Brandon's Puppy

T'is the season for giving

and what better way than to help out a good cause. I've mentioned before that my friend WB is running in the Disney marathon in January to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. She's been training for months, and just last week ran for 20 miles, and I am so very proud of her that I'd give her the $422 she needs to meet her goal...if I had it. But I don't, so that's where I turn to you, my wonderful, generous readers, to throw a few bucks her way. She can meet her goal, and probably more, with your help. So, please, donate a little something, even if it's just $5. I've already donated, but I'll be giving her a bit more by the end of the week.

It's better to give than to receive, and this giving is for a very good cause! Thanks, all!

Peace of mind

The holiday season has started, and it’s sad to say that along with Christmas cheer comes an increase in criminal activity. Cars are vandalized, wallets and purses are stolen, and homes are broken into. And with the current state of the economy I suspect this year will be even worse.

In this day and age, home security systems are no longer a luxury, but a necessity. Hubby and I don’t have much, but we do want to protect what we have. Things are tight for us lately, but I’ve got to figure out a way to budget a security system and the monthly monitoring fees into our expenses next year. I've done a little bit of research, and ADT has the cheapest rates I've seen at under $34 a month. I'm sure I can find a way to budget an extra $34 a month.
I can’t stop the criminals from targeting me out in public, but it is in our power to protect our home and belongings. We’ve worked too hard for what we do have for some bastard to steal it from us.

Lots to say

I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping. I went out on both Thursday and Friday, and bought a couple of things online Friday night. I could be done already, but I ran out of money. That sounds bad, but it's really not. With the exception of two DVD's for the boys, I haven't used credit cards this holiday season, and I've stayed on budget. Since there are still three weeks + until Christmas, I have plenty of time to buy gifts for the three people left on my list.

Did you know my birthday is in a week? Yeah, just sayin'...

I forgot to mention last week that Brandon has another loose tooth. He's so excited, but this one is just a little wiggly, so it will be a while before it comes out.

Matty is speaking in complete sentences already. Just now he was having a late lunch/early dinner, and said "I want more nuggets". It takes a couple of tries to understand what he says, but he's getting his thoughts across. I'm amazed how quickly he's growing.

I spent all day cleaning yesterday including the windows and window frames, which I'm ashamed to say I'd never done before. The house looks sparkling, just like new. All that cleaning was in preparation for our holiday decorating, which we started today. The stuff that goes outside is already out, and there are a few touches about the house, but the tree isn't up yet. I got a headache earlier in the day so I took a nap while hubby watched the Dolphins game (how 'bout those Fins???). We'll put the tree together little by little throughout the week.

For the first time ever, I saw "Elf" last night. It's so cute, now I know why Helen loves it so much!

That's it for me, what were you up to this long weekend?

Happy Thanksgiving!

My friend Yvonne wrote this wonderful holiday greeting. I couldn't have said it better myself. Happy Thanksgiving!

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life and the joy of the heart. It turns what we have into enough, and more - so we may share with others. It turns a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.

May the thanks and giving we do today bring us peace and happiness to create the beginning of a very happy holiday season.

Among all the things we have to be grateful for let’s remember those who have touched our life, those who fight for our freedom and are not home for the holidays, for those friends we have lost contact of. May God protect and bless them.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

NYC

Our friends Lilli and Adrian are in Manhattan for Thanksgiving weekend, and hubby called them to tell them that they should call us when they go visit Times Square so that he can get online and see them on one of the public webcams. Does anyone know how I can save the image once they call? What a perfect scrapping moment...I know it's corny and overdone, but I'm a sucker for those pictures in Times Square surround by highrises, digital signage, and lots and lots of people. And it's their little one's first visit to the big city, so the corniness is even more justified.

Mashies

I'm making mashed potatoes for the Thanksgiving Pot Luck at work tomorrow, and then I'm making them again tomorrow night for lunch at my mom's on Thursday. I'm following a recipe a friend of my sister's gave me. Nothing fancy, but they are oh, so good! I'm posting it in case someone wants to try it out for Turkey Day dinner.

Mary's Mashed Potatoes

5-lb bag of red potatoes
(I'm using russet potatoes for this batch, just because they were buy one, get one free).
3 eggs
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup butter
add salt and pepper to taste

Peel and cut potatoes into quarters. Boil potatoes and eggs together until potatoes are cooked.
In a bowl, add cooked potatoes, peeled hard boiled eggs, mayonnaise, butter, salt and pepper. Mash them together. They can be made lumpy or smooth.

That's it! So easy...even I can make them.

A Changing Smile

Other than a dimple in a cute little chin,
What's more adorable than a toothless grin?
~Azu "Betty" Espezia

Guess who lost his first tooth today?

Mental remodeling

It’s no secret that this house is a work in progress for us. There's so much we want to do: paint, finish furnishing the living and dining rooms, remodel the kitchen, put down laminate flooring. Finances are tight now, but once the siding is completed we are going to tackle the inside little by little. The first thing we need to work on is the living/dining area, since that's the first thing you see when you walk into our home. We've been talking about installing crown molding in that space as well as our bedroom, we think it would look great with our textured walls and vaulted ceilings. Oh, and we want to resurface our cabinets and change the countertops. We need to extend the counter so that we have a more comfortable sitting area.

Naturally, with all these home improvement projects in mind, I’ve been doing some research online. I came across this company called InvitingHome.com. I really like a lot of the styles and ideas featured on this site, and I've even learned a thing or two just by browsing around. Like, did you know that cute swirly things some kitchens have “holding up” the countertops are called corbels? I had no idea! There are many to choose from on the site, but the Charleston Corbels are our favorite:

These would not only add a nice touch to the space, but the necessary support for the extended counter.

I've bookmarked the site for future reference. Hopefully we'll be able to work on these projects sooner rather than later. If you know me at all, you know I lack patience, and I'm very anxious to physically see my home the way I imagine it.

Another photo meme

Got this one from Helen, she of the lovely twin babies. It's pretty easy too. Pick the sixth picture in your sixth file of photos and post it. That's it. See, I told you it was easy!

This was taken December 15, 2004. It's my nephew Mikey playing peek-a-boo at my dad's house. He was so small, 16 months old.

Your turn.

Frugality

(I'm having fun with the "F" theme, can you tell?)

Before I head to bed, I wanted to mention how money-savvy I've been this week. On Thursday, the baby needed diapers, and we needed a few things for the house, so Brandon and I headed out after dinner to get some things. I went to my new favorite dollar store franchise and purchased two loaves of bread, two boxes of Little Debbie snacks, two 4-packs of toilet paper, one bag of teddy bear cookies, three green bellpeppers, a bunch of bananas, one bottle of ketchup, one bottle of Russian dressing, an iceberg lettuce, a bag of 51-count plasticware, and a box of 150-count sandwich bags for $15.45. I was in awe at the amount of stuff I bought for that amount of money. Afterwards, we went to my favorite retailer and I bought the store brand of diapers, 68-count, for half the price of the popular brand name that we usually use.
Sounds like we saved money this week, right? Not quite. Brandon needed new shoes, asap. He broke his second pair of character sneakers while at school yesterday. I don't know how he did it, but the cloth part of the shoes tore, and his toes were peeking out by the time I picked him up. I got him a pair on clearance at that store that WB hates last night. I told him no more character sneakers until we see that he takes care of them.
I can look at the bright side though, I spent on the shoes what I saved on everything from the previous night. Now we just need to see how long these new shoes last.

Friends, Fashion, and Fabulosity

I hung out with an old friend, got to look at some great clothes and accesories, and met the fabulous Clinton Kelly...all I can say is, what a fun afternoon! C and I got to the mall around 2:10pm, and sat down just a few minutes before the show started. After a brief introduction by some bigwig from that Macy's, Clinton Kelly came out, and he's as fabulous as he looks on TV. He talked a bit about what happens behind the scenes on WNTW, 4 "secrets" the viewers don't get to see. He also pulled someone out of the audience and critiqued her outfit. I am no fashion expert, but her outfit was a big no-no...who wears a black Tshirt, exercise pants and crocs to meet Clinton Kelly? That's just WRONG!
Anyway, shortly after that the fashion show began. It was aimed at plus size women, but most, if not all, the items are available in "regular" sizes too. It seems like all six models were in the lower plus sizes: 14s and 16s, maybe an 18. I loved most of the outfits, the only reason I don't say all is because some were not to my taste, i.e. some animal print tops that were worn.
I particularly fell in love with three evening dresses, one of which C and I are fighting over ( the red one seen here).
After the fashion show ended, we waited in line to meet Clinton and take a picture with him. It seems like we waited forever, but it was well worth it. Can't you just feel the fabulousness oozing out of this picture?!

p.s. I had a great time, C! We must get together again soon. It was awesome to see you!!

Younger Self

I should be getting ready for my little outing this afternoon, but I was catching up on my blogreading while having breakfast, and came across this meme from Pam. I don't have any black and white photos on hand to scan, but I do have this one that I scanned a while back for a project I was working on.

This is in front of my grandparents' house, and I was four years old. I'm not sure where I was headed, or coming home from. It's funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same. That palm tree is still there (I was thinking of another tree, that particular one is not there anymore), and seeing it reminds me of the comfort I always feel when I visit my grandparents.

What does your younger self look like? Leave the link to your post in the comments, I'd love to see all your pictures!

I need to get better, ASAP!

This cold needs to go away. NOW. I've got a fun weekend planned and I want to be able to fully enjoy it.Tomorrow, my friend Claudia and I are going to go meet Clinton Kelly from What Not to Wear. I'm very excited about this, except for one minor detail: what do I wear??? I can't possibly look like a slob in front of Clinton Kelly, that would just be ludicrous! So I've been planning my outfit in my head all day (Note to self: buy shoe polish for my boots). The only problem is, I don't have anything cute and stylish for winter weather. I have very few cute and stylish things as it is, and even less for colder temps. But I'll throw something together, and I'll look fabulous....right?

Icky

I'm sick. I have whatever Matty has, except for the oozy eyes (so far). My throat is sore, my nose is stuffy, and I feel that annoying tension in my sinuses. And, on top of that I'm PMS-ing, so I'm all bloaty and eating like a pig. I got home from work and had a bowl of frosted flakes with milk, followed by a mini Snickers and two other assorted candies from the boys' Halloween stash. And on the menu for tonight: pizza. If I keep this up, Leptorexin is going to become my new best friend.
Actually, I'm thinking of doing one of those detox cleansing mixes when the new year starts. My mom and sister are doing it, and they've had great results so far. We'll see if I can afford it when January comes around.

In other news

I almost forgot to mention that I left work early today after only being there an hour. Matty's school called me that he has ooze coming out of his right eye and they were concerned it might be pink-eye. I took him to the pediatrician and she said it wasn't much to worry about, just the cold he has trying to make it's way out of his body. She gave me a prescription in case it got worse, but says it should get better with artificial tears. He's been in good spirits, but has very little appetite. I'm fighting with him now to eat at least some of his dinner.
Yeah, fun times today.
/sarcasm

Hubby's on the job hunt (sort of)

Hubby got home to inform me that he was fired last night, but not to worry he was re-hired this morning. All this happened without his knowledge, and he was updated while he punched out today, after the dust settled. Turns out they had to let one person go, and he's the likely candidate because he's the only one in his office that doesn't have a degree, but his boss fought to keep him because he has the highest sales numbers out of everyone else in the office. He was saved, this time, but the numbers will be revisited in 6 months, so his job is technically still on the line.

I was chatting online with a friend of mine when hubby broke the news to me, so she got the brunt of my reaction. She suggested he look online, that's what she did when she moved to Texas and she got a job fairly quickly. My reaction: "It's not as easy as just typing Austin jobs (well, in our case Miami jobs), and Poof, he's hired. You got lucky, and you're in a specialized field. Hubby's in sales. We're f**ked."

I hope that's not the case, but we're trying to be ready for the worst case scenario. If any of you know anyone who's hiring locally, for minimum $10/hour (more would be nice, but we can work with this), 40-hour workweek, please let me know. He's got 15 years sales experience and is a quick learner. I know all job markets are pretty lousy right now, but you never know...Thank you!

Breaking News

I interrupt this blog's retirement for the evening to bring you this special bulletin:

Brandon has his very first loose tooth!

It's very loose, and I can see his gum is quite swollen with the other tooth on the way. While I was bathing Matty he said to me, "Mommy, look, I can move my tooth with my tongue." I asked him how long it's been like that, and he said, "since Tata's house, I've been moving it all day!"

Ironically, I bought him "Arthur's Tooth" just yesterday, and we read it together last night.
I'll keep y'all posted.

Good night! For real this time. ;-)

Consuming mass quantities

We got home a short while ago from my dad's house, where we had a lovely birthday celebration for my stepbrother's 35th birthday. It was a lovely day, and very relaxing. The guys were watching the Dophins game and the rest of us played dominoes and just hung out. Not only did we have brunch, but my dad started grilling burgers during halftime. There is no need for dinner tonight. It feels like I've spent the last 48 hours doing nothing but eating. Between yesterday's breakfast and today's brunch, I'm seriously considering some industrial strength diet pills to keep the weight off. Sheesh!
Anyway, I'm off to get the kiddos ready for a new week. There are a few pics in the extended entry, including one of my very smiley niece! Have a good night.

Matty enjoying his sandwich.

Baby Brooke aka "Baby Book" (that's what Matty calls her)

Cousins

Obligatory candle blowing.

Siblings.

Lovely Day

We got an early start this morning, headed out around 10am for breakfast with my Godmother while hubby went off to work. She, the boys and I went to Cracker Barrel (YUM!), and feasted on eggs, bacon, pancakes and all sorts of other goodies. We ate so much that It's 7pm and I'm just now getting a bit hungry. Afterwards, we (read: she) did a little shopping, and we were back at my house by 2pm. Hubby got home from work and the four of us watched Spiderman 3, then Brandon and I ran to the market for a couple of things while daddy stayed home with a napping Matty. What did you do today?

About the walking...

Yeah, I was going to walk after picking up Matty this afternoon, but by the time I drove into our community it was already dark. I completely forgot about that. Darn non-daylight savings time!

Crazy Coincidences

So this morning I'm logged into one of the social networking sites, and I get a friend request from BFF Vivian. "Cool", I thought, "she finally joined". So I accept her friend request and go through her list of friends in case she needs help finding people. A certain last name belonging to a boy from my past jumps out at me, so I click on that girl and see their friend list to see if she's any relation to the boy. I didn't find the boy, but I did find the name of a boy I crushed on in high school and saw a few months back, after a concert, at a restaurant. So I friended the boy and all's cool with that. I thought that was the end of today's excitement.
Nope, I was wrong. I go to pick up Brandon at school, and a little girl from his class says to me, "My daddy has your picture on his phone! I saw you on my daddy's phone!" So I ask her, "really?? What's your daddy's name?". My jaw dropped when she told me (no, it's neither of the two boys mentioned earlier in this post). Turns out her daddy is someone I also went to high school with, who I also recently friended on that social networking site. My jaw dropped because at that very moment, I realized why his little girl looked so familiar when I browsed through the pictures in his profile. I must be getting old, I would have caught on to something like that sooner.
I bet if I were at some random place, say the Outer Banks in North Carolina, I would run into someone I know. Well, that's not a very good example because I do have family in North Carollina. Here's a good one: in 2001, I went on a cruise with a bunch of family members. When we stopped at St. Croix, we ran into a friend of my sister's, right as we're walking from the dock onto the island to do some shopping. And I've lost track of the amount of times I've run into people at Disney World!
All that proves one thing: you can't be doing crazy things in public (or online), you'll never know who you'll run into!

Motivation has temporarily re-appeared

Hubby, the boys and I went over to my mom's for dinner tonight, and after we ate my sister watched "The Biggest Loser". I'm nowhere near as overweight as some of those contestants, but I'd really like to keep it that way. I am determined to get back to walking, as soon as Thursday*. If it's not raining, I'll be doing my usual route after walking to the school to pick up Matty: walk around the western side of the lake, take the path between the big fig trees, walk alongside the eastern side of the lake, and then four blocks to my house. It's about 45 minutes total. If I do that at least four times a week, I should see results before I go back to my doctor in February, right?
Yes, I know, it's time to hussle. My fault for getting lazy!

(*Can't tomorrow, hubby gets out of work early, so I'm headed out kid-less to start our Christmas shopping.)

Flying by

It just hit me: Brandon will be six in exactly 2 months.

Six, already??

Veteran's Day

I received the following via email yesterday, and I would like to share it with you all on this very special day. Thank you to all the veterans who have served on behalf of this great country of ours. If it weren't for you, our freedoms simply wouldn't exist.

The Sack Lunches

I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down
in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight. ‘I’m glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I’ll get a short nap,’ I thought. Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally
surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation.
‘Where are you headed?’ I asked the soldier seated nearest to me.

‘Chicago - to Great Lakes Base. We’ll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we’re being deployed to Iraq’.

After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would be several hours before we reached Chicago, and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time. As I reached for my wallet, I overheard soldier ask his buddy if he planned to buy lunch.

‘No, that seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn’t be worth five bucks. I’ll wait till we get to Chicago.’
His friend agreed. I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch. I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty dollar bill. ‘Take a lunch to all those soldiers.’

She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. ‘My son was a soldier in Iraq; it’s almost like you are doing it
for him.’

Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, ‘Which do you like best - beef or chicken?’

‘Chicken,’ I replied, wondering why she asked.
She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class.

‘This is your thanks.’

After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest room. A man stopped me. ‘I saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.’ He handed me twenty-five dollars.

Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked. I hoped he was not
looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane. When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand, and said, ‘I want to shake your hand.’
Quickly unfastening my seatbelt I stood and took the Captain’s hand. With a booming voice he said, ‘I was a soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot.’

I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the other passengers.
Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs. A man who was seated about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. He left another twenty-five dollars in my palm.

When we landed in Chicago I gathered my belongings and started to deplane. Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word.
Another twenty-five dollars! Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base. I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars. ‘It will take you some time to reach the base. It will be about time for a sandwich. God Bless You.’

Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers. As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for our country. I could only give them a couple of meals. It seemed so little…

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life wrote a blank check made payable to ‘The United States of America’ for an amount of ‘up to and
including my life.’ That is honor and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it. But for those who do, I thank you from
the bottom of my heart.

-Author Unknown

Brandon's First Report Card

Grades are in for the first term (Aug. 20th-Oct.23rd), and my little guy got the following:

Language Arts: G
Reading: S
Mathematics: G
Science: G
Social Studies: G
Art: G
Music: G
Physical Education: S
Kindergarten Conduct: M

(E: Excellent, G: Good, S: Satisfactory, M: Minimal, U: Unsatisfactory)

Overall, I am pleased. We knew he was having some trouble with conduct, so the M is not really a surprise. He has been behaving much better the last few weeks. His reading has improved too. He read "Green Eggs and Ham" all by himself last week. In fact, he's been reading by himself just about every night, save for a word here or there. I'm sure we'll see a reflection of these improvements in the next report card.

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy birthday, my friend. Hope you have a great day!

Non-stop Saturday

We got up about half an hour ago. We're going to have breakfast in a few minutes, then head over to my mom's house. She's having a garage sale, and I'm going to help her for as long as I can. That won't be very long because today is Beka and Drew's birthday party (Hubby's BFF's kids), and that starts at noon. We'll be there for a couple of hours, then we'll be off to my BFF Angie's daughter's party at Chuck E. Cheese. We'll be there for a short while, then we're headed to my dad and stepmom's for my stepmom's birthday party. Before getting to my dad's, however, we have to make a pit-stop at a friend of mine's parents' house. She (the friend) is in town from Maryland to celebrate her daughter's 1st birthday. I can't NOT see her!

I'll be back tomorrow....if I can get out of bed.

Thoughts on the President-Elect

Like everyone else, I somewhat anticipated the possibility that my preferred candidate would not get elected president. After all, a loss was just as probable as a win. Because he will be the 44th president of the United States, I will congratulate Barrack Obama. The position deserves the upmost respect, and he will have mine while he is Commander in Chief.
It is more than evident that this election was a truly historic one. The odds were that we would have the first woman vice-president, or the first black president. Either one is quite an achievement for this great country of ours, and for the person chosen to fill either of those seats. On that note, I'd like to direct you to my friend CalTechGirl's post, and I'd like to remind everyone that the color of your skin doesn't matter. Neither does having some sort of accent, or having girl parts or boy parts. This is the United States, and they don't call it the land of opportunity for nuthin'!

6 decades

My stepmom turns 60 today. You can't tell by the way she and my dad are always up to something, whether dinner with friends, or a party to attend, or a weekend trip to Vegas.
Her favorite pasttime though, is playing and running after her 6 grandchildren. They say you're only as young as you feel. She's living proof that that statement is true.

Happy Birthday, Mama. We hope you have a wonderful birthday, and we can't wait to see you on Saturday.

We Love You!

Mandy, Eric, y los vejigos.

Election Day

I was almost four hours late to work this morning, but I voted. Did you?

Road to Victory

(A few images from last night's McCain rally. Pardon the quality, these are from my camera phone.)

We got to the rally around 5:30m, and waited outside for almost two hours before the doors were opened. Once we got inside, it was about another hour before the event started. I guess they were killing time for the performers and other special guests to get there, as well as giving Senator McCain a chance to leave New Hampshire, where he spoke just a few hours prior.

There were signs with many different sayings on them.

Local chorale student Cristina Morales sang the national anthem, and an 8-year-old lead the audience in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Several public figures spoke, including Congressmen Mario and Lincoln Diaz Balart, Senator Mel Martinez, and even UM President Donna Shalala, who was booed while on-stage. I figure it's because she's a Democrat and an Obamanite. Throughout the night we were entertained by the "house band" Continental Brass, and the legendary artists Carlos Oliva and Roberto Torres.

By about 11pm, a sea of people filled the floor and just about every seat in the arena.

Albita came out a short while later, and got the crowd really riled up.

At exactly 12:39am, Senator McCain entered the arena to ear-splitting screams and chants of "USA, USA!"

I couldn't get a picture of them, but I was delighted to see Kelsey Grammer and his wife standing on-stage next to Cindy McCain and Joe Lieberman. I love Frasier!

If you'd like to see video of McCain's speech, click here.

observation

Since I’m going over to my mom’s later, I told her I’d look up some stuff on the internet to try and figure out some prices for her upcoming garage sale. You won’t believe the amount of people trying to get rid of used cisco parts. I guess the current economy has everybody trying to make a buck from the stuff they’ve got laying around, even if it’s mostly obsolete.

McCain in Miami

Poor hubby. He had baby duty last night, and he's on it again tonight: my mom and I are going to the McCain Rally this evening! It starts at 7:30pm, and features performances by several latin artists. I know I'll be tired in the morning, but I can't miss this opportunity to see the next president of the United States (and get a free concert out of it too!).

Post-concert adventure

Even though the concert let out around 11:30pm, we didn't get home till almost 3am (2am non-DST). Our friend Meg's car wouldn't start, and we spent about an hour and a half calling tow services, trying to get a flat bed. Thankfully, her husband came fairly quickly after she called him, and the car was towed with his truck. Since her car would not start, the power steering was obviously not working, so we opted to take the Turnpike to avoid lots of turns and sudden braking. It was a pretty smooth ride until we were five exits from home. There was a 3-car accident with a possible fatality, so we had to wait it out carefully. After getting through that, it started to rain. We hoped for nothing stronger than a drizzle, and thankfully that's all we got. Just as we were pulling up to her in-laws' house, the battery completely drained. Perfect timing, I told her.
They drove Claudia and I to her house, and kept on going to drop off our friend Jennifer (stop lurking, Jen, say hello to the people!!).
I got home at exactly 3am, and right after walking in I changed the time on my alarm clock and said a small thank you to the Universe for the end of Daylight Savings Time, and an extra hour of sleep.

I’ve fallen in love all over again

Fifteen years ago, I never thought I’d see the New Kids on the Block again. Yes, I heard Jordan and Joey’s solo works and saw Donnie rise from “teeny-bopper heartthrob” to serious, sought-after actor (it’s still unreal to me that he did a movie with Pacino and Deniro…so awesome!). But, I never thought I’d see Danny, Donnie, Joe, Jonathan and Jordan on stage, together, again. At some point during the past decade and a half, I got rid of all memorabilia, and I gradually left the wonderful memories of NKOTB in the past. But a small part of me believed the rumors of a reunion that surfaced a bit over a year ago, and deep down I knew I’d get to see them again, bigger and better than before. Oh boy, was I right!
The concert last night was incredible! The vibe in the arena was amazing: a sea of women filling up just about every seat to see and hear the five guys from Beantown do their thing. In a way it was about reliving our youth, but it was more than that. It was also about celebrating life, and all that we, the fans and the guys, have accomplished. It was amazing! I took almost 300 pictures, and it was extremely hard to decide which ones to put here. If you’re interested in seeing them all, let me know and I’ll email you my online album.
I have to thank my dear friend Claudia for buying the tickets, and sharing this wonderful experience with me. I can’t imagine having gone with anyone else. I love you, chica!

(pictures in the extended entry)

November already??

Hi, all. Hope you had a great Halloween. My two superheroes had a great time Trick or Treating and partying at our friends' house yesterday. We've got enough candy to last us through the year!
Speaking of yesterday, I want to wish my friends WB and sherlock a very happy 5th anniversary. They had their annual Halloweenie/Anniversary bash last night, and it sounds to me like it was quite a success.
We've got a busy day ahead of us today. We're heading to the home improvement store in about an hour. While I'd love to spend some time in the home lighting section and get a new fixture for our dining room, or wander through the garden section and pick out some plants for the front of the house, this trip is for essentials only: we're getting exterior paint and the last of the materials for the siding project.
And last, but certainly not least: tonight is the New Kids on the Block concert! WOO HOO! I'm so excited! Hubby is staying home with the boys, while Claudia, two other friends and I go stare at the "boys" for a couple of hours. I'll be taking my camera, and we have great seats, so expect pictures tomorrow.
I have to get some things done around here before we head out. TTFN.