Gotta love this weather

Happy weekend everyone. I hope you are all enjoying some gorgeous Fall weather. It is sunny but crisp here in New Hampshire, around 60 degrees. Perfect weather for leaf peeping and/or apple picking. I did both this afternoon. I didn't pick the apples but I went to an orchard and bought some that were picked yesterday. I have a bagfull of delicious MacIntosh apples ready for eating. Eric and Jessie are coming for dinner tomorrow so it will be a toss up between Apple Pie or Apple Crisp, but I definitely have dessert covered.
The drive to the orchard was really pretty. A lot of the trees are starting to turn here, although it has been peak colors up north. It is so beautiful along these country roads with the sun shining through the yellow and orange colored leaves. In some areas, the boughs of the trees bend over the roads like an archway, and the sun beams through the breaks in the foliage in streaks. I wish I had a better way with words, because I know I am not doing it all justice. I also wish I had brought a camera with me. D U H! This is, by far, my most favorite time of year. I wish it would last longer than a few weeks.
I went to visit my best friend, Rose, yesterday. I want to thank all of you who have asked about her in the last few weeks. The news is better than we originally thought and she is recovering very nicely from surgery. It is still unclear if she will actually need chemo or if she can just have some hits of radiation, her next doctors appointment will probably reveal that bit of news. I won't dwell on all this here but I am so pleased with her progress and just wanted to say thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes.
Last night I went out with a group of friends to a place called Milly's Tavern. It is a really awesome place to just chillout and get hammered. LOL They were serving their own pumpkin ale spiced with cinnamon and they coat the rim of the glasses with cinnamon and sugar. I was reluctant to try it but I have to admit, it wasn't bad. I think the bar tenders just like watching the women licking the edges of their glasses and that's why they were promoting it so much. LMAO Anyway, I had a great time, met some new people, watched a few friends get plastered. I could have done without the band, however. Dang college kids listen to that hard rock stuff where they just scream and yell and you can't make out the words. Head banger noise I guess. Last time I was there they had a jazz band playing and that was enjoyable.
I really need to log off of here and bring the laundry inside. I won't be able to hang the clothes outside for much longer. :-( Taking advantage while I still can.

Lainie's tired

I'm tired, I have been all week. I hope I'm not coming down with something.
Just watched Jericho. I'm really liking this new show. Took me two episodes to realize that the bearded dude is Gerald McRainey, but I am slow sometimes.
I feel edgy, stressed, and I really have no reason to be. It's hard to explain, just feel like something is about to happen, or already has and I maybe don't know about it yet. I hate this feeling. Makes me want to crawl under the covers and shut the world out. Maybe I shouldn't watch suspenseful television shows about nuclear bombs and radiation. LOL
I was supposed to go to Maine this weekend to see the Mainiacs but plans have been changed so it looks like I'll be going in mid October. It will be a fun time, always is with those crazies. I haven't been to visit Rick, Blossom and the rest of the crew in ages so I am really looking forward to getting up there.
I hope everyone is having a good week.
I think it's time to find my pillow. Goodnight folks.

Ever have one of those days?

Happy HumpDay

Mid week and I am trying to catch up. As my mother would say, the faster I go, the behinder I get. I really haven't had much time to get online this week. I've been busy, to say the least.

My very best friend Rose, had a mastectomy on Monday. She found a large lump in her breast about a month ago during a self exam and it turned out to be cancer. She had 2 tumors in her breast and both were about 2 inches long. They did a lymph node dissection and those were not compromised at all so she is very, very lucky. Her prognosis is excellent, but she will be going through some chemotherapy in a few weeks. The results from her mammogram show that her other breast is perfectly fine so this also is very good news. This is a very intelligent woman, but one who always blew off pap smears and mammograms because she just didn't feel like going. She also thought she wasn't 'old' enough to worry about such things. I have tried telling her in the past that no one is exempt. I lost another friend to breast cancer a couple of years ago and she had been fighting the disease for 5 years. She was only 43 when she passed away. I go for my exams faithfully every year. And knowing that Rose doesn't...I always make sure I tell her when I go, in the hopes that she will think about it and follow suit. I am glad I followed through with that ritual last month because it may have saved her life. It was the day after I told her I had gone for my mammogram that she did the self exam. Thank God she finally heard me.
I spent some time with her at the hospital on Monday and she went home on Tuesday. I just spoke to her on the phone and she sounds great! She said she is following doctors orders (she has little choice there because her mother in law is a retired registered nurse and is staying there for a couple of weeks to help her) and she feels ok all things considered. She's able to manage pain with tylenol. I am so happy that she will be here with me for a long time to come. Our plans to torment the old men in the nursing home some 20 years from now can still be carried out! LOL
She still has a rough road ahead of her, but she's tough and I have confidence that she'll pull through. I'll be going up to help her out this weekend.
So if you haven't had that mammogram, ladies, please get one. I would like to keep you all around for a very long time.

Another friend of mine had her baby on Monday. A boy, 8lbs 14 oz 22 inches long. Momma and baby are doing just fine. I hear he is a content baby and hardly ever cries. Lets hope that continues. I'd like to get up and visit her sometime this weekend, too.

I tried putting up some new mini blinds in my living room last night but found out that I didn't measure correctly and had to exchange them today for some wider ones. The other blinds I had up measured 35 inches wide...so that's what I bought but came up about an inch short. Go figure. The 36 inch ones fit beautifully so I guess I wasn't supposed to actually measure the blinds but the space they are to fit into. Do I look like an interior decorator to you? LOL

I'm going to surf around for a bit, then bed isn't too far away.
I hope everyone is having a good week.

Apple Cake

I have this baking in my oven right now and it smells sooo delicious. Very simple to put together too! I used butter in place of the oil and half a cup each of the raisins and walnuts.

Apple Cake

1 1/2 C. sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 C. oil or butter
2 C. diced apples
1 C. nuts or raisins
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 C. flour


Beat together the first five ingredients. (Egg whites may be used and 1 C. appleasuce can be substituted for the oil or butter for cholesterol watchers.)
Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
Bake in a greased Bundt pan or 2 loaf pans at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

It's the weekend!

Good afternoon everyone. Happy Friday to you all.
The day started off really dreary here but the sun came out around noon and it warmed up nicely. The clouds interrupt the sun from time to time but it's been a nice day for the most part.
I did sleep in this morning, not as long as I would have liked, but anything past 5am is sleeping in for me. I got up around 7, took a shower and crawled back into bed for awhile to watch Good Morning America. As soon as the rain stopped I headed to the grocery store. Rations were done to almost emergency status...I was out of milk, eggs, coffee and toilet paper. The milk, eggs and coffee I could do without, but ya can't go without toilet paper!
I ran into Betty, one of the librarians in town. She and I used to have a blast on the class trips when our kids were in grade school. I think the Principal would cringe every time she saw our names on the chaperone list together. You know when you go to the Zoo, and animals being animals and all they don't care who was watching when they got busy with their mates...well they always seemed to take care of their business while OUR groups were approaching. It was always hysterical for us but not so funny trying to answer the questions of 7 and 8 year olds...the best one was when one of the little girls commented on how nice it was that one was giving the other a piggy back, and a very well informed 8 year old piped up with, "He's not getting a piggy back, he's humping her." That young man had been watching the Discovery Channel. LOL
Anyway, it was awesome to see her and nice to catch up. And yes we did have another chuckle about that field trip.
My phone has been busy today. Looks like everyone knows I am at home. I got an invite for dinner at my friend Sue's so I am going to head down there in a few minutes. One of those rare evenings when her kids and grandkids have gone out...I asked her if she is sure she wants company, maybe she wants to just enjoy the peace and quiet, and she said "NO WAY..I want to talk to someone who isn't going to pee their pants and ask me to cut up their food." Well hell...I can't promise that! LOL She is bribing me with apple crisp for dessert, and I can't pass that up. I will try to be on my best behavior.
Hope you all had a good Friday.
Til next time

busy week

It's been awhile since I've posted anything, I know. It's been a very busy week for me.
I was so tired on Monday that after I made some dinner, I cleaned up the kitchen, showered and headed straight to bed. Me, in bed at 8:00...well that's pretty much unheard of. But I must have been tired because I slept right thru until 4:15am. Tuesday went by really slow but at least I was awake. Eric and Jessie were coming over for dinner so I stopped at the supermarket on my way home and picked up some fresh broccoli. I had some steak tips to grill and decided last minute to make some rice. If it had just been me I would have been content with the beef and broccoli but Eric is a big eater and I wouldn't want him to leave the table still hungry. Jessie brought me some chocolate chip cookies that she made earlier in the day. They were delicious. (Nice way to suck up to the boyfriends Mom, Jessie!)
Wednesday was a pretty decent day...I was pretty busy and it went by quickly. We had a meeting with our new manager. He seems to be pretty easy going and I don't think we'll have too much trouble whipping him into shape. He will soon learn that the additional 5 minutes we add onto our coffee breaks are beneficial not only to us but to him too. LOL (i.e we aren't quite so bitchy when given the proper amount of time to finish our coffee.)
I had to bake a birthday cake last night for a party at work today and I almost dropped the ball on that one. It wasn't until I was in the shower last evening that I remembered. I had everything I needed, but nearly forgot to bake it. That would have been terrible. Even a phone call from the birthday girl herself a bit earlier in the evening didn't jar my memory. The cake went together easily and the worst part was waiting for it to cool so I could frost and decorate it. I was finally finished by around 11:00 and damn if it didn't look good! I love to bake but I am not much of a decorater. I knew it would taste good, even if it didn't look that great, but I surprised myself and did a decent job.
I was not very busy at work today and everyone was pretty anxious to just get the day over with. Tomorrow is my "Off" Friday and I am looking forward to sleeping in and relaxing. It is raining now, and is supposed to continue until Saturday. (looks like Marvin sent her rain to me) I'll probably get the housework out of the way tomorrow and maybe run some errands. I'm not planning anything, just gonna play it by ear.
The new season of Survivor starts tonight and I am excited! That's one of my favorite shows, ever! Can't wait. Also...I watched the 1st episode of Jericho courtesy of Yahoo last night (the premiere isn't until next Wednesday night) and it looks really good. I hope it lives up to all the hype.
Does anyone watch House? I am hooked on the show now and was very surprised to hear that Hugh Laurie, the star of the show, is actually British. He pulls off
an American accent quite well.
I hope everyone had a good week. I shall return.

saturday ramblings

I noticed while reading the titles of my blogs that they pretty much center around the weekend. LOL You would think I have no fun during the week. That's because I usually don't. I get up at 4:30 am every weekday and am out the door by 5am. I work 10 hours most days then run whatever errands I need to before coming home. The drive home is about 30 minutes, and that is plenty of time for the stress of the workday to melt away. Once I get home, the shoes and bra come off (not necessarily in that order either) and I lapse into what most people would call...a vegetative state. LMAO Actually, I do make dinner and take care of one of two chores before I jump into the shower, but once I am in my jammies, I am pretty much done in. My job is not so much physical, although some days it seems like all I do is walk from one end of the building to the other and back again...but I have been given a few more responsibilities the last few months and that taxes my little brain!
Yesterday on one of my numerous trips through the building, I saw my cousin's husband, Lenny, coming toward me. He works in the adjacent building in the engineering department. I knew he worked there but this company employs over 600 people between two buildings and the chances of me running into him were pretty remote. Anyway it was good to see him. I come from a very large family, (I have 32 first cousins just on my father's side) and unfortunately the only time we all get together is for a wedding or a funeral. Speaking of which, one of the best memories of my wedding reception, was of him and two other semi drunk cousins, grabbing the DJ's mic and singing and playing air guitar to Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones. Lenny doesn't remember it, but everyone at the reception does!

I got to sleep in this morning which I needed desperately. As I sit here, I can see the vaccuum cleaner across the room, I do believe it is beckoning me to turn it on! The dog is sleeping, however, and I would hate to disturb him. I'll wait til he wakes up. LOL I know, any excuse is a good excuse when it comes to doing housework, and I have a million of them! I have managed to clean my keyboard out though, so my time online hasn't been wasted. LOL

Ok the kid is home so I have to spend some time with her. Have a great day everyone!!

welcome to the weekend

The weekend is here!! Yippeee!!! Even though it was a 4 day work week, it seemed much longer than that. Yesterday just dragged, I never thought it would end. I was really tired too so maybe that was my problem. I did NOT want to get out of bed yesterday morning which is unusual because I am a morning person and get right up most days. This morning wasn't much better.

I had a dream last night about living in my parents house with my brother. We were standing in the kitchen by the stove arguing on how to season the chicken. That in itself is funny because neither one of us is fussy and will eat just about anything. Also, I can't remember the last time my brother and I argued about anything. I did realize that I haven't been over to visit my parents for a couple of weeks so I dropped in after work today for a short visit. As expected, mom and my brother were battling it out at the kitchen table playing cribbage. Every one of us in the family, (except my two kids) learned how to play cribbage at a very young age. As soon as we could hold 6 cards in our little hands we were taught the basics. My mom, dad, and both brothers play in cribbage leagues. My neice and two nephews all know how to play. My two kids never wanted to learn and can't seem to understand the concept. It is a difficult game to learn but a whole lot of fun once you know how.
I visited for about an hour, then headed for the grocery store. Wow, everyone and his brother was in there! I ran into someone I know around every corner and several I haven't seen all summer so it turned into a gab fest. 45 minutes later I was finally in my car and heading home.

Oh...today brought some sad news at work. My manager, Dave, is being transferred to another department in another building, within the company. I have been working for him for the whole 4 years I have worked there and I am very very sad that he won't be our manager anymore. The department he is going to has been having a lot of problems with their program and they do need someone who is patient and knowledgeable to get things off the ground. Our department runs like a well oiled machine. We've all been working together for a long time and his talents can be better utilized elsewhere. But we are going to miss him. He's quick witted and likes to tease, always has a mischievious twinkle in his eye. I think he was a real handful when he was a kid! Now we have to break in a new manager (to be announced at a later date).

Dinner time...talk to you all soon.


Hope you all made it thru the week ok and have a great evening. :-)

Where did the weekend go?

Why do the weekends go by so fast? The 4 days that I had off have flown right by.
As you can see, I survived the drive to Boston on Saturday. It was much easier than I thought and I was all stressed out and expecting the worst for nothing. Going to the South End of Boston was a piece of cake.
I left the house Saturday morning around 9:00. I had to get gas and wanted to get some coffee for the ride. I filled my tank and as I was about to purchase coffee, I had an image of me needing to pee after drinking the entire cup, and driving around Boston looking for a bathroom, getting lost, asking for directions and getting car jacked or worse. So I decided to forego the coffee for the time being and thought it better to find the Station and find Cal, we could stop somewhere and get coffee after. Traffic wasn't bad since it was Saturday, and I pretty much enjoyed the ride. It hadn't started to rain yet and I sang along with Bo for awhile(thanks ChicagoLady). :-)
I got to Boston by 10:30, followed the directions from MapQuest, which were dead on, and found the Station. Only problem was I couldn't find a place to park. All they have is street parking there and construction crews and equipment took up most of the parking spaces. I was early, so I decided to kind of cruise around looking for a place to sit. I made a circle around the Station and got a little braver...went a little further my second time around and went a few streets over. I was down by the New England Aquarium, and drove down to the Wharf. I found an empty parking space, parked and got out of the car. The wind had picked up something fierce since I had left home. Being right by the water made it much worse. The Tropical Storm wasn't too far away. I jumped back into the car and decided to stay where I was, knowing Cal would let me know when the train pulled into the Station. Getting back there would take me about 4-5 minutes so I was happy. What I didn't realize was I was parked in one of the tour bus parking spots, and as soon as that darn tour bus pulled into the lot, it headed right over toward me. The lady motioned thru the front window that I was in her space, so I had to move. Looking around, there were no other places to park, so I pulled out of the lot and headed back toward the Station. I'll just drive around the block until the train arrives. Well...Lainie didn't go the wrong way down a one way street this time...but Lainie got in the wrong lane and Boston drivers are not as curteous as New Hampshire drivers, so next thing I know I am heading back onto the Interstate North towards New Hampshire. ACK!! Not what I wanted to do. And to make matters worse...I now had to pee even without the coffee! LOL I went over the bridge and took the Somerville exit so I could turn around. Lo and Behold...as soon as I got off the exit there was a Dunkin Donut's right in front of me! With a Rest Room! Whoohoooo!! I made a pit stop...made my bladder gladder...got my coffee and headed back to South Station.
As soon as I got there (it's now close to 11:00) my cell is ringing. Cal is in the Back Bay and will be arriving in 2-3 minutes. I rounded the corner figuring I would just circle til he arrived, and found a parking spot second time around, right on the corner. Within minutes he came around the corner and the worst part of my Saturday was over. I knew how to find my way back to the Interstate thanks to my faux pas earlier LOL so we were good to go. I had him home within an hours time and he was soooo happy.
The sky was overcast and the wind was strong but it wasn't raining yet. I headed home and as I walked thru the door the phone was ringing. Eric was calling to see if I was home and wanted to come by for awhile and introduce me to his new 'friend'. I told him to come by for dinner, and called Sara and made sure she would be here too. I put together a meatloaf and made some brownies for dessert.
Eric's friend Jessie, is very pretty and I think she felt comfortable right away. They've been dating for a few weeks apparently. She and Sara got along really well, too. Sara may be younger then Eric but she takes good care of her big bro and always sizes up his girlfriends. Jessie got Sara's approval. After dinner we all sat around the table and played a card game called 21 or SCAT. Jessie has a bit of a competitive edge to her personality, and so does Cal. It was obvious by the wisecracks that the game was going to be all about them. And sure enough, one by one Eric, Sara and myself were all eliminated. Cal ended up winning and we didn't hear the end of it for the rest of the evening. I think there will be a rematch soon.
After the game, Sara went over to her boyfriend Travis' house and Eric and Jessie went to a party. Cal and I put Poisedon into the DVD player and watched that. Well I watched it. He slept. By now the wind was howling and the rain was pouring down. But it was a nice peaceful ending to a potentially stressful day. As I reflect back on the weekend...evenings like that are more fun for me than a night out on the town. Good food, lots of laughs, awesome company...we definitely have to do this more often.

Fun Friday

I knew Ernesto was going to mess up my day today...I just had a feeling. It's been a gorgeous day here, sun's shining, nice breeze, 75 degrees. That pesky tropical storm is causing me grief and it isn't even here yet.
My friend Cal is stuck in DC for the night, it's raining like crazy there. I was supposed to pick him up in Manchester this morning but he isn't going anywhere until much later tonight. He's so anxious to get the hell outta DC that he is going to take the midnight train to Boston. Hey didn't Gladys Knight sing that? LMAO
Only problem with that is he will have a 5 hour wait in Boston for a bus home...so I told him I will drive to Boston in the morning and pick him up. Shouldn't be much traffic on a Saturday. I just hope I don't get lost. My experiences driving in Boston have been limited to the North End of the city where the Airport is (which is easy) and the Fleet Center (also North End and easy). I have been to Fenway Park many times but I've only driven there once and got very very lost. You can see the wall of the Green Monster from the Interstate, but once you get into the heart of the city...it's so easy to go around in circles. Anyway, I hope my decision to drive to Boston doesn't turn out to be a bad one. Of course Ernesto is heading up the coast so that could cause me more problems, but I will try to stay optimistic. (Lainie makes mental note to recharge cell phone)
So with the plans of the day all changed, I did a load of laundry, cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed my bedroom and living room. I met Chris for coffee, then went to the grocery store and the bank. I finally remembered to pick up a card and gift for Anne and finally got that in the mail. I hope she forgives me for being so late. Her birthday was August 6th. I know shame on me. I feel terrible, especially since it will take another week or two to get all the way to Spain. I found the prettiest pair of gold hoop earrings with tiny little mother of pearl beads on them. I hope that makes up for the tardiness anyway. I have been pen pals with Anne since we were both 12 years old. I got her name out of a magazine that had lists of people looking for people to write to in other countries...she wrote back and it was the start of a wonderful friendship. We finally met in person in July of 1999 when she came here on vacation with her husband and two boys. We had a great time...it was sooo much fun and much anticipated. 37 years of writing back and forth, sending pictures, books, cards...all stuff I do now with the click of a mouse! LOL Who knew? She and Steve are originally from England but moved to Spain a year ago. I am still waiting for an email adress so we can keep in touch on a more regular basis. I also want pictures!
Anyway, I got my errands done and came home. Sara will be home from school for the long weekend. I hope she likes what I did to her room. I bought a new comforter and sheet set since she took her other ones with her to school. The bed is all made up and the room is cleaned now and I think it looks nice.
I bought some wine at the store and it is on ice now. I plan on diving into that a bit later on this evening.
I'll try to get Sara to watch the ballgame with me but I suspect once she eats and gets her laundry going, she will commandeer my computer and I'll be watching the game with my bottle of wine!
Ok time to get off here. Am I boring you all yet??