Friday, November 2, 2007

How Are You Feeling Today?


My Mother In Law gave me this magnet years ago and I keep it on my refrigerator. It's made by a local Cincinnati company called Creative Therapy Associates and created by the cartoonist Jim Borgman . Jim writes the comic Zits, which is so funny if you have teenage kids or have lived through the teenage years. I don't know if Zits is in the papers all over the country. Anyway, I think the magnet costs around four dollars and that little blue box can be moved around depending on how you feel that day.


For all of you who have problems seeing small letters (like me), just click on the image to see it better. So what mood are you in today? I should put hyper from all the coffee I've had this morning but I don't see that on the list. So I think I'm feeling mischievous, just because I like his face! And I like the lovestruck guy's face too. Hope you are all in a good mood for the weekend! Have a safe and wonderful one.


Thursday, November 1, 2007

Fun Times

Cleo(my crazy kitty) inspecting the treats for the kids.
Maddie(my cute granddaughter) inspecting Grandpa's work on her pumpkin.
Maddie(cute granddaughter again) doing her inspection of the treats.
Grandpa(my sweetie) and Maddie waiting for the kids to come. Maddie looks a little bored with the whole thing. LOL But look at her cute University of Cincinnati cheerleader outfit. She had pom poms but they didn't last long. We had fun at our home last night, hope you all had a great night also!



Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Only Treats Here Today!

Is this about the cutest picture ever? I tried to get one that looked like my sister June's puppy but could only find this picture. I have no reason to post it other than it's so cute!


Now here is the cutest little baby. This is my granddaughter Maddie last October 31st and she is dressed as a cow. She could have cared less about Trick or Treat but she sure did look sweet enough to eat.

And this is a picture my kids might pay me to keep off of my blog. It must be around 1984. How do I know that when I did not mark the date on back of the picture? Which by the way, please do because you never do remember the date. Anyway, from the left to right are my kids, Melissa, Christina and Jimmy. I think it's 1984 because Melissa probably started kindergarten then and she has short hair because she and her friend Becky decided to play hair dresser one afternoon at Becky's house. That's the only time I remember Melissa having short hair. She was a princess, Christina was a cowgirl and Jimmy went as Spiderman who he loved for years.


Anyway, Maddie is coming over Grandma's to Trick or Treat tonight and she's going to be a University of Cincinnati cheerleader(Mommy & Daddy are alumni). She doesn't eat candy yet so Grandma has some yummy cookies for her. The scariest thing about Trick or Treat is leftover candy at my house. By the end of the night I am giving out handfuls of the stuff just to get it out of my house. I have no willpower when it comes to sweets! (sigh) Oh and I changed my top and bottom banner just for today. Have a safe and fun day!


Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Travel Tuesday - Napa Valley California

Enjoying a picnic lunch on the winery grounds with our good friends Mike and Vickie. All of these pictures were taken in our last visit in 2003.
My good friend Vickie and I at the Crush Party


This was too much fun. We were crushing the grapes at the Crush Party at V. Sattui Winery
This is my sweetie and I at V. Sattui Winery. Look it how beautiful the grounds are.




Well,what can I say about Napa Valley? It is one of my very favorite places to visit. Even if you don't drink wine it is a great place to see. The restaurants are some of the best and they have wonderful spas and a hot air balloon ride is an exciting thing to do also. Okay, let me tell you about a few of my favorite places to go in the Napa Valley. My sweetie and I have been there a few times, the last time was the Fall of 2003 when we attended the Crush Party at V. Sattui Winery. What is a Crush Party? It's a party that celebrates the harvest of the grapes. And it's a fun time. We had food, wine and also tasted the new wines. I am not an expert on wines by any means but I do not think you can go wrong with any of the wines from Sattui. In fact we like it so much, it's about the only wines we have in our little wine cooler. You can eat on the picnic grounds there also. But there are so many more wineries to go and see and I would suggest you go see at least one of the sparkling wines wineries. The one I would recommend and again this is just from my own experience is Mumm 's sparkling wine. I personally love their Blanc de Noirs, it's a slightly sweeter sparkling wine. We usually get a bottle for New Years Eve to toast in the New Years. They also have one of the best tours of their facility, it was very interesting. There are too many wineries to mention in Travel Tuesday but these are two of my favorites. For a fun time you can also take the tram up to Sterling Winery . To be honest I only drink my red wine on special occasions anymore because for so long I couldn't drink anything because of my acid reflux but it's better now and I can enjoy a glass now and then. Now let's go on to my favorite places to stay, no contest, my favorite places are any of the Four Sisters Inns, I don't know how I found these gems but they are worth it. The Maison Fleurie is probably my favorite because it is in Yountville. I liked staying in Yountville better the Napa. I have also stayed at the Blackbird Inn and it is in the heart of Napa. I could go on and on with all there is to do and see in Napa and these are just a few of my personal favorites. I will certainly go back someday and hopefully to the Crush Party again. I didn't mean to exclude Sonoma and it is also a wonderful place to visit and see but hey I only have so much room to write. I'm lovin' California so let's stay here for a little while and move on down south to Monterey and Carmel next week. Thanks for traveling with me.


Giveaway Fun!



Sandy at Dream Create and Inspire is giving away this beautiful piece of art. It's on a 8 x 10 canvas and she handpainted it in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It's so pretty, so fly on over and get yourself entered right now. But do it soon because the giveaway ends on November 1st. This is a talent I do not have and wish I did. By the way Sandy , I love your new music on your site especially the Moulin Rouge songs. I'll be back later on today with Travel Tuesday. We are going to one of my all time favorite places, Napa Valley, California.


Monday, October 29, 2007

Weekend Fun!

People were dancing in downtown Cincinnati on Friday night. We were shopping and noticed there was a party going on at Fountain Square for the Bengals. It was called The Bengals Bash. Tried to get get my sweetie to pose with the Ben Gals cheerleaders but he wouldn't do it. So we just watched for awhile.
We took our daughter Christina out for her birthday on Saturday night, it's getting hard to get a good picture of our granddaughter Maddie anymore because she's mobile all of the time. That's my mother in law, Lynn on the left, my sweetie, the birthday girl and my daughter Melissa and Maddie and my son in law Jamiel. Our son Jimmy and his girlfriend, Allison couldn't make it.
Here's the birthday girl with her brownie and ice cream cake. It was a good time!



We had a great weekend celebrating Christina's 26th birthday and going downtown. And then we babysat Maddie on Sunday while Mommy and Daddy went to the Bengals game, which the Bengals lost. :-( Have a great week


Sunday, October 28, 2007

100 Things About Me

I'm blaming anything that's written below on the monkey. He took over my laptop and he also tried to take my favorite perfume and I-Pod. I also had these things perfectly spaced apart and blogger messed them all up, he really did. :-)

I probably should be embarrass that I've reached this 100 mark so soon after starting blogging but it's been a fun and addicting new hobby. None of these are in any order except for Number 1. So here goes:

1)I love the Lord first and foremost.

2)I went to a Catholic school for 12 years, high school was an all girl school. My sweetie went to the all boy school next door.

3) I still have nightmares about Sister Agatha and her T-stick ruler in grade school. LOL

4)I don't think she liked kids

5)We called her Sister Hagatha(I know we were so mean), we were only kids.

6)I had to work hard to get good grades.

7)On the subject of nuns, I took Latin in high school.

8)Don't know why, everyone else was taking exotic things like French and Spanish

9)My teacher was a 90 year old nun, I don't think she could see or hear. (okay, I might be exaggerating a little) :-)

10) I got an A in that class, I'm not sure she even knew who was in her class.

11) I had a good time in Latin class,

12)I left the Catholic Church and now attend an non-denominational church., but understand it has nothing to do with being Catholic, I was just led in another direction.

13)My church now is one of the biggest churches in Cincy.

14)They messed with Christmas tradition last Christmas

15)You do not mess with Christmas tradition in my humble opinion or Thanksgiving or Easter for that matter.

16)I am all about tradition.

17)My church had a Christmas program called the Lightbulb Man, it was very modern and I know what they were doing but don't mess with Christmas people!

18)I wear contacts , something called mono vision contacts

19)Mainly because I can't read without them, can't read one dang gone thing without my contacts or glasses.

20)Started having trouble seeing in my later 40's

21)Until I started computer work, I had the best eyes.

22) I was a stay at home Mom for about 17 years.

23)Loved it and have never regretted staying home with my kids.

24)That time of my life went by too fast.

25)Spent too much time wishing it would go by faster.

26)Now sometimes I wish I could go back.

27)Love this time of my life (except for the perimenopause thing)

28)Lost one of my best friends and she was also my sister in law way too young.

29)I miss her

30)She was always straight with me, even telling me when she thought I was out of line, but she always did it in a loving way.

31)We should all have a friend like that.

32)She died of a brain tumor.

33)She left two children behind, whom I love dearly.

34)I lost my brother and mom, way too early also

35)They both died instantly of heart attacks

36)I get a little freaked out if I have acid reflux sometimes because it mimics heart attacks

37)I love my husband

38)He tells me daily that he loves me

39)I think I am the luckiest girl ever to have such a wonderful man

40)He's also a great father

41)I also love my Dad

42)I know my Dad loves me.

43)So important for young girls to know thier Daddies love them.

44)I'm putting myself to sleep with this list

45)I grew up on the Ohio River

46)I used to swim, fish and water ski on the river

47)I was a pretty good fisherman(woman) we used wheaties(the cereal) as bait

48)Wouldn't even put my big toe in the Ohio River anymore.

49)Had a Golden Retriever named Claire, best dog ever in the WHOLE world-don't even try to argue with me on that one

50)Haven't had another dog since because I'm afraid no dog would be as good and loving as she was

51)We also had a bunny named Buttercup and another cat named Tiger. The kids begged me for the bunny, told me they would take care of him. Guess who ended up taking care of that bunny?


52)Who knew bunnies live for years and years and years........long after the kids leave....

53)Now we just have our kitty Cleo, she think she's the queen of the house.

54)I love to read, books or magazines. Books were my good friends when I was a young girl.(still are)

55)I also love to read the newspaper every morning drinking my coffee, especially Sunday's paper.

56)I love coffee with coffeemate fat free vanilla creamer and splenda's vanilla flavor sweetener-yummy!

57)I also like to drink Coke Zero and Crystal Lite's Lemonade


58)I lost about 35 pounds on Weight Watcher's last year.

59)It's a constant battle for me to maintain, not because of the program but because I like food.

60)I love sweets, I still miss Little Debbie's Swiss Roll cakes. Can't even have them in my house or I'll eat them all :-(

61)Here's a big surprise, I love to travel.

62) Doesn't even matter where I go to, I love to travel everywhere


63)I don't think I've ever been anywhere that I didn't like.

64)Australia is on the top of my list of places I want to see before I die or get too old.

65)I can't even think of my favorite place I've been too. Maybe Hawaii or it could be anywhere in Europe.

66)I went back to school when I was 40 years old.

67) I was scared to death after being home for so long

68)I was not even sure I was going the morning of my first class, my sweetie convinced me to go and I loved going to Travel school.

69)Now you can't stop me from going away to see new places

70)I'm not afraid of planes, I just get anxious about getting through security and checking in, so I get to the airport really early. Once I'm back at the gate, I totally relax. I don't get that.

71)I totally love my granddaughter Maddie. Never knew grandkids could be so much fun.

72)Can't wait to see my two new grandbabies next year.

73)I was a bank teller for about five minutes, I was not very good at it.

74)I am a girly girl now. I love makeup and clothes and purses.

75)My favorite color is various shades of pink(big surprise!). I do like red alot also.

76)I have three sisters and I had a brother who died last year.

77)I love movies, mostly romantic comedies but I do love a good drama or action also.

78)Friday nights are usually date nights for my sweetie and me.

79)We almost always go to the Coffee house and get a latte. They have happy hour there between 4pm and 6pm. It's funny going to coffee happy hours now.

80)I love the beach. I love walking on it, especially the beach in Hilton Head.

81)I hope we can retire for a few months out of the year by the beach.

82)I love sea bass, it's my favorite seafood.

83)We lived in the house my father in law grew up in and my sweetie grew up in. We were the third generation of the family to live in that house.

84)We brought all of our babies home to that house.

85)It was huge, with a billiard room upstairs and rooms that once were for a maid and butler and a big basement that my kids could ride their big wheels around in.

86)It was also very old and too much work for me and needed too much money to be put into it

87)It had a real crystal chandelier. I wanted to take it with us. The realtor convinced us it was a selling point. Wish I never would have listened to her.

89)We have lived in this home for over 20 years.

90)I love the neighborhood.

91)My eyes are glazing over. Are you guys still reading this stuff

92)I'm not very athletic.

93)Though I used to be pretty good at archery when I went to summer camp.

94)I tried playing golf. I don't play now, but I sure did love to go to the practice range and hit the golf balls.

95)I love my three kids and am proud of each one of them.

96)I love this new hobby of blogging and all the nice people I have "met"

97)It is addicting

98)I like to collect cookbooks but am not much of a cook

99)Only one more to go.

100)Thank goodness this is it. My Dad's probably the only one interested in reading this whole thing! :-)

I am also going to do a small giveaway soon but can't do it just yet. A little hint -- check out my number 98.