DVO

Chancho started his job as the Domestic Violence Officer (DVO) today. He went in at 9am and got out at 5pm. Unheard of! His response to how did he like it? "I love it!" I asked him if this was something like on the first day of class and you like your teacher, but then 3 weeks later you hate it and you want to switch out of it. He insists that he likes it and he has a good feeling about it. This is the first time that he says that he feels responsible and important. He's excited, I can hear it in his voice and he's overall happier. I mean he did get to sleep for the first hour that he was there. Which isn't really that unusal, but I thought it being his first day he wouldn't get away with that. He was lucky that his partner was late getting to work. I did find out though that there is no such thing as being late with you're a DVO. You do make your own schedule so if you can't make it in at 8am you can just call and say when you will be in. (This may get him into trouble.)
Chancho's day consisted of learning the ropes of the new position. He usually will have to get 20 summonses a month, instead it now will have to be family visits. He was introduced today to a few families by his new partner. He really enjoyed dipping his toes into it all. A cool thing that he didn't have before, an office. He shares an office with 2 other officers. He'll be receiving his key tomorrow.
The greatest thing so far is of course the fact that he can pick his own hours. I put in to switch my availablity at work today. I opened up a few days for my schedule and told them I couldn't work Saturday afternoons now that he gets Saturdays off. We'll see if they will accept that. Ultimately I'd like to be able to have Saturdays but I think I'll ease into that.
This seems to be great. We'll see how it turns out, afterall it is only the first day and I don't want to get my hopes up too high. We all know that is never a good thing, yet we can't help but have a good feeling.

Birthday Weekend

Sunday was my birthday celebration, Monday being my actual birthday, but since it was a weekend evening it was planned for Sunday. Chancho sent out an invitation and got everyone together for it. He even was able to sneak in a few people that I didn't know were going to show up. It was located at a local bar. He gets "happy hour" specials. This is a deal where you can get $2 drinks for 2 hours. This way those who don't have that much money can still come out and have a few and even buy me some drinks and not empty their wallets out completely. It's a win-win situation. The surprise guests were my parents, my father's cousin, and my godparents/aunt and uncle. It was a great surprise. They were able to stay for the majority of the night too. It started early enough that people were able to stay and hang out without missing out on any sleep for work the next day. I however had the next day off so I was able to stay out with Chancho and a coworker for a bit longer. We took a trip to a gay club that opened that night and stumbled upon a waiter that we always get when we go out to eat at our regular restaurant. It was quite the night.

Monday, birthday day, was very relaxing. My parents took me out to lunch at a new Asian restaurant. Then Chancho and I spent the day in watching tv and resting up from the previous night. We then traveled to a friends house for cake. I think this was a better birthday than last years just because I was home with family and friends. Last year I had to travel back to school on my birthday, an 8 hour ride on a bus. It was not the ideal trip for a birthday. So here's to another year and making it the best that I can!

Quote of the Day: "Surround yourself with people you love being yourself with."

Last Night

Chancho's last night in the conditions team is tonight. He'll be out celebrating with the guys. His partner is really sad to see him go, but understands this is something he had to do. In fact a lot of the guys in the precinct are upset that he got the job. He doesn't have a lot of time, but he was the most qualified and that is why he got the job. Everyone will just have to suck it up and get used to it. He will be starting this Tuesday. He can get his first schedule pick on Thursday. The first couple of days he has to to follow his new partners schedule, but after that he can do whatever he wants. I'm really excited for him. I can't wait to see where this takes him.

Sunday will be my birthday party. Chancho set up a little get together out at our usual bar for dinner and then drinks. He sent out invitations with a few cute sayings about me. It really is for him as well. This is a big step for him to get this position and everyone should celebrate it. So that is what we will do. Monday, my actual birthday, my mother is planning on taking me out to lunch, but other than that, it will be a low key day. I don't want anything big, just a day to relax.

Quote of the Day: "Take chances, take a lot of them. Because honestly, no matter where you end up and with whom, it always ends up just the way it should be. Your mistakes make you who you are. You learn and grow with each choice you make. Everything is worth it. Say how you feel always. Be you, and be okay with it."

Being Thankful

Thanksgiving has come and gone so quickly. A recap of Thursday in a sentence: It was an unusual spanish dinner. It was a true glance into the future for me. Chancho worked a double the day before so that he would be able to have the day off. However, he spent the morning sleeping. Which left ample opportunity for his sister and I to bond. It was the first time that we were able to talk and spend time together alone. We went out shopping for utensils. Those were the only items the left off of their list. She was thankfully there while Chancho was sleeping to translate for me and keep me company. I would have been lost if she wasn't there. Dinner consisted of turkey, green mashed potatoes, stuffed peppers and corn. This is nothing like my Thanksgiving dinners. The food was delicious. The dessert went well, they enjoyed my apple pie, but Chancho's cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory won everyone over. The entire afternoon I was surrounded by his family speaking spanish and every now and then I would hear my name as they would look my way and say "Right?" All I could do was smile and nod. I had no idea what they were talking about, Chancho was either attending to other relatives or getting food in the other room, not around to give me a quick translation. I think I made out okay. However, I think that next year, he should experience our Thanksgiving. It really is a lot different from his.

My family celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday. My sister and brother in law were able to make the journey. My brother and his wife couldn't make it. Our menu was: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberries. Dessert was my birthday ice cream cake and apple pie. I loved it. My sister brought her dog. It was a wonderful night just hanging out. I got a itunes gift card from my sister and brother in law. The card was great. It said on the front "From the both of us, The intelligent one and the beautiful one" On the inside it said "Actually it's from the both of us. He'll sign anything I put in front of him" The greatest thing was that my brother in law said "Let me see that, I didn't read it. I just signed it."

Dress Options

The holiday party is a few weeks away and I'm starting to go over in my mind which dress I should wear. I've already decided that all of the dresses in the closet will not do. And who wouldn't want to go out and buy a new dress? I took Chancho out shopping with me the other day to get a sense of what dresses would be appropriate and which wouldn't. I felt that was the best way to go about it since he couldn't describe any of the dresses that he had seen the year before. It is a formal event so I can get pretty dressy, but I don't want to be over the top. A part of me is going crazy saying that this dress needs to be perfect, but I have already told myself to stop and just find something that I will be comfortable in. It is only going to be 3 hours long, I don't need to get crazy. These are a few of the dresses that I was thinking of wearing.

A great deal from Kohls

 

These two are from Charlotte Russe

Trixxi Dress, Halter with Ruffle Hem Green

This one is from Macy's; they don't have a great image, but can click on the link

I really am all over the place for a style. I do know that I like the dresses from Macy's. I would have posted more, but there were a lot. I think I may just go with a simple dress and get some killer heels and jewelry to make it fancier. Regardless, I'm enjoying the search for a dress.

Quote of the Day: "Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers; remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs that just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care; some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers..." - Garth Brooks

It's Official!

And by Official I mean Chancho got the DVO position!!! He was called into the CO's office and he said that although he doesn't have that much time on the job, he was the most qualified and then offered him the DVO position formally. Chancho accepted gracefully and his days off will now be switched to Friday and Saturday. Which will be a slight problem for me, but I will have to do some rearranging with my schedule, but we'll see what happens. He will have the opportunity to switch back to Sunday, Monday's when someone else leaves from the unit. He'll get his shift hours when he speaks to his Sargent. This is going to be a great change for him. I am so very happy for him to get this. It will open up more doors for his career and hopefully get him situated for a higher position later on. Celebrations will have to take place this weekend along with my birthday celebrations. It will be a great weekend.

One more day until the great Turkey Day. I have work tomorrow early and we have 4 new people starting tomorrow. I got a sneak peak at who I will be partnered with to prepare myself and it is going to be with a newbie. I just need to go in with a smiling face and pull out all of patience that I can find inside of me to make it through the 4 rough morning hours. It really is hard for me to be patient with people at 5am, but I think that if they are willing to learn and have a good head on their shoulder than they won't have a problem with me. I am trying to stay positive. Plus I have to look forward to cooking cookies and an apple pie tomorrow after work. That will get me through the day.

Tonight after work I quickly spent $197 and change on items from work. It's amazing how quickly the money is spent at The Container Store. Thank goodness for my discount. The items that attacked my paycheck:

• 7 rolls of wrapping paper (picked out a few that could be used through out the year though)
• rafia to wrap the presents
• gift tags
  
• toothbrush/toothpaste holder for the bathroom
• lotion dispenser (instead of having the ugly bottle sitting out)
• a scrubby brush to clean the shower better
• a shoe holder (really to hold gloves/hats/scarfs in the closet)
• 2 bookcases to hold our collection of children books

It really was well spent and a lot more damage could have been done. I wanted to get a chair for the desk upstairs and gifts for the entire family for Christmas, but all of that can wait. 

Listening to: "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" by Lady Antebellum

Week Ahead

It has finally arrived, the week of Thanksgiving. I really feel like it snuck up on me. Chancho and I have been spending a lot of time together. I got to see him 3 days in a row! First it was Saturday morning. I was with him until he had to leave for work. We spent all morning chatting with his mother, whom invited me and my family for Christmas Eve. I think we may actually go. I am going regardless, but it would be nice for our families to celebrate together. I'm not really sure how it will all work out with the language barrier, but I'm dying to see how it happens!
Sunday was our usual date day. I had a feeling that he might not be able to do it because he was aiming to get an arrest the night before, but it didn't work out. Quick side note: This past Friday was the first night that Chancho felt embarrassed to be working for the NYPD. There was an incident in which a guy was pulled over for a DWI and the highway patrol let the guy go all because they didn't want to stay and do the overtime. Chancho said that the guy was clearly drunk, but they let him go anyways. He was beyond mad. He even called me to vent, which is unheard of while he is at work. But back to Sunday, I only made plans for the evening in case he did have to spend the day in court. Turns out that he does get home on time and we got to spend the day together. That night we followed through on our dinner plans. I got a $10 discount on a meal for my birthday from a favorite restaurant that we go to. We ended the night with going to a friends house to watch the AMA's and of course football. Two TV's were in the room, one for the ladies which had the AMA's on and one for the gentlemen which had the football game on. And tonight, he's working overtime. Such is life, Christmas is coming up and we all need the extra cash.

Speaking of which, if anyone needs embroidery done, check out the site to the side. (shout out to my brother and sister in law) Chancho is getting all of his gifts from them this year. He wants to avoid the shopping all together. I guess that's one way of doing it.

Wednesday of this week will be the baking day. I'll be at a friends house helping them back a gazillion cookies and then I'll be baking an apple pie for Chancho's dinner the next day. He will be busy working a double so he can have the day off. Always seems to be working the system to his benefit :)

Quote of the Day: The most successful people are those who are good at plan B. -James Yorke

Family Dinner

This past Saturday was my grandmother's birthday party. She turned 84 this year. We're very happy to have spent another year with her. As always, we're concerned about her health and keeping every day a cherished one that we get to have her here.
It was at my Aunt P's house and about 20 people were able to make it. We had a great lamb dinner, with mashed potatoes, peas, broccoli casserole and lasagna. It was really good and all homemade. Everyone brought a dish to contribute. My father's cousin brought his son, whom I haven't seen in about 4 years. Always nice to see family after a long absence. Found out some gossip that had been going through the grapevine, my other aunt dumped her long term boyfriend and my cousin will be dumping his girlfriend soon. Boy does the family love to gossip. What family doesn't though? It was a short party, she had to be home early for bed, but we were able to have dinner, dessert (chocolate cake), and open presents. Opening presents was pretty interesting. She got a Snuggie, which she LOVED. She said she was going to order it off of the commercial and was happy to receive one. She also got a Visa Card, one of those cards that can be used anywhere like cash. I'm not sure she understood it, but that's why she has grandkids to take her out and show her how to use it. She also got a bunch of flowers. It's getting harder and harder every year to figure out what to get her because she doesn't need anything. She's in the process of moving out of her house so she's giving everything away, she doesn't need to add anything to her house. Most of the time when you do give her something she winds up giving it back to you a year later. Hence all of the flowers she got. Those are easy and make her house a happier place for a few days.

Overall the night was great. It seemed an early Thanksgiving dinner. We all won't be together for Thanksgiving, we all will be going separate ways with our other families so it was even better to get together then.

Listening to: "Blue Christmas" by Elivs Presley

DVO Update

Okay a quick update about the DVO position. The grapevine has trickled on down to Chancho and he believes that he is going to be in for sure. He will hate me for posting this before it is actually official. I just am very excited about it. He heard from a restaurant owner who happens to be very good friends with all of the LEOs that Chancho's Sargent is losing him to "upstairs" which means he will be getting the DVO position. Another awesome thing that happened is that his lieutenant spoke to the CO and recommended him and the CO agreed! Right now it's in the hands of the DVO Sargent to decide. She'll be back from her break in a week to let him know if he gets the job!

This evening went great. I had a fantastic time with my uncle. He was able to give me some pointers about the job search and he also had some advice for Chancho about the new DVO position since he was one during his time of service. We were able to have a lovely night out at Emma's Ale House with my mother. I tried some new beer: Dogfish Head Pumpkin Ale. It really did taste like pumpkin. I liked it a lot, but could not have more than one glass of it. We were able to find out a lot about my cousin who is in boot camp right now with the Marines and it seems that he is doing well. He'll be graduating Jan. 22nd. I hopefully will be able to make it down there for it, until then he'll have to deal with my letters. I'm very happy that he was able to stop by tonight. I love having family visit. We are actually pretty far from all family members. The closest family member would be about an hour away. The interesting thing is that all the rest of the family is so close to one another, either a block away or a 20 minute drive. I guess it could be a blessing in disguise that we aren't close, but it also makes me feel disconnected. Luckily there's technology to fix that!

Hope everyone has a lovely Friday tomorrow and an even better weekend!

Pictures!

I've been very busy today cleaning. I cleaned my room, my closet, donated clothes, worked on making snowflakes to hang in the windows and in the process I stumbled across my on going project of redecorating my room. Which means I found my pictures that I will be hanging up on my walls. They had been tucked behind the couch out of the way, so not to get ruined. I thought I'd share with you all which ones made the cut and will be hung on my wall, eventually. The theme, which has been previously mentioned, will be a New York City theme. I know there are a few beach pictures also included, but I just love the beach so much, I couldn't not have a few in there. The majority of them, as you will see, were taken during the winter season, but for me, that's when I love the city. It is decorated and just looks great, plus the fact that I love Christmas. I have a lot of fond memories of being in the city in the winter. I thought it would be nice to surround myself with pictures to always put a smile on my face. So here they are!

 

This is the beach I always go to Jones Beach

The sunrise over the ocean

The Chrysler Building

The corner of Times Square

Rockefeller Center with ice skaters



Times Square at night. Love the bright lights!


Outside Grand Central Station, Chrysler Building in the background




Statue of Atlas across from St. Patrick's Cathedral 

NYFD
 (I'm going with a red theme otherwise I'd have taken a picture of the NYPD)

Train station waiting to go into the city

Miss Liberty

St. Patrick's Cathedral

The famous Tree

Ornaments