happy new year

well, bring on the new year already....
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2...
1
great, confetti, cheers, kisses, great
i'd write more if i wasn't so ticked about bringing in the new year alone

new developments

so, the floor/mats for the dojo arrived today and the flooring for the bathroom/changing room as well.... the sheetrock should be sprayed out white tomorrow... and then we are pretty much down to details... this is good, very good...
i'm bummed because jeff will be out of town this weekend and so i am bringing in the new year sad and lonely, probably watching the giants and rooting for the raiders (sorry jason)... i have an exciting weekend planned of cleaning, picking up, laundry, unpacking, and cleaning (and vacuuming and dusting and sweeping and maybe even a little painting, and cleaning)... and maybe some cooking... i haven't made beef stew in a few months.. that is good comfort food and i can make a large pot and have it for a few days...
on an unrelated but equally as unimportant topic, i am loving my hair these days.... it is getting long and seems fuller and for whatever reason has waves in it now.... loving it!
just thought i'd also let everyone know that i am smart and well-liked, at least by the people who wrote my letters of recommendation for me to be a teacher someday... of course i didn't ask the people who think i am dumb and hated to write any of my letters.... that would have been silly.
i had a couple of days when i was feeling kinda down in the dumps, but i am so on my way back up... things are great and i have good hair... what else is there???? well? well?

and with a flip of her (great) hair she was gone....

NEAT

What happens when a commercial directors pours 250 000 rainbow coloured bouncy balls down an empty San Francisco street?
http://www.bravia-advert.com/commercial/braviacommhigh.html
check out this commercial.
Thanks to fadedyouth.blogspot.com for the pic and info

principal's office

it looks like i will be going to the principal's office on January 10th to talk about a new job opportunity! On Friday, the principal of my old high school called to tell me that one of the English teachers was retiring in January and that he immediately thought of me as a replacement... well, it just so happens that i went to college with a major in English, concentration in World Literature, and Licensure in Secondary Education. On the other hand, about 5 years ago when i applied for teaching jobs (including one at that same school) and did not get offered one, i started my family instead, and put teaching so far on the back burner it was completely out of the kitchen. so i alight on this new possibility with trepidation as my teaching skills and my lit knowledge could use some dusting off, to say the least. anyway, i am excited because it seems like this could definitely work, financially, schedule-wise, and lit is my passion, plus 2 out of 3 courses would be honors english.... it would be so great to teach honors english....
i'll keep you updated.

Merry Christmas and all that Jazz

well, merry Christmas to all of you... my family has had a wonderful Christmas... we had a Christmas brunch on the 24th at our house, then drove to new york (7 hours) to attend jeff's family party for four hours, then drove back to maine (another 7 hours)... we were gone for 18 hours total and we travelled 700 miles... left at 11am one day and back by 5am the next... then we went to my mom's for Christmas dinner... and hallelujah, there are no clients so i am going to be able to sleep... so, i am actually going to post this and get some rest... rock on and merry Christmas...

Time Well Spent

well, here i am at work, as usual, and i am getting all my holiday baking done... i have already made a double batch of scotch shortbread and about 45 chocolate chip cookies with peanut butter cups baked inside... i also have all my ingredients for my amaretto truffles, but it is late and i'm not sure if i can get away with using the electric mixer and not waking the client... but i will probably try... i want to get this all done so tomorrow i can finish wrapping and maybe even get a little sleep, since we are having Christmas morning on the 24th and then driving to new york for a few hours.
ok, so, i found an amaretto truffle recipe that doesn't call for a mixer, so i have started the truffles... they take 3 hours so it is a good thing i am getting started... all the cookies are baked and most of them packed into lovely felt-covered boxes and silver cookie tins....
i can't think of anything to complain about or even really talk about for now, but maybe i'll come up with something later.... oh and i got my mom's quilt done, yah!
bye

my girls

Tra La La La La (La La)

well, here i am again... i just wanted to give an update on the house and the dojo and the Christmas prep stuff... let's see, the dojo, waiting room, and new bathroom have been sheetrocked... tomorrow they start taping and mudding... soon, anyday, my entryway ceramic tiles will be laid... things are coming along...
i am getting there with Christmas stuff too... i still need to do stockings, but that is easy and fun... i am working on a quilt for my mom which is almost done... i am working on two fleece blankets for the girls, one is completed (i just finished it), the other will be finished tonight during my shift here at work... i have to find pictures for a gift for my mom, and maybe one other thing for jeff (oops, babe, if you are reading this, disregard that last bit)... maybe 1/3 to 1/2 still needs to be wrapped, but i feel like it is pretty well under control... my cards are not done, but i'm not going to stress about that too much... maybe i can bring them to work tomorrow night, oh wait, i will likely be tieing my mom's quilt tomorrow night... well, there is always thursday night... and friday i will spend baking... i think i will do my signature chocolate chip cookies with peanut butter cups baked inside, shortbread, and i'm considering truffles this year instead of fudge.... mmm, truffles.
back to business....

"Audy Roney" Smith survives plane crash

Long-time friend of the family Rod (aka Audy Roney) Smith has once again defied death. Audy Roney (which i choose to pronounce Odey Roney mainly for the audio pleasure of it) was on an airplane in Costa Rica that suddenly crashed last week...
Rod, who i will now and forever refer to as audy roney, helped get the passengers out of the plane and even pushed one man out by his butt-cheeks, one hand per cheek. after everyone was off the plane and gasoline was pouring out of the damaged plane, audy roney decided to get away from the potentially deadly situation. No one else could be convinced to leave the scene. luckily, audy roney stumbled (literally) onto a path that led to a road... No one would pull over for him though because he was gushing blood from a huge gash across his head... finally, a man in a truck pulled over and helped audy roney to the truck which incredibly WOULD NOT START! audy roney finally caught sight of his head in the visor mirror and passed out from shock falling out of the truck and onto the ground... he revived a bit at the sound of sirens from an ambulance that he tried to wave down, but the ambulance suddenly turned right and headed in the other direction away from the plane crash and from audy roney half passed out on the ground by a lifeless truck!!!
eventually another ambulance came along, it was actually a van painted to look like an ambulance, with "EMT"s that did not know where the clinic was, and picked him up. after driving 20 miles out of the way, the "ambuvan" found the clinic but it was CLOSED. off they go again, and find another clinic that unbelievably had police with guns telling him he had to leave (no idea why) and back into the van... finally audy roney arrived at a hospital (this term, like "emt", is used loosely) where he was taken into surgery and sprayed with lanacane as an anesthetic (yes, that spray you put on bug bites and sunburns) as they stiched up his head, and sent out into the hall to wait... eventually a doctor noticed that he was still bleeding profusely since they had not reconnected some tissue in his head, so they brought him back into surgery, opened up all the stiches, reconnected some tissue, and then stiched him all up again without ever even giving him an aspirin... i have a pic of the stiched up gash, but i will not post it unless there is a loud outcrying from my loyal readers...
the story is truly incredible, especially in the light of the fact that the same audy roney was also struck by lightning earlier in his life and was hit by a car while riding a bike about 2 years ago... also, some people might think, god this guy is unlucky, but the way i figure it after seeing the numerous amount of plane crashes in costa rica just this year and the abundance of deaths from those crashes, audy roney might be the luckiest man alive to have made it through this ordeal with only a head wound and broken ribs.
the only news article i could find online portrays the pilot as the hero of the story although, since "Weather conditions were normal and the flight was a routine flight that Nature Air operates daily" it seems to me that maybe she was the cause of the crash in the first place, just a thought.
http://insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2005/december/17/nac01.htm please note that there is no mention of her touching any butt cheeks at all, so what kind of hero could she be? I mean, really?

happy birthday to jeff

wow, we had a fantastic day on the 17th... first we put up the Christmas tree, which although it is fake and i hate fake trees, it doesn't look too bad with all of our decorations on it... then the pats played and were tremendous!! what a blowout!!! then we actually got a babysitter and went to see harry potter... it was great!!! and the babysitter, bless her, even picked up the girls' rooms and did a super job... and then some other good stuff too... so, all in all, a very good birthday for jeff and a very good day for me...
although i am totally happy about the holidays and in a great mood, i am also looking forward to the relative calm of january, when we all "hunker" (ha) down and keep warm and put the pieces back together.... these last few months have been all about the chaos and i am ready for it to go back to all about the calm (wait, my hubby is from new york (no offense honey, but you are a totally intense spaz), we run a business, have 2 kids under the age of 4 and i work full-time, am i really considering that to be calm???? yikes! maybe normal would be a better word? yeah, normal (again with the sarcasm)
here's to you, babe! happy birthday.

house and holidays

i bought 90% of my Christmas presents today!!! yah, i feel great about it... several of the gifts require quite a chunk of time however, which i do not feel great about... who has time??? anyway, i brought some stuff with me to do tonight, so i will keep this post short and sweet unlike the last rant about my hubby! the dojo project is going slower than we had hoped and now it looks like we might have to postpone the grand opening and the price keeps climbing... oh well, we have to do what we have to do for this to work, so i'm not freaking but jeff is a bit... ooh, his birthday is saturday and the patriots play... awesome. anyway, life is really really good... especially now that i got that bit about the chatrooms off my chest... i cleaned the house and was all ready to take pics to post, but then i couldn't find the digital camera because it is still packed... i will find it one of these days and post some pics... for now, i'll just add this pic of my daughter, marina mae at Easter.... what a little beauty! later

threatening the fabric of humanity

seriously, political chatrooms are threatening the fabric of humanity... i mean that completely... jeff (the hubby) spends hours and hours in political chat rooms that he visits just to argue. i was absolutely infuriated when i could hear my hubby screaming into his microphone when i was downstairs and IN THE SHOWER! he swears at and gets sworn at by total strangers and calls it fun... tonight he opened my eyes to the concept of an "iggy-bin." he was proud of being the second most iggy-binned (sure i'll just go ahead and make that a verb) chatter online following the ever popular (well- unpopular) liberalsaredueches... yup, you heard it hear first, my husband is the second most detested person online! i am so proud... i hate to argue... i would prefer that jeff just agree with me with no arguement everytime we talk (insert slight sarcasm here), but that will never happen... he loves to argue... and to tell the truth, sometimes, i have to argue with him for the sheer principal of it... he said to someone tonight, "pick any topic and i'll make you look like an idiot... i'll take iraq for 200, alex..." how do you not argue with someone who says that??? oh i know, you stick the prick in your iggy-bin and turn off the computer to spend a little time with your family.... did i mention i love my husband? i won't post his screen name here because although i'd love a comment here and there, i don't think i could take all the hate mail... more later about the house and the holidays...

sick again or still sick - that is the question

good morning all... it is 2am and here i am... awake and even in a good mood... i am sick again or perhaps having a relapse, not sure which, but i was able to get a good nap in this evening, (and i have 2 liters of mountain dew that i am steadily drinking) so i am feeling good.... we got some stuff done this weekend, although as usual, not as much as i would like... we got marina's bed which is really more of a upper twin bunk, lower full bed, chest of drawers and bookcase all in one... it really more of a bed extravaganza than just a bed... it is cool.
ok, well, now it is 4:20am, and i am still awake and in a good mood, but have wasted 2 hours of my life taking pointless (albeit interesting) quizzes on tlc's mythbuster website... well, i guess i did do a little work so far, but i have a lot more to do, so i will make this a quick update...
we had the new modern light fixture installed in the dining room (replacing the ancient fixture that had wheat in it - i know you are thinking, what the heck does she mean it had wheat in it, well, i mean exactly what i said, and that is that it had wheat in it, and if you can picture that, you know exactly why i needed to replace it)... we started to make a serious dent in the emptying of the "arena" and i bought new curtain rods that are much nicer looking (and not broken) than the ones that were there previously... i promise i'll post pics soon....
rock on

still an imposter

i had to call out of work two nights because i have been so sick and really i shouldn't be working now, but i think i was out of sick-time... the baby is sick now too and so is keeping me awake at nights.... so, i am sick and tired and completely useless at work... i feel like disintegrating or incinerating or some other thing that would involve me no longer existing in this realm...
so, about the progress at the house... i have completed the first and second coats of paint in marina's and cadence's rooms... the entertainment center is back together with several electronic devices on it and a few of them even work... i have re-set-up the computer and the only problem with that is being locked out of my adelphia email... the new ceramic top stove and fridge have been delivered and installed and are great... jeff even went grocery shopping...
so, there is still a huge list of things to do, but most urgently over the next few days is buy marina's bed, buy a desk and book shelves for the office and empty the "arena" aka family room, which has been acting as a storage area since the move, but needs to be sheetrocked.... also, hallway and entryway both still need second coat and stairway needs two more coats... both of the girls closets need two new coats of white and argh, a million other things... everytime we turn around there is something that needs to be repaired, replaced, painted, or cleaned... but the house looks great and is definately coming along...
it is funny, when i started this blog, i wrote that having a house might help me feel less like i am a kid just playing house and at this point it has only intensified it... someday we will be settled and i will feel like it is mine and that i deserve it and belong there (like in maybe 30+ years), but for now, still an imposter....

hallelujah!

continue with hallelujah chorus....
there are no clients tonight! yah, i can rest... as always there is a lot to do, but i don't have to stay awake all night, so it is cool... i will finish up here, work for like 1 or 2 hours and then sleep for like 4... awesome. so, the guys didn't work on saturday and sunday, instead they moved their next job back a couple days... so, not nearly as much happened this weekend as i had hoped.... i did get the futon and put it together, it looks really good in the space... we picked out area rugs for the dining room and living room... we set up the dining room set and brought the entertainment center up, although i have no idea how to put it together again.... but we're getting there... did i ever mention that i am not a patient person??? cause i'm not, really really not! it is hard for me to not have everything done right away... i'm sure that is why i am having trouble sleeping... i want to be doing doing doing until everything is done... i just can't get everything done with two little ones and working overnights.... at least now tomorrow will not be a total waste because i can sleep tonight.... hallelujah, hallelujah, halle-lujah!

tired like never before

i'm wishing i hadn't gone on and on about that 'best sleep in months' bit yesterday... today i am tired like never before because i had only two hours of sleep during the day yesterday after working overnight the night before and here i am again, working overnight.... i slept for a little while but then had insomnia.... so i got up and started working on the house again, which i am glad about, but so freakin' tired....
ok, the house.... the floors are 98% done, with just a couple tiny molding issues to solve... the fridge decided to quit so now i need to pick out a new fridge to go with my new stove (fun)... cable and internet are up and running, but the phone is another story... 10-15 business days, what kind of crap is that??? flip a switch, punch something into a computer somewhere, and whalah, i should have phone service, but no, they are only the phone company, why would i expect them to be able to take care of my phone needs??? the wallpaper border in the downstairs bathroom is mostly down, the downstairs hallway has a first and partial second coat of paint.... today is a big day, final cleaning at old apartment, forward mail, hopefully pick up furniture, find area rug for under the dining room table.... put back together entertainment center.... get jeff to repaint stairway... (gotta get the girls' rooms and the laundry room painted at some point, oh and the carpet in the closets...) i also bought all new knobs for the kitchen cabinets... they are brushed nickel and are simple and elegant.... i am going to take off the current crap-ass knobs and scrub the cabinets down and then put on the new ones... i need to repaint the baseboard heaters... the guys are working saturday and sunday, so a lot will be happening over the next few days....
did i mention that i am tired? i have to meet with my supervisor after this shift too... ugh.
i am going to return to finishing up the "tieing" (um?) on my quilt... it is a design element for the new house, so, i have to get it done soon....
today after i did a bunch of cleaning and moved all the boxes and crap, i felt like the house is starting to look like a showroom... i'm going to take pictures and post them one of these days... stay tuned.

a great day

what a great day i had yesterday.... my mom took the girls and gave me 6+ hours of totally uninterrupted sleep... it was the best sleep i have had in weeks or maybe even months... it totally didn't matter that there were like 7 men working in the house and hammering and sawing and all, i was completely out. it was awesome... and i put together my kitchen and cleaned the heck out of it... it looks great except that the new stove (ceramic flat-top) is not in yet... soon, i hope... things are coming along.... not as quickly as i want, but coming along....
work this week is killing me... it is so much harder to stay up all night, night after night, when everything in my life is in upheaval and i need to be working on it.... just one more night before i have two off and will be able to get some real progress going... i haven't even been able to get to the grocery store in ages with jeff working all day and me working all night... can't wait until the schedule mellows out again.... i'll keep you posted.