A Very Mary Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring...



...except for Sammy who had antlers thrust on his head.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care....



...if you consider "care" some wire wrapped around bricks.

The red stockings were a gift from my sister Karen, by the way.

So many gifts had found their way under the tree...



... that instead of just two people...



... it appeared there were presents for 33!

Many of the packages contained outfits for Mary...



... like this...



... like this...



... and this...



Making it a Very Mary Christmas for one and for all a good night!

More later,


Mark

Looking A Lot Like Christmas

My parents and Mary's Mom, Grace, enjoyed (we hope!) an early holiday this past weekend at our home.

As you can see above, Dad read by the glow of our vintage 1965 Sears Roebuck and Co. seven-foot aluminum tree. Don't believe it glows? Check it out:



Wow! You probably now need sunglasses to continue to look at your computer screen! What makes it glow so? About 800 lights and a multitude of kitschy ornaments from our wacky, yet beloved, collection. Like these:



My parents basked in our tree's awesomeness:



Now, we have more pictures to share but many of the pictures feature gifts that are similar to gifts that have yet to arrive at other locations, so those pictures will be delayed for a week or so. Needless to say, in the great Sweetwood tradition, drinks were consumed (including champagne), feasts were prepared by Mary and cool gifts were exchanged.

I got this fantastic jacket:



Grace got some cool earrings:



We had a great time! It was terrific enjoying some early holiday cheer with the parents!

More later,


Mark

Of Blago And Jagoffs...

OK, Tuesday would have been a fun day to be editor of an Illinois newspaper, covering the fourth prison-bound governor of the past eight. And here is the way such an obscene story should be covered:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Rod Blagojevich Is a Jagoff

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Not to be outdone, our Tuesday story was the pending homecoming of imprisoned former congressman Jim Traficant:

Jimbo's Coming Home

More later,

Mark

"Hardrock, Coco and Joe"

Hey everyone, the Holiday Movies site is all decked out in its holiday finest and ready for you to check out here:

Holiday Movies

All of your old friends are there waiting for you there including "Hardrock, Coco and Joe," "Suzy Snowflake" and George Bailey and the entire "It's a Wonderful Life" gang.

Enjoy!

More later,

Mark

Happy Birthday, Eric!

It's my brother Eric's 45th birthday today!

Here he is from a couple months ago when he visited us in beautiful Ohio:



That's him hooking up with Batman's Lee Meriwether. We had an awesome weekend together with my great friend Brad Keefauver.

I can hardly believe it was five year's ago that Karen, Bud, Mary and I pulled off his surprise 40th birthday party at Fat Jack's in Bloomington, Ill. An amazing amount of changes have taken place in five years. Yikes.

I am extremely fortunate to have such a terrific brother and a friend like Eric. As we've grown up, we have developed as many similar interests as we have differences (he is finally mature enough to begin to admit that DC sucks and Marvel rules). We still spend a chunk of every Sunday on the phone during Bears games celebrating and/or sympathizing with each other. And we both like our beer.

More importantly, we both like to laugh and appreciate each other's sense of humor whenever we get together.

Have a great day, Eric! Maybe we'll throw you another party at 50!

More later,


Mark

Extra! Extra! Bathroom Renovated!

Mary is almost done with the second bathroom renovation project here at our awesome new Boardman home.

When we first saw the house, it was hard not to be captivated by the basement bathroom. For one, it was a full bathroom and three full bathrooms seemed a bit much (although cool) for two people. Secondly, the wallpaper featured a newspaper motif. Now, even to two old newspaper fiends, this struck us as a bit over-the-top and shortly after we redid the master bathroom, Mary vowed to overhaul the basement bathroom

So, this:


OLD LOOK

Was replaced by this:


NEW LOOK

Mary redid everything from the walls to the ceiling to the floor. I was the chief financier and pounded in floor molding and did the electrical work (Mary even did the plumbing). She did an amazing job!


OLD VANITY AND SINK


NEW LIGHT AND SINK

I am so proud of her I even captured her plumbing:


MARY THE PLUMBER!

Now, I shot the sink area before we added the mirror so that you'd be able to see something other than me taking pictures of a new bathroom. The next project: The Orbit Room!

More later,

Mark

Happy Cyber Monday!

Speaking of Holiday Steals and Deals, here's the site I first developed last year to help shoppers track all of those, uhm, holiday steals and deals:

Holiday Steals and Deals

Enjoy!

More later,


Mark