New Year - Maybe I'll post more!

I have no idea what this new year will bring but I'm hoping maybe to post more on this site. I'm so caught up in Facebook at the moment I find it hard to post. But maybe that will change. I'm trying! There are so many of friends and family on facebook it's hard to move to another area that doesn't get the attention. But I find that other's I'm friends with do find the time so maybe I can too. We will see! I'm so thankful for the friends who do still blog.

Here's some places where I like to spend time:

Debra at As I see it Now

Kathy at Gypsyknits

Donna at Quiet Life

Ree at The Pioneer Woman

Maggie Ann at Knitting Kat

Chris and Laurie at Miss Flower

A few art blogs too:

Mel at Ephemeraology

Angela Cartwright at Said & Done

Deb Trotter

Collage Obsession

A little politics:

Big Hollywood

Elizabeth Scalia at The Anchoress

My faith:

Peggy at Don't Know much about the Rosary

My old time radio sites:

Barry at OTR

List of old radio programs here



Right now my hubby and I are gearing up for the Steelers - Ravens Game this Saturday! Go STEELERS!!!

Of colds and movies

Well, after working 12 straight days for work I just had to come down with a head cold. So I've been resting and sneezing this weekend. I did have fun on Saturday watching a movie from Netflex. The Stock Club starring Betty Hutton, Barry Fitzgerald, and Don DeFore.

Here's a clip from the movie. Betty singing Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief


I enjoyed the movie very much. I love these old Black & White movies. They are just fun to watch.

Lori and I also watched Marley and Me. We laughed and then cried.


My sneezing stopped long enough on Saturday night for Paul to take me to the movies. He had gone and saw State of Play while I was in New Jersey and liked it enough that he wanted me to see it. The movie stars Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, and Robin Wright Penn. The movie was good. I'm a big Russell Crowe fan and he was good in the movie. It's a politcal thriller. Lots of intrigue! If you are intersted the trailer is here!

I sure hope this cold goes away soon. The weather here is beautiful and I'd like to get working outside in the garden!

Hey!

I'll be gone for a few days for my work. We are going back to New Jersey for the Abilities Expo! Wish me luck. We've gone several times over the last few years. It's lots of fun but lots of work too! Four days with no dishes, dinner bought for me, and the tv and tv turner to myself! Four days on my feet selling trikes! They ache just thinking about! I'll be back on line next week! Blessings to all!

We are staying at a new hotel. I hope it is nice!

He's an Easter photo of Jackson. The Easter Bunny brought him a "Pixar Cars" ball. The bunny knew Grandma would like it! Hope everyone had a blessed Easter!

A crazy day!

Yesterday was my birthday! Thanks to everyone who called and emailed birthday wishes!

Paul gave me this! Thanks honey!!

I bought this for myself with my birthday money!


The day started out crazy as we had to take Lori to the emergency room in the middle of the night. We went at midnight and got home again at 5 am. I went to work at 11 am after getting a few hours sleep. She's is okay! Couple of problems but she is feeling much better today!

Hubby and I went to a Halloween Party last weekend. I went as a Bohemian Hippie Gypsy! Best thing I could come up with. I borrowed it from a friend. I'm not much on dressing up and with glasses forget a mask.

Me and hubby. He's one of the Jokers henchmen!

Our host - The Joker

The Joker and his henchman! Why so serious?

Superman was there too!

He was ready for any problem that came up!

Thing One & Thing Two didn't cause him any problems. They didn't make a mess but they did win for silliest costume!

Raggedy Ann was there for some fun too!

The Dead Prom Queen and Loretta Lynn made an appearance. The Prom Queen won best costume!

The Dead Prom Queen is seen here with the Cereal Killer!

An Australian Cowboy, Gypsy, and Viking

There was apple bobbing and

Rock Band! Who wants to play guitar?

What Halloween party is complete without a black cat!

Pictures taken by The Camera Totin' Idiot! and our host, The Joker! Thanks!

I've been tagged!

Maggie Ann over at Knitting Kat has tagged me! Seven Random or Weird things about me! Let's see what I can come up with!

1. I like to watch movies with the captions on. No I'm not deaf. Sometimes I just can't make out what the actors are saying.

2. I dunk my oreo's. I love to dunk them in coffee and cold, cold milk.

3. I'm fascinated by the 30's and 40's. I guess cause my parents grew up in that time. I love watching old movies of the period espeically black and white movies.

4. I love to sing but I can't do it very well but my grandson doesn't seem to mind.

5. I had a photo of Mark Spitz with his 7 gold medals on the back of my bedroom door when I was a teenager. You can read about it here.

6. I love Christmas music and movies. I could listen or watch them all year long.

7. I'm very shy and timid in unfamiliar settings but I'm working on it.

Anyone else want to play along?

I'll tag:

Laurie and Chris at Miss Flower
Connie at Devoted Mama
Hubby at Camera Totin' Idiot
Annie Fannie at Green Acres
Suzanne at Just another Hang Up
Suzy at Suzy's Bloomers
Vixen at Vixen's Den

Here I am!

August has been a busy month! So I've taken a little time off from blogging. I've got lots of things to share and I'll be back this week!

So what's been going on?

Three of my bosses arrived here on August 15th! Graeme, Ian, & Sylvia. That means a busy busy time at work! Graeme left on the 22nd of August! He was here just a week but we had a busy week. He built trikes up and I tore them down and packed them! Busy busy! I think we sent out 25 trikes last week! That's GREAT! Ian & Sylvia will be here until the 3rd of September! They are just here for their holiday (or vacation to us Americans) so they won't be in the office much. They are the "owners" and are pretty much retired from the business but they are the "big bosses" and are the ones who hired me! So I've go to be on my toes while they are here! It's been nice seeing them. They haven't been here since 2003.

I've been sick! Of course Graeme shows up with all this work to do and I get a cold! UGH! I made it though. With the help of pain reliever and Kleenex lotion tissues and lots of hot tea.



We have had Olympic fever here at our house! Did anyone else watch?

Lori and I watched every Michael Phelps race! Isn't he great! I loved Mark Spitz back in 1972 and had this poster on the back of my bed room door.


What can I say? I was 11! I showed the poster to Lori and she just rolled her eyes and said "yuck". I think I still have the poster in my attic. I'll have to get one of Michael Pheleps to go with it.

He's from Baltimore MD! So he's a local boy to us. His parents graduated from a high school in our county!

Watched the gymnastics too!


Anyone think these Chinese girls are 16? It was still fun to watch. I've been watching Olympic gymnastics since Olga in Munich in 1972. Remember this?



We also watched every match of the beach volleyball!

Gold medals for Misty & Carrie!

Lori turns 18 tomorrow, August 25th! She had some friends over on Friday to help celebrate.

She starts collage tomorrow! She's attending our local community collage. Good Luck Lori! What fun to start your very first day of collage on your birthday!

Jackson came by on Friday to wish Aunt Lori a Happy Birthday. I'm glad I was feeling better.


I have plenty of Bloomin' Tuesday and Wordless Wednesday photos to share so please check by this week! I promise I'll be here!

What's happening this week???

Sara, Aaron, and Jackson are moving to a nicer apartment and John will be here for Labor day Weekend. Hurrah!!!! I will have plenty to blog about!

I like this song!

Here is a new song release by Blake Shelton.



This song is so beautiful! I have felt like this several times. The time that stands out in my mind the most is in 1995. I flew to Anaheim CA with my work. It was the first time I had ever been on an airplane and it was the furthest from home that I have ever traveled alone. This song reminds me of how I felt the six days I was there. I wanted to go home. I missed my husband, my kids, my sister, my house. To quote the song "Another airplane, another sunny place, I'm lucky I know but I want to go home. I've got to go home. Let me go home. I'm just to far from where you are. I want to come home." That is exactly how I felt.

Michael Buble has also released this song. Lori likes his version better.

Here is the video. Let me know what you think!

Breakfast for Lunch!

Strawberry Crapes!

Need I say more?

They are delicious! I had them today for lunch at Bob Evans. If you've never tried them run out to Bob Evans as fast as you can and try them. Take my word if you love strawberries you'll love their Strawberry Crapes!

I do!

I learned something or.........

according to the Camera Totin Idiot "She can be taught!"

The tulip's in my neighbor Helen's yard have been beautiful this week! I've been busy snapping photos of her flowers because I knew they would soon be gone. The best time to take the photos are in the morning and at lunch time to catch the morning and afternoon sun on her front yard and back yard. I'm lucky I get to come home for lunch everyday!

I've been frustrated that my photos haven't been turning out the way I want them too. I see what others take of their flowers and I just haven't been getting the close up effect I wanted. Well, leave it to HIM to get to the root of the problem. "Read the directions" is what he told me this morning! So I did! And the result is wonderful. I didn't realize I had a Macro (close-up) setting on my camera. Well I do and I'm going to use it from now on for close up shots of flowers and things. Maybe even that new grandson!

Here is the photo I took today WITHOUT the macro setting:



Here's the photo after changing to the macro setting:




Much better! Don't you think?

There are two macro settings. Macro and Super Macro. When the camera is set on Super Macro the zoom button can't be used. I guess the camera is zooming in for me.

Here are some photos taken earlier in the week in the auto setting using the zoom. They are nice but I can see where the Marco setting is going to be great for flowers!




I took these photos in the afteroon when I was home for lunch and I'm glad I did because by the time I got home from work a little after 5 pm here is what I found:





Sad isn't it? I know tulips don't have a long life and the hard rain we received today probably would have beat the petals off but it would have been nice to have enjoyed them for a few more days. Too bad the neighborhood kids didn't think so.

My neighbor Helen died in 2003. Her daughter, Joy, owns the house and isn't able to live there right now but although Helen is no longer with us, I still enjoy her flowers just like I enjoyed them with her when she was living. I was sad when I saw the flower's petals laying on the sidewalk discarded and unwanted and it made me so glad I had taken their picture earlier in the week!

So what I learned is this - Always have your camera ready and take photos, photos, photos, because what you want to photograph may soon be gone and

Always READ the Directions!

Sneeze, Cough, Cough, Sneeze

I've been sick! A bad head cold, sinus congestion, cough, aches, and pains. That's about the whole of it. I missed a few days of work and managed to be unproductive the days I did show up. So it will be busy, busy, busy this week at work.

What I'm thankful for:

Kleenex Tissues with Lotion - My Nose is very thankful!


Vicks VapoRub Cream - I hate the smell of this stuff but it works!


Pillows - without them I couldn't have slept! These aren't mine but aren't they pretty?


And just when I needed a laugh my Netflex movie showed up! Season 6 Disc 1 of Wings. Funny, funny, funny.


It was a good weekend to be stuck at home on the couch sick. Besides Wings I also watched King Kong 3 times (well parts of it over three days) and three Star Wars movies!

King Kong is pretty good. I like Adrian Brody. He's quite funny in the movie. I don't care for Jack Black and his character in the movie is worth not liking. The end is sad and happy!


Also watched Star Wars - 3 episodes - A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi! They are favorites!





The Spike channel has been showing all the Star Wars movies over the last two weekends. So between last weekend and this past weekend, I've now watched the entire Star Wars saga from Episode 1 to Episode 6. This is the first time I've ever watched them in order. I enjoyed it very much. George Lucas did a pretty good job of putting all the episodes together. There are a few plot holes but so what. It's fun! Maybe someday I'll own them all on DVD. Sweetie, that's hint!

Any other Star Wars fans? Do you have a favorite? Mine will always be the original Star Wars. I saw this for the first time on July 4, 1977 with my brother and sister. I was 17 years old and had just graduated from high school. We drove one and half hours away from our hometown to see it because we couldn't wait any longer for it to come to our town! I'll never forget the first time the music started! It was just great! We ended up going to the same place a week later and seeing it again. We took my best friend along this time! We loved it! In all I guess I saw it 12 times during 1977. You'd go broke doing that now a days! It's a great memory! That was 30 years ago last summer!

Here's the original trailer from 1977 for Star Wars! enjoy!

We had a terrific show!

The Abilities Expo was a great experience. I really enjoyed doing the show! It was fun to get out of the office and see the kids on the trikes. It is so rewarding to see a child's face light up with excitement when they ride a tricycle for the FIRST time! The parents get all excited too seeing their child do something they never thought they would do. All the kids that ride our trikes have some sort of special need such as cerebral palsy or other. They need the 3 wheeled trike for balance and some kids need help keeping their feet on the pedals or help sitting up. We can provide a tricycle for just them. We have trikes for kids from ages two up to young adult! Here's one we have for sale!


We were so busy on Saturday of the show that Graeme and I didn't even have time for lunch. I had a few minutes to have a yogurt and a banana and that was it.

This is my boss, Graeme. He's from Glasgow Scotland and is the Vice President of TRIAID, Inc and our sister company in Scotland, Theraplay LTD. He's a fun guy and a hard worker who loves football (soccer to us Americans!). He has three children and a lovely wife. I've meet them all when they've been here on vacation. They love to visit Williamsburg and Busch Gardens in Virginia when they are here. I asked him if I could take his picture and he agreed but don't tell him you saw it here! Graeme flew back to Scotland today, 4/5/08. I hope he has a safe trip. He will have left here around 1 pm today and won't get home until 1 pm Sunday UK time. The flight is 8 hours long and there is 5 hours time difference between Glasgow and Maryland. So it's a long journey home for him and he'll have a dose of jet lag but he'll be in the office at Theraplay Monday.

In the evenings we went to a Woodbridge Center(mall) for some dinner and a little shopping. I bought Lori a game for her Xbox and for Sara I bought a little outfit for her Jackson and a toy for him! Paul just wanted me to bring myself home and that's what he got. The mall is huge. It has two floors and is in the shape of plus sign. I think the one part of the plus sign and one floor is as big as our mall here.

I sure was glad to get home on Sunday night. I've been tired all week. When I got home Paul had a surprise for me. Here's what he bought me.


Aren't they lovely! He's such a sweetie. It is so good to be home and sleeping in my own bed. Although the bed in the hotel was great. A King size bed for just me. I could sleep sideways, at an angle, anyway I wanted.


We had breakfast here:


And Saturday night we meet up with our friends from the DC show in November Andrea and Craig from Access Anything for a drink. Well everyone else had a beer and I had a PEPSI!



I didn't take my camera with me on the trip. I didn't want to have to worry about loosing it or having it stolen. So I didn't get any pictures of our booth or the show but here's a photo from the Abilities Expo My Space page. The fellow walked around the show all day Saturday. The kids loved him!


Friday night, Paul & I took the kids,Sara, Aaron, and Lori, out to dinner. We had fun. We went to a new place in Frostburg. The Sand Springs Salon and Steakhouse. Although none of us had steak. Go figure! Paul had pork chops, Sara had a crab cake, Lori and Aaron had chicken, and I had the ribs. It was goooood!!!!!!!!!! I felt a cold coming on all week and it arrived in the middle of the night last night. Today has been a catch up on sleep day. Monday it will be back to work on my own! I hope you've all had a great week. I'll be back to regular blogging this week!

Photos of the Sheraton Hotel from their website.

Another Business Trip

Well, it is March and time for another business trip. This time we are going to Edison, New Jersey to the Abilities Expo.

This will be our hotel, Sheraton Edison Hotel Raritan Center! It's a very nice place. We've stayed here in the past when we attended this show.


The show is being held at the New Jersey Convention Center. This show will be much bigger then the previous show we went to in November. I hope it is much busier!




I'll be back Sunday night - LATE! Not sure when I'll get to post again. I hope everyone has a great week and I hope your finally enjoying some spring weather.