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.