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!