Making History in the Meadowlands

On Friday afternoon around 4:30pm, I got a crazy idea. I was reading an article online about how NY Giants fans were selling out and trying to make money on their Patriots/Giants tickets. The Patriots could make history during the Saturday evening game against the Giants in the Meadowlands. And the media made it sound like there were tickets to be had.

I have never been to a Patriots game. I have never been to an NFL game. However, Alex and I love the Patriots and are huge fans. He has become slightly (ok, extremely) obsessed with the NFL this season. It has been fun to follow football this year with Alex knowing every stat of every team and every player.

So with all of this information flying around my crazy brain, I somehow got the notion that Alex and I should attend the game. It was going to be an Historical NFL game afterall. At least it had the potential. And why shouldn't we be there? If the Giants were selling out and the stadium that held 80,000 people was going to be full of Patriots fans, why shouldn't we get to go be part of the fun?

Well, to make a long-ish story short about how we obtained tickets, let's just say I love eBay. You can truly get anything and everything on eBay. And I didn't exactly go through eBay, but I used them as a stepping stone. Tickets were insanely over-priced, but a lot of them were going unsold. So I started emailing the people who weren't selling their tickets. I told them I would make them an offer if they didn't sell them. And by 8am Saturday morning, I had 2 tickets to the Patriots/Giants game.

We left Syracuse at 11:00am. (After a bank stop and a gas fill-up.) We arrived in Hackensack, NJ around 3:00pm. I called Bernard, the man who was selling us the tickets. We had been in touch several times throughout the day already. He had told us where to meet him and we were there. He arrived within 10 minutes. And then, he offered to show us where to park the car so we could get a shuttle to the stadium. Apparently the Meadowlands is under major construction so there are only season ticket-holder parking spaces available. Bernard led us to a fun restaurant called "Grasshopper Also". He brought us inside to meet the hostess and told us how to get tickets for the shuttle. (Grasshoppers had a shuttle bus that ran down to the stadium before the game and then picked you up after the game. And they let you leave your car in their parking lot.) Bernard was the nicest man! Alex and I were very impressed with our experience so far. We exchanged cash for the tickets, we shook hands and off we went to experience a night of a lifetime.

It was only about 3:30 when we sat down at Grasshoppers to enjoy a much needed lunch. Alex had fish 'n chips and I had a nice ham and mashed potato dinner. We learned that the shuttle buses didn't start running until about 6:00. So we had a very leisurely lunch. We watched college football on the giant screen tv's. "Grasshopper Also" was an Irish sports bar/restaurant. They were extremely hospitable and great about letting us hang out at our table until the shuttles started running. Then again, Alex hadn't put on his Tom Brady jersey yet! The place was crawling with Giants fans. Hmmm...

6:00 finally arrived and we were on the first shuttle to the Stadium. The drive took about 5 minutes. The Meadowlands is a HUGE sports complex. Aside from the new Stadium they're building in the middle of it all, it houses Izod Center where the Nets play, there's a racetrack and they even have an indoor ski jump center. The Meadowlands Sports Complex is a "sprawling entertainment oasis". (Description stolen from their website.) And it really was!

Wow.. What a night, what a game, what an experience. I'm not sure what the media was talking about when they said the Giants fans were selling out, they were certainly there in full-force supporting their team. Yes, there were Patriots fans in attendance, but I think 85-90% of the crowd were die-hard Giants fans. They were loud, they were rude and they were pumped. But that's what made this whole experience all that more amazing. The energy in that stadium was like nothing I have ever experienced. By the end of the game, we were witness to 4 NFL records. We saw it in person. And it was awesome.


I have to thank those who made it possible for Alex and I to be able to do this. For all of those who helped talk me into this, thank you. I know it was very spontaneous and I asked a lot of a few people. To my parents: I apologize for any worry that we caused and I wish we could have had more time so that we could have stayed the night. To Eric & Steve: THANK YOU both for doing a tag-team dog watch for Jenny. I really, really am thankful to both of you for your help. I promise to be better about making concrete plans in the future!!

Here are photos from the game.

The New Zune Review

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I got a Zune for Christmas! And I love it. It has 30GB of storage space. I couldn't possibly ever fill that, could I? Well, maybe. But it might take awhile.

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The Zune requires special software that you have to load on your PC to be able to then load music, pictures, podcasts, videos, etc. on to your Zune. It's a little clunky to me. I thought the Zune would just show up as an external drive on my computer and I could drag things to it and be done with it. It's not that simple. You have to open the software on the computer, hook up the Zune using the special USB cable and let the Zune "sync" with the software.

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It doesn't take long to load files though. So far I have added 7 CD's and 60 miscellaneous songs. I have also loaded about 150 photos. I have only used about 1 GB of space.

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I love that you can share files wirelessly with other Zune users. (Eric also received a Zune for Christmas!) Pictures can be shared forever, music however is different. You only get 3 plays per song. (Or 3 days, which ever comes first.) However if you want to just borrow a friends CD and load it into the Zune software on the computer and "sync" it to the Zune, you're set forever. I think it's just Microsofts way of being "legal" with the music guru's.

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I have really been enjoying the radio feature on my Zune. I don't have a radio in my office, so when there's nothing I want to watch on tv (which happens quite often!) I can now listen to the radio. Or my cd's/mp3's.

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It really is a fun little device. I have never had (aside from a Sony Walkman in the 80s) anything like this. I can't wait to figure out all the neat features it has, I know I have barely scratched the surface. I highly recommend the Zune. And thank you Eric for my fun gift!

The Post-Christmas Post

It's over! The shopping, the baking, the wrapping, the giving and the getting. And the hype. It's over for another year. I hope everybody had a wonderful day and got to spend it with family and friends. Here are the photos of my very busy day. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

More Holiday Fun

Last night my friend Rebecca had a "Mrs Claus's Night Out" for the girls at a great restaurant called "Santangelos". It was a fun event. I'm glad she invited me! I hope the 1st Annual turns into many. Here are her photos of the evening. I only took a couple of photos, hers were much better!


The Christmas countdown clock is ticking. We packed up Alex's bags today, he'll be heading over to his dad's house tonight for the week. His Grandma & Grandpa and uncle are arriving tomorrow. I'll go over on Christmas morning to witness the massive unwrapping of gifts. On Christmas evening, Eric & I will head to his mom's house for a very nice dinner with his family. Sounds like a quiet weather week, which is nice for everybody who is travelling.

Tonight Eric and I are going to a Holiday gathering at Beeb's house. We're thinking we may stop at the new LLBean Factory Store over near his place. We don't go over to that side of town very often, so we'll try to squeeze in some shopping while we're there!

The Pink Fuzzy Box of Lipstick

Last evening we went to Eric's company party. PBS does it up right! They had a great sit-down dinner and fun door prizes too. Eric and I each won something. I won a gift certificate to a local restaurant and he won tickets to the Symphony. I see a couple of dates in the future! It was a very fun evening. Eric was in charge of taking photos.

Today was my last day of work this week. I have a half-day on Monday and Tuesday off. We had our 3rd Annual Holiday 3-hour Lunch for the Bridge Street crew today. I also exchanged gifts with a few friends. It was a very festive day! I somehow managed to get all my work done too.

Alex also had a gift exchange at school today. At 10:00 last night, after Eric's company party, I picked up Alex. He informed me that we needed to go shopping for his school gift exchange. He said they were doing a separate boy/girl gift exchange. So we had to buy a $5 "boy" gift. We went to Wegmans for candy. A gigantic Hershey's bar, a couple of containers of sour candy drops and a Rudolph push-pop. After I picked him up today, I asked him what he got in his gift exchange. Apparently the boy/girl gift exchange turned into a whole class gift exchange and he ended up getting a pink fuzzy box of lipstick. Poor kid. He was horrified and very unhappy. As any 11 year old boy would be. He said he threw away the pink fuzzy box and ended up giving the lipsticks to various girls. He kept the cherry flavored lip gloss for himself.

Holiday Concerts and Snow Tunnels

Alex's "Holiday" Choral Concert was this evening. It was a lot like all of the other choral/band type concerts we have attended in his 7 years of schooling. There was one thing that struck me as odd though. I noticed this last year as well, but this year it seemed even more obvious. The "Holiday" concerts now seem to be a generic tribute to the holiday season. No longer are our children allowed to sing traditional Christmas Carols. In fact, there was a well known Christmas carol that they had changed to say "Have yourself a merry little holiday..." Huh? What has happened to our culture? I love that we embrace all of the holidays (last year they sang Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel and a Kwanzaa song) but nobody is allowed to even whisper the word Christmas anymore for fear of offending someone. I don't understand how or why that happened. Why can't we embrace everybody and still be able to celebrate Christmas? Why can't our children sing a Christmas carol or two at the Holiday concert?? It is afterall still a holiday.


In other news, it finally stopped snowing today. We are up to 52.2" of snow for the winter... err... season. (Winter hasn't even officially started yet!) Our seasonal average is 112". We're almost half way there. Or are we? Jan-Feb are typically the big snowfall months. I hate to think of how much more we're going to get before it's over! I am SOO thankful to my parents for giving me that snowblower. The picture above is of our backyard. Jenny is in there somewhere, in the tunnels she created. She loves to plow through them. I think she is the blur near the middle.

Christmas Comes Early!

I got Red Sox tickets in the mail today!! Well, I got Red Sox tickets for a game in Cleveland. Fenway would have been fun, but this will be just as sweet. I almost felt bad when I read the letter that started with "Dear Indians Fan"... errr... The coupon for a free 6-pack of Pepsi was a nice added bonus.

I also got 5 other sets of tickets with my Sox tickets. I will have them available on eBay soon. I might try to sell the Yankees/Indians tickets at work though. I imagine someone would buy them. The rest will go on eBay.... should I try to get rid of them now or wait til it gets closer to baseball season??

Today, Alex and I went downtown to Kitty Hoynes for lunch and then to the Erie Canal Museum. They were having their annual Gingerbread Gallery. It was something fun and different to do. Some of the Gingerbread houses were amazing and very yummy looking.

Tomorrow I will be staying home. I'll be baking, watching the Patriots and probably running the snow blower a time or two. We're apparently getting some sort of Nor'easter. Yesterday "they" said we were getting 12-24". Now they're saying up to 12". I guess we'll know for sure on Monday when it's over!

Friday Meme Fun

Thanks for everybody who participated last week! Maybe more will join this week. Don't be shy!! Here is the question for this week:

What was your favorite Christmas gift as a child?

My Answer: I had many favorites, but the ol' Atari 2600 certainly stands out as one of the best. The fun my friends and I had with that game system was endless. Space Invaders, Pac Man, Asteroids. All classic video games and I had them all hooked up to the old console TV in my bedroom... those were the days!

Secret Santa and Some Snow

I had a great Secret Santa! And I was right, she has been on vacation. She more than made up for it though. A great Dunkin Donuts gift card (how did she know??) and a wonderful vanilla scented candle. All put together nicely in a pretty box.

It snowed all day today, as it did all over the Northeast. Finally it wasn't just us! I just came back inside from snowblowing. I'm getting pretty good at it now. It only took about 20 minutes. Then I took Jenny for a run around the cul de sac after the driveway was done. She loves diving through the piles of snow that are taller than her. Which isn't really all that high since she's so vertically challenged.

Just Call Me Sunny

Sunny Snickleifigus. That's my Elf name. Go get yours! It's fun. And then post them back here for us to see.

Ok... do you see anything wrong with the image above?? We stopped at the Dollar Store for Christmas gift bags and this was on one of them. Actually, it was on a whole stack of gift bags that were for sale. I guess in order to get something spelled correctly you have to spend more than $1.

And speaking of money, we're doing a Secret Santa thing at work. Some of the people playing give little gifts along the way and then one big gift at the final party. The person who got me must be saving it up 'til the end. Because I haven't received anything yet. However, the person I chose made out quite well. I gave him a $1 Lottery scratch ticket as one of his pre-gifts and he won $25. Aren't I a lucky Secret Santa!? Tomorrow is the reveal party, so I will find out who has me... I'm thinking it must be someone who was or has been on vacation.

Christmas Baking 101

Last night Alex decided he (we) wanted to make sugar cookies. I had all the ingredients on hand, we got a great recipe off bhg.com and in no time he had the electric mixer in hand. I was pleasantly surprised at his enthusiasm during the entire project. I figured he would show interest early on and then leave the cookie making to me. Nope. Not this time. Start to finish. (Well, minus the washing of the dishes...) He completed the project and proudly ate the fruits of his labor. He had a great time. I think that cooking class he took over the summer really paid off! He did all of the mixing and then the rolling of the dough. He cut all the shapes and placed them on the cookie sheets. I think my only participation was the sprinkling of the sprinkles and taking the hot cookie sheets out of the oven. We only made half of the cookies last night, so we can make the rest once this batch has been devoured.

A case of the Mondays.

This morning was like every Monday morning in our house. I normally wake up early to avoid the usual stress of the daily morning chaos. I take care of the dog, get myself ready, have a couple of cups of coffee, make lunches and check my email. These tasks usually go off without a hitch. My routine is pretty well set. I am ready to go by 8am every morning. And then I wake up my son.

My grumpy little man has never done mornings very well. It almost makes me laugh at just how grumpy he can be. Keeping a sense of humor is really the only way I can survive this daily ritual.

This morning was no different. In fact, it was a truly classic Monday morning. Alex woke up on his own today, which was a miracle in itself. But he only came downstairs to find out why the dog was barking. He was groggy and miserable. And then he started to cry because I told him I was just going upstairs to get him up. He thought he had more time to sleep. Nope. So back up he went, he crawled back into bed, and refused to get up. I followed, to make sure he realized it really was time to get ready for school. Then I left. A few minutes later I heard noise. Thankfully he was getting himself dressed.

He emerged downstairs and plopped himself down on the couch. He curled up into some blankets. He refused breakfast. It was 8:20.

I finished getting his bag packed. I took the dog out one more time. Last night, I forgot to put the car back in the garage, so it was covered with a nice coating of ice. So I got the car warming up and cleared of ice. I go back in the house around 8:30 to see how Alex's progress is going. He announced that he had to use the bathroom. The kind where you have to hang out for awhile and read a book. Great. I gave him 5 minutes. We usually leave the house around 8:40, so he had a few minutes. Knowing he moves at a snails pace, I plan for such things. At 8:44, we're finally departing the house.

I get myself into the car and look over at Alex as he's playing with the tree in the front yard. He's taking the frozen berries off of some of the twigs. I have no idea what he is doing and roll down my window to inquire. He had suddenly remembered that he needed arms for the snowman building contest at school. Huh? Fine time to remember that tidbit of information! So I jump out of the car to help. Otherwise, he'd be there forever trying to rip off perfectly good tree limbs from my only tree. There is probably a good foot of snow in the yard, a lot of it melted over the weekend, so it was wet, icy and very cold on my feet. Which had otherwise been warm and dry. I grabbed a couple of small branches, making sure to remove any frozen berries. I give Alex the "snowmen arms" and we jump in the car. We drive to the bus stop. As he gets out of the car, I notice that he left the tree limbs on the back seat. I asked him why he wasn't taking them with him. "Oh, the contest isn't until tomorrow. I don't need them today."

Perfect.

Soups On!

This is the best soup ever. And I mean that. Seriously. The best. It came highly recommended from a friend and she was sooo right. It is amazing soup. They have a nice variety, I bought the Creamy Potato and the Chicken Noodle. We had the Chicken Noodle for dinner tonight. You don't need to add anything but water, however I chose to add some extra chicken. It was wonderful. If you have a Christmas Tree Shop near you, you can find them there. They are $2.99 per packet. Each packet makes a huge amount of soup. You can also order them online for a very good price. (Not sure about shipping prices though.) I'm sure they are available in various stores, so keep an eye out for them! They're perfect for a winter evening!

Cleveland in April

It looks like Alex and I are going to Cleveland for Spring Break this year! Ok, that doesn't sound very exotic or fun to most people. But wait for the explanation! The Cleveland Indians are playing the Red Sox on April 14. And we now have tickets! It's just a 5-hr drive, which is actually a little closer than going to Boston (where I failed to get tickets). So we will bring our Red Sox gear and head for the Rock n Roll city. Hmm... maybe we'll visit the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame while we're there! I think Spring Break will be a good time. Oh, and I also have 5 other sets of tickets for other various games if anyone wants to go to Cleveland... I'm thinking I might make my money back on eBay.

Interactive Friday Fun

I'm going to try something new! Inspired by RB and her meme post... I want to do something a little more interactive on Fridays from now on. I will post a question, and all of my fun, loyal readers can share their thoughts, opinions and answers for all of us to enjoy. All you have to do is click on the "comment" link at the bottom of this post and a new window will pop up. Follow the instructions and post your reply! It's not a requirement to leave a name, but it's nice for the other readers to know who is saying what.

Ok. Here we go! The first Interactive Friday Fun Question:

What is your favorite holiday movie and why?

My answer: "Christmas Vacation" is by far my favorite holiday movie. It is hysterical. Every year I still laugh when Cousin Eddie shows up in his turtleneck dickie drinking eggnog from a moose cup. I love this movie for its humor and spirit. I can't wait to watch it this weekend!

Christmas cookies and snow

I have all the ingredients to make lots of cookies this weekend. My holiday favorites, Red and Green M&M cookies are first up. Then the Hershey Kiss cookies. I might also make a batch of pumpkin cookies. I also found a great recipe for Pumpkin Pie Bars that looks quite good. Although, I might wait and make those once the cookies have disappeared. That's far too many sweets for one weekend. Even though I'll be giving a lot of it away.

The snow finally stopped this afternoon. I actually saw the sun come out for a bit. I think we had 4 straight days of non-stop snow. I hear it will probably start back up in some form or other tomorrow. But I bought a new 2-gallon gas can, so now I can have up to 3 1/4 gallons of gas on-hand for the snow blower. I think (hope) that will last a little while.

I think we have a nice quiet weekend ahead. No parties, no ballets, no nothing. Just some relaxation, possibly some shopping (not at the mall) and lots of baking.

The Igloo

Alex is in the midst of constructing an igloo in the front yard. He's stock piling pieces, made with the help of a rubbermaid container. It's still snowing out there, so the pile might be buried by the morning. Oh well, the winter is young, there will be more time to construct and more snow to do it with.

It won't stop snowing!!

"They" said it would taper off after midnight. I'm now wodering if "they" meant midnight 3 days from now. It's not slowing down, and there's no end in sight. There's no school either. I also figured out how much snow I can clear on a tank of gas. Although, to be fair, I'm not sure if the tank was full when I started.

At least the Patriots pulled it out in the last seconds of the game last night! That was quite the game. Phew... I'm exhausted!!

Golden Snowballs & Footballs

Well, we're leading the race. So far anyway. There's a long way to go. And not really a race I look forward to winning! I used the snow blower again this evening. And will probably need to use it again in the morning. It's supposed to snow all night. I wonder how much snow I can clear on a tank of gas...

We're inside keeping warm. Having more hot cocoa with marshmallows and watching Monday Night Football. Hoping for #12 to lead us to 12-0. Go Patriots!

Snow blowin' & tubin'

I got the chance to use the new snowblower today. This photo was taken after I had already cleared the snow... but you get the idea. We didn't get that much, just a few inches. But it was good practice for the big stuff. Which will be here soon.
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Video of Alex using his snow-tube.

Holiday Hoopla

Eric and I attended my company Holiday Party last night. It was at the Glen Loch Restaurant in Jamesville. I had never been to the Glen Loch, or to Jamesville for that matter. It was about 30 minutes south of my house, straight down the interstate, then off some side roads and into the woods to the middle of nowhere. It was very cold and there were intermittent snow squalls. We arrived around 7:30 to find no parking in the lot by the restaurant. It seemed others had the same problem. There were what seemed to be restaurant staff out braving the snow and cold to direct cars to an empty, muddy field across the road from the restaurant. So in our formal wear and high heels, (well I wore high heels, Eric did not) ran through the mud, snow, ice and cold from the car to the restaurant. It was warm inside, but very crowded. I think the entire staff showed up with their significant others. In addition, we had clients and their significant others. I would say there were about 200+ people there. A very good turn out. However, it was very crowded the first hour or two. The bar was 3-4 people deep waiting for beverages. I felt like I was at a college keg party, without the stench of stale beer. We chatted with many co-workers on our way to the bar for our first of many (well, I had many... Eric was a very good designated driver.) Then after that, we stood in line for the buffet. They had a roast station, with rolls, then a pasta station, a salad station and a nice dessert area. We headed back to the room with the bar to park ourselves down at a great table in front of the fireplace. It was very cozy and warm. I think it is safe to say it was a good time had by all. Here are some photos of the party. Enjoy!

Weekend Plans

It has been a long and busy week. I am looking forward to the upcoming weekend. We have a few fun and interesting activities planned. Also, there is a nice threat of some lake-effect snow. Maybe I'll finally get to try out that new snow blower. DE the weather man has been giddy for days with the anticipation of significant accumulations.

Tomorrow night at this time we'll be whooping it up at the company Christmas... I mean Holiday Party at the Glen Loch. Ok, maybe whooping it up isn't exactly the right term. But we'll be having fun nonetheless. I'm looking forward to the party this year. Last year we didn't go because it was on a Wednesday night. There was much complaining from the masses and therefore was scheduled for a Friday night this year. It was met with much rejoicing. There will be a higher attendance this year. Especially if that open-bar thing is still a go.

Tomorrow (correction: Saturday) evening Alex and I will be attending "The Nutcracker". (Free tickets, of course.) Hopefully this time there won't be anybody behind us taking off their shoes. And if there is, you can bet I will speak up this time!

And, if we can coordinate schedules, our "lunch club" from work will do a dinner at a new restaurant that RB has discovered, Papa Gallo. They're a tex-mex place. You can be sure that if we go, there will be many photos of our meals to share and possibly a review. At least at RB's blog. She's much better at that than I am!

Oh and here's a must-listen for you: Alex's new favorite Christmas song is Dominick the Donkey. It does have a fun ring to it. We listened to it 12 times tonight. Hee haw!

Decking the Halls

My neighbor is a florist and in her spare time she likes to garden and decorate the outside of her house for each season. It's always inspiring. This is what I saw when I got home tonight. I can't believe how many other houses I saw that were already decorated. I wonder how much everybody's electric bill will be this month!

Alex Goes to College... someday

I had a brilliant idea on my way home from work today. As I was driving and realizing that my son will be going off to college in 6 1/2 years and I have little to no money to help with his educational efforts, I knew I had to do something.

My mom clued me in on these "Google Ad" revenue builders. You put the ads on your site, people click on them, you make money. That's it. So far in the last 2 days, I have made $1.43 from this on my site. My mom was probably my biggest clicker, but as more people hear about it and help out, then the more money we will make!

I decided to create a blog for Alex. And I called it "Alex Goes to College". You can find a link to the left. Or just click here to see it. What we will do, is update Alex's scholastic career as he heads towards college. We'll post highlights and grades. And we will also keep a running total of the funds raised. Eventually, as he gets older, Alex will update his blog on his own. Our intent is for all of the proceeds from his google ad clicks to go towards his college education.

Please pass the word and maybe click a few times on the Google Ads to help send a child to college. Thank you!!

The Dollar Store Christmas Tree

This will be our 5th Christmas with our "Dollar Store" Christmas Tree. I'd say we've gotten our money's worth out of it. And it's not looking any worse for wear, so I'm thinking it might have another 5 years in it. I bought the tree from the Dollar General for $20. (No, it wasn't $1.) But still, $20 for a Christmas tree is quite a bargain. Of course, it's no Martha Stewart tree. But it works for us. The first time I put it up, I thought it looked kind of like the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. But after you fluff the plastic limbs, add some lights and ornaments, it doesn't look that bad. And the angel on the top finishes it off nicely. Of course, if you shut off the lights, blur the background, and add a lens flare... it helps even more.

Shopping in my Jammies

I love the internet! And since I have decided that going to the mall is just not my favorite thing to do, I love the internet even more. I accomplished so much this morning, while still wearing my pj's and sporting bead-head. I found a Zune! The 30 gb Zune. Yeah, it's brown. But who cares. It has 30 gb! That's insane. I think that's more than my computer has. It's such a neat little device. You can play videos, watch movies, listen to music, listen to the radio, do a wireless file exchange... it's so much better than an iPod. Maybe the iPod is smaller, but that's ok. I like the Zune. Microsoft has upgraded the Zune recently, so the "older" model is cheaper now, especially the brown ones. Maybe people think they're ugly. I like them. And I got one for $109.99 on buy.com. (I had a $10 off coupon.) So if you're in the market for a Zune... check out buy.com! Free shipping and no tax too. (Oh, and Eric if you're reading this... Merry Christmas!)
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My second fun purchase of the day was for Alex. He was also requesting an mp3 player. He mentioned the iPod Shuffle. But I started looking around at some other options. It's expensive for what you get. $80. You may as well get the iPod. We came across this little gadget at Radio Shack yesterday. So I showed it to Alex and he loved it. It's a Sansa Sandisk Shaker. It comes with a 1 gb sd card. And it was $38 on buy.com. It has a speaker so that you don't always have to be wearing headphones. And if you do want the headphones, there are 2 inputs so you and a friend can listen together. Plus there's that neat "shaker" function. You shake it to change songs. I think that's what sold Alex on it. It's fun and small and you can store 250 songs. (I don't think I even know 250 songs!) So it's more than enough for an 11 year old boy. In fact, it's perfect! And it's on its way... and will be here in 7 to 9 business days. Free shipping and no tax.
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Black Friday, Bowling & Bee Movie

So Black Friday is thankfully over. The drive to the mall will be a little more tolerable now. Yesterday was insane. My mom and I went out around 11am. We got back home at 12:30. We'd had enough. The traffic was horrible. The stores were full. There was nothing on my list that I needed immediately. Mom got a few things that she needed. Then we went home for leftover turkey and stuffing.

They headed back to PA later that afternoon then Alex and I headed for the bowling alley. The parking lot was full. The inside was packed. There were no empty lanes. So we left. We will try again another day.

Around 4:15, Alex was going stir-crazy. So I suggested we go to a movie. We looked online. "Bee Movie" started at 4:40. We looked at each other, grabbed our shoes and coats and ran out the door. We were in our seats, with popcorn in hand at 4:39. The movie was cute. It could certainly have waited for DVD release, but it was fun. And there were a few scenes that had Alex in stitches. After the movie, we stopped at Toys R Us to check out the Zune deals that were in the paper. The deals of course were gone. Oh well. Maybe they'll be back.

We headed home for some more turkey leftovers. And decided to put together a puzzle I had picked up at the Dollar Store that morning. We spent the rest of the evening (until 11:30pm!) working on the puzzle and watching tv. It was a very nice day, other than the Black Friday traffic. For anyone who braved the cold weather and crowds today, you are a better person than I!

My plumber dad and other things to be thankful for.

Sleepy mom.

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Thanksgiving is always a nice, relaxing day. Smelling the wonderful smells. Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes... Watching the parades and football games on tv. Hanging out with family. It's just a nice day all around.

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Eric pouring drinks.

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Our Thanksgiving was not that different than every other Thanksgiving. Well, minus the huge clog I was able to achieve in the kitchen sink. I was peeling the potatoes, cutting the squash... and then I decided to shove all the peels and squash seeds down the garbage disposal. All at the same time. And turn it on. It ran, and ran, and ran... and nothing happened. So I ran it again. And again. Still nothing but churning water in the sink. Full of regurgitated potato peels and squash insides. And whatever else was left in the disposal from the last time I used it. 2 years ago I had this same problem. And had to call a plumber. $180 later, I had all new pipes. This year, I had my dad. He got the plunger, plunged away. But nothing happened. So he got under the sink, took apart the nice new pipes and discovered the gigantic clog I had managed to create. It really was quite something. One thing though, while he was under the sink with the open pipes... for some reason, he turned on the gargabe disposal again. And that open pipe acted like a cannon. That potato peel mixture shot out of that pipe at full speed. And ended up all over the insides of my cupboard. The good news was, I had been meaning to clean out under there anyway. So I did. After dad put the pipes back together.

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Plumber Dad.
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The clog. (Minus, the knife.)

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So with a working sink, we got dinner together and were sitting down having dinner at 4pm. It was so delicious and after about 20 minutes, we were all stuffed.

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After dinner and cleanup, we had a fun little birthday party. Eric brought a beautiful birthday cake. They sang to me and I got lots of nifty gifts. Alex gave me a Yankee candle and a book in a series I've been reading. Eric gave me a Red Sox fleece, a Kohls gift card and a subscription to Rachael Ray's magazine. Mom & dad gave me the snow blower, and had a card that mom had left at home on her desk. So my birthday will extend even further since she will mail the card once she returns home. This has already been the longest birthday ever, and it isn't even until tomorrow!
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The annual blowfish photo..

We're getting ready to go shopping. We debated about which store to go to at 4am, but decided to sleep instead. We're getting ready to go out now. Hopefully the 4am'ers have gone home to sleep. Eric and I were eyeing the Zune's in the flyers yesterday. Maybe that will be our gifts to each other this year... they were having quite the deals on them. Although since we slept in, I'm sure we missed them by now...

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I hope that everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving and good luck with your Black Friday shopping!! The Christmas (holiday) shopping season has officially begun!

The Celebrations Continue!

The birthday festivities continued into Day 2. Today was a fun little birthday lunch with some of the crew from work. Because it was right before the holiday, a lot of the crew had prior commitments and projects to finish, but the few of us who were able to get away had a great time. Our department tries to take everybody to lunch on their birthday. Which makes for about 1-2 birthday lunches a month. It's nice to get out of the building and hang out with co-workers in a non-working environment. Even our boss joins us. It's usually a nice time, and Chili's is the usual lunch destination. You gotta love the never-ending bowls of freshly made chips and salsa.
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I usually get a chicken sandwich, but today I had a craving for a quesadilla. I showed RB the quesadilla on the menu that I wanted and it was quite a surprise to me when a sizzling platter of Fajita's showed up. Apparently when I ordered my meal, I actually ordered a Fajita. I have no recollection of saying that, but RB confirmed that I had indeed said Fajita, and said that she thought I had changed my mind. It was still very good. I just had to put it together myself!

My quesadilla, I mean fajita.

I also had a nice birthday surprise from Director Jeff. He & his wife went to the Cape last week and he knew of my love of the Red Sox, so he picked up a few trinkets of the 2007 World Series Champions. He gave me the 2007 Sports Illustrated World Series Commemorative Edition. It's the best, every single page is all about the Sox. Even the advertisements. I'll have to put it away in the Time Capsule to keep it safe. Jeff also gave me a fun bumper sticker and a sign for my wall. (When I got back from lunch, the bumper sticker was missing and being held hostage.... but I was able to retrieve it fairly easily w/o having to pay a ransom. Darn jealous Yankee fans...)

Today marked the end of my work week. I am very pleased to have the next 5 days off. Other than having my parents coming to visit for Thanksgiving, I have no big plans. It's nice not to have to drive anywhere or to rush here or there. I enjoy cooking and hosting, and am looking forward to Thanksgiving. I am hoping to relax and enjoy our long weekend.

Let the celebration begin!

I had a very nice surprise waiting for me at work this morning. Sharon & Sara had a little birthday surprise for me! It was so sweet. Sharon made some of her very yummy Three Berry Crisp with Cinnamon Whipped Cream and they each got me a nice gift. I was so surprised! My birthday isn't until Saturday, but with the holiday this week and the fact that I'm off Wed-Fri, they had a little celebration for me this morning. A very nice start to my week.

Semi-homemade

I was given a cookbook the other day at work. We had featured it on our morning talk show and had an interview with the author. The producer was nice enough to let me keep the cookbook. (Another very nice perk of my job!) Well, I absolutely love this cookbook. It's called "Semi-Homemade 20-Minute Meals 2" By Sandra Lee. One of my pre-requisites for cookbooks is one that has lots (and I mean lots) of pretty colorful photographs. Being a visual person, I really like to know what things are supposed to look like. This book has a full page photo of each and every recipe. The recipes are great! Every page has something on it that I would cook and eat. The fact that they're quick and super easy makes it even better.


Last night I made the "Black Bean & Spinach Couscous". I probably would not have made this dish if it weren't for the very pretty photograph of the finished product. Not only was it delicious, it was very healthy as well. And it made for my entire meal. For dinner last night and lunch today. And I still have more for later that I will set out as a side dish for our Sunday dinner. Sandra Lee claims that it takes 10 minutes to make from start to finish. And she was right on. And that included time to do the dishes.


I have just now decided that as I make some of the recipes, I will post my opinions here on my blog. As well as posting the recipes and photos too. Enjoy!



Black Bean & Spinach Couscous

1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup couscous, Near East
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach
3/4 cup black beans, drained
2 tsp lemon juice
Salt & pepper

1. In a medium saucepan over high heat, bring chicken broth to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in couscous. Cover and let sit for 5 min.

2. Squeeze excess water out of thawed spinach. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine spinach and black beans. Heat in microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir spinach and black beans mixture into couscous. Add lemon juice and season to taste with salt & pepper.

I am a germophobe.

I am a germophobe. There. I said it. I am a germophobe. I went to 2 different shopping malls today. And it was a Saturday during the Christmas shopping season. Did I also mention that I'm not very bright sometimes? That's another blog for another day though. For now, I'm just going to discuss my fear of germs.

I wasn't always this way. I think it started after I had my son. Not immediately, but soon after. I don't like touching things in public. Especially escalators or door handles. I don't like using public restrooms. I don't like when people sneeze or cough near me. I keep antibacterial hand gel in my car. And on my desk at work. And I use it often.

Today when I was at Mall #1, Eric & I had lunch at the food court. Eric got chinese and I opted for a nice sub at Quiznos. A woman put my turkey and cheese sub together, then placed it on the heater. It came out the other side to a gentleman wearing rubber type gloves. I thought that was very good that he wore gloves when handling food items. Especially my food items. After he retrieved my sub and placed it with his gloved fingers onto the paper, he then took one of his gloved hands and grabbed a fist of shredded lettuce and placed it on my sandwich. Then he wrapped up my sandwich and put it on a tray. Immediately after that, he told me how much my order was, and I handed him the money. With his gloved hand, he took my dirty money, and made change for me from the cash register. A few pennies, a nickel, a quarter and a few dollar bills. Then the phone rang. He picked up the phone with his other gloved hand and began speaking. Then with his other gloved hand, he handed me an empty cup for my soda that I was to fill myself. At this point I was pretty grossed out. I'm not sure how long he had been wearing the rubber gloves, but I could only imagine what all he had done while they were on his hands. And it made me a little queasy. I ate my sandwich anyway. I was hungry.

After lunch, I had to use the restroom. Which was the typical Christmas-shopping- season-public-mall-restroom disaster area. I found an empty stall, did my usual cleaning routine of the seat, and didn't sit on it anyway. Finished my business and as I was washing my hands with the hottest water I could stand, I saw a woman with 2 young children exit a stall and depart the bathroom. Bypassing the sink area completely. I walked out behind them as they went on to stand in line at Burger King. With their filthy hands. I met back up with Eric and we went to pick up Alex, who was attending a birthday party at the Laser Tag facility in the Mall. The one with the hundreds of germ ridden kids running around playing video games and touching everything in site.

We left Mall #1. I went to Mall #2 on my own later in the evening. It was much the same as mall #1, only bigger. Much bigger. And much more crowded. Which meant many more germs. After I quickly did all that was on my list, I vowed not to return there again. At least not until well after the holidays. And well after cold & flu season.

Yellow Snow

What is this white stuff in my bathroom??

A Boy & His Dog and Other Random Stuff

Alex & Jenny posed for a nice photo this evening. It was a nice (rare) quiet moment for them. Usually they're chasing each other around the house. Jenny originally had evil green eyes, but I fixed them in post. I love Photoshop.




I was at A.C. Moore today buying some picture frames and I came across this fun display. I thought it was picture worthy. Alex got a kick out if it too.

Oh and the 2008 Boston Red Sox schedule came out today. The week we're going to be at the Cape, the Sox are in town every day. They're even playing the Yankees for a few games. Maybe we'll be able to get to a game that week... We're looking at other possibilities too. Maybe Baltimore in May? Toronto in September? We're determined to see a game next season!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is a week from tomorrow. Where did the year go??

Big Foot

I was gently encouraged to buy new shoes this weekend. I know my tastes aren't as "hip" as they could be in some areas. Ok, in many areas. I've always had issues with shoes. I appreciate Eric's input and his style, so I took his advice and bought these shoes. For the last few days, I have been wearing them, trying to break them in. They're the first Skechers I have ever owned. The biggest thing I have noticed with the shoes is that they are very big. VERY big. Much bigger than I am used to. I'm sure that's normal to other people, but to me they just seem very big. I've been tripping over invisible things a lot more. And today while I was using the bathroom at work, I lifted one of my big feet to flush the toilet, the big shoe slipped off the flusher thingy, I lost my balance and I ended up falling onto the stall divider.

I'll keep wearing them. They're comfortable at least, in a big roomy sort of way.

Pizza and Snowmobile Cake

Today we went to Eric's niece Laura's 5th Birthday party at Pizza Hut. Her grandma made her a very yummy and very fun snowmobile cake at Laura's request. It was REALLY good. I could have eaten a few more pieces. But after all the pizza, breadsticks and soda I indulged in, that probably wouldn't have been a very good idea. Happy Birthday, Laura!

Christmas Shopping Chaos

There are 45 more days until Christmas. You'd think it was tomorrow. Eric and I did some holiday shopping yesterday. And by the looks of the crowds, sales and activity, you wouldn't have thought it was only November 10th. One store in particular was a mess. This photo is from the shoe department of Kohl's. I couldn't believe it! Who just dumps the box and shoes on the floor, not caring about where it goes after trying it on? Well, apparently there were quite a lot of people who didn't care yesterday at Kohl's. This is the only photo I took, but the whole store looked like this. It was a mess. When I tried on a few pairs of pants, the dressing rooms had clothes turned inside out strewn all over the floors. People would put shirts back on hangers, but they would be inside out. It was a disaster everywhere. The poor employees that had to clean up that mess surely don't get paid enough.

7-Year Itch

The first week of December marks the end of my 7th full year in CNY. I remembered that little fact at a "Friendly" (or was that Wendy's) lunch with RB & JB yesterday. It got me thinking. 7 years. Wow. That is almost my record for longest amount of time spent in one state during consecutive years. I believe Maine is the record. And that was about 9 years. I went to MA for college for 4 years, I lived in NH for 7 years, but during two different time periods. 3 years the first time, 4 years the second. With a 2-year break to live in Kentucky. (Confused yet?) I won't go into specifics for the other years... (Let's just say I grew up in the military so I moved a few times!)

The thing that really got me thinking about living here for 7 years, was the snowfall. The first year we moved here was the second snowiest in CNY history. Wasn't that a fun record to be a part of? Especially when a shovel was my only method of snow removal! 191.9 inches is a LOT of snow to move with a shovel.

Here is a breakdown of snowfall since I have lived here:

2000-01 - 191.9"
2001-02 - 59.4"
2002-03 - 153.2"
2003-04 - 181.3"
2004-05 - 136.2"
2005-06 - 124.6"
2006-07 - 140.2"

Total: 986.8" (That's 82.2 feet.)

6 out of the 7 winters I have lived in the Syracuse area, we have "won" the Golden Snowball award for most snowfall. Is that really such a good thing?

Walk, Don't Run

Alex is very excited this year because he is able to be part of the "School Safety Patrol". It's a 10 week commitment and part of his responsibilities include making sure the kids are orderly in the hallways getting to their buses in the afternoon. It is unclear what type of punishment he is allowed to instill for disorderly Kindergarteners however. I believe the biggest reason for him joining the Safety Patrol is because he gets dismissed early.

The Fall Minefield

The first snow flakes of the season. And a backyard full of leaves that need raking. Jenny attempts to find a safe spot to leave a present. I can't wait to rake this year -- I may need to wear disposable shoes & gloves... it's a minefield out there!

Signing Schilling

From Curt's blog:

"Talks with the Red Sox are moving. Theo and I have spoken multiple times daily over the past week and given the current situation I am feeling very confident that we will be able to finalize a 1 year contract to allow us a chance to finish our career as members of the Red Sox organization.

There are some things to iron out and details that must be finalized for both sides but barring something unforseen or outrageously odd happening I feel very comfortable that I will finish my career here."

Yay!

Flea Market Fun

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This morning we got up early... which was really late since we lost an hour or was it gain an hour. Something like that... I'm still not sure what time it is! Anyway, my dad & I headed for the Regional Market Flea Market early this morning. There's a weekly indoor/outdoor flea market in Syracuse every Sunday morning, all year round. I try to get there a few times a year, when I think of it. The summer is better of course since there are more outdoor vendors. But you're always bound to find something you "need" no matter what time of year it is. I really enjoy going to the flea market with my dad. He's a "professional" and it's fun learning tips and secrets from the best. He can out-haggle anyone.
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We found some interesting items today. I saw a neat wooden box that caught my eye. It had a tag that said $25 on it. I walked away. My dad was looking at some other items and was starting to discuss prices with the vendor and deciding whether he wanted them or not. I told him about the box. I went back to look at it again, and the guy said I could have it for $10. I would have done it, but then my dad had his items (old silverware for re-sale), and the guy initially told him they would be $10 for the lot. So my dad asked the vendor what he could do for him if he bought both items. The guy said $15. Sold! So my $25 box ended up being $7.50. Here's a photo of it, already in its new home. I'm not sure what to put in it yet, but it's so neat!
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We wandered around, dad found a few more "deals". I bought a bag of home-made sugared donuts that we ate for breakfast and I got a couple of other things. Here's a photo of dad with a new sign he got for $1. "The Hurrier I Go, the Behinder I Get". That would be a good sign for my office at work...

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So the weekend was a huge success! Last night was fun with our dinner and all our guests. I got my first Snow Blower lesson. I hear there's snow in the forecast this week. I wonder if I will need the Blower...
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Oh and one more thing: A BIIIGGGG thank you to "ALR Shipping" for sending Red Sox World Series Champion shirts in 3 days. She beat DHL by 4 days, had a personal note inside and an extra gift to boot! Amy, you're the best!! We will try them on and send a photo soon...
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Let it snow...

I just realized I haven't posted anything since Oct. 31st. The last couple of days have been busy with work and life. Nothing terribly exciting to talk about I guess! I am still coming down from the big Red Sox win and trying to find something new to obsess about. The Patriots are playing the Colts tomorrow afternoon, that should be quite a game!

My parents are visiting this weekend. They should be here shortly. I just pre-made a big lasagna that I can just throw in the oven for dinner tonight. And Eric & Kelsey will be joining us as well.

The reason for my parents visit, other than to visit their favorite daughter, is to deliver a very exciting item! This is going to be a good winter for me... They are bringing a Snow Blower!! Woohoo!! I think last winter was all I could take with the shoveling. We live in the Snow Belt and I have shoveled for the last 3 winters in this house. And it's not fun!! Especially last year. We got over 100" in a month. I ran out of places to put it. It was horrible. Although I will admit, my upper body strength was at an all time high. But I would much rather have a nice Snow Blower to do the job. I'm sure I will still shovel some, but the majority of my snow clearing will be via the Snow Blower. I almost can't wait for it to snow!

The Creepy Crimson Reaper

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Halloween 2007 is officially over. What a busy day! I made 3 trips to the school today. Once to drop Alex off in the morning so he didn't have to ride the bus. Once to attend the costume parade and then once to pick him up after school. I should have walked to attend the costume parade, the parking lot overflowed into the road, both sides in both directions all the way down to my street. It was quite a big production and it was nice to finally be able to attend one. The 2 photos above are from the parade. The first is Alex, the Crimson Reaper and the second photo is after the parade without the sweaty masks on. Well, George Bush left his mask on, but the Reaper and Dick Cheney removed theirs immediately.
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What a beautiful day this was. According to our local meteorologist, DE, the last 5 CNY Halloweens have all been above 60 degrees. And as high as 75. This year was about 65. It was perfect. After I picked up Alex, we went to Toys R Us. We found this nifty voice recorder gadget ($7). You can play it back and warp it too. It was so much fun in the store, we had to get one. We've been having fun with it all day. Even getting the dog involved in the fun. We highly recommend it for hours of harmless (any possibly extremely annoying) fun.
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The Trick-or-Treaters started arriving at about 6:00. We had about 45 total for the evening. Alex the Reaper brought back quite a haul. He even shared some. It was a busy, but fun-filled day off. Back to the grind tomorrow.