One of my favourite things about Christmas is the music. I usually start playing it in November for myself and the kids and carry on with it well in to the new year. I decided to do a Top 20 list that includes some old favourites as well as current ones.
They are in no particular order but the first 7 are the ones that definitely get played over and over right now.

1) Let It Be Christmas - Alan Jackson
2) The First Noel - Josh Groban and Faith Hill
3) River - Sarah McLachlan
4) Song For A Winter's Night - Sarah McLachlan (This one really isn't about Christmas but it's included on her holiday album so I'm adding it to my list. I absolutely LOVE this song, any time of year.)
5) Do They Know It's Christmas - Barenaked Ladies
6) God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings - Barenaked Ladies with Sarah McLachlan
7) Joy To The World - Jewel
8) Snoopy's Christmas - Royal Guardsmen
9) The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) - The Chipmunks (Doesn't this song automatically make you start swaying back and forth when you hear it? lol!!)
10) Do You Hear What I Hear - Whitney Houston
11) Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord - Boney M
12) Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Instrumental) - Kenny G
13) Christmas/Sarajevo 12/24 (Instrumental) - Trans-Siberian Orchestra
14) The Little Drummer Boy - Bob Seger
15) Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - U2
16) Winter Wonderland - Eurythmics
17) I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - John Mellencamp
18) Merry Christmas Baby - Bruce Springsteen (this one's for you and you know who you are..lol!)
19) Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy - Bing Crosby & David Bowie
20) Christmas Day - Dido

Oh, and for Marianne, I'm giving honorable mention to O Holy Night by Josh Groban. :-)

Please let me know what your favourites are. I'm sure I've probably missed some classics.

1) First I have to give a huge THANK YOU to Holly for my new banner!!
And I'm sure she would like to thank me for the snacks I brought last Friday...even after she mocked me..."what are you, 12??" I believe were her exact words. Who mocks Wagon Wheels...that's just unheard of! They are my current addiction or "snack crack" as I like to call them. Have you had one lately? Either they have really shrunk from when I was a kid or my head has become ginormous! Anyway, I don't think she'll make fun of my choice of snack again since she seemed to enjoy the one I gave her...LOL!!!

2) For those of you who did not enjoy the mood music my blog played, you'll be happy to hear...nothing...I've taken it off.

3) I found a new product at Costco that I love! It's an all natural liquid laundry detergent called ECOS. It's detergent and fabric softener all in one..clothes smell fresh and clean...ahhhhhh.

4) One of our local radio stations is playing a new list of 107 songs every Saturday. For example, one week was the top 107 songs of the 80's (my favourite decade of music), another was the top 107 songs from movies but my favourite list was the top 107 One Hit Wonders. Check it out here. I was so sure "Video Killed The Radio Star" would be Number One but it was number 4. My other favourite "Ballroom Blitz" didn't even make the list!
A friend and I were debating over what would be in the top 10. I said Video and they said Da Da Da would be...alas, twas' not to be...thank you, I enjoy being right...it was number 34!
What's your favourite "One Hit Wonder"?

5) Emily was recently working on a list of chores for herself and Jesse. The list was pretty even...he'd feed the dog in the morning, she'd do it at night, they'd both make their beds, one would set the table, one would clear it..that sort of thing. Then as I'm reading it, I get to the end of the list and she's written just one more little chore on Jesse's list...SCOOP DOG'S POOP! I cracked up...I'm not sure if he knows about that one or not!

6) Last weekend I saw 3:10 To Yuma. If you enjoy westerns you will LOVE this movie! I was so pleasantly surprised...I don't mind westerns but for some reason I really had no desire to see this one. I'm not a huge Russell Crowe fan so that was part of it. I should say I WASN'T a Russell Crowe fan...until now! He was fantastic in this movie! It's less a western and more just a movie about a journey two very different men end up taking together because of circumstances in their life. LOVED it I'm telling you!!!



7) If I wasn't a believer in the whole "everything happens in three's" before, I am now! (This is my self-pity part of the post...I think I'm entitled every now and again!) Tuesday my day was going along pretty good other than the fact I was extremely tired. My husband had been away since Sunday and I just don't sleep very well when it's just the kids and I. I stay up really late and wake up a few times. Anyway, everything's fine and then right at the end of my work day, the last half hour in fact, three things occurred. First I get a work email that I won't go into detail about (I don't want to get dooced!) but let's just say it was from my boss and totally sent me in a tailspin, then I get a family phone call that also did not make my "happy" list of the day and then to top it off I go to the daycare to pick up the kids and they tell me something that Jesse has done that does not have a place on my "Wow, I'm doing a great job raising my kids" wall plaque! Three things, one half hour...thankfully the rest of the week went much better.

8) My latest itunes downloads:
My absolute favourite at the moment...Matchbox Twenty...How Far We've Come
Jewel...Drive To You
Howie Day...Collide
Cobie Caillat...Bubbly
Kelly Clarkson/Reba McEntire....Because of You

9) Quote Of The Week...
That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet...Emily Dickinson

Have a great weekend everyone!

This is a very special edition of a new feature I'm calling "Whatever Wednesday" or if on a particular day it happens to be all about crazy people or strange happenings, it may be known as "WTF Wednesday"! This little feature today is all because 3 of my regular visitors are quite demanding...nagging even...lol!!! You know, some bloggers have nice readers that seem so calm, quiet, they leave nice comments (actually I have those too!)...so how come I also get the "crazy women"?? Just kidding ladies...you know I love you and my blog would be boring without you...so here you go...

1. First, I want to wish Sandy's son Kevin a speedy recovery! This past weekend he broke his femer (femur?) bone...her exact words were "snapped it right in half"....OUCH!!!!

2. Anyone out there that can interpret dreams? I NEVER remember my dreams fully..snippets sometimes and usually quite strange, the little bit I can remember. The other night though I had a dream that I vividly remember. In the dream I woke up in the middle of the night (4 a.m. to be exact) because I heard a large truck coming down the road towards our house. When I got up to look out the window it was the garbage truck. I then remember saying out loud to noone imparticular that the garbage truck was here and we don't have our garbage out.
In reality...it really was garbage day the next morning and we did NOT have our garbage out yet, I have been waking up at 4 a.m. lately for no reason, and it's still so clear I'd swear I really DID get up and look out the window. Hmmm.....

3. Did you see the second week of Don't Forget The Lyrics? I only caught the end of it but they actually had a contestant that could sing! He was very good, really enjoyable to watch actually and he ended up winning $500,000!

4. Please don't all rush over at once to present me with my "Mother of the Year" award when you read this. When my family was away and I spent much of my free time cleaning and re-organizing like a crazy woman you'll be very pleased to hear that not only did I keep all the empty toilet paper rolls I found but I also lined them up nicely, very meticulously in fact, with his others...total 11. Thank you, oh, please stop, really, the cheering's not necessary.

5. On the other hand though, I also put out 5 garbage bags full of "stuff" that I'm hoping noone misses!

6. My latest iTunes downloads:
Days Go By - Dirty Vegas
Hey There Delilah - Pretty White T's
Ugly is Beautiful - David Usher
Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
Better Than Me - Hinder

7. One of our neighbours has this cat that they let wander around the neighbourhood and I'm not sure why they even let it out because it seems to just want to be inside...anywhere...my van, our house, anybody's house! A couple weeks ago they couldn't find it (big surprise there!). Then a couple days later one of our other neighbours happened to look up at the house next door and lo and behold what does he see in an upstairs window...yes, you guessed it, the cat! Only one problem, those neighbours were away for a week! When I came home from work that night, there was the Humane Society, the Police and a Locksmith's van all at the vacationing neighbour's house...breaking in to get the cat out!
From the "you really don't get it, do you" files...guess what I've seen wandering the neighbourhood again on a regular basis...


Well, I hope you found my first Whatever Wednesday somewhat interesting and hopefully this will appease everyone until Friday! Sweet dreams fellow bloggers and visitor friends!

My friend and co-worker Susan has challenged me to come up with a list of the 7 songs that are my current favourites. This is apparently called a meme (ok, I'm not new to blogging but could someone please tell me what meme stands for, if anything!). This is my first time being tagged, probably for good reason, I'm always the person on those email lists that people put as "the person least likely to respond" but here it is, just for her! I'm even going to expand it to 10, no idea why, and in order of preference with 1 being the favourite.

1. Boston--Augustana (and not just because it's named after my absolute favourite city, I really like this one!)
2. How To Save A Life--The Fray (I STILL love this song)
3. Little Wonders--Rob Thomas (I just discovered as I was downloading that this is from the new movie Meet The Robinsons)
4. Here In Your Arms--HelloGoodbye
5. U & UR Hand--Pink
6. Ordinary Miracles--Sarah McLachlan
7. Sweet Escape--Gwen Stefani
8. The Party's Not Over--Tom Cochrane
9. Love You Lately--Daniel Powter
10. Chasing Cars--Snow Patrol (this is another one I don't think I'll ever get tired of)

Well, there you have it! Ok, more than half of them are slow and mellow...what has happened...where's the good ole' dance music of the 80's??? What kind of phase is this...and do NOT say I'm just getting older!! aaaaaggghhh!! I still enjoy almost any kind of music...except for jazz or rap...oh, and classical. Maybe I'll do a top ten country list tomorrow...bet you can't wait for that! LOL!!!

Anyway, I'm now tagging Holly, Marianne and Sheri to do a list. Anyone else that happens to read...please leave a list of your favourites too!

ENTERTAINMENT ALERT***
Blue Man Group (THE BEST SHOW EVER!!!) is leaving Toronto probably by the end of the year. Ladies, if you're looking for a great gift for that guy you absolutely adore...this is it...HURRY, get your tickets before they're gone!! I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Well, I finally have my ipod up and running...my library of 7 whole songs is loaded...493 to go!
My newest additions:
Pink - Who Knew
Killers - When You Were Young
Panic at the Disco - I Write Sins not Tragedies
I'm LOVING all my new techie toys!!!
If you're thinking of buying an ipod this is a good week to do it..Best Buy has them on sale. I could now get a 4GB nano for the same price as what I paid for my 2 GB OR...I could be a good little shopper and keep the one I have and get $45 back since I just got mine. You'll be happy to know I kept my 2 gig and got my credit....what a good little shopper am I...soooo frugal!!!

THE MANDARIN IS OPEN!! Apparently it opened this weekend..I've been waiting oh-so-patiently...which I'm sure my friends find quite amusing since my food choices do not cover a very wide spectrum...chicken balls (no sauce) and rice are my favourites!! Stop laughing...I'll try a couple other things...french fries anyone??

I hope you watched Oprah today...my favourite was on...Dr. Oz...I LOVE HIM!!! I didn't watch the whole thing yet but the "embarassing questions people don't like to ask" covered topics like poop and sweat...always soooo informative!!

I am so excited I can't stand it!! I have FINALLY been dragged into the twenty-first century. I am posting this from my brand spanking new MacBook...so exciting..for me, anyway. So far it's fabulous...you open it up and I swear...a blue light shines up to the heavens and a chorus of angels sing Hallelujah!!! Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little.
So far, in the last 2 days I've gotten my internet hooked up...high speed no less, yes, I've been on dialup until now, my Macmail is good to go, I've added goodies to my blog and as I'm typing this I'm listening to my new Library of tunes I downloaded tonight. Yipppeeee!!!
I've added a map to my blog so I can see where people are visiting from (since I'm sure it's world-renowned by now, isn't it? lol!!!) and I also added a Google search because as my friends know (or should know), I am the GOOGLE QUEEN, self-designated but that's ok. I love Googling, just mention people, shows, words...whatever, it doesn't matter...I'll find out whatever it is you want to know...and even what you don't!

ITUNES....so cool...ok, tonight I really don't have much of a library..it's more like a small rack at the front of the store. Here are my first 4 tunes:
Mobile - Out of My Head
KT Tunstall - Suddenly I See (love this song...from Devil Wears Prada..great chick flick by the way)
Goo Goo Dolls - Stay With You
Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars (from a video montage of Grey's Anatomy that's going around the web...fabulous!)

Now my dear friends (or even stranger friends), please send me a couple of your favourites so I can add them to my collection...otherwise any time anyone spends with me and my new Mac (yes, we will be inseparable) will be spent listening to these 4 songs over and over. Actually I'd just love to know what everyone's listening to these days.
Yes, I will also be entering the world of the IPodNano. I have it, I just couldn't get that going as well tonight. I'm already on information overload. I tried to put a thumbnail picture of one of the groups album covers but all that kept coming into my blog was the HTML text so if anyone can help me.....please do...don't know what I did wrong. Anyway, I'm giving up for tonight...it's very late...and I've listened to these same 4 songs about 10 ten times now!!! Good night all!!