Don't know much yet

Went to the doctor and he took some blood and I should hear back early next week. He couldn't feel anything in my neck, but they couldn't feel the one I had as a kid either. You couldn't see it until I had an X-ray done. So, I'll wait and see what happens next week. I still feel something there that's bothering me, so if something weird doesn't show up in the bloodwork maybe I need to press for an X-ray or something. I know I'm not imagining this, but sometimes I feel like a freak.

I was good and made the appointment

Not much to say except that I'm seeing my doctor tomorrow afternoon. I would have seen him today but he's out today. To add to the drama, Tim wants to drive me in case they do any bloodwork, as he knows I get queasy and ill at ease. So, I'm working until 1PM then going there, and we'll see what happens.

My mom happened to have a doctor's appointment herself yesterday and asked him if these types of cysts can come back, and he said they can. She described what I told her and he said that sounds like a possibility. Of course, it hasn't been bothering me today or much yesterday, but I know it's happened more than once so I'm still going. I'm still dog tired, so if nothing else maybe I need to take iron pills again. I've been living back in the north since 1995 and I don't remember ever feeling this bad in the winter except for when I had an iron deficiency.

So, we'll see what happens...

A few quizzes, stolen from Laura Leigh

Got some stitching done, finally :)

I didn't work enough on anything to scan, but I worked a little on a few projects.

5 hours more on Sweet Dreams Santa
The last 3 hours on Christmas Flourishes, for this rotation
1 hour on Earth Dragon

Earth Dragon really wasn't on my January goals list but I felt like stitching a little on it. It's a huge project on black fabric so I can't work on it for too long without going nutso, but he's going to be awesome when he's finished. I figure if I can get in a few hours in a week, an hour at a time, he'll be done some day. The up side is there are few partial stitches and very little backstitching.

I need to get some time in on Santa in Fur and make an ornament to complete my January goals, and I think I can do that. I can make a cute ornament in a few hours (stitching, anyway) and Santa in Fur only needs 5 hours. Since it's a small but tedious design that will show a lot of progress. I really like the look of Santa in Fur, but there's a lot of confetti stitching and I'm spoiled by my Mirabilias and not used to it :)

By the way,

The Eagles won the NFC Championship

Of course, now it's fashionable to say that there's no way they can win against the Patriots. Sigh... We've been hearing throughout the playoffs that the Eagles aren't any good without T.O., that they can't stop the running game, etc., etc. Even after playing a superb game against a very talented team (Atlanta) we still hear this stuff. Oh well, nothing new. They just don't get taken seriously and I don't understand why. They are a great team with a fantastic coaching staff and a lot of heart.

One thing I'm thankful for is that since it was so cold last night there wasn't a huge amount of nonsense going on. I'm outside the city, but I heard some fireworks and cars honking. Downtown there was some silliness, but nothing major. I've never understood the idea of rioting because your team WINS, but Eagles fans are some of the best (and worst) fans out there.

I keep putting it off, but I've GOT to make a doctor appointment. It's just such a pain to miss work and such. My doctor is about 30 minutes from me in the opposite direction of the 40 minute drive to where I work. I'm not changing because I like him. I need to stop making excuses and do it. I'm actually feeling better now, but every so often I get a weird thing in my neck. I can't explain it very well. My throat isn't sore, but there seems to be some kind of pressure/pain in the area where the bottom of my chin meets the top of my neck, if that makes sense. It's probably nothing, but I get it for a little while (few hours to a day) then it goes away for some time, then comes back. I had a thyroid cyst removed from lower down my neck when I was about 6, and maybe something like that is coming back. It does feel like there's a little bump there, but then again it could just be me overthinking things. I haven't told Tim about it but maybe if I did he'd kick me in the ass so I'd go. Pathetic, isn't it? I'll probably go and be told I'm a hypochondriac and get assigned to a therapist LOL!

Screwy schedule

For some reason I've been on an odd schedule lately. I've been tired a lot so going to bed earlier than usual, and now I'm waking up much earlier. Last night I was in bed at 9:00 and asleep around 10:00 but up at 4:00. I'm really a night owl so this is just strange. I need to make a dr. appointment to get my iron level tested, I think. I haven't bounced back from that cold as well as I should have and I've had iron problems in the past and just felt drained all the time. I meant to get in some stitch time last weekend and stitched one hour. The rest of the time I hung around and watched TV, except when I went to the movies Saturday. I'm not normally the type to just hang around in front of the boob tube doing absolutely nothing. Usually I have to be busy doing something while watching TV. I hate getting my blood drawn but I guess I should bite the bullet.

Tim is so funny. I bought some Yankee Candle stuff from one of the guys at work who was selling them for a fundraiser for his daughter's school for the mentally challenged. One of the items is a little black metal kitty who has his paw on a round tea light holder that has a fish etched into it so it looks like a fishbowl. Tim has taken it to the bedroom and puts a Macintosh tea light in it every night while he's on the computer. I guess I need to get him some more tealights, because he just loves that cat :)

Got some good deals at Lord & Taylor yesterday. I'm trying to dress more "business" than "casual" at work so that I get noticed a little more by the boss. Everybody loves my work but I know that in the financial industry you also have to look the part, which is something I'm completely not used to. So, I've invested in a few mock turtlenecks and fake suede jackets that aren't stuffy. Got those at Kohl's for 70% off, mostly. Yesterday I used some of my Lord & Taylor gift card to buy two sweaters. One is a wine color loose turtleneck sweater, originally $66 but on sale for $15! The other is a black high neck cardigan that zips up, originally $75, on sale for about $35. So, I still have $20+ left on the gift card. This is good quality stuff so it will last me some time, too. Now if only I could have such luck when looking for spring and summer clothes. I look so much better in fall and winter when I can find more dark colors and cover myself up a bit. It's harder for me to find spring and summer clothes that I like, but we'll see what happens. It doesn't make a huge difference for work, since the a/c is on pretty cold in the summer so I have to bring a jacket or sweater with me anyway.

Tuesday and it's downright cold out there!

Quote of the Day from The Princess Bride:


-Tyrone, you know how much I love watching you work, but I've got my country's 500th anneversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder, and Gilder to frame for it. I'm swamped!

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With the windchill it's 0 degrees outside. Brrrrr! I've been in the mood to wear skirts this week but haven't because I'm not going out in weather like that with only nylons on my legs. The office is warm, but if something happened and I got stuck in the car I'd pay for it, blanket or not.

Well, yesterday on a message board a woman was asking how she can word things better so that she doesn't upset people. That's all well and good, but the problem isn't her wording as much as it's her attitude towards gays, lesbians, interracial relationships, etc. I recall her saying how anyone who is with a black man is "sick, sick, sick." Yeah, I guess that's me -- sickest person in the universe LOL! What an ignorant person. You know what's sick to me? An 18-year-old mentally challenged black man who was beaten up yesterday on the sidewalk by three white guys. They didn't even steal anything from him, just wanted to beat him up. Now, maybe there's a part of the story I don't know about, but I just don't see how anything like that could be justified. The poor guy's face is all swollen and cut up. But no, it's sick that I love a black man and that he loves me. Yeah, right.

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Speaking of message boards, there are board wars going on all over the place recently. The board where I'm a moderator is trying to stay out of them but most people know that. Hopefully that means they will keep us out of it, but we'll see. The war is between a few boards and apparently these boards have little wars anyway, but some stitching boards have been dragged into the fight because banning at boards came up and several of the people are all banned from one particular board. Now apparently that board owner is saying she never banned some of the people, etc. etc. It really gets silly. I don't know what's going on at that board because I banned myself from that board because I didn't like the games going on and couldn't stay away on my own. Officially I was never banned from that board but I had been "deleted" from the membership at one time, supposedly by accident. I try very hard to give benefit of the doubt but it does get difficult. I decided it was just easier to make myself scarce.

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I saw National Treasure again this weekend. Went with Dana and she hadn't seen it and I didn't mind seeing it again. The ending got me to thinking. They find all this stuff, some of which included lost scrolls from the destroyed library at Alexandria. How cool would it be if somebody found a treasure somewhere that held such lost treasures. I'm not just talking gold and such, but things like those scrolls. It would be so cool to find the statue of Athena that was in Rome, or maybe only editions of books that were burned in the 1930s and 1940s, or art that was destroyed during the Soviet Regime. Hey, I can dream, right?

When I worked at Theodore Presser Company they had just opened a bunch of boxes in the warehouse that had been there since the 1940s. They were from Editions Durand, a French music publisher who used us as their sole distributor and representative in the United States. When Hitler was invading France they had sent one copy of each piece of music they published to Presser, figuring if Hitler destroyed everything there would be at least one copy, hopefully safe, in the U.S. that could be used to make more copies. We're talking Debussy, Ravel's Bolero, etc. Interesting stuff.

Testing? Testing?

I had a lot to write in here this weekend but couldn't get in until today. I should have typed it up in Notepad or something but I didn't think of that until just now. For now I just want to be sure this is actually working. You'll get more of my ramblings later, I'm sure :)

Woohoo!

Quote of the Day: from Seinfeld

"Sometimes when I think you're the shallowest man I've ever met, you somehow manage to drain a little more out of the pool." - Elaine, to Jerry

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Well, I didn't get a stitch in all week but that's OK. I worked a lot of hours this week and am glad to be home, warm and comfy. I plan on stitching a little tonight and over the weekend. I was supposed to go to Dana's but poor little Klyie is sick again. Instead we are planning on going out to a movie tomorrow night and Deron will stay home and watch the baby. I think that works better anyway, since it actually gets her out of the house for a bit.

I've become moderator of a few forums at my friend's board, PeepDragon. It's not an overly busy board but every so often there is a problem. I guess all boards have a problem here and there from outside people coming in and causing problems. If you want to visit and can behave yourself (LOL!) the link is on my sidebar. The only request from the board owner is that people who lurk about a few times at least post and introduce themselves. I know that sounds paranoid, but some people like to lurk about over there waiting for somebody to say something that they can jump on. Gets silly, sometimes. The funny thing is that there are some posters there who don't tend to get along very well on other boards but abide each other there.

Not much else to say. I'm tired and plan on stitching a little or just having a few cocktails and watching Battlestar Galactica. I really can't do both -- stitching and Jack Daniels really don't mix :)

Am I at sea?

I wonder that each time I look out the window, as it's very foggy and I can't see any of the buildings around us. I think of that part of Monty Python's The Meaning of Life where the old guys in the office building go off to sea to pirate a newer financial firm. Ironic, as I work for an old firm with a young president. Hmmm. Maybe I should be looking out for those old guys.

Quote of the Day: Another one from my second favorite movie of all time, The Usual Suspects:

Fenster: You do some time, they never let you go. You know. They treat you like a criminal. I'm not a criminal.
Hockney: You are a criminal.
Fenster: Now why'd you got to go and do that? (I'm) trying to make a point.

Thanks for the comments on my WIPS. I haven't done any stitching since Sunday, but hope to get some done tonight when I get home. I worked until 7pm last night and when I got home I ate dinner and vegged a bit then went to bed at 9:30. I woke up feeling better than I have in weeks, so I'm sure the sleep did me good. Poor Sleeping Beauty. I started her about 2 years ago and that's as far as I've gotten LOL! She's a beautiful design but the fabric bothers me a bit and I have a hard time keeping the tension as tight as I like. I don't have this problem with the other projects, but no matter what I do I seem to spend a lot of time fiddling with it. It's also huge so there's a lot of extra cloth to manage. She'll be finished some day :)

It's daytime, where's the sun?

This was supposed to be posted yesterday but I didn't finish it until this morning. That's the way the ball bounces :)

Probably why so many of us are kind of off lately -- the sun hasn't been showing itself much these days. Goes with living in the Northeast in the wintertime, but it can get a little gloomy. I actually did try to post something yesterday but it didn't fit correctly. It was a quiz to find out what type of weird cat I am, and I'm a Couch Potato. The picture is hysterical but the whole thing messes up my sidebar, so I'm just going to post the picture:




Quote of the Day: from Monty Python and the Holy Grail

King Arthur: I am your king.
Woman: Well I didn't vote for you.
King Arthur: You don't vote for kings.
Woman: Well how'd you become king then?
King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king.
Dennis: Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

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I did get in a little stitching this weekend, but not as much as I had wanted. I think that goes for everybody most the time :) I finished the 5-hour rotation on Sleeping Beauty, a 5-hour rotation on Rose Arbour and 2 hours on Christmas Flourishes. I didn't get any more done yesterday as I was a knucklehead at work and forgot to eat until about 4:30, and then I only had a few carrots so I felt pretty crappy last night. I need to not do that.

So here's my progress on Sleeping Beauty and Rose Arbour.



I stitched a little here and there on this one.


I stitched only on the arbour this time and made some decent progress on the right side. That way I'm not stuck stitching leaves, stems and flowers at the end.

Sunday night

Well, it's Sunday night and I'm about ready for bed. Figured I'd update my little blog before I go to sleep.

I didn't do much of anything yesterday as I was kinda "blah" all day. I was planning on having a stitching marathon this weekend, but only got in time today. I still got a lot done so that's OK.

I babysat Kylie last night while her parents went out to dinner. Kyle turned one right before Thanksgiving so she has "graduated" to the section for young toddlers at her daycare. Dana says she's much happier and I could tell. It was funny though -- she and I were hanging out watching A Bug's Life, Kylie sitting on my lap. We were "talking" and I mentioned how good she had been for me that evening. Well, it was like she took it as a cue to go nuts LOL! The second after I said that she looked at me and started crying. I gave her the milk bottle and that seemed to be what she wanted, it was just very weird timing and I found it pretty funny. She's quite the drama queen, and we're not sure if all girls are like that or if it's just her. Sean wasn't quite so dramatic when he was a baby, apparently.

Today I worked finished the five hour rotation on Sleeping Beauty, then five hours on Rose Arbour, then two hours on Christmas Flourishes. I plan on doing some more tomorrow on Christmas Flourishes and that will be the end of my Mirabilia SAL weekend and I'll post the pictures. Most of it was backstitching and filling in a few areas I'd missed here and there in Christmas Flourishes, and more of the arbour in Rose Arbour. I do better if I stitch a little of that at a time rather than leaving it for the end. It also gives me a break from all the white in her dress. It's a beautiful design, but lots of white!

I see so many beautiful samplers done in one color and I love them but don't have the patience to actually stitch them. I bought a little one while at CATS in Hershey, but I don't know about those big ones. I suppose if I stitched an hour a day on it and went on to other projects I could finish one eventually. My online friend with whom I stayed in Hershey has designed a few of her own and they are beautiful! She sits at her table with graph paper and designs them. They are big and very pretty alphabet samplers. I tend to like stitching designs with lots of colors so that I have a plethora of areas to work on without getting too bored with one color. That being said, the Teresa Wentzler designs are beautiful but go too much the other way for me and I can't spend a lot of time working on one of those before I go nuts, either. I guess that's why I'm such a fan of Mirabilia, L&L and Just Nans. They are gorgeous and colorful but often have color blocks and not a lot of blends so I'm not stopping every few seconds. I know a lot of people don't like Just Nans because of the specialty stitches, but I kinda like the specialty stitches. Her diagrams are great so it's easy to figure out how to make them. I'm not into Hardanger. I've heard it's easy and plan on taking a class someday, but I'm very scared to start cutting threads. I know myself and that I'm a frogger LOL!

So, I'll get some more pictures up tomorrow and Tuesday. I also want to thank those of you who comment on my stitching. I really appreciate the comments. It's always nice to know that other stitchers think your stitching is nice. I know I'm very critical of my work, and I'm sure others are the same way. Thanks!

So good to be home :)

As I predicted it was a heck of a day, one of those days where a simple project took all day because things weren't cooperating. But, I got the mailing out in time today and my boss loves me, so it works :)

Now I'm sitting here after having a long hot shower and I'm now in my comfy pajamas and robe, hot chocolate by my side. I'm going to stitch some more on Sleeping Beauty in a little while, but for now I need to catch up on the online gossip.

Looking forward to a nice weekend :)

It's Friday!

Going to be a busy one. I've got all these invitations to get out today for the awards banquet in February. Harris told me yesterday morning that they were approved and wants me to print, stuff, label and stamp them so they'll go out today by 5pm. Should be interesting. It can be done and I'll have help with the stuffing and such, but getting the printers to cooperate can sometimes be a problem. It's a long story, but sometimes I end up spending more time arguing with the two color printers I use than actually doing my work. It gets to the point where you just have to laugh because it's so silly that those are what holds me up LOL!

Not really much going on around here, which is fine by me. I plan on spending the weekend stitching on Christmas Flourishes and/or Rose Arbour. Haven't made up my mind yet. Both are coming along nicely.

I saw an article yesterday about somebody (moron) sueing NBC because Fear Factor made them sick. Give me a break! When asked why he didn't turn the channel, he said he couldn't do it in time. Yeah, OK. He talks about how "barbaric" the networks are and that they need to "clean up their act," yet he was a loyal watcher of this show every week! Well, duh. If he wins this one, God help us for what will come next. I'm sure a lot of the stuff on that show would make me sick, too -- so I DON'T WATCH IT!!

Update on the apartment

Well, I came home from work and everything is still working and not flooding, so that's a good sign. The reason I get so mad about these things is the ATTITUDE I get from the manager. The maintenance guy is extremely helpful. The manager is relatively helpful, but I get this attitude that it's just something I have to deal with. The bathroom thing has never happened before and I know these things happen. However, my sink has overflowed into my kitchen and hall carpet (it goes through the wall) three times since Labor Day Weekend. When this happens I get raw sewage and old food coming up into my home. That's just since September. I lost count how many times this happened during the whole of 2004. When I ask if they can actually fix the problem because it keeps happening, I'm told I need to keep an ear out for the gurgling sound and plunge it. I wouldn't mind that so much but nine times out of ten this happens while I'm sleeping or at work.

So, now I also have duct tape holding the overflow thingie and the stopper lever to the tub. A rusted piece from inside broke while the tub was being snaked. I don't blame anybody for that because it was only a matter of time and the thing had to be snaked. However, I fear I will have a duct taped tub fur the duration of my stay here because they'll actually have to go in to the tub and fix it.

If I had the money, I'd move. I'm on a month-to-month lease so that's not a problem. The problem is I was out of work for a year and don't have enough saved for a down payment, let alone for the amount the rent would go up, as I've been here about 7 years now.

I'm sorry for the bitching, but it's just so frustrating. I mean, I pay rent. I don't want to own my own home because I don't want to have to pay to fix these things and worry about them. I thought my rent is supposed to pay for such things to be fixed, but I must be mistaken.

My apartment is full of tricks

So, I'm going to bed about 11:30 last night and I go into the restroom to brush my teeth and such. Well, the floor is totally flooded! AAAAAHHHH! I start sopping it up and it keeps coming and I figure out that it seems to be coming up from one of the screws holding the toilet to the floor. I think, "That's not good," and turn off the water behind the toilet. It worked for last night but this morning the floor is covered again. I had called our manager last night and she came out and looked it over but told me the maintenance man couldn't get her until 8:30 this morning. Luckily, there's an empty apartment on the thrid floor and the lights are still on so we can use that bathroom. So, I just came from taking a shower and brushing my teeth up there. I can't lock the apartment door while I'm gone so I'm paranoid about somebody coming in and waiting to jump out at me from closet. Oh well, at least the bathroom door locks, which is more than can be said for my own bathroom.

So I'm home from work until this gets fixed. Yeah, great. Here I am trying to get a promotion and all I've proven in the last weeks is that I'm unreliable. A migraine made me miss a day one week, the next week I was on an approved vacation, and last week I was out a day with that miserable cold. Now this. I hope he can fix it relatively quickly so I don't have to make up too much time. I shouldn't have to miss time at work because of this stupid shit at home, but it happens more often than it should.

I don't live in a slum, but a decent suburb of Philly in Delaware County. The average home price here is $147,971, which is about $20k more than the national average and almost $60k more than the state average. So why do I feel like I live in a slum -- kitchen sink backs up, none of the doors completely close (except the front door), now bathroom backs up (lovely), etc. A lot of this I'm sure happens in other places at times, but here it's like none of it is a big deal and instead of fixing the problem the symptom gets temporarily fixed over and over and I'm the one cleaning up the mess. I want out badly, but simply don't have the funds after the hard times last year. I keep telling myself I'm lucky to have a roof over my head, etc. but sometimes it gets to me.

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OK, It's 12:41 and John just left a few minutes ago. Poor guy. He almost always ends up having to fix an emergency at my apartment at the worst times -- at least twice during the Labor Day weekend, his busiest time of year and now today when he was supposed to have the day off because he's sick. He's so nice, though. He comes out here, tries a bunch of things and finally ends up taking the toilet off the floor and does whatever it is he did -- I had no interest in watching although I did ask if he needed any help with anything. I think he appreciated the offer, but knows better than to take me up on it LOL! So, now I gotta go clean up the bathroom. By the time I'm done with it, and the carpet in the hallway, it will probably be as clean as the day I moved in, if not cleaner. I guess that's one way to get me to clean the bathroom, huh?

January Stitching Goals and other ramblings

1. Stitch at least one ornament
2. 10 hours on Guardian Angel (done)
3. Buy beads and Kreinik needed to finish Crystal Chandelier and Christmas Jewel, and finish them (5 hours tops combined)
4. Five hours each on:
Sweet Dreams Santa
Rose Arbour
Christmas Flourishes
Sleeping Beauty
Santa in Fur
L&L 1990 freebie

After that I will stitch whatever I want, if there's any January left

Quote of the Day: One of my favorites from Seinfeld, from The Bris/Pigman episode —

"I wish there were pig-men. You get a few of those pig-men walking around, suddenly I'm looking a lot better. That way if someone wanted to fix me up they could say, 'Hey, at least he's no pig-man.'" - George

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I finally updated my sidebar. The recently finished is Dragon of the Winter Moon from Dragon Dreams. He's the partner to Dragon of the Summer Sky, finished in 2003 for Tim. Now I can get them both framed.

I also put in 10 hours on Guardian Angel and she's also in the sidebar. I think I got a lot done in those 10 hours. One thing I like about L&Ls is that they are pretty quick to stitch even if they are large. Below you can see the difference 10 hours makes. I'm so glad I take these pictures so that I can actually see my progress, as sometimes it feels like I'm not getting anywhere on these big projects.

Before


After


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I decided to look back to 2004 and make a list of what I finished. I must admit I'm a bit disappointed as I thought I had finished more than this. A few of these are large projects and I've spent the last half of the year finishing what I've already started and not starting anything new, so next year I should have plenty of large finishes. I have two projects that are within an hour or so each of being done but I'm waiting for beads and Kreinik, so those will be some nice finishes soon.

2004 Finishes

Just Nan - Joy
Just Nan - Amethyst Snowflake
JCS - Noah's Ark

Ornaments:
white fuzzy tree
Peace x 4
Vermillion rabbit
6 snowflake tuck ornaments
Peace Love Joy ornament in blues and pinks

Sweetheart Tree Boudoir Box

Mirabilia -- Deco Spirits

L&L -- 2002 freebie
Celtic Summer

Dragon Dreams -- Dragon of the Winter Moon

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On another note, I think I'm one of a few people in the Philadelphia area who doesn't think the world has ended because the Eagles lost their last game of the regular season. Come on people! For one, there are a lot worse things going on in the world. For another, who cares? They are in the play-offs so the next game is pretty much Game One and none of the others matter. I'd rather they lose and not risk injuring their starters than go into the play-offs with more injuries than they already have. The last few years they've gone into the play-offs with several injuries and it cost them. People really take this stuff waaaaayyy to seriously, and if they lost money on it that's their own damn fault anyway.

No more Munchos for Mindy

I think that is what caused my problem yesterday. It's been a while since I had one and it wasn't as bad as it has been, but I think what I had yesterday was a gall bladder attack. It wasn't as violent as the ones I used to get a few years ago so it took me some time to figure it out. The whole back thing and the touch of heartburn along with the stomach thing was surely that.

It may not have been the Munchos, but I'd rather not take my chances. I don't need an attack like that or a worse one, so I can live without them. So they will be added to my list, along with French Onion dip. No idea why the dip sets me off while other things don't, but I discovered that one a few years ago. Very strange.

What the heck is going on with me lately?

I don' t know why, but for one reason or another I've felt like crap for the last two weeks. First it was that migraine, then that nasty cold which seems to be almost gone. Today my stomach has been bothering me all day and I only stayed for about 2 hours at Dana's party. My stomach was bothering me plus there were a bunch of kids there and I'm just not used to it. I'm the only one in my group of local friends without kids, and I'm just not used to them all being around me at once. They were all behaving, but six kids under the age of 10 behaving is still a noise fest. So, I didn't stay too long but I got to say hello to everybody. I also do better in small groups of adults, too -- much better with a few people than a large group, as I tend to get a bit claustrophobic.

So I came home and ate a little chicken and felt better for about fifteen minutes, and now feel like crap again. My back is bothering me too, so maybe it's some weird 24-hour thing that will be gone tomorrow. I normally am not a sick person but lately it seems that everytime I write in this thing I feel crappy.

Happy 2005!

Quote of the Day: One of my favorites from Christmas Vacation when Clark is talking to Cousin Eddie:

Clark: Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?

Eddie: Naw, I'm doing just fine, Clark.


I'm back home after spending the night at Tim's mom's place. He's still there, though. We drove separately since I met him halfway there where he works and neither of us wanted to leave our cars there overnight. I get antsy if I'm someplace with nothing to do for very long, so I left a little while after I woke up this morning. That way they have some time to hang out a while, too. It was an uneventful night, except for the normal idiots in the neighborhood who shoot their guns off at Midnight. I hate it when they do that. We just hung out for a while last night and ate our Chinese food. Nothing exciting, but that works for me. I don't like to go out on Amateur Night, anyway.

I just realized I hadn't written about the Fire Chair at my parents' house. Apparently, a few days before Christmas my dad almost set the house on fire. He fixes chandeliers and sells them, but sometimes doesn't want to spend a few dollars to buy the stuff he needs. So, instead of spending $6 on another cord he took one off an old lamp that no longer worked and rigged it to an extension cord. Well, many of us know this is not a good idea. While he was working on it the extension cord suddenly burst into flames -- didn't smoke or run down the length of the cord, but the whole thing suddenly went up. He was able to put it out and somehow avoided getting burnt. If you look at the chair you can see where it went across the chair. I really don't understand how he didn't get hurt. He's very lucky. So, one of his Christmas gifts from my SIL was a small fire extinguisher LOL! Adam, almost 3, calls it the Fire Chair :)

I can't get over how beautiful today is. They say it may rain later, but right now it's sunny and 59 degrees. It's supposed to get up to 63. So, it's warmer in Philadelphia for New Year's than it was in Orlando for Christmas -- a good 20-30 degrees difference.