Worth the wake.......

Lance & I got an early start this morning & watched the lunar eclipse. It was beautiful.
When the Earth's shadow completely covered the moon it was glowing red.

Life.......

............is full of difficult decisions.

After hours....

After Meg's we went to Jean's house to play bumper pool.
Jean was killing us!!

While some of us played........

others just lazed around.

Another birthday????

I thought that I heard Frank tell us last year that he was not having anymore birthdays, but, here we are again out celebrating.



We had a nice size group of people meet us at Chili's for a few drinks & appetizers & ended up continuing on to Meg O'Malley's, listening to Irish music & knocking back a few more pints.


Dan & Rhonda

Dave & J.J.

Kristine & I

Terri & Eric

Jean, Terri & Jeff

Never say never.....

I don't know why I put myself through the agony of watching reality shows, but I do it to myself over & over again.
Lance & I got hooked on America's Got Talent last year & we were both o.k. with the outcome. This year ended in a war!!
From the very 1st time that I saw & heard Cas Haley I knew that he would make it to the final & by the time the final came around I had him as a sure win.



Lance & I were at the edge of our seats, which was ridiculous because it was taped & all I had to do was fast forward, and then they announced the most insane thing I had ever heard! The guy with the PUPPET won $1,000,000. (what kills me is that AMERICA voted for him)

I CAN NOT REMEMBER THE LAST TIME I WAS SO DISAPPOINTED!!
I can't even explain the insanity that was going on in this house tonight.


Terry Fator...The winner??? Not in my book!

Good for morale.........

These are our office mascots. We call them the "Z" boys. From left to right they are Zach, Zeus & Ziggy & belong to our boss Cheryl. No matter how bad of a day you are having, you can always count on the "Z" boys to cheer you up!!

Perfectly posed.

Zach, giving Rhonda some love after a bad day.

On my way....

Losing weight has always been a battle for me, but over the last few years I have been on a steady losing streak. I had not realized how different I have looked at different sizes until I ran across this picture below taken a few years ago on Cape Cod.



This one below was taken in July at Key West.
It is a 42 pound difference!!



I'm anxious to see how another 30 pounds gone looks!
(I also wonder what color my hair will be next)

Leave the Key West kitties alone.....

There has been an ongoing battle between animal activist groups & the Ernest Hemingway House in regards to the care of the cats.
As far as I am concerned, these cats are cared for as well as, if not better, than any cat that I EVER had & I am an animal nut.
The groups are pushing to have the 49 cats caged (which is insane) & the museum says if it was to come to that they would rather give them all away to good homes.

I'll be 1st in line.

A possible cruise bummer.....

My favorite part of cruising to the western caribbean is the port of Costa Maya. It is absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately at this very moment it is being pummeled by hurricane Dean with sustained winds of 165 miles & gusts up to 200 miles per hour. Who knows what will be left when we get there in April or even if we will be able to go at all.


Costa Maya is directly under the eye right now.

View from the ship upon arrival.

Uvero Beach

Jean's choice, her birthday......

When a birthday comes around we let the one who is having the birthday make the decision on what we do. You are supposed to choose what YOU like & don't concern yourself with the others. This is your day & if the others want to celebrate with you they will go along with anything even if it means going to the Red Lobster for dinner ( I hate seafood) & going bowling ( I love to bowl but my back will not allow it).

Jeff found it unbelievable that Jean would choose these things considering what I just explained. What he did not know is that I had told Jean that those choices were perfectly fine. I can have steak at dinner & take pictures while they bowl.

Jeff told her that she might as well make my day & add a trip to the Banana Festival ( I'm allergic) & a boat ride down the river ( unless it's a cruise ship, I'm not getting on!) Frank & I had a good laugh over it!

All & all it was a great night with great friends & a good time was had by all.

Being a new homeowner makes you very easy to shop for. Something for her patio.

Ready to kick some butt at bowling.......not.

She IS really good, but Frank even whooped her tonight!

What form!!!!

again I ask, what form???

You can't tell in this picture but his ball is PINK!

If you don't play, you pay. Just call me "Hey, Miss"

A little scrap booking time.....

I took a little time on Saturday to do some scrap booking. I needed to get caught up on Lance's school book & while working on it I remembered that I had bought a bunch of little fold out books so I stopped what I was doing & put one together one for Jean for her birthday with pictures from our Key West trip.

She loved it!

.

It is time to get SERIOUS!!!!!

Here comes my favorite time of year. Football season!!! For the next 5 months Frank & I are no longer married, we are simply housemates. During this time of year we just agree to disagree. (& if he thinks that HIS schedule is getting added here he has another thing coming!)

DALLAS COWBOYS
2007 Regular Season Schedule

Sun, Sep 9 - NY GIANTS (NBC) 8:15 pm
Sun, Sep 16 @ Miami 4:05 pm ***This day will be war at my house***
Sun, Sep 23 @ Chicago (NBC) 8:15 pm
Sun, Sep 30 ST. LOUIS (FOX) 1:00 pm
Mon, Oct 8 @ Buffalo (ESPN) 8:30 pm
Sun, Oct 14 NEW ENGLAND (CBS) 4:15 pm
Sun, Oct 21 MINNESOTA (FOX) 1:00 pm
Sun, Oct 28 BYE WEEK
Sun, Nov 4 @ Philadelphia (NBC) 8:15 pm
Sun, Nov 11 @ NY Giants (FOX) 4:15 pm
Sun, Nov 18 WASHINGTON (FOX) 1:00 pm
Thu, Nov 22 NY JETS (CBS) 4:15 pm
Thu, Nov 29 GREEN BAY (NFL)87:15 pm
Sun, Dec 9 @ Detroit (FOX) 1:00 pm
Sun, Dec 16 PHILADELPHIA (FOX) 4:15 pm
Sat, Dec 22 @ Carolina (NFL) 8:15 pm
Sun, Dec 30 @ Washington (FOX) 1:00 pm

Ist day of 5th grade.......

New clothes, new backpack & a brand new school!!

Lance was a little nervous about his 1st day but after I explained that with it being a new school, it was really EVERYONE's 1st day. It seemed to help.

2 minutes after we got there he located Christopher & Stephen, the twins that he has been friends with since kindergarten & they discovered they were all in the same class together.

Let's just hope they are not sitting together. Poor Miss Lander will discover quickly to separate them. Can you believe Lance is a talker???

Oh the people we meet......

I always thought that my brother was lucky to live in New York. He is always doing fun things & meeting interesting people.

He has shopped with Paris.......

Posed with Prince..........

Smiled with Spice....................

& hung out with Nsync.........too bad they are all made out of wax.

Hello to Hilary & Jonathan.

Last day of summer break......

I decided to surprise Lance & take 1/2 of a day off from work on his last day of summer break & spend the afternoon at the pool. I can't tell you the last time that I saw a smile so huge!

It is hard to believe that he is going back to school on Monday. The summer went really quick but because he loves school so much, he is ready to return.

Screaming something about sharks????



Bye to summer....hello 5th grade.

An unusual name.........

All of my life I have been told that I have a very unusual name. I thought it was pretty neat that it was not only a name you rarely heard but you also could not make a nick name out of it.
Apparently it is a little more common than we realized. Michael found this building while at home in New York.

Too funny!

I explained to Michael that it would be a cold day in..New York before I had my name on any business that had to do with cleaning. He said that it would also be a cold day when my name was listed 2nd!!!

You only turn 81 once........

We decided to celebrate Connie's 81st birthday with a surprise formal dinner.

Early in the day she asked me if I needed help in the kitchen & I knew that if I told her that I was just cooking my lunches for the week she would disappear to her room. Sure enough she did not resurface for the 4 hours that it took for me to prepare.

When I finished I had Frank call her out & when she came around the corner her jaw dropped to the floor. It was really funny.

Of course she told us that it was not necessary....... but you only turn 81 once!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Jean, Jeff, Anita & Bob................... Kris & Connie

Mary & Jason

Make a wish!!

Surprise gifts from Patty!!

The neatest thing.......

When I was young I never really appreciated the space program & what it was all about. Even when the Challenger blew up I was young & just thought it was something on T.V.

Now that I live in Florida I have a new appreciation for the launch & what it is all about. Even better is the fact that I can stand in my front yard & watch it every time. Here are a few shots from Wednesday night. It gives me chills every time a shuttle goes up.

Thank goodness...

Thank goodness for home warranties! Frank gripes everytime the bill comes but when all we had to pay was $50 to repair the a/c he sure wasn't griping then!!

It's all fixed & the house is nice & cool!!

Can't take the heat......

With the temperature in the high 90's & the heat index at 110 it would really be awful to live in Florida if you didn't have air conditioning.
Well.....WE DON'T!!! Our air went out yesterday afternoon & last evening the house was around 85. The ceiling fans helped a little but not enough for a good night sleep.
The repair man is coming out this morning. Let's hope he has all of the parts that he needs & doesn't have to order anything. (poor Lance & Connie are stuck at home) I have never been so happy to come to work.
Why did this have to happen in August???

Momma's Florida Girl.....

You don't get color like this anywhere but Florida!!

My Sun Conure, Chardonnay at 4 years old.

A birthday wish.....

We want to take a minute & wish my sister-in-law Patty a very Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday!!! We love you!!!!

Another birthday celebration...

I wanted to have a mini celebration for my birthday with some close friends. What a better way to do that than at the RedHead Martini Bar at Port Canaveral. We went around 4:00 so we could watch the Carnival Glory go out. Here are some photos of a few fellow cruisers.


Amanda, Laurie R., Laurie L., Emily, Grant, Bob, Mike, Jesse, Aaron, Frank, Sam, Julie, Jason, Justin & Anita

.............................................Laurie R. (a little excited!)


The same group with the addition of Connie.

My favorite gift.....with my Tiffany's bracelet coming in a close 2nd.....

When I moved to Florida the one thing I did not have with me was a picture of my grandfather & I have been complaining to my mother about it.
So for my birthday she sent me this 8X10 & I could not be happier!!


George Morin

We think this was taken in the early 1940's before my mother was born.

Bragging......

While some of us are hard at work.............




others are hard at play!!!

Getting older, getting braver.....

What a difference a year or two can make in the bravery of a child.

A few years ago we couldn't even get Lance to look at a fast or scary ride & now he wants to go on all of them.

(yes, I'm still chicken & waited outside)

Tower of Terror & Space Mountain.....

Rock'n Roller coaster, Thunder Mountain & Dinosaur.

Some were a little to rough for Frank!!

1st things 1st....

Our least favorite park, MGM, has our favorite restaurant. It is the
Sci-Fi Dine In Theater. It's set up like a drive in movie theater complete with cars, speakers, movie screen playing black & white old time horror movie clips, car hops & a dark sky full of stars.

A wonderful week......

The original plan was 4 days & 3 nights in Orlando at Disney's Port Orleans - French Quarter & all of the Disney parks, but after the 2nd day I already could tell that I was going to want more time there.

3 days in the parks can be exhausting & I wanted a day of just hanging around the resort, lying around the pool & sitting in the hot tub & I am so glad that we did! If we had not stayed, we would not have met a really nice family from, of all places, New Bedford, MA.

Lance became friends almost immediately with a 12 year old boy named Marcus & I hit it off right away with his mother Michelle. I wish we had met them earlier in the week because the kids really enjoyed their time together & did not want to separate.

Lance & Marcus outside of the arcade that they didn't want to leave.

We met for breakfast on the last morning, exchanged email & address information & said our good-bye's with the promise of keeping in touch. The kids are going to try the pen pal thing & hopefully the next time I go home we will be able to see them again.