a million things to update...

i have a million things to update... cause i love lists, i'll write one.

1. SNL tickets. it's august.. time to email into the lottery. this is the only month they accept emails for free tickets... email all your contact info to this address.. and you can only submit once.. snltickets@nbc.com. even if you have no intents on going, enter and give me the tickets if you get them!

2. VA Beach next summer. a week long beach house rental is being planned for july 24th-july 31st in VA beach (VA is for lovers ya know!). i'm considering it.. anyone else interested? kids are invited. dogs are not.

3. funny people. i will see this by weekends end. possibly with a boy. ;)

4. mow the lawn. ugh. its that time again. my yard is so overgrown it's making my house look abandoned. i think leaving the hose in the front yard all week long doesn't help either.

5. do websites. i have at least 3 websites to create/maintain this weekend, and seeing as this is really my only entirely "free" weekend, i need to power through them.

6. watch shows. my dvr is piling up with good shows... did you know that there is a new real chance at love? it's called "back in the saddle". :) i love those boys.. and i'm sure that i'll end up watching the megan wants a millionaire too.. and i heard this weeks real world was a good one... not to mention about 17 jimmy kimmels. plus i'm trying to watch all the MadMen season 2 commentaries ahead of the new season starting on august 16th. i've successfully got the PA hunts and my parents hooked on the show. :) it's so good though, that was easy.

7. guests gone. my guests have left... it was fun while it lasted. and i'm happy to report that my plumbing has held up with NO problems. it totally was those baby wipes. i have photos from their stay here...

8. next weekend summer party. i'm going to an annual summer party in chelmsford next weekend.. i hope the usual characters are going to be there.. one has been facebooking me... i hope he ends up coming, he's always entertaining. i also hope HEKD comes too.. i'd like to catch up and see young master nate again!

9. restaurant reviews. i have two restaurant reviews waiting to be written.. i've been eating out too much!

10. show at the everson. i got VERY LITTLE notice about the opening reception of my drawing at the everson. it's this coming friday aug 14th, 5:30-7:30. my NY family can't be bothered to come and celebrate with me, so anyone that wants to come is welcomed with open arms. there will be snacks/beverages provided. come one, come all, it's not everyday (or ever really) that i have artwork in a REAL museum.

11. bad patty. ugh. i just turned around to look at p-head cause she is barking for seemingly no reason, and i see that she has dragged a pair of my underware into the computer room to chew on. lovely.

12. dentist, doctor and vet. tomorrow i have 3 back to back appointments. i'm going to insist that my dentist fix my crappy crown. it's never been right since he made it. i have to floss that tooth about 4 times a day. wish me luck.

they're coming, they're coming!

tomorrow my house guests come to town. i could not be more excited. we've got all kinds of fun things planned, dinner tomorrow night, a baseball game & tailgate, pizza making party, then the reunion/camping up at sandy pond.. it's going to be an exciting next 9 days!

this weekend however i was able to steal away to new england.. and apparently so did the rest of the driving world. traffic was unbearable. i think i spent more time driving then i did visiting. :(


PMB's formal living room

it was great catching up with PMB and JK in their newmarket, NH home. it's absolutely gorgeous, i want to decorate my place just like PMB did hers. she's my hero.


father and baby

spending a night in sandwich, MA also afforded for some good times. i got to meet the new K-D addition. he is precious! very squirmy and has an extraordinarily strong neck for a 5 week old, but such a good baby, even if he does have blue poop.

rounding out the NE tour was a tour of another type. JBPs new house in centerville. they are JUST moved in, but the place looks great! i am so happy for them. they have a lawn that was made for entertaining, so i look forward to many good times on nottingham road in the future.

here are the pics i took....

some pics.

really barb grogan? are people really going to be able to contact you at www.barbgrogan@aol.com?! what kind of address is that? the people making your sign didn't point out to you that it was wrong as hell?

here are my pics from july so far. there are a bunch in the beginning that you might have seen already.

sunday sunday sunday **updated with pictures**

i like having visitors to my house, because it usually means i have most of the day sunday to myself. i get to see and visit, and still relax.. this is the life!

BreeD and MK came to visit for a wedding they were going to. we had a couple of really late nights. what was most thrilling to learn is that they are seriously considering moving to this area to buy a house. :) woo who! how great would that be?

i think there was a reason that breed and i were up talking so late in the night, because at 1am, a BOC kinda came up on woot.com.. getting the Bag Of Crap will depend on that the final number before the decimal is on the DOW monday at closing, and if it matches the final digit of your credit card number... say a prayer it's a 6. :)

having just two guests this weekend has been taxing on my delicate plumbing. :( mike is on his way over with a snake, and we are going to hit up Lowes for some "liquid" plumber hoping that takes care of the issue.. i really would rather not have to call a real life plumber. i can't imagine it would be cheap when it cost 2 bills just to change my locks.

speaking of paying for things, patty is having her yearly check up/shots on wednesday. cross your fingers that is under 100. :)

wednesday cath and i are also going to buy some plants for my front gardens and cath is going to redo them. i'm so excited. if possible, i'd love to buy one of those beautiful delicate japanese red maple trees for the corner.

i need to mow again too. :( i am not a fan of mowing.

the hunts came over friday and we ordered pizza.. i decided to do a little test and try some pizza. i had 2 pieces and suffered no ill effects. very encouraging.. i had 3 pieces of leftover pizza the next day for breakfast/lunch and was also not bothered. but i'm going to remain abstaining from wheat as best i can... i don't want to push it. i did discover though that guinness is wheat free. :) love.

friday when i had people over, it had to have been the hottest evening so far this summer. and i had no fans, and just the one air conditioner. i went and bought a couple fans saturday, and am going back today for another air conditioner. it was 20% off. shiiiiiiit.

i have some pictures that i've been taking to post.. i'll try to do that soon.

** UPDATE **

here are the long awaited pictures .

empty weekends are always productive

as you can see by the previous post, i was very productive this weekend. i am most enjoying watching the 2nd season of madmen.. i can totally see why it's received so many awards - it's worth them all. i also see why people fall all over jon hamm as don draper... he's fantastical! there is a new character this season called bobbie barrett, she's the wife of a comedian, when i just hear her talking, she sounds like kathleen turner from peggy sue got married. maybe that is why i like this show/era so much.

i had my oil changed at the dealership on saturday. people wonder why i take the car there, and even though i had a coupon this time, it's still about the same price as valvoline, and they are so nice there. i didn't even have to wait for them to take my car in.

i made recipe for dill pesto cream sauce this weekend to put over gluten free pasta. i had never really had the GF pasta and was skeptical to try it. it took a lot longer to cook than regular pasta, and was a little on the chewy side while it was cooking, but it turned out not bad. i'd eat it again.

however, by the time i was done with all the cooking i was really not that interested in eating it, i think it might be because it had chicken in it, and it took all my strength not to throw up when i was cooking it. i think maybe i was born to be a vegetarian. :)

i didn't mow my lawn this week even though we got a lot of rain. i'll do it next week. here is a pic of my white trash lawn when i let it go for three weeks...



here are the complete pictures i took at aud's birthday.

CSA day!

Today was CSA delivery day!! we got such great things!

asparagus, green kale, mizuna greens, romaine lettuce, spring mix lettuce, daikon radish, red radish, garlic scapes, green spinach, cilantro, green broccoli, cauliflower, dill, basil, sugar snap peas and lemon balm i think.

i think i am going to bring some lemon balm with me to work tomorrow and put it in my water, like a watery virgin mojito. :)

we got more this time than last week i think. i am excited to eat it all. i kinda want to eat it all tonight. :)

i plan to make this recipe with the garlic scapes...

Garlic Scape Pesto
1/2 lb. organic scapes (chopped into 1" sections)
1 c. organic olive oil
2 c. grated parmesan cheese
In a blender, combine the scapes and olive oil. Pour mixture into bowl and blend the cheese in by hand.

here are the pics of all the items, and the pod..

PA so far

i'm in pa and having a good time so far. yesterday morning we went to a couple of my favorite store that i don't have in syracuse. whole foods and trader joes. whole foods has the BEST recyclable bags. i will surely go back and buy at least one more. they are colorful, tall, plastic on the outside and cloth-y on the inside.. truly spectacular.

i've had great success at not eating wheat, and yesterday was a true test! at the game i drank quite a bit of wine (they sell it in the "high & inside" bar behind homeplate in case anyone is interested.) and ate a fair amount of food at the game.. crabby fries, nachos and a bunless hot dog.. but more importantly was all the wine. i had no repercussions last night. i didn't even have a hangover this morning.. it was grand.

hee hee. funny note. as i type this i hear a jingling in the hallway.. everyone went to bed at 915, so i am sure it's not E or R.. i open my bedroom door, and sure enough it's p-head.. i don't know how she found me, i accidentally didn't lock up her cage, so she's come for a night-time visit. i might just let her sleep in here because i am too lazy to go downstairs now. unless she gets too annoying in the night.

here are some pictures from the game.


EH decided she needed a new shirt at the game.. this girl is not afraid to change clothes in the middle of a baseball stadium



see us in our umbrella-ella-ella-ella. there was a 95 minute rain delay. pretty sucky.


this is miss A, eating her lunch. she's a real ham...

here are the pics that i've taken so far.

one week wheat free

so today marks one week from when i stopped eating wheat. it's been much easier than i imagined... i've not had diarrhea like experiences since i stopped eating wheat. this is probably going to be TMI, but i kind of forgot what it was like to have regular bowel movements. it's pretty awesome, actually. i am sure over this past week i consumed some trace amounts of wheat(flour), but i had none of the symptoms like what i felt last monday. it really baffles me that none of the doctors i've seen and mentioned this to ever brought up a possible food allergy as an explanation to what was happening to me. it seemingly is an allergy to wheat. wtf...

it's not exactly easy to eat wheat free, but here is an idea of what i've been consuming..
rice... i love my rice maker
yogurt
bananas
apples
grapefruit
baked tofu
tortilla chips
baked polenta with cheese melted on top
corn quesadillas
steak
lettuce wraps
corn flakes
rice chex
rice cakes
peanuts
avocados
carrots
stuffed cabbage rolls

so you can see it's not as if i am starving myself. quite the opposite.. i have had a few unexplained instances of daytime heartburn.. i'm not really sure why, but i decided to continue to take my prilosec for a few more weeks. i have not had any night time heartburn during this week. that is fantastic!

i think that this new way of eating is going to coincide nicely with the CSA deliveries. they start next week. i'll be in PA, but cath will get mine and bring it with her to PA. i am really excited about the CSA. i plan on taking photos of each weeks shipments and of the pick-up POD for those of you curious about what CSAs are. hell, i am curious! :)

thursday i drive down to E&Rs house for a red sox game this weekend followed by a week of work in Blue Bell, then it's miss As 1st birthday. i am going to need to give EH some painting lessons.. she's started three paintings and needs some help. another crafty thing we'll be doing is making hello kitty cupcake pops for the big party. too bad i won't be able to eat them, but it will be fun trying to make them look good. :)

this past weekend B&MK visited. we had a good time, i wish they would move up here rather than down south, i always have a good time with BD, but she lives too far away. here are my pics

memorial day weekend.

this long weekend has been much needed. i feel so much more caught up, so nice.

here are the pics i took this weekend...

we had typical bbq food.. and jr made some delicious brownies... sooo good.

i've got a badass dog.

patty got her hair did yesterday.. she's my little punk dog now...


before...


after.. isn't she cute.


there are more pics here.

HEKds shower

here are the pics from HEKds shower. i didn't have time to title them yet. so check back again someday for titles.. or comment your own...

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=dultmwy.1dgqowou&x=1&y=-bpwc8d&localeid=en_US

chicago..

so i am back from chicago.. it is so much nicer than i remember from when i was there in 1999.. i guess 10 years will do that. i'll start by saying the food was amazing, KH and JT took us to some gems.. the food and ambiance at nearly ever place was outstanding...

i've detailed some of these places in my pics....

i was also able to stop by foodlife for my lunch on friday. it was overwhelmingly awesome. you could get basically anything you wanted. it was laid out like little separate counters, and the menus were very easy to understand, kind of IKEA-like.. so good...

KHs apt was so cute, i loved it.. they were such good hosts.

we made pizza saturday night.. and UP and i decided we need to make pizza like this in july when he and TC come to visit. we made prob 7 different pizzas, and only had one casualty.

we saw all sorts of landmarks and neighborhoods... and most importantly, we saw many many crab apple trees, and of course, oprah walking her dancing dogs.

here are my pics...

i'm back...

it's good to be back.. i've resisted looking at any of my work emails.. i am going to hold out until tomorrow. i picked up p-head today. cath was more than happy to get rid of her, and she was SOOOO happy to see me.

i'm mostly caught up on all the shows that i missed this week.. 'cept a couple that my stupid dvr didn't record, biggest loser, and SNL. wtf.

i'm doing my laundry and procrastinating unpacking.. i'm still wading through personal emails while i watch my shows.

when i went to retrieve my mail yesterday i realized that i had left the front door completely unlocked. omg.. i am so dumb. thank god noone broke in, or even just walked in. as far as i can tell all my belongings are still here.

of course now that i am back i feel like i am getting a cold. my nose is running, and i keep sneezing, and of course the *mexican flu* is still working it's way out of my body one toilet full at a time.

amazing race looks pretty intense tonight. what is the *sign* for bitch?

the pictures are starting to come in from the trip..

here are the ones i took at easter with the kellys..

here are the ones i took in mexico.

here are CFs mexico pics and

here are EHs mexico pics.

i'll post the other pics when i get them...

shelf, dinner, pictures

this past weekend i went to pa, it was a lot of fun. towing the trailer was not though. it was empty and bulky. i bought the IKEA shelf i had my eye on. and tonight batman and i put it together (crazy easy) and we even hung it on the shelf wall. cross your fingers that it will not fall down.


we made potato soup tonight (kinda burned it) and i made some lettuce wraps. sooo good. we also created a barrier to keep p-Did in the kitchen so she does not pee on the rug any more. i think she's peed like 3 times now.

here are the pics from this weekend and the train trestle that was so awesome!

new kids on the block in syracuse

i'm glad i went to the NKOTB concert yesterday.. here are my thoughts in no particular order

• i was disapointed that not many people were decked out in old new kids attire. at the same time, the people that brought OLD tour books with them. really?! did you expect to get them signed or something.


• it was really the donnie, jordan, joe show.. danny and jonathan were just really crappy back up dancers.


• i am not sure why they even gave jonathan a microphone. he might have said 2 sentences the whole concert.


• donnie shouted out syracuse incessantly.. and brought up the sweet sixteen more than a few times.


• i did like that they came out for their final encore wearing orange syracuse jerseys.


• they sang "tonight" which i had forgotten was one of my favorites.. i downloaded it. :)


• it really was comical how badly danny and jonathan were mailing it in.


• there was an extended drawn out part where a few of them (not jon or danny) each did a couple of solo songs.


• they did about 3-4 encores.. it seemed a little excessive. :)


• it was funny to look around and see everyone drinking.. very different from when i went 16-17 years ago.


• i was surprised to see as many men as i did there.. i'd say it was about 45:1 ratio of women to men.


• there was a "in memoriam" section where they flashed a bunch of pics on the jumbotron. it was a crazy random bunch of photos.. like biggee and tu-pac, heath ledger, strangeness.


• i felt kind of bad for them because the place was totally not sold out. you'll see in my pics how empty it was.


• the parking lot attendant asked us who we liked more, donnie or joe? when we siad jordan, he said he was a DISTANT third place.

here are my pics..

some things...

so this weekend i was quite ill.. i was a slave to the bathroom from saturday evening through monday. :( i don't wish it on anyone. i hope that noone i came in contact with comes down with it.

friday night i went to caths for some cola beef and i shot a couple videos of teags..youtube is acting up right now, otherwise i'd put them in this post..


S&JH used friday night as an opportunity to catch up on greys anatomy.. very boring. i went home early.

saturday i was pretty productive during the day... then that evening batman and i went to the chicken and dumplings dinner that SH had orchestrated at cath's. it went well, we ate at the dining room table like it was thanksgiving. S&JH went to bed early that evening.. they were an all around good time this weekend. ;)

sunday i was hurting big time.. but batman said he would swap out my parents snow tires for their regular tires... yesterday was crazy cold.. it probablly wasn't a good move to be outside for so long assisting. lucky for me batman has good nurturing instincts.. he took care of all the cooking, cleaning and waiting on my duties when we got home.. and i repaid him by keeping him awake all night long running to the bathroom and coughing/choking all night long. :( he's so patient.

here are the pics from the weekend.

blown out tire

so i was driving to batmans house yesterday and i hear a popping-ish sound and think, what did i just hit? then i think, did the wine i have in my trunk just explode? then my dashboard tire pressure light comes on and dings... then i realize that i am starting to get a flat tire.. i am less than 3 miles from batmans house, so i call him and tell him i am going to try to make it.. he said not to.. i don't like to admit defeat, so i kept driving.. luckily i made it all the way to his house. i thought i should prob stop and see what was really wrong with it, but i figured it would be worse for my rim to stop and then possibly start up again.. so i kept going. and guess what! nothing ill happened for it.. :)

but check out that gash.. what the french? how the hell did that happen? i guess i am getting my wish of putting my regular tires back on.. these snows were slowing me down anyway!

***UPDATE***
here is the description of my tires when i bougth them from CL... mike was right..

Run flat snow tires (set of 4), Dunlop Winter Sport M2 205/50'. Fits Mini Cooper S. Used 1 season, stored in plastic in basement.

***END OF UPDATE***

this morning batman and i were going to take a sunday drive around cayuga lake.. i didn't realize it was going to turn into me drinking from 12-5. :) i was not too keen on drinking by myself at the wineries, but after the first one it became very easy. :) of course i couldn't help myself and now i have at least 8 bottles of wine and hosmer wine glass. ;)

p-head loved the visit with batmans dogs too.. she got along pretty well with them and the bat parents LOVED her.. i don't even think she had any accidents either. she has an open invitation to come back whenever she wants.

here are some more photos of the weekend.

very tired

i'm too tired to write out a blog, but here are the pics from the weekend. i hope LK posts hers too, cause hers are much more comprehensive from the 1st night when i got so drunk...

pictures

productive weekend.

i had a very productive weekend.. i don't want to calculate how much money i spent though. it started friday when i met mike and cath after work for some TV buying.. i ended up buying two tvs.. one 40 inch sony bravia and one smaller one for the basement, it's something in the 30" range. the sales people at bestbuy must not work on commission, our sales girl was not friendly at all.. she acted like she was too cool for school and we were there annoying her... but cath has seen my tv in ads and says it is much more than i paid for it. i got the floor model for 899..


this is the living room tv i got.

setting it up to work with the cable was a feat in itself. first off, we (and by we i mean mike) broke the bookshelf that E&R put together for me. we tried moving it without taking the photo albums off and it was disastrous for the leg of the bookshelf. thankfully i was able to screw it back on saturday. we put all the tvs in their new homes (basement, living room and brick room....) and mike only broke 2 of the blinds on the window in the process. he really is like a bull in a china shop. :)

after mike and cath left i tried to fix my internet connection... wasn't happening.. i had to call back saturday morning and someone had to come out to the house to out in a signal booster.. since then i've not had any internet problems. phew!!


this is the couch i ordered.. its so cute and comfortable.. its not white though, its a seafoam green.

saturday cath and i went furniture shopping at ashley furniture.. it was a very productive trip. i ended up ordering a couch set.. its so cute, seafoam green, i got the sleeper couch, loveseat, chair and ottoman. tomorrow i will go back and add counter top table, and sofa table to my order.. then i will be so ready for my party.

i've put a bunch of photos in this album of my shopping trips and my new tvs...i also posted the pics from my raw dinner last weekend..


so delicious looking.

today i went to two of my neighbors doors and one of them peeked out their window and didn't answer.. and the other more important one (the retired lady across the street) answered and invited me in and gave me a little bit of the scoop on the neighborhood. i am so glad i finally talked to her because she is the woman that sits in her window watching everything all day and night. my ninja turtle neighbor rents and works at ricos i heard... and she said there is a younger couple that moved in within a year next door to her.. i'll have to keep an eye out for them and be sure to introduce myself. other than that she said the neighbors are mostly all old people.

i've been working on my year in review album all evening.. i hope to finish it before i go to bed.

oh, and the snow plow guy returned my money, finally..

so green.

i asked the city for 2 blue bins and they delivered 3! wooot! so exciting, now i can get my recycle on. i am also impressed that they took all my trash from last week. it was a ton.

so i texted the 1st crappy snow plow and asked where my money was!! he texted me back to say he was going to give me a full refund next week. he better!!

i'm still ill... i took a benadryl and nyquil last night and slept like a log... i'll be repeating that little cocktail again tonight. i'm hoping to get my hearing back by this weekend.

making shakes every morning is really a good use for my decaying produce.. i have two tomatoes and some slimy spinach that are going to be making it to the blender tomorrow morn.

i thought 30 rock was going to be new tonight.. oh wait. that is on thursdays...

i took photos of the house in progress for you nosey nubs.