December Daily 2010 - ALMOST

Here are photos of pages from my December Daily book, inspired by Ali Edwards' annual project.  I don't have near the talent she does but I'm LOVING that I have a start to finish record of December 2010!  Yea, sure, I have to go and fill in two spreads, but the rest of it is D.O.N.E.  That's "done" to you and me!!!

Sorry about the 17th - I took the photo in portrait rather than landscape and am having trouble rotating it in Blogger...  I'll keep trying, and if I figure it out, I'll remove this advance apology!!!

If you want to see the photos a bit larger, you can click on the individual pictures...



Christmas 2010, Part Deux!

Some photos from Christmas brunch at my sister-in-law's house...

The proud grandparents...

J, aka Scrooge/the Grinch/my hubby!

 Mr. and Mrs. Grinch/Scrooge!

Cioci Krys and E!





Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas, readers!  I hope your holidays are filled with love and happiness and good health! 

I thought, perhaps, if you're snowed in, or in the process of getting snowed in, that you might enjoy a peek into Christmas at our house...

Here is a photo of our Christmas tree 2010! I decided to go white/silver/clear only this year, except for yes, 3 red ornaments and one brown ornament that will always be on my tree, no matter what the theme that year...  I have a clear red ball with a silver "K" filled with tinsel that my dad made for me when I was small.  I have a red heart that I bought in honor of my dad after he died.  And there are two homemade ornaments that J made with his kids when they were small - one is a painted Santa Claus and one is a gingerbread man. 

This is the inside of St. Catherine of Siena's Church in Cedar Grove.  It's not "our" church and it's not even the church we used to go to for Midnight Mass.  I had a bit of a falling out with the church of my childhood so J and I joined the church of my earlier childhood.  But now we go to non-Midnight Mass at St. Catherine's, at 10pm on Christmas Eve.  To my everlasting annoyance, Midnight Mass is no longer at midnight.  But they still have a half-hour of Christmas carols before Mass and some other man and I sang along with the choir this year!  No one else did, but we did!  This church does have some meaning for us - our nieces got married here, our great niece was baptized here and this is the church J's sister attends.  So even though it's not "ours," we enjoy Mass here...

This is our beautiful baby great niece, E.  Isn't she the cutest!?!?!?  This was Christmas Day, about 1pm, just after she took a little nap, and after her parents opened SO many presents for her!  She got so many outfits and baby toys and books and tree ornaments and...  I got her a cute pink silk dress that they might have her wear at the wedding in April, and a cute purple sweatsuit that she can wear now, and Santa brought her the same toy we chose, but apparently it's the one she chose to play with over all others, so ours will be kept at Grandma's Mimi's and PopPop's...

Here's our beautiful daughter M with her fiance S, in front of our tree yesterday afternoon.  I feel for them.  M is so conscious and thoughtful about spending time with both sides of the family, and S's parents are divorced, too. This means they have FOUR families to try and see on the holiday.  And unfortunately both sides on each side don't spend a lot of time together at all - little to NONE - so they are on the move on Christmas Day.  To make it worse, S had to work!  But we did spend some time with them and that's the best gift they could give us!

Here's a photo of the three of us, taken at arm's length in our library just before M left for S's mom's house!  We lent her our Subaru, and she left her Scion TC in our driveway.  THANK GOODNESS since it's blizzarding now and her teeny sports car is simply a rolling death trap!  At least the Subaru has 4-wheel drive.  She's home, safe and sound, though, after only a brief trip to the gym this morning, before the snow got too bad.

Here's our annual couple's photo.  J already dressed down into a sweat jacket; he's not much for staying dressed up if he doesn't have to, so pardon the mix of casual and business casual we have going in the photo!  Santa brought J a TomTom GPS system, and surprisingly he didn't whine about how he doens't want one of these, and why did I Santa bother bringing him one...  He did ask if I knew how to operate one and well, we'll just learn together!  I got a beautiful pashmina shawl, some gift cards, a Thomas Kincaide mug, and a computer lap desk from J Santa.  I must have been a good girl this year!



More photos to come, as I go through my camera...

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

I found this on a blog I read called The Amazing Trips. Apparently she was surprised that she broke into tears, but I'm not surprised I did! This music just feeds my soul. Whenever we go to Christmas Eve mass and they play this, well, I cry, I sniffle, my heart warms...

Take a 4minute 57second break and watch this video. I have to admit, if this took place in my mall and I was there, I'd be up there singing with the singers!!!

Books vs. Food? Hmmm...

"I think books are like people, in the sense that they'll turn up in your life when you most need them. After my father died, the book that sort of saved my life was Gabriel García Márquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude. Because of that experience, I firmly believe there are books whose greatness actually enables you to live, to do something. And sometimes, human beings need story and narrative more than they need nourishment and food."


--Actress Emma Thompson on choosing seven "books that made a difference" for O magazine.

I agree.  I collect quotes.  And I have not collected more quotes from a single source than from Richard Bach in all his fiction and Dan Fogelberg in all his lyrics.  And the "right" quote seems destined to show up in front of me just when I need it - when I had to say goodbye to my best friend after college, we sent Bach quotes back and forth to each other for years.  [Along with several from the Dune trilogy, too!)  There were quotes and lyrics that helped me when my father died.  A song by Dan Fogelberg was our wedding song, despite the fact Jack had never heard of it before!  The words were just so appropriate.

It's nice to hear that books, and reading, mean as much to others as they do to me.

Happy Thanksgiving, a day or two in advance, to all my friends and family who read this blog, as well as to alll my e-friends who stop by to catch up once in a while!  I hope you have a wonderful holiday (if you celebrate it)!!  (And if you don't, have a great Thursday!!!)

Happy (Not So Much) Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day, J! You are a wonderful man, a fantastic father, and the best husband a girl could ever have! Thanks for putting us first, your kids and me, ahead of yourself, ahead of the rest of the world. Thanks for worrying about me through my recent health scare, thanks for helping me stay strong, thanks for helping around the house (okay, thanks for doing everything around the house!), thanks for wanting it all for us and doing what you have to do to make sure we achieve it. You are the absolute BEST! I love you with all my heart!

And now I'm simply reprinting my blogpost from a couple of years ago, dedicated to my dad and J's dad. It's been two more years since I wrote this, and I don't miss you any less. In fact, I probably miss you MORE each day!

http://krysworld.blogspot.com/2008/06/happy-fathers-day-daddy-you-must-know.html

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

You must know how much I miss you. I know you're there, somewhere, still a part of my life. Still watching over me. Still keeping an eye on me and guiding me when I need a helping hand.

When I hear the dishes settle on the drainboard, I think, "Hi, Dad!"

When I see a gardening book, I think of you.

When I see an Oldsmobile, I think of you.

When I visit the Harley Davidson factory and I smell the odor of machinery and grease, I think of you.

When Jack starts a project at the house, I think of you. (And I hope you keep an eye on him,too!)

When I see a cemetery, I think of you.

Whenever it's March 16, or June 14, or July 25, or August 12, or December 18, I think of you.

Whenever I have a moment, I think of you.

It doesn't really require a specific thing to make me think of you - you're still so much a part of my every day life that even though you've been gone since March 16, 1987, I talk to you every day.

I think of you every day.

I miss you every day.

When I got married, I stood up on that altar, wishing not for a happy marriage, but that you were there. I prayed for a sign from you: a breeze in that hotter-than-hot church, a window slamming, a car backfiring - I wanted you there so badly that anything would have been a sign from you!!! I wanted you to walk me down the aisle. I wanted to dance that father-daughter dance the worst way. To this day, nine years after I got married, twenty-one years after you died, I can't watch a bride dance with her dad without crying. And it doesn't matter who the bride is: Vanessa, Carrie, or a complete stranger on television.

I cry.

I miss you.

And I am angry that I didn't get to dance with you on my wedding day.

But you know what?

When it's time, when I move toward the light, when I die, you'd better be there to dance the first dance with me.

Happy Father's Day, Mr. S.

I wish you were here.

I wish I got to have a father-in-law.

I know I met you. I know you know who I am, and I truly believe that you know Jack and I are married and happy and I know you're happy for us. And I'm happy to hear Patty talk about you and say that she knows you liked me, that you were happy when Jack and I were together, and that you were annoyed with him when we split up.

But I wanted to know all that in the first-person!

I wanted to visit you during the week, have a cup of coffee or tea with you, and eat some sugar-free Jello with you.

I wanted to see you with your grandchildren. (I truly believe if you and Mom were still here that all that nonsense with Johnny would never have happened. And if you're bored wherever you are, we could use a little help with your grandson!)

I wanted to get to know you as your daughter-in-law, not just that nice girl that Jack was dating.

I'm going to have to settle for making you a part of my day, a part of our day, in all those small ways you would have been were you still here.

I mention you to Jack, I ask him about you as a dad, as a grandfather. He misses you. So very much that he can't really talk about you without tearing up, and that's the way it should be. You know what he says? He says all those times you asked him to hang around and do some work with you and he didn't 'cause he was on his way out to play or to hang with his friends - he says he should have spent that time with you. He misses learning from you, learning to do things like create the Christmas wreaths and grave blankets. He does that for you. In your memory. In your honor. Not 'cause he really likes to do it. It makes him sad. But it's a way to keep you alive with us in a really small way.

I never got to tell you I love you in real life. I hope you know now, though, that I love you and I miss you. And I'm going to be the best daughter-in-law you ever had (not a tough task, I know, considering the competition!) and a great wife to your son. I promise.

Happy Easter!

God bless you, one and all!
I'm off for a couple of days, with hubby, up at the lake.
Will catch up on blogging and posting and reading tomorrow and Tuesday!
Hope you had a lovely day!

One down, nine to go...

So I have 10 toes. If one's broken, and it's only my right pinkie toe, I don't really need it anyway, right? I have nine more! In fact, my sister said they could amputate it and I'd never even miss it!

Jack's Aunt Anna died last Monday. Because of the holiday and traveling issues (a lot of her family had to come from Texas), they delayed the wake and funeral to Friday and Saturday. My first thought was that although we'll miss her and it's terribly sad that she died, and sadder still that it's over a holiday that her family has to deal with this loss, she's finally with Uncle Nat and maybe, just maybe, she's not so cranky anymore. She's been one unhappy camper for the last eight or nine years, ever since her husband died. She missed him something fierce. So now, even though we've lost her, she's back with Uncle Nat and she's finally happy again.

Anyway, the wake was Friday night. We went to the lake and came home early to shower and get ready to go and pay our respects. That night I asked Jack to wake me at 7am so I'd have time to shower and get ready for the 8:30am service at the funeral home without rushing. I overslept. I'd like to blame Jack and say that he didn't wake me after the alarm went off (which I ignored 'cause it went off at our usual 5:50am and he shut it off), but he says he woke me and I said, "Okay, just another minute" and proceeded to sleep another 20 minutes or so.

I got up and when I realized how late it was I started scrambling and somehow I was taking a step forward with my right foot at the same time that I was pulling the bedroom door closed toward me. OW! I went right to my knees!

But being the trooper I am, I powered on and showered, dressed and drove to the funeral home. We went in separate cars 'cause Jack wasn't going to go to the repast after the cemetary service, and I was. By the time he changed his mind and we were en route in two cars to the repast, I was realizing that my shoe was feeling a bit tight. I sat down at the restaurant, ate a good meal, socialized with the cousins, and when we were leaving around 2:30 or 3:00, I decided it would be a pretty darned good idea to visit the Immedicenter and have them look at my toe.

I'd always hoped to hear "Congratulations, it's a girl!" rather than "Congratulations, you have a broken toe!"

But after three x-rays, it was confirmed. I broke my toe. And as I'm sure we all know, you can't do anything for a broken pinkie toe but buddy tape it to its neighbor and hope for the best. So I'm taped, and she did give me a very attractive black boot to wear for two to three weeks. I'm stylin' now!!!

Anyway, other than that, Thanksgiving was nice. Mom was home but spent the day with my sister at said sister's boyfriend's house. Just to play with her head, I told her we were all waiting dessert for her, and why didn't she ask C or T to drive her to my SIL's house? After a VERY brief moment of silence, she said she knew I was pulling her leg and she moved on... Well, I thought it was funny!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday - lots of family, food and fun, and (private joke to come!) I sure hope your oven worked and your pies remained intact!!!

Happy Turkey Day, in advance!!!

Today is the day before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year, primarily because to me, it's the start of "The" holiday season! Here's how it goes:

1. Thanksgiving - November 20-something
2. My birthday - December 18
3. Christmas Eve - December 24
4. Christmas Day - December 25
5. New Year's Eve - December 31
6. New Year's Day - January 1

I start at Thanksgiving weekend - writing out Christmas cards and decorating the house. And it really doesn't ever stop until it's time to take the decorations down on Valentine's Day. (Just kidding, although some years my fake tree has stayed up for quite a long time into January simply because of time constraints...)

I'm almost never in a bad mood in December - how can I be? I love the cold, I love snow, and I love Santa! And December has all three, most of the time! This year the weather has been a bit strange - it was almost 60 degrees the other day - who knows whether we'll get some winter weather or not this year - I hope we do - but I'm afraid Santa might be wearing Bermuda shorts as he comes down our street this Christmas Eve!

Well, gotta run - time to start the cooking!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!!

I'm officially overwhelmed!

I'm taking three online Xmas scrapping classes - and I can only scrap on the weekends! I will try my darndest to keep on top of the photos and the journaling and the note-taking and list-making, and hopefully I'll be able to have a finished product at the end of the season (or, let's face it) at the beginning of the next season!

Spent all weekend in the hospital with my husband's 93-year-old aunt. Aunt Fanny literally looks like she's in her late 60s or early 70s. My girlfriend has a theory that being cranky keeps you young!! She's been falling a lot and refusing to use a scooter or a wheelchair - why? Because in her youth she made fun of people in wheelchairs (according to the rest of the family) and now doesn't want to be on the receiving end of what she dished out years ago! If you can't take it...

There's also some tension in the family among some relatives of the husband - I think it will all shake out in the end and resolve itself, but suffice to say that some people should just butt out of other people's business!!! 'Nough said!


My niece C is 8 weeks along and her due date is June 28th. How exciting!!! I think I'll have to do some baby shopping this weekend!!! Or even tonight before we see her, if I can squeeze it in...

In A.C....

We're here in Atlantic City for a credit union seminar. Jack has some meetings scheduled for today - one this morning, another after lunch. We're at Harrah's, in the Waterfront Tower, and the rooms are quite nice. I'll take some photos and download them later this week, if time allows.
Forgot to take any photos in Alexandria last week, but had a beautiful mini-suite at the Sheraton in Old Town. My meetings went quite well, better than expected, actually. Although we didn't spend hours and hours at each, I think we came up with some good marketing ideas, ideas that if we really do implement them, will help some of my key accounts to build their business. And in this BO economy, I'll take whatever comes my way!

Halloween is not one of my favorite holidays. We were home Saturday night, but between the neighborhood we live in and the fact that our lights were off, we didn't have any trick-or-treaters. We had some candy ready, but will be donating it to the local food pantry at Thanksgiving, along with some other canned goods... I don't even remember liking Halloween all that much as a child. I guess I did, my mom never said I hated it or anything, but I can't even remember any costumes I wore... The holiday just never really stood out in my mind.

That said, I DO remember eating candy so I KNOW I went trick-or-treating, but my more vivid memories are of going to the circle on Route 23 in Riverdale (the circle is not there anymore) and buying a bag or a basket or a bushel of fresh-picked apples with my mom and dad, and sisters, once they came along. I can still smell the apples, and see their shiny red skins...

Happy Belated Halloween to all my ghoul-loving friends and family! Reving myself up for Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!

P.S. Send congratulations to my sister P - she just got herself a NEW red Honda Element! She SO deserves it! (I'm just sorry she had to be in a car accident to get it! Thank God she's okay, but poor Percy (may her 1990 Civic rest in peace!) was totaled!

Better Late Than Never

I was sans computer for the whole weekend (definitely need to buy a laptop post cruise!)...

Happy 4th of July!! And a special thanks to the military, active and retired!

Had a lovely weekend - for a change, the bulk of the long weekend was without rain. It seems as though it's been raining here in NJ for months; actually it's only been one month...

Here's the story of the weekend: Daughter and her boyfriend and a girlfriend came up on Saturday, and I picked Mom up so she could celebrate the 4th with us. We sunbathed, ate, sunbathed some more.

In between sunbathing and eating, hubby and daughter's boyfriend decided to take the paddleboat out into the lake. A little while later, my daughter asked me where they were. We looked up and saw them waaaaay out on the other side of the lake. "Oh," she said, "there they are." I looked up a minute or two later and saw a cabin cruiser passing in the general area where the men were, then I kept reading my book.

All of a sudden daughter says, "Hey, what are they doing? Are they standing up?"

It turns out they were standing up, to put on their life jackets! That cabin cruiser swamped the little paddleboat and they were submerged for a moment, then they were really low in the water! And they started bailing with their hands! Several boats passed them; the one that caused it didn't even stop! Eventually a party boat stopped, offered them a cup to bail with, then offered to tow them home!

So they got towed home by three young 20-somethings, each drinking a beer, and 4 dogs!

It was better than TV!!!

Thank goodness of course that no one was drowned or panicked out there in the water, but from shore? How funny!!!!

How was YOUR Memorial Day weekend????!!!

Mine was, for lack of a better word, "interesting." (And let me warn you now, this will be a LONG post!!!)

Let's see. On Thursday night I went out to dinner with 5 women I used to work with, back in the day. We worked together for years and years and years, and we are all the best of friends. The company closed without warning and we scattered into the wind. We don't get a chance to get together very often, and the circumstances that got us together this time? Not so great, either. One of the companies that three of the women work for is closing their NJ office so 2 of them are once again unemployed. We took advantage of the fact that they would no longer be local once the office physically closed to make sure we met for dinner at the Barnyard in Totowa. We sat on the patio, ordered drinks and appetizers and food, and laughed and talked and laughed some more. There was a really good reason we all stayed working together for so many years, despite the horrors of that company itself - 'cause we all get along so well!!

I went home, we packed up for the long weekend, and went to sleep. I woke up the next day and my throat was scratchy. In hindsight, it was probably 'cause I was outside, with allergies, and yelling and laughing, but I sure didn't want to get strep again (see my previous blog post!) so I called the doctor. They prescribed 10 days of emoxycillin, 500mg, 3 times a day! Can I just tell you that I haven't taken it 3 times a day YET! I am not sick, my throat no longer hurts, so I forget to take it. This 10 day prescription will take me 20 to finish!!! Speaking of which, I forgot to take it today, too, so I will take it at lunchtime...

We had a 1/2 day Friday so we packed the car, picked up that prescription, and left for the lake, which is 42 miles away. Which took us three hours to get to because of the holiday traffic. 3 hours to go 42 miles. 3 hours for a trip that normally takes us 45 minutes. Yuk.

Jack had gone to Boonton, NJ, on the Thursday night I was partying with my pals, and he bought a boat motor for $700. Not cheap. We got to the lake, he decided he wanted to go for a putt around the lake so he propped the motor on the back of the rowboat and ran inside to get a piece of wood. I did ask him if it was safe to leave the motor there, and he did say yes, but apparently the motor gods weren't listening. While I stood there, worried it would tilt and fall into the water... It tilted and started to fall into the water!!! I literally jumped into the lake, in my sundress and in my shoes, and tried to grab it before it went under. Now the motor weighs about 50 or 60 pounds, and I know that the propeller end goes in the water, but I didn't think the motor end should be submersed so I rescued it! I grabbed it and hoisted it up and yelled for Jack. He came running, took one look at me in the water and grabbed the motor from me! (He hates it when I'm right!)

We went for a putt (yay! the motor works!). We got back to the dock and Jack thought it would be okay to leave the motor in the boat while it was docked. But the water is 2' down, a HUGE deal at Lake Hopatcong this season! And there are some cement platforms and cinderblocks submerged at the end of our dock. And I was afraid the motor would hit the cement and get damaged but Jack didn't think so until he thought about it for a few moments, so he decided to take the motor in for the night. Yeah, okay. He decided to take the motor off the back of the rowboat while.he.was.in.the.rowboat. (Read that again.) So he hopped in, loosened the clamps that hold the motor on the back of the rowboat and tried to pick up the motor. The motor that weighs 50 to 60 pounds. While the motor was centered, Jack wasn't so when he picked it up the rowboat tilted up under the dock and Jack was losing his balance. (Yes, picture it!) I was laughing so hard it took me a minute to think to sit down on the dock and put my foot on the boat to steady it so he wouldn't fall in! He put the motor on the dock and climbed to safety!

We ran to the store for some things, and had dinner, then came home and put our pajamas on to watch some television. (Yes, we lead an exciting life!) I missed Numbers (we both like that show!) and the news and woke up at around 11:45pm; David Letterman was doing the Top Ten. I thought it would be a good idea to go brush my teeth and turn off the TV and go to bed, so I did. Go to try to brush my teeth, that is.

I put toothpaste on my toothbrush, and turned the faucet on, but there was no water. So I thought, "Hmm, probably forgot to turn the pump on!" So I ran downstairs and - the pump was on! So I went back upstairs and turned the faucet on again, thinking that probably we ran the water without the pump being on and needed to send water on up to the second floor... We pull our water from the lake, folks, we have no city water at the lake house.

No deal. No water. So I go and wake Jack up and he goes downstairs to turn the pump on. Yes, it was on already. So then he went into the basement to check on the little piece that sometimes pops off the top of the tank but it hadn't popped off. So he came upstairs, got dressed 'cause it was chilly in the basement, and we both went downstairs. He banged on the regulator a bit; it worked the last time we had no water. He checked the pressure in the tanks. Pressure was fine. We checked the breaker to be sure we had electric running to the tanks. He checked the wires to be sure all was well.

The pump in the lake blew. For no apparent reason. We'd used water earlier. We had water earlier. Now we didn't.

So on Saturday we went to Lowe's and bought a $14 regulator (just in case 'cause we'd already changed it three times so maybe we needed another new one) and a $333 water pump.

You guessed it. It wasn't the regulator. It was the water pump.

Now keep in mind it's Memorial Day weekend. If we call a pump guy we're not going to pay weekend rates. We'll be paying HOLIDAY weekend rates. So Mr. Fix-It decided to do it himself. Now he's perfectly capable. It's just that sometimes he makes some questionable decisions.

Like when he decided to change the pump without going into the lake. He was going to do it from the rowboat. The pump is at the end of a 40' hose that's wrapped in heating wire and electrical tape. It's about 6' down in the water. And to make the story even better? The pump guy who put it in for us about 6 years ago tied a cinderblock to it to keep it at the bottom of the lake. But one cinderblock wasn't enough for Jack!

If there was only one cinderblock attached to the end, the hose could float off the lake bottom and get cut by other boats' propellers, so Jack.tied.6.more.cinderblocks.to.the.hose. (Read that again!) Mm-hmm. There were a total of 7 cinderblocks that he decided he would pull out of the water, one at a time, while still attached to the hose, cut loose and put in the rowboat so he could get the one at the end, the one attached to the pump, up out of the water.

I calmly suggested he might want to just put his bathing suit on and his water shoes and just do it that way, but nooooooooooooooooo, he was going to do it from the rowboat.

I have pictures.

To top it all off, when he hopped back down in the rowboat to start the 1/2 half of this fiasco and return the new pump to the lake, there were lobsters in our boat!! Not really - crawfish of some kind, but boy, were we surprised! They were apparently living in or on one of the cinderblocks that Jack hauled up into the boat and he just didn't notice them until later...

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was relatively uneventful. We had water. No one fell or jumped into the lake. We came home and had a BBQ with my mom, and did some laundry, and went to my sister-in-law's for Monday Night Dessert.

And since then, blah, blah, blah, nothing to report!!!

Okay, I lied (again!).

Yes, I took Mom's laptop to New Orleans.

I did not stay in touch.

I didn't even catch up once I returned.

But here I am, safe and sound, and ready to blog again.

So let's play catch up now...

Getting to New Orleans? Piece of cake.

Getting home from New Orleans? Can you spell w-i-n-d c-o-n-d-i-t-i-o-n-s in less than 4 hours? 'Cause that's how long our delay was 'cause there was wind in Newark.

Unfortunately I didn't get to play tourist - I walked a few blocks on Canal Street, and a few blocks on Decatur, and I did get to the very non-New-Orleans-ish Riverwalk Mall, but I didn't make it to Bourbon Street or the French Market and I didn't get to ride a streetcar.

Although I did get a picture of one and I did meet some Louisiana natives who came right up to me on the streetcar stop and asked me if I was a cancer survivor. Not quite the opening line I thought I'd hear when they approached me, but apparently they noticed the pink breast cancer pin I wear on my jacket... Once I explained I walk for others, they thanked me, chatted with me, told me about his leukemia (he's in remission) and her schedule for the day (if they don't take a cab they won't have time to do what they want to do in New Orleans before they go home (which is 40 miles away, but they come in to "the city" every Sunday 'cause there's nothing to do at home).

I ate at Nola (one of Emeril's restaurants). I had shrimp and grits with a tomato glaze and crimini mushrooms and minced bacon. Mmm-good! We had an awesome appetizer of stuffed chicken wings with homemade hoison dipping sauce. Yum!!! We shared a slice of banana cream cake for dessert.

I ate at Cafe Giovanni's. I had Voodoo Shrimp and loved my meal. My eating companions weren't quite as thrilled with their entrees, but we all LOVED the Tuscan Asparagus appetizer: 3 stalks of tender-crisp asparagus, rolled in prosciutto, stuffed with mozzarella, and deep fried.
O.M.G.

I had some beignets and fresh squeezed orange juice at Cafe Du Monde's Coffee Stand at the Riverwalk Mall. Now I know why people have Cafe Du Monde's beignets for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and dessert when in New Orleans. I was seriously trying to figure out how many times I could go buy 3-for-$1.82 and not gain 20 pounds in a 2-1/2 day trip!!

My hubby missed me. He got out of school, went home to wait until my delayed flight arrived; we were scheduled to land at 8:30pm. I called the minute we landed (at 8:00pm) and he was en route. I got my luggage and started to walk outside to the spot where we were to meet. I called him again, and he was "at the first traffic light." Well, I was at the second traffic light! I walked to the curb, he pulled over, I put my luggage in the car, and hopped right in! We couldn't have timed it better if we tried! He brought a bouquet of flowers to the airport for me.

You know, we're not newlyweds - we'll be celebrating our 10-year anniversary this July - but I mean it with all my heart when I say that we'd really prefer to be together all.the.time. I love to travel, but I really don't like being away from him. And it's not like we do all these exciting things when we're together: we hang out at home, eat at Costco, watch some TV during the evenings, visit his sister on Mondays - nothing earth-shattering. But we really like to do nothing together.

I'd like to visit New Orleans again, this time on vacation. With Jack. I'd like to walk around the French Quarter, visit the French Market, the cathedral, have dinner at one of Emeril's restaurants with Jack (we're both fans!), ride on the streetcars, take some tours around the city... Perhaps we can try convincing the Board that our next seminar should be in New Orleans...

I came home, haven't even caught up on laundry yet and it's been a week! (Guess what I'm doing tonight!?) Work has been a real chore - lots of things to do, and not enough hours in the day!

Our daughter moved in with her boyfriend this past weekend. I hope this works for her. She seems very happy and much more open about this relationship. (Remember the last BF? She only told us the good/neutral stuff, not any of the things that would have sent up big red warning flags.) And S seems like a nice guy. He's friendly, he talks, and he doesn't treat her as if he owns her. She says he's not controlling or manipulative, that she's excited (not sick to her stomach!) when he says "See you at home!" (A sure warning sign that she didn't share with us last time around!)

She's coming to Easter dinner (which is also Jack's b'day) and then S will be joining us for dessert at my sister-in-law's house. My sister, niece, nephew and mom will be coming, too. I have to go buy my ham, some broccoli, some potatoes, some cabbage, and all the rest of my food, AND dye my eggs...

Okay - gotta run. You know that comment I made about "not enough hours in the day"????

Post-Christmas Update

Well, I'm at the lake, borrowing some wifi from someone... using mom's laptop...

Santa was so good to me! Not only did I get some great gifts, I got to spend Christmas Eve with my sister and her kids, and her boyfriend and his son. Then we went to bed early, got up on Christmas morning, went to Mass and waited for DSD to arrive. We went to my SIL's house, had breakfast, opened gifts then went home.

We opened some more gifts then made dinner. We ate. We talked. We ate some more. M stayed 'til about 7/7:15, which was LOVELY! Then she was off to see her cousin; his b'day is Christmas Day and they usually go out in the evening...

We went shopping for a Christmas Tree on the 26th. We decided it was time to get a real artificial tree, instead of the short, 5' fake tree we have now. We didn't find any within my budget that were nice, but then yesterday, Jack found one at Home Depot. 9' tall, Frasier Fir. Next season I will buy a revolving stand, if we can use it (the tree might be too tall). If it works, I'll return it and buy it 1/2-price after next Christmas. And I know some people who read this blog frown on this practice but I don't have $150 to spend on a tree stand. $75 for a revolving tree stand is a bit more palatable but if I wait to buy it post- holiday, it's non-returnable. This way I'll buy it, see if it works and then return it and buy it for real at 1/2 price.

Guess what I got for my b'day! The 1st season of WKRP in Cincinnati on DVD!! LOVE that show!

All the holiday foodstuffs turned out great; of course, they would since Jack cooked them all! We had cavatelli and broccoli, peppers and onions, tuna, pierogi with onions in butter, pumpkin pie for dessert... I forgot to take the cream puffs out of the freezer so we'll have them when Mom returns.

Her schedule has changed, too - she's now coming home February 3, instead of January 9th or 10th, as originally planned. Her accupuncturist recommended a few more sessions and since they seem to be helping mom's arthritic back, she delayed her return... Amtrak reduced her penalty from $85 to $3.50 if she delayed her return by 3 or 4 weeks...

Well, I've been paged - we're building the built-in bookshelves for the sitting room and I have to go help put the shelves together. Pictures after the New Year, when I have access to the desktop again!

Happy New Year, to come! (In case I'm not blogging before 2009!)

Christmas Eve in my house

While I was growing up, we spent each and every Christmas Eve at my grandparents' house. Those memories will always bring me comfort and a sense of love and family. The warmth of their home, the love they felt for all of us, the joy they got from having their family together under one roof to celebrate the holiday - that will always mean Christmas to me.

This year Christmas Eve will be at my house again. I only wish I was as good a cook as my Babci was! I'll cheat a little and buy homemade pierogis at Stephan's in Clifton. We won't have as much food as I remember, and there won't be as many people, but I hope my sister and her children remember these few hours in my house as filled with love and respect and family. I know that as long as I can make a happy, fun, loving evening for them and for me, it'll be a success.

We'll share the oplatek (Communion host), breaking off pieces and sharing with each other. We'll wish each other well, and then we'll eat. And then we'll clean up and we'll wait for Santa to come down the street on the firetruck. And then we'll open our presents. And then everyone will split and go home, and there'll be a hole in my heart and in my home.

I don't ever want them to leave. I love the noise and the people and the wrapping paper and the smells, sounds and sights of family. I like finding pieces of tape stuck to the floor. We have a large home for just 2 people. I'm never happier than when my family is there with me. I wish my home was always topsy-turvy, loud and crazy.

I don't know how often I'll be able to post during the holidays; I'll be at the lake without online access (unless I can hack into my neighbor's wireless with my mom's laptop!) so updates might be few and far between until 2009!

I wish you all HAPPY, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Our Family Christmas Party

Yesterday was our family Christmas party, on Jack's mom's side.

Where? Fairfield Fire House
When? 12 noon
Who? 85 adults and 30 kids

We had SUCH a wonderful time! One of Jack's cousins just adopted his 2nd daughter from Kyrgyzstan. Her name is Alyia, and she's named after their translator this trip. Apparently they were originally given another baby who unfortunately was seriously ill and they weren't told this ahead of time. Marlene called her pediatrician who advised her to run, don't walk, away from this adoption. The baby was subject to brain damage they wouldn't be able to see until about two years of age. She said this was the hardest thing they've ever done - this little baby had been "their" daughter for months and all of a sudden, they had to decide whether to take her or not...

They stayed another week and they brought Alyia to them. They couldn't name her the same name they'd picked out for the other little girl, so they had to come up with a different name. They understood their translator to say her name meant "to ascend," to "go home." And since they were deciding to take the baby, they thought that might be appropriate and meaningful...

Well, Marlene gave me the baby to hold - That was it for me! I'm a baby person. Even Jack said to the family, "That's it, she's happy now, she has a baby to hold!" And Marlene let me feed her and hold her for about, oh, a good hour-and-a-half!!! I was in heaven!! She's such a beautiful little girl and I got a smile from her later on, when Marlene was walking around with her. They stopped at our table and I said hello to the baby and she smiled at me! Even her mom said she's so different from her older sister, Kitty (Katherine). Kitty is just a little ray of sunshine and smiles at everyone, but Alyia apparently is a bit less happy... She's 8 months old today and has been through so much in her young life... When she got home they found she was iron-deficient so her hair was very coarse and there were other symptoms; they started her on iron supplements and now she's got that beautiful, wispy, soft-as-down baby hair... But she smiled at me!! I guess she recognized my voice when I spoke to her; I'd been holding her and talking with her for so long just a little earlier... I wish I had a picture of me holding her...

Then we stopped at Target and returned a pillow, bought another, picked up a gift card for the Angel Tree at our church (I'll drop that off this Wednesday), went to the mall and got another sweater for Jack to give me for Christmas... I picked up a little stocking stuffer gift for Carrie; just need one more and she'll be done.

Tonight we're going to my niece's apartment, the apartment she'll be living in with her husband when they get married in July. They want us to see the decorations they put up and all the furniture's been delivered and assembled... Kevin is living there now; Toni will move in once they're married.

Anyway, gotta run - it's time to do some work (after I go get breakfast!)...

Journal Your Christmas

In yesterday's post, I attached descriptions of several online scrapping classes I'm taking. There's a real good reason I'm doing this, "this" being overbooking myself during the Christmas holidays with an obligation to record the weeks before and after Christmas.

This is my ALL.TIME.FAVORITE.TIME.OF.YEAR.

Thanksgiving. My birthday. Christmas. New Year's.

It's always been my favorite time of year. So much so that had Jack been willing to add our anniversary to the mix, I'd have gotten married in December, too! (He just didn't want to have to buy me so many presents all at once!!!)

So many things happen around the holidays. And as I get older, there's even more going on and I want to make sure I remember it all. But more importantly, my mom goes away every other winter to spend the holidays with my sister who lives in Arizona. My husband likes to say I'm cranky the whole holiday season 'cause my mom's not around. That's not it. I'm missing her so much, and I miss my sister, too. I want to create a record of this Christmas (without mom here) and I want to do this again next year (with her here in NJ). And I want to see if I really am cranky when she's away - I'll have to journal and record and remember - proof positive, one way or the other, that my Christmas is made better or worse by my missing my mom.

And it's a nice record of the holiday itself: the decorations, the preparations, the people, the presents, the food - all those things I swear each year I will never forget.

Guess what. I can't remember what I gave people as gifts last year. So let me warn you now, folks, if you're on my list, there might be some repeats!!! (But next year??? Uh-uh. 'Cause I'll have a record, you see, of what I did this holiday!!!)

Honor. Valor. Bravery.

"Happy" Veterans' Day?

How about "Thank You, Veterans, Day"?

Personally I'm not too happy that we lost millions of brave men and women who put themselves in harms way and who sacrificed, along with their families, so that we didn't have to. (Yea, I know, I shouldn't have ended that sentence with a preposition.)

My father was a veteran. My father-in-law was a veteran. I have two cousins who are veterans.

And I'd like to personally thank them and all the rest of the veterans.

Today the President will be in NYC to officially re-open the Intrepid, which recently returned to her berth at Pier 86. They've refurbished her, added some airplanes and helicopters to her collection, and basically spiffed her up to her former glory.

I watched her come home on October 2; I'd also watched her leave for her overhaul a couple of years ago. It was a stirring sight - I was teary-eyed and proud.

An early Happy Memorial Day to you all!!!

Memorial Day isn't really a happy kind of day. We spend a bit of time remembering those who have gone before, not only our war veterans, but our family members. My MIL died on 05/24/01 so this weekend will be a tough one in our house. I miss her so much more than I ever thought I would. Thanks to her my husband is a family-oriented, caring, thoughtful man who knows how to make the best tomato sauce from scratch I've ever tasted! Mom was a terrific cook and DH must have learned it by osmosis. I'm a bit ticked that she left us so early, before she had a chance to teach me how to cook...

But on the other hand, Memorial Day weekend is a great time for us! 1/2 day today, off on Monday - 3-1/2 glorious days with good weather promised for every one! Here in NJ we've been having not such great weather - cold, rain, yuk... It might even hit 80 (or the 80s, depending on which TV station you watch)!

My personal goal for this weekend: get some color so I don't look like a beached white whale when I remove my winter garments for some with less fabric...

Went last night to a new place to get some highlights - my roots were showing a bit too much. I like the job she did, but boy can she talk! I'm not sure I can handle her too often! Plus she charged me to blow out my hair. I have hair shorter that doesn't even touch my shoulders and it was a $120 bill! If I'd known she was going to charge me to dry it, I'd have left looking like I just stepped out a shower and fixed it up at home. Now that I know, if I decide to go there again, I'll just tell her outright, "No thanks, it's cheaper to blowdry it at home!"

26 more days 'til my sister arrives!!! Yay! The only bad thing is that I'm in sales conferences all that week before she gets here and I'm not sure if I can take any time off; with so much time NOT being spent at my desk, I'll be WAY behind for sure if I take that Friday off... But then again, how much more behind can I be if I'm 5 days behind as opposed to 4? It's not like I'll get caught up in that 1 day... Maybe I'll just put in for the day now and say, "the heck with it!" Yes, I think I will. Sister and Mom have plans for tea at Teaberry's - sounds like a lovely way to spend the day...