Who's on 44...

SuperBowl XLIV, that is...

So the Bowns will not make it yet again....

But The Who will....

And I can handle that:)

See ya in Miami....

From my living room....

Open Apology

To all my Facebook friends...

All 101 of you...

I love you...all of you...

For being my friend...

Lord knows, I need all the friends I can get.

So what am I apologizing for?...

For totally and consistently ignoring all your requests to send smiles and join causes and play games and join your Mafia wars and beat your high Bejeweled Blitz score and get rich in FarmVille...

I would beat your score you know...in no time at all..I kick butt at those games...

Because once I start to play, I play and play and play all day and all night until I do have the most fertile farm or get the golden nugget...

I may even miss a few days of work to beat the high score if I need to...

Yeah, I get addicted pretty quick...

Which is why I reject your invitations to play....

It really is nothing personal...

But I learned my lesson that one time when I was invited to try a line...

And keep up with the rest of the line-cutters....

Not sure if it is addiction or competitiveness that makes it hard for me to give up things once I start...

But I am not starting again...so quit asking, okay?

Unless, of course, you like rejection.

In that case, ask away:)

The Closer...

Thanksgiving was awesome...

Well, not perfectly awesome because CareBear and KB were in Michigan visiting KB's family and since they have not figured out how to be on two places at once....

LDBoy and his housemates hosted. And what gracious hosts they were...

I made a couple of deserts and applesauce and sweet potato casserole Wednesday.

The plan was to get up early Thursday and get the Turkeys all ready and head to Akron in time to turn roasters on and make green bean casserole and gravy and pudding pie.

But instead I overslept....

Note to self - no matter how bad that earache hurts, avoid taking nightime cold meds at midnight when you want to get up at 6:00 am to prepare for a holiday dinner.


So I just gathered everything I needed and headed to the big house...(aka big stone
mansion LDBoy and housemates are renting in West Akron).

That ended up being the best decision of the week.

When I walked in LDBoy asked which kitchen I wanted to use. I opted for the basement...Great decision...I am on a roll....

So I set up near the industrial sized oven with the industrial sized fridge and freezer behind me and the awesome industrial sized counterspace.

And for the next three hours I sipped on wine and listened to holiday music piped in from somewhere...

And prepared turkeys and casseroles and desserts....and used the oven they had never even turned on before....

And NinjaAnnie was working in the upstairs kitchen making apple pie and pumpkin roll and cauliflower casserole and a mac n cheese casserole...

While LDBoy and RJ and Spike catered to our every need and kept or wine glasses topped off and set a beautiful table....

Me: Who folded the napkins?
Spike: Me.
Me: When and where did you learn to do that?
Spike: Five minutes ago - I googled it.

And after I was done cooking, I had my choice of powder rooms to freshen up in...

Hmmm, the jacuzzi room or the party shower room...it was a tough choice, especially sine I was short on time and could not enjoy the facilities as they were meant to be enjoyed...

When the guests arrived, the hosts made me proud. I love those guys.

Fiends and family together for a beautiful Thanksgiving Dinner...

Thank you, LDBoy, RJ, and Spike.

We'll be back for Christmas:)

I may just stay after Christmas...

Take my time checking out all the amenities...

Move on in...

I'll be discreet, you'll never know I'm there....

Especially since Boa and I get along ok...

LDboy: Ok, guys...the relatives have been here 3 hours now.
Spike: Yeah, how do we get them to leave?
LDBoy: RJ, what are you doing?
RJ: Hey, has anyone seen Boa?
Grandma: Who's Boa?
RJ: The 7-ft snake that was in that tank by the wall...
Grandpa: He got out????
Spike: Calm down everyone...he's here on the couch.
Grandma: It's way past my bedtime...
Grandpa: We need to go...
RJ: He looks hungry...
Dad: I'll get the car.

Boa, the closer.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am Thankful for so many things...

Today and Everyday...

If you know me at all you know that my kids are my most precious blessing...

I am also thankful for my extended family....

And for my many friends....

My friends are the family that I have found along the way:)

But rather than get all mushy - I'll leave that to the potatoes and applesauce -

I just want to say....

May your stuffing be tasty

May your turkey be plump,

May your potatoes and gravy

Have never a lump.

May your yams be delicious

And your pies take the prize,

And may your Thanksgiving dinner

Stay off your thighs!

Happy Thanksgiving !!!

Weekend Past Part II

If you read my previous post, you know I did not do a bit of work Saturday....

Which means I really needed to get into the office Sunday to avoid missing the "by the time you get in Monday" deadline I had set for myself.

Note to self: quit setting deadlines that depend on network connectivity and other things outside of your control....

Such as three hour visits to the ER.

Thank you, G-man.

Yeah - football IS over.

Who would have though indoor soccer could get so violent...

G-man joined to soccer teams this session.

One played at 9:00 AM Sunday Morning. I met G-man at the field as he spent the night at a friend's.

And I sorta got the feeling that if he would have gotten hurt during that 9:00 AM game, he would have felt no pain.

He looked as if he had been up playing ping-pong most of the night.

After that game, I headed to work and then met him back at the field for a 5:00 PM game.

I debated missing that game as I was rolling along pretty good at work.

But after 5 hours of Sunday at the office, I figured I deserved a break.

I got a longer break than expected.

A few minutes into the game and G-Man collided with another player. I did not see the collision as I was at the other end of the field and some people just do not understand the logistics of sitting on the bleachers rather than standing in front of them and blocking everyone else's view.

In fact, I did not even know it involved G-man, because the next time I saw him - about 2 seconds after I heard the loud crash and felt the vibration of bodies hitting the glass walls - he was still playing the field.

And then I saw the ref tell him to leave the field - or at least that is what he seemed to be saying. I am thinking he got carded for playing so rough.

I head down to see what was going on - as he is heading to the concession stand.

Me: What happened?

Him: Nothing.

Me: Why'd you come out of the game?

Him: The ref told me to.

Me: You're bleeding....

Him: Oh yeah. He said I was bleeding.

Me: Are you okay?

Him: Yeah, I'm fine.

Me: Your nose is bleeding and your lip looks split.

Him: Yeah, I need ice from the concession stand.

Me: Did you hit your head on the wall.

Him: I don't know.

Me: You don't know??? I know you have a hard head, but didn't you feel it hit.

Him: What???? I need to get back in there.

And with that he went back into the field.

Not to play - thank you Coach Rick.

Oh he did try to play again, but Coach pulled him right back off. Of which he still has no recollection.

After the game, he was pretty quiet but said he was fine and was going to heat to Life teen at the church.

I followed him because I was not so sure he was fine.

He made it to the church ok and I headed back to work.

That was a mistake. The network had slowed down to a creepy crawl.

It took a good half hour for my system to boot up and then I my cursor was having a tough time keeping up with my 5 word per minute lightning fast keyboarding skills.

Within an hour I was so frustrated I was contemplating just shutting down and heading home...

Then the call came.

This is NurseC. I help at Life Teen and I am heading to the ER with G-man. He is not right. Tell me something I don't know.

Do you want to meet us there? Contemplation over...I'm outta here - thank you G-Man.

Three hours later, a CT scan, an x-ray, a prescription for an antibiotic for the split lip, a visit from a priest in case he needed last rites (not funny, Father Andy)...

Your son is fine, Phillipia. It is just a concussion...

The x-ray showed that nothing is broken in his face.
The CT scan found his pea-size brain and it is in tact.
Give him a few days to come to his senses - call us if he doesn't...
Oh...and you can wake him up every couple hours just to annoy him if you want...

Oh, it was a fun couple hours after that,

Ames and I took turns messing with ConcussionBoy.

Me: Wasn't that a great dinner before the game?

ConcussionBoy: What dinner?

Me: I made your favorite shrimp and pierogies.

Ames: And I made you homemade chocolate chip cookies.

ConcussionBoy: Really?

Me: What did you do with the $50 dollars I gave you for gas money.

ConcussionBoy: I don't know...did I get gas???

Ames: You always get gas...

ConcussionBoy: Did you give me lunch money for this week, too?

Me: Don't tell me you lost it already...

ConcussionBoy: Did we win the game?

Me: you scored, remember? for the other team....

ConcussionBoy: No way!

Ames: They kicked you out of the game.

ConcussionBoy: Were you there?

Ames: The whole time.

Back to reality....

Weekend Past Part I

I have been extremely busy at work.

There is so much that needs done before the end of the year.

I have been working late every night and more than a few hours on the weekends.

I was suppose to take a few vacation days this month, but there is so much to do that it would not be a very relaxing vacation...

So I'll just put those off til next month - or next year....

But in between work I do find time to relax and/or spend time with the family.

Some of that relaxing time is with the family.

Some of the family time is relaxing.

Saturday afternoon CareBear and KB visited with my granddog Taz and we watched the Buckeyes kick Michigan's Blue Butt...Go Bucks!!! Sorry, KB - not!

And CareBear and I baked mint brownies...

Twice...

We were not paying attention when we whipped up the first two batches and mixed up the amounts of oil and water....

I am sure the two bottles of wine we were sharing had absolutely nothing to do with our little mix-up.

Then we made some cheesecake.

We mixed some mini chocolate chips in some Philladelphia Cream Cheesecake Filling and spooned it into Keebler Graham Cracker crusts.

And we did it right the first time.

Yay us.

It was a Mom and daughter bonding Saturday afternoon.

As KB watched from the living room, shaking his head.

But he did eat the cheesecake.

And he liked it.

As did my Mom and Dad.

Mom and Dad joined us for dinner.

I am lucky in that my parents are still fairly healthy and can still drive short distances - or long distances if they are going somewhere they want to be - like a church service on the other side of the state.

Neither have symptoms of dimentia yet...

Although when you meet my Dad for the first time, it is easy to confuse his storytelling personality for a progressive case of dimentia. He likes to tell you the same story over and over again and again just in case you did not get what he was saying the first 60 times.

But that's okay; we have learned to deal with his story telling in small doses. We just take turns listening and acting like it is the first time we are hearing it.

Because no matter how many times you tell him you heard the story before, he does not hear that and feels the need to re-tell it - over and over again.

Yeah, that explains why CareBear and I were imbibing earlier in the day. We were preparing for family time:)

My parents mean well and we love them and enjoy their company - especially when fully loaded.