Reminder...

I moved my blog to a new home.... please update your readers, bookmarks and feeds or you'll miss all my new amazing blog posts! The new blog is here.

I'm moving!

But don't worry. It doesn't require packing boxes, hiring movers or any other stressful activity. I'm only moving my blog to a new place. I'll explain it all here. I hope you'll check it out!

Chock Full O' Nuts

I'm getting really frustrated that the price of everything is just going up and up and up. My latest frustration is with coffee. Not even a year ago, my favorite coffee, 8 O'Clock brand Hazelnut Coffee was only $2.49 a bag. This past weekend it was up to $4.79 a bag. That is a huge increase and I refuse to pay that much. So I grabbed a can (yes, a can) of Maxwell House coffee for $2.49. I've been drinking it every morning and slowly getting used to the plain old coffee taste. I'm not sure if it's the plain coffee taste or if the coffee isn't as good, but it's definitely not the same. But I'll drink it. The effect is the same, it wakes me up and gets me going in the morning. When this runs out, we're going to try Chock Full O' Nuts. It's about the same price as the Maxwell House.

Hot Beef Sundae... on Sunday

Last month, I posted an entry about the "Hot Beef Sundae" from the NY State Fair. Well, a couple of weeks ago, we attempted to create the tasty entree at home and it was a huge success! So tonight, we're having it again. I think it might become part of our regular menu now. It's super easy to make. I used a Top Round Roast, and put it in the crock pot for the day cooking on low with some beef broth. Mash some potatoes, add a dollop of sour cream, sprinkle some shredded cheese on top and and you have yourself a meal. We also made some baby carrots last time as our side veggie, and that went very well with the Sundae.

Freebies.

I figured out one more thing that I love. Free Things. I discovered a blog written by a guy who searches the web everyday to find legitimate deals. HeyItsFree.net is the site. I highly recommend it. 

From the "HeyItsFree" site, there are links to many other sites with freebie offers. Here's another good one: TotallyFreeCrap. I love this one too. I just sent off for free Head & Shoulders shampoo, Bertolli's sauce and Betty Crocker Potatoes. (To get the Betty Crocker Potatoes, you have to sign up for a newsletter, but that includes great recipes, so it's like 2 Freebies in 1!)

  

Anyone else have any great Freebie sites they'd like to share?? 

Things I Love.

This will hopefully be much easier than yesterdays "hate" blog! At least I'm thinking it will be. So here goes... the things I love:

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1. I love my son. He's taught me so much, especially about unconditional love. And geography. And Star Wars. And football. And video games...

2. I love my husband. I would have put him first, but he understands that the kids always come first. That's one of the MANY things I love about him!

3. I love my family and friends. And I know I don't tell them that often enough.

4. I love Fall. I was a little negative about it yesterday, only because it leads into winter. But I sure do love Fall. I love apple crisp, baking, the leaves changing color, the cool air, cuddling up in a blanket to keep warm. I love contrast of the color of leaves against a big blue sky. I love all that is Fall.

5. I love Summer. I love the beach, wearing shorts & sandals, the smell of fresh cut grass and just being outside.

6. I love scented candles. And if you know me, you know I always have one burning in the house. A nice pleasant scent in the air makes me happy.

7. I love the Red Sox. And I love that they just made the playoffs again for the 5th time in 6 seasons. I also love that my son doesn't know the misery that my generation and the generations before me felt for those 86 years of not winning a World Series. (I also love that the Yankees failed to make the playoffs for the first time in 13 years!)

8. I love Dunkin Donuts Vanilla Spice coffee. Hot or iced. Day or night.

9. I love the smell of lilacs in the spring. And I am thrilled that our new house has a lilac bush in the front yard!

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I know there are a million more things that I love. But that's it for now! Everyone that has a blog, try to make a list of things you love or leave some comments here. It's guaranteed to make you feel good.

Things I Hate.

I read an "I hate..." blog this morning and it got me thinking about all the things that I hate, or strongly dislike. Since, as the Blogger stated "Hate is a strong word." I've never done an "I hate..." blog. Sure, I've had complaints, but I've never made outright lists of things that I hate. So I thought today I would try it! If you keep a blog, try it, maybe it will be therapeutic. Or if nothing else, maybe it will be slightly amusing for our readers.

1. Even though I love Fall, I hate that it's getting colder and darker. And I hate winter, so just knowing that winter is right around the corner makes me very sad. (Hey, that's 3 hates in one! I think I might be a little too good at this.)

2. I hate the Yankees. (That doesn't need any explanation.)

3. I hate money. Well, I love money, but I hate worrying about money, not having enough of it and all the stress that comes with it.

4. I hate taxes. And boy, in NY state, we sure have our share of them. I won't get into it, but I seriously want to know where all of my money is really going. I would like someone to send me an itemized list, because I'm pretty sure I could do a better job at dispersing it. And it doesn't include putting up over-paid politicians in fancy hotels or paying for someone's steak and seafood dinner who didn't even invite me to join them. (In case you were wondering, that's apparently where our cell phone's 9-1-1 tax is going...) I won't even get into the missing $24 million from our town's school tax. And why are we not getting a refund/credit from that??

5. I hate aggressive/mean drivers. You know who you are. You're the one who's always in a hurry, the one who thinks they own the road, the one who's driving that gigantic SUV, wasting all that gas... and for what? No reason. At least not a very good reason.

6. Speaking of gas. I hate that too. At least the price of it and how it's regulated. Why did our gas prices just go up again when the price of oil went way down? When this whole time they've been saying it's been going up because the price of oil went up. Something is not right here. You don't need to be a brain surgeon to figure that out. How many billions of dollars did all the oil companies make in profits this year? Hmm. Yeah, something is fishy there.

7. And finally, I hate the all the stores already have all their Christmas displays/decorations up.  It's only September!! I refuse to buy anything Christmas related until Thanksgiving is over.

There. That's it! I'm sure there's more, but boy, it's kind of depressing thinking so negatively! Tomorrow I will post a list of things I love.

Happy Birthday, Blog!

Yesterday was my blog's very 1st Birthday. I forgot to wish it a happy birthday, so better late than never! It's been a fun year blogging. I posted 237 posts this past year, and here is my very first. Thanks everyone for reading, may the next year bring as much blogging fun as the past year did!

Broken Streaks and Baseball Stadiums

Today was a sad day for Alex. His 3 straight years of perfect attendance was broken. He came down with a miserable cold over the weekend and this morning he was in no condition to go to school. So he stayed home. It was a nice streak while it lasted.

In sports news, I think I should mention something about Yankee Stadium. I'm tired of hearing about it and I don't care that they're building a brand-new multi-billion dollar stadium right next to the already gigantic stadium that was perfectly fine. And if there was so much history with the stadium, why tear it down? Why not fix it up if it was so bad? That's one of the problems with this country, we always have to have bigger and better and newer and more expensive. And for what? To watch a baseball game? It's a foolish waste of money. I will share this though. Amy sent me the link today. It's the only story about the stadium that I enjoyed.

Mmm... donuts.

Eric and I went to the Regional Market this morning. It's a year-round weekly Flea Market in Syracuse. We try to go every so often. And we usually eat breakfast while we're walking around. There are several food vendors that make various breakfast treats. Our old favorite used to be the donut maker. For 50 cents, you could get a freshly made, piping-hot cinnamon-sugar coated donut. Well, today we discovered a new vendor. They make mini-donuts. And you can purchase them by the bag for $3. There were probably a dozen or more of the tasty little treats in the bag, and they were sooo good! This is the fun little machine that makes the donuts. They flip right off of the conveyor belt and into the tray below. We didn't purchase much today at the flea market, just a DVD and some fresh bananas and corn on the cob that we had for dinner. (There are farmers market type vendors there too.)

Old Friends and Open Houses

I looked at the calendar today and saw that it was September 17th. And for some reason I remembered it was a friends birthday. I hadn't talked to my friend Jen in quite awhile. She and I became friends years ago when I lived in Kentucky. I've been able to visit with her a couple of times since we moved, but it's been awhile now. I think it was in 2003 when we last got together. So anyway, today I emailed her and wished her a Happy Birthday and it sparked a nice email exchange. It was nice to catch up and I hope we don't go so long without talking again!! She also has a nice blog. It's posted on the side of my site under the "Interesting Blog" heading. From her blog you can get to her parenting website as well. It's worth a peek for any parents of younger (or even older) children. Lots of great advice and articles. Happy Birthday, Jen and don't be a stranger!

Tonight was Open House night at Alex's school. Usually Open House means going to the home room, chatting with the teacher, getting a quick lecture about what the year will bring and going home. This year it was different. In Jr. High, they have an 8-class daily schedule. So we followed the schedule, going to each and every class. Getting a 10-minute lecture from each teacher and finding our way through the maze of hallways to the next class. I didn't get home until after 9pm. But it was a good learning experience. It was nice to see what Alex does every day while he's at school. I also broke into his locker and cleaned it for him. It's only been 2 weeks and it was a mess already.

Before and After

The Kitchen: Before

The Kitchen: After

The Den: Before

The Den: After
(I think Jenny and Eric are enjoying the new room.)

Problem Solved and Other Various Things

We hired an exterminator a few weeks ago to get rid of the carpenter bees that were infesting our roof/attic area. The bees were the reason the Woodpecker was pecking at our siding. We figured if we got rid of the bees, the Woodpecker would follow. Little did we know how literal that would be! We found the Woodpecker last week, laying next to the house. It looks like he'd been there awhile. His last supper must have been on what the exterminator left on our house. The Woodpecker won't be bothering us anymore. We were going to take a photo of him to post, but yesterday Eric went out to find it and it was gone. So either the Lawn Guy took care of his remains or some other animal did.

We've been busy painting more rooms in the house. We contemplated hiring a painting company to do the kitchen/den area, but after we got a $1500 estimate, we decided just to do it ourselves. That was motivation enough to just get it done! Yesterday we painted all day. The kitchen is done and looks wonderful. The den is half done, we are going to finish that up today. When it's all finished, I'll post before and after photos.

1 down, 179 to go

The first day of school went off without a hitch. Well, if you don't include Alex missing the bus. It's a good thing we live right next to the school. He's going to just walk to school tomorrow. He would love to ride his bike, but there is only one very small bike rack at the school, which I find rather annoying. With the high gas prices, why isn't the school promoting not only good health, but a way to save gas as well? Oh, and if anyone is looking for the traditional first day of school photo, there aren't any here. I was told to leave my camera at home.

We've been a little busy this past week, which is why I haven't updated the blog. We've been feverishly working on home improvements. Eric stained the deck, I painted another bathroom. I'm hoping to start on the kitchen/den this weekend.

We also went to the Fair (for fun) last weekend and I have lots of photos. But I haven't had a chance to upload them yet. I will post a link when I get around to it.

This upcoming weekend is Irish Fest! That's our favorite "fest" in Syracuse. I hope that former Hurricane Hanna stays to the east of us so we can enjoy that Saturday evening.

Hot Beef Sundae

The Beef Babe was on our show earlier this week and clued us in on the Fair's newest treat. The Hot Beef Sundae. It's a large scoop of mashed potatoes, a generous helping of delicious pot roast, shredded cheese, a glob of sour cream and a cherry tomato on top. After having greasy cheeseburgers, fries and hot dogs all week, this was a welcome surprise. It was SOO good! I can't wait to try another one.

On another note, I have to say good bye (sort of) and good luck to my friend RB! We were supposed to have lunch today at the Fair (the Hot Beef Sundaes), but things got crazy, then I lost her. (I hope she was wearing a Wegmans Lost Kids Tag!) Anyway, her last day at work was yesterday. She's moving on to bigger and better opportunities. Although she will still be working part-time a few evenings a week for us too, so that's good. Have fun at your new job! And I'm sorry I lost you.

Ridin' In Style

Our company hired a Limo service for its employees to get to and from the Fairgrounds each day while the Fair is going on. Not having to fight traffic or walk miles from a hot, dusty parking lot has been wonderful. Everyday we seem to get a different Limo and today we had a stretch Hummer Limo. I thought about just hanging out in the Limo all day, riding back and forth, but unfortunately, I had lots of work to do. It was still fun the one ride (to and from) that I was able to take this morning. (You can click on the photo to see a larger image.)

Party Time!

We hosted Kelsey's birthday party this afternoon, the rain held off and the party was a big success. I uploaded photos in record time (I love Road Runner!!) And here they are for your viewing enjoyment. Thanks to everyone who was able to attend. I think Kelsey had a great day!

Another Busy Weekend

We were going to go to the Fair this weekend (for fun, not work for a change), but we just seemed to have too much other stuff going on.

We were once again awakened on Saturday around 6:15am by Mr. Woodpecker. (I think he needs a name - any ideas??) Then our Realtor and friend MariRae stopped by with some very nice housewarming / wedding gifts. She stayed for a bit and had coffee with us. Then after she left, we spent a few hours getting Eric's townhouse cleaned and emptied for the new owner. He's scheduled to close on his place this coming week, so we needed to get that done this weekend. It was 5:00 by the time we got home. So we opted to clean up and go out to dinner. We used one of the great gifts that MariRae gave us, a nice gift card to Ruby Tuesdays. We had a terrific dinner there and then wandered around the mall to work off the huge amount of food we both ate. (And all the beer we drank...)

Tomorrow is Kelsey's 14th birthday. We're hosting a "family" party. Our first party in the new place. I believe there will be 13 people in attendance. We're having pizza, snacks and a fun ice cream cake from Carvel (at Kelsey's request). We're hoping for a nice day outside so we can spend some time on the deck and let the kids run around the yard. The weather folks are saying there will be t-storms in the afternoon, we're hoping they're wrong... and keeping our fingers crossed for a nice day.

We Have Internet!

Finally! We have internet access of our very own. We broke down and got Time Warner Road Runner. And we're all up and running. So you can expect more blogging now. I know you will all be thrilled.

On the home improvement front, we got our driveway sealed. Here's a nice photo of our house with its new driveway. Notice the tree to the right of the house... it seems to already be turning into fall colors. (Also notice the amount of trees around the house and be thinking of us come the end of fall and all those leaves are all over the ground needing to be raked!!)

We did finally finish unpacking. The house looks like a home now. Here are a few photos of the living room/dining room area.

Still up on the home improvement list... getting rid of the woodpecker, staining the deck and painting every room in the house. Anyone want to help??

Summer is Over

The State Fair starts in 2 days, that means summer is over. At least that's what it means to me. It's the busiest time of the year at work for me. I have tons to do for set up, then I will be there every day to help with our show. And as soon as the Fair is over, it's the MDA Telethon. It's busy, but it's a good busy. The time goes by quickly and I won't be sitting at my desk all day. I'm sure I'll have stories from the Fair and photos to go along with them. If you're at the Fair and can catch our show, I'll be the one holding the "Applause" sign.

In other news, Alex is traveling about the country with his Grandparents. He's knocking off 4 more states. Their flight to Yellowstone made a stop in Minnesota. So he got to cross Minnesota off his list. They landed in Idaho and are currently in Idaho Falls. They went to Craters of the Moon today. Tomorrow they are driving to Montana and will also be spending time in Wyoming before heading home next week. I will have to share some photos of his trip once he returns. Oh and in case you're wondering, he will be up to 26 states that he's visited so far. And 4 time Zones.

The Irritability Factor

I knew yesterday that today was going to be my "irritable" day. I warned Eric. I apologized early even. And boy, this was definitely my most irritable day by far.

It began with the simple fact that it was Monday. And Jenny woke me far too early. Then it went fell apart from there. We have been without internet at home since we got here. Which is going to be 3 weeks ago tomorrow. We've been "borrowing" wireless internet, but that's spotty and slow. And yesterday it was gone completely. (At the moment it's back, but for how long, I don't know...)

So I called Verizon this morning. Our DSL line was supposed to be transferred with our phone line from my old house. The phone was transferred on July 30th. The DSL was not. After many phone calls and annoying conversations with foreign representatives from various nations, we got a set-up date for 8/8/08. Which came and went. We received a phone call saying there had been a delay. But no reason for such a thing. I called last night and was told it was successfully installed. However, there was still nothing.

After 90 minutes on the phone this morning with more foreign representatives and over-modulated on-hold music, I was told that our house was not equipped for DSL and that it never would be. Well, that sent me through the roof, as if I wasn't there already. I think a few of the foreign representatives learned a few new words today.

So after arguing with Verizon people and then having a stressful day at work (the State Fair starts in 2 days..), all I wanted to do was go home to my wonderful new home and have a nice evening with my husband. When I got there however, I was met with an immediate question. My new step-daughter wanted to have a weeknight sleep-over with 2 friends tomorrow evening. 2 people I have never met. 2 people that Eric has never met and knows very little about. My answer was no. And not only was it a no then, but 2 weeks earlier I had mentioned to them that I will not agree to a weekday sleepover. Weekends? Sure. But not during the week. I have to get up early and go to work during the week. I'm just not comfortable with that scenario. Maybe I will feel differently in a year or so when we're all more comfortable with each other and living together, but not now. So it should have ended with my initial no and never been brought up again. But it was. And it was apparently all on my shoulders. So I became the evil step-monster tonight. And the night just went downhill from there.

Maybe I should just go take 2 aspirin and call it a night...

Mergers & Acquisitions

I would like to apologize to all my very loyal and patient blog readers. I'm sorry it's been over 2 weeks since I last posted. It's been a whirl-wind full of fun, excitement, anxiety, and chaos. Mostly just exciting though. 

I sold my townhouse, then Eric & I bought our house. Then we moved in. Then we got married. Yep... we got married!!  It was a fun ceremony downtown at the courthouse. We had a couple of family members and a dear friend join us. After the ceremony we went out to lunch and celebrated. Then went back home to face a house full of boxes.

We are still in the midst of unpacking, but it is mostly done now. I've even started painting. Plus we have a few "home-improvement" projects on our list too. The first of which is getting rid of the Woodpecker and the damage he has done to the siding of our house. The very first morning in our new home we were rudely awakened by this little monster pecking at our house. Jenny of course alerted us to the noise at 6am. Eric has been on the roof several times with Bee Killer to get rid of an infestation of carpenter bees... most likely the reason the Woodpecker is there. The bees are gone, but the Woodpecker continues to peck. Eric got some wood filler to fill the holes, and hopefully that will discourage Mr. Woodpecker from doing any more damage.

I've taken some photos of the past week or so and put them into an album. I'll try to get more current photos of the inside of the house soon. Click here to see the photos.  We still don't have internet access at home. Well, anything that is reliable and fast. Verizon is not being very nice. We were supposed to have it by 8/8, but it's still not there. Go figure. I think I need to make some phone calls... 

Clouds

We saw these clouds last night, I thought they were kind of neat. The rest of the sky was dark and grey. This was the only opening in the clouds, and it was filling in quickly.

I'll be packing up the computer this evening, so this is it for a few days. See you on the other side of the move!

The Finish Line

I can see it! Finally! After all these months of preparation, stress, house hunting, stress, packing, stress and more packing and more stress... the finish line is in sight. Monday afternoon I close the deal on my townhouse. The new owners have graciously agreed to let us stay until the following morning when we close on our new house. I don't know how we did it, but we got it all to work out perfectly. The movers will be here at 8am Tuesday morning. We're hoping to be completely in the new house within 6-7 hours. They will load my house first, unload it, then head for Eric's place to do the same. It's all within a 3-4 mile radius, so the travel time will be minimal. I've used these movers before and they were fantastic.

Looking forward to being settled and enjoying our new life! We will probably be without the internet for a few days, but I'll get photos and details posted as soon as I can!

Progress

With one week to go, I'm finally starting to feel like I might actually make it. This is the living room. The staging point of the boxes. Alex and I tackled the kitchen tonight. It's just about packed up. We'll be eating with paper plates and plastic utensils now. Or going out to eat.

Treasures & Trash

It's been interesting packing up all my worldly possessions. (Again.) I've found a few things that have made me stop and reminisce. This was one of them. A box of old pins from the 80s. I used to have a giant cork board in my bedroom and these pins were displayed there. I mentioned the collection to Eric, he said I should display them again in our new house. I think I just might! I have a fun little bulletin board that would be perfect for them. I think I'll hang it above my computer in the new office. Click on the photo to see it larger. Enjoy the trip down memory lane, well at least my memory lane!

Syracuse Nationals

We took a break from packing this afternoon and went to the Syracuse Nationals. It's a huge car show at the Fairgrounds. We hear "Fonzie" was there, although we didn't get to see him.

It was very hot... and humid today. And we were very hot, and very sweaty... but it was a fun day despite the heat. We noticed there were less cars than in past years. At least it seemed that way to us. Perhaps the high price of gas kept some of the car enthusiasts away. Many car owners come from far away for the show, I would imagine it's quite pricey to keep these cars running and driving long distances in them. Anyway, if you'd like to see some of my photos from the days activities... click here. Enjoy!

The Angry, Confused Dog

I think Jenny is confused and probably a little angry at what is happening to her house. Boxes everywhere, everything out of place. Today when we returned home, we found this in the living room. Maybe she's trying to unpack to keep us from moving. Or maybe she was just looking for a DVD. I think the "Shaggy Dog" was in that box.

Wipeout!

We love this show. It is an absolute riot and we highly recommend it! (And not just because it airs on ABC...) But it's just pure, good fun. Also, "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" is another fun one, and it airs right after "Wipeout" on Tuesdays...

Ok, free promotion over.

Dumpster Diving

I think we're all set with boxes! Kelsey volunteered to go search dumpsters with me last evening. We had a blast... we each ended up actually getting inside at least one dumpster in search of boxes. She was a great help. I think our gold mine was behind a local Kinney Drug store. The dumpster even smelled nice, kind of like soap. I'm not sure how many we ended up with, but I'm pretty sure we have enough. Especially after the 40 or so I picked up at Barnes & Noble earlier in the day.

Now, the hard part. Filling them and moving. Two weeks and two days to go.

Box Hunt

Ok, it's time to get serious. I have 3 weekends left before the big move. And I need boxes. I have been getting some from work, and filling them as I get them. But boy, do I need a lot more. I hear liquor stores are good places, and dumpsters behind department stores... but if anyone else has any ideas, I'm all ears!

Big Day!

Today's the big day. The day I wait for all year. The '09 Weather Calendar is officially being handed off to the printer. The weather calendar is my big project every year and it's always a huge relief to be done with it and get it in the hands of the printer. I'm right on schedule as the calendar will need to be done for the State Fair, which begins on August 21st this year.

Shox

Alex finally got his long-awaited Nike Shox. He's been asking for these shoes for months. I told him he could get them as a "reward" for straight-A's on his report card and for "graduating" from 6th grade. So last night was the night. This is the pair he picked out, and lucky for me they were on "sale". The best part of the whole thing though was discovering that we now take the same size shoe. So once he out-grows the Shox, (which very well could be sooner rather than later at the rate he's growing) they are mine! I told him this morning as he was leaving for camp in his new shoes, that he better keep them clean. Won't I look spiffy mowing the lawn in these??

The Home Stretch

According to the initial "offer" papers, we are buying our new house on July 28th. That's 2 1/2 weeks away! I think I might be starting to get a little stressed... for several reasons. One, we don't want to discuss (Eric's house sale, err... non-sale), and the other is just the whole "getting stuff organized" thing. I've been avoiding blogging about this recently because I'm sure it bores my loyal readers.

Last night while Eric and I were talking, we realized we still have a lot to do and we're running out of time! My morning will be spent making phone calls... making sure we're still on schedule, trying to reserve a mover, talking with the lawyer about closings, getting in last minute papers, buying a refrigerator.... Oh, did you know that when your company is sold half way through the year, your paycheck no longer reflects your entire years earnings? I guess I hadn't really noticed. Well, the bank did and they are requiring an explanation. At least it's an easy one.

In other news, Alex is loving camp this week. He's at a "College for Kids" day camp at a local community college. His 2 favorite classes are "Video Game Evolution" (he almost won the Pong tournament!) and "Flag Football". He's having fun, making new friends and realizing how lucky he is that he has a Wii and not an Atari 2400. (Although I sure have fond memories playing Space Invaders on the big console TV...)

The Mobile Windshield

About 2 months ago, or perhaps longer, my windshield was struck by a flying rock on the highway on my way to work. It landed below my windshield wiper. I didn't know this until a few days later when a crack started appearing above the wiper. And it continued to the almost the edge of the windshield. Then a few days later another crack appeared, coming from the other side of the initial rock impact. And it started going towards the right, and almost made it to the other side, but then headed up. It's quite a site. My line of vision is still clear, otherwise I might have been in a rush to get it replaced.

Thankfully, my insurance covers a new windshield 100%. I called my insurance company a couple of weeks ago and they recommended a "Mobile Windshield" company. They come to me with a new windshield (which took a week and a half to get here) and replace it on the spot. I don't even have to go anywhere and leave the car. So today is finally the day! I'm very excited to have a nice new windshield again. I even have a new registration sticker waiting to apply to the windshield. I just hope it doesn't rain while he's replacing it.

Walk This Way

It was such a beautiful day today, Jenny and I took several walks.
Here are a few photos from one of the walks.

Jenny always takes the lead.

Jenny always has to sniff every mailbox post along the way.

Why are dogs so drawn to fire hydrants??

One of my neighbors had beautiful flowers in bloom.

Cloverfield and a Birthday Party

Eric and I finally saw "Cloverfield" today. All I knew about the movie was the it made a lot of people sick in the theatre. That and there was a monster in NYC. I can definitely see how it made people sick, even on the small screen it was difficult to watch sometimes. The "handy-cam" effect for 2 hours is a lot to ask of an audience, but I think it worked. It was a neat concept and I hate to say it, I think I liked the movie! Not sure why it was called Cloverfield though... I think I'll go to the movie website and learn more about it.


Before we watched the movie, Eric and I attended a birthday party for his um, Grand-daughter. Well, technically (biologically) he's not really a grand-father. (Thankfully, because I am REALLY not old enough to be a step-grandma!!) Eric's ex-wife had a daughter when she was much, much younger, waaaayyy before she ever knew Eric. And that daughter has daughter of her own now. And since there was never a "father" in the picture, Eric became the father when he was married to his ex-wife, and then of course, the grandfather. Anyway, the grand-daughter turned 7 today. And we attended her birthday party. She's a cute girl and loves the Jonas Brothers. So she had a Jonas Brothers cake and theme for her party. Here she is opening gifts:

And here's a picture of me and Eric. Taken by Eric, of course!

A Day at the Golf Course

Look at that form! Hey, no laughing!! Yesterday we took to the golf course... well, the mini-golf course. And the driving range. I think we need a lot more practice before we attempt a real golf course. Although driving around in a golf cart would be fun. Maybe we should find a small out-of-the-way course to attempt a first round. One that has no people to laugh at us.

It was a fun afternoon though. Eric won the mini-golf event. Then we broke for ice cream and with the renewed energy from all the sugar, we hit the driving range. Click here to see photos from the day.

4th of July

Happy Independence Day! I can't believe it's the 4th of July already. The summer is quickly zooming by. We don't have any major plans for the day. It's gorgeous outside, perfect really. We might go mini-golfing this afternoon and then watch the fireworks tonight. And otherwise, we'll just relax and enjoy the day. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

Rock Band

Attention friends and family: Alex has discovered "Rock Band". And would like to get it for his birthday. If you could just send Best Buy gift cards, that would be greeaaattt. Thanks.

Seriously though, we been stopping at the new Best Buy every time we go to Wegmans. (Which is conveniently just minutes from our home...) And each time we go, Alex is drawn to the Rock Band display. He loves the drums. And I hate to say, I kinda do too... nothing beats pretending that you're part of Bon Jovi playing "Wanted... Dead or Alive...."

Terrible Tuesday

Yesterday wasn't the best day. Poor Alex has been having "issues" with his stomach. I fear he has inherited my terribly tummy... aka IBS. Stress, fried food, fatty food, soda, junk food... it all triggers upset stomachs. I've learned to live with it for the most part. But Alex is just starting out. We think the hot dog, nachos and french fries at the Paw Sox game put him over the edge Monday night. His stomach was already upset from whatever junk he ate over the weekend (and the added stress of the Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments), so he was living on the edge eating all that fried food at the game.

So yesterday as he rested in bed and watched tv, I did some research. I found a great website all about IBS and what to eat and what to do. And they even have special powders and concoctions you can order to relieve symptoms. I think we'll try altering the diet first before we spend lots of money on "Tummy Fiber" or "Tummy Tea". We made a small list of things and went to Wegmans. I bought him some Peppermint Tea, bananas, ingredients for smoothies, rice and white bread.

I made some delicious smoothies last night. With fresh bananas and strawberries, fat-free vanilla yogurt, some cinnamon and ice. The Magic Bullet whips up a great smoothie! And we each get our own cup, so we can make it just the way we like it.

I'm hoping his stomach has settled down so we can enjoy the rest of the vacation. Yesterday I was able to clean the garage out more and get ready for garbage day. So at least I was still productive. I'm thinking the Arby's lunch is out this week, but I'm hoping that we'll still be able to go to Nothing But Noodles... pasta is a good soluble fiber food and is on the "good" list.

More from the Stay-cation

Scooch watching the Paw Sox Game.

Alex and I had a busy and productive day yesterday. First thing I did was get a much needed hair cut. Then I got busy in the garage, cleaning up from the yard sale. I piled boxes in the car to take to the Rescue Mission and I packed more Hefty bags full of garbage. (I can't wait for garbage day tomorrow!) Alex slept in, but after he woke up, he went with me to drop off the Rescue Mission stuff. We took lots of bottles and cans to Wegmans too. I let him keep the proceeds. Then we went to the video store to rent some movies. There's a new video store in the area (Blockbuster closed...) so we tried the new place out. Kids get a free rental for every "A" they get on their report card. So he got coupons for 5 free movie rentals. (You can only use one at a time.) That was very nice, plus for the first 30 days, you get 50% off movie rentals. Oh and kids movie rentals are free with every regular movie rental. So we rented 5 movies yesterday and it cost me 54 cents. Finally, something is cheap out there!

So we went home to watch movies. I watched "27 Dresses" and he watched a Yu-Gi-Oh movie... then at 6:15, we headed over to the Chiefs/Paw Sox game. Alex brought a friend from the neighborhood since I had some extra tickets.

The game was great. Clay Buchholz pitched for the Paw Sox, which was a nice surprise. Mike Timlin even came in for an inning in the 6th. Another nice surprise! Jed Lowrie was at shortstop too. (Lowrie is #3 in the photo above. Buchholz is on the mound.) They played very well despite the horrible conditions.


Around the 3rd inning, the dark clouds rolled in and it started to rain. And it never really stopped. We moved back to a covered section. The photo above shows where we were... the section with all the umbrellas. I was surprised they finished the game. At one point, one of the Chiefs batters lost his grip on the bat when he swung and it flew into the stands. Kind of scary. But nobody was hurt thankfully.


Mike Timlin on the mound in this photo. I would have gotten a closer shot, but I didn't want to get wet, it was pouring rain! The Paw Sox won the game 5-2.

Stay-cation

We're on vacation this week. Well, it officially started last Friday. The last day of school was Thursday, so I took Friday off and this upcoming week as well. And we're not going anywhere. I'm pretty excited about that. I didn't plan on gas prices being so high when we made the decision not to travel, but boy I sure am glad we didn't make plans now!

So far this vacation, we've had a 2-day Garage Sale and we went to JazzFest to see Sergio Mendes. (Of course, I forgot to bring my camera.) The Garage Sale went pretty well the first day, but the 2nd day it rained on and off all day. But my neighbor who was helping me had a nice empty garage, so we ended up using both garages and had a decent amount of customers, considering the weather was terrible.

The "big" plans for Alex and I for our week off include attending a Chiefs/PawSox game, going to Arby's for Beef & Cheddar sandwiches, trying out the new "Nothing but Noodles" restaurant, going mini-golfing and catching up on some movie rentals. Nothing major, but we're thrilled to have the time to relax. Alex is happy to just be able to hang out and play with his friends in the neighborhood. He's currently holding a "Yu-Gi-Oh" card tournament in the garage. I've started packing and cleaning things out. I'm planning on having a huge amount of garbage this week. I'm already up to about 8 giant Hefty bags. My neighbor helped me get 6 big bags of clothes and some old furniture (leftover from the garage sale) over to the Rescue Mission trailer yesterday. I'm feeling very productive, I hope it continues!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

It seems like there have been a lot of severe thunderstorms lately, but today there was a nice ending to a storm that came through. This was the view from our front steps. I really should go look for the pot of gold...

To Tuck or Not to Tuck

Alex "graduated" from 6th grade last night. He doesn't look very happy though. But I don't think it was the occasion. He's thrilled that summer is just about here and that there's no school for a few months. What he's most likely upset about is the fact that his mean ol' mom made him tuck in his shirt. Apparently, it's not cool. But doesn't he look nice?? Aside from a diploma, he received the "Presidential Academic Award of Excellence"... and we think there might have been a direct correlation between those receiving the award and those who had their shirts tucked in. Hmmm...

Miscellaneous Junk

Once again, it's been a few days since I've blogged. Life seems to be racing past me. I think the entire summer is going to go by very quickly, we've got so much going on. Alex will be "graduating" from 6th grade Thursday evening. Well, they call it a moving up ceremony, then they make them go back to school for another week. I don't think they have much work left to do though. They have a bunch of half-days, a field day and some assemblies. I remember the anticipation of summer vacation. I really should have become a teacher! I would love to have summers off...

I do have 2 vacations soon though. But they will be spent having a yard sale, packing and then moving. We had to cancel the much anticipated trip to the Poconos. The house sales were happening quicker than we thought they would and it would have been too stressful to try to do it all. So we had to "sacrifice" the vacation for a beautiful new home.

We're anxiously awaiting the Celtics game. Well, Alex is anxiously awaiting the game. I'm a fan, but not a fanatic. Not like the Red Sox or the Patriots. I like the Celtics, but I've just never been as much of a fan of basketball like I am a fan of baseball & football.

Oh, speaking of baseball, we do have one fun thing planned during our first vacation. The Paw Sox are in town again and I have tickets for that. I hope Kyle Snyder is feeling better. I'd love to see him pitch this time! Or maybe one of the Red Sox guys will be rehabbing. That would be fun too. We saw Curt Schilling pitch twice a couple of summers ago, I'd never seen the ol' ballpark that crowded before! It was great! Well, except for the annoying Yankee fans that kept saying the Red Sox sucked. (Yes, I know this is NY, but the Chiefs are a Toronto affiliate, not a Yankee affiliate, so I don't get the connection.... but whatever. It just proves how annoying those Yankee fans are!)

Well, it's 8:30... pre-game is on. Go Celtics!

Friday the 13th

I will certainly remember the events of this week for a long time, especially how it ended with Friday the 13th.

I'll start with some good news. I sold my house! It was final on Tuesday when the house passed inspection and they signed the commitment letter. On Wednesday, we bought a house! (Pending the home inspection on Sunday.) Here's a photo of our new place. It's got everything we wanted and more. And it's in a terrific neighborhood. The kids will be very happy there, as will we.

However, as all of this excitement was going on in my personal life, my work life seemed to be going in a very different direction. Our company was sold back in March and we knew changes would be coming. But it's still hard when the time arrives and the changes are announced. Or at least whispered in secrecy through the hallways. There was no announcement. Only speculation and rumor. Then little by little, we learned what was happening. This week, my company started offering buy-outs to employees. Today we say goodbye to 11 good people. One of whom has been here longer than I've been alive. It is especially hard to say goodbye to some of them because we have become such good friends. Things will not be the same without them. And with their departure, those of us left behind wonder what will be next for our company. Hoping for the best.

Mole Check, For Sale Signs & Heroes

Tonight has been nice and quiet for a change. We're waiting for the Celtics game to start and I am finding that I really don't have anything to do! The house is spotless. I clean it every morning. So I don't need to do that. This is the first night in a while that I really don't have much going on. So I thought I'd blog.

First off, I had my 6 month "mole check" this afternoon. Those are fun. It's a full-body mole check. It's a good thing I like my doctor, because it's a rather personal thing. She's very good at keeping the conversation going so that you don't really realize what an awkward situation it really is. She saw one mole in the middle of my back that she didn't like, so she ended up removing it and sending it off for a biopsy. Other than that, I got an all-clear and get to go back in another 6 months. I highly recommend everyone keeping an eye on their moles and getting an annual check-up from a dermatologist. Oh, and stay out of the sun! Tanning lotion is a good thing if you're so inclined to keep up a golden bronze look.

Secondly, I don't really want to say much about the house sales. I don't want to jinx anything. So I won't. I will say however that I'm super angry at the sign-thief in Eric's neighborhood. He has now had his "For Sale" sign stolen THREE times. I hope someone isn't trying to tell him something. It's not nice. The police have now been there twice. Tonight's thief stole the sign between 5-5:40pm. They're quite bold whoever they are. Stealing in broad daylight. I think Eric needs to install a camera and catch the thief!

Lastly, I need to thank my Dad. This past weekend, he and my mom came up to visit. And my dad (my hero!) fixed some things in my house that I believe will help make a sale happen. He spent a day and a half (on the hottest day of the year) outside working on my house. He patched up a cracked cinder block in the foundation, he filled a hole in the garage floor, he repaired the railing (and painted it) and then he stuccoed the front steps. It turned out SOOO nice. And I can't thank him enough for his hard work. It looks so good, I really wish I had done all the improvements years ago so I could have enjoyed them longer. Here is a photo of the front door area. I wish I had taken a before picture in the same location so you could see the difference. You'll just have to take my word for it! Thanks Dad!!

Sorry!

I've been super-busy lately... not much time to blog. Lots going on though. I'll update when I have definites on possible transactions and other news. Stay tuned...

A Dozen Moves

I was comparing notes with Amy the other day. On how many times we have each moved since college. I "won" the contest handily. My upcoming move will be my 12th (yes, 12th) move since I graduated from college. For those of you who aren't sure of how many years ago that was, it was 17. That's 12 moves in 17 years. That's an average of 1.4 years per home. I think it's officially way past time to settle down!

Hump Day

It's Wednesday already? How'd that happen? I've been seriously slacking in the Blog writing department and I apologize. I think the house selling/hunting has taken a good deal of my spare time.

Last night we arrived home around 6:30, hoping to get the dog out of the house before the 6:30 showing arrived. We were too late. So we parked at the neighbors house, pretended we didn't live at the house that was for sale and hung out with the neighbor. (And listened to the dog bark.) We also got to listen to the group that was looking at the house. One of the guys was obsessed with something to do with the driveway. He kept going in the house, getting a cup of water and coming back out and pouring it on the driveway. I don't know why. It was odd. And I don't know what cup he used either... there wasn't one left out on the counter or sink.

Another thing I have noticed about showing a house. People don't leave it as it was when they got there. Which is annoying to no end. Shades get pulled up, shower curtains are left open, lights are left on... and this was an odd one. My laundry basket was taken out of my closet yesterday and left on the floor of my bedroom. I assume they were looking at the attic crawl space, but they could have returned the dirty laundry to the closet.

Anyway, we have no offers yet, but at least we have lots of lookers! I hope someone buys them soon. I'm already getting tired of having to make sure my house is spotless every morning before I go to work!

And they're off...

Phew! What a busy weekend. Our houses are officially "on the market". It's been a crazy weekend, getting them both listed and searching for a new place. And of course doing last-minute projects, cleaning and organizing. We both have showings today at both of our houses, we think we might be in competition with each other! It'll be fun to see who sells first, but in the end it only matters that they both sell. And if they sold at the exact same time, that would be very cool.

However, if we have any problems, I still have a little statue of St. Joseph from the last house we sold... Believe it or not, it worked exactly like it said it would. Exactly 9 days from burying the statue and believing in its power, we got an offer on the house. So I am a firm believer in St. Joseph. I'd rather not have to use him, but he's there if we need him.

O-k-l-a-h-o-m-a

Last night we attended the 6th grade musical "Oklahoma" at Alex's school. The song is still stuck in my head... But that's ok, it was a very nice evening. The kids did a great job. One girl in particular was fantastic as Ado Annie. "I'm just a girl who can't say no..."

Alex decided he wanted to be on the stage crew instead of being in the cast. I'm not sure if it's in his blood to be "behind the scenes" on the production crew or what, but that's what he wanted to do. So he ran the spotlight, and did a terrific job. (I think the spotlight was bigger than he was!)

"Oh, the Farmer and the Cowman should be friends..."

Thursday Lunch at Friday's

Today I had the pleasure of attending a fun birthday lunch for a couple of former co-workers. We met them at TGI Fridays. It was a good time had by all! Melissa and I are pictured below. She's originally from Baton Rouge and I just love her accent! She is turning the big 4-0 tomorrow and will let me know what it's like since I'll be there soon as well... 

Below is Lorraine, the other birthday girl. (Just a smidge over 40) She's also a former employee and is from the area. She is enjoying life with her family, beyond the ol' 9. 

Behind her is Jim, he's our production supervisor. 

Below are the birthday girls. Terribly embarrassed at being the victims of the "Happy Birthday" musical by the wait-staff. They got free ice cream though!

The very talented wait-staff. One even used an empty water jug as a drum.

More attendees: Beebs, an editor/photographer and Jeff, the director.

More attendees, Julie (former employee), Mike (my boss) and Beebs...

Spam, Spam, Spam, Egg, and Spam

Well, with cost of everything going through the roof, it looks like Spam sales are at an all time high. Which in turn will mean that the demand for Spam will make the price of it go through the roof as well. I think I'm going to buy Ramen noodles in bulk. I think they're still only about 25 cents a package.

Holly Golightly

I love Audrey Hepburn. As a matter of fact, if I had a had a girl, her name would have been Audrey. One of my favorite movies is "Breakfast at Tiffany's". I have the movie poster in my office at work... and yesterday I found this great poster and frame at Target. (You can click on it to see it bigger.) It's now in my bedroom. I just love it! (If we have an entertainment/family room in our new home, the poster can go there... don't worry Eric, it won't be hanging over the bed.)