The World's Best Book Tour!

As much as I've always thought Alaska and Paris would be my two most favorite dream vacations, I think I've come up with a new one...

Imagine me traveling the world to see the most spectacular and most beautiful libraries... Now THAT'S a dream vacation (for me!)!!!

Click on these two links to see some absolutely stunning examples of the world's most beautiful libraries...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/22/the-most-amazing-librarie_n_432126.html?slidenumber=IvNql0eBitk%3D&&&&&&&&&&&

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/22/the-most-amazing-librarie_n_469484.html?slidenumber=GZvrQ1MHPCs%3D&&&&&&&&&&&

Here's something you all might not know about me... I collect books on books.

I have books about libraries, books about collecting books, books about how books are made, books about books since the first days of the Gutenberg Bible... I am lucky enough to have fallen into a career that allows me to be surrounded by books or book-related "stuff" all during my working day... I'm even luckier that my husband accepts my obsession with books, understands that I'd rather read than, well, do almost anything! I read at stop signs, red lights, the dinner table (although I try REALLY hard not to do this - we have little time enough together as it is, so 99 times out of 100 I wait until he excuses himself to go do some work around the house - he's a much faster eater than I am!), in bed while we're watching TV, on vacation, on cruise ships, at work, on airplanes, at the lake...

I can spend hours in a Barnes & Noble, just browsing, or actually sitting down with a cuppa joe and reading a book while hubby does the same (sans coffee!). In fact, he's usually the one who suggests we go to B&N for a couple of hours - date night, if you will! We grab a table, a stack of books and/or magazines each, and go to town!

In fact, one of the nicest things he's ever said to me, and I'm sure I've posted this here at least once, is that he's never read so much in his entire life as he has since he met me! Now I can die happy!!!

I've decided that once we/I retire, one of the things I want to do is volunteer in some capacity with a library or a literacy organization or at a school, if that's an option... I volunteer now, through work, as a reader for a second grade class in J's school. Every other week I go for an hour to read to the kids out loud, and do some book-related activity with them after the book(s) are finished. I want to do something like this later in life, when I have more time... If I can find a part-time job that actually pays me to do something like that, all the better... Perhaps I can work with RIF or Literacy.org in some way... reading when English is your second language, improving reading skills, something...

Anyway, if I win the MegaMillions some day, I think I just might have to visit a couple of these libraries... Take a few minutes and browse through the two slideshows... Some are just unbelievable!!!

It Feels Like Summer!

My face feels like that first day of summer when you get a little color and your skin feels warm and tight. Oh, wait! I was outsided today, sitting in the sun, hoping to get a little color! And then we went out on the rowboat for a little putt around our part of the lake. Of course, in the sun, I couldn't read any of the settings on my camera so the picture was taken in black and white... Too bad they don't have a button to go from b/w to color, like they do to go from color to b/w...

This picture is of Jack checking the rowboat out - I refused to get into it until he took it out for a spin and came back safe and dry. It's a rowboat he got as a trade for a kayak he got rid of and we'd never put it in the water... I wasn't taking any chances...

While the air was cool (glad I was wearing my sweatshirt, especially when I got splashed a little by the not-so-warm lake water!), the sun was so warm and welcome. After the snow and rain we've gotten these past several weeks, the sun looks that much MORE awesome!

So I just got off a webcam call with my sister in AZ. I must say I love being able to actually SEE my sister; we don't get together for years at a time so this is a way for us to "be" with each other while we're thousands of miles apart! (Shh, there's a rumor she might get to come east this summer for niece A's graduation... barring any acts of God, hurricanes or tornadoes or unexpected expenses...

Well, gotta run and feed the hubby - it's dinnertime and he's only had lunch all day...

I am now the proud owner of...

an HP laptop!

Although far from my dream machine (I would have loved a faster processor), it will have to do. Hopefully once I get online and see how fast it is, I'll be pleasantly surprised. Although from what everyone told me, I should have held out for the faster processor.

Unfortunately I got a $1000 bill for propane for the lake house. The lake house we've kept at 45 degrees since October. The lakehouse we spent two or three days at since then, days when we ran the heat up to a whopping 65 degrees until it went off when the woodburning stove or the room heater heated up enough to shut the heater off.

That $1000 was NOT expected; I was sort of thinking $700 or $800, so there goes the extra $200 or $300 for the upgraded laptop...

It does have the memory I was looking for (4GB/500GB) and I bought a wireless router - useless, by the way, until we get internet back. Internet, TV, and phone have been out since Saturday night, thanks to Mother Nature's hurricane-without-a-name! (That's what the weather stations are calling the storm - 75mph gusts = F1 hurricane!!!) I did call the house and the machine answered so I'm hoping that's a good sign, that all things cable-related are back up and running. We were lucky enough not to lose our electricity; neighbors on the street behind us have been without electricity since 6pm on Saturday night, and they have children and lots'o'food in their refrigerator and freezers.

I wonder, all you techy readers, if I can upgrade a processor later on... or is it simply cheaper to get a new laptop in a few years...

Well, gotta run - am posting this during working hours so I don't want to spend too much time on it...

Later, dudes!

Color

This is fascinating!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl1lLze5ZpM

Voting in a Special Election

Pardon me while I climb on my soapbox for a moment.

Regardless of your party affiliation - you should be registered to vote!!! I don't care if we agree when it comes to politics. You are entitled to your own opinion, as am I. I hate the crap that your vote cancels out my vote - if you don't vote, you haven't got a leg to stand on when you complain and cry the blues that you don't like the way things are being run.

Yesterday there was a special election held in my hometown. My mom asked my sister to take her to the polls so she could vote.

I talked to Mom today and she was complaining that when she went into the booth to vote, they had combined the two issues into one: she had only a single yay or nay vote. So she voted, and the fact that the issues were combined forced her to vote only one way and that changed the entire election for her.

Take a look at this: http://www.essexclerk.com/election/ElectionFrame.html

In a town of 48,000+ people, there are 27,964 registered voters.

In this election, only 2,278 people bothered to vote.

8.15% of the registered voters.

I find this COMPLETELY OFFENSIVE. Have you no civic pride, people? Don't you realize that your vote REALLY DOES COUNT? Here's the perfect example: both issues were defeated by 110 votes. 110!!!

If another 10,000 voters voted, the results could have gone in the opposite direction. Hell, if 111 more people had voted, we could have had a different result!!!

Aside from the fact that money for the high school and for the town's stadium was voted down, ONE of those issues might have passed if the Board of Elections hadn't combined them on the ballot. The advance ballot that was mailed to my mom clearly had them separated out, she said (admittedly I didn't see the ballot). This would have allowed her to vote for or against each individual expenditure and one of them might have passed! But by combining them, voters were forced to choose all or nothing. And obviously "nothing" won!

I will freely admit that I have not voted in every single special election since I turned 18. Sometimes I was out of state and quite frankly, at that young age, I didn't care about budgets and taxes. But since I grew up, since I realized that it's MY MONEY all these elections are spending, I haven't missed a one. NOT.A.ONE. Not in years and years and years.

And I won't miss one, either. I guess I'm not like those other 25,686 Bloomfield voters.

Yea, I'm talking to YOU!

The Dance

Okay, I admit it. We had a much nicer time than either of us anticipated! We knew we would have a good time with each other, but we weren't really sure we'd have a good time in general! J isn't big on socializing just to do the right thing whereas I've been in business long enough to know sometimes you just have to pretend you're having a good time! But this time we did! See?

[I look at this picture and I think, "He's really having a good time!" So many of our photos, when we're out with others, seem forced. He's just not a good, "Say cheese!" kind of guy!]

Several restaurants in town supplied the food; it was an all you can eat buffet. There were several pasta dishes, some Chinese food and some spring rolls, mini sandwiches, salad, eggplant parm, sausage and peppers, etc. We ate 'til we couldn't eat any more, and we never even made it to dessert! We sat and ate, and talked and laughed, then J decided we should dance. Now I can fake it through a slow dance (although I have a nasty tendency to lead), but I really hate to dance fast. I ain't got no rhythm and I always feel as though I'm just flailing around out there, looking foolish and dancing so far off the beat that I have to be throwing everyone else off, too!

But we did. Dance, that is. Fast dance, to be precise. Here's proof (and please, no comments about how that is the.most.unflattering.outfit.imagineable. I didn't realize my chest looked SO big and so low! Obviously I need to be fitted with better undergarments!):

It was SO hot in the Elks club, at least after we danced! I have to remember (a) don't ever wear that sweater combo again, and (b) don't ever wear a turtleneck when you plan on dancing. (Although, if you remember, I had no.intention.of.dancing!)

Anyway, we had a blast! We had planned on eating, smiling and leaving around 9:30 so we could be home in time to watch our favorite Friday night TV show, Numbers.

We stayed until 11!

THAT, my friends, shows exactly how much fun we were having! We didn't leave! And some of you out there know us well enough to know that when we want to leave, we leave, and there ain't no stoppin' us!

Anyway, I suppose I should probably go and do some work, since it's 10:28am and I'm on the job! More later! Toodles!

e-books vs. books in print

From the March 8th edition of Shelf Awareness, Volume 2/Issue 1131

In the Globe and Mail, Russell Smith lamented the effect of e-books on personal book collections, writing in part:"So we lose forever the pleasure known to humanity for 500 years of taking a stroll up and down the aisles of someone else's brain by perusing their bookshelves. Gone will be the guilty joy of spending a rainy afternoon at a cottage with the remnants of someone else's childhood: their Nancy Drews, their 1970s National Geographics. Without bookshelves, you will never know the warning signs contained in the e-reader of your handsome date--you will not know for months that he is reading The Secret and Feng Shui for Dummies, even if you stay over. You will never be able to ask, as casually as you can, 'Did you like this?' as you pull down, as if fascinated, Patrick Swayze's autobiography."

And another article I enjoyed in the same issue...

Here's a nice story about nine-year-old Molly McArdle of Berkeley, Calif., as told by her father to Andy Weiner of Abrams:
"Molly was looking at my DVD box of Ken Burns's Baseball. She looked at the back and said, 'This is wrong.' I asked her what was wrong, and she said, 'It says that baseball is America's national pastime. America's national pastime is reading.'
"Weiner added that "Molly's heart was broken was Cody's closed, but she was restored when Books Inc. opened near where Cody's had been."

My new window seats

So my sister has encouraged me to post a picture of my window-seats-to-be. Unfortunately I don't have a good picture of them; the photo will look much better in my bright sunny sitting room this weekend; I'll post new pictures next week! But here's one:

That's two benches, lined up one next to the other, currently in our library, but soon to be relocated to the sitting room at the lake. I am SO very proud of how well I lined up the dragonflies on the fabric - check out the front of the 2 cushions! Of course, when we take these to Hopatcong, and put them in place in the sitting room and measure for the 3rd unit that goes inbetween these two, you KNOW I'll never get the fabric to line up so well... I bought a little extra, just in case, and I hope I can make it work. The middle unit will be closed, with a lift-up lid for closed storage. And yes, I did manage to find more of the same baskets to fill those 3 empty spaces... Another story that I should share...

Okay, here goes... We found these closed fabric storage boxes in WalMart. I suggested we buy the four we needed because, you know, they won't be there when I need them in two weeks. "No," Jack said, "don't waste your money, they're new, we'll get them later. What if you find baskets you like better somewhere else?"

I KNEW he was wrong. I KNEW I should have bought them that day. But I didn't. And he built the window seats to fit those baskets.

And then I went online to order three more to be delivered to the local WalMart and there were none available online to order! I checked around and the only store that had any in stock was North Bergen, so we went there last night, on a mission. We walked in, went right to homegoods, and searched high and low until we found them. There were five left, one unpackaged. I bought four. I have one extra that I can actually store inside the closed seat, in case I need one. Thank goodness I got them!!!

Sad news on the work front: today is the last day my friend E will be working here at our unnamed publishing house. She's moving on to bigger and better (hopefully!) things at another company which will be referred to by its initials: WG. They offered her $20K more than she was making here, a "life-changing number," in E's words. Heck, yea, it's life-changing! That's MORE THAN $1000 MORE A MONTH!!! What I couldn't do with that kind of raise!!! Anyway, we'll miss you, E!!!

Went to the W Hotel here in town to celebrate her new job. I'm just old, folks, just plain old, and it has nothing to do with my chronological age. That hotel is dark, with dim lights, modern furnishings, and I just didn't like it. I did like the Mango-Pom drink I had, not too tart, not too sweet! I didn't see the rooms, of course, but I'm just not that into dark and dim and yuppie...

Well, gotta run and do some work before it's lunch time! Later!

Not too much is going on here in NJ...

Actually, it's kind of boring here in NJ...

Although hubby and I ARE going to a dance at the Elks club tomorrow night... Yea, you're as surprised as I was when he announced he'd bought tickets! Apparently J is feeling as though we don't "do anything" and I "deserve to go out once in a while."

And he chose a dance?!?!?

But seriously, we'll have a great time. We always do. No matter what we do, if we're together, we have fun! All the school folk are so excited that we're coming; they've been stopping me in the hallway to say they can't believe I got him to go! When I tell them it was HIS idea, they're floored! It's nothing formal, jeans or work clothes are okay, and it's all you can eat and all you can drink (wine, soda, beer, coffee, with a cash bar). I'm looking forward to it! I'll try to remember to take some pictures! It's a pretty wild crowd, from what I understand!

We're going to be at the lakehouse this weekend, installing two of my three window seats and measuring for the third. Oh, wait, I forgot to mention that J built me window seats to go under the three windows in the sitting room! We bought some fabric and made cushions - a real pretty maroon-ish color with gold dragonflies that match the gold accent wall behind the bookshelves. Once we decide what to do with the fireplace surround and then put some other furniture in that room, it will be DONE!

Then we can start on the kitchen and bathroom downstairs! And the new dock we need outside... But none of that can be done until we have our final inspection, which we'll do this spring. Then we'll start working on a plan for the kitchen/bath remodel and start getting the permits and supplies, etc., and it starts all over again!

My friend E leaves our company tomorrow for what she hopes will be bigger and better things. At the very least, her salary will be about 50% bigger and better! A "life-changing number" was how she described the increase! She'll be commuting from NJ to Brooklyn every day, which is enough to put me off the job, but I'm not her and she's not me and she's younger and commuted into the city for her entire college career at NYU, so she's okay with it. Me? Uh-uh, no way, Jose! Not even for that kind of salary bump!

So my job will be less one friend, which makes me sad, but in a way will force me to expand my friend horizons a bit, too. With a built-in best friend at work, it wasn't really necessary to be friends with anyone else; I was okay just being colleagues. Now I'll make some new friends...

Unless I win the MegaMillions at which point, internet-pals, I'll be traveling the country to meet you all in person!!!

Laptop Update

Well, Krysss (one of my readers! Yay, I have another!), I haven't gotten my laptop yet.

I sort of decided one day to just buy one of the HPs in Costco and narrowed it down to one of the three they had there. Then I paid for it, and then it was out of stock and then they credited me for it. And that sucked.

Then I started asking the IT guys at work. We have quite a large IT department and apparently it's like your favorite flavor of ice cream: every one of the guys I talked to had a different opinion!

So now, desperate as I am to get one I'm going to do a little digging on the Dell site and finally make a decision. My problem is that I always assume "as is" isn't good enough and I start upgrading and my custom laptop goes from a base price of $849 (which is within my budget) to oh, I don't know, $1200, $2300... and then I get discouraged and I stop and another week goes by without a laptop!

An internet friend just got a Sony Vaio and said her hubby got if for her after a lot of research. So I ask Tony at work about it and he doesn't like them, they last 2 years and then they have to be replaced. No way, Jose! I'm not buying another one in 2 years! When I get this it has to last at least 5 before I can even begin to think of going through this again!!!

Anyone of my 12 readers have an opinion about what laptop I should buy? Here's some of what I'm looking for: 4GB/500GB, a pretty good processor (I'm not a gamer but I will be adding Photoshop and I don't want to wait minutes for my photos to open!), a screen somewhere around 15"-17" (I'd LOVE the bigger screen but don't want to spend that money and then I have to worry about a case; apparently it's not so easy to find a laptop case for the 18"+ screens...), reliable, Windows 7 (64-bit), and Office Professional (2010 if timing allows).

Suggestions?

A Library to Dream Of...

OMG!!!
I am totally in love with this library!
And the story behind it? Awe-inspiring!
PLEASE click on this link and enjoy the pictures and the story!!!
The Daily Adventures of the Hillan Family

I'm an Organizer and a Creator

Who'd 've thunk it?!?!?

I went to Careerpath.com to take the Dewey Color System test. According to my results, I'm an Organizer first, and a Creator second. Here's some of the test results (and I agree with anything highlighted in red ink!):

"The Dewey Color System® is now the world's most accurate career testing instrument. This report based on your personality traits indicates your two most enjoyable day-day-day occupation skills. It’s a summary of the full report, the Color Leadership Evaluation 5.0.

"Best Occupational Category
You're an ORGANIZER
Keywords
Self-Control, Practical, Self-Contained, Orderly, Systematic, Precise, and Accurate
These conservative appearing, plotting-types enjoy organizing, data systems, accounting, detail, and accuracy. They often enjoy mathematics and data management activities such as accounting and investment management. Persistence and patience allows them to do detailed paperwork, operate office machines, write business reports, and make charts and graphs.
ORGANIZER CAREERS
Suggested careers are Administrator, Secretary, Printer, Paralegal, Building Inspector, Bank Cashier, Private Secretary, Statistician, Operations Manager, Financial Analyst, Bookkeeper, Medical Records Technician, Developer of Business or Computer Systems, Clerical Worker, Proofreader, Accountant, Administrative Assistant, Banker, Certified Public Accountant, Credit Manager, Store Salesperson, Actuary, Dental Assistant, Business Education Teacher, Food Service Manager, IRS Agent, Budget Analyst, and Underwriter.
ORGANIZER WORKPLACES
Your very careful, conscientious, conservative nature gives others the confidence to trust you with handling money and material possessions. Structured organizations that have well-ordered chains of command work best for you. [I totally agree - I HATE having 50 bosses! - a direct slam at a previous employer! - krys]
Suggested Organizer workplaces are large corporations, business offices, financial lending institutions, banks, insurance companies, accounting firms, and quality control and inspection departments.

"2nd Best Occupational Category
You're a CREATOR [NEVER would I have picked this word out to describe myself! - krys]
Keywords
Nonconforming, Impulsive, Expressive, Romantic, Intuitive, Sensitive, and Emotional
These original types place a high value on aesthetic qualities and have a great need for self-expression [This is VERY new to me! - krys]. They enjoy working independently, being creative, using their imagination, and constantly learning something new [I'm a HUGE fan of learning new things! - krys]. Fields of interest are art, drama, music, and writing or whether they can express, assemble, or implement creative ideas."

So, who'd 've thunk it? Not me, that's for sure! A creator??? I'd find that amusing had I not just spent over $100 on art journal books and magazine, were I not obsessed with learning to create art for my art journal class, and had I not recently discovered that, indeed, I CAN express myself visually...

Happy Heart Day!!!

Happy, Happy Heart Day to my very own Valentine!

Hon, you are the BEST husband, a PHENOMENAL father, an absolutely WONDERFUL son-in-law - all in all, you're pretty much PERFECT!!!

I am so very lucky to be married to you, even on those days when you annoy me, but more importantly on those days I annoy YOU!! (I know there are more of those than there are of the other!)

Please know that I love you with all my heart, and I always will, forever and ever.

And when I sometimes forget to show you, it doesn't ever and won't ever mean I don't love you, it just means that I'm being a bit selfish that day. I promise, though, that soon enough I'm going to realize just how rotten I was and I promise I'll make it up to you!

Thanks for 10-and-1/2 years of married bliss, and 20 years of togetherness!

Love you THIS MUCH!!!!

Where Women Create & Knitterly

There's an awesome blog about women's studios: Where Women Create.

Today I read her blog post about Knitterly, a yarn shop in Petaluma, CA.

I don't knit and barely can crochet, but if I'm within 50 miles of Petaluma, I'M THERE!!!

The store is gorgeous! And they're giving away a surprise package to a random poster. By posting on Facebook, Twitter, and on your blog, you get a few extra chances to win! I'd love to win this for my mama!!!

I'm over at a new blog, too!!!

So if you're interested take a meander on over to BookTeaCatDog. It's a blog co-authored by my two sisters AND yours truly...

We're not the most interesting people in the world, I admit, but I have to say Middle Sister is an awesome author(ess) and I LOVE her writing style! You will, too!

Little Sister hasn't contributed to the site yet, but we're hoping to see a post from her soon...

I don't know how I'm going to keep track of what I post where, and I sure don't want to lose any of my readers so I'm hoping you'll add our combo blog to your blogroll if you're following me... :-D

Might I also refer you to The Mossy Nest, my middle sister's personal blog, and Tea in the Parlor, her tea-related blog, if you're interested in tea and tea cozies...

And feel free to visit Little Sister's new site: Must Luv Pets. She has a real cute video of her puppy and one of her cats - it's a must see!

The cutest pets ever!

Okay, click on this and you'll see my sister's pets, her Westie and one of her kitties (the mama one!) getting along like a house on fire!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7yoNEYJ5IM

And Miss Hope, Duncan is still promised to your Prissy!!!

My Word for 2010 (Thanks to Spell with flickr)

You may have noticed the addition to my page, up there, above the boring "About me."

Declutter.

I posted about this previously.

So far I've made two donations to the VietNam Veterans Association, and seriously? If it isn't nailed down, it's fair game! Clothes, small appliances, home decor, books I really don't think I'll ever look at again, stuff of all shapes and sizes...

So far, though, you'll all be glad to hear, Jack's made the cut! He's a keeper, I know, and I can joke about it, but I would never, ever get rid of him!!! I'm one lucky girl! (And no, he doesn't read this blog, so I'm really not kissing up for any reason!)

If I could, I would seriously give thought to emptying my house and starting over from scratch. From colors and trim to cabinets and furniture - I'm craving a clean, uncluttered, bright style. I absolutely ADORE natural wood, but to lighten up my house and in turn, make ME feel lighter? I could live with bright white trim and lots of contrasting colors like yellow and orange and red and green and blue...

I'll keep you posted on how much I "lighten my load" since it's a real priority for me this calendar year!

Updates

You know, I'm looking for a laptop now, muddling through recommendations from people I know and complete strangers... If I had one, and if I had a wireless router set up in my home, I could have uploaded a picture of my bedroom for your entertainment (put those dirty minds away!).

We stopped at Wal-Mart on the way home yesterday and I decided that I needed to - da, da, da, dum! - ORGANIZE.

So I bought a shoe bag for the back of one door and two Sterilite plastic drawers for the bottom of my closet. I'm most definitely NOT a shoe girl, but somehow I've accumulated, oh, I don't know, 50 pairs of shoes??? Some are winter, some are summer, some are dress-up, and they were all either (1) on the door-mounted shoe rack, (2) in cardboard shoe boxes or plastic shoe boxes piled up on the bottom of my closet, (3) tossed willy-nilly around the bottom of my closet so that I have to crawl inside to find a matching pair, or (4) the three pairs I wear on a regular basis are out in the middle of the room, in front of the dresser, right where I stumble on them whenever I walk around the bed to get to my side.

We're in Wal-Mart and we're shopping separately (we both have cell-phones now so he's allowed off on his own - I'll always be able to find him now!) and I have a basket full of plastic drawers, shoe bags, racks, saline and shoe inserts for my owey heel. I run into my dear husband in the housewears department and he says, "What do you have there?" just as I say, "I've decided to organize my shoes."

His response? "You have too much stuff in your closet - it's a waste."

So I got annoyed and then when he said to get a shoe bag and put it on his closet door I said I'm going to oganize my closet but that doesn't mean take over yours 'cause you always throw in that I have one drawer in your dresser so I'm not using your closet... (Did you notice that awful person/tense switch?!?!)

Then while I was stomping around the store for the remainder of my shopping trip, I realized something: we each have two closets, one in our room, and he has one in daughter's room and I have one in son's room, but he ALSO has daughter's giant IKEA freestanding closet. And we each have one dresser/bureau. So he actually has MORE closet space than I do! And he has the nerve to complain that mine is too packed??????????

Anyhoo... I pulled out ALL.THE.SHOES.IN.THE.BOTTOM.OF.MY.CLOSET.

Oh, dear Lord! The room was a MESS to the nth degree!!! But I got them all back inside, summer shoes in the two plastic drawers, boots standing on the right side, and only 4 plastic shoe boxes stored on top of the two drawers with special dressy, strappy shoes that I wear once or twice a year in their own boxes.

And I moved a couple of clothes around and made it a bit less crowded, decided to donate a few things that gave me even more room, AND got it all done literally 1 minute before he decided to come upstairs and be done for the night! I had JUST sat down on the bed and sighed out loud, when he came up the stairs!

I'll have to take a picture of my shoe storage and post it here some day, just for giggles! And 'cause I'm darn proud of it!

Oh, and I hung the shoe bag on the back of the bathroom door so I can store the stuff that accumulates on top of the sink in it and only have my toothbrush holder on the sink so it looks all clean and neat in there instead of how it usually looks...

Cabbage Soup

So several years ago I ran across the Cabbage Soup Diet. It was created for overweight heart patients so that they could lose a quick number of pounds before surgery. It's NOT intended to be a diet anyone follows for a length of time; it could most definitely lead to malnutrition if overdone.

That said, I followed it to the letter the first time I did it and lost 11 pounds in one week. 11 pounds! Oh, did I feel awesome! It's basically water weight you lose, and it comes back on when you revert to your old eating habits. But it proved to me that I could afford to lose the weight so later on, when I was ready, I joined Weight Watchers.

Now over the years, though, I've tried the Cabbage Soup Diet again, feeling at times like I needed a quick diet fix. I couldn't do it. The basic premise is that for one week you are only allowed to eat the soup and a few other items: for instance, the first day is fruit and soup, no bananas. The second day is vegetables and soup, no potatoes. The third day is a number of bananas and soup, no other fruit, and so on. (I'm not sure I got everything in the right order; if you want a copy of the diet, contact me in the comments and I can send it to you.) What I discovered the second time around is I like texture in my food. I would have gnawed off my own arm to eat something crunchy, like crackers or potato chips, instead of spending a week not having to chew anything!

Anyway, Jack likes the soup. He's a soup person, and surprisingly, a bucketload of cabbage soup doesn't do anything gastric to him other than, and I quote, "give him energy." Pardon me, but WTF??? Energy? Without eating any food??? Not this girl!!!

But every once in a while he begs me to make the soup, and I do. And I did. On Sunday.

And surprisingly, this time around, the soup tastes good to me. I think I must have overdone the black pepper last time, like put it in and forgotten I had and doubled it, because all I remember from the last batch is I hated it!

Sunday's pot is quite tasty, if I do say so myself. So we'll be doing cabbage soup until it's gone, not to the diet extreme, but along with regular food. And I'm looking forward to lunch.

And it's only 8:13am.

Horrors in Haiti

I don't know what to do.

I've donated money. I've brought foodstuffs in to church where they're collecting canned goods to send to those poor people.

It's not enough.

It's days like this that I sometimes wish I was a go-getter, someone who would really get off her butt and do something.

My heart bleeds for these people. I cry as I watch the news reports. I thank the Lord that none of my family is there, but at the same time I feel for those total strangers as if they were family.

When they find a survivor, a young child, or an older woman, I cheer, buoyed beyond belief that another person beat the odds. Could I live seven, eight days without food and water? I truly don't think so, so used am I to opening the cabinet and grabbing a diet Dr. Pepper and a breakfast bar whenever I feel like it (forget about "when I'm hungry").

We are truly spoiled, here in this great USofA.

I, for one, will try my best to appreciate what I have, do with a little less, and give a lot more.

THAT is one thing I can do in honor of those in Haiti.

Prissy is just so cute!!!

Okay, want to see a picture of a cute puppy named Prissy?

Go to my friend Miss Hope's blog post: Hope from the Edge.

OMG - that has to be one of the cutest puppies of all time!

Hey, my sister has a Westie who'd love a cute little girlfriend, Miss Hope, and long distance is the ONLY way I'd go for some puppy love when they're this young...

His name is Duncan and you can see a picture of him right here:

Haiti

Please do whatever you can do to help those poor people in Haiti. I spent a few moments today at lunchtime watching some video on CNN.

I cried.

I made a donation to the Red Cross and my company is matching any of our documented donations as long as they're made by January 31. I'm so glad I work where I do.

If you pray, please pray for Haiti.

If you send good wishes or positive thoughts, please send them winging to Haiti.

If you believe in anything, please ask for help for Haiti.

Words to Live By...

I read childsplayX2 on a regular basis. Yesterday's post, Fear Can Suck It, is IT, man! Every one of us, with or without kids, should read this and take it to heart.

I would print it here so it's easy for you to read, but it's copyrighted so go to this blog post and read it and know that this dad, who loves his children so very much, really should make your list of "Blogs I Read on a Regular Basis."

That last paragraph ROCKS! And the idea of realizing all I can be??? AWESOME!

I don't know what's happening to me...

I'm well aware that when I eat bad things, I gain weight.
When I don't exercise, I don't lose weight.
When I eat late, I gain weight.
And Jack has been so good about helping me.
Until this week.
All of a sudden we're having coffee and snacks around 9pm.
THIS.HAS.TO.STOP.
TODAY.
TONIGHT.
Maybe tomorrow (there's some pumpkin pie left!)

I'm already failing...

Did you read my last post? About how I'm going to De-Clutter my house and my life?

Well, we got off to a great start, and haven't touched those Rubbermaid buckets again! But I'm going to do it, I swear I am.

Although we did get rid of about 3 pounds of candy by giving them to our dear daughter - she's enabling the chocoholics she works with by bringing the chocolate in for them. She says it's like watching starving animals attack!

Yesterday was my little neighbor baby's 2nd b'day - Happy B'day, G! I called to leave him a message on the phone and his mama called me back and I got to wish him a happy b'day on the phone! And he sang Happy B'day back to me, and he said hi and bye to Jack. He's so darn cute!

Next week is going to be a tough Weight Watchers week - here's what it's going to look like:
Tuesday - dinner out (work event)
Thursday - dinner out (scrapping event)
Friday - dinner out (work event for Jack)

Yea, I know, I can eat healthy when eating out. But I don't. It is what it is, folks. And this week I'm already bloated which means that this Saturday my weight will be up, and NEXT Saturday it will be up (even though I'll be losing the bloat by the end of next week) - I HATE watching my weight!

So here's what I'm wearing today...

I made a mini-resolution to myself to try not to wear jeans to work except on Fridays. We don't have that rule, but I have a tendency to, well, not look my most put together when I wear jeans, so I figured I'd try for 4 of 5 weekdays... And so far this year, I've managed.

BUT today I got up, put on a pair of new black pants that had been hanging in my closet for over a year, a Pucci-inspired blouse (black, lime green, cranberry, brown, orange and blue - it's nicer than it sounds, I swear!), a black sweater (thanks, hon, for my Xmas present!), and (unfortunately) dark bronze shoes. Which of these things just doesn't belong? Yes, the dark bronze shoes - but there's a reason for that fashion faux pas - that broken toe I had since Thanksgiving? My black heels are just a tad too tight and too high to wear yet, so I figured, who's going to really care about the fact that my shoes aren't quite going with the rest of my outfit? Certainly not me.

Until I got out of the car in front of the building and realized my pants are not black.

They're navy blue.

A really noticeable navy-blue-that's-not-black.

So I'm really self-concious about how I look today... Oh, well, maybe someone will submit me to What Not to Wear!!!

De-Clutter

You know, there are many blogs online where you can register your "word" for the year, try to "live" your word. And most wonderful, thoughtful, deep people are choosing words like "nurture," or "story," or "blessing," or "peace," or "hope."

Me? Not so deep. My word is De-Clutter. Capitalized just like that. Hyphenated just like that. Emphasis on the "De."

My house is full of stuff. Important stuff, sure, stuff that neither Jack nor I would want to lose or give up for all the tea in China.

But it's full of a lot of other kinds of "stuff." Stuff we don't need, don't want, never needed, shouldn't have kept, shouldn't have bought, should have passed up... Get the picture? "Stuff" that's making me short of breath, "stuff" that's overwhelming me, "stuff" that's collecting dust, "stuff" that needs to be De-Cluttered. Now. ASAP.

When I cleaned for the holidays, I took lots of "stuff" that didn't belong on the first floor, in the living room, kitchen, dining room or library, and dumped it into Rubbermaid bins and piled them high in the computer room. I promised myself I'd go through them with a hard heart and throw out or donate whatever didn't have a home and/or whatever I didn't want/need. Jack and I dipped our toe into the De-Cluttering project on Saturday. We started a bit of cleaning, and so far I have two small boxes/bags to be donated to the VVA (they pick up at the house and they take clothes and small household items). We didn't overtire ourselves, just puttered around for a half-hour or so in the middle of the afternoon, and BOY-HOWDY, did I feel accomplished when I saw two bags of trash and two boxes/bags for donation!

2010 is going to the be year I De-Clutter. I will be De-Cluttering my life, my house, my bookshelves, my drawers, my closets, whatever can be De-Cluttered will be De-Cluttered.

I swear. I promise. I pinky-swear. (Yup, this is for real, folks!)

It's 01/01/10!

Thought I'd mess up those numbers, didn't you?!? (Confession: I did. The original post title read 'It's 01/10/10!")

Sometimes I make resolutions. Sometimes I even announce what they are. And I never manage to keep them throughout the new year.

But I'm going to try again. Here goes:

1) This year I'll try to eat better and exercise more. (An easy resolution since we just knocked down our universal and gave it to my sister-in-law, who's a personal trainer. Yes, and I'm still x# of pounds overweight and too lazy to exercise!)
2) I'll try to scrap more and make more homemade cards. (I'm off to an okay start on this one since I made a b'day card for my cousin-in-law, and a Bar Mitzvah card for our neighbor's son today, and I'm hoping to make a couple of thank you cards tomorrow or Sunday for some of great gifts I've gotten this holiday season!)
3) I will try really hard to be a better wife/mother/daughter/sister/aunt/cousin/friend/employee. (Please fill in whichever one applies to you!)
4) I will try to purge and organize my home and my life. There is too much clutter, of the "stuff" kind and the mental kind in my life and I need to just clear it all out so I can breathe.
5) This year we will make out our will. We have stuff that needs to have a home post-us and without a will there could be some trouble so we will move forward with this project this year.

And that's all I'm posting here - there are a couple of other things, some more important than what's in black and white here on my blog and a few that are quite a bit more frivolous, but I picked a few that mean something. I figure there are at least two of you out there reading this blog that will hold me accountable...

Some holiday photos were posted on Facebook - haven't downloaded them to my desktop yet so I didn't post them here yet, but I will. Soon.

Merry Ho, Ho, Ho!!!

Photos will come later this week, when I can sit down, go through them, and find one or two that are in focus, illustrate the joy and happiness of our holiday, and don't make me look like I've eaten six meals a day for the past three days! (Although, yay, me! I was DOWN 2.4 lbs at Weight Watchers yesterday!)

We spent Christmas Eve here at my house, with my sister C and her 2 children (who were 1-1/2 hours late), C's boyfriend T and his son R, and my mom. Our neighbors stopped by to say hello and deliver some gift cards - you were ALL WAY TOO GENEROUS! I have a lot of shopping to do on my week off!

We went to Christmas Eve Midnight Mass at 10:30pm. (Does that bother anyone else like it bothers me? Even the Pope celebrated Midnight Mass at 10-something pm. That really ticks me off!)

On Christmas Day we woke up, I put the ham in the oven, all 13.89 pounds of it, we showered and waited around for DSD M to come up from her mom's. We went to my sister-in-law's house where we watched them open their presents - they were late this year! Then we snacked on bagels and cold cuts for a quick 1/2-hour and Jack and I and M returned home by way of my mom's to pick her up, and we opened presents, then ate dinner. M's fiancee S stopped by en route to his dad's house so we got to celebrate with him, too, for a little while.

Santa was very good to me - lots of little presents, with many to open, just the way I like it! I don't want one big present that ends the day as soon as it begins! I'd rather get a bunch of stocking stuffer gifts, all wrapped and put under the tree for distribution and unwrapping, so that Christmas lasts a long time!

Come back and visit in a few days, when I post my pictures!

Miss you all and wish we could have celebrated the holiday together!

Christmas Paperback Trees

I made one of these! (If you go to the original page you can see the awesome glitter on the edges of the trees!) I will take a picture of mine and upload it here next week (well, sometime after the holiday!). LOVE this idea! I just happened to have a trashy romance novel just lying around that had no socially redeeming characteristics, and lo and behold! It became a treasured holiday decoration!!!

http://wendysmedley.typepad.com/possibilities/2009/11/kayla-aimee---sample-lesson.html

1/2 an Hour to Christmas Vacation

It's 3:25pm on Tuesday, 12/22. My Christmas vacation starts at 4:00pm. I'm off until Monday, 01/04/10.

I never took a vacation like this until last year. It was the first time I was off the entire holiday season with Jack, the first time EVER, actually. And I LOVED it! I really liked not knowing what day it was 'cause I didn't have a computer in front of my face 8 hours a day. I liked trying to figure out if I had to be anywhere that day 'cause I didn't know what day it was!!!

I'm so looking forward to having to arrange my day around Live with Regis and Kelly, The View, Dr. Phil and all my evening shows, Castle, Criminal Minds, CSI New York, The Mentalist, America's Funniest Home Videos, Extreme Home Makeover, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers and Sisters. And I hope to be in front of the TV often enough to watch any episodes of HouseHunters I may have missed, and to find out exactly when they're airing What Not to Wear. Say Yes to the Dress is another favorite.

I know. You're disappointed in me. No Public Television, no History Channel (unless there's something good on) - just lots of junk TV and HGTV and TLC. For variety we'll throw in some Food-TV and Discovery, and who wouldn't want to watch something on ABC Family?!

Don't worry - Ms. Book Addict has a stack of books up at the lake just waiting to be read, and I hear some scrapping projects calling my name.

But I have to admit, I'm looking forward to rotting my brain - nay, I'm planning to rot my brain from tonight at 4pm until 8:30am Monday, 01/04, except for a few hours daily of actual thinking and planning (just so I don't forget how!).

Might even try a couple of recipes I've always wanted to try...

Well, it's 3:36pm and I have to go and work for the next 24 minutes!

More over the holidays! Happy Christmas to All!!!

Two-and-a-half more days...

... until I can start wearing real shoes, without my favorite fashion accessory, the black broken-pinkie-toe-boot!

The doctor had told me to wear it 2-3 weeks. I went with 3, to be safe. Yesterday and today, it really feels good - a bit stiff, but less painful and I seem to be walking more normally.

I finally got a tree - 7-1/2' and artificial, but it's not.a.pigmy.tree!!! I was so tired of small live trees to replant at the lake or my little 5' tree... I'm a Christmas person and I wanted a Christmas TREE! Not a Christmas bush!

I'm in the midst of decorating it - will post pictures when I have them!

We'll be at the lake over the holidays - I'm off from 12/23 until 01/04 (YAY!) and will be shopping for a laptop, using a borrowed one in the meantime! So I'll be online over the holidays!

Well, gotta run! Toodles!

BORING!

So nothing is really going on...

I'm still limping.

I'm nowhere NEAR done/started with my Christmas shopping.

OH!!!

We bought a Christmas tree last night, so I'll be doing some decorating this weekend!

AND we went to the N Family Christmas Party this past Sunday. The 50th year in a row (I've only been going for about 15 years...)!!! One of the cousin's sons put together a slide show, about 150-200 photos of the family dating back to the early 1900s. Considering the youngest aunt is 80, YOU do the math!!! There were photos of her as a baby, and photos of her parents when her oldest sibling was born!!!

I swear. I could have sat for five hours and watched that slide show! I only wish there were 500 MORE photos for me to look at!!

Remember way back when, I mentioned that I was working on a Christmas photo album, sort of a scrapbook of December? (Or at least, I THINK I mentioned it...)

Yea, right. No way. I've printed out all the prompts. I've not taken a single photo, except for maybe 4 or 5 at the party. I have to take a picture of my decorated limping shoe, too, and start - better late than never, right???

Well, gotta run and do some more online shopping - if I don't get it online this year, you're most likely not getting it at all!!!

Have you ever???

Copy, paste, and bold what you have done!

Have you ever.....

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Been to Key West, FL
4. Vacationed in Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/Disney World (both of them - lucky me!!)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo or played a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Gone rollerskating
15. Adopted a child
16. Gambled in Vegas
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (when I was younger, that was the ONLY way I took a sick day!!! Now I have to waste them when I'm actually sick!!!)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon (yea, right!)
28. Worked at a Cannery or Welfare Farm
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Played an instrument (does it count to have taken piano lessons for one month?!?)
32. Been on a cruise (several!!!)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Acted in a play or performed on stage (in elementary school)
38. Been to Italy
39. Gone river rafting
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke (and I never will!)
42. Seen ‘Old Faithful’ geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Gone water skiing
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Been to Japan
50. Rode a horse
51. Gone snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Sailed a boat (not sailed, exactly, rowed and motored - does that count?!?)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Surfed
57. Started a business
58. Visited the Great Wall of China
59. Lived in a foreign country
60. Delivered Meals on Wheels or Served at a Soup Kitchen
61. Snowmobile or snow skiing - I went snow skiing once, and that was enough!
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Gone ice skating
67. Bounced a check - I was in college
68. Flown in a helicopter - no, but I really want to!
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy - I have my stuffed bear and my stuffed leopard from my dad
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar - yes, but I didn't like it!
72. Knit, crochet, sew, or quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job - yes, they closed the company down
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone - I'm wearing my special, attractive boot right now!!!
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle - not a speeding one...
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper or been on TV
86. Visited the White House
87. Been stung by a bee
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Sarah Ferguson, Nancy Reagan, Ann Margret, Donald Trump, Danielle Steel, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Vanna White, Richard Simmons, Jackie Collins, and a whole bunch of famous authors)
92. Joined a book club
93. Had to put someone you love in Hospice Care
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Eaten sushi - California roll, only, and I didn't like it!
99. Won the lottery - not the MegaMillions, well, not yet anyway! But a few dollars here or there!
100. Read an entire book in one day - just one??? Heck, yea!! That's easy!

Pick Me, Stephanie, Pick Me!

The Mother of All Giveaways

Oh, would I just LOVE to win this contest!

Stephanie Howell is a mom, a scrapper, and a military wife. She's a good person, a good mom, a good wife. I've never met her but do you want to know how I know? I read her blog, http://stephaniehowell.typepad.com/.

This week she's doing a contest, along with 10 other awesome bloggers, to give away a Craft Desk from The Original Scrapbox (oh, would I love to have one of those, too!).

By blogging about it, and in turn, letting you all know about the contest, I get a couple of extra entries! Hope it works!

The other bloggers who are participating, by the way, are:
http://lifeaslou.blogsome.com/
http://www.vanillajoy.com/
http://priscillastyles.blogspot.com/
http://capadiadesigns.blogspot.com/
http://craftymakes.blogspot.com/
http://nicholegiles.blogspot.com/
http://auntiethesis.blogspot.com/
http://parkcitygirl.blogspot.com/
http://lovelylittlehandmades.blogspot.com/
http://elizabethkartchner.blogspot.com/

Am off to post my contest entries!

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 apologize in advance.

I'm sorry.

I'm just not a Twilight/New Moon fan (sorry, Miss Hope!).

I haven't seen the first movie, won't see the second. I'll probably watch them when they hit TV or someone I know lends me the video, just to see what all the hoopla is.

I read the first book. And I read the second book.

And I just wasn't thrilled.

Here's why (and I really do have real reasons!!!):

These books were written for teenage girls. While I admit that Stephanie Meyer did a great job of putting Bella's typical teenage angst into words, I have a BIG, HUGE, MONSTROUS problem with how much of this appeared in the books:

• "I'm not pretty enough for Edward."
• "I'm not smart enough for Edward."
• "He's so much better than me."
• "He's so much more handsome than I am pretty."
• "He could never like me."
• "I have nothing to offer Edward."
• "Why would he like me?"
• and on and on, ad nauseum.

Again, teenage girls feel this way on their own. I didn't see enough of the epiphany in the books, the times that Bella realized that yes, damn it, she IS good enough to date Edward! He's pale and sickly looking, for crying out loud! (Sorry, I digress!)

I would rather Ms. Meyer addressed Bella's insecurities but made the thrust of the story how she realized that yes, indeedy, she WAS good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, for Edward. That she had BUCKETLOADS to offer, that any young teenage vampire (or normal human) male would be lucky, honored to be her beau!

Bottom line, I just wish there was a little more emphasis on helping teen girls NOT feel so inferior or not good enough, instead of overwhelming the reader with her inferior status!

Yea, I get it, I know how the stories end. But it takes 4 LOOOOOONG books to get there, and quite honestly, speaking as a HUGE Harlequin romance fan who really believes in the happy ending, I like stronger girl characters in my stories, not such wimpy ones.

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...

One photo I owe you...

Blackberry Mint Tea, poured over ice.

I have nothing else to say but, "MMM, GOOD!"

We ate in Alexandria at the Jamieson Grill in the Westin on Courthouse Square.

I did everything but lick the plate.

I had the Salt and Pepper Calamari for an appetizer. Now keep in mind that (1) I don't eat the tentacles, and (2) I only eat it fried with spicy sauce for dipping. They delivered a platter that looked a bit light in color, and I was worried it wouldn't be cooked all the way through (to me there's nothing worse than under - or over - cooked calamari). My God, I wished I hadn't offered to share with my boss and my client! It was SO delicious, tender, served with smoked salt (for dipping) and green peppercorn aioli. I chowed down and ate it all. Except, I admit, the one tentacle they included on the platter...

Then for lunch I had the Jamieson Crab Cake Sandwich: a "crispy crab cake , old bay aioli, buttery brioche roll." It was too small. Not in real life, just for my appetite once I tasted it! It was the perfect size for lunch if you wanted to be full but not feel guilty for overeating. But it was so delicious that I wanted it to be twice the size!

And the star of the show, as pictured above, Blackberry Mint Tea, sold under the heading "Healthful Tonics and Teas." It was served hot, steeping over a pitcher of ice, with a glass of ice and a shot of simple syrup to sweeten it, if you so desired. I didn't personally find it necessary to sweeten the tea (I had it both ways, with and without the syrup), but then again, I'm an "unsweetened iced tea" sort of gal. I SO regretted not bringing my camera; I really wanted a picture of the way they served it, on a bamboo tray... Thank goodness Andi, my client, apparently never leaves home without her camera so she shot it and forwarded it to me this weekend! (And check out the teabag! Instead of a boring 'ole tag, it's a silk bag with a fabric tea leaf on the end!)

It takes so little to make me happy: food, drink, good company...

More later this week!

I'm going to be an aunt!!!

My niece C on hubby's side just announced she's pregnant!

YAY! She's newly pregnant; her doctor hasn't even seen her yet. He said to wait until she's at least 9 weeks pregnant. I think she said the online calendar/calculator put her due date somewhere around June 26th-ish so she's, what, minutes pregnant??!! But we're happy for her, that's for sure! Nervous for her, but happy! She had to immediately go and get the swine flu shot which scared everyone, but it's definitely recommended for moms-to-be. She catches colds so easily - with a headache on Tuesday she couldn't even take an Advil...

Already asked her if I could be called "Cioci" by her baby, instead of Great Aunt Krys (which, thankfully, C knocked right out - "you'd NEVER be Great Aunt anything, Krys!") and she agreed. Thanks, C!!! I have such great warm memories of MY Cioci Eliza and I still get a special flutter in my heart when my sister's kids call me Cioci - a new baby to call me Cioci?!?!? Yes, please!!!

My sister-in-law is thinking about what she wants the baby to call her - she does NOT want to be "grandma." AT.ALL. Personally, I like "grandma" but still want to be Babci if my stepdaughter ever gets pregnant. Babci is grandma in Polish - no idea what Jack would want to be called... he's still getting used to "his" baby being engaged - a grandbaby? We can't even conceive of that right now, in our house! (Well, HE can't!!!)

So swamped at work that I haven't had time to post any photos; I know I owe you a few... Will get to it when I can (maybe this weekend???)...

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!

So far, so good...

I'm in Alexandria, VA, on a business trip with my boss. I have 2 meetings left; we've met with 3 of my accounts so far. Surprisingly, even though we didn't do any product presentations, even though we're not taking home orders for thousands of books, we've accomplished "some stuff."

We have an in now with an account that historically doesn't buy books from other vendors; they only resell their own publications. Well, they're involved with an education initiative that is directly related to one of our books - they're going to buy 500 copies!

And while following up on my emails, I got a lead on another potential order of 500 copies of another title, for another account.

Having a laptop and/or internet access is a HUGE help. Even though I can't accomplish everything, without access to our titlebase, I am able to stay on top of my emails and my voicemail aned that's BIG. This is the first time I've borrowed a company laptop, and I'll keep it as long as I can!

Heard some great things about my job performance and what people think of me, people who, by the way, I am not convinced I like... Her opinion of me surprised me; I didn't think that she was that observant... And another ex-co-worker had lunch with our CEO and told him she knew me and that I was an asset to the company... Thanks, Claudia!

It's been raining for, it seems, 40 days and 40 nights... Okay, seriously, it's been raining for about 4 days and 4 nights... Just seems like 40!!! Today the sun came out around lunchtime. I tell you, these days I'm convinced I suffer from some type of Seasonal Disorder. The sun came out after lunch today and all I wanted to do was raise my face to it and soak in the rays!

Mom's old friend Elaine called - all three of her children are (gasp!) married, AND there are three grandchildren!! OMG!!

Well, it's about 11:22pm and I sill have to take out my contacts, wash my face and go to bed. Last night I crashed about 11:20, fell asleep until 12:22am, then fell asleep again, woke up again at 5:04am, and then dozed on and off until 7am.

Toodles!

How many days 'til Christmas?

Okay, it's been almost 20 years that I've been with my husband, counting pre-marriage, and I've ALWAYS been the Christmas ringer-inner! The holiday had some not-so great memories for him during and immediately after his divorce.

But I've always been such a Christmas baby, totally unrelated, by the way, to the fact that my birthday is a week before Christmas! I decorate whatever stays still long enough to have tinsel attached!

But today, October 25th, TWO MONTHS BEFORE Christmas, my darling husband is outside hanging Christmas lights on our lakeside deck. We spent ten minutes deciding colored bulbs or white icicles. Although white lights are my favorite, I went with colored bulbs 'cause Jack likes them...

We just went outside to check them out - and except for a couple places where we have to clip them up closer to the railing, we're on our way to being decorated for Christmas! Well, we're on our way to starting our Christmas decorating...

My SIL and BIL are in Puerto Rico, relaxing in what I hope is much warmer weather than we're having here in NJ. They deserve a restful vacation - there's a lot of stress in their lives and I hope they have a GREAT few days!

I leave on Tuesday for Alexandria, VA, on business, not for fun. It's a nice town, one I always enjoy visiting. We're having at least two VERY important meetings, along with a few "meet and greet" ones, and for sure, I don't have busy 10 hour days planned. We'll have quite a bit of free time... I'm borrowing a laptop from work so I can stay on top of my emails, at least... although my message will clearly say I have "limited" access to email and I'll refer them all to Customer Service unless it can wait until Friday, when I return... It's just too hard to stay on top of everything when you don't have all you need at your fingertips...

I'll be staying in the Sheraton Suites in Alexandria; they have some beautiful hotel rooms, that's for sure! I'll post some pictures next week (or over the weekend).

I picked up some fabric scraps from my mom so I can practice my sewing. I also will be hemming an old sheer curtain for our 2nd floor bath so it doesn't have to hang down into the tub.

I've completed a page in my art journal - I had started it before but I didn't like it so I painted over it and started again. I even added some paint to some other pages, so that I'm not looking at a totally blank canvas - that can be intimidating. It was fun getting paint all over me!

Well, more while I'm away...

Photos - as promised!!!

In no particular order...


Sean, me, Maria, and Jack


Jack and me


Jack, Maria, Sean, and me

Darling daughter and dad!

Cutting the cake (practice makes perfect!)

The flower arrangements I made - 2 or 3 per table, on average

Artistic & Creative: I Am!!!

A few years ago I NEVER would have used the words "artistic" or "creative" to describe myself. And I'm still not comfortable with them. But today they apply a heck of a lot more than they did way back when.

I picked up scrapbooking several years ago, when I became unemployed. I wouldn't recommend this: no income? Scrapping stuff? They don't go together. One needs money to buy stuff...

And lo and behold, I really liked some of the pages I created. Not all of them, but some of them. And that's okay.

And I found Donna Downey. What a creative genius! And she makes it all look so easy.

So I tried.

I bought an art journal kit from her months ago. It required sewing. No one had a working sewing machine so I carried that kit from room to room, convinced some day I'd start on it.

And I did. Last weekend.

I'm STILL not happy with my first page, which admittedly is a work in progress: I put some color on the page, liked it, and fell into the old trap: if I like it now, I'll like it more with more paint! And I don't. So I'm going to re-create my first page this weekend, but for now, here's what I've created so far!

And THANK YOU, DONNA!!! For helping me find my creative and artistic self!!!

(I sewed this!! On my new sewing machine! I'm feeling so inspired!!!)

Sewing, Sewing, Gone!

I sew.

Doesn't that sound cool? I sew.

I took exactly one 4 week sewing class in, oh, 7th or 8th grade. Which for the record, was REALLY long time ago!!! I made a bodysuit (remember them?!?!) according to a pattern. The sleeves were too short and I had to put fake cuffs on them so I didn't have 3/4 sleeves (which was not what the pattern called for!).

Well, I bought an art journal kit from Donna Downey. Here's the link: art journal. Now, that's not the pattern I chose, but Donna's kits sell out really fast! Anyway, I've had it for a few months now, probably close to six months! This past week, not that I had anything else to do, what with the engagement party and all, this past week hubby and I went to Wal-Mart and bought a Singer Sewing Machine for me. I figured that, worst case scenario, I'd try to sew this journal, try to shorten the curtain for the bathroom window, and then, when I failed miserably, I could just return the machine, nothing lost.

My journal came out AWESOME!!! (I will be posting a picture of THAT, too, later this week!) I had to sew a piece of printed cotton, wrong side to wrong side, to a piece of canvas. I had to leave a 4" gap, turn it right-side-out, starch and iron it, sew the elastic loop closure into the gap, add the button, then bind the pages in with the ribbon Donna included in the kit.

It came out so well - I was shocked at how cool it was! I can't wait to create in it. I can't wait to show it off. I know, to those of you who make your own clothes or sew your own slipcovers, this is nothing. But to me?

WOW!!!

Post Party Wrap Up

The engagement party was lovely! Everything went smoothly, no great crisis, no collapsing tables or inter-family arguments!

My only problem: I was too busy playing "hostess with the mostest" to get pictures. So I'm waiting for my friends G&M to forward the photos they took to me - which came out beautifully, from what I saw on the little camera screen!

I took a couple, mostly of daughter and future son-in-law, but of course, being me, I remembered to bring the camera but forgot the USB cable so I can't download them right now.

I promise: photos in a day or two!!!

The food was delicious. And I didn't know this, but the staff wrapped it all up and sent the leftovers home with us! The party lives! I don't have to cook all week!!! (They must have heard me telling Sean's family that the closest thing to being a chef for me is my maiden name (Cook, for those of you who don't know!).

Everyone looked beautiful. Boy, do we all clean up well! And my niece? GORGEOUS!

The favors worked out well, and the flower arrangements were a real hit. They did come out nice, if I say so myself! (Maybe I can retire and work in a flower shop...)

Anyway, photos and more to come, I promise!

Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize.

WHAT.A.JOKE.

What exactly has he done?

* Has he achieved peace in the Middle East? No. And he won't be able to. The only ones who can reach a peaceful end to the crisis in the Middle East are the people involved.

* Are we still at war in Iraq? Yes. I don't want to be at war, but I support the war.

* Are we still at war in Afghanistan? Yes. Ditto my comment above.

I HATE that we have lost thousands of young Americans in this war. But we have a VOLUNTEER army, people. Every person who joined the military knew there was a chance he or she would have to "man" up and fight. I don't care why they joined: free tuition after you serve? You deserve it. A job after you put in your time? You deserve it. But remember, just 'cause we're not at war today (September 10, 2001) doesn't mean we won't be at war tomorrow. Who knows what could happen tomorrow? If you join up today, you're going to be fighting the fight tomorrow, if it happens. Okay? Okay.

* Has he spent one thin dime to solve the problems the people of the US are suffering from? No. There are still starving children, homeless families. We are in the midst of a recession that was NOT caused by President Bush, even though BO supporters seem to blame Bush for everything. My grandchildren, and their grandchildren, and generations after that will be paying off the debt BO has created.

* Has he spent trillions of dimes to give money to big business? Yes. What has that accomplished? Are all those employees working again? A jobless recovery? What a joke. There's no recovery in sight. When every one of those people who have lost their jobs is employed and making what they were making before? THAT'S when there will be a recovery.

Do NOT mention all those foreclosures and bad debt, either. WE have to take responsibility for OURSELVES. It is absolutely possible to live the American Dream. Want to know how to do it? It's no big secret. Here it is: LIVE.WITHIN.YOUR.MEANS. If you have $200K to spend on a house, if you can afford a mortgage payment for a $200K home, SPEND $200K. Just because you "qualify" for $400K does NOT mean you have to buy the McMansion. JUST.SAY.NO. Buy a used car, you don't have to lease that Lexus. Buy your clothes at Walmart or Target, whichever suits you better. You do NOT have to wear a label that costs a ridiculous amount of money.

Oh, wait, no. This is America, people. Don't forget, you can be a "community organizer" in Chicago, become President, take 7 vacations in your first 9 months of office,... The American Dream!

The deadline for submission for the Nobel Peace Prize is FEBRUARY. Tell me what BO accomplished between his inauguration on January 20, 2009, and the cut-off. What a fix.

I find this so totally offensive that I just can't even write any more.

Arts and Crafts, and Loss (not a great segue)

So the engagement party is literally one week away (it's next Saturday) and I've decided, today, that I want favors and centerpieces.

And I've decided I want to make them.

It's official.

I'm certifiably nuts.

So I go online and I look up "wedding favors," "party favors," "engagement favors," and then I go back and add "homemade" to all of those. And I decide that I want something simple and easy and not expensive and not frilly and girly 'cause my daughter's not frilly and girly... Which, in retrospect, one might think would make this much easier.

But it doesn't.

So here are the final three contenders (and I'm sure there are MANY more easy favors out there, but I found these):

1. mini mason jars decorated with silver ribbon and a heart charm and the happy couple's initials, with a votive candle inside
2. Ghirardelli chocolates, those little individually wrapped ones, wrapped again in wedding/engagement paper, sealed with a "love" stamp from the post office, with their initials on the paper band
3. a small round tin filled with chocolates, with a solid piece of paper adhered to the lid, their initials on the paper, and a charm tied with a piece of tulle ribbon around the tin
4. cupcakes, individually wrapped in cellophane, tied with a ribbon, with a charm

Here's the final decision:

1. No - too complicated, to hard to transport, and who really wants another favor you don't really want to throw out 'cause "it's from M&S's engagement party..."
2. THE WINNER! Easy, quick, not frilly, chocolatey, and can be carried in a basket, and the basket can be decorated, and we can put the basket on the dessert table at the end of the night
3. No - I'd have to travel hither and yon to find the damn tins, and I'm just not in the mood!
4. This was my runner-up, but we're already having so much dessert there...

And then there are the centerpieces. The room is not huge and the tables are rectangular, so they're not very deep. A large centerpiece would just get in the way. There will be 5 tables of 6, and 3 small tables of 4 each, just with tablecloths, in case some people want to move to see the flat screens at either end of the room (is there a football game on Saturday night? Or a baseball game? If there is, the TVs will be on!). I figure I'll get small square glass block vases, a couple of bunches of assorted flowers from Costco, and I'll cut the flower stems down and just have a couple of small mini bouquets on each table. There's no need to go to a florist (sorry, John!). I suppose I'll make a vase for each of the small tables, too... And then anyone who wants to take one home can take one home, and I won't have to worry about getting them back to my house!

Tonight there's a wake for the father of a friend of ours; he's actually the head of the funeral home our families use. Jack knows him from growing up; I know him from all the people in my family who have died. Michael's dad started the business years ago, and has been living in Florida for a while now. He apparently had a brain tumor; we haven't seen Michael in a while, not since maybe the summer of 2008, so we didn't know his dad was ill. We'll go tonight to pay our respects. I said to hubby, even though we haven't seen Mike in a long time, he's helped us and our families get through so much, we need to go there for him.

Tomorrow there's a funeral mass for the dad of a friend of mine. I haven't see Mr. and Mrs. W. since they moved to Lakehurst, oh, 10 years ago or so, maybe even longer... We email political jokes back and forth, and they always sent me postcards from any and all of their trips around the world. When Mr. W. was still working (he retired a few years ago) he spent a lot of time in France. He brought me some Chanel No. 5, Chanel No. 19, Chanel No. 22 and Chanel Cristalle. When he went to an exhibit of Monet paintings at the Musée d'Orsay, he managed to take some video and even mentioned me in his home movies ("and here is Monet's Iris Gardens - just for you, Krys!"). He and the rest of his family made me feel so welcome - I used to stop by and say hi when they lived in Nutley.

I got an email a couple of weeks ago saying there would be a funeral mass for him this Saturday.

I was floored. I didn't know he was sick. I didn't know he had passed. I want to go tomorrow, but I don't know if I can. It's supposed to rain cats and dogs all day and hubby really doesn't want me to drive 2 hours each way in the pouring rain, and I can't honestly say I want to, either. I think I'm going to decide tomorrow.

We might not be going to the lake this weekend - which opens up a bunch of other stuff for me to do: shop for clothes to wear at the party, clean my house, shop for and make the favors, learn to use the sewing machine I'm going to buy tomorrow, start my art journal, work on my scrap projects (classes just finished), ...

Will post photos when I have them!