The King Turns 1 today!
16 Jul 2008 1 Comment
in family
Brotha-Man and SIL’s first son, The King, turns one today and their second child is due the end of December.
I like being the Auntie!
To be honest… its been a crap week
04 Jul 2008 3 Comments
Last weekend was spent at the convent visiting Aunt Dot. Now don’t get me wrong or call me some bad person because I HATE being at the convent. I fully understand that it makes Aunt Dot happy and even though I81 is a beautiful… The other drivers are not. I would rather be at the beach either sleeping or drinking.
I took Aunt Dot all sorts of things that put a smile on her face and Minnie Red and I stayed by her side from the time we arrived until we left. We attended two masses with her and names have been placed in The Book, of people the nuns pray for, as requested and for my own good. We almost saw a few nun fights, which made the trip well worth it. Nothing like seeing some really old religious chicks threatening to punch or shoot each other, especially when they can barely walk or not walk at all for that matter.
By the time I got to work Monday morning my body was hurting due to the uncomfortable sleeping conditions at the convent, not-to-mention the lack of hot water. Plus I must have been griting my teeth because my jaw was killing me.
The best thing about Monday was going over to a Mrs. M’s house to stuff envelopes for a bridal shower we were working on. Mr. and Mrs. M have a frozen margarita machine so the plan was he would fix the drinks while we stuffed the envelopes. The envelopes were done withing 20 minutes but I didn’t leave until almost 2 hours and several margaritas later. My jaw was finally feeling better.
Tuesday, was the happy hour and I got to see some people I haven’t seen in a while. It was a small group but everyone seemed to have a good time and I was pleased with the happy hour prices.
Wednesday, was when the poop hit the fan at work. It’s a lot of blah blah blah and some panic and in the end a shit load of work for my team. This also means working this weekend… Crap! So after work I took Minnie Red to see Hancock because there’s no sense in stressing, right? I then worked that night in hopes it would help me finish early on Thursday so I could head to the beach as early as possible to avoid traffic.
Thursday, I worked from home and nothing got completed as planned. I dropped a load of money on four new tires and they tried to get me to spend another load on more work. They are, of course, mechanics and I am, of course, a woman so you know how that goes. At work there were all sorts of oddities that needed trouble shooting and I tried to pack in between them. I just couldn’t seem to get away from work and so the poop that exploded on Wednesday was still hanging in limbo. I was finally able to pull away around three and feared the drive would be bad but I hoped for the best.
It took two hours just to get to Annapolis and the three hour drive took four and a half, but I was just happy to be there. I arrived just as Brotha-Man and SIL were putting the King to bed so I kissed him goodnight and took a pull on the kegerator. Ahh time to wash the week away even though I knew I would be working while here at the beach.
I was asleep by 10 but I had forgotten about the alarm on my cell phone. That was it and I was awake and it was 5am. I couldn’t help but think about all the work I had to do. Granted the data that needed cleaning had been cut back to only 40,000 but last time it was cut close because it took two weeks to clean 5,000. So I was thinking about all this work and there’s a big party in Bethany on Saturday and I wasn’t going to miss it. Our VP said no one was to work on the 4th but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. So now it’s 5:30am and I’m out of bed, before the King even. I’m trying to be very quiet so I set myself up out on the balcony and I start this gawd awful tedious task.
I missed the King’s first walk on the boards, I missed beach time, and I missed nap time. By the time the crabs arrived I had worked straight through and the data was cleaned and is now ready to be organized before sending to the programmers to be imported. The crabs were hot and the beer was cold so I didn’t even bother to change out of my pjs, that I had been working in all day. At least I was in a tank because I looked as if I had been sitting on the beach and I have the sunburn to prove it.
The crabs were delicious! So was the beer for that matter… and still is. By the time I called it quits with the crabs I took a nice shower and played with the King. He was put in his jammies and Auntie Red rocked him to sleep.
It may have been a crap week and a tough day of work but that little boy falling asleep in my arms washes all the crap away and makes me a happy Auntie.
Happy 4th of July!
How Green is your Plastic?
18 Jun 2008 2 Comments
in family, Green Tags: family, Green, plastic
The topic of bottled water has come up quite often in discussion with friends. I caught a news report on this some months ago and have made a concerted effort not to use bottled water. I have been using my own bottles and tap water. So much money has been put into cleaning our tap water so why put more money into costly bottled water and contributed to all the plastic in our dumps.
Ahh plastic! That has been a more recent news topic. Mrs. Chickie (a coworker of mine) has mentioned it and how she has been cleaning the bad plastics out of her house and away from her three children. I admit I have been lax in looking it up and educating myself even though it has been a prevalent topic in the news.
Today Mrs. Chickie stopped by my desk and noticed all my plastic containers of fruit and salad as well as my water bottle. She started checking what number they were and was ohhing and ahhing about how bad my plastic is. Finally, I did some research. She suggested checking out Z Recommends, which is a blog with a wide range of information geared towards a safer environment for your kids.
I started by Googling “plastic” and that turned up everything except what I was looking for so I tried “good plastic, bad plastic”. This brought me to a blog titled “A Bunch of Greens” geared towards living green and a post titled “Good Plastic – Bad Plastic”. This has a fantastic overview but I became very bothered because my new water bottle, purchased at Starbucks, is a #7. I guess I figured this is just the type of thing Starbucks would be on top of, which is why I purchased the water bottle. Yes I should have done my own research from the git so I guess I was disappointed in both myself as well as Starbucks.
I forged forward looking for more information and came upon a wealth of info that I am still going through. I found a site called “The Green Guide” and seems its part of the National Geographic web site. I can’t wait to see what else they have but their info on plastics is extensive starting with “Green Learning: Plastics by the Numbers”.
I’m finding a lot of information but I’m still bothered by my recent Starbucks purchase. I went to Their website to see if I could write to them about my disappointment. This is what you do when you are older… You write letters when you are dissatisfied with a company. Well, my Mother wrote letters I write little blurby emails expressing my disgust with them as well as myself.
“I recently bought a water bottle from my local Starbucks in my town’s Safeway. I’ve heard about the issues with plastics lately but neglected to do any research. I decided to purchase a new water bottle from Starbucks figuring you guys were on top of this type thing. I have recently done my research and found the grade of plastic used is one of the worst ones out there 7. I was shocked to find this out since I figured Starbucks would be on top of this situation. I am disappointed to say the least as well as disappointed in myself for placing such trust in Starbucks.”
I was honest I didn’t put all the blame on them. I wasn’t even sure what I expected them to do but I had this need to express my disappointment in both of us.
It wasn’t long before I got this response:
“Hello Red,
Thank you for contacting Starbucks Coffee Company.
We will happily offer a full refund or exchange for the original price paid if the original sales receipt is presented with the merchandise within 90 days of purchase. If the original receipt is not available, the last sale price will be refunded. Also, if the returned item was purchased with cash or a check and the refunded amount is over $25 we will need to issue a refund check which will be mailed within thirty days.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at 1-(800)-235-2883.
Thanks again for contacting Starbucks Coffee Company.
Sincerely,
Tim G.
Starbucks Customer Relations“
Wow! I didn’t think I would be offered a refund. I will definitely be taking them up on that but I have to admit I’m a little disappointed the environmental point seems to have gone unmentioned.
I started going through my kitchen and checking numbers on anything plastic, especially my water bottles. I am shocked that all of my water bottles are a #7. I definitely have more reading to do but now , hopefully, I have caught you up and given you some good sites to do your own research to make better choices for your families.
Beach Season in the OC may now begin
14 Jun 2008 Leave a Comment
in alcohol, Beach, family Tags: alcohol, Beach, family
It’s my first trip to the beach of the 2008 Summer Beach Season. I’m a little later in the season than usual but “Better late than never“, I say.
Minnie Red* and I rode down with The Folks to save on gas… At least I saved on gas cause Dad paid for it.
We arrived just in time for Happy Hour on the Bay at Macky’s. Dad didn’t go over since Tiger was golfing and he couldn’t miss it. So Mom, Minnie Red and I trecked over. We started with The Bucket and had them fill it with Orange Crush. I promised my boss I would send pics of me drinking since that is what she does to me. So I had Minnie Red take the picture below.
After Mom and I finished The Bucket she had two B-52s. I asked the bartender if he had ever heard of a “Mini Guinness”, consisting of half Kahlua and half Bailey’s. He quickly whipped one up and offered it to Mom who threw it back real fast. She said her B-52 tasted like water after that. Meanwhile, I was drinking some concoction consisting of blueberry Stoli and lemonade. I picked up the tab since Dad paid for gas, I figured the least I could do was get Mom drunk.
When we got back to the Condo Mom filled Dad in on what he missed and quickly said “nite nite” cause she was DONE.
It wasn’t too long before Dad was jonesing for some sandwiches from Anthony’s. So he quickly offered a “I’ll buy if you fly” deal. Damn those sandwiches are good!
Saturday Morning brings a new day and a reminder of some freaky crazy dreams I had last night, must be this ocean air. The call has been made over to get the wave-runner out and Minnie Red is going to get her first experience on one. I’m a little nervous but I think we’ll have fun and I’ll try not to throw her off.
*Mini Red will hence forth be known as Minnie Red. This request was made after our trip to Disney a few weeks ago. Maybe I will have time to write this weekend and cath you all up on our trip as well as other things such as the kidney stone I had. It’s been an interesting year so far.
It’ll give you chills
06 Jun 2008 Leave a Comment
I just read the most touching post by Throwing Hammers.
He has recently experienced a loss that has hurt him deeply and expressed himself so eloquently and completes it with a message I seem to keep seeing recently.
I mention this and give you the link for several reasons:
Ahh, The Holidays have begun
23 Nov 2007 4 Comments
Thanksgiving was at The Folks again this year. I wanted to do my part so I invited everyone over for breakfast at my apartment.
Brotha-Man’s in-laws were heading in from Connecticut so he, Sil and The King were unable to come. I told Mom I was ready to have them all but I would have to borrow one plate. She laughed but we both know that was better than when I had the pancake breakfast a few years ago. I had only invited Mom and Dad that year but Nicole was living with me at the time and her Fiancée, Lou, stopped by so we had to wash the only four dishes I had and reuse them as fast as possible. We laugh about that every year now.
So Mom, Dad and Sis came for breakfast. Mini Red and I were up late doing the final cleaning Wednesday night. We had already done the grocery shopping Tuesday, which was not fun but I approached it with a Zen like attitude and we survived. Thursday, Mini Red and I got up early since our guests were arriving at 9am. I was still doing more cleaning and wiping down the kitchen cabinets when Mini Red said, “What are you doing Mom?”
I replied, “I’m cleaning.”
“Mom! Do you really think they will notice a speck on your cabinets and point it out?”
“Hey! My schedule doesn’t warrant dome deep cleaning like this so when I have the chance I will scrub the cabinets and such.”
For breakfast I had scrapple, bacon, eggs, fruit, cinnamon buns, home fries, toast, OJ and coffee. The five of us squeezed around my dining table and breakfast was a success. Dad even expressed how much he enjoyed it and that was an incredible feat considering he doesn’t like much of anything anyone cooks except for Mom’s cooking.
After breakfast I drove Mini Red to her Dad’s. I was feeling grumpy and I think that was just a combination of exhaustion and the fact that the holidays are here. I am determined to really enjoy the holidays this year. The shopping is always a bit unnerving and I refuse to let any of it get to me and just figure out what it is I want out of the holidays to make me happy.
So when I got home I went for a run. Who could resist when it was so beautiful out. Now I’m probably the worst runner out there, I’ll walk and run and walk and run and so on. I did a bit more running this time and hit some neighborhoods I haven’t been through in a long time. All the while I was enjoying listening to The Kooks. This is unusual since I don’t normally take the iPod when I run but listening to the music and taking in the sights of the beautiful trees will put anyone in a great mood.
I leisurely took my after shower run and took my time drying my hair and getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner at 5pm. I was feeling the hunger pains since I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and although tempted to just grab one little piece scrapple I didn’t. I was the last to arrive at The Folks but dinner wasn’t near ready and I made a beeline for my nephew, The King. He looked at me and cried. Mom hollered from the kitchen, “Red! Did you make The King cry again?”
“Yes!”
Ends up he was hungry so I let him be. We were all hungry and this year there were no dips, which was probably a good thing. We opened the wine and by the time we sat down to eat we were all buzzing off the wine on our empty stomachs. After the fabulous dinner, which I had seconds of the pineapple stuffing, we excused ourselves to let the dinner settle before we dug into the desserts. The King was much happier so we played and he even told me a story. Gawd, I love this kid and he is growing so fast that we suspect he will be very tall like my brother and thus will be carrying his Mommy around by the holidays next year.
Thanksgiving was a success and now all I was trying to do was stay awake. I had been so exhausted and I was feeling my run then after the wine and all the food I knew I would sleep well. I was home and in bed in time for Grey’s Anatomy and I could barely stay awake for that. Earlier in the evening I sent out mass text messages to all my friends wishing them a Happy Thanksgiving. I received replies all the way up till 2am and still I would easily fall back to sleep easily.
Yeup, the holidays are off to a good start. I’ve recently realized how much I love the holiday commercials and movies. I believe White Christmas is playing today and I love the Sisters song. It’s just the shopping is the part I’m not looking forward to.
A Riotous good time at the Oyster Riot
18 Nov 2007 2 Comments
in alcohol, family, food, friends
A Riot by definition is: To act in an unrestrained or wanton manner; to indulge in excess of luxury, feasting, or the like; to revel; to go to excess.
The long awaited Oyster Riot was last night and a good time was had by all. Our goal was to arrive before the doors opened since we only had three hours to eat as many oysters as possible.
I couldn’t help but feel I was lagging behind, due to my new heels, as we walked in to the metro. When we got off at Metro Center we headed to the 13th Street exit and just before getting on the escalator it happened. My heels got stuck in a grate…Both of them. The others were already on the escalator and Mrs. M was laughing at me. I had to step out of them reach down and yank them out of the grate. Unfortunately, marks were left on the left heel. I was sure to avoid the grates as we walked down 13th street toward the Riot.
We arrived just as they were opening the doors. It wasn’t long before we found more of our family and friends as we were reaching to get oysters. Mrs. M and I quickly got antsy for some wine though. It seemed as if everyone was trying to eat as many oysters as possible and as quickly as possible.
Of course they had the Olympia Oysters which are an all time favorite. I would grab five ore more of the Olympia at a time. Yes there are that good. I was disappointed with the Kusshi Oysters this year. My first one was good but the next wasn’t so I went in for two more and still it wasn’t going so well so I called it quits on the Kusshi. I thought it might have been me but others made similar statement expressing their disappointment in the Kusshi oysters.
Somewhat near the Olympia Oyster is where I found my favorite wine ‘Vicars Choice’ Sauvignon Blanc out of New Zealand. This wine wasn’t getting very much attention which is one of the reasons I went over there. All the attention was drawn to the wine next to them where there was this hot chick, with killer cleavage, pouring that wine. She was drawing a crowd of dudes and trying to entice them to vote for her wine.
Through out the evening we circled and tried various oysters and wines and bumping into people we knew and enjoying the sights of others. One dude was wearing a leopard print smoking jacket. I’m sorry to say I didn’t capture a photo of that. Mrs. M and I were captured taking a break from our heels buy John G. who took the photo below.
By 8:30 I couldn’t eat another oyster and there was still an hour to go. The wine was going down real well and soon my feet didn’t hurt anymore. We took our group into Old Ebbitt (the Riot was held in the lobby of the building) and continued that party there. The place was crowded and I honestly don’t know how long we were there. As we made our way out is when I bumped into our foot photographer, John G. I guess this is when I mentioned the blog.
The walk to the metro and the ride back is very blurry and I was glad I wasn’t driving. Thank you Mrs. M for being so responsible. I vaguely even remember pulling out my keys to get into my apartment. Evidently, I did talk to a friend of mine once I got home and had a good laugh when I heard all about it today.
I haven’t gotten schnockered like that in quite a while and this was a good one.
A little Prayer never hurt
12 Nov 2007 2 Comments
I used to work with this dude, G-Man. At first I thought he was a creep. He likes the ladies, which is obvious, but I got to know him and found we could talk quite candidly. I also learned how in love he is with his wife. She is his second wife and quite a bit younger than he. She wanted to have a baby with him but he had had a vasectomy after his first marriage and two kids that are now grown. I think he was hesitant due to having already raised kids but he loves this woman enough to go through a lot to create a child that is part of each of them.
First he went through surgery to have his vasectomy reversed. He was told it would take a year before his soldiers would be active again. They then found that there was an easier way. They could extract active soldiers, somehow, and he didn’t need to have that surgery. The costs for in-vitro are astronomical so they got into a program where they would donate eggs to reduce their costs. You can’t beat that and helping others is an added bonus.
They had tried to plant, or whatever you call it, the fertilized eggs several times. G-Man told me they had just gone in again to plant more eggs and he didn’t know how much more of this they could do. I called Aunt Dot, who you might recall has been a nun for over 70 years. I told her about G-Man and his wife and asked her to put their names in The Book. The Book is a book that sits outside the chapel where Aunt Dot lives and special intentions are written in there and all the Sisters in the community pray for these special intentions. After two weeks of putting their names in the book G-Man and his wife found out they were pregnant. Wahoo!
Nine months (or so) later G-Man’s wife gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. There were problems, their weight was low and jaundice to name a few. The doctors were positive the kids would get over this hump but G-Man and his wife were worried. So I got a call from G-Man while in the hospital and he asked me to call Aunt Dot right away and put the kids’ names in the book to have the Sisters pray for them. He was sure this would help because he was convinced Aunt Dot and the Sisters prayers helped them finally conceive. The kids did get over that tough time and three years later they are thriving.
This past weekend Mini Red and I took a trip up to Scranton to See Aunt Dot. We hadn’t been up there since April so it was time. It will be a year since the stroke on November 24th and she will be turning 95 on November 28th. She has gotten much better but there is an issue with her knee and they won’t operate. This means she won’t be walking again and this frustrates her but I think she has accepted it and is trying to remain positive.
We took her gifts and it’s nice to have her not fight me on that anymore but she is sure to find something else to fight with me about. One of the things we took her was a HUGE remote. The one she had was small and was a pain to operate. I loved watching her with this huge thing, she loved just switching channels. At first she would hit the numbers and she would hit the same numbers over and over. Then it was by the up and down arrows. Next she would mess with the volume and I think I may have lost some of my hearing after that. She loved it and was sure to show anyone who passed her room. The last visit all she did was introduce us to everyone but this time all she just talked about was this remote but she did brag that it’s a gift from her visiting nieces.
We also brought her two more plants, an Amaryllis and a Christmas Cactus. She loves plants and especially ones that bloom. These haven’t bloomed yet but when they do it should happen as the excitement from the remote dies down.
By Saturday evening Aunt Dot and I were ready to part ways for the day. During the day I had been running blocker for Mini Red to escape now and again. She would go to our room down the hall and lay down and watch a TV show she wanted to see. She was such a good girl and even played her violin for the Sisters. But Saturday had been a long day and a lot of events for Aunt Dot. I was bored and beat tired and she was worn out. This was evident when we both became a bit snappy. We parted ways to get some rest and meet up in the morning.
Mini Red and I wanted to leave as early as possible but we stayed for Mass but not lunch. They all tried to lay the guilt trip on us but we weren’t having it. It was a beautiful Fall day which made the drive home absolutely beautiful. I’ve said it before and I will say it again but I do love driving on Route 81.
During our visit I had a list of people to put in The Book. If you are a praying kind of person then throw these special intentions in your prayers too. If you need some special prayers then let me know and I’ll be sure to pass it along to Aunt Dot.
The visit was a success and I’m sure I’ll hear about it from Aunt Dot for at least the next few weeks. Mini Red and I definitely have had our fill of the convent for a while.
