A Moment on the Lips....

The leaves aren't the only things a-changin' around here; big changes are a-happenin' on the homefront. Today I finally committed to re-joining the girl gym, Lady of America, which is about 5 minutes from my house. I just decided to do it, just like the Nike commercial advises. Or used to advise. The decision was spurred along in part from this health survey we can choose to take at work, doing so entitled me to a $150 credit on our health care costs. So I took it last week and the results should have come as no surprise, but it's always eye-opening to actually see it in print. I'm below-average in the overall health category for my age. Drat. Pretty much in part to my lack of any extra-curricular activity that doesn't involve the sofa. When I was single and had my house, I worked out all the time in the basement, it was all set-up with the treadmill and whatnot. Now that is disassembled in the garage and the exercise bike that's in the "sound studio" portion of our house (ckn - commonly known as - the dining room in most other people's houses) somehow lost it's tension settings upon the move and I'm just not inspired to use it without a random interval challenge. So I do nothing instead. Until today! I'm an official Lady of America member, and I committed to going 2Xweek for a consecutive 10-week span, which will save me a dollar per month. We all know how I like to save a dollar!

Anyway, I was all geared up to work out, and she informed me they were closing in 20 minutes, which confused me because the decals on the window in the front listed the Saturday hours as 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. and it was 12:20 p.m. The gal told me that it didn't say that, at which point of course we had to walk to the front and look (I couldn't let that one go) and she said, "Huh. Those must be summer hours. We're closing at 1:00." So. It seems posted hours don't matter, if the person working has something going on and wants to get the hell outta there. Twenty minutes was actually plenty, I did the elliptical and would have passed out if I had been allowed to go any longer. It probably saved my life, being "forced" to quit early.

After, Kenny and I headed to Parmatown, he wanted Sakkio Japan's famous Teriyaki Chicken for lunch and I - hold on, this next statement is going to come as a surprise - needed to make a return. Yes, I know, that's unusual for me. I purchased some makeup from Prescriptives back in August and I just don't like it (and it was pricey). I may be close to my "out of time to return" but was going to give it a shot. Well, the Macy's at Parmatown doesn't sell Prescriptives, only the Great Northern and Strongsville's stores carry that line. So my return attempt was moo (Friend's reference).

While we were malling (yes, I've turned a noun into a verb), I happened upon some friendly folks at the T-Mobile counter and I believe we're getting new phones. They give you a pretty decent credit towards your cancellation fees with our other contract, we got to take 2 new phones home with is for a 14-day trial period and, if all goes well, it's a one year contract vs. two years. Not to mention we'll save $30ish dollars per month vs. my Verizon bill. There's always a catch with the stuff, but the most compelling reason to change is that we get NO RECEPTION at home on our cellphones. Calls drop as soon as we pull in our driveway, and Verizon has been unsuccessful with fixing the problem. So far, we have a good signal in the driveway and house. I still haven't figured it all out yet, that will take some time. I am going to try and sell my old phone, it's a Samsung and was quite pricey, but I've never really loved it. I can't quite figure out how to put my photos as wallpaper on this new one, that better work or it's going back. So that was a random decision, but hopefully we'll be much happier and actually be able to use our phones in the house - imagine that.

I've had some busy past few weeks, catching up with a bunch of people and reconnecting. It's been fun, I had lunch with a girl who was my BFF during the school years. We've drifted, even though she just lives in Columbia Station, but our lives have different paths and hers is full of kids, which makes her even busier than me. Her days and evenings are filled with obligations, while mine is basically just the daytime work obligation, with evenings free to gad about town.

I met my friend Brenda (well, she was my mom's friend, but mine, too) for lunch at Olive Garden last weekend, it was fun catching up with her. She and her husband start their winter flock to Florida next week and I wanted to squeeze in a visit with her before she migrates. I enjoy her company so much, the time flies by and we ended up sitting til we were both stiff in the knees. I talked so much, my lips needed fanned down to keep 'em from bursting into flames. I wish them safe travels and perhaps I'll take a timeout and go down there and visit this winter for a few days, a nice good-for-the-girl-soul trip. It would be awkward, however, to go there and not see my father, but I can't feel guilty about everything. I get enough of that from Sophie, intentional or not.

It was a very big week - I finally got the revised Deferred Compensation agreement signed and sent to the Ohio Pension people. Fucksteve finally quit dicking around. Hooray!! I'm finally, 100% done with that worthless fatass human being. Those words sound harsher than I feel, I couldn't care less about him at all anymore actually. It's just fun to call him names, because, well, he is fat and he doesn't have a strong moral character so why not. But really, I'm just relieved to have all of that settled. Chapter closed.

Very few folks have heard about this (folks that I've talked to, anyway), but the Cinemark in Valley View (where Kenny works) will be showing the Garth Brooks concert via satellite on November 14th. He's performing in Kansas City for a week, and the show on the 14th will be beamed to select movie theaters and tickets to see it "live" were only $10 each. Of course we snapped up 6 of them, a couple of other couples are going with us, and I'm very excited about the whole thing. It will definately be something a little different to do and I'm happy that I have a boyfriendie who loves Garth even more than I do - he didn't hesitate to grab up the tickets. We're going to make an evening of it, with dinner before the show. I'm excited, our friends Dan & Bev and Kim & Jim are joining us. My friend Joanne from work might come, too - it will be one big festivus! I asked Kenny if it was sold out yet, and he said that his friend Chris - who works in the ticket booth - hadn't even heard about this yet. They have done a piss-poor job of advertising, to say the least. Good for me, I'll get better seats.

Jill and I have tickets to see Keith Urban on November 9th. We're working on our relationship - maybe WE need couples counseling :). Course, it didn't work for me and Fucksteve, so I don't put much stock in that. I think we'd be better off with just a few cocktails and a heart-to-heart. And that would be more fun, too!

I have big plans for some house cleaning tonight, after I fuck off on the computer for a while longer. All the cats are in serious nap-mode, and it's well into the early evening. They are lazy little felines.

Yesterday there was a great episode of Survivorman; Les was deserted in the Kalahari Desert and had to fend for himself with little more than some bags, chocolate, a couple of vessels (look at my big word here!), some disgusting peanut butter and some knives. He faced dehydration, scorpions, the heat, the cold and some venomous cobras. He made some water by peeing in a hole he dug out in the sand, peeing around a cup, covering it with plastic and weighting it down with sand. Condensation formed as the pee evaporated and he captured it in the cup. He also ate a scorpion kabob, sans stingers. I think Les would be the perfect date. There is absolutely NOTHING that man won't put in his mouth, and I am sure he is even a butthole licker. He's not scared of anything on his lips. If he didn't do all of that - and then some - I would be pretty worried about my "situation" down there. He'll drink water made from pee, eat scorpions and locusts - he better be getting down there and getting into it all. So. If anything happens to Kenny, I'm going after Les. Kenny knows this and okays the plan.

And with that, I bid you adieu and wish you another fine week.

Peace!

Cheating

So I'm cheating today and just posting my speech that I wrote for Toastmasters this past week. Speech went pretty well, still need to get more comfortable and rely less on notes, but overall pretty good.

It seems you can't turn on the television or read a magazine these days without the words "green," "carbon footprint" and "eco-friendly" leaping from the headlines. Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth really brought the issues of global warming to the forefront and made it hard to ignore our own wanton waste. We're repeatedly reminded that we have a moral obligation to make changes to our daily routine to help slow global warming. But what changes can we reasonably be expected to make that will have an impact on the climate?

Well, luckily for me, I have spent 40 years and learned a lot with the most eco-friendly person I know: My 90 year old grandmother, Sophie. Sophie's been "green" long before Al Gore invented it. And Sophie didn't need some documentary to teach her how to conserve. She learned to conserve from the toughest teacher of all time: The Great Depression. Sophie learned to reduce, reuse and recycle because they just didn't have anything to waste.

Depression-era lessons in conservation have stuck with Sophie throughout her lifetime, in spite of the fact that she now has plenty of money to afford a few luxuries. Today I will be sharing some of the recommendations from "the experts" as well as Sophie's take on how to really make an impact on the environment.

One simple change the experts recommend for reducing the impact on global warming is switching out our regular light bulbs for compact flouresents. Sophie's the master of electricity conservation. Turning off the lights and electronic devices when not in use is a given – it doesn't even warrant a discussion. Sophie's rules don't allow electronic devices to even be turned on before noon. No –sir- eee. You can use the natural morning light to see just fine. And there is absolutely nothing you need to see on television before the news comes on at noon. It was just too bad that The Price is Right came on at 11:00. Even Bob Barker didn't justify wasting electricity. Sophie wasn't going to be making the electric companies rich. Little did she know that she was also saving thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide waste along with saving pennies.

Another recommendation for reducing carbon emissions is a simple adjustment to your thermostat. Turning your thermostat down 2 degrees in the winter and up 2 degrees in the summer can save 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Sophie has saved enough each season to represent a small town. In the winter she walks around the house with a babushka on her head and layer upon layer of fleece clothing. If she's cold, she adds another layer and never considers turning up the heat. It took a few threats and the words "nursing home" thrown into a conversation last winter to get her to move the thermostat up from the 58 degrees it was set on. As she argued time and time again with me, "Dolly Girl, I just don't want to make those damn gas companies any richer."

Now, on the other side of the coin, she refuses to turn on her central air in the summer. As you all remember, we had some scorching days last summer and I called her on one of the particularly hot days to see how she was faring in the heat. It was 96 degrees and at least a 2000% humidity level and I asked her if she had her air on, knowing the answer even before she spoke. "Dolly, I have a fan and it's doing a fine job keeping me cool." I'm sure blowing that hot humid air around the room was really cooling things off, but the Polar Bears and Penguins thank her for protecting the ice caps. While Sophie melts in her living room from the heat, she can have a clear conscious that she's not contributing to the melting of the glaciers in the Arctic. And she's not making the electric companies rich, either.

Lastly, a third simple tip for the good of the environment is to Use Less Water. The experts suggest to run the washing machine with a full load every time, and washing on the cold or warm water setting saves about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. That's nothing compared to what I learned growing up. Trips to the bathroom warranted the reminder "if it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down." We were encouraged to use less water by eliminating any needless flushing. Gallons upon gallons of water have been saved over the years from this simple rule. Not so good was seeing a daily dose of pee in the toilet if I had to use the bathroom, and I got yelled at more than once for flushing both before I used the toilet and after.

Sophie's efforts in conservation have had less to do with the environment and more to do with her pocketbook. Regardless of the reasons, her ideas have sunk in.

I find myself turning off lights as I leave a room, shutting off the water when I brush my teeth, and keeping my thermostat about 2 degrees away from total comfort in both the summer and the winter.
Knowing that I'm helping to slow down global warming and making my own carbon footprint just a little bit smaller gives me a sense of satisfaction that I'm meeting my moral obligations to do so. And saving a few cents along the way doesn't hurt, either.

Maybe you'll find one of these ideas to help the environment and slow global warming helpful, too – be it Sophie's old-school suggestions or the less radical tips from "the experts." Sophie's spent a lot of years on this earth and I do know one thing. Had she received the proper recognition for all her conservation efforts during the past 90 years, she would have stolen the vote for the Nobel Peace Prize right out from under Al Gore's nose!

Falling

How many weeks have I been back from vacation now? Seems like forever ago. It's been hard to get back into the groove and I was waylaid by some type of bug that had me missing 2 days of work this past week. I'm sure it had something to do with the recycled germs on the plane or something caught from the myriad of cruisefolk. Still worth it, though.

So it's been a weird couple of weeks to say the least.

We visited our friend Dan this weekend, he had knee replacement surgery a week ago and came home from the VA on Thursday. He's my real-life hero. He lost part of a leg in Vietnam when he stepped on a landmine and now his remaining "good" knee failed him. Life is not for sissies. I don't claim to know much about the Vietnam war, but it's often likened to the Iraq war going on today. I see that. What are we doing there exactly? I'm not sure. All I know is that our good people are going and fighting and doing as they're told, and for that I offer them my support and unending loyalty. I don't claim to have the answers or solutions to any of it, but I stand behind our troops - past and present - and thank them for doing a job I'm fortunate enough to have never had to do. Dan's my hero because he came back home and made another chapter in his life after all that. That's strength and courage.

So anyway, I digress. Dan's doing incredible, he's up and walking around already and said the only bad part of the whole ordeal was he opted for a nerve block rather than anesthesia. He said he was doing fine until they started up the saw. Maybe something to consider if anyones having surgery - a nerve block doesn't block out sounds, and there's just some things you might not want to hear.

Kenny and I made our holiday plans. We're going to be visiting Uncle Caesar over Thanksgiving and our Aunt Paris for New Year's Eve. They're always happy to see us!

My grandmother Sophie mentioned a butcher shop in Euclid that has supposedly substantial savings on meat, she's seen it advertised on the television. She's mentioned more than once that she'd like to get some chicken from there, but it's not exactly around the corner from me - or her! I finally called them today to see just how good the savings are, and they do warrant a trip out there to check it out. I wanted to make sure that I'm not spending $20 in gas to save Sophie $2. Which is basically what it will be anyway, regardless of the savings offered on chicken thighs. By the time I drive 30 minutes further East to Euclid and drive the "bargains" an hour West back out to her, it will be a half a day and a tank of gas in my guzzling SUV. But that doesn't matter, you'd have thought I had reached into the heavens and handed down the Christmas Star to her when I called her back and told her I'd make the pilgrimage next Saturday for her. They have broccoli for 39cents a bunch. Who can pass that up?

I've been busy writing a speech for Toastmasters on Tuesday. I've been struggling with a topic and have concluded that basically I'm a crap-ass writer and have no business even thinking of writing a book. It's HARD to write and make sense. Finally, around 11:00 last night, I branched off onto an entirely new topic and whipped something up. I decided to write about Sophie, how she's been 'green' long before Al Gore invented it. We'll see how it goes on Tuesday. I just don't feel very creative lately, I have writers block. I loosened the block with a half bottle of wine last night, and that seemed to help. If I ever do write a book, I'll be a full-fledged alcoholic by the time I'm done. By the way, I do have a first paragraph down, Rob. I dedicated myself to doing something, good or bad, because I haven't forgotten my vow to you. I will have something typed before the end of the year! It may suck, but it will be something.

Other than that, I purchased a new DVD, "Anyone Can Dance," to teach myself some groovin' moves so I can tear up the dancefloor when we go out. Because, ya know, we do that so often ~~insert sarcastic tone here~~. But anyway, I figured I'd teach myself a few smooth moves in the privacy of my living room and then delight the crowds in some imaginary disco. Well, there is officially no Black Blood in my genes. I have so little rhythm, I'm surprised I can get the movements down to even fuck. I'm rhythmless when in the vertical position. I'm going to keep trying, but I have very little confidence in spite of the encouraging title.

That's my ramblings for the week. Peace and do something that makes ya want to get your own groove on!

News Not About Me

WELCOME TO THE GREAT, BIG WORLD

Clementine Grace Diamond-Ortiz!

Born: September 22nd, 2007

5:14 pm Weight: 7lbs 12oz Length 19in.

That name just may have her swinging from poles in clear heels :) it's wrong to use the words "sexy" and "newborn" in the same sentence, but that name plus that face = Emilio and Anastasia, you will have your work cut out for you, keeping the boys away from this little sweetpea!

Congratulations!! I got Anastasia and Emilio couch cushions for a baby shower gift - how cool is that!

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In even more news not about me, Congratulations are in order for Mimi, who accepted a new position at AG - long overdue!

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Now, back to me! In case you missed the trip report, it's in the prior post :)

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

Honey, you taste like fish.....

Welcome back from vacation to me! Since there is just absolutely too much to write about, here's a brief with some photos of the fun we had. Here's a pic of our ship, Liberty of the Seas, docked in Cozumel. She was big - I never even saw many of the features/activities she offered.

Our trip basically circled Cuba, we were always about 90 miles away from it.

Picture above is from 7 Mile Beach in Grand Caymen.

Saturday, the 22nd: Flying into Miami via American Airlines, about 35 people were on our flight - little 3-seat across number



Kenny was instructed to make sure I didn't look too fat in this photo. Somehow he gave me magically huge tits:

Got acquainted with the Ship, found "our spot" at the Let it Ride poker table, had a nice dinner with our friends at the Main Seating (6:00) time in the dining hall.

Our room was really lovely, future trips will require a balcony. Geri would still hate this trip and the room. They're pretty snug, but I adapt okay to it. The rooms were actually better on this trip than last year, slightly bigger overall (probably due to the upgrade to the balcony), but the showers were better because they had curved sliding doors rather than the gross fabric curtains which I hate touching me - skeeves me out, to think of how many/who's butt that fabric curtain has clung to before mine.

Loved my room with a balcony! The stateroom attendant brought me in a lounge chair from the pool area so I could totally lounge and relax - and drink the champagne that my friends Joanne and Melanie had waiting for us upon our arrival!

What's not to love about this view??


Happy to be sailing.

Sunday

Spent the day at sea, which I love as much as being in a port of call. Got acquainted with the casino and the bartenders, who we considered friends by the end of the trip. In fact, I think we spent more time with them than we did the folks we travelled with! But they have a baby (3 years old and cute as a button, but still....) so we were on different agendas.

Here she is, Little Leia giving us her special "smile" - she squinches up her eye and gives a Popeye grin! Her grandma Vaso kept telling her not to smile, to say "cheese" instead!

Kenny gave me his own special grin:

As luck, literally, would have it, Kenny won the progressive jackpot one night early in the trip on a nickle Deal or No Deal machine - $2,233!! He had sat down next to me to wait for a beer, slipped in a $20 and won A Major Award! Course, that's always tough to hold on to in the beginning of a trip....lots more nights to be spent in the casino. Suffice it to say, by the middle of the trip he had achieved High Roller status, which allotted a couple of polo shirts and more importantly, free alcohol in the casino. Course, by that time we had a massive bar bill already established. We like to drink and gamble. It is what it is.

Monday

Tendered in Labadee, Haiti

Labadee was beautifully landscaped, it's owned by Royal Caribbean:

Some local flavor greeted us with a Jamaican beat:

Dragon's Beach - notice the rocky conditions leading to the water. We heard a lot of "ouches" and of course it's the day I didn't bring my water shoes. Made for some painful swimming around.

Bought some Voo-Doo dolls from a Haitian vendor. I have plans for those things :) They even schooled me in the right way to use them for good vs. evil. Kenny purchased a Panama Jack hat, have to keep the sun from scorching his lily-white skin.

We lounged and indulged in the special island drink, a Laba-dabba-doozie which was one of my favorite cocktail blends. Enjoyed a beachside barbecue compliments of Royal Caribbean, which included some fabulous jerk chicken - yum!

Tuesday

Montego Bay, Jamaica

A very scenic ride from the pier to the activity area - we passed this jail which was run down/slummy. Maybe this is the way to inspire the tourists to be on their best behavior. We also passed a few open-air jeeps loaded up with men in camos sporting machine guns - slightly unsettling on vacation. Picture a scene from Blood Diamonds. No, I didn't risk taking a photograph, I may well have ended up with a room on the island.

Towards the end of the day a really cool storm rolled into the island. We felt a bit of rain as we shipped out.

Life in Montego Bay is very bustling and crowded:

We spied, and Kenny correctly identified this big black mound growing in the trees in Jamaica: Termites! Unfortunately, we've become experts at recognizing their habitats. The black lines trailing up the tree limbs are their "tunnels" and they live in the big mounds. They were doing the same thing with our garage....

A bit of a dirty island, not much offered other than beach, shit-shopping (which all islands are chock-full of and we avoid as we have enough shit), and Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville. We opted for that option and took the island shuttle. It was fabulous, situated right on the water and had a very leisurely pace. Local flavors. In this case, Peach!

Parrot Heads:

Blue, blue waters:

Pretty, tropical colors:

Fire eating talent:

Below are a couple of random shots:

Changes in Latitude...

7 Mile Beach, Grand Caymen - pretty, lacked the much-needed shade

We saw a couple of Stingrays in Grand Caymen:

Part of the state park in Chakanaab in Cozmel, where we swam with the dolphins, Marina and Valery:

Elvis is Second to none on Grand Caymen

Big Orange Iguana Boss, Cozumel. Too scary to try to kiss.

Dolphin kissies are the best!

One of the many dining experiences....

The trip was overall fabulous - with the Dolphin Encounter by far our favorite part. We've already left a deposit for our next vacation - we just need to decide on the "where." Our travel friends are lobbying to turn it into a back-to-back 14 day adventure, which isn't out of the question, but I need to give it some consideration. I do miss my houseful of cats while I'm gone, and I'm sure they miss me. Widda let me know the extent of her disapproval by shitting in the bathroom sink sometime last night. She managed to kick my watch into the sink before she shit for added emphasis. Ah. It's good to be back!

Kickin' It

Friday night we 'kicked it' with Kenny Crumpton at the Put-n-Bay bar in Lakewood. It seemed cool, although I don't watch Fox 8 in the morning as that would require me to be an early riser and that isn't the way I roll. Does it still count as a brush with local greatness if I don't recognize him myself? I'm counting it anyway. So there. For those who don't know me, I'm the one on Kenny's left.

Thursday the Product Management girls and I had lunch to celebrate Kristen's birthday. During the course of the conversation, Stefanie (pictured above with me & Kenny Crumpton) and I discovered we'll be on the same cruise! My Kenny is thrilled and expects hot little Stefanie to work those free drinks for us! I don't get free drinks on cruises, they always tell me, "That'll be $5, Ma'am." I get "ma'am ed"; She gets trayloads of free cocktails. So like any good friend, I'm going to use her to my full advantage! Kenny has named his new piece of luggage "Stefanie" - it's a Sirroco Spinner model from Samsonite. He calls it the Stefanie Spinner - it does very smooth 360 turns. Anyway, it is just somehow funny and wrong to call his suitcase Stefanie, but it makes me laugh out loud every time. Twinkle was laying on it this morning, so he officially "mounted Stefanie."

I bought a new coffee yesterday and Kenny just announced it tastes like pussy. Now I'm not sure I can continue drinking it, and of course it's a giant sized can from Sam's Club.

We've been busy this last week and this weekend getting ready for vacation, I'm trying hard to get ahead of the game so I'm not a stressed out nutcase on Friday night. So far I've got a lot done, most of the stocking-up shopping for the pets is done and the few vacation necessity items have already been purchased.

I have some returns I'd like to make, but Kenny is balking at it since one is to Walmart for $2.44. He says that is breaking the returning rules, and it is, but I have the item and the receipt, so why not return it. It's some sucky headbands, they don't stay on the head. He says to just throw them out. I caannnn't. I'd like to, but I couldn't throw $3 in the trashcan, and throwing these away would be the same thing. So today I will travel alone for my return.

Update: I went to make the Walmart return and the line was so long I decided to get my shopping done first and then do the return. I ended up with $52 worth of stuff in my cart while waiting to make my $2.44 return. Line was still too long. I carefully contemplated the cost of my time and decided f- it and went home, with headbands still in hand. Suck. Still have 'em in the car. Should I attempt a return at another time? It will remain to be seen.

Overall it's been a dullish 2 weeks, filled with typical ordinariness. We've seen a few movies, fully utilizing our "free pass" privileges. Last week we saw 3:10 to Yuma, the new Russell Crowe western. It is one of my favorite movies this year, I could even go see it again and I'm not much of a movie-repeater. Last night we saw Jodie Foster's new movie, The Brave One. It was not a feel-good movie, but it was enjoyable in a vigilante kinda way.

Mimi and I started a new exercise campaign this past week. Well, we talked about it and she started it. It's hard for me to commit to starting something with a vacation a week away, I feel I'll get off-track before I even get started. I have some lofty plans for using the gorgeous gym facilities on the ship (how often do you get the chance to elliptical while overlooking the sea?), but in all reality I'll more likely be sleeping late, sipping cocktails and playing bingo/gambling while we're at sea. Maybe not, but it's more probable than my getting up early and hitting the gym on vacation. Stranger things have happened, you just never know how it's going to all go down.

Geri's off to Atlanta for a weekend wedding. They still haven't sold their house and should be getting ready to move into the new place at the end of the month or early October.

Golf season wrapped up and I couldn't be happier. We were in 1st place all season, and then sucked the last couple of weeks and fell into 2nd place, losing out on the trophy. I couldn't even care less (although I would have liked another trophy), because I hated that golf Flight and just wanted to be done playing with them. This will be my last year on the corporate league for a while, next year we're going to try and find a Women's league on a short course and play. Geri, Frannie, myself and another girl Janet are so far in. Should be fun if it's a more friendly crowd and shorter courses. I haven't been able to hit very well the past 2 years, I think my surgery and my back problems have all made for questionable golfing. I would like to go to Arizona in the spring for some lessons, we're going to work on getting that trip lined up. We're hoping to find a place that combines golf lessons and gambling - if all else fails, it's always a good time with Magic Unicorn.

While we're at sea next week I'm going to try and keep the blog updated with our goings-on as we get Internet service. I normally like to send emails from wherever I may be, it's fun to hear from my friendies when I'm so far from home, but updating this site will probably be more effective for saying "hi" to everyone.

Anastasia should be getting ready to burst open with that baby - she's due next week while we're on vacation.

That's all I've got. As I've said, it's been an ordinary past couple of weeks.

Peace and enjoy the beautiful Fall weather!

Purple Socks and Puppy Love

The much-awaited long Labor Day Weekend has arrived, announcing the informal transition from Summer to Fall. For all intents and purposes, it's Fall. Stanley the Grouchy Neighbor has even pulled up half of his garden already, his tomato plants looking as straggly as mine in spite of his consistent watering. Ha, suck-ah! I won't pull mine up until probably after the cruise, they are still producing some tasty treats. I find it interesting that I haven't had one green pepper off the vine and it's September. How long do those damn things take to grow?! Well, it was a garden test I guess, and it didn't turn out to be very profitable or rewarding. But like all things (tanning, fake nails, marriages, fad diets, gym memberships), I'll probably try it again next year. The Optimist persists.


Sunday night brought a 70's flashback, chock full of swooning and girlie yelps for attention as Melinda and I attended the Donny Osmond concert at the Tower City Amphitheater. Donny was the entertainment for the Sunday night Taste of Cleveland weekend event. I called Melinda early Sunday morning to see if she was interested and she didn't even hesitate - she was In like Flynn. Whoever Flynn is. They had a lot of tickets available so Kenny suggested we wait til we got down there to purchase them, on the off chance they had some front-row seats available at the last minute, or better yet some free seats. I didn't see much chance of that happening, but the tickets were $35 with an additional $9.10 for Ticketmaster's handling charge. That's pretty expensive for Donny, but I guess it's the price for Puppy Love. That Puppy's still lookin' pretty doggone good for 50!

As luck would have it, the gal at the ticket counter DID give us free tickets - not front row, but really great seats a few rows back. What are the chances of that happening to me? I thought zilch, and was proven wrong! Kenny had dropped us off down there in between his gigs at the movie theater and the radio show, and then he came back down just in time for the start of the concert. The lady was nice enough to give me 3 free tickets, so we all got to sit together. A woman in the row in front of us was by herself and we got to gabbing and she had to pay for her ticket - she purchased it about an hour earlier than we inquired. Goes to show, just wait an see sometimes if the shows not sold out. He rocked it out for just over an hour. He was tired then. Guess it's harder to put on a long show when you're 50. I wish he would have came out in a white jumper, the likes of which he wore back in the day - that would have been classic! He did play some of his old records, which was fun, and he had a lot of snapshots on the big screens of the Osmonds back in their hayday - what a flashback! Plaid vests, Elvis-type jumpsuits, paisley shirts - just all-over loud clothing. He wore normal (aka boring) stuff this go-round.


So we Tasted Cleveland and listened to Donny. The very best part of the night was when I got carded buying beer! That's twice in the last month. I think those microdermabrasion treatments must be working. That, or it was getting dark out and she had poor eyesight.

I found this sign amusing:

It says ATTENTION: MOSHING MAY TAKE PLACE. BE AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS. MOSHING AND ENTERING A MOSHING AREA MAY BE DANGEROUS & IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I was glad for the warning, because when that Mosh Pit opened up during the Donny O concert and I entertained the thought of body surfing, that warning came to mind and I JUST SAID NO to moshing. Might have saved my life, or at the very least a few teeth. Those old ladies were wild. Many of them were waving around their Donny dollies they had purchased from the Marie Osmond collection and it could have just gotten out of control with those doll parts flying around.

Today we labored. Kenny and I cleaned the basement, making some much-needed room down there. We spent a lot of hours down there, and did a bit of work in the garage as well. There is still just so much shit, it's indescribable. We do try to get rid of stuff. We leave a porch full of stuff out every month for the Vietnam Vets. We have a new batch ready to go for September. I have plenty of my fatass cheater ex-husband Fsteve's stuff that is at least going to a worthy cause! I open boxes of stuff up and am always surprised at what I find - usually some crap that was his at one time. Today we found his waffle maker - we decided to keep that. I also found some hair clippers I was sure I didn't have (oops!) and a bunch of music cd's I didn't realize got packed. Oops again :) Well, I'm sure the Vets will appreciate the stuff!

As a reward for our hard work we enjoyed a free early-evening movie. The free part is GREAT. We saw Death Sentence with Kevin Bacon. It was a very dark movie and I welled up on more than one occasion. It left a very heavy feeling. It was good, I guess, but definitely not a feel-good movie at all. Not even the end. It was harsh. Geri wouldn't like it.

Meggan spent last weekend shopping for bric-a-brac and dining on homestyle cookin' down in Amish Country with some of her family. They took a girl trip to celebrate her mom's 60th birthday and spent the night in a little hotel in the heart of it all. They shopped at Lohmans and Meggan bought the best purchase ever - some chain thing you put in your piecrust while it bakes to keep if from shrinking. One more reason I will make her my bride: she puts a lot of thought into her pie crusts. Delioushness doesn't just happen by chance, ya know.

While cleaning the basement I found - for the 2nd time - pillows for my old and Anastasia's new couch. I need to bring those in for Meggan to deliver this week - not tomorrow, I'm already loaded down like a pack mule with DVDs for the United Way sale at work. I found a lot of crap that wasn't mine and it would make great donatable stuff. Wonder where it all came from. Hm.

My grandmother Sophie joined Melinda, my nephews Trevor and Justin, and myself at Olive Garden for lunch over the weekend. It was fun to meet in a different venue, not just sitting around the kitchen. I'm sure she's still replaying the cost of that meal over and over in her mind. She could have bought a month's worth of groceries at Aldi's for the cost of that meal.

Tuesday night Geri and I both had hair appointments at John Roberts in Solon at the same time. I had saucy Sarah and she had Sheree, who does a good job and is a good back-up option when Sarah's not available. Sarah has to be booked well in advance, there's no last-minute appointments with her calendar.

After our appointments we headed over for a later dinner and headed over to Applebees. We passed an outdoor patio and since the weather was perfect for patio-ing, we headed on in. I had been looking at the menu for a good 15 minutes or so and then asked why Applebees would have a drink called a Romarita. Well, they wouldn't but Tony Roma's would - which is where we were. Apparently I don't always pay attention. I thought it was the fanciest Applebees I'd ever seen - I chalked the fanciness up to being in Solon. It was evident that the hair dye must have seeped in deep on both Geri and I because quite some time passed and we were waiting on our food and realized we had never even ordered. We had told each other what we wanted, but that's as far as it got. The waitress was a little lax. Well, we had a nice long leisurely evening and a totally awesome pulled chicken BBQ sammich. We'll be repeat business for that sometime.

I let Twinkle outside today, keeping a very careful eye on him, and now he won't stop meowing at the door. I created an outdoorsy monster, and he's driving us crazy. But he does have a very cute meower.

There was much, much more to the week, but this is it for this blog. It was a nice long 3-day weekend, I could use about 6 of these weeks in a row and would finally be able to catch up on stuff. A little at a time.

Peace and have a joyeously short workweek.