12/03/06 01:22 - ID#32951

Chiristmas, Christmas...time is near....

How I love my 4-day weekends! I can be super-busy Saturday and Sunday and still feel like I have a weekend. :)

Thursday Hailey and I went on a crazy Christmas shopping expedition. (I was actually looking for Guitar Hero 1 and 2 for my boyfriend, and ended up shopping for everyone else!) We also made a stop to visit Martha's section @ K-Mart and pick up all our tree trimmings. (we fought over colors b/c I wanted purple and silver and she wanted the blue and silver. She won--mostly because there were very few purple ornaments left. *pouts*)

After running to a few stores in that horrible Friday night weather, I went on a mad cookie spree. I only got through Oatmeal and some double-chocolate w/ Christmas Kissables ones before calling it a night, but it was a LOT of cookies!!

Yesterday my ex-step-daughter came over and we decorated the Christmas tree. (Okay, I set it up and she and my daughter Hailey did all the fun stuff!) They did a great job, as you can see here:

And one of them from last year...damn, kids grow so fast!

^^Little red-eyed demon kids at that!! :)

Then my parents came over for pizza and to hang out w/ the kiddos for a bit (which was just surreal in itself, as I don't believe I've ever actually had my parents over for a real visit before).

Today, I am making some yummy Italian wedding soup (which I have never actually tried before, so wish me luck!) and just hanging around the house. I think more cookies may be in order later, too. :D

Wondering why I feel compelled to cook and bake when it gets cold out. Is it an Italian thing or an old age thing? lol

Permalink: Chiristmas_Christmas_time_is_near_.html
Words: 301
Location: Lewiston, NY

11/28/06 07:31 - ID#32950

Penny Arcade and Christmas giving.....

If anyone knows of Penny Arcade, you probably know that the guys created a charity called Child's Play a few years ago.

Well, Children's Hospital has finally gotten in on it. Here's a link to their wish list:

Check it out. :)

Permalink: Penny_Arcade_and_Christmas_giving_.html
Words: 69
Location: Lewiston, NY

Category: potpourri

11/22/06 10:20 - ID#32949

This is what happens when I'm bored...

Just in case anyone was interested in donating their body for Plastination...

Permalink: This_is_what_happens_when_I_m_bored_.html
Words: 22
Location: Lewiston, NY

11/19/06 04:37 - 37ºF - ID#32948

Walking in a Winter Wonderland?

After reading of (e:theecarey) 's terrifying mid-November Christmas music run-in, I thought I would post in regards to my own unavoidable Christmas horror.

I walked into work on Friday evening to find "The Blondes" (2 girls i work with) had spent the entire day listening to Christmas music and over decorating our office. (We have a bi-national office consisting of 5 Americans and 2 Canadians...Canadians have already had their Thanksgiving.)

There was a small decorated Christmas tree twinkling away and windows sprayed with fake snow, but most notably, our ENTIRE wall of windows had been defiled with a snowy scene of Santa and his eight tiny reindeer (and Rudolph) prancing across it.

I'm sure you could imagine my horror and disdain.

Fast forward to this evening. I'm working my beloved midnight shifts this weekend, and after spending an hour or so alone with the window scene I decided it needed some improving. (Seeing as us Americans haven't even gotten to our Thanksgiving yet.)

After a quick clip art search this is what I came up with:

Before (partial wall taken with my camera phone...sorry for the crappy quality)

And after I got to it.....

(Reindeer Turkey)

Now I will sit back and see if anyone notices. :)

Permalink: Walking_in_a_Winter_Wonderland_.html
Words: 210
Location: Lewiston, NY

11/08/06 02:31 - 57ºF - ID#32947

Voting!

Hope everyone got off their buns and voted yesterday!! I had to go to traffic court and had to drive right past the polling place, so I had no excuse! :)

Glad I did, though! At least I feel like my vote counted for something this time around. :)

Permalink: Voting_.html
Words: 47
Location: Lewiston, NY

10/13/06 04:33 - 46ºF - ID#32946

Happy Birthday to me!!!!

I was awakened this morning by Steve walking in the bedroom saying, "I bring you tales of chaos and destruction for your birthday!" (he made it up to Kenmore this morning, only to find that the plant had no power, so he came home.)

Okay, off to me mums for pizza and cake. Yay.

Permalink: Happy_Birthday_to_me_.html
Words: 54
Location: Lewiston, NY

10/02/06 09:04 - 63ºF - ID#32945

Ramblings and PMT apology.

PMT: I am SO sorry for not gracing you with my presence Saturday! (seriously, you probably wouldn't have enjoyed my presence very much) I had to work till 4, then I got home and felt really crappy so I figured I'd wait awhile to come up. "A while" became several hours. Finally, I was going to just run up for a little bit b/c my father had these 2 crappy painting/prints in really nice ornate frames that I was going to snag to see if Matthew wanted them. (My dad is moving from his commercial garage and said he *thought* they were still there) I stopped by his garage and they weren't. :(
After that I lost all motivation to travel and just went home.
Again, I'm sorry. I'll make you guys something yummy to make up for it. :)

Guh!! I just want a day off. Just one. I'm on the stretch at work that essentially works out to 14 days of work w/ 2 days off in the middle. My 2 days start on Wednesday. One more day...then 2 days off...then onto afternoons. JOY!!! I seriously hate swing shifts sometimes.

Has anyone noticed the rash of school shootings? There were 2 last week and 2 just today!! (well, 1 and an attempted one)
It's a really scary time to have school-age kids. :

Speaking of school, I have my sights set on returning next semester. I'm getting really antsy about it. I want to start NOW. It seems that everytime I start planning for a return something unforseen happens. (since...oh, about 2000) I'm really hoping things pan out this time. Time is a'ticking!

I'll be 31 on Friday the 13th. Craziness. I'm planning on hitting up the ghost walks in Allentown on that Friday and/or Saturday, if anyone's interested. It's $10, I believe.

Permalink: Ramblings_and_PMT_apology_.html
Words: 296
Location: Lewiston, NY

09/27/06 12:16 - 50ºF - ID#32944

Randomness..

It's midnight and I am not asleep yet. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a looong day.

Steve-O and I finally tossed our full size bed and put together a king. It is heaven. The only problem is that I must be a complete moron. I've been planning on moving up to a king for a couple years now, and purchased a new metal frame in March when we moved...and apparently tossed out the extender bar to make it a king/california king.

Good job, Dana.

I received a random phone call the other day from the Niagara Falls Board of Education. Several weeks ago I heard they were selling off the old lap tops from the kids @ the new high school, (they issued them to the kids when the new high school opened about 5 yrs ago and have decided that they are having too many issues w/ them coming up missing so they are not handing out laptops anymore. Like no one could see that coming a mile away. Niagara Falls + teenagers + laptop. You do the math.) and I went down to put my name in.

I got called and was promptly issued an $81 laptop. :) Yeah, it sucks, but it works. It'll do till I get my tax return next year. :)

I joined Curves and I love it so far. We'll see how long that lasts.

I've started recording all the "My So-Called Life" episodes on "Noggin". I am quite amused with them.

Kay. Bedtime.....I hope.

Permalink: Randomness_.html
Words: 252
Location: Lewiston, NY

09/25/06 01:18 - 58ºF - ID#32943

Weekend funness

My ex-step-daughter Alexis slept over on Saturday night. :) It was really good to see her. I don't think she's come over since the middle of summer...or something around there. She's gotten SOOOOOO big!!! (She'll be 10 this December! My, how time flies!!!)

Anyway, today we went to this Animal Expo @ the Niagara Power Authority. They always have cool free stuff there for kids to do but this took the cake! They had presentations with monkeys, police dogs, local wildlife conservation/rescue groups showing off this nifty red-tailed hawk who had been hit by a car and is unable to be releasd back into the wild (excuse the crappy pictures!! I forgot my real camera and had to use my phone.):

Several services had tents set up (greyhound & german shepard rescues, assistance dogs, etc..), some local shop that specializes in reptiles was set up, but we missed their show. :(

The last thing we spotted before leaving was a guy who brought out a falcon... and once the falcon was away he brought out this:

A Bald Eagle!!! What a gorgeous animal!!!

Does anyone know what kind of bug this is? There were a few of them on one of my parents' trees. They were all curled around backward (as shown) and seemed to be moulting or something. Creepy little buggers!!

Permalink: Weekend_funness.html
Words: 230
Location: Lewiston, NY

09/18/06 07:18 - 80ºF - ID#32942

mirror in the bathroom

Dave Wakeling, the lead singer for The English Beat, was involved in a small fender bender in the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge today. :)

I spoke with him to get his statement and he was super nice. :)

That is all.