Time flies when you're having fun

I'm just loving this week off from work and school. When I was thinking about everything I wanted to get done this week, I had SO MANY things to do on my list. I'm lucky if I've gotten to 1/3 of them. I still feel like I've accomplished something, though. But I can't believe it's Thursday already!

The kids have been very good about helping me clean the house, and I've tried to be good about not expecting them to help all day every day. The two of them have been enjoying each other's company more than they often do. They haven't been running off with friends all week, just enjoying time playing with their Christmas presents and time together at home. There hasn't been any real bickering or arguing at all.

Yesterday James came over for a while, and we asked him to stay until today. Of course, he's almost like a brother or at least a cousin. And tomorrow, William will come over, and he actually IS a cousin.

Twas the day after Christmas, and all through the house...

I hope everyone had a great holiday. I know I did. We went to the Poconos and saw 5 minutes of snow before the rain -- enough for me! I like snow well enough, but I like warmth even more. It's a rainy day today, but that's OK because it isn't like we're going anywhere anyway. Frank had to go to work, and the boys and I just need to clean up our Christmas presents and make dinner, and not leave the house!

Frank got me a really cool gift for Christmas -- a violin. It is something I've been wishing for, but it is so impractical -- I really didn't think I would actually get one. I played violin when I was a kid, but I never appreciated it when I was doing it. I'm having so much fun practicing. Even if I do still sound like a cat screaming in the night. Frank's been quite patient about letting me do scales over and over while he's watching TV. He hasn't complained at all.

Time to get moving. There's plenty of laundry to do, and then maybe I can play my violin for a little while...

I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas!

Here we are...

 
Frank and I went out last night and I snapped this photo with my phone. It's proof that I'm alive and well and getting back to normal! 

Hi again to all my friends!

Hi! I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long. The Christmas preparations have taken over my life. Add to that a few days where I actually went to work, subbing for a full day, and you have part of the reason I've been so silent lately.... I haven't had much time.

But in addition to that, I haven't been in the best mood lately. And when I started to post the only thing that came out was a lot of complaining -- and really, no one needs to sit here and read my complaints. I didn't even want to read what I had to say. So I thought it was just time to shut up for a while.

I'm feeling better now, though. I believe that the Christmas preparations are over; they have to be, because Christmas is here, ready or not.

So now it's time for me to sit back, relax, and enjoy the holiday. I'm alot less cranky now (so far.) I hope all of you do the same... Happy Holidays to all! Let's hope that 2007 is a better year for everyone!

This must be the longest case of PMS in recorded history. I'm still cranky. C'mon already, enough is enough. Let's hear it for stress!

Sorry I'm not posting much.

It's the time of the year, too much to do, too much stress, too crazy to post.

I also think there is some astrological thing going on. It seems like everyone is going crazy, way more than if there was only a full moon to explain it. I think I read something about 5 planets in Sagitarius -- would that explain it? I'm not sure.

So anyway -- if I'm not posting alot right now, don't give up on the blog altogether. I'll post more often again soon.

PostSecret

PostSecret is a great blog to read. It's an independent art project. Everyone is invited to send in their postcards, with their secret on one side. They are decorated and quite interesting. It is also amazing to read some of the secrets. They can be haunting or hysterical. It's updated every Sunday -- check it out!

PS -- I haven't sent in a secret. This one would apply if I did, though!

O Christmas Tree

  

Christmas Shopping

Busy, busy, busy... I went shopping today, and got a few things, and then went internet shopping tonight while the boys had a card party. What would I do without a computer?

I still have some shopping to do. And it's getting down to the wire. But I'm not done yet -- in fact, I never really even got a good list together yet. I'm definitely behind for the year...

I subbed today

for third grade at the school across the street.
That is really hard. Those kids moved around alot. They meant well. They weren't actually BAD. Just ACTIVE. But I'm really feeling too out of shape to do that kind of thing anymore.

Yeah, the money is decent. But I'm EXHAUSTED!

Frank always says something at this point along the lines of, "It's about time you actually put in a days work. That's what a JOB is."

About half way through the day, I started chanting in my head, "There's NO PLACE LIKE HOME. There's NO PLACE LIKE HOME. There's NO PLACE LIKE HOME."

New York City Saturday

Here we are -- Frankie, Me, and Nicky -- in the city on Saturday. (Frank took the picture.)

It was PACKED. There were people EVERYWHERE! All we really wanted to do was to go in and see the tree. We walked 16 blocks there (and another few blocks zig zagging around to look at things) and then 16 blocks back. We saw the tree at Rockefeller Center -- but there were so many people there, we looked at it for about a minute and a half and then LEFT.

I think it was a pretty productive trip because even though we didn't really enjoy the lights as much as we could have, I did pretty well on the SHOPPING! I only got two gifts, but they were two really good gifts, I thought.

falalalala

Since I'm done with the Nanowrimo, it's time to get back to decking the halls.

(Although I think I'm going to write more again today, just out of spite.)

I DID IT!
Wow. Never thought I'd really complete 50,000 words!
I'm so excited! Now, maybe I'll keep going and really get a book written -- I've gotta tell you, I've written 50,000 words in the story in this one month -- but they aren't really 50,000 GOOD words. I've got a far way to go before that collection of words actually becomes a book.
But I'm really proud that I finished the challenge!

My amazing grand prize?
Why, it's 50,000 words of a story that I've started.
Also, a lovely certificate that I was sent to print on my computer. (Lucky for me my Mom bought me a color printer this year!)

Thank you to everyone who helped (mostly, by not laughing at me when I came up with another strange idea like writing 50,000 words.)
Also, thank you to Robin, for inspiring me in the first place, by letting me know there even was a challenge!

You can read Robin's blog and be inspired by her too -- it's on the links at the right, see? ------>

Nanowrimo again -- down to the wire...

I had almost thought that I had sacrificed the Nanowrimo Challenge to the god of Christmas Cookies... but now I see that I'm potentially able to pull it out... it's down to the wire, will I be able to write 7,000 more words before the end of November?????

Even if I don't, I got pretty close -- I'll definitely keep writing...

Baking Cookies today!

Today is the Christmas Cookie baking fest. I'm covered in flour. Isn't it amazing how many combinations of sugar/butter/flour there are?

Christmas Decorating

OK, so last night we came home from my Mom & Dad's house for thanksgiving, and Frank made margaritas and I started decorating for Christmas. I decided not to wait until after I cleaned the house to decorate, because I may never clean the house.

I can't put up pictures yet because first off, the house is now really trashed, and second, my camera battery is DEAD.

NEXT, I have to work on the Christmas card thing, and also on the COOKIES. (Yum.) And I haven't done any shopping yet to speak of.

Can I get it all done?

The drama continues.

Woody's in St. John's

One of the things we did in the Virgin Islands was to go to the Woody's Seafood Saloon in St. John's, you know the one, where Kenny Chesney hangs out?
Of course, the waitress told us, Kenny wasn't on the Island that week. But when he is on the Island, he comes in at least once a week.

It was good food and good drinks. And good music, although they weren't playing Kenny, they were playing O.A.R.

And they took our picture and posted it on THEIR blog at www.WoodysSeafood.com
Which is the picture here.

Deck the halls blah blah blah

DO YOU PEOPLE REALIZE it's almost CHRISTMAS???
Yeah, I guess all the rest of you realize it. It's kinda me who doesn't want to realize it. I've been way busier playing with summery photos of palm trees and writing stories. I am not interested in Christmas much yet.

I have started a little. I just picked up a lot of stuff shopping with Mom on Friday. I have a whole pile of gifts upstairs, hidden in the laundry room under a few piles of laundry that never actually get finished. Frank got outside today and put the lights on the house, so we can continue our tradition of being aggravatingly early with Christmas lights.

Really, to keep moving forward on Christmas, now I need to go through everything I have already bought and actually make a list of what I still need. I should wrap the stuff I've got put aside while I'm making the list.

Just thinking about it makes me really sleepy.

I think about starting to decorate inside, too. Before I do that, I really ought to clean my house thoroughly. Thinking about THAT just makes me confused. (Where do I start?)

I did get my first gift on Friday, from my Momma and Daddy. They bought me a pink razr phone. (They didn't have orange available.) I even splurged on myself, and downloaded a ring tone -- "Ripple" from the Grateful Dead.

I have to start getting ready to get ready.

The last flower standing

 
Here is a pansy, the last flower left in the garden before winter.
Although it HAS been pretty warm, not too much is left. Even the colored leaves have blown away.
Happy Autumn. 

This is a program called Picasa. I love it!

  

Frank came home and showed me this photo thing...

  

Check out Ms. Dewey!

Ms. Dewey is a new search engine that Frank told me about. You really have to check her out! Just like with google search, or whatever, you type something into the box and then the search engine returns a list of possible webs to link to.

The difference is that Ms. Dewey talks back to you -- she can be fresh, or funny, tell jokes, or whatever.

I don't know how good her searchs are compared to google. I also think she might get aggravating after awhile. She's unique, though, I'll tell you that for sure!

This tidbit showed up in my Yahoo email, and I thought it was quite interesting...

Dear Yahoo!:
What is the most common birthday?
David
Denver, Colorado

Dear David:
We found several references to this question on the Web, all pointing to the same source: a survey of 12,576 Americans conducted by Anybirthday.com.
Answers like this one from the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star cite the study's finding of October 5 as the date the most people (in the U.S., anyway) are born. The 2001 report claims approximately 968,000 living Americans entered the world on that date. (The original web page announcing these results is no longer online, but we oh-so-cleverly queried the Internet Archive Wayback Machine and found it.)

So why October 5? Just a random date? Perhaps, but Anybirthday has a theory: To be born on this date, a baby would most likely have been conceived on New Year's Eve.

The survey also found May 22 to be the least common birthday. As yet, no guesses as to what it is that happens in late August (nine months prior to that date) that routinely turns so many people off. Perhaps it's just too darn hot?

Any October 5th birthday babies out there?

NANOWRIMO update

I'm still doing that Nanowrimo thing. I think I posted about it a while ago, didn't I? It's a web based support group thingy for people who want to be writers (hobbyist or professional) to help them churn out the great american novel. Nanowrimo -- NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth -- is a challenge to write 50,000 words during the month of November. I believe that the idea is to write the words, and then worry about how good they are later. So that's what I'm doing. The novel I'm writing is actually a memoir about the problems with Frankie's health (my oldest son) over the last year.

As of today I'm up to 15,000 words, which I think is pretty good. My goal is to do 2,500 words a day. (Before vacation, the goal was 2,000 words a day, but I've gotten behind.)

I would love to be a professional writer. (Being paid for ANYTHING would be a good idea.) The memoir isn't really my first choice for the great american novel that I would LIKE to write, but it is a pretty interesting story to ME, so I'm writing that one.

It's hard for me to judge, though, if it is going to be an interesting story. Everyone always likes to talk about themselves, so of course I'm enjoying writing it, and I think it's interesting. And maybe other people who know Frankie will find it interesting. It's certainly more of a "tell all" than the Frankie Report website was, because I convinced Frankie that no one was going to want to read it that was his age -- compared to the web site, which I know that some of the kids in his school could have had access to. Like I said to him -- kids his age hate to read anyway, and the only way they would ever get access to this "book" thingy is if I actually SELL it, and then it would be making money so why would he mind? He loves money.

I'm doing the book in my word program on my home computer, it's not out circulating on the web. I need to get the 50,000 words down in November first, then in December I need to make sure the story is complete and then try to make sure the words are GOOD words and not just bulky.

Wish me luck! I'll let y'all know when it's available for reading, if you are interested!

Busy busy busy!

So, I get back from vacation, and I still don't have time to post much. I've gotta catch up on everything I didn't get to for the last week -- not to mention, Christmas is breathing down my neck already! And before I can decorate, I really should clean a little!

Sparkling Commentary

Don't you hate pictures from other people's vacations???

Oh, sure, I know you do, but MY pictures are so BEAUTIFUL... :)

(OK, Just humor me!)

The family and I went on a 5 day trip to St. Thomas. We left Monday and returned Friday. We pretty much did nothing but veg out. Well, I did end up cooking several meals, because my older son (affectionately known as "Mr. Picky" because of his eating habits) did not appreciate the cuisine at the local restaurant. It was just as well, though, because it probably ended up saving us a few hundred dollars.



We didn't do much siteseeing, but we did watch every sunset and took pictures of a lot of palm trees and flowers. One day, we took the ferry to St. John's, so we could go to the underwater snorkeling trail at Trunk Bay. Everyone was in the water - ocean and pool - quite a bit. I even went swimming, which is unheard of!

So here are a few more photos...

Wild Life

The Secret Harbour Beach Resort had a lot of wild life -- and I don't mean a swinging bar scene. (They did have a very nice beach front bar, but don't forget, I have a 13 and 16 year old, so we didn't hang out there too much.) They are a nature preserve as well as a resort.

Iguanas were all over the place. They very casually walked up and stared at you. It kinda gave you the willies, but it was very cool. I also saw at least two other types of lizards, pelicans, and hummingbirds. Off shore there was tons of different color fish and corals.

I guess it is safe to assume that any place that has that many kinds of fragile little creatures does NOT spray a lot of insecticide around. The little bugs are food for the little animals. I am food for the little bugs. I must have a good hundred bug bites on my legs alone. I am itching like crazy. The husband and kids are less affected.

The family and I had a great time

I took about a million flower photos

Good Night

My last post for a few days...

I won't be able to check in for the next couple of days. I will post again pretty soon. I know you'll miss my sparkling commentary... but when I post again, I assure you, it should be good!

No soup for you.

Comedy Night

We went to a comedy night show last night -- thanks for the pix, Beth!





The evening started with a drink or two...






Here are some of the girls...






Here is Beth, with the comedian on stage behind her. Yes, we interrupted everything with flash photography.

It was pretty funny. We had a lot of really good food, we stayed in the hotel, and we got tickets for the comedy show, and the hotel had breakfast the next morning. It was a great price.

This is AFTER

I like it fine. Give me your comments! I don't know if it's that much different, but... whatever. The cost was ... significant. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

Before and After, and this is the before pic:

I hope that my hair looks better after... but be honest, let me know what you think after you see the after pic. Lying to me to make me feel better won't be a good thing.

I'm leaving for the salon now.

I'm giving in

I am finally giving in.

I am no longer content to live with my hair the way it is. I never wanted to be the chick who goes to the beauty parlor ever week to have her hair done -- I never believed that looks were all that important. I've changed my mind.

I'm going to the beauty parlor today, an expensive one, because I want to see if it makes a difference in how I feel about how I look. I'm sick of being gray, and I can't seem to fix it on my own. (It keeps growing back, for one thing!) So I'm going to become a regular. (If it works.) And go back every month, whether I need it or not, to have my hair colored and cut. Assuming of course that they do a good job in the first place.

I'm not doing it because YOU care how I look. I'm doing it because I'm sick of looking at MYSELF.

I'll try to post a before and after pic. Think it'll be dramatic?

Peak Leaf peep day!

I am pronouncing today to be the peak autumn leaf day here in Iselin.

After today, all the leaves will have fallen off the trees. Well, maybe not all of them, but alot. And the color has reached its peak today.

And it's a nice cozy day to sit inside and write on the computer, which is the only thing on my schedule for the morning. Well, and maybe work on my painting. And of course I'm not done the laundry. And the floors could use washing. Wait -- the tea kettle is whistling...

November is National Novel Writing Month

National Novel Writing Month kicks off at Nanowrimo, and I've decided to join in. So I can't spend a lot of time writing on the blog -- I've gotta get started writing 50,000 words this month! I wonder how close I'll get? It seems vaguely productive. Still not a paid job, but that's pretty standard for me, isn't it???

Just so you know -- I heard about Nanowrimo at the Crunchybits blog I read occasionally -- http://crunchybits.blogspot.com -- It's worth looking at too!

Traditions that make me fatter

As many of you may know, I live across from the elementary school. Every Halloween, they have a bake sale. Every year, my mother would bake gingerbread men and decorate them for the bake sale. Then, I grew up and I started baking for the bake sale. It was a tradition -- I made the gingerbread men too. Someone else, though, while my boys were small, used to make stacks and stacks of pineapple upside down cakes. They sold really well. So a newer part of the tradition started -- I would buy a pineapple upside down cake, after I baked the gingerbread men.

I lOVE gingerbread men AND pineapple upside down cake. I have everything I need to make them in the pantry. I am also about 30 lbs overweight. BUT IT'S a TRADITION!!!

My boys aren't in elementary school anymore. I will probably be avoiding the costume parade this year, I'll see my aftercare kids in aftercare, and that's plenty. So I can avoid the bake sale. BUT IT's a TRADITION!!!

I think I'll go for a nice long walk today.

Happy Halloween

I'm going as an American Indian. When I tell my kids in Aftercare that, though, they don't always understand what I'm talking about. I have to explain it's kinda like Pocahontas. That they get, because it's a Disney movie. Other than that, there are very few references to American Indians anymore. When was the last time you saw an updated cowboy and indian movie?

I live in my head.

This might sound weird. Or it might sound like it's so obvious, duh, EVERYONE is like that. I don't know. I may be nuts.

I live in my head. My world is almost entirely interior. I have complete conversations with people that never really happen, but could. I get mad at people (especially my husband) because of things that they have said to me during these imaginary conversations. I say things in my head, that I want to say out loud, but that I would never be brave enough to say in real life.

I have great ideas (often that never get acted on.) I have big plans in my head. They never translate to real life.

Do you feel that way too???

Another week

Sunday Night is so depressing. It's almost as bad as Monday morning.

Last year it was better, when Grey's Anatomy was on Sunday night. Now there is nothing on except Extreme Home, and that's on early. We used to watch HBO on Sunday Nights -- wasn't that when Sopranos and Deadwood came on? I haven't checked HBO lately. That might be more fun. Something to do before bed.

This year's TV shows are: Heroes on Monday, Jericho on Wednesday, and Grey's Anatomy on Thursday. Aside from that, I've got a lot of books to read, and there is always the computer to play with. Surfing the web before I found a video of the Top Thrill Dragster Roller Coaster, stuck at the top for a really long time; and a video of a girl building a Ferrari out of knit panels. There is a lot of strange things out there on the web. Strange but fun.

Cub Scout Patch Designs

I just drew two cub scout patch designs for this year's day camp. I think they came out pretty cute. I hope the day camp people like them...

Painting

I've started painting again. I think this winter I'll be doing a lot of art. I have a few murals to work on and the painting I've started for my room. Maybe I'll post a picture of the work in progress later. I'm going to be working on a patch for Cub Scout Day Camp again today, too. They've used my art work in the past on some years.

A wide open day

Nothing is on the calendar for today. It's wide open and I can do whatever. I have so many things I'd like to get done. I hope I can actually get some of them accomplished. So far -- laundry. Not a great accomplishment. It never gets completely finished here.

I'm rather paranoid today.

I hate that hormonal paranoid feeling I get every month. It's summed up quite eloquently by a poem my old Gram used to quote to me,

"Nobody likes me, everybody hates me,
I'm gonna go eat worms."

Gram used to quote quite a few poems. I loved that about her.

Anyway, that's my mood right now, and last night too.
About half the things people say, or don't say, I take offense to.

You aren't off the hook if you don't say anything at all. I get upset then too.

How about this for a vacation idea for next year?

Crater of Diamonds State Park Arkansas - keep what you find in this finders keepers diamond mine ... not a bad way to spend your vacation!

This year's vacations are pretty well planned out already. We have St. Thomas in the fall, LA in the summer, and a 4 day weekend road trip to Cedar Point. Anyone who wants to caravan to Cedar Point with us, let me know!

So maybe Arkansas can be for 2008... We haven't marked that state off on the map yet!

Boy Scout post

I'm so proud of the boys (not mine, but the troop!) -- the few that actually attended the camporee on Saturday came in first place! Of course, my own kids didn't attend the camporee. But I'm proud of the rest of them!

They did really well in orienteering, fire building, and pioneering -- I'm especially proud of the orienteering part, because we worked on that at the last camping trip. I've finally learned orienteering myself. I had to learn it so I could teach it to them. I'm not good at it -- but at least now I have a clue.

So yesterday morning, I also had a small group of kids in Roosevelt Park doing an orienteering course to sign off requirements. Which is nuts because it takes me so long to set up a course, because I don't know what I'm doing, and so my whole weekend ended up revolving around this activity. But it was nice to spend so much time in the park on such a nice weekend. I got a little exercise and fresh air.

ESP :: Terror Behind The Walls

ESP :: Terror Behind The Walls in Philadelphia is a haunted, huge, abandoned old jail! It looks like a REALLY SPOOKY idea for Halloween... Teenagers more than little kids!... maybe we'll try it next year, if it isn't too spooky for us!

Freecycle.com

I'm a subscriber to a site called Freecycle. It's all about people giving their crap to other people who can use it, for free. You can give stuff and you can get stuff.

I pulled so much crap out of different cupboards, trying to get plenty of stuff to sell at a garage sale. Then we didn't have the garage sale. As you may recall, it rained that weekend, and the hangover was even worse.

I can't have a garage sale now because every Saturday morning is booked, and by the time those appointments run out, it'll be too cold. So I put the whole lot on freecycle and I'm hoping someone comes by to pick it up today. Wish me luck!

My Sister is an INSPIRATION...

She has finally updated her blog! So even though I have nothing much to say, I'm updating mine too.

My job is great. I'm working in Aftercare. The kids are really lovely. A little too possessive at times -- I feel like I'm the rope in a tug of war. The other aides are really nice, and the teacher who runs it is very professional and sensible, which is great. I always thought that my boys would hate going to aftercare, and I felt bad for the kids there. But really, half the time the kids don't even want to leave when the parents come pick them up. Lately in aftercare we've been doing jumprope (I turn) and drawing with chalk on the playground, and inside we do homework and make ghosts out of old gauze pads that aren't sterile anymore. (Not used, just not sterile.) I work a few hours a day, and it's been just about perfect. (Not much money though.)

My house is a mess. Not surprising, because I spend so much time playing on my computer. Here it is, almost 10 AM, and I haven't even gotten up from the key board to get dressed yet.

Today is the day I actually get something done. So I'll talk to ya later.

OH YEAH -- If you want to comment my posts, I turned off the word verification thingy.

Good book, not so good book...

Two books I've been reading this week...
"Behind the Scenes at the Museum" by Kate Atkinson, copyright 1995 -- National Bestseller, Whitbread Book of the Year, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year -- so far, not so good. Interesting, yes. Great? Not to me, not so far. But I'm only like 2/3 of the way through, so I'll keep slogging on and let you know. So far it's about a little girl (she actually starts narration while she is an embryo) and her family and family history. A lot of detail.

Previous book, finished this week -- "Crofton's Fire" by Keith Coplin, copyright 2004. Recommended by my Dad. Lots less detail, more action. Less words per page. Less deep. But really makes you think. It starts out with Crofton, a member of the US Cavalry and graduate of West Point, watching Custer get massacred. His unit was a support unit and knew they couldn't do anything about it. Continues with him keeping peace in Texas and then watching Zulus get massacred by the British in Africa. Ends back at West Point. Less detail... but to me, it was quite impressive. I'm still not even sure why.

Mind you, I like a lot of detail. I love to pick the biggest books on the shelf and read those. But I'm just not into picking it apart this week.

My hobby night... Tuesday Night Scout meeting

Yeah, it's sad, but Boy Scouts is my favorite hobby. Most of my best friends are in Scouts -- pretty much everybody at least USED to be in scouts, even if they've dropped out. But these photos from summer camp pretty much says it all about why I love it.


Look how happy Nicky is! The boys have so much fun, and they are fun to watch.


Look at this scenery! This was Rodney in Maryland. We had the most beautiful site, right on the bay! The nature is so pure at most Scout camps. The bugs are even prettier and more extreme -- but still great.

I'm gonna miss summer camp next year!

Almost Election Day

Ok, I really do like John McCormac, I think he'll make a great mayor. He has been a friendly acquaintance for many years now, he always is pleasant, just a great guy. He was an Eagle Scout and he's REALLY smart. He also happened to be the State Treasurer for McGreevy. NOT THAT THERE IS ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT :)

I definitely want to support his campaign any way that I can, and I told him so. I thought about helping stuff envelopes or something (just never have time to.) I also told him to put a sign on my lawn.

So we had a little sign, the usual campaign sign, until this morning. Just now, I looked out, and we had been given a new sign.

I'm fine with it, mind you -- I just think it's SO FUNNY... it's almost the same size as the back of my truck... it's HUGE!

So anyway, vote for John.

The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Just so you know. I am tirelessly searching for the meaning of life. In fact, the search may be the meaning of my life.

So here is a link to the answer.

I need to read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy again.

Howdy

It's a beautiful sunny Saturday. Just a nice chill in the air.

I'm going to see Beth and the girls (and Lief) this evening. I should probably clean the house a bit first.

I just finished reading Amy Tan's book, Saving Fish from Drowning. It was good, very interesting. I didn't really "feel" the theme as well as I have from other books though. The deep meanings were hovering around the edge of my mind like the ghost in the story, but I couldn't quite grasp it. I can't say that was because of a lack of skill of the author, because after all it is Amy Tan we're talking about here. It might very well have been a lack of focus on my part. Anyone else read the book? What did you think?

Love -n- Diamonds

Love -n- Diamonds is Sandi's new blog. For all the rest of you out there, blog in and comment her -- and start a blog of your own too! Besides that, everybody get a myspace and comment me!

I have to get dressed and get moving and I don't feel like it.

What's happening today?

Today is pretty calm so far. I have tons of stuff I oughta do and doubt I get to. Laundry is high on that list. I also need to go food shopping. I hate that. I've been avoiding it. I've also been thinking about exercising again, maybe starting walking again (for the millionth time) but I never seem to get around to it. If I stall long enough, it will be too cold and I'll end up waiting until spring! So far, I've been sitting here at the computer avoiding all the things I oughta do.

I work aftercare at 3:30, and we have Scouts tonight. So that's just the usual schedule.

Great Adventure yesterday --

I went to Great Adventure with the kids yesterday. It was a beautiful day and I sat around with the Moms -- Ellen Silva, Sean's mom, and Michelle Booth, Booth's mom -- while the boys went on every rollercoaster in the park. We lasted until around 5:00 before Frankie bailed out; he couldn't keep going any longer. Ellen and Sean had to come home with us because we drove together, but Michelle and her car lasted til the end of the night.

I'm glad I went home when I did. Frankie felt better after he rested at home for a while but I started feeling sick, I even had a slight temp. Getting started this morning has been difficult, but I'm finally moving now.

Frank and Jimmy in Atlantic City

They did well, although I haven't heard any actual numbers. Frank said they won more than they lost. They played in a Texas Hold'em Tournament, and didn't do that well but had a good time. The whole trip was just a lot of fun, from what Frank said.

Sounds good to me, they should get out and have a good time more often. I just hope I don't check the bank account and find that the money is all gone! :)

Hi everybody!

I'm glad everyone is interested enough in keeping in touch to check in here and comment! If no one writes back it's not as much fun.

Frank is in Atlantic City

with Jimmy, and I am home with the boys.

I think he intends to play a lot of Poker. Do you think he will come home ahead or behind?

Keep in mind that I've shopped quite a bit today with my mother...

Hi Beth and Sandi

I don't know who else I have interested in reading this stuff, but I know Beth and Sandi have checked in! Hi!

It's easy to make your own blog. You just have to follow the directions on the blogspot screen. Everyone -- make a blog and I'll link to it! I'll read yours if you read mine!

Apple and pumpkin picking yesterday

We went apple picking and pumpkin picking -- without Nick, though, because he is a hard working man.
I really like this picture -- it would have been even better if Frankie had turned around. I didn't have much time to take it, though, because if I had asked Frankie to turn around, Sandi would have realized I was taking a pic and ducked out of it.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a picture of my sister? She constantly runs, hides, turns, and puts her hand in front of her face. But HAH! We got one! You look nice, Sandi, I don't know why you are so against it.


Apples were 60 cents a pound.

WARNING -- this may be a very boring blog!

I've enjoyed blogging on The Frankie Report for the last few months. It helped me process everything that was going on and definitely helped me maintain my sanity while Frankie and I were sitting in the hospital.

Now that Frankie is feeling great, and he is pretty much back to normal, I want to keep in touch with anyone that is interested in what is going on -- but I don't want it to be focused on every little detail of his life.

So I thought I would make this blog just to keep in touch with anyone who is still interested. It won't be only about Frankie, it will be about Nick too, and me and Frank and whoever else I'm hanging around with. It probably won't be our deepest darkest family secrets. I still have an editor -- my husband is much too private a person to have me posting everything about our lives.

It runs the risk of being downright boring. I'm not sure it will even work, because if it seems too boring, I won't want to write it, and if it is too much detail, my family won't let me write it. But maybe you'll want to check in once in a while, and consider it casual gossip.

Drop a comment on occasion so I know if anyone is out there!

Welcome to the first new post!