Although Blogs Are Dumb, This Is My Blog

Growing Into The Collar

2009-12-04T21:22:00.013-06:00

When Amy went to Disney World, she brought back a lovely bright red leather Mickey Mouse collar for Duffy to grow into. I decided it might be fun to take pictures of him as he grows into the collar.

So today, I draped it around his neck and he thought it was a great fun game. He jumped and twirled and would not stay still so I could get a good shot of him!

First this:

Then this and this and this:

Finally, Teddy decided he might be able to help out:

Hurry, I'm holding him down -- take the X!!)X##!! picture!!

Then, all of a sudden I remembered that Duffy has already learned some helpful commands. Like: SIT and STAY. So, I started over! Told him to sit and stay and put the collar around his neck. And this is the result!

What do you think of my handsome guy? Looks like he's going to do a little bit more growing. To be continued....

Duffy's Diary

2009-12-01T10:38:00.004-06:00

It looks like this is my new home. I was whisked away from my three brothers and five sisters and my Mom, Nevaeh. I went for a long car ride (but I slept most of the way) and ended up here.

This is me on my first day at my new home. I'm 7 weeks old here:

Since I really like my new home, I do try to behave most of the time. For instance, I didn't cry at all the first night home. I'm pretty nice to my new siblings, but its sometimes hard to tell if they feel like playing or not.

I've been eating really well and in three weeks I doubled my weight! When I moved in I weighed 10 lbs and now I'm close to 20.

What I really love is my new yard. I can run around and play and dig and chase leaves. Its pretty great. I've learned that this is the place to pee and poo. I only have accidents inside once in awhile.

Amy taught me some tricks - I know how to sit and lie down. I'm learning to walk nicely on a leash, already I know that when the person on the leash stops walking, I should sit down and wait. I'm very good at doing that. Its hard not to pull on the leash because the other dog, Teddy, is allowed to. That doesn't seem really fair. I bite Teddy every chance I get.

I'm really trying to learn not to chew people's hands and clothes. The hardest thing is not to go after the socks. I love 'em. They smell great!

The other thing I'm working on is learning to ring the bells when I want to go outside. When they first hung up the bells and showed me, it was pretty scary - they're very loud. But I'm not afraid of them anymore and today I actually rang them once and got let out. It might have been accidentally, I won't say one way or another.

What fun I had this morning, tormenting William my cat brother. He thinks he is the boss, but just wait.

Halloween, I LOVE it!

2009-10-21T10:46:00.003-05:00

Forever, Halloween has been my favorite holiday. I'm not sure if it really even qualifies as a true holiday, but to me it beats out Easter and even Christmas. Easter is ok, but it has always been all about the dressing up which is just not my thing. And Christmas, well I'll admit when I was a kid it was right up there with Halloween, but Adult Christmas is totally different than Kid Christmas and you know what I mean by that.

Before I go into Halloween (and I have a lot to say), I'll go over the other holidays starting with my second favorite, which is 4th of July. Always fun because I love fireworks and summer and picnics and parades. Memorial Day and Labor Day, they're just kind of non-holidays and a good excuse for a barbecue. Thanksgiving, great food, but waaayyy too much in the preparation and clean up. New Years' Eve, well I just don't drink and not much of a partier so it doesn't fit me well. Valentine's Day is great if there's candy involved, but I just can't look forward to February which is one of the most dreary months in the year. St. Patrick's Day, I don't think I even need to comment on that one. I'm sure someone would just end up hating me. Mother's Day/Father's Day, depending on the level of adoration of your children, it can be good or it can be depressing. No further comment.

So that brings us back to HALLOWEEN! So many great things are involved in this holiday! I get excited just thinking about it.

First, the season - autumn. My favorite! I love the colors, I love the crisp weather. I love having an excuse to stay inside. I love hot chocolate and hot soup. I love crockpot stew. I love fall camping. The fact that Halloween happens in the fall is just such a bonus.

Then there's the spooky factor. I've been raised on ghosts, scary stuff, ghouls and all that. Like I've said before, its in the genes and nurtured by the nature. Or however that goes. I've been encouraged (and paid) to walk through cemeteries in the dark at a very young age. When I was growing up, Creature Features was the highlight of my week. Then there was "Dark Shadows", wooooo. As a kid, my friends and I played Ouija Board as often as we played Monopoly. We had a second story in our garage and would fix it up like a haunted house and then charge the rest of the neighborhood kids two cents to tour it. So, you understand scaring and being scared is just plain fun for me.

OK, there's no beating around the bush, I love free stuff! Free samples, I'm there. I fed and diapered my first born for a month with the freebies I garnered at every baby fair I could possibly attend for nine months prior to her arrival.

Candy? Ask me if I prefer sweet or salty. What do you think? SWEET, baby.

Now put all these together: Fall + Spooky + Free + Candy = HALLOWEEN!

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

The dressing up I could do without, but let's face it, at my age its a necessity. At least the mask is anyway. Kind of hard to pass for a 12 year old without one. Yep, I'm talking about Trick or Treat and I've been doing it my whole life. Just once a year though.

When I was a kid, I'd get the bag filled up and dash home to dump it out and get back out there. One year, a family on my block was giving away World's Finest Chocolate Bars - yep, those big logs of heaven, studded with almonds. Hearing that loud thunk when it hit the bottom of my bag, digging in there to find out what it could possibly be, discovering the exquisite treasure - all this prompted me to run home, change my mask and run back repeatedly to get as many more as possible until my ruse was discovered and the WFC became a regular snack sized Hershey.

Another fun thing I did as a kid was to sort and catalog my stash. After T or T (trick or treating), I would dump out my booty in the middle of the living room floor and sort sort sort. Suckers, Mary Janes, popcorn balls, those orange or black wrapped peanut butter chewy things, these would all be donated to Mom's giveaway bowl and regifted to arriving T or T'ers. The rest of the goodies were piled into groups of type: Hershey's, Reese's, Nestles, Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, World's Finest.....and then after counting and assessing popularity of various brands, it would all go back in my bag to be enjoyed, hoarded, traded and finally when it was down to a handful of 'not sure I really like these' candies, it would end up in the community bowl to be shared.

One year, we took our dog, Stubby, T or T with us. Not for the cuteness factor, but because we could hang a bag around his neck and get extra candy. I recall one of our neighbors thinking it was just adorable that Stubby was wearing a torn pillowcase around his neck and claiming to be SuperDog. She asked if it was ok to open a piece of candy and give it to him. Sure, why not? Well, it happened to be one of those awful orange and black wrapped peanut butter chewy things. Poor Stubby only made it down the porch stairs before he realized this thing was not leaving his teeth. He plopped down at the edge of the sidewalk and proceeded to try to scrape the glob off his teeth, using his paws. While we were extremely annoyed that the group of kids we were with were NOT waiting and we were missing out on precious T or T time. That was the end of Stubby's SuperDog career.

When I kind of grew up a little bit and had kids of my own, oh yeah! We'd take a wagon so the smaller ones could ride and also so that when their plastic pumpkins got too heavy with booty, we could dump them into larger containers that rode in the wagon. When we hit the Halloween Trail, there was no going back. It went on till dinner time and then out with the relatives after dinner. One year, it was so windy, cold and rainy, we were the only ones out there. I cut black plastic garbage bags for us to wear, and we got as much candy in 10 minutes as we would normally get in two hours - since we were the only ones, people wanted to get rid of their candy and bags were literally being dumped into our greedy little plastic pumpkins.

Nowadays with no more little kids, the scam is up. It's become obvious, I do it for me. We go out at night, en masse. All the relatives that are Halloween junkies, kids and adults, but usually the adults outnumber the kids. The best neighborhoods are those with split level homes, no porch stairs to climb up, no crowding at the top with the smaller ones falling off the sides. I am careful not to show my wedding band. I make my voice three octaves higher. And the loot drops in, thunk thunk thunk.

The days and weeks after Halloween become a torment. I can no longer stuff myself with all forms of chocolate without paying the price. So I need to carefully ration out the goods, two or three pieces a day.

I used to think it was all about the candy, but have come to realize otherwise. I've asked myself, why not just hit Walgreen's the day after Halloween and buy myself all the candy I desire, all at half price? Surely, I can afford it! So obviously, its not just all about the candy. Its the fun, the ghosts, the dark, the deception!

Happy Halloween!

The Duggars (That's Spelled with a J)

2009-10-03T00:24:00.002-05:00

I love watching the TLC shows about families - you know, the Jon & Kate disaster, that little short couple - Jen & the kind of mean husband that harps about how much Jen spends and she is a freaking DOCTOR - hellooooo WHO is the breadwinner of that couple? But I'm getting sidetracked.

I think my favorite is the stranger than fiction, Duggar family. The girls (including teenagers) all wear skirts all the time and never cut their hair. I'm kind of shocked that the girls wear make-up. The kids all get along and love and help one another. Oh, yeah, and there are 18 or 19 or 20 of them. I think, at present, there are 18 but by the time you read this there may very well be 20 or 21.

So, the other odd thing is that all the kids in the family have a name beginning with J. How clever and how smart of the mom and dad to come up with so many J names. You think? Not.

Because if there's a name that they really want and it doesn't actually begin with a J, they just respell it to suit their J fetish.

For instance, there's a girl named Jinger. Would you think this is pronounced like jingle? I would. But, no, the name is actually GINGER, but they needed to satisfy their J craving, so they spelled it JINGER and pronounce it GINGER. Lame.

The news is that their upcoming addition is actually going to be named Michael. But, spelled with a J, as in JICHAEL. But of course, it will be pronounced MICHAEL.

Lame-O's.

Did Cavemen Play Video Games?

2009-08-13T10:35:00.005-05:00

My vacuum cleaner is suicidal. I have tried to work with it, encourage it, I have lightened its workload by having carpeted floors replaced with hardwood. All to no avail. It will seek out the one lethal particle on the rug that is most likely to cause a smoking, buzzing, clattering disaster.

And yesterday, the drug of choice was a very thin wire. The thin wire was attached to the sensor bar of the Nintendo Wii game. The bar's job is to sit near the tv screen and pick up signals from the handheld Wii-Mote unit. When you point the Wii-mote at your tv screen, a little hand or pointer will appear on your screen and this is how you control the games.

Well, when I ran over the nearly invisible wire on the rug that is patterned with palm fronds, an effective camouflage, all hell broke loose. The familiar clattering, the whine, all of those sound effects - plus the added visuals of something flying through the air (the sensor bar) and the crash of the Wii system falling over in a dead faint.

By the time I got the vacuum cleaner shut off and the cord unplugged, the fine wire had wrapped itself around the vacuum's brush several times and wisps of smoke were emitted for several minutes for dramatic effect.

My main concern was for the loss of the sensor bar. Who needs a vacuum cleaner, especially one with serious instability?

When in a crisis, I turn to the internet and it was not five minutes later that I learned how to make my own sensor bar with materials I have right at home! In fact, I will bet you $10 right now, that even if you are very nontechnical YOU, YES YOU, can make your own sensor bar! And one that even works!

Here is how:

1) Find two candles, I like the idea of matching ones for esthetics, and also little short ones are best. Like the votive sized candles.

2) Place them about 6-8 inches apart, somewhere in front of your tv screen. They don't have to be actually blocking the screen, just either on top of your set or if you have a cool thin tv like mine that doesn't have a big clunky top, you can put them right down in front.

3) Light them.

4) Turn on your wii system and point your Wii-mote at the screen.

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I am NOT joking! This truly works. It is amazing. You now have a wireless Wii sensor that you made yourself. Impress all your friends!

You may still not believe me, here is a short video I found:

Enjoy your new sensor bar, so much more attractive than the old version.

Not so scary, just kind of weird

2009-08-06T20:32:00.006-05:00

Back in the rather dull 80's, I heard a rumor which claimed if you started playing Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album right at the 3rd roar of the MGM lion at the beginning of the Wizard of Oz movie, there were many incidents of weird appropriateness with the song and the movie.

If you want to define sychronicity as "meaningful coincidences" then, this would be the perfect definition.

Here's a list of some of the meaningful coincidences:

The lyric 'balanced on the biggest wave' coincides with Dorothy balancing on the fence at the farm. The words: "Fall into an early grave" as Dorothy falls off the fence.

Chimes and Bells start ringing as the Wicked Witch appears riding her bicycle.

During the 'Time' guitar solo, the fortune teller's sign is shown with the words "Past Present and Future"

The song, "Great Gig in the Sky" has many incidents:

The tornado is shown in the background when you hear the words 'I'm not frightened of dying'.

The drums start right as the wind picks up and trees are uprooted.

The singer slows down when Dorothy is knocked out by the window.

'Great Gig in the Sky' is the song heard as the house is flying through the sky.

Side 1 of the vinyl album (vinyl) is exactly as long as the black & white portion of the film.

The jingle of the cash register sounds in Money is heard exactly at the moment that color is introduced in the movie.

'Us and Them':

The ballerinas enter on 'Us, us, us, us' and one ballerina appears to sing: 'ordinary men'; then three munchkins enter on 'Me, me, me'.

'Forward he cried' is sung as Dorothy turns and faces forward.
The Wicked Witch appears on 'Black, black' and then on 'Blue, blue, blue,' the camera switches to Dorothy (in her blue dress).

'And who knows which is which and who is who' is heard at the moment that the Wicked Witch of the West turns to look at the recently deceased Wicked Witch of the East. (Play on words: "Which is Which" as in "Witch is Witch".

The Witch is high upon a platform on 'Up, up' and then descends on 'Down, down, down'.

As 'And in the End' is heard, the Wicked Witch of the East disappears.

On 'Out, out, out,' the Glinda, the Good Witch of the North departs.

'Brain Damage' plays as the Scarecrow sings 'If I Only Had a Brain'

Heartbeat sounds at the end of the album is heard as Dorothy thumps and then listens to the Tin Man's chest.

If you are now intrigued, you can find an even more comprehensive list at the website called Turn Me On Dead Man. Sorry, I am having a brain fart and cannot get the link to work so you'll have to google it. I promise you won't be sorry, it's fascinating.

Of course, there are many who say that if you put any movie with any album or cd, or whatever they're called these days, it will match up in some ways. Well, I suppose that could be true, but that's not much fun is it?

Now, back in the good old 80's, we had about three or four copies of the Dark Side of the Moon album and we also owned a vhs of Wizard of Oz which happened to be my then two year old daughter's very favorite and treasured video. I always wanted to do the experiment, but it sounded so complicated to line up the playing of the RECORD (yes, the vinyl record) with the third roar of the lion. Especially since the lion's roars kind of run into each other so it would be difficult to discern where one actually lets off and the next one begins.

So recently, for some reason, I thought about this rumor again and I just KNEW it would be on You Tube. Thank goodness for the internet. We don't have to do anything for ourselves anymore!

For your viewing pleasure, here are the first six tracks of the album. When you're watching these, keep in mind that although they are broken into six different cuts, they are actually continuous; in other words, the cd of Dark Side of the Moon was begun right at the third roar of the MGM lion in the Wizard of Oz movie. The song tracks begin just as they are seen in each cut, they weren't edited to begin at each point in the movie that fits them.

More Scary Stuff......

2009-08-05T09:53:00.003-05:00

Am I missing something here, or is the Cash For Clunkers program similar to the mortgage catastrophe that was responsible for igniting the current economic problems in the U.S.?

People were lured to the thrill of new homes, big homes, more home than they could afford when they were able to be approved for a larger mortgage than they could realistically handle. The thought was, well if I can get the money I must be able to afford it. Then the payment book arrived and soon after the bank knocked on the door and took their house away. We are all now paying the price.

I'm not saying that the Cash For Clunkers program is going to ignite a new recession. But on a smaller scale, it seems to be doing the same thing....maybe there is a reason a person is driving a clunker. Maybe this person can't really afford a bigger, better, newer car.

But along comes this temptation....the thought that they could actually get $4500 on a trade in for a brand new shiny auto! The clunker will never be worth that much again.

So off they go to the dealership, sign their name for a brand new.....6 year auto loan. Something they really probably can't afford, another bill to pay, another loan.

Wait! This is great for the economy! It's helping the car dealers, the automobile manufacturers! So, who cares if the little guy ends up losing his new car because he can't make the payments? And who cares if now he has lost his clunker, too?!

At least Cash For Clunkers will have its 15 minutes of fame.

If that's not enough, take a look at what happens to your computer if you log in and register at the official Cash For Clunkers website:

No thanks, Obama. I'll keep my clunker.

Creepy Stuff

2009-07-18T13:11:00.009-05:00

I was raised to appreciate creepy and weird things. I suspect there is also a genetic contribution so really, I can't help it. It's fun to speculate on who else in the family has acquired the creepy gene. It's pretty easy to determine by observing the reactions of everyone in the annual nighttime cemetery jaunt. Some are in their element, some are neutral, some are totally confused.

With this nature/nurture creepy background going on, I can't help being fascinated by the whole Michael Jackson thing. To begin with, the guy is a natural creep. I'm not saying I agree with his creepiness or even that I love it. There are parts of it I just don't even want to think about.

But the rest of it, well, it can be pretty interesting.

For instance, he has been dead for 23 days now and not buried yet. What?

And take a look at this video. I find this to be really very creepy. This was a press conference in London to announce his upcoming tour. The date of this press conference was in March 2009. The first time I watched it, I felt something was 'off'. I wondered if anyone else noticed. Now I'm not a huge fan of Jackson, I like some of his stuff but I sure don't idolize him. I feel it didn't take a lot of analysis to determine that the guy in this video is not Michael Jackson.

Look at how he walks, kind of slouched over. His voice is different, much lower, and it part of the video it sounds like he lapses into a fake British accent for a couple of sentences. This guy has the mannerisms of a much younger guy.

Anyway, look for yourself and let me know what you think:

I'm not saying this means anything or that Michael Jackson is not dead. (I didn't mean to plant that idea in your head, but I have heard that rumour.) But I am saying that this is weird. And if he was hiding out somewhere, alive, with a blanket over his head - I don't think that would actually surprise me. Not really.

The Rain, The Park, The Camping & Other Things

2009-07-12T18:48:00.007-05:00

It started on the night before I was going camping. I was on Hulu and looking for something nostalgic to watch. I decided on the very first episode of The Partridge Family. About ten minutes into it (it was a little boring), I decided to look up some things about The Cowsills.

The Cowsills were a family rock (a loose definition) band in the late 1960's made up of a bunch of brothers and their little sister and (ugh) Mommy. Like most kids in this era, I loved the Cowsills and fought every day with my friend, Patty, about if I was going to claim Barry and she was going to be stuck with John and vice versa.

The connection between the Partridge Family and the Cowsills? The Partridge Family tv show was kind of based on the Cowsill family.

Some of the things I learned the other night -- the producers of the Partridge Family originally wanted the real Cowsills to portray themselves, but they didn't want the Mom. They wanted Shirley Jones (who ended up playing Shirley Partridge in the end). The Cowsills had a problem with their real Mom not being wanted so they decided not to do the show.

Now, seriously, I have to wonder about this. Who decided that they weren't going to do the show? Did the kids get together and say, 'we love Mom so much that we are going to refuse to further our career and become tv stars and even more teen idol-ish?' Really, do you think so?

Or did Mom step in and say, 'well, if you don't want me, then you don't get my kids either.'?

Either scenario is equally dumb if you ask me.

Another thing I learned is that Barry, my favorite Cowsill, is now dead. He was living in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and went missing after the hurricane. Some three months later his body washed up along shore and was identified. The day of his memorial, the family learned that another brother, Billy Cowsill, had just died at the age of 58. How sad.

So, back to the camping thing.....the whole weekend that I was camping and even now that I'm home, I have this song stuck in my head. Its really one of the worst cases of Song Stick I've ever experienced. It just won't go away.

Misery loves company, enjoy the video clip:

In case that isn't enough, try this one:

I find the second version to be a little bit depressing. The kids are grown up and the song has lost its happy bounce. The singers are Susan, Paul in the middle and Bob.

So, anyway, I hope to soon find a new song to play in my head. Maybe writing this will kind of help to clear out my brain. Any suggestions?

I hate this game

2009-07-06T12:55:00.003-05:00

Here's my little farm! This is from Farm Town on Facebook. Here's how it goes: You start out with just a little big of money and you plant some crops. You can wait from 4 hours to 3 days for the crop to be ready to harvest, depending on which crop it is.

I had to stop growing grapes because they were ready to harvest in four hours and I never was back on the computer to harvest them in time and they would all die.

Now when your crops are ready to harvest, you can harvest them yourself and (1) sell them immediately (2) put them in storage to sell later, and you'll get more money for them. Or else, you can go to the marketplace and hire someone else to harvest them for you and get even more money.

In your spare time, while you're waiting for your crops to ripen, you can hang out at the marketplace and beg people there to hire you to harvest their stuff. You get paid for this, of course.

There are many levels to the game. You figured that, right?

At the beginning, you are limited to the types of crops you can grow and animals you can buy, as well as cute little accessories for your farm. As you progress, there are more and more things to choose from. Also, at Level 15, you can buy more acreage by going to the realtor's office. At different levels, you can expand more and more.

I'm currently at Level 11, Talented Farmer.

I'm not sure how I came across this game. I'm not really sure why its so addictive. Its the kind of thing you don't spend a lot of time at because mostly you're waiting for crops to be ready. But you keep going back to check to see if they are. Whatever.

In case you haven't noticed.....

2009-07-02T11:39:00.004-05:00

When I don't have anything special to write about, I like to go through my picture collection and choose a favorite one to post.

Today is one of those days.

Here's a picture I just love! This is Payton, my great nephew and buddy. He is celebrating his sixth birthday in this photo. Check out his little sports jacket.

He's obviously getting ready to blow out the candles on his cake and I believe this is the great inhale. Normally, the candle blowing out pictures I take capture the puffed out cheek, ready to blow expression. I think this is the first one I've seen that is pre-blow. Mouth open, taking in huge amounts of air for the best and most powerful exhale.

Payton and his sister, Jordan, recently spent a few days/nights at my house. I am so lucky to be able to have them over. They are a lot of fun, really nice and well-behaved kids. So we do a lot of things together. In a few days, I'll show you some pics of the things we did.

In the meantime, have a happy and safe holiday! We're going to see the village parade tonight and then fireworks. We always end up on my friend's front lawn since she lives across the street from the park where the fireworks originate. Of course, there is plenty of food, drink & fun.

Guardian of the Bones

2009-06-29T10:51:00.008-05:00

I just love these pictures of my kitty, William. Obviously, this is the dog's bed, but William decided he was going to claim it one day. I was very surprised to see him all comfortable in the bed when I walked into the room. But even more surprising was that he was nestled happily among the dog's stash of chew bones and various other toys. Would you call this arrogance? Or stupidity? Or maybe just living in the moment!

I really love the look on his face in this next one. He looks slightly deranged, as though he is tempting fate.

Travelin'

2009-03-28T08:29:00.002-06:00

This was a wonderful trip! My two sisters and I left early on Saturday morning- we took the train from Oak Lawn to Union Station in downtown Chicago. From there, we caught the Amtrak to St. Louis. It was about a five hour train ride. It was such fun to visit the snack car and have lunch on the train.

When we arrived in St. Louis, we took the Metrolink to Lambert Airport where we rented a VW Bug, which we then drove to St. Charles, MO. St. Charles is a very old, quaint little town on the Missouri River. There are blocks of old houses and buildings converted to shops and restaurants. Of course, there are many Lewis & Clark references - I think their journey began here.

We stayed at the Country Inn & Suites which was very nice. And on Sunday, after Mass at St. Peter's, we visited almost every single shop. We never made it to Frenchtown, which is the antique district. We ran out of energy. We had dinner at Lewis & Clark's (what else?) which was delicious!

On Sunday night, we went to the Ameristar Casino. I started out with $6, played slot machines for three hours, and ended up with $3.50. Karen did really well at the blackjack table.

Finally on the last full day, we drove out to the countryside (beautiful!) to Defiance, Missouri and visited five wineries and tasted many different wines. I enjoyed the Chambourcin wine and brought home a bottle from Augusta Winery.

The train ride home was fun, too, but the weekend sure did go fast! We had a wonderful time!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

pink and brown stuff

2009-01-16T14:43:00.003-06:00

Since it seems like everything is pink and brown, I decided to make my blog blend in. What do you think? Good camouflage?

Watch out for these 2

2008-10-15T12:32:00.001-05:00

I'd steer clear of these kids if I were you.

Day 4 - Hershey Park

2008-03-13T19:30:00.011-06:00

Day 4 - Bright and early, we are on our way to Hershey Park, in Hershey, PA (of course). I have to say that the park itself was kind of a disappointment, but I did enjoy the "pretend" tour of the chocolate factory. In fact, this was the highlight of the visit.

The entrance to Hershey Park:

The waterpark was brand new in 2007 and very popular on this very hot day:

David loved the surfing simulator --

Wipe out!

Here are a couple pics of the pretend factory tour:

It was a really long day, and very hot and humid. It felt great to get back to the hotel and relax!

Day 3 - Gettysburg to Harrisburg, PA

2008-02-05T11:17:00.011-06:00

The next day, we finished the second half of the battlefield tour. It's really hard to choose my favorite photos, but here are a few of my best:

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After this, we went into the town of Gettysburg for souvenir shopping and just to walk around a bit. Gettysburg is a very charming town, with many historic buildings. Here we are at the Farnsworth House (remember the ghost tour?) in the daytime:

And a few random pics around and about Gettysburg:

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That afternoon, we drove to Harrisburg and checked into our hotel there. In the evening, we visited the local mall and Bass Pro Shop. And that ends Day 3.

Day 2 - Gettysburg, PA

2008-02-05T10:47:00.001-06:00

We are finally here in Gettysburg! We did a lot of touring today --

First, the Gettysburg Museum of the Civil War:

And right across the street from the museum is the Gettysburg National Cemetery where Lincoln's historic Gettysburg Address was made (spoken...addressed...? whatever):

Then, we toured the battlefield. It was pretty awesome to be there. We all really enjoyed the auto tour -- a CD that you play in your car that narrates all the stops and various monuments, etc., and gives you a very interesting story about the battle.

Here are a couple photos from the Gettysburg battlefield:

Later that night, we went on a ghost tour at the Farnsworth House. I won't tell you what I experienced here, but it was weird enough for me to get the chills right now just thinking about it! Also, Chuck and David and I all heard what sounded like guns firing at night over the battlefield. David insists they were fireworks, but there were no lights and I don't think they were. Spooky!

Here's a link to more about the Farnsworth House (named by the Travel Channel as one of the Top Ten most haunted inns in the U.S.):

http://www.jennie-wade-house.com/farnsworth-house.htm

After touring the haunted inn and going on the haunted ghost walk tour, we all went back to our hotel and had a good nights' rest (muahahaha).

Road Trip 2007 - Day 1

2007-09-01T15:20:00.000-05:00

Well, its been a long delay since I said I was going to work on the Road Trip story. Oh well!

So, we left on July 28 at 7:46 AM. On the first day we just drove and drove all the way to Cranberry, Pennsylvania. We took the Indiana Tollroad, the Ohio Turnpike and then the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

I decided to try to take a photo of every 100 miles on the road. What a cute idea! However cute, it only lasted for about the first 600 miles.

Here is the photo of 100 miles out:

This was taken on the Indiana Tollroad near Elkhart, Indiana.

We decided to stop somewhere for breakfast, so we asked our Garmin for a suggestion. She suggested a place in Edon, Ohio called the Feed Bag or the Feed Mill or something like that. Anyway, we drove about 5 miles down a little road and there it was. We had a great breakfast in a cute little town.

After that, we just kept driving. Here is the 204 mile photo:

This one was taken somewhere in Ohio at about 1:37 PM.

And the following photo was taken at 357 miles on 80 East in Ohio near the Cuyahoga River:

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And one more: taken at mile 436 on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, east of Pittsburgh -

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So, Day 1 is almost over. We have arrived in Cranberry, Pennsylvania in the late afternoon. We are staying at the Hyatt Place for the night. This is a really cool hotel - our room has a 42" plasma tv!

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For dinner we drove across the street to a restaurant called "Eat & Park". It was pretty similar to a Baker's Square. The thing is, though, wouldn't a more correct name be "Park & Eat"? I don't get it at all. I would think you need to park before you eat, rather than after. Someone didn't think that name out very well at all.
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Have a nice rest! Tomorrow we take off bright and early for Gettysburg.

Road Trip 2007 - Intro

2007-08-06T09:29:00.001-05:00

We have returned from Road Trip 2007 and it was a very long road! I can't believe how much we did and saw in 8 days. We logged 1,875 miles from beginning to end.

Its kind of a strange thing that I love Road Trips, but I hate to ride in cars. I always like to sit in the back seat and do things to take my mind off the traveling - listen to my ipod, do cross-stitch, read a book, play my PSP, etc. But I love the planning and I love the thought of seeing the country!

I've been on a lot of road trips - the first major one I can recall was my Mom and Dad taking me and my younger sister to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Huntsville, AL. My Dad was driving our new (used) 1966 gold chevy with the black vinyl top.

We weren't too far out of Chicago when the a/c conked out. The real crime about that happening was that this was our very FIRST car that had a/c. So it was a huge excitement to have this cool and comfortable ride to look forward to. But it just wasn't to be.

Anyway, the road trip that year (1970, I believe) took us through Carbondale, IL to visit our brother at SIU, then on through the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee where we visited Lookout Mountain and Rock City.

I recall being so very impressed with Rock City, that I brought my kids back there many years later.

We did make it to Huntsville and had a nice visit with the relatives before the long trek back home.

Many of my other Road Trips have run together in my head -- I know I took a wonderful Road Trip to the East Coast once upon a time in the early 80's. Traveling through Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island...maybe more - I just can't remember!

Then there was the Road Trip with the destination of Virginia Beach in 1987. We visited Williamsburg and Chincoteague, where we saw the stuffed "Misty" - those who are book readers will know what I'm talking about. And then on the way home visited those same relatives of the 1970 Road Trip, only this time in Kentucky.

I loved the Road Trip of 2002. It was kind of a cheating Road Trip because we flew part of the way, but really....driving to California was not an option. We started in San Francisco, drove over to Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Nevadas, down through the Garlic Capital of the world - Gilroy -, to the Hearst Castle in San Simeon (wait a minute -- not sure if we did that on this particular trip or not!), but I know we did visit the Winchester House in San Jose; Monterey, Carmel, then on to Los Angeles before flying home. And yes, we traveled the great Highway 1 along Big Sur.

The reason this one is not totally clear is because its kind of like the Road Trip of 1998 (with my sisters and Mom) in that we flew to California and drove from there. I know we did many of the same things as the Road Trip of 2002, but in an all-girl kind of way instead of a family type thing. Just a different experience.

And back in 1992, like I was talking about above -- took our little kids (they were 5, 4 and 6 months old) to the same relatives' anniversary party in Kentucky and from there went down to Rock City and Lookout Mountain.

I know I did several Road Trips to Florida, both married and single. With kids, without. On one of the Florida Road Trips, the kids counted every Waffle House restaurant along the way and I wish I recalled the count. Its kind of funny that our brown Astro van's air conditioning broke down shortly out of Chicago on that trip..... It was fun anyway, and in addition to Disney we drove over to the coast and spent some days on the beach at Indialantic. Of course, on the way down we stopped at Rock City and Lookout Mountain because we had one more child by then who had never been there!

I kind of doubt that I have mentioned all the Road Trips I've taken. There have been many many short ones, that's for sure. But I'm not sure that weekend trips would count as Road Trips, no - not really.

So, this is the intro to the Road Trip Saga. I'll start posting photos and the story, day to day, of our great Road Trip 2007 in the upcoming days or weeks, depending on my enthusiasm!

Now I'm A Parrothead

2007-07-23T11:30:00.000-05:00

I took a short hop to the islands on Saturday night. From the minute I sat down to a cheeseburger (in paradise) and a cool Corona at my sister and her husband's pre-Buffett party - I was on my way to the tropics.

It took awhile to get there (First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre) only because there were people coming from not only the Chicago area but many surrounding states and the traffic was being re-routed all over the place - but upon entering the parking lot a whole new world opened up.

Parrotheads to the left, Parrotheads to the right.

The most enormous tailgate party I have ever encountered. Cars decorated with shark fins, entire tiki bar set-ups, guys in grass skirts with coconut bras, and all kinds of parrots! What a crowd!

The concert was absolutely amazing -- we had lawn seats which I think were much nicer than sitting under the canopy in chairs. Thankfully, the weather was very cooperative, but I have a feeling it probably wouldn't have mattered much to most of the soused crowd if a blizzard had been going on.

The stage was set up to resemble the Bama Breeze, a beachside bar, with the aqua blue ocean behind it and a tropical sky which changed colors through the show. Jimmy entered the stage on a bicycle, barefoot and in shorts and t-shirt. The whole show was laid back and key wasted - just the best description I can come up with.

Even if you're not a die-hard Buffett fan, you can't help but have a blast at his concert. And if you are a Buffett fan or even if you just love the ocean - as soon as you begin that long trek back to the parking lot, you will be counting the days till Jimmy's next show!

The Daily Southtown has a review of Saturday's show at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre: "Buffett & Co. deliver again"

A big part of a Buffett concert is always the atmosphere, from the gaudy outfits of the fans to the sound of the steel drums and pedal steel guitar to the comely backup singers to the free-flowing libations. But the bare-footed beach bum and his band of cohorts Saturday once again showed that if you strip away all the accoutrements you still have the music. And Saturday, as always, it was like a good tropical drink: cool and satisfying.

"Haily/Katey"

2007-07-16T22:29:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share my latest doll creation. This doll is from a kit by Wendy Dickison called "Haily". The kit comes in five pieces - a head, two arms and two legs - no hair, no paint! It is in vinyl, deep pink in color. I renamed this doll, "Katey" after I had finished.

Below is a photo that shows the hair somewhat. The "hair" that I use is pure mohair which is purchased in locks. I separate the locks into individual strands which are then rooted into the doll's head using a very fine needle which grabs only one or two hairs per insertion. Since you can see that Katey has a lot of hair, you can imagine how long this process took. Not to mention how many needles are broken in the process. But in the end, it actually looks as though this hair is growing right out of the scalp!

My earlier dolls mostly had wigs, but the more recent ones were hand-rooted. Like Katey.

Backing up, I usually do all the painting first. On this doll, the original vinyl color was rather deep pink. I wanted a paler look so after doing a light green wash to neutralize the pinky color, I simply gave the skin mottling by using a combination of very pale pink and white paints. I always add touches of pale blue here and there for shadowing and depth. In real babies you can usually see these blue undertones if you look carefully.

The fingernails and toenails are painted in a rose color and tipped in white before being sealed with a satin varnish. The lips are painted in the same color and also sealed with satin varnish.

Eyebrows are painted, but eyelashes are rooted in a slightly lighter color than the hair on the doll's head.

The head and limbs are then all weighted, the ends are sealed and then attached to the cloth body - which is also weighted and stuffed with a combination of poly beads and fluffy polyester.

And then you have -- a baby! I have already had offers for this doll, but I was very lucky to obtain another kit by the same artist and I will most likely create a twin brother for Katey. At that point I may sell them together...or who knows - maybe these will be the ones that I keep for myself!

A Bunch of Buttercups

2007-07-01T20:28:00.000-05:00

I confess - I love babies! From the little toes to the button nose, I find them irresistible. In fact, I think that if babies could stay babies forever -- well, we probably wouldn't get any sleep. But anyway, I thought I'd share some photos of babies that have been at my house:

These are just a few. The truth is, that there has been over 100 of these babies in my house and the surprise is that I made them all! Amazing!

I have to be honest though, I am not superwoman - these 'babies' are all dolls and my business is Buttercup Babies Nursery. Now, I didn't actually sculpt these dolls or mold the plastic. The dolls are all play dolls - basic vinyl 'dollies'. The process of making a plastic doll like this:

Into a 'baby' that looks like this:

is a long and tedious process, but I find it to be a rewarding and challenging hobby.

For two years, I sold my dolls on Ebay. My first doll sold for $238. My highest doll sold for $1,875. I produced one doll a week during that period of time. And I became one of the best known and 'in demand' reborners on Ebay; 'reborner' being the term for someone who transforms a doll into a work of art.

After a couple of years of this, the demand for these dolls, in general, began to slow down. Just like the Beanie Baby phenomenon, the fad was losing momentum.

But there are still a lot of doll collectors out there who well recall Buttercup Babies. On occasion I will pick up a plastic doll that appeals to me and enjoy bringing it to 'life' as they say in the business. Or someone will send me an email asking me to work on a doll for her, maybe to try to make a doll that resembles one of her children or grandchildren as a baby. And I love to do it!

So, enjoy the photos of my Buttercups. All of these babies have been 'adopted' (again, business talk!). But, there will be more to come.

If you are interested in seeing a photo show of more of my Buttercup Babies, click on this link:

photoshow.comcast.net/grayhenry

and on the right side, click on the Buttercup Babies gallery. Enjoy! Let me know if you like my creations.....

The Story of Lily/William

2007-06-04T21:16:00.000-05:00

When William was Lily:

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William loves to oversee and is very regal about it.

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William is one brave kitty. Here he is not only enjoying the dogs' bed, but he is claiming all their favorite bones for himself although he doesn't even like bones:

Well, almost there. Only two more pets to write essays about.

William's arrival is really the most complicated and strange story of all of them, however.

He was my Mother's Day gift of 2005. I really wanted a siamese kitten for the longest time. When we lost Henry (ooops, another pet story coming later), I just kept thinking about it even more.

I started out by checking classified ads in the paper, then breeders (ouch big $$$), and finally resorted to calling pet shops. I know -- this is SO politically incorrect. And it will become even more evident as this tale unfolds just why we are all advised to NOT adopt from a pet shop.

Well, I did manage to find a pet shop that had a litter of Siamese kittens and the price was $400 per kitty which really was a bargain. Yes, compared to the prices I had seen.

So I went directly there and told the young employee that I wanted a *female* Siamese kitten. She plucked two of them out of the cage and told me to choose. After some thought, but not much because they really looked identical, I picked one and charged her on my credit card.

According to the 'rules' of the pet shop, in order for the pet to be guaranteed, it had to have an exam by the veterinarian that the pet shop chose, so in a few days I took Lily, my little kitten, for her initial exam. She was pronounced healthy and adorable and all was good.

Until, I took her for her first shots to my own vet. Dr. Roy picked her up and said, "There is a problem." What?! My perfect little kitty had a problem? And he further explained, "Lily is a BOY!"

Oh no! I did NOT want a boy kitty. I've had boy kitties before. Both Reuben and Henry both suffered from FUS (feline urinary syndrome) which causes blockages and all kinds of bad things and is more prevalent in male cats. After losing two male cats to this, I was positive I did not want any more boy kitties. And here I was, already in love with Lily, and Lily had turned into a BOY.

I knew I didn't want to return her/him to the pet shop hell. But now I was pretty angry. So I called the pet shop and spoke to the owner who had the personality of a turnip.

I explained the problem and asked how in the world could his employee have told me that a male kitty was a female? He laughed and said, 'well nobody's perfect' and pretty much said - too bad for you!

Now I was no longer just hissing, but my claws were out also.

I called my credit card company and they asked if the pet shop owner had offered to take the kitty back. WHAT? Obviously, not a pet owner. You don't have an adorable kitten for two weeks who now sleeps on the back of your neck, purrs when you pick it up, and comes running when you say "Lily, Lily!" - and just bring it back to pet shop hell to sleep in a wire cage.

So, I said no he didn't. The pet hater then said I should call him and ask him to take the kitten back and ask for a refund or to exchange him for a female kitten.

I thanked her for the excellent advice, hung up, and called back in the hope of speaking to someone else who actually owned a pet. And I got lucky the second time. The next person was horrified and thought that there was no way that I should tear the purring kitty from my son's grasp and bring her/him back to the wicked pet shop owner. She said she would immediately apply a dispute to the charge and send me a form to fill out.

The rest was simple. I filled out the form, said that I had paid for a female Siamese kitten, took it for its initial exam by the vet that was chosen by the pet shop who did not even diagnose her maleness, and that in the end I was stuck with a male kitten who would, in my mind, end up sickly and dead by age 3.

And the charge was reversed.

Lily became William. He is happy, healthy, feisty, believes he is a dog, and loves to jump on my shoulders from behind. Otherwise, I like him. The rest of the family - well, I'm not sure. He can become violent unexpectedly, especially if you touch the back of his particular chair in the kitchen. That really bothers him.

His favorite game, other than playing wrestling with Teddy the dog, is hide & seek. I will go up the stairs and hide behind a door, or in the bathroom right off the hallway, or sometimes in the bedroom. He will then go running up and look for me. Then I jump out at him and he jumps back. At this point, it is his turn to hide. He usually hides behind the shower curtain, between the tub and the curtain, and neglects to hide his tail. I don't think he realizes that hiding in the same place makes the game less than challenging for me.

In the end, I have to admit that I'm pretty happy I have William. And the price wasn't bad either.

We Miss You, Dixie!

2007-05-27T15:28:00.000-05:00

When we were dogless, it was a difficult decision to make that leap. But we sure made the right choice getting our feet wet with Dixie Belle.

I wanted a shetland sheepdog because I've always felt that the breed is just gorgeous. I love collies, too, but they are just so big - I'm a small dog person.

First, I visited the local animal shelter and they had a nice sable sheltie, but unfortunately he was on 'hold' whatever that means. The pound said that if the people who were 'holding' him didn't come back by the next week, I would be next in line. But, fortunately for us, they did come back.

And I say fortunately because if we had adopted that sheltie, we wouldn't have gotten Dixie!

I contacted a Sheltie Rescue organization (http://www.illinoissheltierescue.com/) and filled out their application and passed the interview. The following day, I received a call from one of the directors. She told me that she personally knew a woman who had two shelties that she wanted to give away to good homes. These dogs were not going through the rescue. The woman who was giving them up just wanted to know that they would be going to a good home and for some reason, the director of the rescue thought of me. She asked if I would meet this woman halfway from her home in Peoria and take one of the dogs, sight unseen.

Hmmm......when someone is giving away a dog, there is always that worry -- why would someone give away a perfect pet? In this case, the woman had a baby and felt that it was too much to have two shelties along with the baby. It was either the dogs or the baby and I said no to the baby.

We took a chance and said OK - we would adopt Dixie!

I was nervous driving to meet her. It was about an hour drive and I worried about how the dog would fare in the car for such a long trip. We were getting a travel crate along with Dixie so I knew she could ride in that and her owner assured me that she was good in the car. And she sure was - she rode home in that crate without a peep.

I was a tiny bit disappointed that Dixie turned out to be a tri-color sheltie. I had fallen in love with the sable (brown/white like Lassie) at the pound. But I soon forgot all that because Dixie turned out to be the most laid back, gentle, and obedient dog ever.

She had already gone through obedience training and was close to receiving the "Good Canine Citizen" award. So she didn't jump on people or act like a crazy dog. I want to get her bad points out of the way right off the bat and yes, she did have a couple.

First of all - garbage raiding -- she had dragged the entire contents of the kitchen trash across the entire kitchen on more than one occasion.

Second, she loved to bark bark bark.

Third, she insisted on herding people which would freak them out because she would follow along behind people and snap at their feet. Never biting them, just kind of butting.

Now that we're done with the bad stuff....let me just say that Dixie Belle was a beautiful dog, maybe a bit large for a sheltie, but lovely just the same. She had a gorgeous shiny black coat with brown and white trim and a white blaze on her nose. She loved to walk on a leash and never pulled and tugged. If she got out of the yard accidentally, she would just walk around to the front and sit on the porch.

Dixie was almost four years old when we adopted her and we had her for 7 years. She was just short of her 11th birthday when she died last summer. It was a very sad day for all of us.

We miss Dixie Belle and I don't think I'll ever have another dog as pretty as she.

What is Tuscan and how did we do without it until now?

2007-05-10T17:33:00.000-05:00

Before I go off on my rant, let me just say that I really have a problem with trendy stuff. I also hate the term, 'upscale'. Just so you know where I'm coming from.

That being said, yesterday morning I was going to White Hen for coffee. Plastered on the front window was a huge sign advertising their new and wonderful TUSCAN vegetable soup. I was kind of admiring the look of the soup, it did look delicious, but my happy thoughts suffered from whiplash as I did a mental double take and re-read TUSCAN in the description.

WHY does everything have to be Tuscan suddenly? Is it because of that movie? As far as I know, Tuscany is what this Tuscan thing is based on. Tuscany, I learned, is part of Italy. I think its been there for a very very long time. Probably longer than the United States.

But I'd say its just in the past year or so that I've been seeing TUSCAN everything, including White Hen soup.

So, I did a Google search just to see how widespread this buzz word has become. I found that there is now Tuscan home decor, Tuscan cooking, the Best Western Tuscan Inn in California, Tuscan flatbread, Tuscan Hall conference center in Texas, Tuscan whole milk available at Amazon. com, Tuscan Lakes (an 870 acre planned community), AND a Tuscan Siamese cat breedery. How can all of these diverse things be described by one common word: Tuscan?

Why does everyone want Tuscan things, all of a sudden? What is the attraction here? It isn't a particularly lovely word; nor does it roll off the tongue melodically like cochlea or march importantly like Rastafarian. Just why would you need your soup to be Tuscan or your cat either for that matter?

I need to get off this rant immediately before someone gets offended. Most likely, someone somewhere has just named their new baby Tuscan Marie or Tuscan Elliott and you know how irritated people can get if you criticize their kid. Before I quit, though, I'm offering you this lovely Tuscan Rose so you can contemplate its similarity to a gallon of milk.

(yes, it really is called a "Tuscan Rose")

School is over and I'm.....what??

2007-05-09T08:08:00.000-05:00

I never thought I'd feel sad to be out of school for the summer.

Remember those days of the past - the last day of school? Freedom! Joy! The long summer days ahead; it seemed they would go on and on; one endless weekend.

Well, it has happened: I am sad to be sprung. I finished my Medical Terminology class last night, took my final, and now I am going to miss going to school. It's a frightening realization because it means that maybe I am a real adult. Because, really - there is no way I could still be a kid and be sad about getting out of school for the summer.

I loved my class. It had been years since I went to school. Unless you count yoga or pregnanacy fitness or lamaze as higher education. So it seemed a big decision to actually sign up for a real class. After the first couple of sessions, I began to question my decision. I had to actually set aside time - my precious time - to do homework and study for the weekly quiz. I didn't even want to think about the BIG tests, the midterm and the final looming somewhere vaguely in the not too distant future.

I got into the routine quickly enough, though, and began to relax enough to actually learn things. My instructor was a registered nurse who infused the lecture with tales of her own personal experiences at the hospital and I found the lectures to be very interesting, even entertaining.

Now that my Tuesday nights are my own, once again, I feel a little bit empty. I think that not only did I learn all about medical terminology, body systems, and medical procedures; but I also received a dose of self-pride. Hey, I could actually sit in a class of a bunch of 'kids' and do as well as the rest of those freshly minted brains. Never mind that they were probably taking four other classes simultaneously and I was only taking the one.....

Let's see, if I stretch this out properly, I could probably be able to take one class per semester and have my master's degree in hmmm.......about 45 years.

That'll keep me busy!

It truly is Magic!

2007-05-04T20:12:00.000-05:00

My daughter, Lauren, was talking to me today about some friends she met while we were on a Disney cruise in November of 2005. She still keeps in touch with these girls! But anyway, while we were talking about the cruise and the Disney ships, I started really wishing for another Disney cruise. I know I'm a cruise addict, there is no doubt about that. I'll take any cruise, any time. But there is just something more about a Disney cruise.

If you've ever been to any of the Disney theme parks, you've experienced some of those extra touches. Now imagine these touches applied to a cruise and multipy it times 100 - and this is what sailing with Disney is all about.

For instance -- dining onboard the Disney Magic or the Disney Wonder. Not just a dinner, not even just an exquisite dinner....but an event.

We sailed on the Wonder in 2004 and the Magic in 2005 and discovered that they are identical ships, so the dining rooms are the same with the exception of the formal dining room on each -- on the Magic it is called Lumiere's and on the Wonder it is called Triton's.

Lumiere's features French cuisine and has a beautiful rose theme - which follows the Beauty and the Beast story.

Triton's was inspired by the Little Mermaid, of course, and has an art deco style with a beautiful 'under the sea' mosaic on one wall.

When you dine on a Disney ship, you rotate dining rooms nightly. What this means is that you are assigned a specific restaurant for each night so you get to take turns in each one. You have a wait staff that is assigned to your family and this wait staff also rotates with you. Thus, each night your preferred drink is brought to your table since your waiter remembers what you usually order. My daughter, Amy, always found not one, but two, glasses of cold chocolate milk at her plate at each dinner!

The girls with our waiters on the Magic: Johnathan and Pieroj, at Lumiere's --

Over our Thanksgiving cruise, we had the best rotation ever. There are over 1,000 passengers onboard each ship, so not everyone has the same rotation, obviously. I felt we were so lucky to dine at Parrot Cay on Pirate's Night and on Thanksgiving, we were in Lumiere's (which also coincided with formal night).
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I'll start with Animator's Palate restaurant which happens to be my favorite. Now 'palate' also can be spelled 'palette' -- and both of these spellings would apply to this restaurant. It features many of Disney's most loved films and this restaurant literally comes to life while you dine. As you begin your meal, everything is black and white - the walls, the giant paintbrushes and palettes in the center of the room, the waiters' vests. But with each course (and the music is synchronized to change with each course), a bit more color appears. There are framed portraits on the walls and if there is a song playing from say - the Lion King - only the portraits featuring Lion King characters will light up in full color. As the dinner goes on, more and more color is added until dessert - when even the waiters' vests are in full rainbow hues instead of the plain black and white. Animator's Palate is a true experience!
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The very tropical Parrot Cay restaurant:

Parrot Cay is a very brightly colored, tropical restaurant featuring a lot of bamboo and green leafy designs, pinks, oranges and a live steel drum band playing Caribbean music. The food is also Caribbean themed and so delicious! I forgot to mention that all the waiters perform in each restaurant every night (after they are finished serving) and in Parrot Cay they encourage everyone to join them in a Conga line around the room. We ate at Parrot Cay on Pirate Night which was so appropriate. I'll talk more about Pirate Night later, but in a nutshell - it was a night celebrating Pirates in the Caribbean - so dining in the Caribbean restaurant was perfect that evening.

Pirate Night at Parrot Cay:

The third restaurant, as I briefly mentioned, is either Lumiere's or Triton's (depending on the ship you are on). On the Disney Magic it is Lumiere's - I don't think I've ever dined in a more luxurious and beautiful setting. It is French cuisine (and David even tried escargot), and just extremely posh. The chandeliers have the little rosebuds inside them -- these little touches are all around. Here's a photo of one of the chandeliers, although you can't see the rosebud it is inside the very bright area:

And Triton's is equally luxurious with an art deco style. You are dining 'under the sea' which may or may not be a good thing to think about while you are on a cruise ship - but anyway, who doesn't love the Little Mermaid? I just loved the huge mosaic of Ariel and also the beautiful blues and greens in this restaurant.

Now since there are three main dining rooms, you do get to visit each one twice during a week long cruise. Or you can opt for casual dining at Topsider's or Beach Blanket Buffet. At these dining rooms you can take your tray outside and sit at the rear deck, watching the ocean churning behind the ship. There are not many things I can think of that are more relaxing than just watching the ocean go by, especially in the Caribbean where it is the most wonderful aqua blue in color. But I digress....
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Above: in the hallway just outside Palo.

Finally, a very special choice for dining is Palo Restaurant. If you want to dine here, you need to make reservations *before* you leave for the cruise. It is very popular at Palo for good reason. This is the adults only restaurant and although you pay $10 per person, you are catered to and doted on while you enjoy truly the finest Northern Italian cuisine.

We also had High Tea at Palo -- absolutely delightful with the wonderful creations of cakes, scones, finger sandwiches, and items that I've never seen before, served with several varieties of English Tea.

Well, I could go into the late night buffets, Pluto's Doghouse, Scoop's and other dining extravaganzas, but perhaps those are best talked about in another entry as this one is becoming very long and now I'm getting a bit hungry just thinking about them.

Truly, if you can only manage to put aside $1 every day, start saving for a Disney Cruise! You will have the time of your life and feel like a pampered princess or prince, whatever the case may be.

When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true!

Moms, No Tots

2007-04-24T22:03:00.000-05:00

This is another Girlfriends Story.

Once we all had Tots. In fact, three of us belonged to Moms & Tots, a local park district sponsored program. When Moms & Tots ended for the summer, Sylvia had the idea to get everyone's number and she organized our own group - and we took turns meeting at one anothers' homes all summer long. And we added other friends to our playgroup.

We did this for a couple summers and became good friends. But as things go, the Tots grew up. And some of the Moms disappeared.

And we changed our meeting place from our backyards to restaurants which served Margaritas and we continued our friendship.

Finally, the idea of a field trip was brought up and embraced with much enthusiasm. So, off we went to Lake Geneva where we had much fun despite malodorous ham hocks hurriedly disposed of in public waste containers.

Soon we changed our destination to Michigan City and here we are - on our first Moms' Overnight in Michigan City - in front of "Barb's Cottage", where we witnessed mysterious happenings such as pumpkins appearing in unexpected places.

Michigan City has become our second home, if only for one weekend every fall. Although we have stayed at different cottages, we have many traditions. This kind of makes our weekend flow in a very predictable and comfortable pattern; without much effort required in planning. I think this is what really makes our weekend one of extreme relaxation and no stress!

What I really love about our weekend the most, though, is being able to visit the shores of Lake Michigan during the off season. The Fall still offers some beautiful weather and we have spent a lot of time walking down the beach for quite a distance without even seeing another person.

Lighthouse Outlet Mall is in Michigan City and we always spend time there; and Michelle and I will always try our luck at Blue Chip Casino even though we never win. Sharon's beer bread and candy corn trail mix are always very popular with everyone.

Here we all are, just sitting around discussing our great finds from the outlet mall:

And going for a walk to enjoy the beautiful fall colors --

It seems that our annual weekend passes much too quickly, as all good things do. But at least we all know that many Margaritas, strawberry daquiris, Coronas, O'Douls.....and ice waters.... will help pass the time in between!

Girlfriends & Girl Weekends

2007-04-22T22:33:00.000-05:00

I had to start out with the above photo. That is me on the left and Mary on the right. When that photo was taken, we had actually been friends for three years already. Years went by and years went by and we are still hanging out together.

Fast forward 9 years.....

Here we are again and its 1971. That's Mary on the left, I'm in the middle and we have a new buddy, Teri, on the right. This photo was taken in San Francisco and you might consider this the original Girls' Weekend, our Junior Class Trip (although it lasted a week, not a weekend and included many other girls AND chaperones). Didn't stop us from getting into some serious adventures, however.

A few years went by, some of us went away to college, we all got married, had kids and suddenly it became 1989. A few phone calls later and we had re-organized the Girls' Weekend. Off to Galena, IL we went.

From 1989, we barely missed a single year. In fact, we expanded our getaways to include a second annual getaway, the Family Getaway Weekend which included husbands and kids. As the kids grew up, the Family Getaway Weekend fizzled out, but the Girls' Weekend never did.

Our adventures were numerous and some were unbelievable. Over one short weekend in the early 2000's, we were steamed out of our room in the wee hours by a faulty radiator; locked out of our room in our pj's; caught in a blizzard so bad that we literally had to feel our way down the street by walking next to buildings until we found the most wonderful Italian restaurant; and the next day we trudged through the snow without boots looking for antique shops. After that weekend, we all agreed it was the worst one ever. But it is the one we talk about the most today!

And in December of 1995, I was 8.5 months pregnant and afraid to venture too far from home. So we stayed in the suburbs and went Christmas shopping. When we returned to our hotel room, my dear friends wrapped every one of the Christmas gifts I had bought while I sat with my feet up and supervised!

Another year we were adventurous and flew to Minneapolis and shopped at the Mall of America. But our big adventure, so far, was our 50th Birthday Celebration Cruise. We sailed on Norwegian Cruise Lines in March of 2005, ironically over the same dates as that California school trip of 1971.

We have some unwritten, but mutually agreed upon rules for our weekends. First of all, we try to take turns visiting each of our hometown areas - since we are separated by many many miles. Once in awhile, we choose a midway point, but generally we take turns going up to Wisconsin, down to Quincy and to the Chicago area.

The other rule is that we don't eat at chain restaurants. We have dined well and always search out the unique, local and BEST restaurants we can find.

And finally, the TV stays off. All we do is talk, drink wine, talk, shop (mostly antique and thrift stores), and talk some more.

Some of the places we've been: Galena, IL; Minneapolis, MN; Madison, WI; Quincy, IL; Orland Park, IL; Springfield, IL; Cedar Grove, WI; New Buffalo, MI; Bloomington, IL; Naperville, IL; the Caribbean.....and some I just can't recall.

Here's a photo of Mary and Teri taken just last week - on our weekend in Bloomington, IL.

Nowadays, if you pick up any women's magazine or do an internet search, you will find a lot of stories and information about Girls' Getaways. But back in 1989, before they were trendy, we were doing them. I don't want to say that we invented the Girls' Weekend, but it sure seems that way to us.

So, here's to you - my best friends! Cheers!

By the way, these are antique glasses that we found in a shop in Naperville - there were only three of them and it was the obvious thing to do - we each bought one and now we bring them along and toast one another on our annual Girls' Weekend every year!

More Pets - This Time In Action!

2007-04-22T17:09:00.000-05:00

Here they are, the two active animals in this house. Doing what they do best:

The 60's

2007-04-21T12:04:00.000-05:00

I love the 60's! I guess its because I was too young to understand exactly what was going on so it all seemed very vibrant and exciting. If you grew up in the 60's, you will probably enjoy this:

http://moreoldfortyfives.com/TakeMeBackToTheSixties.htm

About Teddy

2007-04-21T00:07:00.000-05:00

This is Teddy, the little Pomapoo. Poma (pomeranian) and Poo (poodle). Teddy's dad was a pomeranian and his mom was a poodle. You can see that Teddy has little teeth that stick out on the bottom - he is so cute!

Teddy's Dad's name is Copper and his mom's name is Tabasco.

We adopted Teddy from a very nice family - his Dad (Teddy's Dad) lived a few doors down. We didn't meet the dad, but the owners of his Mom (Teddy's Mom) said that they could make a quick phone call and Teddy's dad would come running to their door for us to meet him. This is true.

When we were trying to decide whether to adopt Teddy or his brother, who was a lot smaller and seemed a little demonic, Teddy went running behind the couch. The little boy in the family evidently liked Teddy and didn't want to see him leave, so he shouted, "Chubby! Don't come out!" (the family had given Teddy the temporary name of Chubby).

This kind of became a family dog joke of ours. I think you had to be there, though.

Well, Teddy is also a very smart dog (see Toby, below). He is not even a year old and can already sit, lie down, and wave. He would be able to do hundreds more tricks, except we haven't taught him the rest at this point.

His favorite pal is William, our cat and they play together often, mostly chasing and hiding games.

Teddy loves to bark bark bark and his favorite crime is trying to escape the yard. Sometimes we can't figure out just how he did it, but we do have all kinds of interesting barricades at every possible opening. This makes it hard for the rest of us to enter and exit our yard, so we really don't use the back door much.

Teddy's birthday is May 30, so please stop by on that date and wish him a happy day. If you are a 'real person' out there reading this and you know where we live, please stop by for some birthday cake and bring your dog!

I Miss Board Games

2007-04-20T23:46:00.000-05:00

These are some of the many board games I owned once, way back when I was a younger kid. I guess I must have been into ghosts and spirits and mystic things.

That Camp Granada Game was a real pain, though. It basically consisted of a camp bus and a game board. You would push the camp bus along the game board until it broke down and then you would read the instructions on the board. It was a LAME GAME.

During the summer, my friends and I would take games outside and play sitting on the picnic table in the yard. We would sit ON the table and play with the game board in the middle of us. I still keep buying games in the hope that someone will play, but it doesn't seem that people care about board games anymore. In fact, my son calls them 'bored games'. Ha ha.

Some of the best times I remember revolved around playing games -- I know I had a simple childhood. Thank goodness.

Today's Post is about my dog, Toby

2007-04-18T20:51:00.002-05:00

Toby, the rat terrier, is 7 years old. We adopted him as a cute little puppy. We picked him out from a litter of puppies in a pen in someone's home. We had to pick him out really quickly because it smelled so bad in this house that we needed to get out in a hurry so we could resume breathing.

Toby is a pretty good dog - he's smart but he doesn't like to go on about it. He does a few tricks like sit, stay, beg, give paw, dance, lie down, roll on side, and crawl. He hates rabbits, squirrels, mice, birds and anything else that he could possibly catch and eat. When he was younger, he caught a bird in mid-air. Nowadays, he wouldn't be able to do that easily.

His best friend is little Teddy, the pomapoo. I'm sure I'll write about Teddy later. Toby doesn't care for William, his other room-mate pet. He would never admit it, but I can tell that he is terrified of William.

Toby's favorite crime is food-stealing and he does this at every opportunity.

His birthdate is June 18, which he shares with Paul McCartney. They are both Geminis.