The Super Bowl is a Health Hazard

It's true. (Maria read this, there's medical proof!) The Super Bowl is hazardous to our health. Lack of sleep, drinking a lot of booze, smoking and wolfing down a ton of junk food... all that with the added stress of the game is a heart attack waiting to happen. So be careful on Sunday everyone!! And go Patriots!

On another note, I was reading "Celebrity Predictions" at si.com and laughed out loud when I read this prediction from Nick Swardson, actor/comedian:

Patriots 587
Giants 2

"After the game Tom Brady will celebrate by finding Osama Bin Laden. He owns."

Brand Names vs Store Brands

We've been having a bit of a debate/discussion today regarding store brands vs. name brands. I'm interested in what others think. I am all about saving money, so I'm very good about buying the store brands. (Wegmans brand, that is.) Although, there are a few items that I will only buy name brand.

Here's my list of must-have name brands:
Bounty paper towels
Bounce dryer sheets
Pepsi

I think that's it. Everything else I can go with store brands or whatever is on sale. I think that store brands have really come a long way in their qualilty. I don't think I have lowered my standards at all. I do like to save money, but if it doesn't taste good or doesn't work well, then I wouldn't buy it. Tell me what you think! What's good, what's bad? What is on your must-have name brand list?

Exceptions to the Rule

The 6th grade class took a vote yesterday regarding "Turn Off the TV Week". They voted on the definition of "tv watching". And as it turns out, "tv watching" does not include playing video games or watching DVDs. I had no idea! But apparently it was a land-slide victory for the new definition. Which honestly was good news for me. My little "I'm bored" man was starting to drive me nuts after only one day. So today arrived the "Greatest Moments in NFL Super Bowl History" DVD in the mail from Netflix and we watched the entire 2 1/2 hour celebration. Tomorrow we may even watch it again.

Youth XL

Alex and I have been tearing the town apart looking for Patriots wear. We went through this for the Red Sox back in October. I should have learned my lesson! Although now Red Sox items are everywhere. So last night we went to Sports Authority. Actually, we went to 2 different Sports Authorities. It was amazing the difference in the two stores.

One store had absolutely NOTHING with the Patriots logo on it. Well, that's not true. There was that poster for the Super Bowl, but the Giants took up half the poster, so that didn't count.

At the other Sports Authority, they had a whole display of Patriots gear. Jerseys, t-shirts, hats, and jackets. Granted, the Giants display(s) were far more impressive, but at least we had something. They even had a rack of Youth clothing. I was bummed that the smallest anything they had in adult wear was a Men's Large. So I looked through the Youth items. Not only are they cheaper, but they actually fit me! The Youth XL is (I dare say) even slightly big on me! I was quite surprised. That's the size that Alex wears. Either I'm shrinking or he's getting big... either way, the Youth sizes are cheaper ($14 compared to $19) and I was thrilled to get myself a Patriots AFC Champion T-shirt for the Big Game on Sunday.

Oh and night #1 of "Turn off the TV Week" was a success. Although it wasn't that difficult with the State of the Union on every single channel...

Cookie Monsters, Anniversaries & Questions

First off, I have to wish my parents a Happy 42nd Anniversary! Congratulations on 42 great years together!! I hope you get to spend a wonderful day together and go out and celebrate.

When I woke up this morning, I started my daily routine by going downstairs to get my coffee and let the dog out. I turned the light on in the kitchen and noticed that the Cookie Monster had paid a visit during the night. I made a huge batch of Chocolate Chip cookies yesterday to take to work today. And it seemed that at some point a little boy went downstairs to have some cookies because the lid to the cookie container was no longer any where near the container of cookies. My formerly soft cookies were well on their way to being stale. I was not happy. So I took a layer of stale-ish cookies off the top and put them in the Cookie Monster's lunch for today.

And today is Monday... time for Question of the Week! In honor of this week's "Turn off the TV Week", here's the question:

Q: If you had to give up your computer and your TV at home, what would you do for entertainment?

My Answer: I would play board games, do puzzles, bake, have friends over, go for walks, and possibly write that novel I've always wanted to write! (Although a computer would really help with that!)

NKOTB, Take 2?

Is this really necessary?? Not everyone who was someone once needs to make a comeback. And this is a prime example. The Police reunion was one thing, they are a timeless, talented band. These talentless "kids" are not. Can't they just let it go? And they are no longer "kids"... more like "Old Men on the Block"... well, they're younger than me, but still! I really don't think they have the right stuff any more. Actually, I never really thought they had the right stuff. But I think I was just past the age of being a fan of boy bands when they hit it big.

Now where's my Barry Manilow CD...

And the winner is...

We made our decision for Summer Vacation '08. We're going to the Cape again! We discovered the cottage right next to the one we stayed in last year was available. We'll just be going 2 weeks earlier than planned. Vacation will be a little bit earlier, but that's ok. This cottage has air conditioning and a washer & dryer. Two things the other cottage didn't have. There's a loft for the kids and a nice deck with a bbq and picnic table. The beach is the same and even the path to the beach is the same. Maybe we'll become friends with the folks in our old cottage... Can't wait for campfires and cooling off in the ocean... Cape Cod here we come!

Another Quiet One

It looks like it's going to be another quiet weekend for us. And there's no football. Alex is already feeling the loss. We stopped at the grocery store last night and Alex got sucked into the Super Bowl display. They had a large flat screen tv that was playing highlights from previous Super Bowls. He immediately stopped to watch and wouldn't budge. So I left him there in the midst of giant cases of Coors Light and jumbo bags of potato chips to finish my shopping. I returned later to see the 1997 Super Bowl highlights where the Packers beat the Patriots. We left the store after that. But Alex was pleased that he got a football-fix.

On another note, I thought I would share this yummy tidbit. My friend Sharon brought in special coffee to work yesterday for a nice Friday afternoon treat. She ground it at home and added a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg to the grounds. I have to say it was the absolute best cup of coffee I have ever had. And it smelled wonderful in the break room too. I tried it this morning and while it wasn't as perfect as hers, it was still quite tasty. I think I will continue this practice of adding cinnamon and nutmeg to my coffee grounds from now on. It only takes a little, but boy is it gooo-oood!

We're still discussing options for our summer vacation. I think I will do some research this weekend while things are quiet. I was looking at cruises yesterday... hmmm...

Now what??

I was having a decent day today. My stomach was feeling a little funky this morning, but then surprisingly, it got better after I ate a bowl of "Cowboy Chili" at work. I was very nervous for awhile that things would take a turn for the worse, but they did not. I think I now have an iron stomach. Which is a new thing for me. I was extremely busy at work, so the day passed fairly quickly. So all of these were pretty good things. Then I got home.

The light was blinking on the answering machine. I don't often get messages. The people I know would call my cell phone if they needed me, not leave a message on the home phone. So immediately I wondered who it might be. I was not prepared for the message I heard.

It was Tom. He's the realtor for our Cape Cod summer rental. He was calling to let us know that he received our check for the downpayment, but unfortunately they were no longer servicing the rental cottage that we had reserved last summer. The very cute, fun, perfect rental cottage. They were no longer renting it. I was shocked. And sad. And now I don't know what to do. Do we try to find another cottage? Nothing will ever be as perfect as that one. Do we say forget it and go somewhere completely new? I like new places. But I love the old one too...

So now we start from scratch and figure out what we should do for our summer vacation. I was so excited that we were going back to the same place this year. It was going to become a tradition. I wasn't prepared for this. What should we do?? Suggestions are welcome!

Incidently, for anyone who is curious, the photos from our wonderful summer Cape Cod vacation from last year are under the "photo albums" link on the left hand side. After you see the photos, you will see why I'm so sad...

Turn Off the TV Week

Alex brought home a pamphlet from school regarding "Turn off the TV Week". Apparently next week (Mon-Fri only) they are asking that kids not watch tv. I agree to a point that kids these days watch too much tv and play too many video games in front of the tv. However, TV is my bread and butter! It pays my bills and puts food on my table. Without tv, I would not have a job. Well, at least not a job as neat as the one I have. And do you think that the "officials" who invented "Turn off the TV Week" understand that next week is the first week of sweeps? Do they not know that the season premiere of LOST is next Thursday?? They couldn't possibly know or they would have scheduled this for another week.

I almost feel like I should complain to the school district and ask for some sort of compensation. They're taking away viewers from my place of employment, thus taking away ratings and possibly reducing my income or even worse, eliminating my position! Without my job, I would not be able to pay school taxes. Which in turn would not be good for the children. I wonder if we should do a "Turn ON the TV Week" instead. Hmm... I somehow doubt that would go over very well. So for now, we will do as we're told. We will turn off the tv, play some board games, read a book or go build a snowman. God forbid we get a snow day next week... whatever would the children do all day.

You'll shoot your eye out!

So we've been researching trying to find some fun activities for our trip to Cleveland in April. We were told about this great site. It is jammed packed with ideas and I'm wondering if our 4 day vacation will be enough! Aside from the Red Sox game that we will be attending, there's the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, the Football Hall of Fame, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and we just discovered this: the house from "A Christmas Story". Complete with the Leg Lamp in the front window. That's worth at least a drive-by and a photo! I wonder if there's a Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle BB gun anywhere on the premises...

Of course we still have 3 months to figure out our itinerary. But that's one of the fun parts of going somewhere new. I hope the weather holds up. April can be iffy around the Great Lakes.

And speaking of lakes... and weather. Wow, did we dodge a big one this past weekend. Just 20 minutes north of us got over 3' (yes, that's feet) of snow in 2 days! Poor Fulton and Oswego County. I hope that Eric's mom and brother were able to dig out ok. That's a lot of snow for a short amount of time. Here are some viewer photos from our website at work. It reminds me that at any given time, if the conditions are right, we could be hit with a ton of snow. It also reminds me that I wish I had put the car in the garage...

Back to work...

It feels like Monday. I don't like Mondays. But at least it's really Tuesday. The 3-day weekend was very nice.

I took Jenny to the vet yesterday. It went about as well as I had expected. Thankfully the only one she bit was me. She did fine with all of the nail cutting, shots and even the um, temperature taking trauma. It was when she heard the other dog outside the exam room door that she turned into Cujo. It wasn't pretty. By the time we left, I sported a new fur coat with all the hair she shed. She was pretty low-key the rest of the day, which was a nice change of pace.

Eric came over for dinner last night and I made 2 versions of Manicotti. They both turned out very well I thought. The 3 of us enjoyed them and can't wait for leftovers today. The first was a Chicken Manicotti. The other was a Cheese Manicotti. The recipes were both in this month's Kraft magazine. They were yummy!! (I made a few minor alterations, but for the most part followed the directions.)

Oh and the Apple Dapple cake didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. I followed the directions to a T, at least I think I did. None of us really cared for it. It was very heavy and kind of dry. And the syrup thing was runny and gross. Maybe there's a better recipe out there somewhere.

Question of the Week

Ok...TWO questions for this Monday. Easy ones, everybody can answer!

Question 1: Who do you think is going to win the Super Bowl?

My Answer: Um, the Patriots!!


And to pay tribute to Girl Scout cookies going on sale today, the second question is:

Question 2: What is your favorite Girl Scout cookie?

My Answer: I love anything with Peanut Butter. So the Peanut Butter Sandwiches are my favorites... (They were known as the Do-si-dos when I was selling them...) I also like the Peanut Butter Patties, they used to be called the Tagalongs... Yum!

One To Go!!

The Patriots are going to the Super Bowl!! Woo Hoo!!
Now I can safely start planning a Super Bowl party. Ahhh.....

Weekend Happenings

I went to the library yesterday. I borrowed 8 CDs. I realized I have very unusual taste in music. Or at least a wide variety of taste. Here is the list of CDs I borrowed:

1. Best of the Righteous Brothers
2. Santana: Supernatural
3. Mamas and the Papas: California Dreamin'
4. Aretha Franklin: Who's Zooming Who
5. Duran Duran: Greatest Hits
6. The Essential Barry Manilow (Mandy!)
7. Sheryl Crow: C'mon, C'mon
8. Macarena Mix

And last night Eric and I had a nice dinner together. He made a giant thing of nachos and I made chicken quesadillas. Very tasty! Then we watched "Super Bad"... and it was. But it was funny too.

Today there are a couple of big football games. I need to do some grocery shopping and get settled by 2:45. I noticed that NFL.com is getting a little ahead of the game, so to speak... this kind of things makes me nervous. They do have them available for all the teams, so at least they're not picking favorites. (BTW, you can pre-order yours for $19.99 on NFL.com.) Go Pats!!!!

The Lizardman

I had a very interesting day today. I met a very unusual man. Or was he a reptile? I'm not sure! He was quite interesting though. When I lived in Puerto Rico, lizards kind of scared me. Especially when I found them in the bathtub. But this Lizard didn't bother me all that much. Well, his tongue was quite unusual, but he didn't scare me. He was actually a very nice man. And quite intelligent. Here is his website if you would care to learn more about The Lizardman. Lizardman was in town for a Tattoo Expo and he was a guest this morning on our show.

The rest of the day was rather anti-climatic after getting to meet and pose for photos with Lizardman. I enjoyed a very tasty lunch with Rebecca at Panera. I love Panera. Tonight I plan on making an Apple Dapple cake. Sharon gave me the recipe this week and I've been dying to try it out!

A Toast with the Most

This evening I had the opportunity to attend a wonderful event at the Museum of Science & Technology. (The MOST) A co-worker of mine was being honored (hence, the "Toast") for all of his years helping with MDA. In fact there were many people being honored. It was a fantastic event, with silent auctions, amazing food and great company. I was extremely disappointed with myself however, when I took my camera out of my purse to begin what was to be a fun evening of picture taking, only to discover that I had left the battery charging in my office. So I apologize that there are no photos of this great event. There is a section on our website that talks about all of the honorees. The photos on the side are all the folks who were honored at the event. Tim is my co-worker. He's been one of the co-hosts of the MDA telethon for 25 years.

We were so impressed with the event at the MOST that I think we have convinced our GM that we would like to have our holiday party there next year. What a great place for an event! It's roomy and fun and has a great atmosphere. Our "events committee" was well represented tonight at the "Toast" so we took a vote amongst ourselves and it was unanimous.

In other news, I learned a valuable lesson today. Big brother is watching. It's true. I took the liberty of deleting and editing several posts. And I will be much more careful in the future with my choice of words. I don't mean to be cryptic, if you're curious, email and ask. I will tell you all about it! It's not a huge deal, just a reality check really. And I'm just being overly cautious now. Just be careful of what you say online, you never know who's reading it.

Tomorrow is Friday! 3-day weekend for us. I can't wait to relax, watch some great football games and attempt to stay warm. Monday I get to take Jenny to the vet for her annual check-up. That ought to be interesting. She's not very fond of the vet. I'm sure a blog-post will follow that afternoon bit of fun. I just hope she doesn't bite the nurse too badly this time...

A day in the life of me.

I've come to the realization that my life is kind of boring. I'm sure that anyone who reads my blog has also come to that realization. And I thank you all for returning to read about my boring life!

One of the most exciting things that happened to me today was getting to listen to the Johnny Cash CD that I borrowed from the library. Another thing I did was drink the coffee from the break room at work. That can probably be considered more dangerous than exciting, it's pretty gross coffee.

However, later my day got very exciting. One of the producers of our morning show brought a book over for me to scan for tomorrow's show. This is a typical request and often I thumb through the books to see what they're all about. They can be anything from cookbooks, to do-it-yourself books, to parenting books. Today it was a biography. And an unauthorized one at that! It was the new "Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography" by Andrew Morton. (He wrote a Diana book too.) I'm not a huge Tom Cruise fan, in fact, I don't care for him much at all. I've seen a lot of his movies, but have never really gone to one just because he was the star. But I'm a sucker for a biography. Especially one like this.




I got the book around 4:00, did my scanning and finished up the graphics for tomorrow's show. Then I started thumbing through the book. I started with the pictures of course, then I dove right in to the last chapter. I mean, I know how it ends, so it's not like it's really cheating. So I read the final chapter. Then I wanted more. I went back to the beginning and started reading the whole thing. It was crazy. Tom Cruise is total jerk. I knew I didn't like him for some reason. This was a whole side of him that we really don't see or know much about. The book really told a great deal about his life with Scientology and how he tries to recruit friends and family to his religion. He's apparently best friends with the leader of the church, David Miscavige, who even went on the honeymoon with Tom & Katie. It was quite a telling book, how much of it is true, I don't know. I tended to believe most of it though.

So that was my day in a nutshell. Other than work in the midst of all that excitement, that was pretty much it. I went home, made a tasty cheddar broccoli soup for dinner and watched tv. There was nothing terribly exciting on, so I watched with much hesitation, the Season Premiere of American Idol. I think I need a hobby.

Monday Meme.

Ok... here we go. I don't think last week's question went over very well. I guess not everybody sat for hours during their youth day-dreaming about being in the Olympics! I'll be a little more generic this time.

Here's the question:
What is your most despised household chore?

Mine is vacuuming. It's big, heavy and I have to drag it out of the closet, and then up and down the stairs. I hate it. And now that I have a dog that sheds excessively, vacuuming is even more of a pain. I have to empty the bag-less vacuum at least twice during one run through the house.

Separated at birth?

Hmmm... a few months ago my dad mentioned that Eric looked a little like Brett Favre. I think he might be on to something. What'd ya think?? Maybe we could dress Eric up in a Favre jersey and get into the next game for free...

He (Brett) played a great game Saturday! I hope he and Tom Brady get to go head to head in the Super Bowl in a couple of weeks... that would be a great game to watch. Go Patriots!! 2 to go!

Weekend Plans

I am very excited about this weekend. I have absolutely nothing planned. Sure, there's a very important football game on at 8pm tonight, but those aren't plans really. I'll be watching and cheering and stressing out, but that's it. I'm not going anywhere, I'm certainly not driving 5-hrs to see the game in person. Although I will admit, I thought about it...

I do have a few things I'd really like to do this weekend. I'd like to get a haircut, I'd like to clean out my closet, I'd like to go to the grocery store and to the library. But that's about it. I enjoy weekends like this. Sure I enjoy planned activities, seeing friends and going out, but a weekend where there's absolutely nothing going on is nice too.

Oh and this is fun. I have some items on eBay right now. Back when I bought those Red Sox/Indians tickets, I ended up with 5 extra sets of tickets to games I have no desire to attend. So I'm selling them. I really don't see myself going to an Indians/Twins game in September or an Indians/Yankees game in April. (Although it would be fun to go and cheer against the Yankees!) So far the Yankees tickets seem to be a hot item. Face value was $36. They're up to $51 right now. I'll take that! Profiting from the Yankees is fun.

Bad dog.

Jenny, our 16 month old Pembroke Welsh Corgi, has recently been getting new privileges. I was slowly letting her have some freedom during the day. She had been locked in her crate while I was at work. This is something we started when we brought her home and it was very successful. She did very well in her crate. It was a little before Christmas that I decided to start letting her have the living room during the day. I would gate it off and leave her in the living room, with her crate open so she could use it if she desired. I thought things were going well and was even considering giving her more space. Possibly the hallway, the bathroom and the kitchen. But last night when I returned home, I discovered that she has been destroying my house. The sliding glass door curtain had a hole chewed in it. It was still wet when I noticed, so it was a very recent bit of destruction. I also noticed that the legs of my old Boston Rocker have been chewed. That used to be a favorite chew toy of hers when she was a puppy, but I thought she had stopped. Apparently I was wrong.

So as of today, Jenny will be back in the crate until further notice. Sorry short-stop.

Consequences.

I love this story. It is a teeny bit reminiscent of my upbringing. Not quite to the same extent, but I too had my first car taken away from me. It was only taken away for a year however. I'm not sure exactly what I did now, but I'm pretty sure it was bad and I'm more than sure that I never did it again! (I think it might have had something to do with that certain delinquent that I dated for awhile... and I'm sure my mom will refresh my memory!) Anyway, my point here is that kids need consequences for their actions. I wish there were more parents like this out there. I am all about being a good parent and loving our children, but when there are rules set in place and then the rules are in turn knowingly broken, then punishments must be given. No exceptions.

That's all. It's simple really. Sure our kids will "hate" us for awhile, but you know what, they really don't "hate" us, they "hate" that they got caught and they "hate" that they screwed up. (Mostly they hate that they got caught.) But they still love us. And 20 years later, they will thank you for teaching them about responsibility, no matter how much they didn't like it at the time. (Thanks, Mom & Dad!)

NH Primary Day

I probably shouldn't let the day go by without some mention of the First in the Nation Primary. It was a big part of my life for many years. Working at WMUR-TV in Manchester, NH during several of these primaries was definitely a highlight of my career. I lost count of all of the candidates that I got to meet and had pictures taken with. All of the news organizations that diverged on our small station was insane. Even if you didn't care about politics in the least bit, being part of this event was always an amazing time. It was all politics, all the time. All eyes were on NH. I've been enjoying seeing my old stomping grounds on every channel for the past few days. I dare say I kind of miss the excitement.

Bill Clinton coming out of the bathroom with toilet paper stuck to the bottom of his foot wasn't something you saw everyday, but it happened in '92. He practically lived at the station during the month of February of '92. Steve Forbes was there in '92. Remember Paul Tsongas? I do. I believe he won the Democratic side of the Primary in '92. Not Clinton. But Clinton was dubbed the "Comeback Kid" because of us. Tom Griffith our news anchor became famous because he dared ask Bill Clinton if he did indeed have an affair with Gennifer Flowers. (Tom then became part of the movie "Primary Colors" starring John Travolta!) In '00, GW and his entourage breezed through the newsroom more than once. As did Al Gore and his people. John McCain won the primary in '00, but not the election. So did Al Gore.

I wonder what excitement passed through the doors of WMUR this time around...

Monday Meme and eBay

Ok, I started the Meme thing last month and I've completely gotten off track. So I think I'll start it up again and do it on Mondays. Since "Monday Meme" has a nice ring to it.

So in the spirit of winter, here's a winter question:
If you could take part in the Winter Olympics. What sport would you do? Here's a link to all the Winter Olympic sports if you aren't familiar with them. And this doesn't mean you have to be good at the sport, this is just for fun!

My answer: Well, I've always wanted to be a figure skater. I've just never had the poise or grace to do much with it. However, I think maybe I should have been a speed skater! I used to be a pretty good runner back in the day and I can skate ok... perhaps I should have joined the two sports and given Bonnie Blair a run for her money!

And speaking of crazy ideas... I put one of the ticket stubs from the last Patriots game on eBay. I noticed that other people were doing the same thing, since they had a perfect 16-0 season. Well, it sold for $43! How insane is that?? We're keeping the other ticket stub as a souvenir. I think I'll frame it with a nice photo of Tom Brady for Alex to hang in his room.

Fracas in Fayetteville

To say the competition was fierce at Rebecca's Game Night would be the understatement of the new year. What began as a friendly little get together, ended with insults and fingers flying. Ok, it wasn't that bad. Yes, there were insults, and yes there were fingers flying. But it was all in the name of good, honest fun. And I do believe in the end, that the best team won. Well, we won the 2nd game. We lost the first game, but boy did "Team Desperation" (as Bill so eloquently dubbed us) come back strong!

The first game we played was Cranium. "Team Know it All" kicked our butts. I froze up on the word "rollerblade" and thus lost the game for us. Well, we were behind by that point anyway... But I did pull the "Squeeze the Charmin" out of nowhere. So I didn't suck too much.


The second game of the night was Trivial Pursuit 90s Edition. And no, we did not get all the easy questions. I think the ease/difficulty of questions was very evenly split. And "Team Desperation" became "Team Confidence" in no time. Sorry "Team Didn't Really Know it All"... we won fair and square. No asterisk needed.




Thanks for inviting me to your game night Rebecca, I had a great time!! For your viewing pleasure, I have uploaded photos of the big event. Proceed with caution. Some of the photos are ugly.

The Dog Ate It

I love my slippers. The moment I step in my house and out of my shoes, I slip into my comfy slippers. They keep my feet warm and keep my socks from wearing out too. They're the best.

Well, last night I got ready for bed as usual. I put my jammies on, left the slippers next to the bed so they would be there in the morning, and then I put my clothes in the laundry basket and climbed into bed. Well, this morning while the poor dog was trying to get me out of bed so she could go outside, I could only find one slipper. Immediately I blamed the dog.

"Where's my other slipper, Jenny??"

Blank stare.

"Where did you put it??"

Blank stare and a non-tail wag.

I looked under the bed, under the chair, in the closet, in the hall, in the bathroom... upstairs, downstairs, in the kitchen, in the living room... anywhere the dog could have stashed it. It was nowhere to be found. So I went on about my morning. Let the dog out, got my coffee. I hopped around on one foot because the kitchen floor felt like an ice rink to my bare foot.

After I got my coffee, I let Jenny back in and went back up to my room to watch the news and start getting ready for the day. I asked Jenny a few more times where she put my slipper. But continued to get her trademark blank stare. I looked in her crate, behind the bathroom door, under the blankets on my bed. I looked EVERYWHERE. It was gone. I was starting to think that maybe she ate it.

It had to be somewhere! I was wearing them last night. So I back-tracked my evening. I got undressed, put on my jammies, put my laundry in the hamper... hmmm... put my laundry in the hamper. I went to the laundry basket and wa-la! There was my slipper, all tucked into the pants I had taken off last night.

A Sign of Summer

On this 2nd day of January that is all of 8 degrees outside, I have a sure sign that summer will be here before we know it. We got our Cape Cod cottage rental agreement in the mail today! Woo hoo!! We reserved the same cottage that we stayed in last summer on the day we left in August. It seemed like it would be forever before we would be back. Well, we're almost half-way there! Now to come up with the money for the rental... hmmm....

2007: A Year in Review

I have dubbed 2007 the "Year of the Dog". It was our first full year of dog ownership. We got Jenny in November of 2006. So 2007 was our first full year with her. And in doing this "Year in Review", I realized that my normal weekend trips and visits to see family was pretty much non-existant. Having a dog means you either take the dog with you or find somewhere for the dog to go. With her being so young and um, rambunctious... I felt bad dumping her on friends and didn't want to board her at a kennel and she was not very good at traveling yet. So we stayed home a lot. Or we did day trips. We were able to leave her with Steve during the 2 weeks we were on vacation though. So thankfully, we weren't chained to the house for the entire year.

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In 2008, I hope to get out of town a little more and visit my family and friends. I haven't seen my brother and his family since July of '06. My new nephew Bryan was born in August of '06 and I have yet to meet him! We also haven't been to my parents house since around the same time. Thankfully, they have been able to visit us several times this year. So in 2008, I vow to either bring the dog along or leave her with friends so that I may visit family & friends more.
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It was fun putting this together. All of the memories and fun we have had this year all wrapped up nice and neat into a little slideshow. One of our biggest highlights of the year was our very fun trip to Chicago, our week at the Cape was also wonderful. And the year ended on a great note with our trip to the Meadowlands! Enjoy the show and feel free to comment on photos. And thank you Rebecca for this great idea!! Here's to more fun times and to a very happy and healthy '08!