If Tiger can do it so can Mark

Tiger Woods that is - and this has nothing to do with golf. It's all about Lasik eye surgery. TLC did Tiger's and that is where Mark might be headed. Today I went with him to his consult to find out more. He'd like to ditch his glasses in 2009. The doctor is very serious and has quite an advanced vocabulary. That was my first giggle. Then he starts talking about potential side effects - the minor ones. Mark is sweating profusely and wiping his brow. Then the doctor launches in the rare side effects and Mark starts to look really funny now. I asked if he was ok and he says no "I feel like I'm going to faint". Poor Mark I laughed - bad wife! I mean this is the man who watches them draw his blood. The doctor is merely discussing side effects and there are no visuals. Mark thinks it might be the drops they used to dilate his eyes, but the doctor said that would be highly unusual. I just think he forgot to breath. So he gets him some water and he takes a seat in a normal chair, not the exam chair. He is white and sweating still, but he eventually comes around. And I have a serious case of the giggles. For the rest of the appointment. Might have been I was a bit slap happy as it was way past lunch time. So after all that it sounds like he might go through with it. I did ask (more so for Julie's benefit) if the numbing drops ever not work - he said no that they would just add more. I guess Lasix is less painful that PRK or RPK because there are less nerves in the area they are working.

So what about Hannuka?

Saturday night we went to my first Hannuka party. It was more about getting friends together than celebrating a religious holiday. Or maybe not -not sure what the Jewish normally do. Did you know they make Hannuka sugar cookies? They do - I was so over cookies at that point I didn't try one. Going to the party meant staying an extra night in Rochester, but Mark's friend Brad was home for Hannuka and Mark always went when he was little so we went to catch up with Brad. His kids are so big now! Anyway... This particular party was all about the food and friends eating lots of food. Plenty of wine too.... So I must share the menu... Latke's (potato pancakes) with homemade applesauce, brisket in some yummy tomato sauce, and a noodle dish with some sweet creamy sauce sort of like sweetened cream cheese with crumbles on top. Those were the new dishes. Bagels not so new nor was egg salad or chicken salad or the chocolate chip cookies. I know they don't sound like they go together, but this was a buffet type meal and it all went down just yummy. I only ate the stuff I wouldn't find at home. Need to visit recipezaar to see if I can find any of these recipes - especially the potato pancakes.

Wii, wii, wii all the way home!

Christmas was a long time away from home this year - the longest we will have for quite a few years to come. We rotate where we spend Christmas every year and I love not having to run from family to family like other people do. This year we were in Rochester and it was busy, busy, busy. Next year will be home or with my family somewhere and not nearly so busy.
The major gift was a Wii for Mark and I to share hence the wii, wii, wii title above. Lots of things that go with a Wii also like the Wii fit and extra controllers. Have you used the Wii yet? It was a suprise for Mark and I knew about it. It was my idea. I thought it would be fun and it is. Mark has mastered tennis and golf - probably baseball by now too. I'm good at golf and boxing. Bowling is pretty accurate to real life and that is all I will say so the others must be too? My hand does hurt from boxing though. Not that I really hit anything. I also took the Wii fit test to find out my Wii age. Any guesses as to how old I am in Wii world? Let's just say it is way too old! Mark will be taking his test shortly.

Merry Christmas a little bit early!

This is a little bit early, but we are almost ready to head on out and not sure if I'll be signing on over the holiday. Being the advance planners (and people who can't wait for our surprises) we've already opened our gifts and the tree is dropping needles and I've decided it feels like the day after Christmas today and we still have two days of celebrations to go. That's a lot of "ands". Sorry! I did very well in getting Mark his gift this year - a ticket package for the local baseball team and a sweater he was eyeballing at Macy's in NYC. He did very well for me - I got a new camera and earrings that I was eyeballing at a store in NYC and a few other cool items. He is the best at buying gifts. Of course we couldn't wait and opened our gifts on Saturday. Saturday was Christmas for us in reality. LOL! No need to wait on Santa at our house! Get 'er done! Rip em' open.
Today was I was off from work and got lots of stuff done. The house needed an over haul big time. I got a lot accomplished! Just call me "Cookie" - I feel like a freaking cookie. I made 4 different kinds. Don't start thinking I'm wonder woman or anything as 3 of the 4 were mixed and frozen over 3 weeks ago. I just thawed, sliced, and baked. The 4th was a gluten free mix for Mark's dad. It was a special spice cake mix and I added molasses and ginger for a really good tasting ginger snap. Recipe was on the box - I'm not that much of a genius in the kitchen. These are better than those with gluten in them. Quite the find. And how many did I eat today while baking? ONE of each! Only one - I am so sugared out from the Italian cookies someone sent to work. Now those were to die for - real Italian bakery cookies. Trust me they are nothing like those crappy ones you get at the grocery store in clear plastic buckets. Nothing. It's a good thing I thought they were something I could pass up easily for the first week. Then I tried one on Friday - and another, and another. Yesterday I had 3 too. Hoping the last person out of the office today took the rest - I don't need any more cookies!
Hope you all enjoy the holidays and that Santa brings everything that your heart desires! Eat lots of good food and don't worry too much because New Years will bring that resolution to lose those 10 pounds! Merry Christmas!!!!

Exciting Friday!

Friday was a big day in the Sens household. We got snow - and lots of it! 10 inches I think! Mark was in snow heaven playing in it (meaning playing with his new snowblower!). Hoping for more tomorrow and hoping it doesn't turn to rain as they are now predicting. That would totally ruin the pretty white scene outside.
So if you read my last post you heard about the Wheel of WOW and the Christmas lunch. Well we had 60 prizes to award for the party - 12 had the WOW chance in them, plus a prize. We had 80 people there - so almost everyone got something. One of the girls that I work with pulled an evelope with a WOW on it - I was shocked as it was the first one and then she got to spin. She won $1,000 cash - 1st one of the bunch. 2nd guy up spins $1000. So both those sections got covered up - would hate to have everyone spin a $1000 you know. That would be way too much money. LOL! So the 3rd WOW drawn was ME - yes ME! I was not so happy and they actually boo'd and clapped at the same time. You see there are 3 of us in HR and 1 just won $1000 and then I draw a WOW spin. So they are thinking it's rigged I'm sure. It was not I assure you. To make a joke of it I told them I would surely spin a loser. One of 3 on the wheel. And I did! I was not so happy, but it was funny. I ended up with a $25 gift card to TGIFriday's so not all was lost. The company joker won the flat screen TV. Just earlier that day I had him carry it down to the party spot and he was saying he'd give it to one of the girls in the office as it was a bad brand if he won it. Whatever - it's a TV. Sylvania - how bad is that? He did keep it and I'm sure it was hawked on the streets of Beacon last night. It worked well in the store and it was 32".
The snow started at noon and by 3:00 when we were dismissed we had 6 inches of snow. Took me almost 2 hours to get home. People can not drive in snow here! Makes sense as they don't get that much. oh well it is pretty. Hoping to post pictures of the cats playing in the snow soon - they seem to think the top of the snow is hard because it's flat. Very funny.

on snow watch!

I hear we might get lots of snow on Friday - like 6 inches. Mark is very excited - me not so much because he isn't home and I didn't get a lesson in using the new snow blower. At least our driveway goes downhill from the road to the house so I will at least be able to roll downhill when I get home Friday night.
I can hear many of your laughing because you know that 6 inches isn't really much snow. I will agree with you. Let's talk about when we have 12 inches coming. Perception is so different. Everyone is freaking out. The best line I heard today came from my boss - he's from London so it's said with that accent.
boss to freaking out employee (not me of course) "Just how long have you lived in the northeast?"
employee... "my whole life"
"So at least 30 some years?"
employee... "oh more than that!"
"well then why aren't you used to snow?"
employee... silence
me thinking to myself... it's going to be a long winter if we haven't even had one storm yet. oh boy. This is not a lady thing - I heard grown men saying it too.
Now I never talk about work, but I will post a picture after our party on Friday - our party will still happen as you can't cancel a lunch party for 100 with virtually no notice. We created this cool Wheel of WOW and I've been practicing my spins all week. So far it appears I'm really good at spinning a "loser". That sucks - I want the week of vacation or $1000. It would be funny if I did get chosen and spun a "loser" if you think about it.

Christmas in the City

We left early Saturday morning for the big city to see the Christmas sights and sounds. This was my Christmas present a bit early. It was a complete madhouse from the train ride on down. The train was packed - every seat was filled. Our first stop was Macy's - the largest department store on the world. It was huge. And the crowds were a bit much. We didn't notice it coming in as we were in the "crush", but we saw it on our way out. Mark was so impressed he immediately announced he had to have a picture to show you everyone on the blog. So he braved this crush of people and went back up the escalator - you can see me in the picture if you look hard enough. While there we lots of people not many were buying - mostly gawkers we heard.

Next stop was Times Square - people would just stop walking in the middle of the sidewalk and talk to their friends. The corners were the worst. It was brisk, but in the sun a bit warmer. I was impressed with all the people wearing hats. I was trying to be fashionable and not mess up my hair - I gave up after the show and we bought a hat from a vendor for $5. Quite the score if you ask me. I love it.

Katie with a shot going South in Times Square

and Mark with a shot going north.

See the throng of people behind me - nuts. On a corner of course. This is on the way to the Christmas Show at Radio City Music Hall. We were staying down on 26th street. Times Square is on 42nd Street - or pretty close and Radio City is on 49th. It's a long ways to walk so we got a cab. Halfway their he told us we'd be better off getting out and walking. brrr.... We did get to see all the lights this way so it was sort of fun.

This is Rockefeller Plaza and the big tree - it's really cool. One guy said there were 200,000 people there. Probably more like 25,000.


Not sure what you'd call this park - it's across from Radio City Music Hall where we went to the show. The show was very good and fun to watch. Lots of singing and dancing. I loved it.

Now for the foodie report. Sad to say I didn't take pictures, but it would have been tough because we were really sitting with other people and I don't think they would have let us live it down. Becco's is excellent and seats are very tight and close making it tough to squeeze into your seats. We got there early at 2:00 and they had room for us so we decided to eat early. Very good choice as it was still the lunch menu and come to find out we like the choices for the pasta better at lunch and it was cheaper. The deal is you get three pasta courses and a ceasar salad. As much as you can eat. Needless to say we only took the first pass. Pasta #1 was spinach ravoli stuffed with pumpkin - Mark loved it (and I ate the middles for him). It was very good. Pasta #2 was a big rigatoni in a yummy red tomato sauce. This went really well with our order of meatballs. I swear it was a pound and there were only 3. They were soft and crumbly and came with a wonderful red sauce. Pasta #3 was a noddle dish with rabbit. Being I can't quite bring myself to eat something that could be a pet we asked for the alternative and since it was almost the dinner hour we got fettucine alfredo with wheat noodles. It was light and tasty. Not a thick alfredo. Of course the bread, cheese dippy stuff and olives also stole the show. Eating early worked out very well and we were able to recover in time for the show. What I like about Becco's is that every day is a different trio of pasta's so I probably won't be tired of going there any time soon.

After the show I cashed in the promise of dessert. Junior's just off Times Square looked very good - Mark got french onion soup and I got cherry cheese cake - both most excellent. We gave learned that looks can be decieving with food in NYC. This was not the case. We finally have some good places in mind for guests - whew. 46th Street going west off Times Square is full of great Italian places - I did choose the best one however from looking at the menu's and prices. Now I hope this satifies the foodie in you - if not you must come visit and I'll give you a tour.

The Weather gods and other gods

So the weather gods have decided that we just need lots of water - almost 3 inches since yesterday if we are getting exact. If it was just 3 degree's colder we would either have lots of ice OR 3 feet of snow - I think it's 12 inches of snow per inch of rain.
The power gods however are not playing nice - unlike the weather gods. We lost power at 4:30 am. How do I know? Well for starters Mark got a publice service call to come pump out someone's basement in the fire district at 3:30 am. You know fire departments have pumps so around here they do public service calls. Very nice if it's you. Not so nice if you are sleeping and a volunteer fire fighter or the wife of one. Not only did we get one buzzer we got two because no one responded to the first. I can no guesstimate that if Mark is not going we should assume no one will go because he loves going out on calls. He decided to get a head start on the day and get ready for work and go in super early so he could leave early. He wins the smart boy award. I tried to go back to sleep and then we lost power. So no shower at home for me. This is where my much loved gym membership came in handy. So at 5:00 am I gave up trying to sleep and went to the gym for a walk and shower. It's way too early to do more than walk.
Back to the water issues - we have so many - we are having floods - remember all the water has to go somewhere. On my way to the gym traffic was very light - 5:30 am so that make sense. I'm plugging along and I see a cop car on the side of the road with lights flashing. Not so odd, but the cop is dancing - or so I thought. I think that he must have been trying to point out the fact I was about to plow through a huge puddle of water covering the entire road. Oops! I can imagine that is a huge mess now because it's a major road. So like I said most of the gods are watching out for us today - just not the power god. If he really was a god then it would be out at work too! LOL!
TGIF!!!

First Storm of the Year!

and it's ICE! Just got my first call out and am expecting one more. Half inch to one inch and then tomorrow morning it will turn to show for a few inches of the white fluff. The fluff will be deceiving no doubt. This will be a good test of many things for us. Now if only our fireplace blower was fixed... More later off to work.

Santa is coming early!

Santa is bringing me my gift early this year - the Christmas Show at Radio City Music Hall! I can't wait to see it and also all the lights in NYC for Christmas. New York City is quite large and the big debate this past week has been where do we eat? I mean it's so big that finding somewhere good and then remembering it and going back is a challenge. So I asked a fellow foodie at work knowing he would have a great place. And he did and I've even been to a restuarant in that "family" in Kansas City. Julie will remember Lydia's - how can we forget? It is the best Italian ever! We aren't Italian so we aren't offending anyone in our family. The gnocchi was to die for and it was just yummy! Seriously - she is a great cook. Even has some cooking show on TV. So while Becco is run by her son I see many similarities in the menu - namely the all you can eat pasta. Three daily chef's selections that keep coming around until you tell them NO, politely of course. You get salad too. Don't remember that part. LOL! Since it is so popular I got a very early reservation... 3:00 pm. We are bit behind the ball here, but I think this will work out even better. Crazy I know, but this also tells me it is good. So we will eat early (and Mark will win brownie points for it) and then we can get dessert after the show. Something we never have room for. Now I just need to figure out what to where? Black? Seems to be the popular color in the city. I think I can handle that!

Grace Takes a Tumble

and Grace would be me - as in not so "grace" ful. Seems during the night we had some rain or something and it froze into ice on our front steps. This morning I was running late and it was beautiful and sunny (and quite cold for once). Our garage isn't quite ready for inhabitants - namely our cars - so each morning we head out the front door and down the stairs. The view is amazing and I love to look out ahead to the mountains as I run down the steps - ok I'm stretching it here, but it was very pretty this morning and so I didn't look down to see the ice on the steps. I swear everything else was dry - and it was except for those dumb patches on the steps. Gotta love my new winter ski parka with lots of padding - that probably really saved me the most.
Even though I am sort of sore I am thankful for several reasons:
1. NO ONE SAW IT HAPPEN! No neighbors came rushing outside - I'm sure they were still sleeping as they are retired. No cars were going by - nothing. whew.
2. I can move all body parts.
3. Maybe now we will get the garage door opener installed? ;~)
4. The bruise is above my tail bone to the side - this means I can sit at my desk and work and not have to tell anyone why I'm moving a bit slower. I mean how stupid does it sound when the company safey coordinator slips and falls. Now I know this was at home, but I am always telling people to watch where they are going. Smooth move I know - I would never hear the end of it.
A nice hot bath should help ...

Busta Move! So we can dance!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thanks Rae for the great idea!

1500 Miles later...

We are home! It was a long trip and lots of car time, but in the end worth it. Andrea made a wonderful, juicy turkey, yummy mashed taters and excellent stuffing (thanks Stovetop for the secret recipe). Julia loved her green frog toy that Uncle Mark picked out at Toys R Us - how were we to know Blues Clues is so out? The lady at the store was very helpful. The frog sings and talks and goes to bed with her. She loves to sing and watches TV so she can touch it - like the rest of us I'm sure glasses are in her very near future. Charlie is getting so big and voices his opinion at every turn - even told grandpa and Mark to go away. Very funny to hear that one.
Steve and Barry's is a favorite store of Mark's (along with Menards...) and he is sad they are going out of business so in each big city we had to find one and scout out some deals. Needless to say many of our relatives will be getting a cool gift in the near future. We hit them in South Bend, Cleveland, Rochester and Syracuse. Shopping in Cleveland was an adventure in diversity. I believe we were in South Euclid at a mall and we were in the minority and I think we got lucky to not be wearing any sort of gang signs. Mark was impressed that he didn't even notice - I pointed it out. If you ever have the need to visit the Cleveland Clinic you'll be happy to know there is a great hotel right on property - we stayed there thanks to a great Priceline deal. Heavenly bed. We did manage to find a Cheesecake Factory after the adventure in the mall at another shopping plaza about three miles away - that mall was really new and upscale. We ate at Stir Crazy and I had my favorite lettuce wraps - tasted just like PF Changs.
We helped Mark's parents put up the biggest tree ever - even had to cut off the top and part of the bottom. Looks great and smells wonderful. Mark got his snow finally on the way home today, but it was done by the time we got home - it's still really warm here.
So tomorrow is back to work...

No Snow Yet!

and I'm not cyring about it anytime soon! Mark is anxious for our first snowfall so he can break out his new snowblower. Me, I have yet to dig out my boots and am in no hurry to do so. I am enjoying the new climate and moderate temps for now. Last night we heard about a winter storm warning for our county and the one north of us - through tonight. Of course we won't be here if it does come this far south. I had to laugh when they talked about the higher elevations on the radio this morning - I always forget we now live near the mountains - never mind they call them hills. If they have high elevations they have to be mountains right? Who knows, all I know is we have yet to get any snow! Of course we might see some on our long journey half way across the country. I still can't believe we are driving to South Bend to eat turkey - it better be good turkey Andrea. The holiday has come up super fast on us.
Now for the fun part... we have yet to find the perfect gift for Charlie and his little sister Julia. Hoping to hit a Target or Walmart on our journey and pick up something fun for them. I'm sure it will be something Uncle Mark will really want because I know he's going to end up playing with it too! So if you have any good suggestions for a a brother-sister duo let me know! I did see this cute music video game type thing on tv last night - it looked like something that would hog up the tv and make lots of noise. I know Andrea loves noise! It would be fun though.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!

up goes the tree

The Christmas tree is up (the fake one) and the lights are on - well they are on it all the time, but I did plug them in. The cats love it. I'll get around to putting up a few decorations soon enough. Also the lights are up outside and that will delay putting in another motion light until spring I'm sure. The rest of the Christmas stuff... is mostly sitting in the living room waiting on the real tree in a couple weeks.
So did anyone beat me to getting up the tree? This is the earliest ever and is only because we are gone for Thanksgiving... Looking forward to seeing Julia and Charlie in South Bend and eating some turkey and tatters. With 24 hours in the car we have stocked up on DVD's and I also got two books on tape from the local library for when I get to drive - if I do. Saturday we went to sign up for a library card and I got two great new books as well - Janet Evanovich's latest - #14 I believe. Tiny little library, but a good selection of new reads.
Any suggestions of new books I may not have heard of???

Palin & Turkey's

I don't care who you voted for - this is so bad! She must be mortified!!! I tried to embed it, but no dice.
you will need to cut and paste this - it is worth your time.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/vp/27838743#27838743

unless the below link is now working:

Come Be A Teacher in NY - Marlboro that is!

Ok I am now thoroughly annoyed - not only did blogger kill my post when I hit post it deleted it so here goes... take two.
We have lots of fat in NY - lots. So much so that it's now time for people to start getting mad about something and in our area it is the school taxes. Huge deal. It's in the paper and it's all people talk about around here. We have a HS gym teacher making over $105k a year and the kicker - he is FAT! 400 pounds of fat! What a role model. He won't retire because then his ex-wife would get 1/2 his pension. Poor guy. Making that much you'd think he would have saved something. Can you imagine how much that pension will be? There are about 1700 students in our district and we have 25 teachers making over $100k a year - is it just me or isn't that a lot of money? There is one principal for every 100 students and once a month they get together and bake cupcakes for all the students. Sweet? Gag me please! So there is a now a watch group that has formed to fine tooth the upcoming budget. That's all fine and dandy, but they don't start from scratch every year they just take the budget from the year before and add to it.
Oh and remember how in high school or junior high if you played sports and your parents had to come pick you up? Well here there are four nightly bus runs. How great is that? One for the do-nothings, one for the school clubs, one for those getting tutoring and one for the sports teams. Huh? Whatever. That is absolutely out of control. As you can see they've had free rein on the budget for quite some time. And the graduation and off to college ratio... you'd expect Harvard or Yale. Nope - nothing better than most schools in Michigan.
Add this to my list of what to check out before buying a house!

The New Noise in our House

After waiting over two months for the call Mark finally heard that he was accepted as a volunteer firefighter in our little village. He was a volunteer as a teenager and through college. Michigan really doesn't have much in the way of volunteer fire fighters of this nature so he missed it when we lived there. With NY you can go on the calls you choose to go on and they usually have enough to cover the fire. Milton is pretty small so there aren't many calls. So far this year - up until this past week they've had 83 calls (or something close to that) and he was told on Tuesday at drill night to not expect a call for about three weeks. Well, Wednesday he went on two calls and today it went off at about noon for a dryer fire. He was just home from the gym and wearing shorts and t-shirt and out the door he runs. I was told pants weren't needed as they give him his stuff to wear. His goal is to make the first truck - so far he's made the 2nd truck.
So that new noise in our house... it's the black box that goes off to tell him there is a call. After a piercing whistle sound it then gives the details so you can decide if you are going. 10:30 p.m. Wednesday we had our first blast out of bed - I need to figure out how to turn it down a notch. I'm sure I'll get a good sweaty picture of him to post soon.

Getting into Disney for Free!

woohoo! Disney has a promotion in 2009 - you get in free on your birthday to any of their theme parks. We booked a trip to Orlando back in August and it was during my birthday week - you know a birthday lasts all week. LOL! The real reason we chose that week was so Mark could go to Daytona (the week before the big race, but still a race weekend). Yesterday we were adding up our vacation days and I remembered reading about the free admission on your birthday so today I did some research and it's true! So after we have Nascar day for Mark on Saturday we will be doing a day at Disney for me! Now I just have to figure out if we go back to one of the parks we've been too or go to a new one. Decisions, decisions - also where to go to eat as that is just as important.

So how long does your razor last?

Assuming you use one. haha... Last weekend during our time in the car - it was a long ride - we had time to listen to AM radio - some talk. And it was good because we were catching the DC stations. I can't remember who it was, but they were talking about how to make your disposable razor last longer. It was not an infomercial as they weren't selling anything and people called in live. Anyway he was talking about how if you dry off your razor after each use it will last for a year or more. Mind you the little rubber bumper (or moisturizing bar) will be gone, but it will still be sharp. They had challenged people to give it a try on a previous show and people were calling in after doing this for 120 days and their razors were still sharp. So I thought about it and I do use my razors for months at a time and I do dry them off sort of. At the end they explained that it's moisture that kills the blade and causes it to break down - something Gillette does not want you to know - notice how they say to leave it in the shower? Well don't - take it out and let it dry. Seeing how I like the Bic Soliel's this is a good thing to know - they are expensive disposals!
Now I'm sure someone is going to chime in and say they don't shave and their husband doesn't care, but really I don't want to know that! I know that if you don't shave your legs your razor would last until your 65 or something. I for one like my legs hairless!

finally the pics from last weekend's road trip!

Sunrise at the hotel - after being woken up by the Marine chanting run.

We took the bridge from VA Beach to Delaware (it's still VA after you get off the bridge, but it's on the way to Dover). It's the longest bridge I've been on - must be 10 miles long? I can't remember, but we took the time to stop for a quick break and check out the scenery.

Mark at the Dover Speedway/Horsetrack/Casino - great place to catch a Nascar race if you ask me. Maybe next year.

We took time out for a brief peek at history - the Liberty Bell in Philly.

Nighttime in Philly near our hotel on the river - I think it was a river?

And the photo's of the prison? MIA? hmmm...

Road Trip Details

So our road trip was a bit longer than previously planned as we headed over to the ocean instead of directly north. On Friday, after we found Waldo (the mamouth Expedition), we took off for VA. Spent an hour riding around the parking garages with the parking guy trying to find it. So annoying after getting up at 4:00 am, but I was assured that there were plenty of other cars we could drive home. People just abandon their cars in the parking garage there and the airport leaves them for a year or more before moving. They hope they change their mind and then have to pay the parking fee. Crazy...
We hadn't decided where to stop until after a brief break at a furniture outlet clearance center we decided to head to Virginia Beach. We didn't find any great deals and really it was overwhelming. If I had a huge moving van and oh say $5,000 I would have had a field day. It was a nice day and we wanted to see the ocean so we set off to Virginia Beach. Our hotel was in a great location and I wish it had been lighter longer so we could have seen more of it. Our sleep in day was interrupted by the Marines doing their morning run and chant. It was so loud - we thought it was in our hotel. Nope - outside. argh. So up early and on the road heading north. Mark wanted to stop at the race track in Dover, MD and we made it there just after lunch. Cool race track and there was a very nice casino. We can't resist gambling after all. After an hour of playing and basically being even we moved on. Destination... Philly! Neither of us had been there and we wanted to take a ghost tour at the Eastern State Pennitentiary. (and no I can not spell). While it was scary it was not the scary I was looking for - it was fake scary! I will admit to screaming and being a baby about leading the group - no idea how I got stuck with it, but I think Mark is the bigger baby making me go first! Said he liked to see me scream - I think he didn't want to be the one screaming. Guess I don't do that enough at home or something. I wanted a real ghost hunt - we had heard this place was haunted. So we decided to come back the next morning for a real tour with history and all. Very cool. Highly recommend it. Got to see Al Capone's cell and all sorts of other neat history. It is sort of spooky even during the day. We also hit Reading Terminal on Sunday - wish we had gone on Saturday, but even on Sunday morning we managed a Philly Steak Sandwich - it was so good. Need to learn how to do those peppers at home. Doubt I can do the meat - it was so thin and yummy. Not really greasy either. Now that we know a bit more about what we can do there we'll go back sometime.
And where are pictures - cause I know that makes this all the better... well Mark has the cord and is on the road. Will post this weekend!

Where in the World are Mark and Katie?

Sort of like finding "waldo" in the parking lot yesterday - which I had to ask for help by the way... so can you guess where we spent the night by this video? I know at least one of my sisters has been here! LOL! For those who didn't know we fly to Charlotte, NC last night and are making our way home to NY.

NOTE: turn up your volume so you can hear them! This is how we woke up on Saturday morning - quite disturbing if you ask me.

Additions to the Kitchen!

Saturday Mark took me to this store he found near our house. It's called the Warehouse Outlet and I wasn't overly excited as I thought it was like a Big Lots or one of those stores full of lots of crap really cheap. I don't do well digging through crap. I was pleasantly surprised and spent a long time scouting the aisles - it was very organized and clean. This is a unique one of kind store - not a chain of any kind I don't think - I might be wrong. Anyway they buy all sorts of Target closeouts among other stores I'm sure. They have all these boxes of logo wear - anyone need a chef's coat with the name Ingrid on it? They have it! LOL! Just think of all the fun things I could buy Julie for Christmas! haha... joking!

My greatest find of all... new bar stools! I've been being very good about not buying any because I just think it's nuts to spend $100 a chair and I wanted something nice. So we struck gold - they were $39 each! Woohoo! That's a great deal. I did have to put them together which is not a big deal as I'm good with directions. Now you know when you see those bar stools in the store and they are all wobbly and feel cheap? I now know why! Some poor soul who just wanted to get it done did it and did a shabby job. It's all about the person doing it and I did a bang up job! No wobbles here. If you look closely you might notice I also got an area rug for eat in kitchen. We won't discuss how much that was... let's just say Mark just got to buy one of those Craftsman tool chests from Sears on wheels and we will call it even.

And of course the kitties - they found their old favorite spot to share on the chair. Naughty! Need to put some blankets on there again. Stinkers!

Perks of Work

Some jobs have perks - mine is one of them - sorta. I was asked yesterday how I would suggest getting a vehicle back from North Carolina. Mind you I'm all about saving money and I love to travel so this was an easy answer and the boss thought it was great so.... Next weekend we are flying to Charlotte early Friday morning (6:30 am - yes we are nuts!) to pick up a car from a former employee and bring it back. How I con him into meeting me at the airport at the right time will be my next mission. I'm sure I can handle that one! I was also smart enough to ask if Mark could come along and we'll make a weekend of it - just so happens it's Halloween and the day after our anniversary. Roadtrip and free day off! Nothing like spending 12 hours in a car for our anniversary right? All joking aside I am excited because it's prime color time, we are in the great furniture state and I will be driving an Expedition (and won't be paying for the gas!), and just maybe we will get to spend Halloween in DC seeing some friends. All for F-R-E-E! The furniture thought hit me today as we need some office type stuff and what better place to get it than NC. Most likely it will fit in the big beast we'll be driving. At the very least I need 3 bar stools. How convienent is that? Don't worry I'll be sure to bring back pictures!

Blog On

Kelly had a very good question on her blog yesterday and it caused me to do a bit of surfing and maybe your surfing brought you here - if so say "hi" and leave a little comment. Please, pretty please... It's fun to see where people are from and how they happened upon a blog. Maybe you clicked the button "next blog" at the top of each blog? Kind of interesting - it's always a different one every day! And sometimes it's in another language and you bomb out. LOL!

I have also noticed something interesting about blogging and maybe something that should be pointed out to Aquinas College Alumni Relations ... we have some alums that have managed to find each other and pick right back up at many years. It's interesting to think how much time has passed since we've lived on campus - this is something I'd really rather not add up so let's move on! Then there are my old "work" friends, who have nothing to do with Aquinas - we just keep up on each other without missing a beat.

As you can see this is a fun and quick way to keep up with friends and family and if you've dropped by to see what I'm up to keep in mind that I would love to know what you are up too (hint, hint... a blog is easy and doesn't take much time and you can always find something to blog about - just click the next button to get an idea!)

What you've all been waiting for!

Inside pictures! Finally! I've saved a few rooms so there will be a reason for you to come visit - I can't give it all away (or get it all cleaned in one weekend!). haha...

As you come in the front door the dining room is to your left (as below)

If you are going up the stairs this is the dining room: From the dining room you can walk into the kitchen (dinner in process)

from the kitchen there is an eat in kitchen spot and then the living room (do you notice anything new mom?)
Sunday is Nascar watching day (and also nap day for Mark and Cali and they are both sleeping for real!)

This is the master bath - I'm going with blues and will be adding in some brown for the colors (again mom... find what's new?) Sort of like "where's Waldo"....

this is the tub

...and the shower

this is the master bedroom - I gave up cleaning - there is quite a bit to do in here as you can see

and this is Mani - he loves the messy bed as it makes for a good cap nap nest!

the guest bath/Mark's bath (where is Waldo mom...)

the laundry is upstairs... this is probably one of my favorite features because it's upstairs - makes doing laundry super easy and I love the new Fischer Pykel dryer. The wrinkle free feature is priceless - just ask my iron, which I never use anymore! WOOHOO!

So that is the mini-tour until you visit (or I finish a few more rooms!)

Porto Rico Tea!

Sunday in the city we went to my favorite tea shop - Porto Rico in Greenwich Village. I'm always searching for the Seattle Market Spice Tea closer to home and I found one that is even better! It's called Spicy Cinnamon Orange - hmmm... sounds much the same, but has a bit less cloves I think. It is very good and I'm enjoying a cup right now! Anyway I love it! Haven't even broken into my favorite Irish Breakfast yet. Unfortunately I only bought a half pound so that means I might be going back sooner rather than later - not such a bad thing as it's always fun in the city.

In the event you need a cool gift idea they do ship all kinds of coffee and tea and I think there might be over 100 to choose from in their shop. The Danish coffee has a smooth even flavor. You can also call and describe what you want and they'll pick out something for you. How easy is that and it's not expensive at all. Most coffee's run around $6.99 a pound or less. Of course there are always the "gucci" coffee flavors that are way more - you know harvested the green way in the middle of the Columbian jungle or whatever - way up the Amazon river type thing. Like I believe that. Anyway here is a link...

http://www.portorico.com/store/

And in case you're wondering I will be posting inside shots of the house by Sunday - need to rustle up the camera. Also want to get some cool shots of all the color around here. It is amazing. Some of the best views are on my way to work - almost makes you not want to go to work - so much so that I did take a vacation day yesterday. That's also why I am finally able to post inside pictures - LOL!

A few shots

From the front yard. Took a few pictures for our "we've moved" postcard.

My Halloween Kitty!

Mom and Dad in front of the NY Stock Exchange

Pretty sure this was before I got "pooped" on. Too many birds in the big city and that's a hazard of sitting on the top of the bus. LOL!

Fall Colors & Fun!

Dad with the mules
The jumper making it to the field!
Overlooking West Point from 9W (just in case you know the area)

We have had my parents here since Tuesday and they've been all over to see lots of stuff. Color is getting close to peak so it's very pretty. And it's still nice! Mark took dad to a football game at West Point today and Army actually won - they beat Eastern Michigan! Here's a few pictures from the game.

Mom and I did a bit of shopping and went out for lunch - finally some really good Italian. There are lots of Italian places to eat, but not all are that great. Coppola's was yummy! Good meatballs and excellent red sauce! I went back to my new favorite home store - Hammer Town. They have these really cool tin hammered mirrors, but also lots of great unique items. I got a cool rug last weekend that goes great with all my Fiesta dishes and it wasn't big enough so I returned it and ordered the next size up. It wasn't in stock at the store so that requires a trip back to Rhinebeck - that is no hardship as I saw at least 3 more places I want to test for lunch.

We are taking the train to NYC tomorrow (the color should be amazing along the river) and do a bus tour, eat some real NYC pizza, and visit my favorite tea store - Porto Rico in Greenwich Village. Woohoo!

Since the camera was all warmed up tonight I took some pictures of the back yard from the deck on the first floor off the eat in kitchen. The basement is a walk out so I am up about 15 feet when taking this picture. You can see we've start a rock border - more to do and plenty of rock to do it with! As for the rest of the house well it's not exactly up to pictures today. Too busy having fun!

Butterfly Catcher!

Anna finally caught a butterfly! It was amazing how many there were to chase - very cool! For all you animal lover's out there no butterflies were harmed in the making of this video - amazing in itself!

Kansas Weekend in Pictures

We spent a long weekend visiting Julie and family in Kansas.

Words will not do it justice so here's a few pictures and a video!

Anna loves Patrick lots as you can see - he however is ever cautious of big sister! For good reason! Notice the tighter grip around his neck? Soon enough he will be taking more than 3 steps at a time and be able to run and chase his big sisters!

We went for a walk in the Kansas grasses and Anna tried to catch all moving things.

Butterflies were the prize. Uncle Mark was the assistant catcher on this mission.

Patrick doesn't want down - he wants up!

Always the goofy faces! Fun at the zoo.

Megan trying not to fall - and she didn't either! With a little help.

Anna is a future bug catcher or maybe vet - she had so much fun chasing butterflies no matter where we went - and she finally caught one when we went walking at K-State! I'll post the video tomorrow it is taking forever tonight. Slow connection or something - LOL!