Calgon Take Me Away

It was so extremely busy last week and the Hubby had to fend for himself 3 days last week. It seems like every time I turned around I was adding something to my calendar. Of course it was my own fault for choosing to participate.

Last Monday night My Pokeno Group got together for dinner at Toro on 290 and Hwy 6.  Not to be confused..this picture is of the girls in my back yard where I used to live.

In December we don't get together to play pokeno, instead we go out to eat to celebrate the holidays. All 9 of us showed up for a good time and food. We all ordered Hibachi shrimp, chicken, etc.  If you've never been to Toro you ought to try it out. You sit around the grill and watch the chef cook your meal and entertain you. At one point the chef put a spoonful of rice on his spatula and said open up. He was serious so I opened my mouth and he artistically popped the rice off the spatula towards me but he missed and so did I. Big round of applause for Judy though, she was the only one of the 9 of us to catch and eat her spoonful of rice. Others got close. Darn it I didn’t bring my camera to catch in the act of playing with our food. I might mention that this was not necessarily the most healthy or dietetic meal you’ll eat. Everything was cooked with lots of garlic butter. I do mean LOTS of garlic butter and something he called Yum Yum sauce. Actually it was all Yum Yum. Kudos to Jaxie and Monika who chose Toro and made the reservations.

Tuesday was a full day of activities. At work my boss had volunteered me by default to help on the retirement committee.  I’ve been giving her a bad time about that but it wasn't so bad. I am the only secretary left in our department that wasn’t retiring. The other 2 are part of the 7 retirees. I’m sorta jealous of Shirley and Sharyn as they start the new phase of their lives but not sure I can afford not getting a pay check.  I have to afford my addictions….books, fabric, and photo stuff. Thanks goodness for the gal who has done these retirement receptions many times before. She had it all under control and she delegated the jobs so no one was overloaded.

We set up a table for each retiree with a cream colored table cloth with a gold drape, beautiful flowers, guest book, name plate, and a basket to collect well wisher cards in Board Room. The reception began at 3:30 was to be over by 5:30. At 5:30pm there was still a large crowd so I asked for permission to disappear since I had another place to be by 6:30.  I jumped in my car and drove as quickly as I could to get home to let the pooch out to run around (he’s cooped up in the house all day), feed him and then hop back in the car and pick up my friend 2 doors down so we could head to our Quilt Guild Holiday Bash.




The Quilt Guild Bash tables were decked out and the Christmas tree had prizes for the door prize drawings piled high. 

 Potluck Elves were setting the tables with food for everyone to enjoy. It all looked so good and there was plenty for all to graze on.                                                                           The Holiday Bash Elves need to be applauded for their hard work. 

There were No guest speakers just an evening of show and tell, a few announcements, a potluck dinner with friends and quilters.

We had a special guest join us. One of our quilters brought a young man named Dillon Lark who was home from Ft Benning Boot Camp. We made sure Dillon know that we appreciated his service our country with a big round of applause. 

There were several random door prize drawings and even I got lucky and won a prize. And finally a game of Left and Right. This game of right and left had everyone laughing.
 
 The gal reading the Left and Right story had them passing back and forth so fast that everyone was getting confused and didn't know if they were suppose to pass their 3 fat quarters left or right.
 
 I so enjoy snapping pictures and capturing memories whether any good or not.                                   

I have ladies who are camera shy

and

I have others who pose and smile so sweetly.

Either way I get my picture. Kinda like the Royal Canadian Mounties who always get their man. Well I try to get my picture. LOL

Finally on Wednesday I attended the WTS Book Club Meeting. Our club founder, Jan hosted her book discussion Pontoon by Garrison Keillor in her home.

Jan has offered her home to all of us to host our own book discussion in her home should we decide to not meet in a restaurant.

Jan is the Hostess with the Mostess.

That night she fed us some appetitizers, spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread. One of the girls, Suzanne arrived late and as she opened the foil and found garlic bread she said "It was like opening a present of yumminess."

I had to agree.

Pontoon was an easy read which I believe was a first for Jan. She has always chosen books like Love in the Time of Chollera or The Bridge.  Jan decided with the holidays she would keep our reading light and simple.  I won't review the book here but will say it was liked by everyone present. Normally around 9:00pm we begin to wind down but it was nearly 10pm before we all headed to our respective homes.
The one thing I noticed about this book is that in the last 10 pages the author decided to tie up all loose ends. He must of grew tired of the story.   


Everyone was in rare form and we all went home with sore sides and jaws. We hadn't laughed this much and so hard in a long time. It must be the season to be jolly.



In January 2012 we will celebrate our 15 year anniversary for the WTS Book Club. WTS a freight forwarding company hence how we got our name. When the club began all but 1 member worked for WTS but today our namesake no longer exists. It now has a new name and several of us have moved on.


A tradition we have is to take a group Picture. And as I said we were all being silly and having fun.  I had to snap fast.


As of today there are only 12 of the original members left of the current membership of 22.

Our club founder is front and center.


Good Books, Good Eats and Good Friends!

And there is alway fun and interesting discussions.

When I finally got home that evening the hubby asked if I’d be home the rest of the week.
And the answer was yes.
He’s such a good sport to put up with my activities this week. 

Wow A bubble bath in the jacuzzi tub sounds good after just talking about all these activies. Whew!
Well this is my story and I'm sticking to it.
Until Next Blog …..“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world”  ~ Albert Einstein ~

.•*¨`*•. ☆ .•*¨`*•. ✿ Be Happy ✿ .•*¨`*•. ☆ .•*¨`*•.
……………… ....♥ •.Carla.•´♥…………............…