New Year's Eve 2004

Today we had a "women's day" and Mom, me, Susan, and Amy all went to see The Phantom of the Opera (the Andrew Lloyd Weber version) at the theater. All of us are HUGE fans of that musical so were thrilled it was made into a movie. We got there a little late so we missed the very beginning, but we've all seen the musical so we know what happened. WOW!!! The movie was incredible! Granted, it'll never compare to the live musical but it was fabulous! Emily Rossum who sang Christine Daae's part has an amazing voice and she's only 18! And Gerard Butler as the Phantom? Oh my... absolutely brilliant. He's not Michael Crawford, but I didn't expect anyone to sing the role as well as MC does. So I went in with lower expectations of the Phantom and was suitably impressed. GB has such a powerful voice it gave me chills once or twice.

After the movie we went to Eat and Park for a late lunch/early dinner.

I'm staying in for NYE tonight. I could have gone to Amy and Dave's as they were to have a party but I just didn't feel like going anywhere with all the running I've been doing. Now it turns out just about everyone who was supposed to be there bailed and I feel bad I'm not going over. I also could have gone out with Jackie and Mike and whoever else of our high school gang goes out, but I didn't feel like it and still hadn't made up my mind about Amy's when Jackie asked me. So I will be home with Mom and Dad watching Regis Philbin on TV, filling in for Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year. And tomorrow we're going to Oil City for the Hartsell family Christmas before I go home Monday so I am glad to have one more night in.

Speaking of which, I better get offline! I have to do some laundry as I got buffalo wings sauce on my shirt and lunch today and need to wash it before it stains. And I want to do it early so I can watch the traditional NYE TV show. LOL

Here's to a happy healthy New Year for one and all!!!

New Year's Resolutions

Before I go into today's events, I wanted to do this so I don't forget...

Every year in one of my internet groups we post our resolutions and then the end of the year we go back and say how well we did on them. So I decided I might as well post last year's in here with my "how did I do" before posting them for 2005.

So here they are for 2004, with my comments in parentheses after them:
1. Stop goofing so much at work (didn't do so hot on this one. In
fact I think I got worse. LOL)

2. Get more organized (getting there. I have gotten some things organized more but still a ways to go.)

3. Get back to my dancing SOON (uh... didn't happen. LOL)

4. Get out of debt and save money to buy a house whenever this darn lawsuit is over and done with! (well I did get my credit counseling thing paid off completely in January or February. Then I managed to stay out of debt fairly well until I bought my new bed frame and mattress and box springs. Then summer vacation it went all to hell when I used my credit card for almost everything.)

5. Find me a decent man that I can spend a long time with, maybe forever. NOTE: I don't know why I made this one. it's not like I can PLAN to find someone and make them be "the one." It never works that way. And I didn't actually TRY to "meet someone." I just let things take their own natural course and see where they led me. But I guess I was feeling lonely and out of sorts last year, having just gotten back to TX from visiting my family for Christmas, and with no plans for New Year's Eve except a Johnny Depp movie marathon, and some shrimp cocktail and champagne with the cats. LOL
(well I did find Dusty... But too soon to tell on the rest of it I think for either of us.)

And here are the resolutions I made for 2005:
Hmmm. let me think.

1. Get myself out of debt again so I never have to go through credit counseling again.

2. Start exercising. I've been saying I need to do that for a few months now.

3. Same as last year... stop goofing off so much at work.

4. Get some sort of savings account started and stick to saving money.

5. Get quicker turn around time on all my book reviewing. I've fallen so far behind sometimes I don't get my reviews done till 3 months later then I should.

6. Start consolidating everything I have (WHY do I own so much STUFF I'll never use or wear?) and getting rid of the clutter and stop buying so much other stuff I don't need.

Thursday 12/30

Not much happening this day. Joey was here all day for Mom to babysit and he was miserable in the morning, being super tired. But he took a short nap around 11:15 or so and after he woke up he was much better. We watched movies and cartoons all day and spent a few hours on the computer too playing his games. Dave picked him up about 5 or so and Amy got here about an hour or so later.

Mom and Dad had tickets to see Oklahoma! last night and Amy and I had tickets to see the Jim Brickman Holiday concert. I bumped in to an old friend, Katie, at the concert. She now lives in Boston and has since this past summer and was home for Christmas. It's so funny we bumped in to each other the way we did. She's engaged now and getting married in June '05. I haven't talked to her since last Christmas, so we chatted a bit and caught up on some things before heading in to the show.

The concert was great as it was a couple years ago when I saw it. He played a lot of his hits and a bunch of Christmas songs as well. That was over about 1015 or so I think it was and Amy brought me home.

Wednesday 12/29

We went up to Brookville to see grandma and Paul for the day. It was Dad, Mom and me and we also took Joey and Tommy with us. We went to pick up Joey at 10:30 and he and Amy were still asleep. Amy never heard her alarm and Joey I think was just exhausted after a hectic week. After Amy got Joey ready to go we headed off to get Tommy then went on to Grandma's. In the car we watched some of Joey's movies to keep him occupied for the 2 hour drive. We watched "Shrek and Donkey" - Shrek 2 AGAIN (Joey LOVES that movie), part of the Power Rangers movie and then watched some Spiderman cartoons. We arrived at their house about 1:15 or so.

Grandma had TONS of food for us, I guess wanting to have a little of everyone's favorites. She made stuffed green peppers (my favorite) so I could have some, kielbasa and sauerkraut (the traditional "Good luck for the New Year" meal a little early), ham, beets, cucumbers and onions in vinegar, pickles and olives (See a trend here? Those are big favorites in our family. LOL), Waldorf salad, and I can't remember what else. We were all stuffed after eating!

Paul was having a good day (he's starting to decline in health being in his mid 80s now) being very alert and like he's always been. Grandma is doing good too though her knees are still giving her a lot of trouble. Joey loves their dogs (two shelties), Skye and Imp and wanted to play with them all day long. We watched some "Tarkoon Network" as Joey calls it and some Nick Jr and I kept falling asleep all day. I was super tired not having slept at all the night before (I didn't fall asleep till 5:30 Wed AM). We left there about 6 and headed home, first dropping off Tommy, then Joey. I slept the entire drive home. LOL

12/28 - Tommy and Dave's Birthday

I didn't do anything during the day that I can remember. LOL Tommy and his girlfriend, Tanya, came to dinner and I got to meet her for the first time, though I've talked to her on the phone before. She seems like a really sweet girl who can help keep Tommy in line! LOL

Amy, Dave, and Joey came over as well for dinner. We had a big meal, a selection of food Dave and Tommy each wanted. We had city chicken (YUM!), mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, cucumbers in vinegar, pickles and olives, and applesauce. All good food and all of us were stuffed! After dinner we had Tommy's cookie cake (all decked out in Steelers colors!)

Tommy and Dave opened presents and then Amy, Dave, me, Tommy, and Tanya all went bowling. Amy and Dave's friend Mike also joined us for bowling. We threw two games that took forever with 6 of us but we had fun. I did dreadfully (not even breaking 80) my first game but I at least managed to get over a 100 for the second game! LOL

After that, Tommy and Tanya were going out to meet some friends and Amy and Dave brought me home and picked up Joey. So we had a good night!

12/27/04

I'm trying to think back to what I did this day.

Jackie called me and asked me if I wanted to go to lunch so she picked me up about 12:30 or so. I got to meet Mike, her fiance for the first time and he seems really nice. We went to Cracker Barrel for lunch. Both of them ordered a breakfast meal (CB has AWEsome breakfasts served all day long) but I was in the mood for a regular meal. I wanted the meatloaf but it only came in a huge meal so I had way more food then I wanted to eat. LOL

After we ate we browsed the store there a little bit then headed over to a movie theater to see if we could find a movie we'd all agree on wanting to see. The drive to the theater was harrowing as the truck in front of us was ALL over the highway and actually HIT an 18 wheeler! He (the truck in front of us) lost control briefly and we thought surely there'd be a nasty accident. But he recovered and pulled off at the next exit. The 18 wheeler I don't think ever even felt the hit as he just kept right on truckin' and never even slowed down. We finally got to the theater but it was a weird time that nothing was really starting just then. We found one movie we all were at least slightly interested in (well the two of them were anyhow, I wasn't in to much that was playing there I hadn't seen already.) but it didn't start for 45 minutes. None of us wanted to wait so we headed home.

I had called Jeff earlier in the day as that was really the only other chance we had to get together before I head home, but he didn't get my message early enough so we didn't manage to get together Monday night.

It worked out OK though because I've been running so much since I've been home that I didn't mind not doing anything for the evening.

So I spent the evening at home with Mom and Dad and I read my current book for a while.

Day After Christmas

I got up about 11:30 and Mom and Dad were at Church. Susan had to work today so it was just me for a little while. Mom and Dad got home and we all got ready to watch the Steelers game. Dad had his tshirt on and his "Terrible Towel" at the ready. I didn't really watch the game but listened to it while reading my book. I finished that book (finally! It was really good but holidays are not a good time for reading. LOL) and started another.

Steelers won again (OF COURSE!), beating the only team that has beat them all season long. And it was kinda ironic how it all worked out. Our new QB, Ben Roethlisberger (spelling probably off) came into the first game of the season against the Baltimore Ravens (today's team played) when the QB who started in that game got injured. Then today Ben got injured and Tommy Maddux (who was injured that first game against the Ravens) finished the game. So now we can say we beat EVERY team we've played this year and this game clinched home field advantage for them throughout the playoffs. GO STEELERS!!!

After the game was over I came upstairs to check e-mail and all and here I still be. :-)

Christmas Day

Tommy had not been able to make it to Mass with us on Christmas Eve, but he was here when we got home, and spent the night. Mom got us all up around 9:30 and we went downstairs to open presents. Everyone got great stuff and Christmas morning went well. After presents, we had our usual Christmas breakfast of sausage and eggs and toast, with everyone eating together. Everyone schedules are so hectic, we don't get to do the whole family meal often but we always do Christmas morning.

Amy Dave and Joey got here about 12:45 and it was presents again as we all opened what they brought us and they opened the gifts from us. Joey had a ball of course, and this was the first year he really understood what was going on. He'd get so excited about every gift and move right on to the next one. After that, as always it was eating ALL day long - cookies, candy, crackers, snack mix, nuts, etc. Whatever was out actually. LOL

We ate dinner about 4:30 - Ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes with gravy, squash, corn, pickles, olives, apple sauce, and I'm sure I'm missing something. Amy and Dave had brought a bottle of wine so all the adults had that as well and Mom, Amy and I drank hot chai with dinner. We never did make it to dessert. LOL Everyone was full and we decided, like always, to wait until later for dessert.

We got all the dishes cleaned up and put away and after that Amy Dave and Joey headed to Dave's Aunt Donna's for Christmas with his family. Susan went to a friend's house, Tommy went home, and Mom Dad and I headed to the Bonczeks' house for their annual "Open House." We were there a few hours, talking, the men were beer drinking and the rest of us drinking whatever was around, if anything. We left there about 10:00 to head home and I promptly called Dusty to see how his Christmas was. He had called me while we were on our way to the Bonczeks but my signal was bad so I said I'd call when I got home.

And about midnight I rolled into bed, after taking it easy a bit after getting off the phone.

Christmas Eve

Well I had a chance today to sit down and add another entry.

Friday was somewhat busy for me. Amy had called me Thursday night and said if I wanted my hair colored before Christmas, then to be at the salon at 11:00 AM Friday. So Dad drove me down and he went shopping at Sam's Club till I was done. Amy did the color on my hair but not the highlights yet. Though she said she'll do those this week sometime. And I had my eyebrows done too. I don't know what kind of wax they use, but the redness I always get after waxing was minimal and faded pretty quickly And I usually get a slight reaction to the wax as well, but this time there was nothing. Which is good considering I'd have hated to be at Church Friday night looking like Groucho Marx. LOL

Friday afternoon I didn't do a whole lot. I had one more gift to wrap (the one Amy and I bought for Dave) and read most of the afternoon. Then we had dinner and get ready for Church. We went to Midnight Mass, which is actually at 10 pm now, like always. But I was really disappointed because the Choir did not sing my absolute favorite Christmas Carol ever... Carol of the Bells. They've done it every single year since we started going to Midnight Mass and this year the director took it out! I was upset and so was Susan, for the same reason. Other then that though. the choir was great as always and Mass was actually shorter then it usually is. After Mass we came home and I called Dusty before getting ready for bed.

Only two more days till Christmas

It's hard to believe I've been home a week already and even harder to believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve! Where has the time gone?

Today Joey was here again and it was also Dad's first day as being retired. I think Joey wore him out! Dad's not used to being around a youngster all day long. But then again, neither am I! LOL

I slept late again... after all it IS my vacation ;-) not getting up till about 11:30. About 20 minutes later Amy got here with Joey and we were all running the rest of the day. I wish I had half as much energy as Joey does. Let's see, we watched "Shrek and Donkey," again and Spiderman 2, again. We played bunches of computer games and watched some TV shows he likes. Dave got here about 5:30 or so and took Joey home not long after. Poor Joey... he did NOT want to go him and through a tantrum, wanting to stay here longer. But Dave won out of course, and off they went to finish Christmas shopping.

Mom and Dad had tickets to a show tonight and Susan had called off work. So we ate a fairly early dinner so Mom and Dad had time to get ready to leave. Susan had to go finish her Christmas shopping as well (Boy am I glad I had to do mine early so I could mail it all home. LOL) and was headed to the mall. She asked me if I wanted to go with her, but I had my own things to do here tonight. I had made no plans with anyone this evening so it was just me most of the night. I balanced my checking accounts (both of them, edited a book review for someone, updated some of my website files, and wrote two reviews of books I had read. I still have one more to finish tonight and have another I had started, to finish later on.

And that was my day.. not a lot going on today, unless you count playing with Joey all day and squeezing in doing some laundry as well.

And now I'm caught up... Wednesday 12/22

Today I was home during the day, though I was out with Mom for a little while as she had to go to the grocery store and I needed some things and to get a prescription filled. While at the grocery store, we saw they had some Steelers stuff and Mom and I both got some things. I got a cool Steelers t-shirt (Mom bought the same one for her and Dad too), a Steelers baseball hat (which Mom bought the same one for Dad), some Steelers window stickers and of course my "Terrible Towel." I can't get that stuff at home in Dallas. It's Cowboys everything down there and I'll NEVER like the Cowboys! I still need to get me a Steelers AFC North Champions t-shirt before I go home though. And I'll be wearing my gear for all the play off games once they start! I already forewarned Dusty to be prepared and told him I may bring him one home too and make him wear it for the playoffs. LOL He was amused by that.

Tonight Jackie came and picked me up a little after 6 and we went out to dinner. Marcy was going to come with us, but she ended up getting sick and was unable to come with us. Jackie and I went to Olive Garden and exchanged out Christmas presents. (She bought me the 4 CD LOTR Return of the King.) After dinner we went to the movie theater to see Bridget Jones. It was cute and funny and a lot like the first movie, but not quite as funny. I liked the first one better though this one was good too.

It was about 11:30 I got home and Mom and Dad had put the lights on the tree while I was out. So tomorrow we'll be putting up all the ornaments.

Tuesday 12/21

Hmmm. Now I'm up to Tuesday. Mom had Joey yesterday babysitting him so that was fun. She took me up to the car rental place to return my rental car and we ran a couple other quick errands. We got back just after 12:30 and Joey was already here. So we had him for the entire day and I had a ball playing with him, watching "Shrek and Donkey" (both movies), dancing around the house, and playing Power Rangers.

Dave got here about 6 and he and Joey stayed for dinner. I didn't eat because I was going out to dinner with my friend Jeff. But he got WAY lost numerous times on his way here from Coraopolis and didn't get here til about 9:00. By then I was super hungry, even though I had eaten a little bit while helping Mom clean up after dinner.

Jeff and I went to TGI Fridays for dinner and caught up on what we've each been up to the past year or so. We don't talk really often and we only ever see each other at some work conferences. I got home about 11:00 and was exhausted after being with Joey all day and everything.

After I got home, I did stay up reading a little while, but not too late. Then I woke up for some reason at 3:30 this morning and absolutely could not fall back to sleep for anything. So I decided to read a little more. An hour later I was tired enough to go back to sleep.

Stolen car part 3

Well Dusty was able to get down there yesterday (Tuesday) and pick up my car from the auto pound and it did cost a pretty penny to have it released. So I contacted my insurance company and they said to keep the receipt since the charges to get the car back can be applied against my deductible for any repairs needed. He hasn't gone through the list I made up of what was in the car yet, but the insurance agent said that was OK and I could do that when I got home if I wanted. But he's going to do that this weekend he said. What a way to spend the holiday huh?

Anyhow, he did check the obvious stuff and told me:
my trunk-mounted 6 CD changer is gone. along with the audio book CDs I had just put in the CD changer before I left
my radar detector is gone (a GOOD one I bought just before moving hence why they probably stole it)
my ash tray full of spare change and one dollar bills for tolls is gone (that had to have been a good $50 there)
his phone was gone

My radio was still there, and the person arrested had their cell phone in the car and a jacket too. He also told me the car is filthy and stinks to high heaven from whoever stole it, so he's going to give it a good cleaning this week.

My insurance agent told me the CD player is covered but she doesn't think my personal property is covered. Though it might fit somehow under the part of my policy covering vehicle renter's insurance. We have to figure all that out when I get home.

But amazingly enough, there is no damage to the car anywhere else so I was very lucky. And I give a HUGE kudos to the DPD for recovering my car so quickly (within 18 hours of it being reported stolen).

So that is the end of the car saga... for now anyhow.

Monday 12/20

I think I got all the way through Sunday before stopping the other day. So I'll pick up with Monday.

I went out to my old office around 11:00 so I could see all my old coworkers and friends there. Everyone was really happy to see me and almost everyone I had wanted to see was there. A couple people were out, either on vacation or sick so I missed them. We had a group of about 12 of us who went to lunch together so that was nice to have a lot of time to catch up and relax. And it is such a good feeling to know I still have so many friends up here. :-)

After lunch I went back to the office with everyone and didn't leave til the end of the day when they all were leaving. So I had a good long time to talk to everyone as much as I wanted and not feel rushed to be somewhere else.

Jackie and I had planned to go out that afternoon, but her nieces have been sick so she ended up going over to her sister's house to help take care of them. Cindy and Geoff have a brand new baby (only a few weeks old) and they are really worried about keeping the older two girls from getting the baby sick. So though it didn't work out for Jackie and I to go out, it worked out that I could spend more time at the office with everyone there.

Monday night I don't think I went anywhere but I can't remember now. LOL I think I was home for dinner and I know I was online for a while that night checking e-mail and posting all those entries in here.

My car was stolen!!! Part 2

Last night at midnight I started making the list of everything I could remember that was in my car, so I could add that to my claim with my insurance if they covered things like that. And considering how much is in my car, I actually think I got everything! LOL Took a whole page of notebook paper, but I think I got all the important stuff anyhow.

Well today about 1:00 or so here, I got a phone call that my car had been found. Gold star to the Dallas PD!!! Not even 18 hours after it's reported stolen they found it and recovered it! Anyhow, someone was driving the car and they pulled that person over and immediately arrested them. So now they are supposed to contact me about pressing charges (YOU BET I AM!!). And since someone was driving it, obviously not much damage, if any. Right now my car is sitting in the DPD Auto Pound awaiting me picking it up. I told them I was out of town til after the New Year and the charges to "store" my car are outrageous! $95 towing fee, a "processing" fee, and $32/day till I pick it up! You can imagine how much THAT would cost me if I had to wait till I get home. Fortunately, in this case, since Dusty is the one who filed the report, he can pick it up. So he's heading down tomorrow to get it.

He knows my car so he'll be able to tell if there is any damage to it. I also sent him my list of what was in the car so he can check to make sure nothing is missing. If anything is, I'll settle with the insurance company when I get home. I already called to tell them it was found and where it was and they told me what they can pay for and what they can't based on my insurance I have on the car.

So I can rest easier now, knowing that my car is found and hopefully not damaged! And poor Dusty can breathe a sigh of relief as he was close to freaking out about it all, being as it was my car and not his own.

Mom just told me Susan is patiently waiting for the computer so I better log off for the night. I'll post today's adventures later on.

My car was stolen!!!

Yes you read that right. It really WAS stolen. And here is the Dusty story as to why I did not hear from him on Saturday.

Well to make a long story slightly shorter, his car has a lot of problems with it and he really shouldn't be driving it at all. But he has no alternatives so he has been chancing it. I had told him her could use my car while I was gone as much as he wanted as long as I got a full tank of gas when I got it back. This way too he could take his car to the shop and leave it overnight and he'd still have a way to get to and from work since he had my car.

Well he was on his way to his party Saturday night and stopped at a gas station for a bottle of water to drink. In the time he was inside, my car was nabbed! He was stranded in a not-so-good part of Dallas until the gas station person was kind enough to drive him home. His cell phone was in the car, his check card was in the car, the apartment keys were in the car. So he finally got home to his place Saturday night and got someone to give him a ride to my apartment complex Sunday afternoon, which is where his car was.

But this story gets better...

He couldn't get in to the apartment because the key was in the car and the leasing office wouldn't grant him access. So he called me Sunday afternoon, about 4:30 here, from the leasing office, broke the news to me, awaited me to scream at him, which he was surprised I did not do. (What good would it do? The car was stolen I'm half a country away and he had none of the info on the car to report it stolen yet. Besides, he was beating himself up so bad already he didn't need more from me.)

So I had to talk to the leasing office on the phone and they told me they had to have written permission before they'd let him in. I asked if an e-mail would do and they said yes. So I promptly e-mailed them to give him access to my apartment. And I was thinking ahead. I also wrote in that message that he had permission to receive both copies of the key for the new lock to my door AND that he had permission to get a new remote for the gate so he could get in and out.

I also gave him all of the info on my car so he could call the cops and report it stolen. I called my insurance company to report it and told them he'd be calling with the details since I had none of them from the actual incident. So he did all that and called me back with my claim number and police report number and all that stuff I needed to know. Poor guy... His car was just stolen maybe 6-8 weeks ago and they found his somewhere, totaled. So he was pretty upset that now it was my car and was kicking himself for not driving his own to the party.

And after we got all the business stuff done regarding the claims, I lightened the mood by saying "well I guess your Christmas party was a bust huh?" He just started laughing, which was my whole reason for saying that and then we both were able to relax a little... considering the circumstances.

What I've been doing the past couple days part 2

I didn't hear from Dusty Saturday night and that was his Christmas party for work so I was harassing him via text messages and phone messages on Sunday. Well I found out why I didn't hear from him Saturday and THAT is a story unto it self, fully deserving of it's own blog entry. So I'll do that after this one.

Sunday morning about 11:00 My best friend Jackie called me so we could make plans to get together. She came and picked me up early afternoon and we went out to lunch. It was a short visit, only maybe two hours tops, but I had Joey's SECOND Bday party that night and she had plans to see her fiance, so we just did lunch and caught up a little bit. We figured we'd have today to spend more time together and talk. That fell through which I'll get to in yet another entry tonight. LOL SO I got back from lunch and read a little bit, and other things, until shortly before time to head to Amy and Dave's. Those "other things" involve the Dusty story coming later.

I headed to Amy and Dave's for the second party, which was also a Christmas dinner for them and their friends. There were a lot fewer people here, but since I knew all their friends who were there, it was a good time. His cake last night was Spiderman and once again, he was too distracted with company and new toys to eat much of it. LOL

I left last night about 10:00 or so and got to drive in snow for the fist time in over a year. Needless to say, I was reminded once again of why I like Texas. LOL No snow, and what little we DO get melts in no time flat. After got home I read a little bit then was in bed within an hour of getting home.

What I've been doing the past couple days part 1

I've been too busy running around doing things. So I guess I'll do a couple entries, to cover everything. LOL

Saturday I honestly do not remember what I did during the day. I know I slept till almost 11:00 and was lazy after I got up for a bit. Oh I remember... I got a review book e-mailed to me so I had to transfer all the e-mailed chapters in to a word document and save the whole book. Then, since I didn't want to use all Mom and Dad's paper and printer ink, I took it up to Kinkos to print the book. Close to $25 later I came home with the new review book I have to get to reading right quick. It's Christine Feehan's new one by the way, that comes out end of January '05. :-)

Then I came home, worked on a Christmas present I'm making that wasn't quite done, and did some reading.

Saturday night Amy and Dave held the first of two birthday parties for Joey. This was the "family" party so we all were there. Well except for Tommy. But there's more to his story I'll share when I get to Sunday's adventures. Joey got TONS of presents and it looked like Christmas. He had a ball opening everything and then trying to decide which of his new toys to play with first. He loves Power Rangers, Spiderman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) and Buzz Light year so most everything he got had one of those characters on it or was a toy related to them.

Then... the birthday cake! His cake Saturday night was TMNT and it was yummy of course! Joey wasn't too inclined to eat his though. He was too distracted with all the company and all the presents.

We left there about 9:45 or so to head home and about an hour after getting home I was in bed. LOL

Home again, Home again

Well I got home last night. My flight got in to PA about 6:15 or so, a little earlier then expected. And the very first person I saw when I got over to where people can wait for you... JOEY!!! He actually came running over to me and I picked him up and he gave me a big hug. I was so worried He'd forget who I was like he had this summer at the beach. But he didn't. And the whole way home it was "Aunt Telley this" or "Aunt Telley that." He can't make the "K" yet so it comes out with a "T" sound. I got to Mom and Dad's and dinner was waiting for us all... spaghetti.

I called Dusty after dinner to let him know I got here OK and Joey wanted to talk on the phone, so Dusty got to talk to Joey. LOL We talked a while then he had to get back to work.

I was in bed about 11:00 and didn't get up til 10:12 this morning. It was SOOO nice to sleep in like that. After I got my shower and all, I went to get my rental car I booked for the weekend then headed to the mall. Much has happened up there since last Christmas. Lots of construction and new buildings going up. I was at the mall just a little while then came home. An hour or so later I went back up to the mall with Mom so we could do her Christmas shopping for Dad. And she picked up some stuff for my presents too since she didn't have anything for under the tree. The bulk of my gift is going to be money to put towards the new TV I bought.

It was really nice to be just me and Mom for a few hours, without anyone else along. So we were able to talk about all sorts of stuff and do some catching up and good mother/daughter quality time.

Tomorrow nothing much planned yet but to go to Joey's birthday party.

Well I'm off till tomorrow!

Well today is the day

I head to the airport about 1:30 this afternoon and my flight leaves at 3:15. Everything is packed and ready to go and I just need to load up the car. I had to keep reminding myself to pack warm clothes since there is a few inches of snow on the ground back home. Hard to believe my vacation is here already. I'm looking forward to it! Not much else to talk about right now so this one is super short. But I'll be posting once I get home.