I'm surprised at how fast 2005 passed. It felt to me like Time was on fast forward. It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the New Millennium and here we are now welcoming in 2006. Incredible really.

My wish for all of you in 2006 is that your families would be safe, your jobs would be secure and that your bodies would be healthy. Oh, and that you would be good to others. Have a safe and happy new year.

I don't bake often because I don't like to keep sweets in the house. If you were to look for any sugar in my cabinets you wouldn't find it. Once in a while though, I get the baking urge. Like yesterday. I wanted to make some Christmas sugar cookies and decorate them with colored frosting. I went to the store and bought all of the ingredients that I knew I would need to make these cookies from scratch. When I got home I pulled out my recipe for the cookies and began to make the dough. I put the butter and vanilla and sugar together and then I read that I needed to mix the flour with the baking soda before adding them to the mixture. That's when I realized that I didn't have any baking soda. I began to panic (mildly panic, I mean they are just cookies) and started looking through all of the kitchen cabinets just in case. I found two containers of baking powder but no soda. I called out to my husband to look up on-line what both do and if one could be substituted for the other. Come to find out that yes, you can substitute baking powder for baking soda but not the other way around. So, I opened a container of baking powder and looked at my recipe again to see how much I needed to use. The recipe calls for baking powder. "Oh!" I think with surprise. Not baking soda as I could have sworn on a stack of bibles. I tell my husband never mind the search, all is well. He just gives me that "do you know what you are doing?" look. So onward I press and continued to mix my dough. After I finish adding the three cups of flour to the mix, I see that my dough is very crumbly. Not a good sign. Even mixing it by hand does nothing to help it bind together. I add a little water and evenutally get something that represents a workable dough. So I make my cookies and bake them all up. Then I work on making the icing to decorate the cookies. This time the recipe only calls for a half cup of butter. The cookies required a full cup. I grab my stick of butter to cut it in half and I see that the stick itself is only a half cup. Uh-oh. That's when I realized that I didn't put enough butter in my dough. Oops and crap were two words that kept flowing through my mind and from my mouth. I was a little frustrated that I was having such a difficult time with the recipes. I mean, it's not rocket science.

The cookies turned out just fine, if a little dry and tasteless. The icing helps. A lot. I've got a feeling that I'll be the only one eating these cookies. I gave one to my husband and he didn't say much which usually indicates that they are not great but he doesn't have the heart (knows better than to go there) to tell me so.

So Christmas is finally here and I've survived it fairly well. I did all my shopping and a little decorating too. I had a nice Christmas, my mood was up and I actually felt happy about it. I hope that next year I will remember that it was good and maybe I can let myself get into it a little more.

I exchanged gifts with friends at work and received some very nice and thoughtful gifts. My boss even bought me a pair of salsa shoes because she knows how much I love dancing. It was very sweet of her to think of me that way. Last night we went to Latin Lover's parents' for dinner and gifts. We put some things together for his parents but I wish we had made the effort to do more for them. I always feel as though I didn't do enough unless I get them something spectacular. My husband and I don't usually exchange gifts for holidays or anniversaries but occasionally we like to surprise each other. Latin Lover surprised me last night. He had wrapped up all of the gifts we were taking to his parents while I was getting ready so I didn't see what he was doing. We left with three bags which seemed right to me as there were three gifts to give to them. After dinner we all sat down and our nephew began to distribute the gifts. When he reached for the bags we brought my husband told him that one of those was for me and he put it in my lap. Well, I was surprised and I gave my husband that "what are you up too?" look. He just sat there grinning at me. I wasn't expecting anything from him and I felt bad because I didn't get him anything either. I couln't think of what it might be because I didn't remember asking for anything. Well, when I opened my gift I gave a little squeak of delight because my Honey bought me an iPod Nano. I was so excited! I did remember a few weeks ago telling him that I wanted one because I had been looking at the one my boss owns and thought it was a great thing to have. Whee! I've got music and I love music. This is the coolest little gadget. It holds a 1,000 songs (count all those zeros), or 25,000 (more zeros) pictures and it's smaller than a credit card. Sweet! I couldn't wait to get home and download all of my CD's to it. Next thing I want to get is the car adapter that allows you to plug your iPod in and listen to your music through the car's stereo. Sweet is all I can say. Thank you Honey for getting this for me. I really love it.

Merry Christmas to all of my friends here, I wish all the best for you and your families. I started this bl*g this year and it's been great getting to know all of you. May 2006 bring us all great things. God bless.

They say that laughter is the best medicine and I would have to agree. Laughter is a big part of my life. My husband is the funniest person I know and he keeps me smiling and laughing at the things that he comes up with out of the blue. I think he would be a great stand up comic and I'm still trying to convince him to take it up. I figure that if he can make me laugh, he's got to be funny. We also enjoy watching comedies on television and at the movies. I like a sarcastic, witty, sometimes dry sense of humor, and my husband leans more towards the ridiculous over the top humor from the likes of Monty Python and Will Farrell. I don't always agree with his choice of comedy but as long as he's laughing it's all good to me. I watched Dumb and Dummer once without him and thought it was stupid and didn't enjoy it, but when I saw the same movie with him I laughed so hard I was in tears.

One of our favorite things to do is go to the Improv near our home. We've been twice in less than a month. Tonight we went to see Todd Glass. He's been on T.V.'s Last Comic Standing and has a sitcom coming up on TBS. He is also on the intro video that they play at the Improv before the show starts. Let me just say that if you ever get the chance to go see him, do it, he's worth it and you'll laugh your ass off. He's just that funny. After the show he was hanging out near the exit and I got to take my picture with him. He was very nice to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I was so thrilled I grinned the whole way home. I think I'm turning into a comedy groupie. I've got pictures of me with four comedians now and I'm looking forward to adding more to my collection.

I know, I know, it’s time to post something new, but my husband Latin Lover has been getting all of the good stories lately to write about. Go on over and check him out, he’s pretty good.

It was a good weekend. We had one of our nephews over. He’s 11 years old and the middle child so he doesn’t get a lot of attention. I’ve noticed that when he is with his brother and sister he is hyper and we’re always telling him to stop doing something which is very irritating. When he’s by himself though, he’s very calm. He was calm and quiet this weekend and I think he may have enjoyed the time to himself. My husband took him to see King Kong on Friday night while I went dancing. I had a great time.

Saturday my work was having a Las Posadas (a Mexican celebration of Joseph and Mary’s quest to find a room) and there was lots of food and music. I got to dance again that night in front of several co-workers. I felt a little shy but once I got out there I was fine.

I’ve got to go Christmas shopping but I don’t want to and I finally sent some cards out today. Next week hubby and I are both off from work so we can sleep in or do whatever we want. That’ll be nice.

I deal with people on a daily basis, mostly at work. There are people that I know that I am close to and others that I keep at a distance. There is a good reason for this. The people that I look forward to having interaction with are the ones that offer a “give & take” relationship. By this I mean that when I speak with them or are around them they are able to uplift me by their positive attitude and generous nature. In turn, I am able to offer them the same benefit as I am a positive person and I make an effort to have a good attitude when speaking to them. We both walk away feeling good about each other. They give and take as I take and give and vice versa. We look forward to the little moments that we share with each other.

Then there are the people that are just “takers”. These are the people that are needy, clingy and are so down about themselves that all they can to do is take. They find a host and suck them dry of all the energy they can find. I cannot be around people like this for long without feeling squirmy, like my skin is crawling. I’ve known a person like this for several years. I’ve been patient with them, tried to help them and uplift them and get them to talk better about themselves but after several years I came to realize that they were bringing me down. I just didn’t have the mental energy that was required to deal with this person anymore. I needed to distance myself from them if I was to be whole again. I’ve managed to do that fairly well, only occasionally letting that person back within my personal boundaries. It seems that the moment that crack is there, this person dashes in and tries to take control. I feel bad for them, but I also feel that I’ve done all that I am able. I’ve told the person how they make me feel, even to the point of getting angry and telling them that I’m not talking to them because I don’t like the way they talk about themselves. It only lasts for a little while and then they go right back to the same poor habits they had before. It’s a problem because I see this person daily. They make comments like “you don’t like me anymore” or “you never come talk to me” etc. Since I feel that I’ve already done as much as I could, I just tend to ignore these comments. Seems to work well, but I’m still left feeling uncomfortable. Situations like this are never easy to deal with, especially if you’ve been friends with them and are now trying not to be friends.

They say that “time heals all wounds” but I think that it is more appropriate to say that time heals the pain from the wounds. Maybe using the word “heals” is wrong too; because I think that what time really does is just cause numbness. You just don’t feel the pain like you did when the wound was fresh but you are still affected. I also think that the wound is still there. Some wounds never really heal properly and are still tender when prodded and even cause scarring. Imagine your heart, perfect and smooth – innocent. Now imagine what that heart looks like after you’ve been hurt a few times. There may be a few small scars here and there. After years of life experiences your heart begins to look like it’s been dragged through the streets behind the back of a car. Some of the scars are now deep and thick and ragged looking. There is no way that I know of to make that heart innocent again or smooth out the surface. It’s just the way life is and you have to deal with it. Some of those scars signify deep hurt and pain.

The wound that you caused is still there, I just don’t feel the pain of it as much as I used too, but I still have a daily reminder of what you did. What time has changed is how I deal with that daily reminder.