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...