long island, exhaustion, and puppy cuteness...

OY what a weekend.

Mom and I were planning to go to Ny this weekend to kind of cleanup and clean out stuff from my grandmother's house. Take the things we wanted, so that others could come in and get what they wanted as well as getting cleaning crews in so we could try to sell the house. So the plan was, leave friday night and drive up to newark, NJ. Stay in the hotel there and then it's only 1 hour (or less more like 40 minutes) to where we needed to be.

So, I get home from work, and there is this stray cat. He followed me home earlier in the week and tried to come in my house. (I"m sure my 2 monsters would have loved that) and he looked thin and young. But he didn't come back after that. So when I saw him again on friday i decided to snag him. (or her - not sure) He was EXTREMELY friendly and social. WHen i saw him friday, he was sitting at the feet of a woman waiting for her kids to get back from school, and she was holding an umbrella so I guess he decided to get out of the rain. SO i went out with a cat carrier and he got right in. If he was someone's outdoor cat, I would think he'd have gone home - generally they know their ways. If he's trying to get in to other people's houses, I tend to think he was abandoned and has no place left to go. SO i took him to the SPCA here in hopes he could find a good home. They are a kill shelter but they only kill if ABSOLUTELY necessary (such as disease etc.) I tried Humane but they dont' take in strays. While I was there... This poor puppy came out of surgery. Still quite a bit doped up I'd say. :)
















So then by the time I got done with that, and mom got here and we picked up the rental car it was late. We needed to get dinner still. It was raining and it was windy, traffic was HORRIBLe, and people were squealing all over. We decided that all that coupled with how tired we were we decided to go up saturday morning. So we left around 830 saturday. Got to newark, checked in had breakfast, and then drove to the island.

So we got to the island around 1230 and picked up my GM's old companion. She had the key to the house. We spent about 4-5 hours there cleaning up and arranging and loading up baskets with what we wanted to take etc. Then we took stuf for Aunt M over to her house. She was leaving for temple, so we stayed with uncle M for about an hour. it was GREAT to spend that time with him. Then Aunt M gets home and freaks out thinking that if we were still there that there must be something wrong. Also with her were cousin A and fiance E. E was all glad to see us and smiling and hugging etc. A on the other hand acted as if he was pissed we were still there. Go figure. Made no sense to us. We think he's really conflicted. He's not doing what he has a degree for, and what he really loves because Sukastar pushes him to think he needs more $$ and all this other stuff. He's so loyal and controlled by Sukastar but is going against himself that we think he doens't know how to act anymore.

So we finally go and get dinner, and then we meet the real estate agent at the house. We start going through and while its better there's a lot left to be done. So we told her she needs to give Aunt M a deadline to get the stuf she wants. Then they'll bring in a cleaning crew, and a tag sale crew and get it all cleaned out and ready to go. once she was gone, then we packed up the car with all the paintings we wanted and our stuff and left to go back to NJ. Now, My grandmother was an artist, so a lot of stuff she did. What we found hysterical is that she apparently made some of her own prints. She made copies of her own stuff so she could hang it in different rooms. LOL. She was certainly a trip! So we get back to newark, and then crash.

Sunday morning we actually get up at a reasonable time (thank goodness for daylight saving time.) We left at 1130. Didn't get home til 4. (FRIGGIN NJ TOURNPIKE!!!!!!) traffic galore. So of course we're exhausted when we get back so mom managed to stay over another night. She'll be leaving shortly.

When i got home I got to see my exhausted puppies. Per Mary's request for more puppy pictures - here you go. :)

































And don't forget everyone. Bubbie here says to feel your boobies! LOL

musings and mutterings...

So there's all kinds of ALIT stuff going on - but it's so disjointed I can't keep track. First sukastar is buying the house, then they aren't, then they are, then they sign a new lease where they are living now with the excuse of "we can't bear to cause strife in the family." Which is BS, cuz what it really means is, "well sh*t, i can't afford to buy a house for $750,000."

it's been insane. MOm and I are going up there this weekend to go through the house, try to figure out what we want, and pack some other stuff away to make it appear less cluttered. Of course it's lovely to talk to the Real estate agent and find out that sukastar has a tendency to leave some dirty diapers in the house after they've stayed there etc... fun huh?

Sorry I haven't posted much though - things have been pretty busy. We have a tech out on short term disability so it's been kind of busy during the days.

beyond that - not much else is going on :) dogs are cute as usual.

Oh and I went to see the PHILLY ROLLER GIRLS this weekend. They played a match against the Gotham Girls - the NY travel team. I think Acumamakiki knows a bunch of those folks. :) It was a LOT more fun than i expected it to be. Once I understood what was supposed to be happening, it made it a lot more fun and easy to get into the whole game of it. Makes me want to try rollerskating again. It's been a few years, and I haven't been ice skating in ages. It's been even longer for me an parallel skates... i used blades for a little bit - but stopping just didn't work quite the same as on ice skates and I almost killed myself going downhill one day. LOL BUt i might have to go out to the rollerrink one day and maybe try regular skating again - see if my knee likes it at all. :)

Oh well - Smooches all! And as Minijaxter says - don't forget to feel your boobies since it's breast cancer awareness month! :)

been a while...

Sorry it's been so long since i posted.

It's been really busy at work, we've been shorthanded and things are just crazy. ALIT is really starting to heat up with Sukastar. (that's the couple's new nickname btw. Suka and J together will be referred to as Sukastar... Star in bulgarian meaning sh*t)

They are now claiming that they are going to be buying my grandmother's house. This of course is a possibility we suppose but not sure how he's gonna do it. The impression we've gotten is that he might still have good credit cuz i think they put everything in HER name... but where they'll get a downpayment or a 500,000 plus mortgage I don't know - nor how they'll pay it. So there's all the drama around that.

Aunt R is being crazy as ever and really pushing her custody case which is *SO* not good for the kid. She's trying to blackmail Aunt M into writing her a letter of recommendation/testimonial and Aunt M won't do it. What R has on M i know, and doesn't seem all that bad but knowing the psychology here, it's a pain in the rear.

Ande this is all just the tip of the iceberg - i just can't remember all the details right now... it's too much and overloaded. So we're just gonna have to wait and see what happens in the future.

on a silly note. There is a website called www.dogster.com it's like myspace for dogs. ;) there's bio pages with pictures, and buddy lists etc. It's pretty insane. :) Just thought i'd mention. LOL

laters!

Suka Strikes Again!

So cousin P and her family were up for Yom Kippur. ANd of course suka and J were staying at my grandmother's house so they could be "close to the temple" for the holiday so they can walk it easily since She is SO orthodox.

So P is at AuntM's house and in walks suka. She goes "MooooooMm I need to go shopping in your Pantry so helloD will have some food to eat." Umm. she couldn't bag stuff up from her house? or gee, go shopping? So she asked for basically everything and so aunt M let her have everything. she CLEANED out the pantry taking all the juice boxes that AuntM keeps for grandson D etc. insane no?

So then they are having dinner before the fasting starts. Suka notices that P is wearing a new ring. A diamond band that her husband bought her for their 10th anniversary. Suka says "OH, when did you get that?" and P tells her. So Suka goes "well I want one. J buy me one." (she's done this before with other people. once with E's bracelet - e being cousin A's new fiance.) so A says, "you'll get one when you've been married 10 years." and she of course responds with "well I want one now!" Then she asks P how many carats are in it. P wisely decides ignorance is best, says that she doesn't know and doesn't care. suka says "well, Mine has to have 2.5 carats." of course WHY is asked... she says "well because that's how much is in my Engagement ring, and this way if the band is 2.5 then they'll Match and I can wear them together." P of course asks her why in gods name she'd want to wear 5 carats on her hand. (unfortunately I don't remember the response...)

So then later... P is talking to E about wedding plans. P is saying that E shouldn't worry about her being in the wedding party, she has sisters and close friends, that's plenty. This way P can get her own dress and not worry about things etc. But they want to have D (p's son - he was my ring bearer - he's 8 now i think) walk down the aisle with a couple of other little boys as kind of a mini usher procession of some sort and P loves the idea. So they are talking about it when they hear "ahem" from the couch. They turn and look at Suka who says "what about Princess?" (referring to sukaspawn) so E says "S, she can't walk." (being only 8 or 9 weeks old) and suka goes "well someone could carry her..." of course angling for being part of the wedding party. E said "we'll see..." just to keep the peace but i don't see it happening. Suka of course is trying to drive E to get the most expensive wedding possible. E took P's advice instead (which is good and make P feel better) that she went to her parents to discuss a budget etc for the wedding. P said "once you have a budget then you can work with in it. The photographer I wanted was $4000. That wasn't in the budget so I hired someone else." Suka of course is doing the "oh, you MUST get the flowers from *here* they are they ONLY ones who can do flowers right." It's sickening. I think E (especially being an accountant) will be much more cognizant of budgeets etc and do her best to keep things in check.

I'm told she wants to talk to me about places to register. :) I think that's pretty cool.

Oh well - in the meantime, i've got this killer cough that I can't kick. (nice alliteration no? :)) and i'm trying to cuz we are planning to go to the renn faire this weekend and I don't want to bail. Iknow my hubby is really looking forward to it. Keep your fingers crossed and have a great weekend folks!

** Update: I forgot stuff - mom reminded me. :) hehehe.

First - they were spending the 24 hour holidy at my grandmother's house. They brought with them for sukaspawn:
Their Own crib (not the travel crib that AUnt M bought them, don't know if their is travel or not.)
$1000 Stroller
Electric Swing
Electric Jumper
Bouncy Seat
Every other toy and appliance they could possibly need.

Then when they went to AUnt M's for dinner, they brought most of it with them THERE as well..

Now - financials. hehe. Cousin P was talking to J about $$. She asked how much the nanny was and how much his rent. ($2000 and $2400 a month respectively.) She says
"J, that's 4400 a month! I don't know how much you are making but that's already high, and you then have car payments and insurance and everything else. How are you doing this?" and j says... wait for it... this is classic!.... :)

"I just don't open my bills."

That's right folks - he's ignoring them hoping they'll go away, and even if they don't, if he doesn't open them then he doesn't stress about them. Now of course, he probably isn't getting any calls either, b/c we think he never changed his mailing address so if they are calling (which i'm sure they probably are) they are probably calling Aunt M. And of course, their name is spelled wrong on the caller ID. And we're not sure if they just didn't know how to pluralize their own name, or if they spelled it wrong on purpose to avoide being looked up. Oh yeah. And the phone is in HER name. P was asking him what he was gonna do, that he can't continue not opening his bills. and he said that he hopes to sell that program he started next year for some $$. But i think he's overestimating the value. And anyway - how long would it take suka to go through a couple million dollars? not long i'm sure... this is getting interesting... :)

Part of me is almost HOPING that when we go to NY to go through grandmom's house, that stuff is missing. P seems to think a lot more has been walking out of there of late... and I think the confrontation to find it will be VERY entertaining... :) MWUAHAHAHAHAHA

laters! :)

They're GREEEEEEEEEEEAAAAT!!!!

Ok

so last night, my husband gets home around 10 or so. (he's taking his massage classes so gets home late 3 nights a week.)

We're laying in bed, hoping to fall asleep shortly. I'm a little out of it at this point. I pull my hair out from under my head and neck, and it kind of hits him in the face a little. NOthing major :) (he likes the long hair, so he'll have ot deal with it :)) he blows it out of the way, and then says "you smell good. Different. Are you using something new?"

So silly me, I ask him what it smells like so I can maybe identify the product. Nothing new that i know but but that doesn't mean anything - he's a guy. maybe he just noticed something i got 6 months ago.

So he says... well.. I know it sounds weird, but You smell like Kellogg's Frosted Flakes.

Such romantic words were never before spoken... :)

day of atonement? or just to kick some a$$....

Sorry - it's been so long - I was gonna post yesterday which was actually the day of Yom Kippur, but i was SOO slammed at work i didn't have time. (good thing I didn't take off for the holiday eh?)

So... the suka related bit...Suka has declared that she was not going to fast (this is the woman who has stated she is "orthodox") because she is still post partem. (baby is 8 weeks old)

According to Aish.com:
4) What are the laws of fasting for a woman who has recently given birth?

For the first 72 hours following the birth, she is forbidden to fast. Even if both she and the doctor agree that she is strong enough to fast, she must eat.

If she says that she does not need to eat, she should eat only small quantities. If during the fast she feels that she needs to eat normally, she may do so.

If she is unsure whether she needs to eat, and certainly if she feels the need to eat, she should eat normal quantities.

5) What are the rules after 72 hours since the birth?

Between three and seven full days (i.e. from 72 to 168 hours) following the birth, the law is slightly stricter. In every case that she is permitted to eat, she may eat only small quantities, unless there are complications.

If she says that she needs to eat, she may do so even if a doctor says the opposite.

After seven full days she must fast like everyone else unless there is some complication.

7) Is a nursing mother allowed to drink if she fears a lack of milk for her baby? (which of course isn't valid since she hasn't nursed at all)

In almost all cases this is unnecessary, especially today when baby formula is available that can be used as a substitute for a short period. It is advisable to accustom the baby to formula a few days beforehand to avoid complications arising on Yom Kippur. In extremely unusual circumstances when a sensitive baby cannot tolerate anything other than the mother's milk, it may be possible to allow the mother to drink small quantities. Such serious matters should be determined only after consultation with a rabbi.

SO in other words - she doesn't have a leg to stand on re: fasting. Does this surprise anyone? I didn't think so.

In the meantime i'm completely and utterly frazzled at work. It's insanely busy this week, we're short handed on top of it and the local tech here is unwilling to do the "eh we're all XXX we can work together" and is more of "why can't your workflow get it right and stop giving me tickets that should be in your group" It's pissing me off cuz whenever i tickets for his group - I do them. no questions asked. it's ridiculous. You know it's bad when there are 4 voice mails on your phone and you only went to the bathroom. (sigh) Oh well -

Hopefully it will get better soon.

laters all!