Spa Thursday...

Not for me mind you, for Abby! Yes, my cocker spaniel gets a 'spa day' and I don't.

When Abby has to go to the groomer, we call it her spa day. She gets to go and hang out with other dogs, loves her groomer, er, stylist and comes home looking extra beautiful and sweet smelling!

Me, I get a dog free day! Now, I LOVE my puppy girl but I cannot go anywhere in the house without her dogging (pardon the pun) my heels. She follows me everywhere and if I sit down, she's in my lap. So today after I check my mail, news and blogs, I'm going down to the basement to do laundry and work on my stamp/scrap cabinet that needs to be stained and finished. It's raining and miserable out so today is the perfect day.

Two for Tuesday...

Well, so much for posting everyday. This week I thought I'd start on Tuesday and see what happens.

1. This is one of my new viewing pleasures. I love 'American Pickers' and I'm starting to get into 'Pawn Stars'. A new show started tonight, 'American Restoration'. I'm REALLLY looking forward to watching this.

2. My next guilty pleasure is tied this web site. Several of the girls at work are really into going to estate sales, flea markets and antique stores. If you've ever been in Buffalo Stamps and Stuff you know Sharon loves old cameras and antique items. They are all over the store and they are a wonderful background for all the stamps, papers, and supplies we sell.

Much to my daughter's dismay I've taken to going to the occasional estate sale. She thinks it's weird that I'd want anything that is old. Since I'm old it doesn't bother me at all!

Mixed Marriage...

Did you know Norm and I started out our marriage as a mixed marriage? Yes, he was a Yankee fan and I was a Met fan. It was enough to make our early years fraught with tension. To make matters worse, we lived in Boston, Massachusetts the home of the dreaded Red Sox.

I got my love of sports from my Mom. She'd watch anything and everything. My Dad, not so much Army vs. Navy was about it and not so much at that. Golf, tennis, ice skating, car racing, football and baseball. Remember the Pro Bowler's League on Saturday afternoons with Chris Schenkel? Watched it every weekend, ABC's Wide World of Sports - everything from cliff diving in Acapulco to curling in Canada. The only sports we didn't watch were hockey and basketball, but I knew about them!

Once I married Norm he and the Yankees slowly corroded my ability to follow the Mets. The only time I was able to keep true was the 1986 Mets. I had support from the guys at work. But I have to tell you, they almost killed me!

We moved to Kentucky in 1992 and it almost killed baseball for both of us. No Yankees or Mets in Louisville. No baseball in Louisville - at least no pro ball. We finally moved back to NY or baseball civilization as Norman would call it and all was well with his world. I have to admit I may be responsible for a portion of my current status as I bought Norm Saturday season tickets to the Yankees when we lived in New Jesey. That's how I came to know the Yankees and only the Yankees.

So today I have (in the words of a avowed Red Sox fan) turned to the 'dark side'. After 34 years of marriage I am a solid Yankee fan and have been typing this because I can't bear to watch tonight's game. We were doing OK then we lost Texiera and Texas scored like five runs! It's the old 'if I don't watch, they'll do good!" - I hope...

I do the same with football - now that's another story!

Monday Morning with Grover...

I've been terribly remiss in sending updates to my blog. So I thought I'd try something new. So far I'm going to try and do a "Monday Morning Message from ?" This can be anything! Words, Pearls, or whatever to start the week. I'm also thinking of borrowing shamelessly from Nora Griffin, "Tuesday's Ten", which will be ten to do's for me or for someone else - that could be interesting...

But today we start with my main man, Grover! Is this guy a stud or what! I think he does a way better job than that other wimpy guy on those Old Spice commercials...

With my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, happy Monday from me to you!

Better late than never...

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of Alexa's first day of school. I know it's getting a little old as she is 13 now and going into 8th grade. But I think she expects it of me! She doesn't complain, she even poses for the pictures. As long as I don't take pictures when the bus actually arrives, I'm cool.

Dad hangs around for the first day too. Lucky too because he looks much better in the morning than I do! Please take note of the matching lunch bag and carry-all. All perfectly coordinated with her top and skirt. Lastly, her toes were polished (by moi) to match her nails and set off with white flip flops! Ahh, the first day of fashion, er school...

Bad Romance...

I've got losts to post but I found this via my Facebook page from Sandy Parmenter and even though I'm not a fan of Lady Gaga, I'm lovin other people doing LG. I'm a 'Gleek' and I loved the version they did on 'Glee' and unlike the guys on the show, these guys have got it goin' on! Enjoy!

Another Sunday night...

It's another Sunday night and I'm watching the Emmys. If they could just eliminate the speeches, it would probably be a decent show. Case in point - Al Pacino - boring!!

ANYWAY...School is almost upon us. Alexa and I managed to do her school supply shopping without spilling any blood, tears or yanked out hair. Believe it or not, as Alexa gets older, the supply list gets shorter! (Except for the $100.00 calculator). I'm not looking forward to any clothes shopping, but luckily she has almost everything she needs for the fall semester, just a couple of pairs of new jeans and we'll be set until the end of October.

Our last challenge will be decorating Alexa's locker. Going into 8th grade (the last before high school!) Alexa still wants me to put up her locker paper and help her set up. This from a child who does not want me to set foot in her school under every other circumstance. We had to buy double sided wrapping paper, pink, of course and she mounted her schedule with pink and sparkle silver paper to be posted on the door. I figure this is the last year. I will gracefully retire from locker decoration at the end of this year and let Alexa do whatever decoration needs to be done in high school.

What I did on my summer vacation...

It's been so long since I posted that I forgot my password! For most of the summer I was the supreme lurker. I've been looking at everyone else, everywhere else. I've been asked if I was OK? Yes. Have I been away?, No. Am I still alive?!? Definitely!
I know I posted much earlier this summer but I've been gone for a while and have just now managed to get some of my pictures downloaded to the computer. Bogspot hasn't been too helpful in letting me move picture so I've been working on this for several days, taking time off so I don't take a sledge hammer to the computer. ANYWAY...here is June, wonderful, creative, Tim's visit June!

One of the cool things we did was arrange personal shoppers for Tim's visit. Everyone got a paddle with a number on it at there placesetting. We had shopping bags to match each paddle up buy all the supplies Tim used in his classes.



Tim would show us something that he did and if you wanted the product you rasied your paddle and one of the salespeople would put that item in your corresponding basket! How cool is that! Some of those bags got very heavy...



We also had to have a picture with Tim with everyone who helped out so in the picture above going clockwise from the upper left hand corner is Laura, Mona, Elisabeth, Mark, Tim, Sharon Marty, Kaitlyn, Jamie, Debbie, Jessica, and me! Mario was our picture taker so he isn't in the shot :(

Here we are again on Sunday, me, Jamie, Mona, Dimitra, Sharon and Debbie. As you can see by the table set up, Tim was incredibly organized and he brough EVERYTHING YOU SEE ON THE TABLE WITH HIM!!

This is a sample of the Patchwork Pandemonium sample we had. (If you come to the store now there is a framed version done by Dimitra and framed by Debby on display behind the register).

This was one of our welcomes to Tim. Dimitra's vintage typewriter with a welcome note to Tim!

We had a fabulous weekend with Tim Holtz! Four classes, 90 women in each class! Tim was wonderful, a great teacher, funny, and as he says, he's just Tim! Here are some more photos:

Don't you just love the look on his face! Sharon felt a little empowered when she got to use the microphone. Below is a shot of everyone working and below that is a shot with Elisabeth who came all the way from New Jersey, and Debby right next to her. Me and Tim...and yes, I was a blithering idiot most of the time, incapable of a coherent sentence or thought. I hate small talk :(

JULY was another story. Long story short, I spent about four days in the hospital after having a hysterectomy. Not a way I would recommend spending the fourth of July holiday, but the fireworks show outside my window was pretty spectacular! I had only one little minor blip, which my OB/GYN fixed quickly and I was home.

I did pretty good at home I think as my DH told me last night that I "manned up" and didn't whine, complain, make excuses or anything during my recuperation. I guess I did good!

I think I'll do the rest of my saga on another post as I have a couple more things to add and it's still a good 2 plus weeks until school starts - Yeah!!!

Flip Side...

I ended up staying in the hospital for an extra day because of my BP and blood count going a little wonky. That's my doctor's story and it's working well for me. I was slightly ambivalent about coming home. In many ways the hospital was like a hotel with your own ladies maid.


Think about it, someone comes and checks on you every hour, offers you ice water, pillows, blankets and pain meds. Those came in really handy! They were really nice too. I've never been called 'Honey' so many times in my life.


Food - no cooking! Breakfast, lunch and dinner brought to you every day on a regular schedule! The tray was also taken away and there were no dishes to do!


Sleep - sleep all day long! (nuf said).


Now the Flip Side...



I felt AWFUL!! I had to have a blood transfusion, two uncomfortable CT scans (with the bumpiest trip to radiology I never want to take again!)


Even though ALL the nurses and nurses aides were extremely solicitous, understanding, compassionate and downright good at what they do (an extremely hard job) I had a new RN/NA every eight hours my entire stay! I don't think I saw the same RN/NA twice! Thank heaven that most of them wrote their names on the wipe board I stared at 24/7 and they had name badges.


They demanded answers to questions like, are you dizzy, nauseous, unsteady on your feet, can you walk, what is your name, how do you spell it and what is your birth date - every time they gave me an IV, pain med or took blood (and that happened way too much!)


Who could eat that food, really, come on. You know what I'm talking about. They brought me dinner after I'd been out of recovery for about an hour and I could barely open my mouth it was so dry and cottony. They gave me macaroni and cheese, hot coffee, other things I can't remember and I could not eat any of it, heck, I couldn't stand the smell! Nurse, ice water PLEASE!


Sleep, glorious sleep, ahhh...Yeah, right! I've been in elementary schools and ball games that are quieter than daytime on a hospital floor! Then when you do finally go to sleep, they try to sneak in and take your BP, temp, or are doing it for your roommate and just because she's awake doesn't mean you are!


Those beds! Hard mattresses, scratchy linen and blankets. Haven't they heard of sleep number, tempur-pedic, serta, anybody???

So you would you think that I'd be delighted to be home. Well, I am but...the dog has gotten out of the yard three times since I've been home and all times but one, DH has been off bike riding, walking, out with Lex anywhere but here to help. The one time someone was home it was Alexa and she stepped up to track Abby down.

Alexa barges in to the bedroom with no knocking, balks at doing anything to help unless she is in the mood. NO ONE CLOSES THE DOOR! Norm, Lex or the dog. The Dog, that's a whole nuther story! Abby has been off the wall since I've been home and since we've all been home. She has been a terror going after everything she can get her cute little teeth on and since getting up and down is the most taxing thing I can do, she has been running me ragged.

So with hubby's sometime benign neglect, daughter's denial, and puppy's pandemonium, I'm ready to check into a hotel! Anyone have the number for the local Marriott?!

Kinda Sorta...

I'm back home after my surgery and I feel - blah! I am very grateful for central air conditioning, our recliner and my daughter's friends who have kept her very busy since I went to the hospital. Outside of that, I'm done-in and content to sit here and veg. So that's what I think I'll do. stay cool everyone.