More NYC

This is the "Today Show" studio (we never made it there in the morning -- too tired after walking miles and miles during the days).












This is w/o a doubt the COOLEST bldg I saw - I want to live on the corner (assuming I was nuts enough to live in NYC).

















This is just to give you an idea of the prices in NYC - 500sq ft for 499K. Ouch.














Is this not the ODDEST billboard ever?? Smaller versions were on the top of quite a few taxis.

NYC

Central Park













The following are all windows decorated up for Christmas. Funny - I like looking at them much more now that I'm warm........

NYC trip

Here are Holly and I freezing to death after we dumped our luggage at the hotel on the 31st.



















Funny story about this - due to the head cold I couldn't hear worth anything after we flew (ears never popped back) and so I was convinced for an extended period of time that we were looking for the "bubblegum shrimp company" .... oh well.














This was the street in Times Square at least 9 hours BEFORE the ball drop -- drive me batty!













These were some of my favorite Christmas decorations we saw, we always had these type of bulbs on our tree growing up and they were very pretty.

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!