Thanksgiving Day

Larry and I hosted our first Thanksgiving at our house last Sunday for his family. We had 10 adults and 2 children for dinner. We fried a turkey and his brother roasted one. It was very fun for me to prepare the house and set the table with fall leaves, namecards and candles. Dinner went well even though his father and oldest brother left early.

Last night there was a blizzard of snow so we have been in the house watching for the snow plow guy to come and do our driveway. We are going to my aunt's at 2:00 today and are responsible for the rolls and after dinner bread so we are relaxing until then.

Tomorrow morning, we are off work and heading down to Wheeling, West Virginia with Larry's 2 brothers for the Festival of Lights. I am hoping to hit the jackpot at the casino, but know it is a long shot.

That's all for now....Happy Thanksgiving!

PS> I sure hope that I hear Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving Song today some time.

Heat Update

Well, the first snow of the year was yesterday and my husband has had enough of walking around in 50 degrees and whined and complained until I turned the heat on. I was hoping to hold out longer than November 18, but it was a valiant effort. I am going to try and keep it low and see if we can save money by keeping our thermostat down.

Friday I went to Dresden with my sister in law and my niece and nephew and had a casual day of shopping. Saturday, I will be preparing to host my first Thanksgiving on (a little early) for my husband's side of the family.

List I stole from Heather

10 favorites.
Favorite color: Pink, purple
Favorite Food: Chocolate
Favorite Month: July
Favorite Sport: To do? Step aerobics. To watch? Larry coaching football
Favorite Song: Only One by James Taylor
Favorite Movie: Pride and Prejudice
Favorite Season: Fall
Favorite Day Of the week: Saturday
Favorite Ice Cream flavor: Don't like ice cream
Favorite Time of Day: Bedtime

9 Currents.
Current Mood: Good
Current Taste: Lemonade
Clothes: Snowman pajama bottoms and blue sweater
Current Desktop: Fall leaves
Current Toenail: Bare
Current Time: 9:30 p.m.
Current Surroundings: Lighthouse Room
Current Thoughts: My throat hurts and I want to go to bed.

8 Firsts.
First Best Friend: Tie between Nicole and Val Notaro
First Kiss: Don Kopniske - yes I was 27 years old.
First Screen Name: Andvium
First Pet: Never had one!
Piercing: Ears, at the mall in the kiosk
First Crush: Dan Single? Now a brain surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic
First Album: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - I love rock n roll.

7 Lasts.
Last Cigarette: Some time in 1995
Last Drink: Wine Saturday night at Tokyo Japan in Canton
Last Car Ride: Home from my neighbors
Last Kiss: Larry at BW3's earlier tonight
Last Movie Seen: Noel - nice, eye opening, sad Christmas movie
Last Phone Call: My friend Jen comparing hair color stories
Last CD Played: Barry Manilow, Summer of 78

6 Have You Evers.
Have You Ever Dated One Of Your Best Guy/Girl Friends: No
Have You Ever Broken the Law: Yes
Have You Ever Been Arrested: No
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: No
Have You Ever Been on TV: No
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know:No

5 Things.
Thing You're Wearing: Warm clothes.
Thing You've Done Today: Bought a box of coffee from Dunkin Donuts, 10 Biggie Drinks from Wendy's, had my hair colored, stopped at my neighbors.
Thing You Can Hear Right Now: Computer humming
Thing You Can't Live Without: My family
Thing You Do When You're Bored: Make phone calls to friends

4 Places you have been today.
Dunkin Donuts
Work
Bank
BW3

3 People you can tell anything to.
My husband Larry
Laurie Lakocy
Nicole Tressler

2 Choices.
Black or White: Black
Cold or Hot: Hot

1 Thing you want to do before you die.
Live til 100

Why I hate beauty salons

The typical reasons women hate the beauty salon are:

1. Hoyty Toyty receptionists
2. Snobby, too thin hair dressers
3. Gossipy hairdressers
4. Burning hot water to wash your hair
5. The uncomfortable sink
6. Waxing of any kind
7. Dirty hair on the floor
8. Leaving with a bad haircut
9. The price for color and highlights

The reason I hate the beauty salon is all together different. It is the inevitable question that I am always asked. "Do you have any kids?". I guess for most women it is innocent enough. The girl is trying to get to know their customer and have something to talk about. But for me, it stops my heart every time. I used to say "Not yet, we just got married" or "Not yet, but we're trying." But after three years of marriage, those aren't cutting it anymore. The pain of this question is equivalent to asking me if I have a debilitating disease. I wonder how women who have just had a miscarriage, still birth or past abortions feel when they get this question. I wish they would stick to the "safe" small talk topics like: holiday plans, reality tv, music, movies, vacation, etc.

I went last night to a new salon to get a haircut and eyebrows waxed. The girl was young and talkative. I thought I had made it through until she asked me the question. I considered telling her that I was labeled an unfit mother or they I had given my kids away for adoption but I didn't do it. I just said, "Nope" and left it at that.

I cannot wait for my cousin Laura to open up shop so I can go to the salon in peace again.

Leave us alone - not!

When I came home from work last Tuesday night, I noticed that all of the leaves in our backyard had been raked into a pile next to the garage. I wondered if the Leaf Fairy had been by or if the the next door neighbor kids had raked the leaves for us. The weather was warm that night so when Larry came home, we just raked the leaves onto a tarp and dragged it down to the curb for pickup. Our neighbor Mike came out and told us that since he just bought a new highpowered gas leaf blower, and he was bored, he decided to play with his new toy in our yard. We thanked him and offered him a beer for his hard work, we appreciated it.

Our neighbors on the other side came out to chat with us and we mentioned that Mike had raked the leaves for us. They said how nice and we went on with our chit chat.

Today is Sunday and we went down to Canton yesterday to see Larry's college friend's playoff game at the Hall of Fame field. When we came home, we happened across our other neighbor Jim doing our leaves with his rake. He said, "Oh, you weren't supposed to see me raking the leaves for you." We said thank you very much and he did our leaves as well as his own.

I ran out to Walgreens and picked up some break and bake chocolate chip cookies, baked them and took them over to his wife in appreciation.

Could we have better neighbors? They really are a treasure.

Pride and Prejudice, the movie

Thursday night I went to see the remake of Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightly (Pirates of the Caribbean). I was eager to see the latest version of Jane Austen's great romance novel. I love the 1999 BBC version with Colin Firth (Mark Darcy in Bridget Jones' Diary). Here is my opinion...Nothing will ever come close to the 6 hour series from the BBC. It is absolutely wonderful and detailed. But, if you don't have 6 hours to devote to a movie, go ahead and catch the 2 hour version. Keira Knightly is beautiful and the scenery in this film is breathtaking. Yes, it is set in 17th century English country side but a romance is a romance no matter what the timeframe.

Another recommendation for women only is Meet Me in Saint Louis starring Judy Garland. Amy and I saw this in college and loved it. We brought it home to Jeanne at Christmas break and she fell in love with it as well. It is a musical about the holidays, especially Christmas. If you get the chance, make time for this movie as well.

My nephew Brian

Yesterday was my nephew Brian's 5th birthday. At the daycare center, kids bring in a treat for everyone in their class on their birthday. My sister Amy was going to make rice krispie treats for him to bring in, but Brian had a better idea. He asked Amy to make cupcakes with green frosting and stick little green army men in the cupcakes in honor of Veterans day. Can you believe that he came up with that all on his own? The teachers at his center put a major focus on patriotism and it really grabs the kids' attention. Brian knows about the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty and why their is Veterans day. I think it is great when teachers can have an impact on children. I am also very impressed with Brian's cupcake creativity. He really does give Martha Stewart and myself a run for our money.

My thoughts on Tom Cruise

Hate him. Always have. Enough said.

My favorite (food) things

This morning I had a doctor's appointment so I had some time to grab my favorite breakfast. It is a plain bagel (not hot) with plain cream cheese and a small hot chocolate from Bruegger's. They really do have the best bagels in my humble opinion. As I enjoyed my bagel, I thought to myself how glad that I was that there was no Bruegger's in Bowling Green when I went to college back in the 90s.

This led my to start thinking about the other food items that I am glad that I did not know about while I was in college. My favorite foods back then were tuna sandwiches, Velveeta shells and cheese, McDonald's and pizza from Pisanello's. Something I did not eat was Chinese food. My roommates Jill and Laurie would order Chinese food-not often, but when they did, I never had it. I never knew how good it was! Mexican food--again, I never ate a Taco Bell in college because I had never tried the food. I thought it would taste awful so I avoided it. Now, I love it! Cheesecake. I never had cheesecake until I went to the Cheesecake Factory in Houston, Texas with my friend Valerie. Boy, I am glad that we didn't have a Cheesecake Factory in BG.

My favorite foods today are Chinese (sesame chicken, crab rangoon, PF Chang's) and Mexican (guacamole, nachos, Don Pablos). Just goes to show you how your tastes change over the years.

Although, there is a staple. I have always loved chocolate covered peanuts. In grade school, my mom and I would go to the mall and we'd split some and not tell anybody about it. I went on through highschool, college and now and still my favorite treat is chocolate covered peanuts with chocolate covered pretzels coming in a close second.

Stress this Christmas?

The last bits of Halloween candy and the holiday commercials on TV tell me that I am about to be more stressed out than usual as Christmas approaches. How can I simplify the holidays for myself? I think that being prepared and keeping the meaning of the holiday in mind are key. In order to simplify, I am talking to family to discuss how we can pare down the gift giving and concentrate on family togetherness this holiday. On my husband's side of the family, we are going to have a Thanksgiving dinner the Sunday prior to Thanksgiving, then we are going down to Oglebay in West Virginia to see the holiday lights and shop. For Christmas, we pulled names to do an exchange. In my own family, we are scaling back on gifts as well. What you get for Christmas should not be the focus of the day. The season should be a time of prayer and thankfulness as we enjoy time spent with friends and family. Here are my helpful hints to getting through the holidays with less stress. Following this advice in November, may make for a less stressful December.

1. Bake holiday cookies nows and freeze them.
2. Write out and address Christmas cards now.
3. Buy holiday stamps now.
4. If you are buying gifts, ask for gift ideas to make it easier on yourself.

I guess the point of my list is to prepare as much as you can now, so you don't have to scramble in December when there are more activities to do. Anyway, those are my helpful hints.

Happy Holidays!

The Oprah show

I TiVo Oprah every day and when I have a couple hours without my husband, I try to catch up with her. Usually, I only watch shows that interest me and erase the rest but last night, I watched a good episode.

It was about women who have "let themselves go" physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually as they dealt with the not so nice things in life --> They got older, got laid off, got married, had kids, had relationship fail, got sick, etc. These women were ashamed of how they looked and felt about themselves as a person. They had a psychologist on who said that when the going gets tough, oftentimes, women give up on many things including, their friends, their marriage, their job, their looks, their house -- everything. The doctor said that the first step was for a woman to realize her value as a person for the person she is--not the job she has, the mother she is, the house she has.

I would imagine that this is not an easy task. But, I did like Oprah's advice on the subject. She said not to try and recapture the person you used to be, but use the time you have to be a better you now. She said to call on your friends who have been with you through the good times, they will be with you in the bad times too. The doctor agreed.

This advice reminded me of the very good friends that I have had through my life. You who were with me in the schoolyard at Immaculate, you who helped me with my homework in highschool and even college. You who came over when I got dumped by a dumb boyfriend. You who put up with my constant mood swings. You who send me cards and call me. You who travel from other states to spend time and laugh with me. You, who took a trip with me when I needed to rejuvenate. I have the best friends in the world and I appreciate you all in good times and bad! Thank you all very much.

PS...Yes, was feeling a bit emotional today.

My first blog

Me blogging? I can't believe I am going to blog. Well, at least I will attempt to blog. My best friend Nicole is the first person I confided in that I was going to create a blog. She asked what I would write about and I told her that I just didn't know yet. I will give it a try and see if anything interesting comes out of it.

Since I am sitting at my computer with a blanket around me, I thought I'd share my plan for saving money on heating this winter. I like to imagine that I am living in the "Little House on the Prairie", staying at the guest house of Charles and Caroline Ingalls. Remember, the Ingalls family were all dressed up in layers when they went to bed in the loft? They use candle light and blankets to keep warm. My husband and I are going to be "blanket people" this winter. When we get up from the couch, we simply take our blanket with us to pick up the phone or check out the refrigerator, etc.

We purchased a permanently sealed, oil-filled electric heater from Wal-Mart for about $36. We turn it on in the bedroom when we come and then we close the door. When we're ready for bed, it is like a warm summer night in our room. Of course in the morning, when we get up, getting out of bed is like coming out of the swimming pool on a windy day.

Martha Stewart told me to create some heat by baking some cookies or brownies and leaving the oven open so the heat warms the kitchen. Great idea! I am all for baking treats if it will save money.

Anyway, it is November 1st and we have not turned on our heat, yet. We shall see how long we can last living in the little house on the prairie. If I see my husband climbing into bed with his hat and gloves on, I may have to give in.