I blog, therefore I am.

I've been slacking!

2011-08-06T11:40:00.004-04:00

So much to do, so little time. Haven't had time to post because I am addicted to Pinterest (pinning things I am never going to do!) and my new Facebook addiction, "I Grew Up or Hung Out in Black Rock." But, here's a few new pictures of my yard. Sad to say, I've already been out there this morning cutting down the dead stuff.

Memories

2011-06-14T16:19:00.000-04:00

I took 500+ pictures over to Color Tech to get scanned for the bargain price of $50 for the first 500. I am determined to get all my memories in digital format and it would take me the rest of my life to scan them on my $79 scanner.

With that being said, here's a few photos to prove my Mother of the Year Plaque is on its way.

Another finished project

2011-06-13T14:18:00.001-04:00

A few years ago I found this little buffet at an estate sale. I slapped a quick coat of green spray paint on it and it was a perfect liquor cabinet at the cottage. We sold the cottage and the girl who bought it wanted the cabinet, but I wouldn't budge on it. So, home it came. A quick sanding, a few coats of off-white paint, some more sanding for the shabby look and it fits perfectly in my kitchen. The bonus? The back flips up with 2 legs and makes a nice table.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

And here's a little preview of my next project. Modge-podging furniture is not as easy as it looks!

Susan Komen Race for the Cure & Allentown Art Festival

2011-06-12T10:27:00.000-04:00

I can't believe a year has gone by since we last walked in the Race for the Cure. I was disappointed at the lack of participation from our office and vow to nag harder next year. There were approximately 7000 participants and according to the people from the Komen headquarters, anything under 10000 is considered a "small" race.

It was cool in the morning, with a threat of rain. Once we got to the park, the mugginess kicked in. And being the Allentown Art Festival weekend, it is almost guaranteed the rain will pass over. I only remember rain on Allentown weekend once. So if you live in the Buffalo area and want to have a party, the second weekend in June is the time to have it!

Every year the Parade of Survivors gets longer and every year I am surprised to see someone else I know. And every year I cry and pray I am never one of the women wearing the pink hat! This year they gave out strands of pink beads to the survivors - one for every year they have been a survivor. It was so moving to see some of the women with tons of strands around their neck and equally moving to see the women with a single strand. Here's Betsy with her 9 strands!

Once the race got going, we wimped out and did the short course. But in our defense, we probably completed the entire race with just the walk back and forth to our cars. Of course, the view is always spectactular going through the Delaware Park district. Here's one of the homes I hope to live in someday!

And just a few more of the event.

Betsy, Diane and Me

#1 Fundraising team

Read their shirts - love it!

Mary, Betsy, Diane

I love beer - gotta love it!

A survivor with the mounted police

Check out the "bad-ass" motorcycle guys with their pink bandanas

Off to the Allentown Art Festival - and was it ever muggy! Didn't really feel like doing the whole thing this year, but had to at least go check it out. Stopped by my favorite tie-dye shop and couldn't resist another shirt. What can I say? I'm an old hippy at heart!

And no trip to the Allentown would be complete without a gigantic bag of kettle corn! Got a couple t-shirts and some wine slushy mix, but nothing else really spoke to me this year. Guess all the clutter from the cottage dampened my spirit for buying much of anything, which isn't necessarily a bad thing!

Corporate Challenge

2011-06-10T07:53:00.000-04:00

It was the Corporate Challenge in Buffalo and in spite of the weathermen's dire predictions, the weather was gorgeous. There were 12,000 participants plus thousands more there to cheer them on. Our office had a tent for the first time ever and the girl who organized it did a great job. We had 23 participants, plus a few (like me!) who volunteered to man the tent.

The venue was incredible, hundreds of company tents lined Delaware Park. There were grills going, chefs preparing, music playing - one company even had a string quartet! We got some great ideas for next year.

What do you do with an old lamp, a can of spray paint and a day off?

2011-05-29T14:22:00.000-04:00

Trying to catch up on some projects at home. Have a garage full of furniture from the cottage and trying to decide what makes the cut and what goes to Amvets. Currently painting a buffet out front, spray painting a patio table in the back and actually FINISHED one project. Think this may be my favorite spray paint project yet. I bought a beautiful turquoise spray paint to paint a table and a mirror a while back. Well, it took only a can of paint and I bought 3. So, an old chandelier got painted but today genious struck. I absolutely love this! The brass was totally shot (if it even was brass!) and it was destined for the scrap heap, so I thought what have I got to lose?

Where does the time go?

2011-05-21T08:08:00.001-04:00

Can't believe I haven't posted in almost a month! We've been busy. Sold our cottage and are in the process of moving everything home. Can you say garage sale?

Got Nick to make my Wine bottle tiki torches and they look great in the yard!

Got my chandelier painted - the one that Nick said don't paint! Doesn't it look so much better? The yard is shaping up, hope to finish up the annuals this weekend if it stops raining long enough.

Got lots more projects up my sleeve - mostly furniture I want to paint.

Finished table & mirror

2011-04-25T18:32:00.001-04:00

So I picked up 3 cans of spray paint to paint my garage sale table & mirror. I only used one, so what's next to paint? Here they are in all their glory. Now I just have to decide what goes on the table.

I've got an old chandelier like these, minus the wiring. Think that may look beautful hanging on my patio painted turquoise.

Happy Spring!

2011-04-21T09:55:00.000-04:00

Saw this on Pinterest and thought it would be cute to make. Took about 30 minutes and a box of umbrellas cost me $4.99 for 144 at Party City and I had a straw wreath. Although I think styrofoam would have been a lot easier.

My garage sale score

2011-04-21T08:31:00.000-04:00

I was off to work when I noticed a garage sale around the corner from me. Saw this great mirror and grabbed it before dashing off to work. They had the sale again the next week, so of course I had to stop. My powers of observation must be deserting me, because if some guy wouldn't have knocked something over that was leaning against this table I would have never noticed it. Grand total for the 2 pieces was $9. I probably could have gotten her down, but I was in a hurry and the lady was pretty sad about moving from her lifelong home into a senior apartment so I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Check back for the finished project, I have the perfect place for this.

Bubbles!

2011-04-14T13:31:00.001-04:00

It was 70 degrees on Sunday and my daughter actually got sick of sitting in the house on the computer. Always looking for something to make, she googled directions on making a big bubble wand. She patiently wrapped yarn around the bent hanger and then we scrounged through the garage for something to put the bubbles in. Her Father said it would never work, but here's the results.

Our fake grandchildren below:

Sheer luck with the timing of this shot.

Summer shoes and heated seats

2011-04-06T13:01:00.002-04:00

What's wrong with this picture? Got my cute little navy and white striped ballet flats on and I had to turn the heated seats on when I went out at lunch time. It's snowing! Hello, Mother Nature ... please make it stop.

Do you Pinterest?

2011-04-05T14:09:00.000-04:00

Found a new online addiction called Pinterest where you can bookmark your sites in picture form. It's like crack for the virtual world. Here's mine. Let me know if you'd like an invite.

My daughter, the baker/photographer (again)

2011-04-05T12:57:00.000-04:00

Last week I had a hankerin' for some dessert. You don't have to ask my daughter twice ... red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. She always says she wants to open her own bakery. I could think of worse things.

Yep, she licked the bowl.

Look at that bokeh.

That big blob on the right is our cat.

Saw these cupcakes at Glorious Treats and I think she should make them for Mother's Day.

Retro clothing

2011-03-27T10:39:00.000-04:00

We took a ride to Mississippi Mudd's for lunch yesterday and although it was only 29 degrees, it was sunny and the hot dogs and burgers tasted especially good with the view of the river.

However, the best part of the day was this great store we accidentally found on the ride home. It pays to take the scenic route! Cats Like Us sells these really cool retro clothes, I will be keeping them in the back of my mind, although the only thing we bought was this adorable head band/bandana that even though I have short hair, I may have to fight my daughter for.

Or even better, we'll have to learn how to make them. Although, for the $12 price tag, don't know if it would be worth all the work to sew the elastic through the back. My sewing skills are not all that great.

The Buffalo Garden Walk aka I can't wait for Spring!

2011-03-24T13:36:00.001-04:00

One of the blogs I follow is written by a gentleman who is very active in the Buffalo Garden Walk, one of the best garden walks in the entire country. If you don't believe me, check out their website at Buffalo Garden Walk. Anywho, while reading his blog today I came across an older post which showed one of his projects for last year ... tiki torches made out of wine bottles you can attach to your fence.

So, printed out the instructions and guess what will be my husband's project the next free weekend he has? But first, we'll have to empty out some wine bottles!

So, I leave you with some of my favorite photos from the Garden Walk.

Horsefeathers ... inspiring junk for all

2011-03-17T10:54:00.000-04:00

There was a great architectural salvage place downtown that moved near my Mother's house. The hours are limited and I have never been able to make it there. Saturday I was picking Mom up to take her grocery shopping and saw cars going in, so I thought I would make a quick pit stop. It was worth the trip! Can't wait to go back when I have more time and a real camera. But, here's a few shots of some interesting pieces. Forgive the bad pictures, my phone is not the best.

A sure sign of spring ...

2011-03-16T08:02:00.000-04:00

No, not a robin. But not one, not two, but 3 motorcycles out last night! Bring on the gardening.

Dear Women's Clothing Manufacturers ... we are not giants

2011-03-06T15:55:00.000-05:00

All I want is some decent pants that fit properly to wear to work so I don't have to wear the same pairs of cordurouys over and over again. Ventured out to the mall today. Practically every rack at Penney's said the pants on those racks came in short, average and tall length. Unfortunately, almost every pair on every rack was one length fits all. Did manage to find one pair of short, tried them on and I could have waded through flood waters without ever getting them wet. They did, however, fit perfectly everywhere else. So, I grabbed a pair that were not short length and brought them home. Figured if worse came to worse, I could wear some tall heels with them or if they really failed I could break out the sewing machine and hem (gasp!) them. Get home, try them on ... they fit like a glove EXCEPT for the fact that they must have been made for a woman who is well in excess of 6 feet tall. I could make a tube top out of the material I cut off the bottom! Not to mention taking off that much material off the bottom will probably ruin the whole shape of the pants.

So, back to the store they go and I better get my laundry done to make sure those cords are clean!

And while I'm at it, how about if the designers of junior clothing make their sizes so that the girls don't go into an instant depression when they try them on! My poor daughter, who is not fat by any means, was so depressed today while clothes shopping. How do those manufactures think those girls feel who do not weigh 98 pounds and have to wear a size L or XL. And where the heck do the plus size girls buy their clothes? Talk about creating a self esteem problem!

Is putting blue cheese on a turkey burger defeating the purpose?

2011-02-25T11:05:00.000-05:00

Thought I would try to be a little healthier and bought some ground turkey. Nick complained that there was no way he was going to eat it, but he made it into patties by loading it up with garlic powder, onion powder and worchestire sauce. Then he added bacon bits! No, not very healthy. Then of course, I had to top mine with blue cheese. It tasted pretty good, but was a little too dry for my taste. Better start surfing the internet for some recipes that may be a little juicier.

The Labatt Pond Hockey tournament

2011-02-22T18:49:00.000-05:00

We got downtown las weekend to see the tournament. It was kind of windy, but we were dressed appropriately and it gave me a good opportunity to get some pictures. Although, I only took one lens cause I didn't want to have to carry my camera case. The city was a beautiful backdrop to the games. Tons of people down there, we took a walk into Templeton Landing, the old Crawdaddy's for all you old folks. They had some cool bubble hockey games in there, and of course Labatt's beer.

The Powder Keg festival was also in full swing, with sledding down the Thruway ramp, sleigh rides, bowling for tukeys and lots of food. Better than last year, hopefully next year's will be even better.

If I ever get around to expanding my Picasa albums, I'll post pictures.

They came, they ate, they left.

2011-02-21T18:39:00.002-05:00

Our daughter turns 16 on Saturday, but we had her family party yesterday so I could recuperate today since our office was closed. We cooked and cleaned for 2 days. What is wrong with us? Everyone else in the family orders pizza and throws out a bag of chips . Yet, we feel the need to out-do ourselves each year. Each year we agonize over our food choices, desperately trying to remember what we had for all the previous birthday parties. Have we done roast beef sandwiches, lasagna, how about picnic themed?

This year we cooked a turkey and a ham. But first we started out with Swedish meatballs, pizza dip and mini reuben sandwiches. Yet our family was still chanting for cake while we tried to watch the last 2 laps of the Daytona 500. And of course, I couldn't be happy with one cake ... I had to make two. First up was the Pioneer Woman's Best Chocolate Sheet Cake, Ever. It lived up to its' title. Next was a red velvet cake I found online. The frosting called for heating flour with milk until it thickened and then mixed with sugar, butter and vanilla. The frosting looked like runny tapioca pudding! (I've come to find out it had to be beaten longer, but it still seems impossible it would have improved) So, out I had to rush to buy some canned frosting and slap it on. My other choice was to still be in the shower when the guests got here, so I opted to spare them all that lovely sight and went with the canned frosting. So, they take my Mother of the Year plaque away! At least no one in our families will be scarred for life with the site of me freshly showered and no make up!

No sooner than the last bites of cake were swallowed, the house cleared out like our office on Friday at 4:30! Why do we put ourselves through all this? It's a sickness.

My favorite Valentine's Day ritual!

2011-02-15T08:04:00.000-05:00

Nick started this years ago, and I think we've had one almost every year since.

The best pulled pork sandwiches

2011-02-13T19:19:00.000-05:00

We found a recipe online for pulled pork sandwiches and were they ever delicious. We took a 2 pound pork tenderloin, poured a can of root beer over it in the crock pot and cooked it on low for about 6 hours. When it finished, we drained it and then added some slathering sauce from the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. Then Nick topped it off with some copy cat KFC Coleslaw. And to make it even easier, instead of the cabbage we used 2 bags of slaw mix from the grocery store.

Now if we could only get the Dinosaur Bar to open up on the waterfront here!

Is it wrong that the pizza coupons are hanging on the fridge over the spinning schedule?

2011-02-12T19:44:00.000-05:00

Went to spinning class for the first time today, and I thought I was going to die. Sure was glad my friend from work was there, cause all I could think of is it would be good she could drive Mary Margaret home while they were taking me away in the ambulance!

Fortunately for me, the nice 72 year old lady who was spinning in front of me told me it took her 6 months before she could move up to a 45 minute spinning class from a 30 minute spinning class. 45 MINUTES? I didn't think I would make 30 and I didn't even do half of the climbing part of the class, but at least I did manage to keep peddling for the whole 30 minutes.

Will I go back next Saturday? We'll see.

How's your New Year's Resolutions going?

2011-02-08T07:55:00.000-05:00

Mine are:

* Plan meals better
* Exercise regularly
* Organize my digital and paper photos
* Fold and put away laundry immediately

Believe it or not, the exercise one is going great so far. M&M and I joined the gym and have gone 3 times a week for 4 weeks. I'm not saying it's been easy. Thursday we tried a new class, Total Body Sculpt. Started off doing the step thingy, I was doing great stepping on and off till they had to get all fancy on me and start jumping to other sides. Well, never said I was dainty, and I got my feel all tangled up and I almost fell. And I would have landed right on M&M's principal from elementary school Wouldn't that have been mortifying? It was the hardest class yet, and I was a wuss and only used 2 pound weights! Think I'll go crazy this week and bump up to 3 pounds. I won't say I kept up, and will actually admit to laying there with my eyes closed for a second, praying 7:30 would get here soon! But my butt is killing me, so that must be a good sign.

The meal planning and the folding of the clothes have been going pretty well, but it helps that Nick is off work for awhile and has been helping with the laundry and cooking. But I have managed to come up with the ideas for dinner.

I've managed to scan 2 and 1/2 albums of photos. Probably have about 50 more to go, and miscellaneous boxes and boxes of others. Unfortunately my computer got a virus and I have spent the whole weekend restoring it, but still haven't got time to get the scanner working again. Why does there have to be so many more programs to install to get everything to work right?

My experiment in saving for a Nook.

2011-02-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

Had a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble burning a hole in my pocket. Won a $50 gift certificate of my choice as an Employee Incentive Award so thought I'd get another B&N card. So, $75 down, $175 to go. I couldn't really justify taking it out of the budget when we need so many other things.

The light bulb went on in my head! We have a huge change jar that we save all our change for something special. Nick always complains when he has to roll the pennies and always tells me to just save the silver. So, dumped the jar out, took all the pennies out and put them in their own jar. Rolled $25 worth, which I am immediately going to buy another B&N gift card with and left the rest in the jar. How long do you think it will take?

Got my Flutie jersey on ...

2011-02-06T15:54:00.000-05:00

And I'm ready for the Super Bowl! Today's menu consists of ribs which Nick smoked for 3 hours yesterday, homemade mac and cheese (Patti Labelle's recipe), stromboli, chicken wings and garlic shrimp on the grill. Dessert is the Best Chocolate Cake ever. The cake is a test for M&M's birthday cake, and it passed with flying colors. Although, think I may have to use a different frosting. Frosting is good, but doesn't spread nicely.

Late addition is some deep fried pickles from this recipe. Delish.

Taking a little walk down memory lane ...

2011-01-30T17:43:00.000-05:00

I am determined to get all my non-digital photos scanned. Unfortunately, it is probably 50 photo albums plus I can't even begin to count how many boxes. Plus my Mother's and my Aunt's. Found a place that will scan 500 for $50 and they are local. Think I would have to take a second mortgage to pay for them! But think I will pay for some, just to save my sanity.

But, just for fun ... here's a few favorites from 1995 & 1997. What can I say? I don't do anything in order.

-2 degrees

2011-01-26T13:05:00.000-05:00

My daughter took this picture when I was driving her to school yesterday. It's a balmy 31 today.

And here's a picture I took Sunday for a photo challenge on 2 Peas which required the color yellow. Thought it was a fun shot.

Look who's been eating our bird food ...

2011-01-21T13:46:00.000-05:00

Aren't they beautiful? And we live in a "neighborhood", not out in the country. It is sad the way we are pushing them out of their homes. Now my husband is obsessed with watching for them every night.

And this is why I never have scissors ... AKA I thought I might find Jimmy Hoffa

2011-01-18T15:08:00.000-05:00

Had the day off for MLK day yesterday and thought it would be a good day to really go through my almost 16 year old daughter's room. I got about 4 hours into it and thought I would never see the floor again.

Amongst all that junk I found 6 pairs of scissors, 5 rolls of scotch tape and 3 calculators. No wonder I have to keep using my Joann's coupons towards buying scissors!

Now I know I was a slob when I was a kid, but this room looked like an episode of hoarders! Thank God my lovely daughter was sick so she wasn't able to "help" me!

Cats and unconditional love

2011-01-13T07:58:00.000-05:00

Thor

Otto

Brittany

My 3 babies, each with their own little personality quirks and each loves one of us more than the others. That big boy in the box was rescued after living on my mother's front porch for about a month. He weighed 10 pounds when we got him, close to 20 now. Still jumps from any noise and he has been living here for 5 years.

Thor, up at the top was another rescue through a group. His elderly owner died and his loving relatives took him to the vet to be destroyed at 3 years of age. So glad the vet called the rescue group. He belongs to my husband and could care less about the rest of us, unless we are holding a can of cat food or a piece of cheese.

And Brittany, another rescue loves our daughter. Sleeps curled around her head every night. Brittany is afraid of Otto and so we play musical cats every day.

We always swear we are never going to get another pet, but here we are ... one step away from being the crazy cat people. I figure we're good as long as the cats don't outnumber us. But no one will ever love you like a pet does.

Sunset

2011-01-09T19:30:00.001-05:00

My hubby pointed out this beautiful sunset tonight and I quick switched my lens and ran out and got a couple shots. It's stuff like this that gives you hope for spring on a 20 degree day.

My estate sale find and my latest obsession

2011-01-08T19:27:00.001-05:00

Isn't that mirror beautiful? Look at that etching on the top - well worth the $12 I paid for it. My daughter has been dying for a mirror in her room and when I found this at an estate sale stuck in the corner of the basement behind a bunch of other stuff, I couldn't believe my luck. And it was the second day of the sale so I got it for half price!

Now, to find one for my family room. A little teeny part of me was hoping she wouldn't like it so I could have it, but at least she is happy!

My daughter, the baker and photographer

2011-01-07T17:49:00.000-05:00

My daughter made cupcakes from scratch last night and then took this beautiful picture of them. Isn't she talented.? And yes, our Christmas tree is still up.

Do keys multiply on your key hook?

2011-01-06T16:32:00.000-05:00

A friend left me a bottle of wine on my front step. Unbeknownst to her, we don't use our front door and when I opened it from inside to get the mail I knocked the bottle of wine over and it smashed on the front porch. What a waste of a perfectly good bottle of wine!

But it got me to thinking about why we never use that door and I got all our key rings down and realized that on 4 key rings with car keys that we use every day, there was not a single key to the front door! Which got me to checking through all our keys. Not only did we not have those keys, but neither one of us had a key to the door inside our garage. There was one lonely key hanging inside the garage which opened that door.

But, I did find keys to our neighbor's house, key's to our friend's cottage, keys to our parents' houses and many, many keys that we had absolutely no idea what they opened. After sorting through them, we did manage to find at least one key to each of the 3 doors in our house and a key to the shed, but there were still at least 8-10 keys left that we had no idea what they opened! Even after all that, we were still only able to eliminate one key and toss it out.

So, next stop ... Home Depot Key making department!

No, sagging does not constitute a change in your breasts!

2011-01-04T18:19:00.000-05:00

I was watching TV with my husband when a commercial came on about mammograms and it stated that if you notice any change in your breasts you should call your doctor. He wanted to know if sagging constituted a change.

Yes, he is still alive! But he will pay dearly for that remark.

Niagara Falls

2011-01-02T10:08:00.002-05:00

We live so close to one of the wonders of the world, yet we take it for granted. Why do we never visit on a sunny day in the summer? Yet, winter always seems to drag me to the falls. And always on the grayest day of the year. Yet, it is still magnificent. And the urge to try out my new 50mm lens was just so tempting. The focusing takes a little getting used to, one little sway after you've focused and you lose that sharpness. But, here we go ...

I think I smell a Christmas card photo!

Vidler's

2010-12-24T18:57:00.000-05:00

Nick and I actually did something for fun this past weekend. Took a break from the holiday drudgery and took a nice ride out to Vidler's in East Aurora and actually went out to lunch. So, who cares if all the Christmas stuff doesn't get done, it was so nice to have a nice leisurely afternoon.

But first we stopped at the Made in America store and who should be there but the big guy himself. Pulled up in his red sleigh (also known as a pickup truck). A couple of his reindeer were even there.

If you've never been to Vidler's, you don't know what you're missing. It's a quaint little 5 and 10 cent store located in beautiful downtown East Aurora where they sell all kinds of housewares, old fashioned toys and penny candy!

Nothing like flossing your teeth with bacon flavored dental floss!

I had a real pair of skates like these.

Second rule for making Christmas cookies ... Don't stick your head in the bowl.

2010-12-17T16:21:00.000-05:00

Many years ago when my daughter was in kindergarten there was a school project around the holiday time that involved baking cookies and answering a few questions on a worksheet about what you learned. One of the questions was name two rules for baking cookies. My daughter wrote:
1. Wash your hands
2. Don't stick your head in the bowl

While cleaning a drawer in our basement, I came across this little gem. It brought a big smile to my face.

Trying out the camera

2010-12-13T08:13:00.000-05:00

Been trying to get some cool Christmas pictures this year ... first year with the DSLR. Here's my first effort. I've got to get out and about and get some of Niagara Falls and downtown East Aurora.

What is a crudite?

2010-12-11T16:56:00.001-05:00

Look at the amazing appetizer table we had on our ethnic progressive dinner last week. Almost too pretty to eat. The dinner was delicious, the company was great and another one is planned for New Year's Day.

Linda's handiwork

Let the cookie baking begin ... and the best sugar cookie recipe ever!

2010-12-04T10:48:00.000-05:00

I found this recipe for sugar cookies and made the first batch this morning. Needless to say, another batch of dough is in the fridge for tomorrow. These cookies were delicious and the blog I got them from has some other fabulous recipes!

http://creatingpostitnotes.blogspot.com/2010/02/almondine-sugar-cookies.html

Now, what other cookies should I make? These are going to be hard to top!

Misadventures in shopping

2010-11-29T13:39:00.000-05:00

It began innocently enough with my desire to change the light color on my Christmas tree this year. Since my newest obsession is shades of purple, I thought I'd go with that. I saw some purple lights at Target and plugged them in and compared them to the pink. They definitely looked purple. What better to go with the purple lights than some beautiful purple ribbon for a tree topper. Made the big bows, put the purple lights on the trees and lo and behold, they didn't match at all. Once those lights were on the tree, they looked pink and the ribbon looked terrible.

Searched high and low and found some purple LED strings at Target for $11.99 a string. It killed me to spend that much, but I bought 4 strings and mixed them in on the tree. They looked great. The next day I see them in the Target ad for $9 a box. Off I go with my receipt to get a price adjustment. After the girl finally figured out to how adjust the price, instead of taking my $13 refund and going home, I thought what the heck ... might as well get some more lights while they are on sale. I thought white would be nice. So I pick myself up 4 boxes of white lights and decide to pick up something in the women's department. Got what I wanted, hunted for my cart and get up to the line and discover all that is in the cart is the leggings I just picked out. Back to the women's department and finally hunt down MY cart. Get back in line (6 cashiers open out of 18!) and realize that I picked 2 different kind of white lights - 2 cool white, 2 warm white. WTH? Who would have thought that they would make the exact same lights in 2 different shades of white? Screw it, I got them anyway. I plan on telling Nick that I meant to get 2 different kinds!

I think the worst part, though, is they gave me a $5 off $50 coupon. You know I'm going back, don't you?

An organized holiday

2010-11-22T16:13:00.000-05:00

Every year during the hectic holiday season, I always say to myself ... "Self, next year you are going to have an organized and magical holiday season." I clip out articles on how to have a stress free holiday. I put notes on my Outlook calendar to remind me of things I might forget. I say "next year I'm not going to make all these different cookies and just concentrate on a few favorites." I have visions of sitting around the evenings before Christmas watching "Frosty" and "The Polar Express". I think about what it will be like to drive around and look at the holiday lights, to finally see the lights in Delaware Park, to see Niagara Falls decorated for the holidays.

And every year I find myself knee deep in cooking ingredients, recipes everywhere. Yards and yards of ribbon to change up the Christmas tree only to find that bows on Christmas trees are apparently out and no one bothered to tell me.

Here it is 3 days before Thanksgiving. Nick is working so I'll be on my own to get everything prepared. Pies have been ordered, food has been bought and I am still ripping out recipes from magazines for some glorious cranberry-orange relish, like as if anyone will eat that. Why, oh why, can't I just be satisfied to slap a can of cranberry sauce in the banana boat dish reserved only for cranberry sauce and call it a day.

Yesterday I wanted to put up my little tree in the living room and spent all day looking for the box of lights and ornaments for it. Do you think I could find them anywhere? Nope, brought up boxes one by one filled with all kinds of decorations but the ones I was looking for. So I thought, might as well put them up. So, the inside of my house is pretty much decorated, but the bench we had to move from the front hall in the "Christmas tree shuffle" is still sitting in front of the door. Oh, and I did find the ornaments and lights for my little tree - they were in a box marked material and chair cover pattern!

So, looks like once again I won't be going out on the biggest drinking night of the year (yeah, like that would happen anyway!) and I'll be home trying to get my house cleaned.

And if you happen to be coming to my house for Thanksgiving dinner, just ignore the fact that when you ring the doorbell that I will probably answer the door in my sweat suit with a dustrag thrown over my shoulder!

My least favorite holiday tradition ...

2010-11-20T12:51:00.000-05:00

The cleaning of the fridge in anticipation of Thanksgiving leftovers. Seriously, what the hell was I thinking? A container with about 3 tablespoons of leftover spaghetti sauce and enough different blocks of cheese to harden our arteries for the rest of our lives. Not to mention the last of the apples from apple season that I really thought I was going to make something with!

But, it is all done and filled with Thanksgiving goodies. I can hardly wait to eat leftovers on Friday while watching a 12 hour marathon of Law & Order (or some other similar show) while putting up the tree. I swear it's going to be decorated differently this year! Now, all I need is some good ideas. So, here is some inspiration taken at Dave's Christmas Tree Shop this morning. (taken with my crummy phone)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes!

2010-11-15T06:45:00.001-05:00

Saw this recipe on kevinandamanda.com and just had to try them. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough cupcakes I did cheat, because I just happened to get the cookie dough from the band fundraiser that very same day so I used that and I also had a can of whipped frosting which I used too. So, basically, all I did was make the recipe for the cupcakes. Still, they were fabulous!

What do you get your 91 year old Mother for her birthday?

2010-11-14T10:06:00.000-05:00

She never wants anything, doesn't need anything. yells if you get her something. But how do you not get your mother a birthday gift? So, as keeper of the old family photos, I came upon the idea of framing a picture of her siblings and her Mother. Sadly, there are no pictures of my Grandfather where you can actually see what he looked like, so this is the best I could do. What do you think?

Christmas card is done!

2010-11-12T09:35:00.000-05:00

I am so far behind this year, think I crashed after all the reunion planning. But, the card is finally finished and ordered. I'm not sure if I am really crazy about it this year, but think I may have used up all my creativity for 2010! There were way too many pictures of M&M to choose from, only a couple pictures of Nick and I, and there wasn't a single decent picture of Nick with M&M. I always like to pick some out of the box pictures, so that's where the underwater came in.

What do you think?

Am I a total dork? (AKA - would you even consider this wallpaper border?)

2010-11-11T09:50:00.000-05:00

My husband plans on finally re-doing the "rec" room in our basement. (I know, I'm showing my age here!) For the past 15 years it has been black on the bottom of the walls, white on the top with an animal print border going down the middle.

Well, when my darling daughter broke her ankle I noticed a beautiful color combination at the orthopedic surgeon's office. A beautiful shade of turqoise with tan on the bottom of the walls.. So, in typical Ann fashion, I ran over to Lowe's and got myself a boatload of paint chips. Imagine the look on my daughter's face when I pulled the whole fistful of paint chips out while she was getting her cast off and held them up against the wall there! As I eliminatd them one by one, I decided on a beautiful shade of Valspar Paint called Turquoise Sea. I'm still undecided on the tan. Wasn't sure I could get Nick to jump on board until he took his father to the Neuroligist (sensing a theme here?) and saw a similar color combination and liked it.

My big question, however, is do I really want to put this wallpaper border up? I absolutely love it and the room in the basement is just for fun. So, I figure - what the heck?

Is this one of the funnest things you ever saw?

Vintage Hankies ... a project finally finished!

2010-11-09T07:47:00.000-05:00

Nothing is better than shopping in Mom's attic. I just love to go there and mooch around through all the stuff that is banished to storage never to see the light of day in her house again. But the old adage goes, what is old is new again, and I will be glad to relieve her of some of that "junk".

So, one of my first blog posts was a display of framed vintage hankies that I saw in a cottage at Crystal Beach. I knew I had to duplicate them. Well, thanks to some bargain frames from the Christmas Tree Shops, some vintage hankies from Mom's and a few from the antique store next to my hairdresser ... Voila!

Aren't they beautiful above my bed? I starched them and got them all in the frames on Sunday and had them all laid out on my family room floor. I cut newspaper out and taped the layout above my bed, but couldn't drag Nick away from the football games to hang them up. But, low and behold, I came home from work yesterday and there they were in all their glory!

Can you say Toronto Bills?

2010-11-07T13:47:00.002-05:00

WTH? Thurman Thomas, Jim, Kelly, Andre Reed & Reuben Brown are all at the game in Toronto. And they just showed Ralph Wilson at the game. Think it is only a matter of time.

Buffalo ... where else would you rather be?

2010-11-03T17:22:00.001-04:00

How's My Driving?

2010-11-03T11:21:00.000-04:00

Don't you think this world would be a much better place if there was one of these stickers on the back of every car? Of course, I might be afraid at how many times I get reported! Although, think I might do worse with a How's My Parking sticker.

Guess I'm not as adaptable as I used to be.

2010-11-02T21:32:00.000-04:00

Driving my husband's truck tonight (something I'm not used to doing), all I wanted to do was squirt the windshield while I was driving. Well, I put my right turn signal on, flashed my high beams at someone and pressed the button to put it in towing mode! Thought I was going to have to stop at a gas station to clean that windshield, but I finally figured it out.

Hard to believe I fix computers for a living but can't find the wipers button on the steering column.

Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!

2010-10-31T12:58:00.000-04:00

I was out to Will Poultry buying some chicken wings and blue cheese when it occured to me I was only around the corner from the Central Terminal. Tonight there will be a live 6 hour special on TV from the program Ghost Hunters on the "haunted Central Terminal".

It was a dreary day, perfect for some pictures so I took a spin over. I was really surprised there was no one else there, although there was a police car posted on all sides which wouldn't let you go any closer. I walked up as far as I could and got a few shots.

Isn't it beautiful? Think I may look into volunteering there as Buffalo makes it's first steps towards restoration. http://buffalocentralterminal.org/you-can-help/volunteer-with-the-ctrc/

Random Acts of Cleaning

2010-10-30T16:10:00.000-04:00

Also known as why my house never looks clean.

I start out in the living room. Take down the globes from Mom's vintage chandelier to wash them. To accomplish this I need to stand on a kitchen chair. As I go to return the chair back to the kitchen I think to myself, those chairs really could use some cleaning. So, I dig around underneath the kitchen sink for the furniture cleaner. While doing so, I decide I have too many bags stuffed under the kitchen sink and I pull all the bags out, put a limited number back in and ditch the rest. Use the furniture cleaner and clean the chairs. Wow, they look so much better.

Well, back to the living room. Clean off the table in there, dust all the picture frames, take the globes off the student lamp and take them into the kitchen and wash them. Okay, I'm not going to get distracted again ... so back to the living room. Really working my way around the room and realize there is a big stack of coupon sections from the last couple weeks paper. Time to get rid of those, but first let's go through them and see if there are any coupons worth clipping. Fifteen minutes later, I've managed to cut out $3 worth of coupons but did rid myself of the pile of papers. The coupons will then make it to the lazy susan on the kitchen table where they will stay until they have expired ... never even making it into my purse.

Time to get the globes for the lamp, so I dry them off in the kitchen and realize my clean sink now has splatter marks and soap all over it, so after putting the globes back on the lamp I go back to the kitchen and clean the sink.

So, I've got a clean sink, the kitchen chairs are clean and the globes are done from the living room. When Nick comes home I'm going to have a hard time convincing him I didn't spend the day watching TV!

It's Fun To Stay at the YMCA ...

2010-10-26T13:11:00.000-04:00

Can't think of a better way to start the day than turning on the car radio and hearing the sounds of the Village People. Besides that, it is supposed to reach 70 degrees today and we are in Buffalo. It's Octobber 27th and I haven't broken out the socks yet. Even left the windows open at home, so I'm sure the cats have found a nice little perch in one of the open windows.

To add to the wonderfulness of the day, my brother had his last radiation treatment and my daughter gets the cast off her foot tomorrow morning. Sure hope it has healed properly as someone is not too fond of using her crutches. What were they thinking when they gave her a walking cast?

Another awesome pumpkin

2010-10-24T18:39:00.000-04:00

My daughter and her friend carved pumpkins. Here's the one she came home with.

It began innocently enough ...

2010-10-16T12:45:00.000-04:00

While perusing my favorite message board I stumbled on a post titled "What should I bring to a potluck?" While scanning the replies I came across a recipe for pumpkin bars. What the heck, I have some canned pumpkin. Why not try them?

So, I gathered up all my ingredients and had to dig a little deeper than I thought for a couple of them. The next thing I know, the entire contents of my lazy susan cupboard are spread out on the floor and kitchen table. That is when I realized, I'm a spice whore. WTH? 3 containers of garlic powder (2 of them open). Not to be outdone were the containers of black pepper, anything containing garlic, all their Italian seasoning cousins and not to let the baking supplies feel left out ... 3 containers of cinnamon, 3 packages of expired yeast and enough sprinkles to decorate my Christmas cookies until I die.

So, I weeded through all the duplicates and expired stuff and think I filled up half a kitchen trash can. I really hope those pumpkin bars were worth it!

I love Halloween!

2010-10-16T09:37:00.001-04:00

And I have passed that love on to my daughter. Although I have tired of the pumpkin carving over the years, fortunately she has picked up where we have left off. Here's this year's effort. (so far)

I'm sure there will be many more, but won't let her carve any more till it gets closer to Halloween. So, we will probably be off to get some more pumpkins this afternnoon and hopefully get some foliage pictures while there is still foliage left. I have really been slacking this year. Although I did manage to get these cool shots last night while Nick was outside grilling. Isn't that sky gorgeous? And the rainbow was just the icing on the cake!

Is there any job more boring?

2010-10-11T09:37:00.000-04:00

Than folding laundry. This job has to be tops on my least favorite job list. (although emptying the dishwasher is a close second!) Heck, I'll even leave some of the clothes in the dryer to take a ride with the next load just so I don't have to fold them. But chances are, some of them are mateless socks anyway which just end up in a basket in the laundry room forever until one day in a purging frenzy the whole lot of them just gets tossed in the garbage. Where do the mates of those socks go anyway?

I am the Queen of unfinished projects

2010-10-10T16:20:00.000-04:00

When I go into our spare bedroom, they mock me as I try to find something. That half finished wine cork wreath, vintage handkerchiefs waiting to be framed, stacks of material and scrapbook paper.

Why do I do it? Why can't I be likeNick and finish one project before moving on to the next one? I like to think that's how creative people are.

Here's why ... Is there anything more inspiring than rows of cotton material waiting to be made into a quilt or new curtains for our bedroom? Thought about that one as I was laying in bed this morning trying to ignore the cat who was pawing at me to get up.

Or a pattern waiting to be made into a Halloween Costume? (Or in my case, a disco dress - think next High School reunion! - what the hell, I'm planning it.)

So, I decided to do something. Got out the starch and the vintage hankies and ironed and starched and ironed and starched some more, and this is the best I could do. No wonder the woman in Crystal Beach had someone frame them for her. Oh well, they'll look cute hanging over our bed. Still have 4 more to go! Aren't the ones with the purple in them beautiful? Finally bought something at Miss Josie's Antiques after longingly looking through their windows every time I get my hair cut.

Stuff

2010-10-08T21:13:00.000-04:00

Another week flew by. M&M got a lecture at the orthopedic surgeon about using her crutches. Fortunately, the x-ray showed the fracture in her fibula healing properly. Think the whole cast thing is more of an inconvenience for me than anyone. The arguing about using crutches, the driving back and forth to school and the trips downtown to the orthopedic surgeon. Plus the uncontrollable urge to say I told you so for joining the gymnastics team.

Birthday lunch at the office today for Dave and one of the freeloaders reached into the pizza box one too many times. This time I slammed the box top on his hand and told him perhaps the people who paid for the lunch might like a chance to eat first. Perhaps even the birthday boy. If this doesn't work, I swear the ex-law brownies are coming out!

Took Monday off since there is no school and I feel like the world's worst mother making my poor kid stay home alone whenever there is a school holiday. Might be a good opportunity to make some cut-out cookies after we have o-d-ed on apple muffins, apple crisp and apple bread. Why, oh why, did I have to buy that half a bushel of apples?

Hoping we may get out this weekend to get some foliage pictures. Don't want to venture out near the stadium on Sunday, although doubt there will be that much traffic as it is the first time in 4 years that a home game has not sold out.

Off to the cottage tomorrow morning to get the last of the patio furniture put away for the winter and the grass cut one last time. And then MORE hockey tomorrow night. I game down, 81 to go.

What a great block party!

2010-10-07T20:16:00.001-04:00

It was the worst weather we had in 4 years and the best turnout! At least 5 new families with some great food additions. Barbecued wings from our new neighbor across the street that would put LaNova's wings to shame. We need to invite Leon to some more neighborhood events. All in all, it was great food and great friends.

The fire company brought a truck and the kids scrambled up onto it. Kim had a bike decorating contest for all the little ones and there was a contest where the kids tried to wrap each other in toilet paper.

The evening ended with a fire in the driveway and lots of leftover food to eat while watching the Bills get their asses kicked the next day.

Reunion Weekend

2010-09-26T18:35:00.000-04:00

There are not enough superlatives to describe how well the class reunion went yesterday. Cindy & I have been frantically exchanging emails all week, but it all came together in the end. The food was adequate, everything else was awesome! The dance floor was packed for every song, and the most unusual pairs were up on the floor together.

Our class prez gave a great trip down memory lane with his speech and our emcee was perfect! We honored our football coach with a great speech from a couple of his "team". Later this fall he will be inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.

Rev. Buthy said grace before dinner and remembered our eighteen classmates who are no longer with us.

I have been at this for 18 months, what am I going to do with all my free time? I've got to find a new project!

Burn Baby Burn

2010-09-19T11:35:00.001-04:00

Went to my boss' wife's 40th birthday party last night - disco themed. Couldn't believe how many people dressed up and how many big 'fros there were! I dug through my closet and came up with the closest to disco top I could find. I haven't danced that much in years ... so I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

100 CDs on the Wall

2010-09-17T07:49:00.000-04:00

Yes! They are done, the 100 CDs I decided to make at the last minute for our class reunion. Now, how can I keep myself from anally looking at each one to make sure they burned correctly? Should I just take the computer's word for it?

All that's left to do is a couple of name tags and to pick up a frame for the Riverside Lighthouse Mosaic. The mosaic I made using Andrea Mosaic of all our senior photos made into a photo of the school was a big hit at the planning meeting. I'm going to have to make sure I get a print for myself. In the middle is Coach Dingboom being presented with a jersey. Can't wait to give it to him. He'll be inducted into the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in November.

Where have the years gone?

2010-09-09T13:17:00.002-04:00

Since my daughter growled about having her first day of school picture taken yesterday, I decided to show her the progression over the years. Hopefully this will keep the grumbling down next year. Can't believe the changes over the years. Couldn't find 2004 picture on my hard drive. You know what that means? Digging through boxes of pictures! Think I had some camera issues in 2004.

Another bonus of getting these all together was checking out my different flowers over the years. Funny how our tastes change.

Way too much talk about ankle boots on Two Peas

2010-09-08T16:00:00.000-04:00

It feels like fall and there has been just too many discussions about ankle boots at Two Peas and I vaguely remembered seeing a pair in the Payless ad that I thought were pretty cute. And it just so happened that I didn't have anything to do at lunchtime today AND there is a Payless a couple of blocks from my office, so I thought what the heck!

I LOVE these boots. Now what the heck do I wear them with?

Cathedral of Learning

2010-09-07T07:10:00.000-04:00

While we were in Pittsburgh for our sandwich at Primanti Brothers, we managed to squeeze in a trip to the University of Pittsburgh. Not only to see the beautiful architecture but to hopefully inspire our daughter to improve her grades. Who wants to go to a community college when they can go so somewhere like the University of Pittsburgh?

We rode up to the 36th floor of the Cathedral of Learning and the elevator ride was surprisingly quick AND smooth. I normally don't care for elevators, but this one didn't bother me a bit. The highlight of the trip, however, were the Nationality Classrooms. Each room decorated in the decor of that country. For the Christmas holidays, each room is also decorated in their native holiday decor. The rooms were spectacular, each more beautiful than the next.

School Clothes Shopping!

2010-09-05T15:22:00.000-04:00

Oh, how I loved to go shopping for new school clothes when I was a kid. Oh the anticipation of finding the perfect outfit for the first day of school. But clothes shopping was never like this! My mother took me to one store, maybe two if I was really lucky. And we picked out skirts and dresses ... at least until we were juniors and they allowed girls to wear "slacks".

I never had choices like this.

And I never shopped in stores that had displays like these. Oh, my daughter was mortified when I took a picture.

Are you ready for some football?

2010-09-04T09:08:00.000-04:00

High school football season is upon us and it was a glorious weather night last night for the opening game at RHS field. Lots of dignitaries on hand and one special guest in attendance, Coach Charles Dingboom. Coach Dingboom will be inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame this fall. On hand were some members of some great teams from the 60s and 70s to watch as assistant coach Steve Pangallo presented him with a jersey. The only downside of the night was the fact that the Frontiers lost their opening game at home. It was a poorly played offense on both sides of the ball and it appeared the officials were not quite back into the groove of the season either. The Niagara Falls Wolverines beat the Frontiers 9-2. Sounds more like a baseball score.

Primanti Brothers

2010-08-21T18:28:00.003-04:00

My husband and daughter love the food channel and travel channel. Always drooling at the site of some huge sandwich or breakfast. However, he is not a very spontaneous person. Everything always has to be planned to the minute. So when he suggested taking a trip to Pittsburgh to go to Primanti Brothers for a sandwich I jumped at the chance.

I called around, got reservations and 2 days later off we went. Drive was smooth, just a little under 4 hours with all but the last 5 miles being on the Thruway. Got checked into our hotel and hopped back into the car and off to downtown Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, when I put the address into Mapquest I put in 48 16th Street instead of 46 18th Street. Apparently there is no 48 16th Street, so Mapquest substituted S 16th and I didn't notice. Well, we get to this little section of town and no Primatni Brothers. Our daughter puts it into her phone and we realize our mistake. No problem, right? We just drive north on S 16th street and we will find our way. Nope! 16th Street is on the other side of town from S 16th Street. We finally get the directions up on the phone and travel across several of the bridges in downtown, stop a couple people for directions and finally find the restaurant in an old warehouse district.

Had no problem getting a table (guess it helps that the restaurant is open 24 hours a day and apparently 2:30 isn't theie busiest time). Ordered our sandwiches and they were on the table in about 5 minutes. No plates, just on wax paper. I was a little worried about the french fries and coleslaw on the sandwich, but the bacon more than made up for my concerns! They were delicious.

After we got done with those delicious sandwiches we took a walk through the Strip District and all I can say is one thing - they sure love their Steelers. Of course, if the Buffalo Bills had won 6 Super Bowls I think our love affair with them would be a little stronger. Walked down about 10 blocks in search of an old fashioned ice cream parlour. Finally found it and enjoyed some delicious strawberry ice cream. Good thing that walk was so long that we walked off a little bit of that sandwich before we got there.

Loved all the little shops along that section, sure wish we had something like this in Buffalo. A great Italian shop, Polish shop, Enrico's Biscottis (which we just saw on the travel channel the day before circa. 2003 - so Enrico was a little grayer!).

Next stop, compliments of directions from Enrico, was the "Incline". That was the highlight of the trip for me, although I couldn't help wondering if the cable might break and send us plummeting to our death. Thank God the trip was so short. And the view at the top was worth all the sweating on the way up!

This will be my next project

2010-08-15T12:38:00.000-04:00

We looked at the cottage across the street from us today and I just absolutely fell in love with this grouping on one of the bedroom walls. It was clear glass frames with vintage handkerchiefs in them. And the layout was absolutely adorable. I didn't have my camera, but fortunately the picture was on the realtor's website. Isn't it cute?

The rest of the day's adventures

2010-08-08T21:10:00.000-04:00

Started the day with a trip to Immediate Care. Turns out M&M has a scratched cornea when her friend shot her in the eye with a squirt gun. Took about an hour and a half, which was better than I thought.

On our quest for letter shaped objects, we hit Buffalo's Outer Harbor and a few other spots along Route 5. We had a great day together and both took lots of pictures. Finally saw where Doug's Dive is, but I wanted to check out the Bedrock Eatery for lunch. Chicken sandwich was great, especially with the slices of bacon to top. I did eliminate the cheese so saved myself a little cholesterol!

The highlight of the day, though is on the way back I decided to get off on Ridge Road when I saw the sign that said OLV Basilica. First time I had ever been inside. What took me so long? It is magnificent.

Sunday's Photo Expedition

2010-08-08T20:11:00.000-04:00

After reading this blog about a great Pea who is making custom name frames to help out the family of another Pea, we decided to go out on our own quest for everyday things that look like letters. M&M and I really enjoyed the day together and discovered that finding things that look likes letters is not as easy as it sounds.

Here's a few of mine.

Here's some my daughter took. What can I say, she does better at thinking outside the box than I do.

Horse Around

2010-08-02T15:06:00.002-04:00

This weekend was the 4th annual "Horse Around" to benefit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. This was my 2nd year volunteering. The keynote speaker, Colleen Nick, had her six year old daughter abducted by a stranger in 1995. She has yet to be found. Morgan, her daughter, will be 22 years old in September. I don't know how she gets up every morning and faces the day not knowing where her daughter is. Yet she still manages to have hope that someday her daughter will come home.

The turnout was great - 280 guests paying $125 per ticket. There was almost 100 silent auction items and 6 live auction items. The bidding ended at 6pm, so I waited until 5:59 to bid on a Secret Service hat, polo shirt and golf balls for Nick. Then I casually stood by the bid sheet until the bidding ended. So, M&M and I worked the auction and Nick is the only one who got something out of the deal. Of course, that's no different than usual.

The demonstration by the two sheriffs from the mounted division drew lots of attention this year. The food, not so great. Don't think a restaurant should try to serve steak in a buffet line.

For more information see Morgan Nick Foundation or NCMEC.

Eye candy for you gardeners

2010-07-27T07:55:00.000-04:00

Here's some flower shots from the Buffalo Garden Walk this past weekend.

Buffalo Garden Walk

2010-07-25T20:11:00.001-04:00

We chose to go today because the weathermen predicted a better day than yesterday. Just as we got there it started sprinkling and we thought they were wrong once again. But, the day cleared up and by the time we were done, we sure were glad we chose today. It was just so humid yesterday, don't think we could have even enjoyed ourselves.

But, the rain was the least of my problems. Thought we would check out a few new neighborhoods this year and went down to Columbus Parkway. The very first house I went to take a picture of their beautiful porch and nothing from my camera. I had charged up the battery first thing this morning. Too bad it was still home in the charger. I knew I couldn't possibly enjoy the day without my camera, so back we went. We were home and back in a half an hour and I would have been so disappointed to miss these shots.

How's this for mulch? Smashed pottery

Wasn't that a beautiful yard? Think my yard may be the recipient of the mirror I mentioned back a few posts.

And it's not just all about the flowers. I love to look at all the cool things people put in their yards. Check out the sign on this gate:

And look at her peeking out from the flowers:

This is an old heaboard resting on same table legs to support their gladiolas.

The architecture is pretty cool too.

Here's a trellis my friend Anne made out of an old metal headboard:

Look at this trellis she made. That is painted PVC pipe with lanterns from Pier 1 on top of each post.

I'll get some flower shots in at a later date, the internet is not cooperating very well tonight.

Hello Weekend!

2010-07-24T08:36:00.000-04:00

I can't really complain about the week since I was off until Thursday. After recovering from a weekend at the cottage, we tackled the garage on Tuesday. Not quite as clean as I had hoped and we did just move some stuff from the garage to the shed, but we don't have to be embarrassed to open the garage door anymore. But I do have to make a decision on the Eastlake furniture before it's time to use the garage for the winter.

On a positive note, I started sanding the sewing machine I got from David so I could paint it and Nick and Dave jumped in. I had all intentions of painting it something like this:

Isn't it cute? But think they have talked me into staining it, although I have never refinished furniture before and don't know how to get rid of all the variations in color like that big spot in the middle.

But, on the plus side ... it sure will be a lot easier to stain it than paint it. And I think I am getting a little carried away with the painted furniture! I spray painted so much stuff at the cottage I have a permanent callus on my pointer finger.

On the disappointing side, my daughter quit rowing this week. I really thought this was finally the activity that she was going to really love and stick with. Heck, I was already envisioning the college scholarships! It certainly will free up some time during the week though and I could say I got my life back if only I had a life!

Finally got some rain yesterday and did we need it. Supposed to get some more today, but hard to believe it will with this beautiful sky from last night.

And of course, the Buffalo Garden Walk is tomorrow. Always one of the highlights of the summer for me! And always means more work for Nick. We've copied a lot of ideas from that Garden Walk. Here's one from last year I have saved in my idea file. My friend David's friend Annie MADE this gazebo from scratch using PVC pipe and material. Is it one of the cutest things you've ever seen?

Here's a close up of the material:

So, check back for lots of photos from the Walk.

Miscellaneous weekend stuff

2010-07-20T15:18:00.003-04:00

Went to the cottage for the weekend. M&M took a friend. Can someone please tell me what is wrong with teenagers nowadays? If we would have gone to the beach for the weekend when we were kids, we would have been down to the beach before our Dad got the car in park. Kids nowadays? Nah! They'd rather sit in the house, listen to their iPods and turn the TV on. Now don't get me wrong, I took the laptop with me but not to the exclusion of outdoor activities.

Even got the old man down to the beach. Sat down there for a couple hours yesterday and we each got some color and had some fries. God, I love those fries. By the time the girls dragged themselves out of the house the sun was gone.

Salt, vinegar and ketchup!

Finally walked out for dinner after owning the joint for the last 3 years. Took a nice little stroll down to the South Coast and enjoyed some wings and a Crystal Beach cheese steak. (with chicken instead of beef!) Actually had a fire when we got back and the girls went down to the beach again. But after all that activity we were in bed by 10pm. Can you say LOSERS?

Loganberry

Got my garbage picked bed all finished and set up in the spare room, but the pillow top mattress is so high, it takes away from the bed. It still is beautiful though, but I wish I would have shabbied it up a little more. Maybe the next trip.

Back to reality today - packing, unpacking, watering and discovering the deer came right up to our front door and ate my beautiful potato vine I had growing out of an old milk container. Guess that's going to have to get moved to the back yard.

Two more days off and tomorrow's agenda - CLEANING THE GARAGE! After that, let's see if I can get some of my stuff listed on Craigslist so I can make room for more stuff.

Rainbarrels

2010-07-14T19:00:00.002-04:00

Saw these at the Buffalo Garden walk last year, but was too cheap to pay the $100 for them. So, found some nice 46 gallon drums on Craigslist that once housed pepperoncini and bought a couple for $5 each.

Bought a faucet, some washers, a new piece for our downspout, some screen and voila! Our very own rain barrels made for about $20 each. They sure have come in handy this year.

To see the website for one of the best garden walks in the whole country click here:

Garden Walk Buffalo

Must clean living room!

2010-07-14T07:14:00.000-04:00

I've got to decide where these pieces are going. Running out of room in the living room!

I'm getting there!

2010-07-13T06:51:00.003-04:00

My house is starting to look like a warehouse for old furniture. But slowly I am knocking them off one project at a time.

Here's my latest score, an old sewing machine cabinet from my friend's basement. It has the drawers and the sewing machine. Can't wait to see if it still works!

Here's the headboard of the bed I am working on. The picture doesn't show well, but it is a beautiful shade of robin's egg blue.

And just for fun, here's a picture from my backyard the other night. The squirrel was pulling out all the spanish moss from my wreath.

And here's the wreath minus our friend.

A lesson in commitment, or a tough pill to swallow

2010-07-11T10:53:00.003-04:00

Summer rowing season has been in full swing for 3 weeks. M&M missed a full week while we were on vacation, plus another day when she had to play in the band for graduation. Today was their first regatta. She begged to sleep over her friend's house Friday night and opted to miss rowing practice yesterday morning. I told her how important it was to go to practice the day before an event. There was no reasoning with her.

We got to the regatta this morning and she was not in a boat. What a look of disappointment on her face. I hope this is a learning experience for her.

Two finished projects

2010-07-07T07:41:00.007-04:00

My girlfriend drinks a lot if wine. On the garden walk a few years ago we saw a beautiful garden with a wine cork wreath hanging on their patio. So, Linda and her sister saved me their corks and voila! Took a straw wreath and left the plastic over it so it wouldn't make a mess. Got all the corks out and hammered a nail into the end of each one. Stuck a piece of floral wire a couple of inches long in each cork and stuck them in the wreath. Couldn't have been any easier.

Remember that mirror I garbaged picked a couple of weeks ago? Well, here it is. It's been painted for awhile. Finally took it to a glass place and had a mirror put in. I think I will hang it over this garage sale table.

I love this time of year!

2010-07-05T22:37:00.006-04:00

Here's a couple pictures from my garden. I love to walk around out there in the morning with my coffee and take it all in.

Vacation recap

2010-07-05T11:06:00.027-04:00

All in all, it was a success. Only one day of rain. Nick got the railing put up on the deck and the screen doors in. We also got the gazebo back up for the season. Even had a chance to enjoy the place for a change. I got to the beach several times. The girls got a few cliff jumps in at Sherkston and I made it to Sherkston to see some old high school friends. One I hadn't seen since I last heard Pomp & Circumstance - 38 years ago.

Our view from the screen door on Day one.

Look how full those sconces were.

Sunset the first night.

A few beach shots:

Friends from High School:

Ann, Sue & Barb

Barb, Pete & Ann

Sue's son's tattoo of his late father, another one of my classmates.

The fireworks were awesome on the beach. The canoe club had a barge out in the lake where they shot their fireworks. Lots of people on the beach had their own fireworks and Joey blew some off at the Sagasta cottage. The group was a far cry from the cottage parties of days gone by. No beer bongs, no rowdy fires and grandchildren instead of children. But it was good seeing Rob & Carol, Fred, Joe, Timmy, Mark & Donna, Matthew and his girlfriend, Brittany and their little girl, Julianna. Last time I saw Matthew at the cottage, we was the one walking around without his diaper and now he is the one changing diapers!

A blast from the past ... some things don't change!

Hate cleaning the cottage to leave, but M&M and Clara have had enough of each other for the week and I have had enough of them! All the laundry is on the line, the refrigerator repairman is here and the garbage is at the curb. I amo heading down to Mia's (the most awesome shop where she re-upholtsters furniture and paints in shabby chic style.) She must think I am a stalker because I walk through the place and lovingly touch every piece but never buy anything. But I have gotten some great ideas and she has a chair in the window that is a match for a chair I have. It is rattan and Mia says it is from to 20s or 30s. Guess I'm going to have to dress mine up a little bit.

We made this for our yard ... isn't it cute?

View from the car ... 1 hour and 57 minutes to cross the Peace Bridge.

Back to the old grind tomorrow! Think it will feel good.

Vacation, continued

2010-07-02T09:51:00.015-04:00

The weather has been cool, but no rain at least. The girls made some tye-die tank tops and we took a ride to the Friendship Festival yesterday. Just like Riverside Park only with Canadians. They had this cool "chalk walk" where kids entered and drew on a slab of sidewalk with chalk. There were some awesome creations. Bought another tye-die kit and some more t-shirts for them to work on today.

It wouldn't be a festival without motorcycles.

Or an Elvis Impersonator.

Two girls drawing the Canadiana with chalk.

The ride that gave them both a headache.

Remember when time at the beach meant actually going in the water and walking through the sand? Not with teenagers today! They are too busy with their iPods, TV and complaining they are bored. (As I sit here typing on my computer!) So far, I am the only one who has walked the beach and I have logged more miles on the bike than M&M and Clara have combined. They get one drop of water on their bathing suits and they get tossed in the wash. Those suits have spent more time going through the washing machine than they have in the lake!

I did get them to head down with me and managed to persuade them to stay a whole hour and a half. They started asking to leave before an hour and Clara didn't want to go in the water so of course M&M didn't go either. On the plus side, we did get those fabulous fries!

Nick returns tonight after working 2 days. I'll be waiting at the door for him. Our freezer stopped working, but I only discovered it when I found about $50 worth of meat totally thawed out. Hope he can fix it.

Vacation, so far.

2010-06-30T10:44:00.018-04:00

Well, I think the town of Crystal Beach is going to request we stop coming. We're ruining the beach economy by bringing the bad weather. Poured like crazy the first day we were here. Last night it was so cold the girls sat out on the deck with blankets wrapped around them.

But, it has been perfect working weather. And working is what we do best. Nick finished the railing on the deck and got our screen doors put in. Too bad it's been so cold, we haven't had the doors open much! But they look great and Nick won't cringe looking at the siding that was too short to reach the door molding.

Back to work for Nick tomorrow, so I am on my own with the girls for 2 days. They were already bored by yesterday afternoon. Hope the Friendship Festival tomorrow will be something fun. They did manage to get in a little cliff jumping at Sherkston yesterday, went down for ice cream and played a couple games of chess and had some fun with sparklers last night. Pictures came out great.

Nick hard at work.

Nick finally sitting down.

Ann & Clara - note the faces.

Bad weather follows us.

Fun with sparklers:

Off for more adventures.

A fun evening and a new project

2010-06-27T09:16:00.009-04:00

Had a wonderful evening at my friend, David's last night with his frient Annie. Lots of gardening and pet talk. And since she is on the Buffalo Garden Walk committee, I got a preview of the Garden Walk Guide and this year's poster! So no walking around on a hot July day at the walk carrying around a poster that I try so hard not to get wrinkled. If you live in the Buffalo area and have never attended the Garden Walk, you don't know what you're missing. It is one of the premiere garden walks in the whole country! Check them out at Garden Walk Buffalo.

Here's my new project. I garbage picked this beautiful bed and here it is all set up on my patio. Thought I better make sure it went together properly and was sturdy before I set forth painting it. Can't wait to see it in periwinkle!

Gettin' Ready for Vaca!

2010-06-26T15:29:00.005-04:00

We're off to the cottage for the week and hopefully the weathermen will be wrong. As usual, rain is predicted practically every day. I swear, I should sell the information on when I am going to take off during the summer, just so people can plan their outdoor events on other weeks. Oh well, at least we won't have to worry that our neighbor forgets to water our plants.

Why is it so much work to go on vacation? Tried to get all the laundry caught up and the house straightened up as best I could. Think I will just close M&M's door when we leave, because that ain't ever getting cleaned up by tomorrow.

Nick went ahead of us in hopes of getting the new screen doors up before we get there. So far, all he's done is take the old trim off the door frames and found out that one of the screens has a bunch of rips in it. Home Depot was kind enough to give me a new roll of screen, but it just means extra work for Nick.

I've got lots of fun things for M&M and her friend, Clara to do while we are there. Got a nice tie-dye kit and some wife beater tank tops for them to work on. Got a bunch of glo sticks as they are planning on taking some pictures at night with my new camera. Got some big bubble wands too, don't know why 15 year olds would want them, but they asked. Hopefully they will be able to stand each other, and I will be able to stand them for a whole week.

Think I will take my camera book and spend some time reading up on how to use the camera on manual so I can get some pictures of the fireworks on the beach on the Fourth of July.

I'll get some pictures posted later. Picture It is no longer working, so I will be forced to learn how to use Photoshop.

A very bad day, indeed.

2010-06-22T19:27:00.008-04:00

If it could go wrong, it did today. First I started the day with a meeting that I was told would last till 10am. That was perfect since M&M has her last exam this morning and I could pick her up after the meeting. Well, it got to be 10:20, then 10:40 and I finally made a break for my phone. Told her I would pick her up after 11. Finally left non-chalantly at 11:20 and my car wouldn't start. Got our intern to take me to get her.

Then it was like an announcement went out that I was going to be on vacation next week. Everyone had computer problems. Sure hope they don't find my number at the cottage for next week.

On the plus side, my car did start back up. Only after M&M called to tell me that 2 of her 3 fish died. Needless to say, I cracked open a drink as soon as I was home for the evening. I drank it while my dinner was running over in the oven and filling the house with smoke.

So in honor of my bad day, I will post a few pictures that make me smile.

Great day!

2010-06-18T15:22:00.014-04:00

Today is just absolutely gorgeous out - high 70s, not humid, sun is shining. Just the perfect day to be at the cottage, but I'm not. That will have to wait until tomorrow. So you know what that means? You can bet it will rain tomorrow! M&M is having a couple friends sleep over tonight and then we are heading for a day at the cottage. Promised them they could go cliff jumping after I get a little work done.

Two exams done, 3 to go. When I went to pick M&M up from her Algebra exam this afternoon I decided to drive down the street that had hostas out to the curb last night. The hostas were gone but I scored a great mirror frame off an old dresser and there sitting right behind it was the matching bed frame. Made M&M get out of the truck to help me load it. In broad daylight, no less! Only plans for it now is to keep Nick from seeing it and then deciding what color to paint it. Can you say Shabby Chic? Then, have to decide where it's going to go, cottage or home.

And here is a project that actually got finished, an old kitchen chair from my Mother's attic. The paint was very buckled, but I just sanded a bit and painted right over. Don't you just love the color?

Off for haircuts tonight and pizza for the girls.

Susan Komen Race for the Cure

2010-06-12T20:25:00.032-04:00

If you want one of the most moving experiences of your life, participate in a Susan Komen Race. To see that survivors parade that seems to go on forever is surreal. And to see people you recognize that you haven't seen for years wearing their pink survivor's shirt takes your breath away.

Our office participated in our 3rd annual Komen Race yesterday. The weather forecast was intermittent showers and it sure looked like it when we got there. But our race is always the same weekend as the Allentown Art Festivial and the festival Gods always smile down on them. I can only remember one year in the last twenty or so where there was rain. So, instead of rain it just got hotter and more humid. This was the first year I have have walked the full length - 5K. The route was changed and it was a beautifully scenic walk down some gorgeous Buffalo Streets. It is great to see people doing something with all those old houses.

Here's a few shots from the race.

My co-worker Ina and her granddaughter.

I walk in celebration of My Life.

Releasing of the doves.

Survivor's parade

More survivor's parade, with my co-worker, Betsy in the middle.

Betsy

Ina and Betsy on stage

Warm ups before the race

Love the socks!

Check out the shaved heads with the pink ribbons.

Love it!

Spring projects

2010-06-11T07:53:00.022-04:00

I always have a to do list a mile long come spring. Some of them I actually get done! So, here's a little sampling of the finished and unfinished. Hopefully I will be posting some more finished ones in the not so distant future.

Aren't these great squares I found at my mother's? They will eventually be 2 quilts for M&M's room at the cottage.

Here's a dresser a friend at work gave me.

Isn't the finished project gorgeous?

A table I scrounged from a friend's garage that was left by a tenant.

Can you say Shabby Chic?

A great garage sale find. To paint or not to paint?

That's it for now. There's a few more miscellaneous projects to be done. Aything to keep from cooking or cleaning.

This is what victory looks like

2010-06-11T06:43:00.005-04:00

Memorial Day the final regatta of the spring was held. The girls were confident, but you never know what might happen. Anyone could "catch a crab". But they came away victorious! Nick was as excited as they were.