bachelorettes and anniversaries...(they can have their cake and eat it too...)

So ...

This weekend we had a bachelorette party for our friend. It was i have to say a WHOLE lot of fun. WHich is good, cuz it was essentialy the same time of plan they had for MY party, which I missed, so it was good to join in.

First we went to a Moroccan restaurant where it's served family style. You sit at low tables, have your hands washed and eat everything with fingers and pita bread. It was tasty. The bachelorette and others in our group got up and danced with the belly dancers. :) a lot of us had on jingly belts so we jingled every where we walked. :)

We all wore them bowling.

It was very amusing - having us all go bowling and jingling. Then the hokey pokey started and we were all doing that and adding hip shimmies to the moves. There was fun and merriment ( some of it drunken ) to be had - we all had a great time. :) I'm told some of the hubbies and children went out on their own as well... but I wasn't there obviously so not much to say on that. :)

Now - the fun. (you mean that wasn't the fun? Ruh Roh... :))

Yesterday was my anniversary. 1 year down. :) I got my husband a lovely pocket watch from hammacher schlemmer and had it engraved with "24 September, 2006 - A year of time together" :) (I couldn't resist the pun. and he says he loves it so that's good. :) We then went out to dinner at a great restaurant called Mikimotos. Course my husband spells it mickey moto's so when i was telling the girls where we were going during the party, we all started singing, "m - i - c... K- e - y... M - O - T - O - SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS" :) yes we're silly.:)

So i had some sashimi, and then panco and mustard crusted rack of lamb, with scallion mashed potatos, tempura onion rings, and grilled asparagus. It was LOVELY. Then I had banana coins for dessert. ( coin size fried banana wontons with honey and powdered sugar. ) M had a deep fried brownie. (all the desserts were deep fried I think.. :) )

When we got home, M insisted and getting out our wedding cake that was saved. Well - see, we didn't exactly save it properly. we forgot to freeze it before the honeymoon, and by the time we got back we figured it was too late and just kept forgetting to do anything about it - so it sat in our fridge... for a year. :)

We cut into it last night. This is what it looked like:
















And yes... he took a bite - from a non green corner. (shudder) I have proof! I took pictures. I wasn't going anywhere NEAR that cake. I'd just had a lovely dinner and saw no need to refund it.

all in all - a fun weekend. :)

Showtunes!!! well helllooooooo D****..... :)

Yes - Today on ALIT we introduce a new character. . . HelloD. I know - Sounds like a children's rapper or something. :)But no... this is the name of the Nanny on ALIT. The one the Suka and J have hired.

Now HelloD has been with the family for years. She was taking care of my great uncle's wife when she was terminal etc... So she LOVES "mister J" which is one reason she stays to put up with Suka.

So the report from HellOD is as follows:
Suka sleeps until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Then she gets up and goes out shopping and playing around etc. She comes home in time to be there when J gets home. Then when he does she goes on and on about what a long and tiring day she's had taking care of sukaspawn. He then, feeling guilty that she has supposedly taken care of the sukaspawn all day and had such a long day doing it, takes care of sukaspawn all evening. This is after a full day of work. HelloD has started taking sukaspawn into her room so as to finally give Mister J some sleep finally.

Are we having fun yet? Oh and she finally posted another article for work. (anyone wants it email me and i'll give you the info.) Wonder if J finally grew a pair (small though i'm sure they are) enough to tell her she needs to do some work or they are gonna go bankrupt. We'll see. I guess it depends on how often she continues to write. Most of last year it was one a month. There were 2 in june and then nothing until this week.

ON a completely different brighter note... :) MY 1 year anniversary is this weekend. So Saturday night I am going to a friend's bachelorette party, and then sunday is our anniversary. The bookstore called to see if i could work on sunday. I gently explained what day it was and my manager said "OHH Congratulations, Never mind!"

Training is going well. Mom says that she can tell my midriff is getting a bit smaller. (course her explanation for why is a bit disconcerting. :)) She says she can tell it's small because before it was stretched tight, and now the skin is dimpled which means there's less there... :) Trainer says she can definitely feel that my ankles are smaller. She continues to kick my butt 2 times a week, but now i'm supposed to try and do it to myself an additional time each week. (sigh) We got these really cool weights too to work with. :) The trainer had asked me to get 8 and 10lb weights to have in addition to the 5lb weights we already have. Well, i figure i'm gonna outgrow those fairly soon - and it's a lot of weights to have laying around. So we got the Bowflex Selectech weights. :) they go from 5lbs to 52.5 lbs on each dumbbell. I got them on a sale that they came with the $140 stand for free. They work really nicely.

Oh and I sold the gazelle. :) YAY! for the same price as I sold the broken treadmill. Freaky ebay karma i guess.

Oh well -that's all she (meaning me) wrote for now. :) Have a great weekend everyone!

The Moment you've all been waiting for...

That's right...

Finally - Pictures of the SUKA!!! :) I came accross the perfect wedding picture to post and you lucky viewers get to see it first. :)

Here it is!

hehehhe - enjoy! :)

Holy Giant Dogs Batman!

So...i'm on the phone with my mom last night when call waiting beeps. It's not a number i recognize so I go answer it asking mom to hold on. Understandably she hung up after a few minutes. :) Cuz... guess who was on the phone!!! :)


hehehe. I spent 15 minutes on the phone with BURT WARD last night. That's right, *THE* Burt Ward of Batman fame. Now, i'm sure some of you are wondering why I might be talking on the phone to Mr. Ward. :)

It turns out, he and his wife run a dog rescue in California. It's called Gentle Giants Rescue. They specialize in rescuing giant breeds like danes, great pyranese, mastiffs etc. They also do some small dogs and some hairless dogs etc. All their dogs get to live in the house with them. (sometimes up to 60 dogs at once!) Anyways, they have developed their own dog food and I was interested in it. i mean seriously, they have their Great Danes (who's average life expectancy is 8-10 years) living an average of 14-18 years. That's pretty impressive in my book. So i was curious. especially as Mister has always had a umm.. "loose tummY" and both of them are very gaseous. So i've decided to try some new food. I have been using Wellness, but they changed their forumlation after hiring efficiency experts and so the bottom line seems to be more important now.

So I had called Gentle Giants because they only sell on their site, the food in pallets of 4 bags at a time. The pricing is very reasonable, and it's non profit, so all they care about is producing a good healthy food. It ends up with shipping to be cheaper than the wellness actually. :) and one thing mr ward mentioned, is that most Dog food manufacturers forget about things like Heart disease etc and the fat contents tend to be high. HIs is a low 9%. ANyways - i know this sounds like an advertisement, but i'm really just putting down my thought process on trying this stuff. :) So I wanted samples to see if my dogs liked it before investing $200. Well, he called back to tell me they don't have samples, but he'd be willing to let me try 1 bag instead of 4, so i figure mom and I will split it and see. What's nice about this food is it is for *ALL* ages. There is no puppy specific, or senior specific food. Their vet clinic will now ONLY feed this food to the dogs staying with them even though they sell other brands. So i'm thinking what the heck right? :)

but still... I got to talk to Burt Ward...LOL

In Suka news... the Sukaspawn (i just came up with that name, I LOVE IT!) i think is gonna end up the girl in the plastic bubble. Suka is paranoid, won't let anyone near her. The entire time of the event formerly known as the naming no one was allowed to see the baby. baby stayed in a back room in a carriage with netting over the top. There's Purell bottles EVERYWHERE so they can sanitize before picking up the baby every time. they DEIGNEd to let my cousin P hold Sukaspawn, and that only lasted 30 seconds before she started making noises like she was hungy. when P offered to feed her SUka Freaked, grabbed the baby and said "NO she NEEDS HER MOMMY! - she's too fussy, isn't comfortable with people, she's just too fussy no one else can hold her or feed her." Kid is gonna have no immune system. :) and no socialization skills either. I'm supposed to get more dirt this weekend so we'll see how it goes.. :)

In other news - my future physical happiness is on its way... hubby started school last night. ahhh those magic hands will now have education. A beautiful thing! :)

Hope lives on . . . .

So, everyone is doing remebrances of what happened 5 years ago. This is a good thing. THis is something that should ALWAYS be remembered.

But what I think is even more important to remember is the hope we all have. That drive to move on and live our lives and not be brought low by such evil actions.

We will always remember those who can no longer do this and mourn their loss and what they as people contributed to our society and lives. We will also do as i'm sure they would want, which is to LIVE, with love and laughter and joy in our hearts. To fight evil and hate with joy and tolerance. That is how we win, by not letting them stop us from LIVING.

Today we remember all those who fell, and those who live on in their names.

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I wanted to share with you folks today the blanket/hope chest we received this weekend. My mother in law bought it for us during the family auction at the reunion last year. It was delivered to us THIS year at the reunion.



















it's *HUGE* :)
We put it at the foot of our guest bed. It's about 6" narrower than the queen size bed. and about 5" taller. Keep in mind that this is a normal queen size bed, with 2 foam pads, 2 flannel comforters and a spring blanket on it, and the chest is STILL taller by a few inches than the top of the bed. I hope that people can still get around it to the bed... :) The cousin who made it for us said that he'd made one for his wife, but it was too small to hold king size blankets. So he made it bigger. It now has 2 king size flannel comforters in there, a bunch of towels, and our spare sheets for the master bed. IT's got this cool slider box near the top, that you can put stuff in and slide back and forth to get at what's underneath. The box and the bottom shelf are made of cedar. So everytime you slide the box, the ceder smell "refreshes" itself. He also gave us some cedar balls to keep in there as well.

I love it. And it arrived in time for our first wedding anniversary which is in just under 2 weeks. (2 weeks from yesterday in fact.)

Life moves forward. . . and I now have a lovely chest (no giggling you!) to put not only blankets and towels and sheets in, but to put Hope in. . . for our future and yours....

SUKA STUFF!!!!

oh i gots LOOOOADDDS of new suka stuff.

But here's the deal - those of you who really want to know about it, email me and i'll email you the whole story. (email me at jleader at gmail dot com) it's all written out and ready to go, but it's detailed enough that i'd rather not post it publicly and i don't think blogger does password protected. :)

In the mean time. Not much else is going on here. I have my husband's family reunion this weekend. Gonna bring a stuffed bunny and blanket that I made for a friend's baby. I keep forgetting to mail it to her. So i figure i'll bring it as an example and auction off custom made bunny and/or blanket. See they do auctions every year for stuff that people make or donate. The funds go into a reunion bank account to help defer expenses for the annual get together. Helps pay for food, location etc. Not sure when our turn is - i think in a few more years. But i figured that would be kind of cool. We'll also bring brownies for the kids to bid on and stuff like that. I might even donate one bunny to the kids auction. The kids will be given $500 in monopoly money each, so they can really participate in bidding with their own "monday." So some stuff is a true donation. :) but if i'm making one bunny, it's just as easy if not easier to make a bunch at once then it is to just do one at a time, because then I assembly line them. :)

Oh well - that's all for today. Here is a picture of the bunny and blanket just so you all know what i'm talking about. Always made with 100% cotton flannel and eyes and nose are embroidered on so it's safe for infants and toddlers as well... :)(i am willing to sell them if a gift is needed for a baby shower or something just so you all know :))

pictures and posts and umm... yeah :) can't think of anything cute.

Hello everyone!

Hope everyone had a good labor day weekend. Mine was relatively quiet as the hubby was away in canada on a Kung Fu Trip. :) So mostly, i just hung around, played with the dogs etc. Though yesterday was lovely (while today is abysmal) and I took my bike out for the first real road test ride since I bought it. ANd I bought it with different tires then i test rode it on, so first ride on these tires. :) It was fun. My brother's friend is gonna buy my old bike too, and it fits her nicely. So i guess, if his 4'10" friend fits that frame well, that would explain why it was too small for my long legged 5'4" body. Although, she did look a bit like kermit the frog from the muppet movie while riding. . . :) she laughed when I said that. :)

I also started some knitting this weekend. I had been working on this shawl called the lace wings shawl. I bought the pattern, but it was designed by regular knitter, and I think it's not written very well. There's mistakes and stuff that make it difficult, and if you aren't experienced enough (which I'm not) it's hard to figure out how to fix them. My mom was saying just by reading it she figured that out, and that she'd have to knit it to fix it. Not worht the effort. :) So at some point I will pick up that nifty yarn again, and try something different. :) Anyways, I have no patience for something with that much pattern to follow. But the yarn is a really PRETTY egyption cotton by King Tut. :) and it's in this lovely vibrant autumn red type color. :)so i'll do something with it later. :) So what i DID start working on this weekend was this:
These needles are AWESOME! :) i love them... :)birchwood, very sharp even in large sizes, very super smooth, and perfect size to just carry with you small projects... they are like 7 or 8" long. Perfect! - perfect scarf size too. :)





Also - As Promised.. Pics of the floor:

Hall Bathroom(see the nifty faucet?)












Master Bath See new counter? :)













Living room(with nifty new rug)












and that my friends I think is about all she wrote. It's taken me about 1.5 hours to get this post done, first with the network down and then with the time to upload pictures so... Later Taters! :)

Mold and Must and Miserable Dust....

Wow - It's been a while. I didn't realize it had been so long. BAD ilanna BAD! :)

Ok - so i'm here now. I was away on vacation over the weekend (from about thursday on) and wednesday i was trying to babysit a VERY talkative 6 year old while working and so didn't get to post much last week.

So - I went to Martha's Vineyard. It's where my husband grew up and where my inlaws reside.

It is a LOVELY island. And it was being nice to my nature, and being cool the entire time we were there. never topped 75. Course it also rained 3 out of 5 days. Regardless of the weather, we had a good time. Got to relax a bit, we went shopping (always a good thing) and we went to the farmer's market. (brought home 3lbs of local honey and some flavored vinegars.) Got goodies for myself and goodies for my friends. One of the most well known souveniers from MV is the Black Dog. It's famous, t-shirts and clothes etc. I got a pair of sweat pants and a hoodie, both INCREDIBLY comfortable and good quality. :) what's also fun, is the spin offs. One enterprising tourist shop has started printing the "bad dog" items. We got my brother a T-shirt that said something like "Bad Dog Oyster bar, always fresh and steaming!" (bearing in mind that the bad dog is showin as a black dog in a Pooping position. :) There's a few really good ones from there.

We went to the local winery and I bought some wine and other stuff. Course, i'll never drink the wine myself - so it will have to wait until i have company over who will share the bottle. :) i'm sure i can arrange that at some point. :)

We never got to go sailing though - water was a bit too choppy and our tummies were sensitive so we avoided it. That was the DOWNSIDe of the trip. My mom and i have had off stomachs the entire month of august. ANd our allergies have been bad this month. In fact on the way up, mom and I took the train to Providence and met my husband there for the last leg of the trip - b/c we were afraid of being without a bathroom. Anywhere we went on island, we called ahead to make sure there were bathrooms available. I did finally have some lobster the last night we were there, but we were being very careful with what we ate... paranoid even.

Unfortunately the other problem was sinus. I'd been taking advil C&S most of thismonth off and on. I was taking it every 3 hours up there. And for the first time in about 4 years, I had to take claritin. you see...it's an island. ANd it was raining. So there was that in and of itself. The really bad part is that my inlaws house is a Mold Experiments' wet dream. the basement smells like the underside of a dock. I couldn't go down there unless I had a cloth around my face to make breathing easier. The rest of the house is almost as bad. It's 30+ years old, and never had any AC, central ducting, etc. The lack of central ducting is probably the only thing that saved us since it would have blown air from the basement otherwise, but that means no dehumidifying. A lot of people thing AC is just to cool things off, but it actually CONDITIONS and cleans the air too. Carpet is at least 15 years old, as is all of the furniture and curtains etc. So it just breeds and breeds. I sat down on the couch and my eyes began to itch and water. Hubbies allergies started getting really bad too, and mom in law was MISERABle, and it was HER house! She finally admitted outloud that her allergies were worse in the house than out of it, and dad in law said even he sometimes notices. I can only hope they decide to do something about it. She mentioned bringing in a professional cleaning service, but I think they are going to have to strip all fabrics - replace carpet, reupholster furniture, get some new furniture etc. Will have to see.

So you see, all in all we had a very good time, but our heads and bellies were miserable. My only other real complaint is that when we go there on vaca, I sleep in bro in law's childhoold bed/bedroom, and hubby sleeps in his own bedroom. Twin beds. I could accept that before we were married but ....sheesh. Time to clean out the old rooms and make them into guest rooms of some kind. King or queen bed, night stand etc.

I think the next time we go - we are going to see if we can rent a house or something while up there, so there can be more comfort options etc. In the mean time, i'm going to enjoy my COZY sweats this winter, and my zip up hoodie sweatshirt. I'm going to LOVE putting that raw honey in my tea in the mornings. In fact i used some this morning. It was wonderful. Very mild, not overly sweet at all, so I didn't get that weird honey aftertaste from drinking too much. I might have to bring some into work and have it here so I can have more tea during the day. :) I can't wait to try using some of the flavored vinegars in cooking, and seeing the looks on friends faces when i give them their gifts... :)

And now - i'm back at work. :) wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Doggies are home. They are like LUMPS. So tired they don't want to move. hopefully they stay that way through the weekend since hubby is going right back out of town to Canada to train with a kung fu grand master one last time before starting massage school. So i get to take care of the puppies - which means no sleeping late. (sigh)

Oh well.

SOON, I promise, I will get pictures of the floors, and maybe some pics from MV. I only took some on the ferry over, and when we went to Gay Head but there are some pretty cool pics. :)

hope everyone had a good weekend, and those on the east coast enjoy the rain this week. :) i'll try to get back to posting more often. :)

I scream you scream we all scream for . . . umm.. well.. hmm... :)

Ok

So my new mission is to buy an ice cream maker. I used to have one but between various moves from place to place too many parts of gone missing and all that's left is a frozen bowl. :)

And of course counter ande cabinet space is severly limited. (I gots too many gadgets)

So i figured i'd get the one that went on the kitchenaid. All i need then is freezer space for the bowl, and some drawer space for the attatchment gizmo. :)

The reason for this mission is, I love ice cream. But i'm trying to get in shape and lose weight. One goal set for me food wise, was to have only 1 ice cream a week. Well. Hmm. this just sucks. :) and I can't get the sugar free stuff cuz aspartame gives me a headache, and if I get the fat free stuff a) it's hard to find that WITH sugar and b) there's nothing to stop the sugar from being like a hypo injected directly into my blood stream. :)

So - i've decided that maybe i need to make my own. Alter it. Make ice milk instead of cream so i can have flavor and dairy with out being high fat. Or use SOy milk, and maybe use honey instead of sugar. I've got all kinds of ideas on how to alter the recipes. Only one i havne't figured out at the custard base ones, cuz they NEED the heavy cream to make them the right consistency. So i'll have to explore. :)

But i wanted to post and interesting recipe I found here: "Perfect Kithcen by Esseti"

Avocado Ice Cream

While an avocado-flavored dessert may seem strange to North Americans, South Americans have long considered the avocado an ideal ingredient for sweet dessert. Try this recipe and you'll understand why.

Three 8-oz. avocados
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup superfine sugar
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup heavy cream

Peel and pit the avocados. Cut them into chunks and purée in a food processor. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of purée. With the machine running, add the remaining ingredients.
Pour the mixture into the bowl of the machine and freeze.
Makes about 1 quart.

now - I love avocados. I LOVE guacamole - and it's got such a nice creamy consistency. And it's a healthy fat, even if there is a fairly high content. But i never thought of using it in ice cream. ya know? But something about this is REALLY intriguing me and I think I should try making it, if only so I can say I did and tried it. Apparently it's very popular in south america.

I guess I will have to let you all know how it came out. Cuz man, if i can't get my ice cream fix i'll be upset. And it's not just the sweet - it's the cream. :) It's the best thing for heartburn/acid reflux. Oh well - we'll see what happens. I have to get the maker first. :)

blah blah blah. . . . . .

So there isn't a whole lot going on right now. :)

The house battle still occurs, though I think that mom has pretty much decided to stick to her plan and just say no. Probably the best for all concerned. At this point it burns a lot of bridges with that contingent of the family but to be honest, it doesn't really bother us a whole lot. :)

the Flooring continues. They are working on the hall bath now - I think that the master bath is finally done. YAY! :) it looks lovely. there will be pictures soon, i promise!

Went to a wedding this weekend. It was a LOT of fun - and a really gorgeous ceremony. and it was SHORT and sweet - I think from the time the groomsman processional started to the end was less than 20 minutes. And then they did a really cool receiving line idea. Instead of a whole line - they greeted each row of guests as they exited the ceremony area.

The weather was gorgeous and we got to enjoy all of it at the cocktail hour after the ceremony - and then we all went inside for the receptions. It was a lot of fun. I really liked the idea that to get the B&G to kiss, instead of tapping glasses, each table had to stand up as a whole and sing a song with "love" in the lyrics...

I had a really good time - watched my friends get trashed - danced and in general had a good time. though jackie it seems may have broken her foot wearing flip flops while chasing the bride. (not really flip flops, more like "slide sandles" but... still - not good for running.)

I'm also going *NUTS* because I found something out and i can't share it. Once i can i'll let ppl know, but those who know me, know how hard it is for me to keep a juicy secret... hell - i have trouble holding on to a present long enough to wait for the occasion. :)

Then Sunday, i helped my friend sort through some clothes, and then went miniature golfing with my husband and then we went to the mall to get bday presents for his neice and nephew. Then home and dinner and bed.

All in the midst of that day - we were doing the hot and cold compresses for mister's foot. You see he managed to do something to his paw.

Thursday night we went to the vet and had it X-rayed. $220 later, nothing broken. Saturday morning the paw was even MORE swollen and oozing a bit (yick!) So i took him to the emergency vet because the only 2 on duty at my regular vet's office were UNACCEPTABLE. (don't like either of them) And the emergency vet is WONDERFUL. So another $135 later :) my dog is on antibiotics, pain killers, and Benadryl. The current theory is that it was an allergic reaction to a spider bite or something similar. It is going down somewhat. Looks a lot more normal. :) I think the benadryl and compresses are helping which is a good thing. So both dogs are home with me while they are working on the floors. the bulk of the dangerous stuff is done anyway - and they are afraid of the nailing etc.

and that is my life as it stands now in a nutshell. :) pretty boring eh? :)

Whoops...

I realize i haven't blogged much this week. Sorry about that.

Specially since of course ALIT as reared it's ugly head. Not sure how much i remember since there was so much of it.

The latest is that since my GM's house isn't selling well, they are thinking of renting it for a while, and then maybe selling when the market picks up. There's some rumor that the orthodox in the area are "ganging up" to price fix the housing market. Who knows? But the key to this point is that they are talking about renting to my cousin A and his girlfriend E. While it would be great for them to be nearby my aunt and uncle to help them when needed, it still becomes an equity issue as to who is getting more of the estate, whether or not it's really monetary. Make sense? So there's of course the unconcious manipulation going on and mom just doesn't want anyonein the fmaily to be livng there period. B/c then it becomes them trying to recreate the high holidays etc... it's a complicated mess.

meanwhile - not much else is going on. There's lots of stuff really but i can't really get into it too much. :)

The floors in the meantime look AWESOME!! i'll post pictures when it is ALL done and you can see the finished product. :)they are working on the bathroom right now. :)

have a great weekend all!

Anyone have any frankincense and Myrh?

Well the messiah has been born. around 3pm on saturday afternoon. Apparently it was a fairly easy natural birth.

When my mother asked my aunt if the suka was going to nurse, the response was "oh please!" :)

And of course she is named after my grandmother. The name is actualy nice but I will refrain from revealing for anonymity's purposes... :) anyone who really wants to know can email me. :) She was stayin in the hospital for a day or so and baby is in the NICU just to be cautious.

Other than that I don't know much.

Will get the seamstress' help with putting the tags in the sweater and send that on in a few weeks. Mom is working on finding something to send as well.

what's funny about the whole thing is...

Mom and I were pretty ill feeling this weekend. really nauseous, couldn't sleep, headaches etc...I told mom that it was probably the messiah coming making us sick. What's funny is, we started feeling better right around when the birth was done. :) Weird huh?

Not much else to report as of now. The floors are being started today - so hopefully i'll have a bedroom to sleep in this evening.

(btw Mary - you might want to visit your local comic shop and look into a series called Civil war and Frontline... all about should super heros be registered and government controlled or not - lot of interesting political commentary you might like - hell everyone might like... :))

Friday Silliness....

First of all

I just *LOVE these T-shirts. Especially the first one. though I have both. :) hehehe DOOM! The comic strip is also heartily entertaining for those of you who want to waste some time reading... it is definitely worth it. :) I've even met the BF in person and he's a really cool guy. :)
It's silly. MWUAHAHAHA. :)

So, Mom isn't feeling so well today. What's odd is, last night and this morning I had a lot of the same symptoms (just more mild) and no idea why. It could be the weather changes that are happening. We are all sensitive to the barometer. :) *OR* my guess is this is nature's early warning sign that the messiah is coming and we should be prepared. {evil grin} well - it's a theory. And as we all know (and my friend used to have for her signature) I want to move to Theory, because everything works in Theory. :)

Also - if you go to In The Puddle and click on the right hand "vote" button in the comments section - it will take you to an amusing picture. Though if you don't know what FSM-ism is, then go here for more info.

So I dropped off my new skirts at the seamstress last night to have them hemmed up in front (at the waist) since they are shorter in back (due to the butt shelf most likely :)) and the seamstress loved them. So that helps :) but I also found out why they cost so much. I never looked at the tags while at the store - but they are basically sheer handkercheif style skirts over a liner. well theliner is the usual poly. But the entire layered over skirt (both of them) are made out of silk. That explains a lot. Oh well. I just won't be allowed to eat anything (since i'm a slob) :)

Not much else going on here today. I'm just trying to not freeze to death in my office. (my aisle is colder than a lot of the others, noticeably.) and looking forward to going home at lunch to warm up. :) or hell even going outside. I mean you KNOW your office/cubicle is cold, when during the heatwave with temps over 100, you are happy to go outside, and it feels good... sad... really sad. :)

oh well - have a great weekend everyone and if i think of anything more profound i'll post again. :)

the latest delusional amusement...

So cousin P is talking to her brother J (the suka's hubby) and asking if they'd picked a pediatrician yet. J says "yes, we're going with the folks who took over dad's practice when he died." So P says "that's silly, they are more than half an hour away! why would you choose them?" and J says "well because they OWE us. They wouldn't have had a practice if it wasn't for us, and we want someone who will call us back within 5 minutes, and make house calls and since they owe us we figure they'll do that." Cousin P at this point begins LAUGHING! "J, daddy died 15 years ago. His practice may have been the BEGINNING of theirs, but i'm sure they've built it plenty over the years themselves. They don't owe us anything." - J says "so they won't call back in 5 minutes? I thought they did when your son was sick" P says "I called during office hours! and i brought him in to the office."

Disillusionment can be so much fun ya know? They've also hired a nanny at roughly $2k a month. Full time who will cook and clean. P asks how they can afford this, and J says "well if suka does 2 or 3 freelance things a week it isn't a problem." Of course she hasn't been doing more than 1 a month since the pregnancy. It's too hard to write she says. Of course, P completed her PHD including onsite research, the thesis etc, while carrying around her infant son in a carrier. and she didn't have any help. How hard is it to write a fluff article when the kid isn't even out and crying yet?

Sheer Insanity i tell you. The only saving grace to things like nannies and that, is that at least the child will have some good influences. The nanny they hired is someone who's been in the family helping elderly members for many years and so is a known quantity.

Today is the sonogram - so i'm sure i'll have some news by tomorrow, or if not by next week as to what is happening with the birth of the messiah. :)

Tune in.. .same web time (maybe) same web channel :) MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA :)

In other news... i'm inflicting my trainer on mom (EC) tomorrow. She will hopefully help design a set of alternative excercises that will work for her and not bother her back etc... :) finally -i get to watch someone else be tortured. hehehehe.

Secret Shame. . .

I have to admit... I"m strangely, sickeningly addicted to "Walker: Texas Ranger"

hell if I know why. and of course I love ripping the show and the premise to shreds. :) I mean - right now i'm watching, and walker goes "undercover" as a teacher in the high school. So what's his name? Mr Walker. Right cuz that is SOOO undercover. :)

And yet, i'm enthralled. Is it because I just like watching him beat people up? Could be. Vicarious thrills are always good when it comes to violence. :) Maybe it's the Daylight goodie two shoes version of Batman he seems to be. :) (the kick anyone's butt, and amazing 6th sense reflexes) I just don't know. It's a sickness I tell you! :)

In other news, we're currently awaiting news of tomorrow's sonogram for the Suka. She's apparently effacing and they are going to do the sonogram to decide what to do. induce, c-section or wait it out? Of course we think, that the doctor will induce or do the C-section just to finally get her off his charts. :) I think she's been driving him thoroughly nuts for the last 7-9 months.

Crazy Aunt R is up to old tricks again trying to sue everyone and their mother.

and all the usual stuff is all over the place. :)

Ahh well. As long island turns is at it again. :)

Exhaustion thy name is ilanna... :)

it's been a LOOOOOONNNNg weekend... and i'm wiped. :)

Friday - I took the day off to go shopping with my mom. Mall is about an hour 15 away from me. 45 from mom (we kind of meet in the middle.) And I was looking for clothing to wear to the upcomming grouping of weddings I have. :)

SO we get there around 1030. My cousin met us at around 1145. My cousin left around 245 (we had a light lunch in between) and then mom and I finally left around 515 or so. We're looking at almost 7 full hours. Then I had a 2+ hour drive home cuz i Hit traffic in baltimore.

While at the mall, we went to Nordstroms. I found a couple of really cool brown (so warm) skirts with patterns on them. Both with handkercheif style hems. Then I got a brown sheer button down shirt that comes with a matching brown spaghetti strap tank. I also got an ice blue cowl nect "shell" that works nice. I have a lot of variation options with these outfits which is cool. I also found a nice coat, wasn't planning to get one though. It's a microcfiber suedy feeling outside with a fake fur inside. Very toasty warm - car coat length, nice coat and on SALE. So mom really thought I should get it so I did. (she bought me all the stuff at Nordstrom's. THANKS MOM!) So after deciding what to get we had lunch at the cafe, and then we went back to PAY for our purchases. :) Then we went to look at shoes. CUZ well see, i have lots of shoes, but the one thing I dont' have - is BROWN dress shoes. And you can't wear an entire Brown based outfit and wear black satin shoes. Just doesn't work. :) So i needed some brown dress shoes. but Nordstroms didnt' have anything. It's frustrating because apparently 4" heels are back in style this season, so it's either that or flats. Finding an inbetween isn't easy. So we then went to J. Jill. That's the store i was complaining about on thursday. They have some really nifty stuff. and they cut full! but they only carry petite and regular in the store. Oh well. I was able to try on some XL's and get a feel for what might fit from the catalogue, so I can always order if i so choose. Then my cousin left. So mom, and I started looking to see where there might be shoes. But we'd passed all the main stores, and we were so tired and our feet hurt so we decided going back to the other end of the mall was SOO not an option. So we went to JC penney and then Sears. Sears is where we hit paydirt. :) Of course I can't for the life of me find any of the stuff i bought on line. One pair of shoes was a pair by "Personal Identity" a T-strap wedge pump. The wedge is wide though not like those skinny death on heels type shoes. in a mottled brown leather with cut outs at the toe. really cool. Probably 2.5" maybe? The other pair is a pair of mudds. about a 2.5-3" "wood look" heel, but thick. and it's a round toe pump, but wider round toe, with beige stitching on it. Really cute. Neither of them are great for my back, but i'm at the point, that with dress shoes, it's not worth the $150 to buy appropriate shoes for dress and back, and for the few times i'll be wearing them (and the relatively short periods of time) i'll just suck it up. :)

So after that we got ice cream and then left the mall.

Saturday. Saturday, i had to get up and run some errands in the morning, and then pick up my husband so we could go to a bridal shower. (more like a wedding shower since it was one of those Co-Ed dealios.) It was a lot of fun, was enjoying it. Kind of odd for me though because I didnt' know ANYONE there except the bride and groom really. I didn't realize how little our friend base there overlapped. The only people I would have known didn't come down cuz she's due in like a month to pop out the first kid. :) so I understand her not being there. :) so it was kind of weird. :) But fun none the less. And then we had to leave early, but I won some movie tickets in one ofthe games. From there we went to drop M off to pick up his car, and then meet at friend's house for his birthday party. We then left from there and went to philly to see a reading of "the Tell Tale Heart" by edgar allen poe at the eastern state penitentiary. My friend was wonderfully surprised, as he'd thought it was just gonna be the 4 of us. Then 4 other friends showed up at the house, and then another 7 showed up in philly. :) It was AWESOME. There was some history about the prison, and the psychology, a discussion of the insanity defense and then some discussion about poe himself. It was a really great time. Then back to Delaware for dinner where another 7 -10 people showed up, also a surprise. Took over the entire friggin restaurant. :) it was GREAT! we had a blast there too. Got home around 1030 or so. ANd then I crashed. I slept until 1130 sunday morning.

By then of course Sunday had officially arrived. I went out to the store to pick up some stuff for organizing and what not. You know, I should have taken some before and after pics. We had to start cleaning up b/c our floors are beign install soon. My dresser: took me 3 hours, 3 trash bags, 3 bags of clothes to give away, the dresser is full, and so is my hamper, so no sure what i'll do once I do laundry :) And now that is clean. I haven't even touched under the bed or the shoes, or the closet yet. :) Or the nightstand except to remove water bottles. I filled a nordstrom's shopping bag with bottles to recycle. :) I have to empty them all out first. :) Then i had dinner - and crashed. Only to not sleep all that well.

So needless to say - i'm just WIPED. Add to that the heat. and popping in and out of AC'd stores into 95+ heat and back into AC store or AC car... it is just BRUTAL. and we're to have our heat wave this week. WHEEEEEE. I feel miserable in it. I can only say POOR PUPPIES when it comes to the doggies.

Oh well - good luck to everyone else with the heatwave. :)

Frustrating Fashion

Ok

So you have a store. their online catalogue carries, Petite, regular, Tall, and Women's sizes. And in just about all styles, all sizes are available. But the store itself, carries ONLY regular sizes and some of them carry petite. Why? Do Tall and large women not count? Do we not exist in high enough quantity that there's no point in carrying those styles in the store? When I find a place that has some nice fashionable things in good sizes, I get excited because it's a nice idea to have a clothing option that isn't a tent ya know? Which then leads me to another rant.

The concept of plus size clothing. Unfortunately the majority of plus clothing is a size 6 pattern blown up on a photocopy machine. obviously proportions are not the same. Plus women are not all butter balls and round shapes. There are boobs and butts and smaller waists etc.

I want to open a store called "boobs and butts and everything between." A store that has different lines, specifically designed for each sizing set.
And JEANS!! no more size 10, 12, 14 etc. No no, we're going to follow the logic that actually is USED in sizing of mens' jeans. Except instead of Inseam, it will be waist, hip and then Petite, regular, MTall, and Tall. :) how's that sound??

Who wants to start the revolution with me??? And remember, this isn't just for us plus folks, but for those short people, and tall people, and people everywhere in between who have size 8 tops and size 14 bottoms... it's a WHOLE new WORLD of clothing!!!

Sponge Bob Edamame

Ok -

This site has some amusing news posts (short summaries or segments of the post) and pithy commentary on those news stories. One of them is about the Licensing of Dora and Sponge bob Edamame and Edamame pods. Umm.. I'm not even sure what Edamame *IS* and they think this will work for kids? It is certainly and interesting concept, and just goes to show just how screwed up our world is sometimes. :) Spongebob vegetables... :) right, cuz that's what *I* think of when I think of spongebob... then again... mabye it's appropriate, as his apparent brain might be similar to the product "he" is endorsing. :)

I have to say - i just loved Mary's stream of consciousness blog this morning. was very entertaining. I want what she's having. :)

once again, i'm freezing in my office... I don't quite understand it. I have to dress warmer in the summer than I do in the winter. Silly.

so last night - i made lambchops for dinner. I marinated them first for a couple of hours in Vidalia onion honey mustard dressing. THen about 10 minutes before cooking added basalmic vinegar to the mix. My oh my did those come out tasty! Add to that the brown basmati rice and the steamed asparagus and I had a lovely dinner on my own. MY hubby was at his entrance interview for Massage School. He is now officially in as a student and will be starting classes on 9/11. The classes are 3 nights a week for 5 hours a night. I won't be seeing him much for the next 11 months... Oh well - on the bright side, i will then have a trained massage therapist living with me hmmmmmm.... that has lots of potential. :)

To anyone local - the massage school offers on thursday nights at either 6 or 7pm (both times are options I mean), a full 1 hour massage for $30. This is designed to give the students different people to practice on and different body types and issues to work on as well. You don't get to pick the student, and it's first come first serve. (Though I suppose you could call the school to sign up maybe and/or make an appointment) but for anyone who wants massages and can't normally afford the $70 they usually cost... this is might be a good way to do it and help out hubby in the process. :)

Umm - I think the stream of consciousness is probably coming to an end.

Oh wait. :) nope. So Minijaxter has now finished the sweater (MWUAHAHAHAH) and I have the tags. She has made me a couple of swatches so I can practice sewing things into the "sweater" material so I know how best to do it.. machine, hand etc...

Oh and the training is going well. :) I have bony ankles again. :) (instead of tree stumps) and My flexibility is starting to return in the process. I'm also not as tired all the time or feeling as drained usually. This is a good thing. Now i just have to start eating somewhat better and it will go even better in the long run. I'm signing up for another 30 sessions. :) that's another 15 weeks of torture. :) wish me luck :)

Ok - now it's over. Back to work! :) and have a great day folks. :)

I think i need to move away

From the heavy posting that is. :) lets move onto lighter things. Of course I don't really have a topic in mind at the moment.

Not much is going on really. I saw two movies this weekend. Pirates of the carribean 2- dead man's chest was the first. Then we did a double feature and saw ClerksII right after. I enjoyed both movies for entirely different reasons. Pirates was a great historical fantasy. Fun and energetic, and scary all at the same time. Clerks was just sick - which is to be expected.

Of course this leads to a minor rant.

For those of you with kids (and granted Idon't have any of my own yet) I understand the desire to get out of the house and see a movie or do something away from the house. But if you really need to get away. Get a sitter.

Bringing your 2 year old (roughly) to see a PG-13 movie is just ASININE and irresponsible. There's a reason it's PG-13. SCARY STUFF! I mean really. I honestly think that unless a movie is rated G, then children under 5 or 6 shouldn't even be allowed in the THEATRE, regardless of parental approval.

So yes, when we were watching pirates, right behind us was a couple with what appeared to be a 2 year old. one who was frequently crying and upset through out the movie. Kicking the seat I was in etc. But obviously unhappy with being there, whether or not he was scared of the movie. What p*ssed me off even more, was the parents who kept reprimanding him with "Shut your mouth right now!" So not only did you bring the child to a movie ENTIRELY inappropriate for him, but now you are punishing him and yelling at him for being scared and upset while watching said movie.

Truth be told, i'm an advocate for "childrens only" type shows. They used to do this on long island at one of the theatres i'd go to. It was labeled a "mother's show." It was a specific time that was publicized for parents to bring their children to. Anyone without kids who went to that show was informed that it was a mother's show, and to be aware there would probably be a lot of noisy children etc in the theatre and it is your choice to put up with it.

I know the ratings sytem is really a guideline, but I call upon ALL parents out there to actually use some common sense in taking your children to movies and realizze that PG13 is there for a reason, and should be SOME indicator as to the content of the movie.

Ok - rant over for the moment. I'm curious to see if all of you out there who are parents agree or disagree with me. it would be good to know if i'm speaking out of turn not being a parent myself, or if it actually makes sense. :)

Misunderstandings. . .

I think a number of people misinterpreted what I was trying to say yesterday.

Based on some of the commentary, many people are mostly concerned with the pictures and how horrible it is that children are signing bombs, and the impression i get is that they feel i'm arguing that this is ok.

What i was trying to say in my blog yesterday, was not so much about the pictures, but more about some of the commentaries I was seeing about the pictures.

I agree - it's horrible. Children should not hate that much. Whether they are justified, taught, or creative enough to come up with it on their own (which knowing children would not surprise me in the slightest - although that doesn't excuse the adults that condoned it) was not what I was trying to address.

Please, go back and read a number of the comments made on the other blogs about those pictures. What was MOST upsetting to me were the generalizations about "religious hatred" being taught, and the concept of things being a religious war. That is truly what bothered me the most.

The truth is the middle east is so screwed up I don't think anyone really understands everything that is happening. (that includes all of the governments involved as well.) I disagree that Israel is a bully. Yes they have one of the biggest and most efficient armies in the world, and yet are such a small country. However, I can't blame them for being prepared for what they see as the inevitable conflicts and attacks. But that is my opinion. nothing more.

Opinions are just that, opinions, and people need to be able to discuss them calmly and rationally and in an ideal world, be open to the other person's ideas. Take them in, think about them, and if there's disagreement calmly explain the points.

I think we all get a little too worked up over things, and if we feel attacked (even if that isn't the intention of our counterparts) we will fight back.

(and yes i'm segueing here.)

I urge everyone, to please try and be aware of what you are saying and how you are saying it and realize that if the other person starts yelling to you or at least responding in an agitated manner, to stop and think about how you've made your comments to determine if maybe, JUST maybe the other person could have construed it as attacking and aggressive. The other person may just be a nut job, or nervy, or an aggressive personality, but just maybe they felt they had reason, and your tone was misinterpreted. I think if we all just relax for a minute, and stop talking over one another and think about what we are all saying, things could possibly be improved...

Think - don't react. (we're not chemical experiments after all ;) )