Asst pics, take 2

Ok, So the pic of Daddy by the fire REFUSES to load, but here is some belated Christmas cheer, aren't they cute (and yes, I love the hat!)

Bows and Animals....

Here we have my "baby", she was a little overwhelmed at all the commotion so she sat on my lap and looked festive with all my bows. :-) I miss her already!

And here is Kt with her her BIG gift - and a BIG bow to match!

And this is what happens when a very tired Mandy attempts to do a cool pic like Kt did. Didn't turn out as well.........

And this is Jack the cat, he'd had enough Christmas, killed his new mouse after a great and mighty bloodless battle and was hiding before lunch. Probably hoping to grab any dropped pieces of yummy turkey!

Happy Christmas pics...

Happy Snowman (actually a set of old golf clubs dressed up very lumpily). Yay for Dad making such a great face!

This is a very very happy (and very tired) Mandy with her yummy gift from Canada. It's a bread spread but honestly it's so yummy it may be eaten straight from the jar!

This is a very happy Dad with his baby bottle of Jack that was delivered to him from Santa's stop at the "duty-free" shop in Canada! :-)

Sorry - must fuss....

An 83 yr old man goes to the hospital in extreme pain, they schedule sx, then they send him home. Now he's back, having had a seizure in the urgent care and I can't go b/c we're leaving in the morning early and I've been sleeping like crap here in Joplin. Thank heaven for Martha being here or I think I'd go insane....

Hurry Hurry Hurry

So the earliest we will leave here is 4pm - and my Gpa is in the hospital awaiting sx and I NEED TO BE THERE RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!! My job is taking care of him and I do NOT like being this far away, if we weren't planning on going down I'd just hop on a plane but I can't do that since we're coming anyway. I told mom if Gpa was coherent (morphine for pain) that she should tell him "I'm coming as quick as I can!" At least he has Martha to keep an eye on him for me but I WANT TO BE THERE!!! I am his "Chief Nag, Nurse and Bedside Sitter". I am so not going to be able to nap now. GRRRRRRRRRRR.

P.S.

I'm now down 10 pounds, didn't lose much while I was home but honestly between the weather and the blisters I got walking I'm just tickled I didn't GAIN!

Quick trip home

I am SOOOOOO glad to be back in my own bed and my own couch - however I am NOT glad to see my own fridge. Grocery shopping didn't rank very high on my husband's to-do list apparently. 4 pieces of bread (white, not wheat so not on my diet), no oatmeal (my fault - ran out the day I left), basically the fridge is almost totally empty! :-) Oh well, I'm not going shopping for 2 days of eating, I'll just scrounge. Apparently he enjoyed me not being around on my diet by eating frozen pizzas --- which appropriately made him sick since he's not used to the grease and stuff anymore. Serves him right!
We're supposed to get 6-8 inches of snow in my county today - yippee. Ok, not really since we drive out tomorrow but I'm sure we'll be find. I'm posting this with all appropriate hesitancy -- but my car "appears" to be fixed. It didn't make the noise last night .... we'll see. I think it'll take some time before I actually believe it! :-)

Happy almost Christmas

So Kt is grousing that the decorations at work are ugly. I didn't even have to put up a Christmas tree this year! Headed to KC on the 8th and (aside from a quick trip back to NY on the 17th) will be down here till the 28th. My husband was unreasonably happy about the no decorating thing. The florist ruined him! So this morning I am off to Cabellas to stand in line for fleece-lined jeans for my husband and a coworker. Then off to Panera for brunch w/ Amy (yay!) and back to the hospital (where I am now) to work out in the gym before going home for a nap. I got to hang out w/ Moni and her mom most of yesterday and had a GREAT time! I love laughing so hard I nearly cry!
Sunday we go to the melting pot (yippee!) w/ mom, Kt, Chad (I think) and Moni and MICHAEL! I finally get to meet this VERY IMPORTANT PERSON! Stay tuned for updates! :-)

For future reference....

IF ANY OF YOU EVER EVER EVER ARE INCLINED TO BUY A HYUNDAI PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT I WILL KICK YOU FROM HERE TO KINGDOM COME. REPEATEDLY!!!!!!!!!

Or you could just tell me to mind my own business and that's ok too. Sorry, bad day. :-)

Brrr

Our high is supposed to be 28 today. So cold! Thank heaven we got my husband a hat liner, new socks etc.
I'm headed to KC for about 3 wks on Sunday. Going to get a crown to fix my awful root canal, go Christmas shopping, and see everyone so that when my honey comes down we can head to Joplin for Christmas and then drive back to NY (oh goodee.) I think I'll drug my "passenger" so I can drive in peace.
Ha. The early show is going to do a piece on "weddings cheaply" - who wants to bet that their definition of cheap doesn't come CLOSE to our's, Kt?!?!

As I sit here pondering over my daily protein shake...

I thot I would share a funny. I got chewed out by my trainer (and why don't I ever use her name, Faye, instead of always typing out "my trainer?") Anywho, so Faye chewed me out again today. She wanted to know if I was going to get some new workout clothes soon - since she's tired of not being able to SEE my body as it's working. Apparently the notion of "I'll wear my husbands tee-shirts that I steal on a regular basis from his closet so that they'll be huge and no one can see my stomach" does not work on trainers. I have been instructed to go dig out my tank tops! :-) I thot it was pretty funny! I did get a "kudos" on the improved diet (let's hear it for protein shakes, protein powder in the oatmeal and a very sad # of carbs daily) as well as for the weight I've lost. In a week or so she'll redo my measurements and hopefully they'll be so good I'll post them to brag. (Or not.) I do notice a definite increase in my strength tho which is a nice change. Just goes to show you can be a muscular bookworm after all! And despite stuffing my stomach on T-giving I didn't gain any weight back....(now if it'd just melt off faster), but oh well. Progress is progress.

Happy Thanksgiving (late)

Hope everyone had a great time. I assume most of my readers are too smart to go suffer the crowds this morning?! We went over to another couple's house alone with a couple of "stray" guys that aren't attached and had a great dinner! Turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, rolls etc. I took almond pastry but everyone was too full to have any (except me.) It was my cheat day so I made sure to get a little piece! :-)
We're having decent weather, it's cold but no more snow. The parts of our town that are high up on the hill still have a lot of snow on the ground but down here in the valley we're all dry. The jobsite is a mud-pit - the guys come home just caked in it up to their knees! Lets hear it for lots of laundry!

Randomness.......

First of all - we have 2 inches of pretty, white, fluffy, pristine, perfect-for-snowball snow. SOOOOOOO pretty! No ice at all which is a nice change of pace. :-)

I actually have a temp assignment (and by "temp" I mean 3 days). Friday, Monday and Wednesday at an orthotics office. Friday I train, Mon and Wed I fill in for the front desk lady who wants off for the holiday. It'll at least pay for the up-coming root canal.....

My personal training is going great. I think I'm going to do another set of sessions. Not much weight loss yet but my clothes fit better which is nice.

I have an infected tooth (thus the root canal) that is driving me INSANE and prevents me from talking much....I think my husband is enjoying that side effect........

First Snow

We've had snow come down but this is the first time it's been cold enough to stick.....let the gloating begin! :-)

Pictures from company

These are all taken at Devil's Hole state park, the river you see is the Niagara River. Enjoy the beautiful scenery. (I wasn't there, my muscles wouldn't accept 300+ stairs after my personal trainer session!) :-)

More pictures

The first two are at Devils Hole still, the 2nd two are obviously at the falls.

Math I CAN do....

Small apartment + lots of furniture = not much space. It doesn't matter how many times you rearrange the lots of furniture in the small apt, the amt of useable space stays the same. Just in case you wondered......

Updates....

I'm back to fighting with Hyundai's national people, pushing them to buy back the car. I started the case back up yesterday and I am supposed to hear something in 2-3 business day. Lovely. Still job-hunting, no interest on that front yet. However the gym and trainer is going very well and I'm sticking to the diet well as well. For those of you who didn't get the email, I hope you get a giggle out of the following (slightly exaggerated) story....

Mom was on the hunt (for wood for the fire). When suddenly .... on the stair.... there it was. A spider, but not just ANY spider, nono, this was a MONSTER spider. JAWS of steel, legs of iron, too many eyes to count. Even the mighty hunter who crushes most spiders life out barehanded shudders. Not this spider, no bare feet near this spider nopenopenope. When suddenly the hunter realizes.... she has a WEAPON! The can of Off that she uses before going on her walks is sitting tantalizingly near..... So, the mighty hunter grabs the can, meanwhile the spider sits perfectly still. He has no inkling of his impending doom........

CRACK!!!!!! He's dead.

That's our mom - keeping the house safe from spiders in our absence.

It's been an interesting weekend....

I picked a heck of a week to go on a diet. I got toasted last night and showed my mom-in-law my new underwear with no provocation (in my defense, they were boyshorts and covered more than most swimsuits). My mom-in-law offered to "spice" my tea tonight since I'm fussing over my tooth issues (she meant "spike" but she's a bit of a blonde). I am craving sugar and carbs like CRAZY! People are making COOKIES, leaving stashs of CANDY and eating foods I can't UNDER MY NOSE ALL DAY. (Dear me, I believe I'm running out of nerves for people to dance on.) My apologies for venting on all of you who've had to listen to me whine this week, those of you who have lucked out into NOT having to listen to me whine ---- just call me. I'm happy to share. I'm calling dentists first thing in the morning to try to get into someone since I think I've cracked off a filling or something.

Happy Halloween

Hello, hope everyone is doing well. I'm enjoying peace and quiet - my company is out sight-seeing with my husband and I'm doing laundry and using heat to baby my sore muscles. Started with a personal trainer yesterday - hoping for amazing results eventually. :-) We're meeting 2x a week. We're supposed to get up to 60 today so it'll be nice for trick-or-treating tonight for the kids.

False Alarm

So.......it's not fixed. They're going to try some more stuff, backtracking what the other dealership did.........sigh.

Car news....maybe

So I just got a call from the dealership. They're pretty sure they've got it fixed. Long story short, they figured out it's a "feedback" type noise (exactly what my husband had been telling Hyundai for how long?) Oh sorry, I digress: so they disconnect the alternator and later remove the two right front speakers. After 2 hours they test it - no noise. So they put the speakers back and 2 hours later - still no noise. SO, the guy will test it again in the morning and let me know for sure but it had been doing it after just 2 hours outside today at the dealership so all signs point to YIPPEEE! I told the service guy if they had fixed it I would sing their praises from here to timbuktoo! (And yes I'm sure I spelled that wrong.) He said he called the service line and the printout we had given him of the history (3 pages long) was nearly word-for-word what Hyundai had on file, he was AMAZED that no one had figured this out before......he's not the only one!!!!!!!!

Daddy Picture

Yay!! A Daddy picture! This was when he toured the jobsite up in Canada - he looks so "official" doesn't he!

The Saga Continues....

I took my car in to a new dealership near us today for an oil change. B/c it's a brand-new dealership the service guys were bored out of their skin, I was the only car there!! They asked if there was anything else on the car they needed to look at.....so I told them about the messed up sound system that screeches in cold weather. They were VERY nice, VERY helpful and said they had a guy there who was Platinum level mechanic that last week fixed a car from Michigan that no one had been able to figure out what was wrong in less than 2 hours. I ran down the list of things that had been done and he wants a crack at it. So, Sunday we'll take it in and let them have a couple of days to play --- the screeching is getting worse and more frequent and it's still under warranty so we'll see what happens. I'm not holding my breath but it would be SO nice to get it fixed! Updates to follow......

It's Official...

Someone tell Dad he got out just in time, I officially reside in the frozen north. Why am I suddenly realizing this you ask? BECAUSE WE HAVE SNOW PREDICTED FOR TONITE!!!!!! Now obviously it will melt as the high for tomorrow is about 47 but still. It's not even Halloween yet!!!!

More pics (I can only post 4 at a time)

Here are mom and dad reading the info on Ft. Niagara...











Mom wanted me to take her pic w/ her head in the cannon but I declined....











This is a picture from the edge of the Ft. Niagara

Company pictures....

So, here are some pictures that I took while my parents were here visiting. The surrounding towns are having a competition with scarecrows and I thot this one was really good! It's just down the road.










This is a "fuzzy" tree that is across the street - we have decided this is what they make "blankie" out of Katie - so when your's wears out we'll have to get you a "blankie tree"!







I think this was the most beautiful tree we saw while my parents were here - it was in the Ft Niagara park and it was standing all alone, showing off its' finery - isn't it amazing!!!!!!





Here's Daddy standing down by the edge of Lake Ontario. It was SOOOOOOO cold near the lake but the weather wasn't too bad the rest of the time - highs in the middle 50's which was nice considering how much walking we did.

Frustration

Not only do I keep forgetting my camera so I have no pics to post yet of mom/dad's visit --- but a new facewash I bought made my FACE BREAK OUT!!!!!!!! So now I'm having to take benadryl and such and make myself sleepy while I'm trying to host. Yeesh! I'm going to go ask for my money back on that facewash!

Cleaning day

So today is Canadian Thanksgiving, we're doing shopping for warm winter clothes for wearing on the jobsite this afternoon. I'm trying to get everything picked up so I can clean tomorrow before my mom AND DAD come visit. (I know, shockingly enough I think I guilted him into a visit. Of course he's quite sure he'll get stuck in Chicago since they're flying on standby and he'll never end up making it here. - That's my dad, the optimist!) :-) It's been warmer the last few days - high 70's which is a nice warm-up before winter comes. My face is back to normal - woohoo! I have no intentions of trying that ham again for quite awhile. Job interview on Wed. that I'm quite apathetic about. If they offer it - fine, if not - no worries.

How odd...

Wednesday night is a lonely time I have decided. (See this is what happens when I have a horrible migraine and I take my medicine to make it better.) I want to call someone but Mom's asleep since she's worked extra this week, sister's watching her husband be Elvis at church (don't ask), husband's at work, Moni's boyfriend is meeting her family tonite....and poor Brenda already kept me occupied for awhile this evening. I turned down a "girls night" with some other wives up here b/c of my mouth - which was a good decision considering my migraine but now I'm sappy with no one to babble to. Dear me, I am very pathetic. However, on a high note my mouth is already starting to clear up a bit - mouth is still very sore and blistered but less swollen and improvement in the pain/burning - yippee.

To take a page from my sister....

Dear cold sores - if that is really what you are. Why on earth did you have to appear with such a vengeance? I know I want to lose weight but not thru not eating! I am fond of speaking as well which your blisters seem determined to make very painful. I am tired of you already and you've only been here 2 days. Go away - quickly!!
Painfully yours,
Me

Fall is defintely here!

It's in the 40's at night and 55-60 during the day for the high's - I'm so excited to be in long sleeves again! I've been going to the gym for a month and actually got to run yesterday. Considering the asthma and messed-up lungs I have I'm extremely tickled with this new progress. My husband has CPR training all day tomorrow so I think I'm going to bake. The weather is perfect for it and I have a recipie for molasses bread that mom sent me I'd like to try. I'm starting to think about christmas gifts for everyone - I may come down early to do some shopping, otherwise all anyone is getting is small gifts or gift cards!! :-)
Have a great weekend!

Babysitting --- the undiscovered workout....

I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sore! I took care of a 2 yr old and 3m old last night for 7 hours. The 2 yr old only spoke French, (the 3m old spoke "grin"). They were VERY adorable. The 2y old was a preemie so she is VERY tiny and sweet, the 3m old was cute too w/ the longest eyelashes! However you can't put the 3m old down for more than a few minutes or she starts crying. They did warn me but oh well. I kept them so their parents could play in the golf tournament at work. It was their parents first time out here in a YEAR!! They were very appreciative. But holy cow, my shoulders, arms, back, legs etc are so sore it's unreal.
My sister is going skydiving today - she has got to call me immediately afterward. My husband seems sure that she'll have a heart attack. We'll see :-).

If someone could find a candle

that smelled as good as my house right now I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I dearly love my biscotti candle and cranberry candle but apple pie fresh out of the oven beats all! It smells sooooo good! I think I've sniffed about everything in the regular candle stores and I've never sniffed anything that matches it.

Look!!!! I had a visitor this afternoon!! His name is "Herman". He wasn't interested in the raspberries I threw him (I don't blame him, I didn't want them either since a few were molding, even tho the ones I threw him weren't.) He just came down for a drink of water in a puddle next to the tree. He was so cute!!! Just had to share. Herman said to tell you all hi - this is the best pic I had - he kept moving so most of them were blurry. :-)

Because you might be sick of me...

And even if he won't let me put his name in my blog he's still interesting....

1. He’s sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? One of his movies or his new Cabella's hunting Wii game.
2. You’re out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Salad?? No salad - no rabbit food at all!
3. What’s one food he doesn’t like? Veggies, almond pastry, most pasta, calzones (oh you said one, sorry).
4. You go out to the bar. What does he order? rum and coke....for me. Water for him.
5. Where did he go to high school? CJ
6. What size shoe does he wear? hold on, I have to go look....10
7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? Odd golf pictures
8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? plain turkey and bread
9. What would he eat every day if he could? regular Lay's chips or ice cream/choc chip cookies
10. What is his favorite cereal? Frosted Flakes
11. What would he never wear? the heavy sweaters he looks so good in, I'm hoping for a VERY cold winter.......
12. What is his favorite sports team? St Louis Cardinals
13. Who is his best friend? ???
14. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn’t do? Collect "stuff"
15. How many states has he lived in? 3
16. What is his heritage? Polish
17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? No cake, apple pie!
18. Did he play sports in high school? Ha, what DIDN'T he play, soccer, golf, baseball etc.
19. What could he spend hours doing? Working out, complicated lego designs, playing Wii

Sorry to those I already emailed this to...

1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:45 am the first time, 7:30 the second time
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds of course
3. What was the last show you saw at the cinema? House Bunny (again, don't blame me I didn't choose it)
4. What is your favorite TV show? Anything on Animal Planet/Discovery Health, NCIS, Criminal Minds
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Cereal (which I ran out of this morning so I treated myself to an orange roll - thank you mom!)
6. What is your middle name? Kay
7. What food do you dislike? Rasians (sneaky little pipsqueaks look like choc chips!!)
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Chris Rice piano music when scrapping/Sugarland when driving
9. What kind of car do you drive? 07 Hyundai Tiburon
10. Favorite sandwich? Peanut butter!
11. What characteristic do you despise? snobbiness
12. Favorite item of clothing? "cuddle clothes"
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Somewhere skiing, England
14. Where would you retire? NY maybe?
15. What was your most recent memorable birthday? Not a clue
16. Furthest place you are sending this questionnaire? depends on who reads it!
17. Person you expect to send it back first? Got me...
18. When is your birthday? July
19. Morning person or a night person? Morning
20. What is your shoe size? 6.5
22. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? Nope, except that my hair is driving me batty - oh wait, there's nothing new OR exciting about that. nope not a thing.
23. What did you want to be when you were little? a teacher, which just goes to show that children are idiots.
24. How are you today? better than yesterday!
25. What is your favorite flower? Gerber daisies I suppose
26. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? the next day someone comes to visit me!
27. What are you listening to right now? dishwasher, my "barking", washing machine
28. What was the last thing you ate? lunch
29. Do you wish on stars? nope, usually not awake to see them :-)
30. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? dark blue
31. How is the weather right now? Sunny and about 63
32. Last person you spoke to on the phone? dr's office
33. Favorite soft drink? Dr. Pepper and it's SO RARE HERE!
34. Favorite restaurant? something I don't have in lewiston (downside of having company, I hit every resteraunt in town....)
35. Hair color? A shade of brown
36. What was your favorite toy as a child? My Little Pony
37. Summer or winter? whatever I'm not in at the moment.
38. Chocolate or Vanilla? depends
39. Coffee or tea? Coffee!
40. When was the last time you cried? yesterday
41.What is under your bed? baskets of clothes, some of josh's school books, small tote bags and who knows what else. MAYBE MY MISSING BLANKETS!! Nope, looked there already.
42. What did you do last night? Argued with anyone and everyone including the TV.
43. What are you afraid of? spiders, bugs of any sort really that don't understand to STAY OUT of my house, feeling psychotically moody
44. Salty or sweet? sweet.
45. How many keys on your key ring? 3
47. How many years at your current job? job? what's a job?? (Sorry ladies, couldn't resist)
48. Favorite day of the week? Sunday - one predictible day of the week my husband is around.
49. Do you make friends easily? Depends on if they're the type of person to appreciate me or if I have to fake being someone else....
50. Do you like finding out all this stuff about your friends? Yes, I may need to use it against them later in life…hahahaha……Just kidding.

I love that small things make me happy...

Especially with christmas coming up (that is my husband's hint for gift cards....) Just kidding. I was just thinking about how much more fun it is to be someone who gets joy out of small things. For instance, the J&J bodywash I bought w/ my hostess giftcard that I never would have bought for myself and smells yummily of lavender, the fact that it is so nice and cool I may leave for my second bike ride of the day, and the NF and DC paper/stickers that I bought at the scrapping store in NF yesterday. It was only a few pages but gave me much joy to find it!!
So, to those of you who are still reading my (very boring) blog lately - what small things make you happiest. (Keep in mind christmas is coming and I need ideas, someone told me we have less than 100 days left to shop in!)

Pics of the recent company :-)

Here are Gpa and Martha on the bridge headed into Canada. Aren't they sweet!!! I picked them up on Thursday and we began a whirlwind 3 day tour of the area. On Thursday I took them to eat at the Silo overlooking the Niagara River. Gpa even avoided the icecream they sell since we were headed to the "Maid of the Mist" boat tour.

This is poor Gpa dealing with the giant blue plastic raincoat on the boat tour. We all agreed they must have made them out of old WalMart bags!! They were huge and the boat wasn't very full so they kept trying to blow up over our heads. Gpa took out his hearing aids and glasses so he could enjoy the trip. He was soooooo excited he could barely stand still (oh wait, maybe that was the rocking boat). Oh well, they had a great time (and so did I since I hadn't been on it before) and Gpa considered it a good excuse to hang onto Martha - have to make sure she doesn't fall! :-P

Later we walked all the way up and around the American falls. I had so much fun watching Gpa and Martha - they were having a wonderful time. Gpa could stand in the same place for 20 mins just watching the water churn and surge in and around the rocks. They were very excited to see the rainbow pictured above. Gpa said that if this was all they got to do on their trip that it would have been worth it.

Those of you who know Gpa can probably guess why we have this lovely picture. He kept seeing change laying in and around the water and insisted that if Martha and I would just "do our part" and hold onto his legs he could reach that and go stick his hand in the falls etc. Apparently we are just "wet blankets" because every time he said something like that Martha would get a tighter grip on his jacket and I'd shoot him dirty looks. For those of us who've heard the funny tape say it with me "Martha -- I'm goin for it!"


Well this was just the first day of pictures. My husband took some video of the fireworks which were so pretty. We saw those on Friday night and then went over to explore the Canadian falls in the daylight on Saturday. We walked ourselves into exhaustion on the three trips I must say. We ate pizza and chocolate until we nearly made ourselves sick (all Gpa's fault --- he was trying to make sure Martha was happy). :-) I took them to all my favorite places in town, Gpa and Martha really seemed to love Lewiston. We went out with some work people Friday night before the fireworks, got to visit the popcorn store and Chip and Dip even made an appearance.
And now I must relate the things we said after the company left. My honey said "I don't know that I've ever seen your Gpa so happy. He was grinning from ear to ear and laughing more than I've ever seen." I told him I have faint memories of years ago when Gma was still healthy and Gpa being that happy. However that was a LONG time ago and it's been years since I've heard him laugh so much. I must say the two of them were the cutest couple ever. They would sit in my backseat and whisper to each other and laugh and held hands all the time. And then of course there were the times where I had to call Gpa's name when going around corners in case they were being a bit more friendly! :-) I have not laughed so much in 3 days time as I did with Gpa and Martha. Despite some confusion on whether doors were open or closed, Gpa forgetting his birth cert. so it had to be overnighted and watching the weather to keep track of the hurricane due to Martha's family being in TX I think all had a great time. And as predicted- I slept almost all day yesterday --- which is of course the sign of a truly satisfying week. :-)

Naming Contest

These are the 2 chipmunks that live outside my apartment. I need names! Any suggestions? They're awfully cute!

Anticipation...

Yay! This week my Gpa and his friend Martha are coming to visit - I'm so excited! I've been making lists of all the places I want to take them. Obviously the falls, then we had breakfast this morning at a little cafe called "Tommy George's Villa". It's open every day till about 1 - been here for 32 years, Tommy George is there every morning, knows all his regulars by name and what they order and in the afternoon he goes golfing. Had the best "bfast bagel" ever!! And... it's next door to this tiny little PIE SHOP!!!! I told the lady I was bringing in my Gpa when he got here, she gave me a menu - said if there was something he wanted that wasn't on the menu to just let her know. I love this town!!!!! I want to take them to the popcorn place, the chocolate house, (have you noticed these are all food places?) Brio's pizza etc. Plus I want to take them down by lake Ontario where we found the beautiful beach last weekend. I promise to post lots of pictures -- I'm sure to take dozens w/ our camera. :-)

Question...

Did anyone else watch "House" last night? I know my dad watches it but when I called him to gripe about the story line he had just then turned it on....therefore he had no idea what I was babbling about with House bouncing in and out of dreams and hallucinations etc. Very strange!!!! Certainly the weirdest episode I've ever seen! I like the show - mostly b/c House reminds me of my dad but that was just a bit much!

Happy Labor Day!

Well we didn't make it to Toronto - the borders were crazy busy and we decided we'd have more fun where there were fewer people. Neither of us are hugely fond of crowds (aka we hate them) and it sounded like a lot of fuss for just an air show. I found out the medieval dinner thing was almost $80 per person - YIKES! I don't think so!

So instead on Saturday we did a 6.5 mile ride down the river road he found - it was soooooo pretty, cool enough to be comfortable and nice smooth road with beautiful houses on one side and the river on the other to admire. Then today we drove further down the same road to Youngstown - we found there was a huge grassy area that runs out to Lake Ontario next to the Ft. Niagara. It was sooooooooo pretty and peaceful. We walked several miles around the park - I'm DEFINTELY going to have to drive Gpa and Martha down there. Of course we forgot the camera --- go figure but it was a nice break anyway.

Happy Friday!

OK, before I go on let me just say there is a bird outside my deck area that has been spending too much time around "low battery" smoke detectors. He's not rythmic but has the piercing chirp down pat!!
There is a chance of showers today so I'm not sure if I'm going job-hunting or not. I refuse to traipse around in the rain w/ my resume's and it's too hard in this town to do it by car.... (how odd is that to say after a month in KC!) I dearly love being home - I didn't expect this place to feel like home quite so quickly.
We're talking about touring around Toronto over the weekend - some of the others are going camping and that is by NO way of measuring something that sounds like fun to me. :-) The city is having it's annual air show, an Iams dog show that sounds amusing and a Medieval dinner/show thing. Yay! Sounds likes lots of fun to me. Hope you all have as much fun this weekend!

Home, sweet home!!

So far these are the things I'm most happy about...
1. Husband!
2. My own bed (and pillows, and sheets etc)
3. My own closet (in other words I'm not wearing the same 3 outfits repeatedly.)
4. It's COLD this morning - yippee!!!!! 63 today with a high of 75 - yay!!

Well those are the major things so far. I'm still really sleepy this morning, never did get a nap yesterday after getting up at 3:45 am to make the airport on time. The new meds the dr gave me TOTALLY cured the airplane motion sickness - yay! I slept like the dead and fully intend to nap more today! I'm enjoying cable (sorry mom) - especially my animal shows. I have been learning from them tho - I worked on training my parents dog Jack some while I was home - even mom was impressed at how much better he got. Hopefully dad keeps it up (hint hint.) Considering how hyper he can get, the fact that I could set a piece of ckn in front of his nose, then back way up and he wouldn't get it till I told him I could is very rewarding! (Makes me miss my Grace tho.... - imagine how much more impressive it would be with a dog my size!) :-)

My husband rearranged the living room while I was gone, which turned out very well (and no I'm not surprised at all.... haha). It makes better use of the space and keeps my couch away from the heater that runs along one wall. If I get energetic today (yeah right) I'll post a new picture. Haven't seen the new road Josh found to ride on - maybe I can find it tonite.

Yay for Grace!

There are few things that feel as good as walking into this house and having all the dogs (well except Noah of course) just be SOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited to see me! Grace is knocking me over w/ head rubs, Lucy and Hershey are boucing like balls up to my knees and wiggling like crazy. It took Grace a good 30 mins to calm down, she was so happy. Such a pleasure to be missed! :-) Mom and I took Grace on a 3 mile walk this morning, then she took Hershey and Noah both for short walks. Tomorrow I think I'll take Grace and Hershey - he's getting so fat since he was neutered! Grace is such a pleasure to walk, no yanking and pulling except for two "Wascally wabbit" sightings. (I'm curious as to what she'd do with one if she caught it - she's not the "predator" sort. Probably just play with it). Mom keeps saying "I forget how BIG she is!" We walked quite a ways w/ Grace and ended up by the train tracks. Mom called Gpa and I was cracking up b/c every time she opened her mouth to say something the train blew it's whistle!! VERY LOUDLY!!! Gpa was very confused, even he could hear it.
Well today we are supposed to can tomato juice for Gpa and make a triple batch of almond pastry. So I suppose I"ll be nice and busy. (Thus the reason for the dog walks, hopefully they'll sleep all day!)

Short post

I spent last night at Kt's, I have Todd on my lap and he is quite insistent that he had NEVER been petted before in his ENTIRE life so I must not stop for long. I'm supposed to go to a cat show later today w/ Kt - maybe he's jealous! Hope everyone's doing well - and just to help me out - if you post a comment as "anonymous" please put your name at the end of your comment, I have too many people who could post that way and I feel funny trying to "guess who" wrote which comment. Thank you!

Surprise! A post while I'm gone!

So I'm at the library in Smithville so I am just checking in w/ everyone. I'm enjoying the ability to talk to people during the day, hating the heat (ugh ugh ugh) and having fun harassing a cat. I came down to bring mom some stuff, run a couple of errands for her and then I have to stop by a pharamacy in KC. Hope everyone is having a good week so far.

P.S. Why do they take your license when you get a new one? The NY DMV took my MO one, then my husband wants my old MO license #.....thank heaven for my old work taking a photo copy!!

Happy Monday...

So here's a smile for those of you who need it. My honey and I were watching TV last night and saw a guy pole vault. I said that looks like so much fun, so much more than the "far jump." My poor husband looks at me saying "You mean the LONG jump?" Yes, I'm apparently blonder than my hair. I said well, it's not the high jump so it's a far jump!! I'm such a dingbat.

I'm running around doing laundry and laying out clothes today for my trip back home (and to Joplin). I'll be gone for 3 wks and will attempt to post something during that time but no promises -- especially since I'll be visiting those who read my blog! :-) Yay for family, friends and scrapping lessons! :-P

Random Questions

1. If you were to get an advanced degree, what would you get it in? Psychology/Mediation

2. What are three things you could do without? Spiders, birds that sound like injured cats, runny noses.

3. What are three things you are thankful for? Cool weather, email, friends/family

4. If you could, would you quit your job? Well not working at the moment and getting bored, however if I didn't have to work I think I would be able to volunteer and have a ball doing that. (Especially at an animal shelter!)

5. If you were to leave today, where would you hit the road to? MO!

6. If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going...skiing while I live up north here!

7. What three things do you think of when you think of Saturday? Will my honey have to work this weekend, fewer people on email, yay for weekends!

8. What three things are you terrible at?-Writing interesting blogs, tracking my cell minutes, math of most any sort.

Simple Pleasures

I love being able to have more than one cup of coffee if I want it since I can use my coffee pot again! (Bought a new carafe since the movers broke my other one.) And "Mudslide" creamer -- yummmm!

I met more really nice people yesterday. I went to the chiropractor (awesome adjustment) and his office lady was SO nice and told me about all the festivals in town. I figured I'd list them in case any of them interested ya'll. Obviously I missed some in July so I'll start w/ September when I'll be back in town.

Sept 5-7 - Niagara County Peach Festival --- YUMM!!
Sept 20 - Lewiston Country Fair
Sept 27-28 Harvest Festival and Craft Show.

I'm most excited about the Peach festival - I'm always good with food!!! Apparently they make a peach cobbler that's to die for!!

Have a great day all!

(And by the way - I just saw on TV a Chihuahua and Lab mix. Now not to be too inquisitive but....HOW ON EARTH!?!?!?!)

Random Thots

I cannot believe that it is the middle of July and I have the windows open and I'm under a BLANKET b/c it's chilly w/ the ceiling fan on. This weather is definitely taking some getting used to.
I cannot believe how much laundry 2 people can generate - and how I forgot about that fact while I was working and my husband did most of it.
I cannot believe I made it home from the grocery store on my bike w/ 2 bags of ice!
I cannot believe my best friend is off to EUROPE w/o me in less than a week! And if she doesn't bring back a million pictures and stories and such I will be one unhappy camper!

weekend

Well we had a nice weekend, hope everyone else did too. My honey had a golf tournament yesterday in Canada - his group won. He won a fancy drill thing which was nice. We found a new place at lunch yesterday - it's a little bldg on the river that looks like a mushroom. In the center is the cooking area, they do hamburgers, hotdogs, ice cream etc. then you eat on a deck that runs all around the outside. If you sit on the river side you can see waaaayyy down the river, you get the nicest breeze and it's so nice! Today we went for a run and a bike ride around town. We stopped at a local bakery for some of their bread and cranberry jam. It's pretty good stuff! Anyone who comes up will have to stop by these little bakeries. They have miniatures pies and cakes, assorted biscotti etc. It all sounds very yummy!

Plans

Yesterday, as some may have heard, my bathroom light fixtured attempted to set my apt on fire - shooting sparks and staining the ceiling w/ smoke. Scared me to death! I got it shut off and it didn't flip the breaker but it's very strange. It didn't burn out any bulbs, but one of the bulbs won't turn on. We switched it into a lamp and it worked there so it's not the bulb. Who knows, our landlord is supposed to get it taken care of today.

I found the library yesterday - they had a huge kids program going on and one of the kids had the giggles so bad it made me start giggling. So funny. I had lunch at the Orange Cat w/ Danielle - they're salads and sandwiches are really good and cheap!

Then my dear husband got home about 6 (I know - SHOCKING) and we went to dinner w/ Cole and Danielle. We went to an Irish Pub here in town - I had the steelhead sandwich which is a type of salmon served open-faced. (Kt you'd love it).

Today I am waiting to see when someone will come to look at the light fixture, and going over to play w/ Danielle's fluff-ball dog. Her name is Sophie, she's only a year old and this way she doesn't have to be alone for 12 hours while Cole is at work since Danielle is flying out this morning. Yay! An animal to play with!! :-) I plan to take a book and hang out there awhile so she has someone to play with.


Hope everyone has a good day!

Rambling

Yes, I'm bored so I'm posting 2x in one day. I really should go ride my bike but the tires need air and my husband has the air-upper. Yes I know that's not what it's called but it works - you knew what I meant right? So I am stealing a blog idea from the Queen of blogs (otherwise known as Kt).

Ten movies you’d watch over and over: Van Helsing, Bring It On, 10 things I hate about you, Transformers, Bad Boys, Armageddon, Hope Floats, A Man Apart, Coyote Ugly, Constantine.

Nine people you enjoy the company of: my honey, Kt, Mom, Dad, Brenda, Monica, Amy, Jackie, Valerie.

Eight things you’re wearing: Grey t-shirt, capris, scrunchie (don't gripe Kt, it's hot in here and I don't have the air on), glasses, invisiligns, unmentionables - and apparently you don't wear 8 things unless you layer or have shoes and socks on!

Seven things on your mind: When will he get home? Am I getting spoiled having cable? How many minutes do I have left on my cell phn? What is WRONG w/ mom's phone? What will we want for dinner? I want a cat! Why do we keep getting apts that are next door to smokers?!?!

Six objects you touch every day: Toothbrush. Laptop. Cell phone. Fridge. Comb. Dishwasher.

Five things you do everyday: Fuss w/ my hair. Drink coffee. Wonder when he's getting home. Play on the internet. Be amazed at the temperature difference here!

Four bands or musical artists that you couldn’t live without: Sugarland! Brad Paisley. Miranda Lambert. DC Talk.

Three of your favorite songs of the moment: "All I Wanna Do", "Last Name", "Gunpowder and Lead".

Two people who have influenced your life the most: Mom and Dad (I think they count as one) and Monica.

One person who has been nice to you today: Brenda - I've done nothing but gripe all day and she not only agreed but calmed me down and helped me feel better!!

Apartment Pictures

Ok, to all who have been so patiently (not!) asking, here are some pictures. The one of the master bdrm wouldn't post for some reason. The above is a pictures of the guest/scrapbooking room. It is actually organized at the moment as we are anticipating company soon and I won't be scrapping anymore until I get my new toys for my bday. :-) YAY!

This is my living room (and to the right you can just see my kitchen table), as well as work out room. Since he and I are both using the Total Gym and the exercise ball we just leave them out for now. Do notice we actually have pictures on the walls - yippee!

This is my kitchen/laundry area (as evidenced by the laundry basket that is my job today). I love the glass fronted cabinets, there's one at each end of the counter on the left, one has my dishes and one has my mugs. I have my ariel picture of my parents house that's framed hanging in the little nook over the sink which is very nice. Obviously my fridge is still being covered with anything and everything including a bday card, chuck-e-cheese photo of Kt and I, pictures of Brenda, Jackie, Arista etc.

So I hope ya'll have enjoy the tour, it's a nice apt (altho 2 wks is enough to convince me that black carpet is a BAD idea!) Have a good day - I'm off to do more laundry....

Yay for Pictures!

So my dear husband took me to Niagara Falls yesterday for my birthday - yay! My pictures are a little out of order but please enjoy! This close to the falls you can feel the constant mist - it's amazing. It was packed with people, we heard so many different languages and walked my poor little feet off! He said we probably did about 5 miles (I know Mom, to you that was nothing but it was all concrete so it was hard walking).

This is my gorgeous hydrangea bush - we have one right outside our door and it's warm enough now the blooms are starting to fade but it's still so pretty. I absolutely love it!!

This is the church that's across the street from our "condo complex". It's really old and we can hear church bells when the windows are open. I love that!

This is the "Horseshoe" part of the falls - it's on the Canadian side and the biggest part. If you look at the bottom of where the water is falling you see a pale shadow - that's a "Maid of the Mist" boat that you can ride. They take you so far up next to the falls that they are running their motors so hard you can see the water churn....just to stand still from the power of the water running over the falls. It's amazing - very humbling to see the amount of water and hear the roar.

This last pictures is of the American Falls - it's actually 2 different falls which I had no idea of before we went.

So I hope everyone likes the pictures -- many thanks to Kt for talking me thru how to post them!! I had a great birthday - we went out to eat w/ some of the other work guys and one's fiancee named Danielle. We had a hard time finding a resteraunt so ended up in I'm betting the fanciest place in Lewiston - it was Italian and I had the "linguine w/ clams".... Poor husband ordered this spaghetti dish and they asked if he wanted it with the (insert a word I couldn't pronounce and had no idea what it was). He asked what it was and she said "conkfish". You should have seen his face, poor guy. They brought him just simple spaghetti and he said it was ok. I could not quit snickering tho. Then we went to one of the resteraunt/bars in town and heard a live group sing for awhile - they weren't too bad. :-)

We hung my pictures today - yay! We're all settled now - so fancy. It's really nice to see them up - they never made it up in our last place b/c we kept anticipating the move....

Hope everyone has a good week - thanks for all the bday wishes. I even was serenaded yesterday - My honey's niece and nephew Arista and Orion and some of Arista's softball teammates got on the video call last night and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. :-)