Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

We're spending Xmas on the beach, just like we have the past two years since saying goodbye to snow. This year I've been tapped to make my bomb-ass lasagna which I will do this afternoon (I'm working tomorrow).

However, because it's sunny and because a couple of friends are going down we will be sitting on the beach from 10 to 1-ish today.

Then I go shopping for lasagna ingredients.

Then I make it.

Just so we're clear on the whole 'I'm making lasagna' thing...

There's no excuse

for me to have not blogged in in over 10 days.

Do you hate me?

Don't hate me.

I've been busy.

I'll be back with a real update soon.

In the meantime, please know that I think of all of you often :)

Smooches!

Does this make me fabulous?

I met Carson Kressley of Queer Eye/Straight Guy fame last night - dude is as flamboyant in real life as he was on the show.

The Man and I were out to dinner with a couple of people and he came into the restaurant with a mini-posse, he was on island for a Wine Tasting Gala thing. The restaurant we were at was very small, so it was impossible not to notice him and ask for some pics - and he obliged us.

Jen and I:

Carson jumped down next to the Man and said "Pretend the paparazzi are catching us making out!". Too funny:

His mini-posse, I have a feeling he's dating the tan guy to his left in the yellow shirt:

Talk about a random encounter!

Grumble

I am working today.

On a Saturday...

I don't work weekends -

but I am covering for a girl named

Carla.

I love Carla, don't get me wrong...

but I'm working on a Saturday.

Come back soon Miss Carla.

Damn you bulk stores...

We went shopping at one of the island's Costco-like stores and I HAD to buy this monster-sized bag of Golden Puffs cereal. Golden Puffs are, of course, a knock-off of Golden Crisp.

Anyways, I've been chowing faithfully on the Puffs for the past four days...for breakfast....snacks...dinner...after-dinner. The question is - how much Puffs can one girl eat before turning into one big Puff herself?

It's also that time of year

when I'm good for a I got drunk and fell down story.

Two Saturdays ago the Man and I went over to St. John for the day to meet up with some friends. We got on the ferry around 11am and all I had in my system, at that point, was coffee.

We found our friends getting ready to have lunch - we joined them and I ordered a beer and a cesar salad. I then ordered another beer...and realizing how good they were tasting I stopped ordering them individually and ordered a bucket of six (that came with a bag of chips).

Fast forward a few hours and I'm enjoying a hell of a buzz as a result of seven-ish beers, one half-eaten salad and a few handfuls of chips.

Fast forward again and we're back on St. Thomas, chowing down on some food and...yes...more beer. The buzz has now morphed into plain old drunk. It's late, dark and after leaving the restaurant we start walking to the parking lot to get the car. The Man is walking ahead of me and I'm stumbling along with my big beach bag on my shoulder, a beer bottle in one hand and take-out from the restaurant in my other, oblivious of the disaster that will soon occur.

As we walk through the open gates to the car lot the Man nimbly hops from one curb to another as he passes by the entrance. I, with my cargo securely in my hands, attempt to do the same and shockingly, given my beer intake for the day, do not make it. I stepped up on the first curb, hopped to the second but misjudged it, caught my foot on a tiny edge of it and proceeded to dive towards the pavement. Beer bottle, take-out, myself and a beach bag all hit the cement at the same time. The bottle smashes, the take-out styrofoam implodes and I suddenly find myself on the ground inches away from foaming beer and scattered popcorn shrimp (tossed in hot sauce...so good). The Man looks back at the sound of impact, I get up sans beer and food and we both scurry into the car and leave.

As we drove away I looked down at my stinging knee and silently cursed my non-agility. I pressed a towel to the bleeding, bandaged it up at home and in the time since have suffered ribbing from friends who remember my knee incident of two years ago. Quick recap: Christmas Eve 2006, we're at the beach, I get extremely drunk and fall out of the (parked) car onto steep grooved cement resulting in a credit-card sized wound on my kneecap that hurts anytime I stand, sit, walk, move. That scrape was MUCH worse and took a couple of months to fully heal - this one was minor and is just a nickel-sized scab at this point.

I have theorized that my beach bag played a role in this latest fall - I believe it fell forward as I did and my upper body somewhat landed on it which kept my face from landing in broken glass and appetizer shrimp.

Moral of the story? I think it's obvious, but clearly I didn't learn anything from 2006 so I don't expect I'll be absorbing anything from this latest incident...

It's that time of year...

...when we're bombarded by those obnoxious "Honey! Run outside and see the Lexus I'm surprising you with this Christmas-it's in the driveway with a ridiculous red bow on it!"

It's right on par with any commercial from Kay Jewelers.

34 years

In 34 years this was the first Thanksgiving that I did not spend with my parents and brother.

In 34 years this is the first time I've worked on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

But I'll tell ya what, I still had a great time getting burnt and buzzed on the beach, joining my husband for a turkey dinner out at one of our favorite restaurants where we spent a couple of hours chatting with the cool foursome who was seated next to us - and I expect the tourists and locals who sit at my tables and munch on burgers today will be in good holiday moods. That's the hope anyways.

Hope you're all enjoying your long weekends!

Wow and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I clearly suck at this blogging thing lately. As for NoPloMoFo? Oops!

My excuse? Ain't got one.

But...I do wish my (four, maybe?) faithful readers a Happy Thanksgiving...enjoy the long weekend...your family...friends...food. FOOD!

The Man and I have been busy lately with various nonsense, but we are taking our asses to the beach today to hang with a few peeps, and then off for a scrumptious dinner somewhere on this rock we call home.

Enjoy yourselves!

Yep, still doing it

For all interested parties (I believe that number is roughly two of you) I am still doing NaPoBloMe, but clearly I'm not doing a superb job.

However, I will end this month with 30 entries. So I win! Woo!

The last couple of days have been busy; I re-entered the work force on Monday by reclaiming my waitressing job on the island and it felt like the longest day of my life. At one point I looked at my co-worker and said 'What is it, like 3:30?' then I looked at my watch - it was barely 1. ONE! Yikes. I came home, did a few things and passed out on the couch. Pathetic. Yesterday we had some stuff going on at the house, and I never really bonded with my laptop.

So today I am back online.

Please hold your applause until the end of the show.

How much shorter

can my entries

get?

Hooters or Bust

Oh, get it? Hooters? Big boobs? And Bust? as in Boob?

We're out tonight, 80's party, Hooters style.

latah.

Mmmm. Beer.

Went out for the Pats game last night...got drunk...woke up hungover. Which is pretty much the way Tuesday night/Wednesday morning went (minus the football). I've been on the island for three days and felt hungover for two of those.

Apparently that's the way I roll.

Now you know

I hate Oprah. I prefer Ellen but only watch it if I remember it's on.

I'm a Letterman girl but find Paul as annoying as a fidgety 3 year old.

I absolutely detest judge shows. Too many egos on the bench.

I love the smell of gasoline.

I only follow baseball and pro football. I always watch Wimbledon.

I absolutely can't stand the sound of someone cracking their gum. It's the quickest way to aggravate me.

I never use LOL or LMAO. I am, however, a huge fan of ":)"

I never call people anymore...I email, or text, or now - the ultimate lazy - I write on their Facebook 'Wall'. What's happening to our world?

I'm not a big fan of clothing with designer's logos splashed across. The writing on my clothing is usually of a place or person, such as 'Nantucket, MA' or 'AC/DC' or 'Welker' (#83 on the Pats). I buy clothes that remind me of travels and fun times.

I hate figurines and other such 'dust collectors'. Picture frames are pretty much where I draw the line, anything else will remain in the box in the attic collecting dust.

I love fridge magnets.

I will probably use sleeping pills for the rest of my life. I figure if that's my biggest addiction (after beer of course) then I'm doing okay.

The question isn't will I leave a restaurant with a doggy bag it's how long will it sit in the fridge before it gets eaten/tossed.

I ain't never having kids.

I'm superstious and believe I might change the universe by putting out the wrong vibes...so I keep them inside and play like I'm sane.

I love lists.

It's Wednesday

Monday we spent the day buttoning up our condo and getting ready for travel.

Tuesday we were up at 2AM to leave for the airport by 3...and fly by 6. We travel with our birds in the cabin and American doesn't allow that, so no quick direct flights for us. We flew from Boston to Atlanta, got in around 9, nothing to report there. We left Atlanta around 10:30 and were on track to get to St. Thomas by 2:30/3ish. Unfortunately after we'd been in the air for an hour or so one of the flight attendants got on the intercom with this message, "Excuse me everyone, we need to know if there's a Dr. or nurse onboard, one of our passengers is in distress". Roughly 10 people stood up and went to attend to a woman who was having chest pains and irregular breating. They worked on her for around 40 minutes (including a full IV set up hanging off the overhead luggage bin) before the captain came on to tell us that the flight was being diverted to the Bahamas in order for the passenger to receive medical assistance. I spoke to a flight attendant who told me the woman would be fine once she got to a hospital, she just needed better help than what was on the plane. Lucky for her there was a cardiologist onboard.

We sat on the plane for over an hour while they sorted everything out. At one point the attendant came on (she kept cracking us up) with this message, "Ladies and gentlemen, much like we asked for assistance before we need to know something else. Does anyone onboard have access to a credit card, we need to buy gas...". Good stuff.

We got back in the air and the captain informed us we would reach St. Thomas in two hours. Ugh. At that point we'd been working on no sleep (we never went to bed figuring a 2AM rise would be that much more painful), some peanuts/chips and diet coke. We were spent and my two little birds were ALL SET with their carrier, everytime I checked on them they just looked up like is it over? We got in around 5:30, our friend K picked us up and took us back to our place where a group of our buds were waiting with booze and food. Such good friends! We tossed our bags on the floor, got the birds settled in bigger cages and hung out for the night.

And that brings us to today. Wednesday. We woke up, did some organizing then went out to one of our favorite places for lunch. After that we ran some errands and came back home. It's 7pm and I'm starting to feel the effects of the past two days. I be tired.

For those about to Rock...

...we salute you!

The Man and I are going to AC/DC tonight in Boston. To say we're pumped would be a severe understatement. They haven't toured in five years, and reviews from their first few shows are glowing, with only one negative, they don't play long enough. But really, can any of these relic bands ever play long enough to satisfy those who grew up with them? Uh, no.

We're leaving the house at 3 to do some tailgating, which, in Boston, means hit the bars and get our drink on. That also means I get at least two hours of the 1pm Pats/Bills game before we jet...GO PATS!!!!

Alright, back on track

Two posts today totally make up for non yesterday, right? Right. That's over with...

So, the Man and I are home tonight, enjoying an entire day of nada. We're heading back to St. T on Tuesday, and the past days have been occupied with getting in last errands, organizing and getting the house buttoned up, making plans with friends family to say "See Ya!"

Get ready for some boredom as I detail my yesterday and why I didn't post for Nabloyomama:

- Woke up WAY early to meet my old co-worker out for breakfast at Ihop, met up at 7:15, enjoyed some tasty pancakes and bid adieu until we see each other again.

-I drove home, fed the birds, and got back into bed to watch a show or two while the Man took off for a hair appt. Five minutes after I laid down I was asleep courtesy of a late Thursday night and a random headache.

- I got up about an hour later feeling groggy, had some more coffee and sorted out some laundry. I went on the computer for about an hour to do some blogging on my other site and a little Facebookin'...but alas, no blogging here.

- I left the house about 2 and drove up to see my friend and her two kids. We hung out for awhile, I totally bonded with her 1yr old daughter and then I left to fight rush hour on the drive back home.

- I raced in the house, re-did my hair, painted on some makeup and the Man and I got back in the car and headed out to meet his family for dinner and talked about their plans to visit us later this year.

- We got back home, I went on the computer for about 10 minutes to check my standings on a photography competition, and then I called it a night.

Kaplow!

Oh crap!

I missed a day! I'm a failure of naplomofo.

Aw geez...

Honk if you love face masks!

I sure do!

My parrots? Not so much. I just walked into their room sporting this look:

...and I don't think it went over too well. Normally I'm greeting by squawks and scurrying movement to their cage doors. With the blue mask it's more like "I'm staying put on my perch and I'm going to stare at you while wondering who/what the fuck has happened to my mom...but you could probably win me over if you brought me some peanuts."

That change you're looking for? It be here.

No matter which side you are on it was pretty amazing to watch history take place last night.

To McCain, I congralate him on his effort, realizing this was his last hurrah and he can now settle into a well-earned, slower paced life. This guy is a true American, inside and out, and his stamp on history will be well documented.

And to Obama, congratulations as well on a huge victory. This country voted for change, and now we look to you for direction. As you said in your speech, change may "not happen in one year, or even one term" but please realize, something will have to feel different soon in this 'We Want it Now' world that we live in. Yes, I realize how large the plate of crap is that you will be sitting down to on January 20. No, I don't know how long your grace period is.

To the world who awoke early this morning to find that America is trying to get on the right track...I'm hopeful that you are looking at us with different eyes now that goofy clown from Texas will soon be scooting out of the back door of the White House.

To my mom, who resides as an alien in this country and was pretty much ready to head back to England if McCain got in...you can call me today you know. I'm aware you've yet to phone me, but no worries here, we weren't shocked by the results.

To Sarah Palin, who might not fade back into Alaska as quickly as people seem to think. We knew it was a mistake when McCain picked you, but without you I would have never known my talent for imitating the Alaska accent! Nor would I have known how addictive it is. I wish you luck with your growing family.

To California, are you fucking kidding me?? What is your deal with gay marriage??

We voted today

There were no lines at our polls, but we're in suburb-world, and most people here vote on their way to/from work. We went around 1, waltzed in, did our thing and waltzed back out again. I did feel very American, and I felt like I was a part of something big - but I will be SO happy when it's all over. Will I like the outcome? I have a feeling 'no', but at least we won't have to listen to anymore 'this is who you should vote for' crap from the media.

Instead we'll be listening to 'what's this guy really going to do for us' crap.

In 7 days we'll be back in St. Thomas. In case anyone is interested. I know what you're thinking, "That was a hell of a segue there Nicci!"

I write. How well is the question.

I kept a diary when I was young...unfortunately I lost track of it and have no idea where it is, but I only kept it for about a year, and I can only imagine what kiddie nonsense I wrote in it. I'm sure I'm mentioned my annoying little brother.

In 7th grade I wrote an 18 page paper for my English class. I'm sure the assignment called for 5-ish pages, but the story I thought up demanded many more pages. The end of the world was coming and the human race was in danger. To save ourselves we had to get shots that would change us from humans into animals. I turned into a black panther; I forget what my family became. It was quite the tale.

After college I moved to Boston, met a boy, dated him for a couple of years before we broke up. To get over it I bought a journal and started writing in it to get my thoughts out and clear my head. I jotted a handful of entries in there over the next few months before meeting my now-husband, and then the journal starting collecting dust.

And then came Blogging. Oh my! I love blogging! It's fun to write about my boring/exciting daily life while getting to read about other people and their boring/exciting daily lives. I started on Spaces, then switched to Blogger - this is my second 'home' on Blogger. This past year the Man and I started St. Thomas Blog (.com) where I blog pretty much every day about everything 'island'.

I've now added NaBloPoMo which is where you agree to blog every day in the month of November. Sounds good to me!

I've also added NaNoWriMo which is the same idea as the daily blogging except it's all about daily writing with a goal of 50,000 words by November 30. I'm famous for telling people that I'm going to write a book, but I've yet to start. The NaNoWriMo asks that you simply write. No editing, no over-thinking...just pure words on paper (or laptop). At the end of the month you can look back at what you've written and who knows, you just might have something there.

Anything else out there? I work well with deadlines.

This is my post for November 2nd

:)

We had big fun last night, and went to bed waaay late (or early, however you view 2AM). I haven't had the energy for much more than leaving the couch to wander to the kitchen, which should give you an idea of our exciting day. Of course it's football Sunday- so I'd be on the couch anyways, but with more creative juices.

Right now we're watching the clock tick by slowly as we wait for the Pats/Colts game @ 8:30. The hour we gained is now our enemy - and will continue to be until I decide to change all of our clocks. Two more hours to go until kickoff for a game that I look forward to every year, no matter what the situation with the teams.

Happy Sunday!

Yep, I'm doing it too

Like many other bloggers I am also a part of November's Blog Every Day thing...otherwise known as Naoplowblonovember-something or other. Whatever it's called I'm in.

Unfortunately I'm starting on a bad note as I intend to post here everyday and actually do the 'write a novel on the side' thing. My mom came down a couple of nights ago and today was our cleaning day - she agreed to help me clean out the big kitchen closet and a couple of cupboards in the kitchen that (until now) I couldn't shut for all of the crap falling out. We spent the morning doing that, and then we stepped out for a couple hours to play tennis with some friends - you just can't pass up a good fall day outside in November, right? We've been back from tennis for just over an hour and we finished up our organizing and tossed about 5 bags of crap into the dumpster. I LOVE purging. Oh baby. Now I'm tidying up the kitchen that has assorted jackets and scarves thrown over the chairs as we have people coming over at 7 to pick us up - we're going out for dinner and to see a KILLER AC/DC cover band called Fat Angus. (They rock, and we're treating it as a dress rehearsal because we have 3rd row FLOOR SEATS for their concert in Boston on November 9. I'M SO EXCITED!!!) So the minute I'm done typing this I have to jump in the shower which means this crappy post is the best I have to offer for my first post of Noploblowmonth- something or other.

Happy Saturday!

Trick or Treat!

Enjoy your weekend!

Don't Call Me

I don't call people anymore. I can't tell you the last time I had a conversation on the phone that lasted more than 5 minutes. My old co-worker and I used to get on the phone during our 20 minute drives home to gossip and bitch about our day...those were the my last and longest conversations.

It's all about email for me, which is perfect for people who spend as much time by their computer as I do. But what if you don't?

Texting, baby, it's the new email. Short, sweet and to the point...and instant! "We're at the movies" POW! "We're 2 mins away, get me popcorn" POW! Everything you need to know, in about 10 words.

It's near impossible to imagine how we all survived when there were no cell phones, and you're waiting at the movies, the mall or the freakin' RollerMagic skating rink for your friends....and all you can do is wait. Maybe you find a payphone, drop your dime and call their house, "Hi Mrs. Ford, did Vanessa leave yet? She did? Okay. Bye." ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Of course if you're not into texting, emailing and you realize I'm not answering my phone then please feel free to write on my Facebook Wall...or comment here. God forbid there's human interaction or *gasp* actual talking...

NO, NO AAAHHH!!! *blood squirt*

Watching the Family Feud, a Halloween version. This was one of the questions (after they surveyed 100 people):

Name Six Slasher Movies that have become classics (roll mouse over below for answers):

1. Halloween

2. Texas Chainsaw Massacre

3. Nightmare on Elm Street

4. Psycho

5. Friday the 13th

6. Scary Movie

If you know your slasher flicks (coughSeancough) you shouldn't have a problem with 5 of these, but the 6th one will stump you...

What's wrong with this paragraph:

"The focal point of the interior is the striking indoor pool with sky lights and a range of night time lighting choices. Adjacent to the living and dining areas, the solar heated pool will invite you for a swim night or day"

A solar-heated INDOOR pool? I'm thinking....no. This pool is in a villa that's up for rent on St. John. Here's a couple of pictures of the most random pool placement ever:

Bizarre, right? In the picture below you can see sunlight on the ceiling - it's coming through 3 small skylight windows...which, even if sun could make it through modern windows those woudn't be big enough to heat a pool that size:

I only have one other inside-pool related complaint of sorts - what's with all the nice furniture standing in a possible splash zone? In the below pic you can see what looks to be a really nice wood desk and fabric-covered chair about an inch away from the water, as well as a throw rug under the coffee table...and in the other pics above more nice chairs and a lamp. That would make me nervous, how about you?

In case you're wondering this villa doesn't allow children ages 8mos - 8 years, which is pretty smart...because in case you haven't noticed there's a POOL IN THE LIVING ROOM. :)

I will say the villa looks gorgeous, albeit a little overly decorated for a rental. We rent ours out and while it's nice to look at we're aware that people don't treat a rental the way they treat their home. So we decorated accordingly.

That's pretty much all I have for today...GO PATRIOTS!

Halloween is coming...

...and this means two things:

1) Kids are ready to dress up and knock on doors for candy

2) One of my favorite movie franchises is unveiling the next installment

Does this look familiar to you?

If it does then you know what movie I'm talking about. If not, here's another clue:

Hello Jigsaw...and hello Saw 5, WOO! It opens tonight and the Man and I are going for our dose of gore. Oh boy am I 'xcited!! Granted, the storyline got a little foggy for me in Saw 4, but - much like guys don't read Playboy for the articles - I don't see Saw for the plot...if ya know what I'm sayin'. I watch it for the twisted torture that these people dream up...and it's twisted, baby.

Enjoy your weekend my lovely readers!

*****************************************************

Update: Oh BOY did this movie suck. Not to shock any of you. It made me wish I could see the first and possibly second one all fresh and new again without any knowledge of what was going to happen. The first one was just so good....the fifth? Not so much. Time to kill it. Please. God. No more.

*****************************************************

Cold makes my teeth hurt

I'm skipping the dentist this year...the first year ever. I've always been good about the dentist, and I only have one cavity, but the cleaning stresses me out too much and I just figured, 'Hey, I'm an adult and I'm NOT GOING!' *foot stomps down*

That's all I have to say about that.

Dear C.S.I,

No, you didn't ask for it, but as I sit here after another lackluster "Do I really give a crap?" episode of CSI Miami I think it's time I let the world (aka, my three readers) know exactly how I feel about your primetime-hogging inflated campaign to rule the world in forensic TV drama.

Boy it's hot...which must mean I'm in Miami. Hello CSI-by-the-sea. Oh look, David Caruso is either removing or donning his sunglasses while spouting something short and smart with his quiet, sturdy I'm-in-charge voice. How yesterday. Actually, how every-episode of him. This series used to have flash, now it's dull like my mother's mother's knife set. I think you ended last season with a cliff-hanger, and I think you wrapped it up when you premiered last month...but to be honest I neither A) remember nor B) care to figure it out. Is it the actors? Maybe. I'm too bored to bottom-line it for you; I can tell you we're about to gain an hour of space when we delete you from our DVR. *sunglasses off*

Let's travel North, to NY, and visit your forensic-siblings in that city. CSI NY is on our DVR, yes, but has always never risen above filler status. Filler Time (like Miller Time but totally different) is that time when nothing is on that we want to watch, so we toss on a 'filler show' to play in the background while we tap away on our laptops. It's like crappy Coors Lite - I don't go out of my way to buy it, but if it's in the fridge I'll drink it. I can't really pinpoint a reason for my lack-of-love for you - I like the lead guy, and the rest of the cast, but I've never been a fan of the female lead with the curly hair...whats-her-name. You were the last CSI to enter our living room, and it's possible we were just CSI-ed out. The good news? You'll be taking over Miami's slot, though I should be honest, I haven't seen one episode of NY yet this season.

Original is the way I like my KFC chicken, and definitely the way I order up my CSI. Hello Vegas! The first CSI to enter the playing field, and the only one that should be standing. Here's how much I love CSI Vegas; we watched this season's premiere online when we realized our DVR had not taped it. Huddling with your spouse over a laptop to catch a show? Well, that's commitment, baby. I love every actor in this show, I love the stories...and the plot that spanned many shows about the Miniature Killer? That was gold, and you grabbed us by the balls and reeled us in for good with that one. You hold a place in my heart, but more importantly you hold a top-rated place on my DVR.

I'm glad we got that sorted out.

Yours,

Nicci

Hurricane Omar was a Big 'Ol Dud

The Man and I stayed up past 1AM last night (or early this morning...however you want to look at it). The power/internet/TV stayed on in most areas of St. Thomas and we were all over Facebook getting updates and chatting with islanders as they updated us on the weather conditions. For those without power we would text them the changes per radar...like when Omar kicked into a Category 3 a few hours before reaching the VI's.

Fortunately Omar also turned right, and while St. Croix got a good whack St. Thomas and St. John were pretty well spared save for some winds and a whole lot of rain. The news out of the islands today is pretty good, and life should be back to normal by tomorrow as everyone puts away the shutters and opens up their doors and windows again.

Let's hope that's the last big storm to whip up this season.

Omar is making me nervous.

St. Thoms (and the VI) are in a Hurricane Warning, meaning the weather is looking to get nasty sometime tonight. Omar is a category 1 right now but they're saying it could direct-hit us as a Cat 2. Fuck.


The Man and I are still in MA, we were supposed to be in St. T this week but delayed our trip for another reason. We have friends who will bunker down in our place and hopefully everyone will stay safe.

Cross your fingers.

I

am going to the Red Sox game tonight.


And we had better fucking win.

Say Goodbye to Lucy

As you know the Man and I are bird-people...we're parents to three cool parrots. Well, up until a couple of weeks ago.

Miss Lucy, our 6 yr old Eclectus, has flown the coop...all the way to CT. Woo!

Our other two birds, Dice and Rodney, are still with us, and I hope to have them remain with us forever. So why Lucy? There's a couple of factors.

A) Airlines and the bird flu. At the moment we're down to two airlines that will let us take the birds into the cabin when we fly to St. Thomas. Cargo is an option for domestic flights - but 1) most airlines consider St. T international (even though it's a US territory) and 2) I'm not putting my birds in cargo. Period. So we figured we need to start thinking about life without birds - just in case the remaining airlines put the kibosh on in-cabin bird travel - and we decided to reduce our flock by one.

B) Rodney, our Grey, is completely devoted to the Man, and Dice, our Caique, is completely devoted to me. Lucy was completely devoted to....neither of us. I believe the most we were to her were people who got her out of the cage, brought her food and attempted to play with her. She didn't seem bonded with either one of us, and that decision led us to believe she would be the easiest to re-home. So we did.

C) Lucy is LOUD. And yes, all birds are loud, but Lucy has her own level of noise, and to be honest, when the Man (who works out of the house) was trying to take/make phone calls we'd have to banish Lucy to another room to keep the noise away. As you can imagine most birds do not like to be banished and would prefer to stay 'with the flock'.

I found a nice lady in CT who both breeds birds and keeps pet birds at her home. I emailed her with a picture of my girl and asked if she would consider taking her in, and she jumped at the chance. We drove Lucy down two weeks ago to a wonderful home where she was greeted by her new mom and two human sisters, 7 and 10yrs old. We saw her new room which holds 2 macaws, a cockatoo, a cockatiel, an amazon and a lovebird. Perfect! Lots of birds for Lucy to chatter (loudly) with and watch. I put a few of her favorite things in her new cage, gave her new mom a written list detailing all of Lucy's loves and hates and the Man pushed me out of the door just as my eyes filled up with tears.

We drove back to MA while I dried my eyes and we both agreed that she would be much happier there, with more birds to hang with and scream with.

I've definitely had my share of tears from giving her away, and the guilt? Oy, the guilt. I pictured her sitting in her new cage, thinking 'WTF? Where's my family?'. I pictured her feeling depressed, upset, unhappy...you name it. I told myself I was a horrible bird-mom for giving away my 'child'. I wondered what the other two were thinking when we left with Lucy and returned without her.

There's a happy ending. I waited a week before emailing Lucy's new mom to see how she was doing, and you know what? She's having a blast. Sure, she spent the first couple of days sitting quietly and observing, but since then she's immersed herself into her new home. Lucy has a huge amount of positive qualities - she's very calm and tame, she will go to anyone and allow you to pet and hold her. She's inquisitive, smart and content. Her new mom said she's a great bird, and they love her. Fantastic!

Here's a picture of my girl in her new home -

Her transition was pretty smooth....with her favorite toys in her cage, and instructions of how to play with her I think she just figured 'Well, I guess I'm with these people now. Let's play with my wiffle ball!'

As for our reduced flock, it turns out we're a two bird family...who knew?

As my mom said, just be glad I don't have real kids.

Shoo, fly!

Anyone know the lifespan on a regular old fly? This little buzzer snuck into the house and has been flying around the first floor for a couple of days now. I'm sure he'd like to get out, but despite my attempts to direct him outside the front door he still remains.

Poor little dude.

Here's the thing.

I know that the lightbulb is burnt out on the basement stairs, yet each time I open the door to go down it plays out like this in my head:

*click*

Why didn't the light go on?

*click click*

Oh right, we need a new lightbulb. I keep forgetting.

Eventually the Man will say 'Honey, do we have any lightbulbs??' enough times that one of us will do something about it, but until that happens I've decided to make peace with it.

Happy Hump Day!

My cold? Still present, but I had some chicken noodle soup and mini marshmallows - so I feel like I can now tackle the world (once I stop blowing my nose).

Thoughts for the day: the Man went to NY on a business trip today, I'll be picking him up around 6:30 - but I have enjoyed having the house to myself. It's a rarity.

I'm not sure what we'll be having for dinner tonight. He has some meat defrosted in the fridge, and part of me wanted to whip up something awesome, but it's going to be an hour-ish roundtrip to/fro the train station...so that's not happening. Plus, you know, I'm a walking germ factory.

I brought my laptop up to the bird's room and I'm watching them watch me watch them back. I have the little one frustrated as I put him on the hanging gym and he's unable to get to the floor where I be. Ha :)

I bought some all-natural, made with a gajillion juice-extracts juice today and had a glassful. It's SO good, but it's giving me stomach cramps as pure veggie/juice will do. All in the name of health.

My throat

is sore. I suppose this is a fall cold as the Man is also feeling it. Ugh.

Someone call the nurse.

This just in

I'm addicted to Frank's RedHot Original hot sauce.

Only on chicken though...preferably baked in our own oven with our own awesome blend of seasonings. We have a big 'ol tray of wings in the oven right now...crisping up and waiting for me to bury them in Frank's. Mouth? Watering.

By the time the Red Sox toss their first pitch tonight I should be comfortably full on Frank's & chicken and sucking down an Amaretto sour. Hellooooo good times.

It's Saturday

I'm realizing that we have been up until the wee hours of the morning for the past 3 nights.

-Wednesday we went to the Cape to celebrate my Dad's birthday and watched the Red Sox beat the Angels - game ended after 1AM.
-Thursday we all watched the debate together then stayed up having our own debate about the ecomony and upcoming election...we ran our mouths until almost 2AM.
-Friday we went to a wedding with family and friends, got home a little after 11 and watched the rest of the very exciting Red Sox game until - you guessed it- 1:30.

Dude. I'm 34, these late nights are killing me. We have one more left - a surprise 40th birthday party being held tonight at a restaurant. There will be a DJ - which means drinks and dancing. My feet are already sore from last night which means I'll have to wear smaller heels if I expect to make it through the night :)

We left the Cape around 1pm today, stopped on the road for lunch, and got home around 3:30. The Man is taking a nap, I greeted and fed the birds and hopped on the computer...and now I'm headed to the shower to pretty myself up.

Tomorrow the Man and I have a date with our 5yr old nephew - taking him out to lunch and to the Chihuahua movie...then back home to his folks. We will both then be spending the rest of the day/night on the couch as the Patriots play at 4:15, and the Red Sox are on at 7.

I'll never complain about being busy though, don't get me wrong :)

A Birthday Wish

To the guy that gave me my italian spirit, my green eyes, my cleft chin, my love of Star Wars, my driving lessons, my piano-talent, a coach for my soccer team, the best childhood memories, my over-analyzation, some wacky card tricks, permission to burp at the dinner table even when mom gave him 'that look', my night-owledness, my need for glasses, my impatience, my love for potato chips, my first real job at the bank where he also worked, rides to school in the winter, directions on how to build the perfect 'jump' on the sledding hill that would simultaneously shoot us into the air yet keep us from huge injury, pennies to put on the train tracks to see how flat they got when the train ran over them behind our vacation cottage in Cape Cod, lessons on boys and why they act so stupid, constant reminders to 'wear your seatbelt please!', tips on my 401K, knowledge of how to check my oil, countless conversations on how to construct my resume and interview properly, a ride when I got drunk for the very first time and told him I was 'sick' and needed to come home, reminders that I was pretty and strong and capable, some of the best sandcastles you've ever seen,

To the guy that gave me away on my wedding day -

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

69 years young :)

See you tonight, and yes, I'm bringing pastries!

Regarding those Twilight books

I remember years ago when someone said the words Harry Potter. One second we were all living regular lives and then boom! Harry Potter was ruling the world. This 'kids' book was in the hands of my co-workers, my friends, my mother's friends...it was inescapable. I read them all and loved them all. Great series.

A few weeks ago we were at the Man's brother's house for our nephew's birthday and sis-in-law #1 is returning borrowed books to sis-in-law #2. #2 asks me if I've read them, and tells me they're the Twilight books.

"Oh," I say, "I heard of those. They're some new big series of books on Vampires right?"

"Yep, these are the first four of the series if you want to borrow them?"

"Okay," I say, sort of wanting to get into a new series. I do love to read, it just takes a lot for me to pick up a book for some reason.

I cracked the first one open last week and finished it on Sunday. It was...okay. Decent story, fast read - but after the deeply layered plots and characters of Harry Potter this series had a lot to live up to - as far as I'm concerned. I'm a few pages into the second and not sure if I want to continue - but let's be honest, they're all sitting on the end table next to the couch and I'll probably end up reading all of them.

I have to say this, the relationship between the two main characters just reeks of all things I wouldn't want my teens to be involved in - mainly this whole 'can't live without you' and 'I only hang out with you and all of my other friends can just suck it 'cuz they obviously, like, don't understand this undying love we share'. Yikes.

However, I do send kudos to the author, Stephenie, for writing these, finding a publisher and getting a movie deal - that's awesome! So congratulations. With the gajillion amount of books in the world aspiring authors can only dream they'll hit the heights that she is. Rock on girl.

I'm on my way Lynn!

Lynn, of course, is my hairstylist/colorist/strand expert.

I have an appointment with her this afternoon for a LONG overdue dye job. I had an appointment a couple of weeks ago that I cancelled - I decided to go check out my friend's newborn instead. Plus we have a wedding to attend this Friday and I figured I'd attend with freshly did hair.

I can imagine how interesting this is to all of you.

Next time you read my words they'll be typed with the fingers of a woman who has no grey hair showing. Oh, the excitement!

How did people live before DVR & Tivo?

TV IS BACK BABY!!!! WOO!!!

We have two DVR's, one in the living room and one in the bedroom. It's burning up every night with favorite old shows, shows that pass the time and new shows that will get a chance. Here's how it breaks down at our place:

Shows we can't miss:

- Amazing Race (LOVE this show)
- Survivor (watched every freakin season)
- Criminal Minds (love the psycho-ness of the cases)
- Grey's Anatomy (sometimes weak, but still a must-watch)
- CBS Monday night lineup: Two and a Half Men/Big Bang/How I Met your Mother...etc. (funny funny)
- Lipstick Jungle (more me than the Man...nice juicy show)
- CSI Vegas (my favorite cast of the CSI's)
- New Adventures of Old Christine (hysterical)
- Medium (cool...and I like the cast)
- Prison Break (the brother without the brains is yummmy)
- Heroes (the Man's show...I never got attached)
- Desperate Housewives
- Damages (if it ever returns...)
- 24 (coming in January)
- American Idol (yes, we're addicted, it's back in January)
- Lost (reluctantly...)
- Smallville (totally the Man. Seriously, why can't he fly yet???)

Shows that pass the time:

- CSI NY and Miami (I'm tiring of these two...)
- Law & Order
- Private Practice (I'm SO not a Kate Walsh fan...but I like the show)
- House (I can take it or leave it...too many characters in this show, and they're getting weird with the Wilson thing...just get back to the medical stuff okay?)
- Boston Legal (predictable, but good)
- NCIS (the Man watches it more than me)
- Dirty Sexy Money (cool show)
- Pushing Daisies (more the Man than me...but I'll watch it if it's on)
- The Ghost Whisperer (the Man's got a thing for Miss Jenny Love Hewitt)
- Numbers
- America's Next Top Model
- The Bachelor (such fun nonsense)
- 'Til Death

New shows:

- Worst Week (cracked me up...so far so good)
- Kath & Kim (I'm looking forward to it, premieres in Oct)
- The Mentalist (like most cop shows with a boring twist, will end up in my Pass The Time category)
- Fringe (so far so good)
- Knight Rider (holy crap, the pilot episode was so bad we killed it halfway through and immediately took it off the DVR list)
- The Ex List (starts in Oct)
- Do Not Disturb (this show SUCKED! it's off the list)
- Gary Unmarried (first show was okay...so it remains on the list. plus it's a half-hour comedy which translates to about 18 minutes on DVR, who doesn't have time for that?)

Wow. Could we possibly watch more TV? Yikes. Check out this site...has the lineup day by day. Which reminds me...I also like 20/20 and Dateline - depending on the stories.

I'm sure there are shows you love that we aren't watching. I have to be honest, we just never clicked with 30 Rock. I know The Office is hysterical, but somewhere along the line it got lost in the DVR lineup. When it hits syndication and the rerun world I'll catch up with it again. I took Dancing with the Stars off of the list as I hate the celebs they have this season. Ugly Betty is one of my favorite shows but A) I fell behind and B) I HATE Lindsay Lohan...but I do plan to Netflix-in the seasons to watch it that way.

Plus, let's be honest, there's only so much we can fit on the DVR's. Watching TV in real time is so five years ago...

How do you like your controversy?

Apparently there's two ways to pronounce the word 'controversial'...

A) Con-tro-ver-shull

B) Con-tro-ver-see-ul

Merriam-Webster is no help, I found this on their site:
Pronunciation:\ˌkän-trə-ˈvər-shəl, -ˈvər-sē-əl\

I lean towards A for my pronounciation.

I'm glad that's settled.

Am I alone in thinking this?

The headline reads:

Blaine risks going blind in stunt

I immediately think, "Cool!"

You can read about his new stunt here, but let me save you the trouble - he plans to hang upside down above Central Park for 60 hours. It's too bad it's not above Boston's park, that way I would totally go throw things at him.

Blaine's advising Dr., Dr. Napolitano, says, "hanging upside down for a long time increases blood pressure in the head, especially in the eyes. That could lead to blindness."

However the article ends with this, Nevertheless, Napolitano says the stunt could yield valuable data for doctors, which makes me think the Doc is as hopeful for some idiotic injury as I am.

Arrr!

Didja know today be blog like a pirate day? Well it be, so Pirate On!

Yeah, we're going to need the name of that contractor

Just saw this story on the lone house that withstood Ike:

****************************************************************************

Yesterday, we received an amazing submission from iReport.com user austinheli. His photos showed a lone house standing in a wasteland left in Ike's aftermath.


We contacted austinheli, who is Ray Asgar, a private helicopter pilot based in Austin, Texas. He visited Gilchrist and Galveston Monday to photograph the damage left after Hurricane Ike slammed the coastal area last weekend. The lone yellow house caught Asgar's attention. He said it was the only structure standing for miles.


Considering the extent of Ike's devastation, he said, it was "odd to have nearly any damage to one home." Several users left comments on Asgar's iReport, joining a debate about whether or not his photos were real. One user who jumped in was Kelley1. "This is my sister's house. It is real," she wrote. Shortly afterward, Kelley1 uploaded a photo of the yellow house that was taken in May.


Kelley1 is Judy Hudspeth and the house belongs to her sister, Pam Adams. Pam and Warren Adams rebuilt their home in February 2006 after Hurricane Rita destroyed it the previous year. Hudspeth said that the couple hired a contractor to build a home that could withstand a Category 5 hurricane. Warren Adams watched over every step of the construction to make sure it was done correctly.

The couple evacuated to a friend's house in Lufkin, Texas, hours before Ike made landfall last week. Hudspeth said they've been without power since Saturday, and that her sister was "hysterical" when she initially heard everything was gone in Gilchrist.

Pam and Warren have since learned that their house is one of the few in the area to survive the storm. They are returning to see the devastating damage today.

***************************************************************************

You can find the story here, don't you love it? The photo of the lone house among all of that devastation is just incredible - I commend the contractor.

Filed Under 'Things I Didn't Know My Husband Could Do'

We ran some errands this past Friday. On our list: go to sign shop and check on digital prints that we're having blown up (they look great), grab a quick lunch (sushi for me, seafood medley for him), go to doctor to have stitches removed from the Man's wrist (looks okay but he still feels something wrong with it), stop at camera store and see if they have any photography classes I can sign up for (they do, but not for a month or so, and we'll be gone), stop at CVS for Vitamin E oil to help remove his scar (per suggestion from pharmacist I bought the capsules to break open and use instead of straight oil)...

...and lastly, stop at eye doctor so I can pick up pair of contacts.

Everything before 'eye doctor' is sort of clustered in the same area. As we left CVS the plan was to hit up the eye doctor last. We would pass our house on the way though, and the Man had to pee, so I pulled in and took the door key off my keychain while keeping the car running. The Man went in the house and I went to the eye doctor. When I came back home I dropped my keys on the table and bounced onto the computer for a little bit before we left the house to go to our nephew's birthday dinner.

Anyone notice what I didn't do? That would be 're-attach the house key to my keychain'. As we left the house the Man said, "Do you have the keys?" "Yep!" I answered and he turned the thingy on the door handle and shut the now-locked door. "Oh," I said, "the house key is still inside." "Fuck." he said.

We called his mom on the way to our nephew's and she said she had a key. Cool. After the little party we stopped at his mom's house (five minutes from ours) and went back home. We tried every key on the freakin' ring, and couldn't open the door. Awesome. It was raining, and a little chilly. The perfect scenario to be locked out.

The Man called his mom again and she said she had given us the wrong keys. His sister would run over the right ones. He hung up, pulled out a credit card and started playing with the lock. Don't you know he opened the door? With a credit card?!

Lucky for us the deadbolt was not engaged (I would need the key to do that...)

Needless to say we called his mom and told her not to bother, we broke in. With a credit card. I've never actually seen that done, and would have doubted that it actually worked.

Apparently I've married a criminal.

If that's not a PSA for deadbolt locks then I don't know what is.

GO PATS!

Go Matt Cassel!

GO PATS!

GO MATT CASSEL!!!

GO PATS!!!!!!!!!!!

What was that?!

This past Tuesday night we were watching TV when we suddenly heard a sound...a loud-ish, sharp quick sound as if something had crashed to the floor, or a door slammed. Something. We paused our show and went on the hunt. I went upstairs to the bird's room to see if something was amiss up there...it's not unusual for our Grey bird to pry his door open, jump out and get into mischief. On this night the birds were mischief-free; as I walked in they all looked at me from behind their cage doors. I tossed them some peanuts and walked into our bedroom - where everything was where it should be.

Meanwhile the Man was downstairs in the kitchen to see if a plate had slipped in the sink or something, but nope, no problems there. I checked in the basement...no problems there.

We got back on the couch and continued watching TV.

A couple of hours later the Man was upstairs and asked me to bring him a up a diet Coke on my way up. I opened the fridge and pulled one out from the back of the second shelf of the fridge. As I moved the can a rush of brown chunky ice fell to the bottom shelf. WTF? I looked to where it had fallen, and then I looked on the top shelf and saw a can of diet Coke that had split open. Apparently the very back of the fridge gets ice cold, and when this soda froze it popped the can and spilled ice everywhere.

And yes, that was the sound we heard.

Oh, and yes again, the crumbled ice is still in the fridge. As long as it's frozen I've decided I'm un-concerned about it. I mean really, it's all the way in the back, I'd have to move everything....eh.

9/11

Can you believe it happened 7 years ago?

Wow.

The Dancing Bird

Introducing Dice! *applause*

Our youngest loves to dance and I finally decided to get him on video so you could all enjoy his moves. A few notes on the video:

A) I recorded it on our old digital camera, so it's silent - but that's actually a good thing. The only way I get him dancing is to warble a wordless song while smacking my hand on my thigh to give him a beat...and you don't need to hear that.

B) I realize he's far away; this camera doesn't give a zoom option while recording, and if I stood up and got closer he would lose interest in dancing and would immediately jump closer to 'get the camera'. However, you can still see him open his wings to begin the performance which concludes with some true left-to-right rocking.

He's too cute for his own good. Enjoy!

Just a quick note

The baseball team I support is the Red Sox. Sox, of course, is a plural form of the word Sock, however, this does not mean you can use 'sock' when describing my team in the following manner:

"Red SOCK Nation"

Do you see how dumb that sounds?

If anyone at ESPN is reading this (and, of course, I highly doubt they are) please pass a note around your office so that I don't have to hear 'sock' on SportsCenter anymore.

Thanks.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

This morning we went to the doctors office for the Man's physical. I don't normally tag along like some naggy wife that insists on seeing the Dr., however the Man had wrist surgery last week - and can't drive (both our cars are standard). So off we went, me in the position of chauffeur.

While he was in with the Doc I was sitting outside the waiting room in the main lobby of the office building. I'm not a fan of hushed waiting rooms...and there was better people-watching in the lobby. As I'm sitting there a mother and her two almost-teenage sons came through...the sons each sat down in the lobby while the mom went into the pharmacy. As I flipped through my magazine I started listening to their conversation - I couldn't make this up if I tried:

Kid #1: "I wanted to gouge my eyes out this morning...felt like killing myself." (in jest)

Kid #2: "Why your eyes? I don't think that would kill you."

#1: "Yes it would, it pushes your brain and you die"

#2: "No, I don't think so..."

#1: "Yes, it does."

Kid #2 gets up, runs into the pharmacy and comes back a minute later, "Mom said it wouldn't kill you."

Kid #1: "Well it would, she's wrong."

At this point I must have missed something, or I was distracted by someone coming in the building, so you'll excuse me for not knowing how urine entered the conversation...

Kid #2: "Your pee is sterile, it can't kill you..."

Kid #1: "Yes it can. If your eyes are gouged out and someone pees in the eyehole you would die."

Kid #2: "No way! Your pee is sterile! It wouldn't kill you if you got pee in your eyehole!"

Kid #1: "Yes, you would die..."

At this point mom comes out of the pharmacy and they stand up to leave.

Kid #2: "Mom - tell him you would die if your eyes got gouged out and someone peed in the eyehole!!"

Mom looks at them, then looks at me apologetically.

Mom: "Are you guys really having this conversation right now?!"

Me: "Actually, I have to go home and Google it now because I have no idea what the answer would be. I'm pretty sure if my eyes are gouged out I have bigger problems then someone peeing on me!"

Mom cracks up, the kids look at me like they're not sure if I'm kidding or not and the three of them walk out of the building as I shake my head.

I'm back home now, and I'm not about to attempt to Google this as I A) have no idea how to start and B) don't want to see the nonsense that shows up when you Google 'pee' 'eyes gouged out' 'empty eye hole'.

I guess we'll never know...

Things that make you go FUCK

You can file this picture under 'Things you don't want to see'.


First on that list? Your reigning NFL MVP, three-ring-winning, perfect-season engineering, starting quarterback being helped up from the ground.

Second on that list? A replay of the injury, showing his knee going in a direction it was never meant to go.

Third on that list? Matt Cassel, coming in to play. Everyone say 'Hi Matt'!


I wonder how many calls have been made to Culpepper this afternoon...

Brady's injury, whatever it is, most likely means he won't be returning anytime soon, if at all, meaning most things I was looking forward to this season are now in limbo. Like...oh...the playoffs. Like the always-stressful regular season meeting with the Colts. Like the Pats/Jets game. The Pats/Chargers game. Did I mention the playoffs?

The Pats have a pretty soft schedule this year, and it was a team effort to go 18-0, so no, I'm not writing them off that easy. But let's be honest...Tom Brady is Tom Brady.

I still have a few things to keep me entertained though...let's start with hoping the Giants do NOT make the playoffs. I hope the Chargers make the playoffs and have another heartbreaking loss - hopefully the Colts can beat them this year. Speaking of the Colts I don't want Peyton rocking another ring - so until the Pats are figured out I'll pick the Cowboys to hoist the trophy on Feb 1.

At the moment I'm continuing with my lazy football Sunday. Latah!

Outburst II

We had some friends over for dinner a couple of weekends ago. With the Red Sox playing in the background we decided to play a boardgame and pulled out Outburst. It was a game the Man had before I met him, and I pulled the battered box out from the back of a closet.


We pulled out the cards, re-read the rules and started playing. The

Shhh...

We have our first quiet weekend approaching in almost two months. To add to the happiness storm Hanna is supposed to dump some rain on us tomorrow.

Yes, I know, people hate when it rains on the weekend, especially one of the last ones of the summer...but I love nesting inside when it's pouring. I think it's cozy. Piss and moan at me if you will.

TGIF :)

My favorite time of year

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?!?!?!???!

I AM! WOOO!!!!!!!!! If my world was perfect the Patriots would be opening the season by playing tonight, but instead it's the crap Giants playing the even crappier Redskins. You bet your bra I'm rooting against the Giants...let's be real - they have as much a chance of reaching the playoffs as I do growing a cup size by Sunday.

You say they'll reach? I'll bet you another cup size my Pats destroy them this time. But enough about the past...let's focus.

If you're any sort of football fan then you've probably frowned at the soft schedule facing the Pats this year. You can blame half of that on our crap division...Miami sucks, the Bills suck and don't even get me started on Favre QB'ing the Jets. He may be a living legend, but he ain't bringing no ring to Gang Green. Got it?

I'm not looking for a perfect season this year but I am looking for a lot of W's. Beat the Colts. Beat the Steelers. Crush the Chargers again...and again. It's too bad we don't meet Dallas or the Giants during the regular season...

At the moment the Giants are leading the Skins 13-0 with under 10 to go in the 2nd. I'm happy to have the sounds of football flowing from the TV...but Sunday is the day that matters - my Pats kickoff at 1pm against the Chiefs. Um, yeah, the Chiefs. After that we'll check out Dallas, who plays at 4 - and then a big Colts/Bears showdown for the late game.

So, football is here, but that doesn't mean I turn my back on my Red Sox. They're gaining on the first place Rays - and with 6 Sox/Rays games to go this division is heating up. How lovely that my Sox should reach the post season again, with a chance for back-to-back World Series wins while the Yankees ROT! SUCKERS!!

Okay. I'm out.

Cereal

Following up my dated yogurt snack of yesterday I'm now chowing on a late breakfast of cereal. The 'best used by' date is May 2007 on the unopened box. Clearly, I'm rolling the dice.

The only thing I notice is perhaps a lack of flavor, but the Man and I figure if I didn't know how old it was I probably wouldn't notice anything at all.

In other news - I have a migraine that won't go away.

Yogurt

There was a deal on yogurt in my supermarket a few weeks back, and I bought 20 cups...like $.50/each. Soon after I got sick of yogurt, and there are quite a few cups left. I just picked a cup out for a snack and noticed they all have dates of Aug 26 on them...but I'm still eating it.

Safe? Not safe?

I guess I'll let you know.

Spam Spam Spamity Spam

Yes, we all get spammed to death, but the sex ones are the more humorous to me with their in-your-face emails.

Like this subject line on one of them:

Pound your lady into submission nightly

I'm not sure whether to be offended or excited?

Or this one:

Shoot your load in her

What if she's busy, or just brushed her teeth? Was she the one who was just pounded into submission? She's probably too tired to 'take that load'.

Who are the people clicking on these emails and thinking "Oh my god YES! I's gonna pound her! WOO! And then shoot 'er. Or in 'er. She'll LOVE it! The email said so!!"

This is our world.

B4. G48. O75.

There's a reason I'm posting at 6:10 AM on a Saturday morning...it's Bingo time! Woo!

Some women from the Man's family, and myself, are all taking a ride down to Foxwoods Casino to try our hand at Bingo. I'm prepared to duke it out with some blue-haired biddies if their cigarette smoke doesn't cloud up my eyes too much.

The last time I played Bingo live (and not on a Facebook application) was probably in camp. Girl Scout or otherwise. I'm trying to think what lucky charm I should bring down with me...

Wish me luck! Enjoy your Saturday :)

What Say You?

We just watched McCain's VP pick Sarah Palin's introductory speech. Based on nothing else but watching her speak I like her - she's a good speaker, she's attractive, she has a big family, she seems strong. Of course I know it goes much farther than that, and I wonder if she's intimidated by the fact that she will now be dissected by the media as we learn who she is.

The Man, a Republican, thinks this VP choice is a HUGE mistake on McCain's part. We're watching the aftermath of the announcement, but no one's really speaking out either way on the choice. Would Romney have been better? Or is it a good idea to have a woman on the ticket?

Obama's convention seemed to be a success on all points of flashy speeches, Clinton-love and celebrity appearances - I wonder how McCain's will be? With his VP pick of a woman McCain's ticket is as history-changing as Obama's is, and the next few months will definitely be fiesty.

What say you on the subject of our next President? Man, woman, black ,white, Republican, Democrat? Are we screwed either way?

I

have nothing to write at the moment.

I will tomorrow.

That's all for now.

Go Wipe your Glory Hole!

We have friends flying in from St. Thomas for some weekend rowdiness - they land around 6ish tonight. It's my old roomate J, from CA, and her boyfriend T, from St. Thomas. J came to visit us last January on the island; she and T fell in love over a span of 7 days. T went to CA in March to see if their 'love' was real, he met her parents and they decided J would move to St. Thomas in May - they've been living together happily ever since. Yeppers, that's a sweet story indeed.


Anyways...I'm getting the house ready, so I'm posting these pictures and the website they came from, http://engrishfunny.com/, for your amusement. Everyone likes an Asian twist on the English language, right?

Thank You

...to the stage hand who kindly peeled off the set lists for both Cheap Trick and Journey and gave them to me at the concert last night.

I'd like to think you chose me because of the flirtatious manner in which I batted my eyes, however it was probably because I was sitting front row center and stretching my hand out while hanging over the gate.

We had great seats courtesy of I Love All Acess (.com). If there's a concert swinging through town that you're dying to see it's worth checking this site for the VIP package. It's expensive, but the following is included: Gift bag with band towel, water bottle, maybe a t-shirt / raffle with items signed by the band, more t-shirts / guaranteed seating in first 10 rows / VIP party before the show with free beer and food. We lucked out in that there were only 20 or so of us, so most of us ended up in the front row. We won a cool shirt in the raffle, then lucked out with the set lists plus a drumstick that seemingly floated into my hand as Journey took their final bow.

The show absolutely rocked. Cheap Trick was cool, Heart sounded fantastic and Journey's set was like a big karaoke show with the crowd singing along to every word. Loved. It.

More Olympic Blabber

As annoying as I find the Olympic beach volleyball I have to say the indoor volleyball has been completely awesome to watch. At this moment I'm watching USA women vs. Italy, and it's a killer game.

As for gymnastics...seriously, will scoring ever not be an issue?

Speaking of the Virgin Islands (were we?), we FINALLY got to see one of our athletes do something. Tabarie Henry ran in one of the heats for the 400 meter...and qualified! Woo! We were cheering his dreads on around the track. It was only by luck we noticed him in the race. I'm not sure where he's placed since.

What have you like/disliked about the Olympics?

In case you're wondering...

...Tropical storm Fay dumped some rain on St. Thomas, before moving on it's way and forming into a larger storm. It's safe to say we dodged a bullet there.

Obviously not the case for Florida...although the storm could have been much worse.

Congratulations to Michael Phelps!

The guy is an insane athlete, and hopefully we'll see him in a few more Olympics. Very exciting stuff he gave us.

Now, a note to NBC: ENOUGH WITH PHELPS!!

Holy fuck, I'm all set. ALL SET!!! A MILLION replays of nonsense...how many times can I watch water fall out of his goggles. Are you kidding me? Stop! We all saw the races, and yes, that includes the close ending of the men's relay - so you can stop replaying it. We've seen his mother's shocked face, so we're good with that. I'm all set with the blonde chick that interviews him everytime he steps out of the pool, do us all a favor and take her out back. She has nothing new to ask him, and it's just pure annoyance. And really, if you show me a picture ONE MORE TIME of how Cavic's hands didn't reach before Phelps I will board a plane, fly to Beijing and strangle all of you - Costas, Collinsworth, Rowdy Gaines...gone. Done.

Please realize we're living in a world where YouTube, Tivo, VCR's, DVR's rule. I can watch and re-watch anything I want to, as many times as I want to, without your help.

Let's let Phelps rest, and maybe, just maybe you might hunt down one of the seven Virgin Island's athletes that are also competing in the games and show me some coverage on them. 'kay? Thanks.

What is up.

Driving down to CT today for a shower. Staying overnight. Haven't been to CT since my parents retired and moved out to the Cape - excited to go to the old town and drive by the house where I grew up :)

Is it wrong to knock on the door and say, "Hey strangers! I lived here for 20-something years, can I walk around and see how you decorated everything?"

Enjoy your weekend!

It's all so Aggravating.

- John Edwards...just another shitty guy cheating on his wife - his wife who won't leave him because of her desire to keep the family together for the time she has left, even though myself and a million other women would like to toss a pitchfork through his ass for her. Someone in the news compared this to Clinton's roving eye, but I'm not buying it, Hillary must have known what she was getting into with her playboy - Edwards had us all fooled into thinking he was a Boy Scout...but he's just a P.O.S.

- Beach volleyball. sigh I have nothing against the game, but the music they pump out for 12 seconds in between each point is annoying, as is the surfer-dude announcer. Perhaps only to me, but it's annoying nontheless. I understand what they're trying to do, I just don't like it.

- China's 'women' gymnasts.

- People protesting 'Tropic Thunder'. Please. It's a MOVIE. Where were they when that piece of crap 'The Love Guru' came out? That deserved a protest - I can't believe the studio thought the movie-going public is stupid enough to pay to see an awful movie just because Mike Meyers is involved. Same goes for you, Adam Sandler, and your 'Don't Mess with Zohan' flick. Stinky.

- Lisa Rinna. No particular reason, I just find her completely aggravating in every way.

- Shaving with a new razor and cutting your legs in 14 different place.

Feel free to chime in...I'm done for the moment.

What's funnier than...

...Olympic Table Tennis*?

Olympic Table Tennis DOUBLES.

The Man and I are amused this morning with their sneaky serves, all the bouncing around like boxers between points, and how crowded it looks with four people around the 'court'. Dude. It's PING PONG. C'mon.

I will tell you what isn't funny about this sport - there's no ballgirl/boy. What's up with that? The ping pong flies off the table and they have to run it down themselves?? Could you imagine that happening at Wimbledon? I thought not.



*note: if you are a member of the Table Tennis organization, and are negatively impacted by my inability to watch this sport without laughing don't bother letting me know. Just pick up your paddle and hit the road.

Ooh. A Photo Post.

Picture time :)

Quick note, the camera on my phone sucks - which irks me because I have a really good phone. Maybe it just sucks for concert shots, which is what I've been using it for lately. Either way here's a quick photo breakdown of our most recent concerts (we LOVE concerts).

A couple of weeks ago we went to see Boston and Styx, this was a last minute buy - the arena is a few towns over. The blurry pic on the right was Boston taking the stage.



Random note from this concert - we observed what must be the MOST annoying tailgate activity ever. This kid, tailgating with a buddy and their dads, was playing his guitar. The annoying part was that they brought his AMP along so that EVERYONE could hear him play what few parts he knew from Boston songs OVER AND OVER. Seriously? I wish we had known, but by the time we were directed to our parking spot by the employees it was too late. We pulled out our chairs, I opened up my four-beer cooler (Bud Light Lime thankyouverymuch), and we sat and glared at the wanna-be rockstar. Lucky for us, just as I was working on a plan to run over and 'trip' over his amp, it started to rain, and he was forced to stop. Yay! The concert rocked, by the way. All concerts rock, who doesn't love live music?

Last week we pulled out our 80's card for a concert in Boston. I got wasted. WASTED. Rookie move. But I remember everything (I started blacking out at the restaurant afterwards during late night eats), and as is my way lately I continued the trend of injuring myself after many drinks and I ended up with a bruise the size of an large grapefruit on my left thigh. I believe it was when I fell off my concert chair while trying to get a better view of Bret Michaels. Oops.

Here's my 24 oz Stella (my fifth/sixth beer, I ended up downing 11. Who do I think I am? Pity my husband that night...), and me in front of the stage. We had AWESOME seats.

First up, Sebastian Bach - who ROCKED OUT! He was awesome, and this is the best pic I could get - him as a stark white ghost on the stage. I tried every setting on the camera - and I was buzzing, what else do you want from me?

Then Dokken, who seemed old and tired, but still rocked their best:

And finally, my boys - POISON!! WOOO!!! It's pretty apparent that my beer intake is ruining my picture-taking ability :)



Let's just say I haven't had a beer since that night - and I don't plan on drinking until next week - when we see Journey/Cheap Trick/Heart. You know what that means - more crappy pictures of blurry performers!! (high five)

How about some more pictures?

We booze cruised last weekend, out of Bahston Hahbah (definition: Boston Harbor). We went to see Hypercane, a kick-ass, hard rock band that plays all around MA. Here's the group waiting to board:

I took a moment to snap some pics of the gloomy day:

We boarded, got some drinks, and took a seat. With this small room and low ceiling I was prepared for an ear-piercing sound.

Hypercane played three sets, and when they began their first the Man and I looked at each other and I was shocked at how LOUD the singer's mike was. Shit. Beyond piercing. My ears numbed it out pretty fast, and they had corrected the sound by the second set, but I'm pretty sure we all came out of there with less hearing than we entered with. Eh, it's all in the name of rock, right?

Here's some shots of the crowd:

Our little crew on the boat between sets (the Man is in the green t-shirt):

More shots from the last set...by this time the crowd (and the band) were buzzing pretty good. The boat took some good rocks back and forth and it was funny watching people try to keep their balance. We squished ourselves right up in front, and I shoved my camera in the singer's face:

Then I joined him on the stage:

...and then it was over. With our ears ringing I snapped a picture of the aftermath:

...and away we went...leaving some lingering fans to party on the boat. It's possible they didn't realize we were docked...?

I'll tell you what, it will be nice to get back to the island - too much partying up here for this chick. I be old ya know :)

Monday Morning

Yep. We concerted on Thursday night, I had WAY too many beers.

We drove to the Cape on Friday to hang with my family, and came back yesterday. Last night we had dinner with some family members.

We've been watching the Olympics in and out as well.

Did anyone see the men's swimming relay last night? Holy shit. That was exciting.

Raise your lighters

We're going to see Poison tonight. I love me some Bret Michaels!

As if that wasn't enough, they're coming with Dokken. Thank you God of the 80's!

Still not interested?

Sebastian Bach, of rockin' Skid Row, will be there too. Youth Gone Wild!!

I thought that would bring a smile to your face.

What's more amazing than the fact that these bands are still touring is that my husband is going with me. I love that he puts up with my Poison lust; in return I deal with his addiction of all things SciFi channel.

sigh

In the spirit of counting calories...

...this is what I've had so far today:

-Small glass of juice - OJ and Light Cranberry combined (roughly 40 calories)
-Peanut Butter Kashi bar (40 calories)
-Coffee (don't know, doesn't matter, coffee is a must)
-Piece of cheese (about 1" square) (um....80?)
-Can of sugar free/calorie free rootbeer (ZERO BABY!)

I'm now working through a Bud Light Lime (116) waiting for our whole chicken (I'll eat 150) to finish baking (seasoned with herbs only). There's also fresh broccoli (I'll eat 50) steaming on the stove.

At this point I might waste away by the weekend.

I am so Hot!! Oh shit...I'm so not.

Do you think you're good looking? Hot? Slim? In shape?

I think most people have a realistic view of how they present to the world - other than the spandex wonders who continually stuff themselves in clothing three sizes too small.

I have a healthy view of myself - I'm not overweight, but I could stand to tone up. I'm small up top, but I have hips, and a butt. I'm still holding it together at 34, but I'm aware that the women in my family are pretty much all pears. I'm not in the fruitbowl yet though. Basically, to sum it up, I feel good when I walk around.

Or I did. Until yesterday.

I met a friend for lunch, and after we ate we went to Kohl's where the day before I saw some lay-around-the-house shorts on sale for $6.99. Comfy jersey material. Yes, they were in the Juniors section, but whatever, it's 7 bucks! I went over and pulled out two pair, size medium. They had some skirts next to the shorts, same material, same price - just the type of thing you would throw over a bathing suit. I did pull one of those up over my pants, size medium, and it fit, so off I went.

I got home and went upstairs to put away a pile of laundry that been sitting, ignored, in the basket, on the bedroom floor. I dumped out my Kohl's purchases on the bed and took off my pants to try on the shorts. They fit snug, but comfy, and I decided to keep one pair on for the rest of the day. I went about my business putting away the other clothes, and at point I turned around and caught my reflection in the dresser mirror. The window behind me was letting in that late afternoon sun, and it was catching my legs in an unflattering way. As I stood I suddenly saw a vision of myself that didn't really match the one in my rosy mind. I walked to the dresser and grabbed a mirror, then walked back to the foot of the bed, turned my back to the dresser, and held the hand mirror up to grab a view of my rear.

Holy fuck.

I'm a fatass.

The shorts, my new comfy shorts, were sucked to my ass like static hair to a scarf. I'm a thong-girl unless I'm home, and I had switched into some comfy full-butt panties. If I didn't remember switching I was quickly reminded by the stark outline popping through the shorts, and the rest of my ass coming out underneath. The shorts themselves, not yet stretched out (yes, it's an excuse), were barely under my ass cheeks, and sprouting out from the shorts were these thick thighs I suddenly realized were my legs.

Despair hit me like a fully iced snowball.

I put the mirror down, did some squats to loosen up the shorts, yanked them lower on my waist, re-adjusted the full-butt panties, pulled my tank top down, and picked up the mirror again.

No change.

I let the mirror drop to the floor, and turned around. The front was no better than the back, and a cloud of pissy came over my face as I flashed back to my happy self prancing around the Maine beach just a week ago.

"Something has to change," I whispered to myself.

Now I understand what people mean when they describe how it's harder to get the weight off as you age. I let myself mourn my early 20's for about a minute.

I gained 12 pounds from when our plane touched down in St. Thomas last December. I need to get those off before we return.

I'm now counting calories. I'm not happy about it. Think how pissed I'll be in ten years when some doctor tells me to cut the salt out.

At that point it's all over.