Feb 25th

Back to work today. I finally got to meet the fulltime aide in the classroom. I was warned about her and boy words just don't describe her!! I felt like I was with a drill sergent all day to the worst extreme! I don't want to get on her bad side!

Feb 24th

Chris made a CD of his pictures for me from South Africa.

Feb 23rd

We spent the morning at Wegmans of course and then driving around some more to see the sights before heading home. The suspension bridge on the Cornell campus got a face lift and is a shade of light purpleish gray. It always scares me to look down from all the way up there! Rumor has it that if you kiss the one you love on the bridge, you're love will last forever. We always have that kiss!
The geese are so cute hiding in the corn fields.
Feb 22

Today we got to see a lot of people that we've met through the years and catch up with everyones lives. It was a fun day!

Feb 21

Today is the first day of the 2 day Mardi Gras event. We started at Montazuma Winery then went down the east side of the lake to long Point and King Ferry. Today was also the

Chili Cook-off at The Commons. We got a little more than 1/2 of the wineries done today. It was good to have the break of the Chili Cook-off in between.

Feb 20

Today we leave to go up to Ithaca for the Mardi Gras event at the Cayuga wine trail.

We got up there early and drove around visiting some of our favorite waterfalls. There's like 85 or so in Ithaca!

Feb 19th

Kris is taking me out for a belated birthday lunch today. It should be a lot of fun catching up!

The rest of the day I'll be doing laundry etc. PJ and I are going to Ithaca tomorrow.

Feb 18th

I spent literally HOURS searching websites trying to find flights to New Orleans for all of us that somehow were close in time to each other. We're not all going the same day or even from the same state but we're all leaving the same day. I got ticks for 5 of us. It was a relief to finally get that done. Chris will find out his schedule over the weekend to see when and if he can go.

Feb 17th

Today I decided to talk a walk on the path on the north side of Twin Lakes. I usually walk on the south side. It was a little creepy because you could hear the crackling of twigs breaking and leaves rusteling but you couldn't see anyone. I won't be doing that again while I'm alone!

Chris came home from South Africa today. The stories and pictures are incredible!!!

Feb 16th

Today was a great day to do NOTHING! I actually did drive to the post office to find out that it's a holiday today and they're closed!

I spent a lot of time just searching the web for nothing in particular... just picking up worthless bits of nothings. I did however stumble across someones photography from the Wantagh and Massapequa lakes areas. His name is Brian Chang. I'm borrowing a few of his pictures for the blog. Here's his web address...

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://k53.pbase.com/g3/01/128001/2/71815390.llwMmrZm.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pbase.com/cleanmaxx_brian/image/71815390&usg=__mxp_DRFCuZ7UQx7E71esoCHwumk=&h=692&w=800&sz=115&hl=en&start=35&tbnid=_hP6LoVvZ57n3M:&tbnh=124&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3DTwin%2BLakes%2BWantagh%26start%3D20%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ie%3DUTF-8

Feb 15th

Today at 12:15 am, a new generation on PJ's side has arrived... Finn Riley Z. 6 lbs 13 oz.

Too bad his last name isn't something like Quinn, McDougal etc!!! As for the first name...I don't know where that came from either!!! Oh well, hopefully he won't get beat up in school when he's older! Maybe people will think it's a cool name.

Tonight we brought Alyssa to the airport to fly to FL. Brooke will be so happy to have Alyssa and Scott FINALLY visiting!

Feb 14th

Today was a pretty nice day. PJ and I went out into the yard to clean out the garden of all the leaves that fell from the fall. We did a fall cleanup but my neighbors trees drop their leaves all through the winter so it looked like we didn't do anything. As I raked the leaves away,

I noticed that the daffodils are starting to pop through the soil. Spring is on it's way! The lilac bush is starting to bud also.

We went to get Alyssa yesterday. She'll be going to FL tomorrow to visit Brooke. Scott will be down there also.

PJ and I don't celebrate Valentines Day. I guess being that we worked in a Garden Center and we saw how everyone buys and buys for all of the hallmark holiday's (Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day), BECAUSE THEY'RE TOLD TO, we pretty much try to avoid them. We do nice things for each other throughout the year without any expectations. It has so much more meaning.

Last night we watched Love Actually and Sleepless in Seattle. I love movies like those. Just happy movies. I'm liking that Oxygen channel!

Feb 13th

What a difference one day makes. My 'child' is a BEAST! I couldn't believe the difference from yesterday. I guess that's why she's there. This is going to be a loooong 4 months!

Feb 12th

Well today my child showed up. She was wonderful, always smiling, joking, doing her work without any problems etc. I hope it's like this until June!

Feb 11th

I started full time today at work. My child that I was supposed to work with didn't show up! I was then sent to 3 different rooms throughout the day. It ended up being a fun day.

Feb 10th

My last free day to do whatever I want before I start working full time. I decided to put lots of rubber stamps on ebay to clean out my stash. You don't realize just how time consuming that is until you finally finish and half of the day is gone!

Feb 9th

Today I went for my mamo. I love this new office that I go to. Everyone is so friendly and caring. I could stay in there all day! Well, maybe not! They had to take a few extra pictures which always happens so I wasn't too alarmed. All came out ok. Come back in one year! But I'll be back in April for my sonogram.

A BEAUTIFUL DAY WITH A SURPRISE!!!

Today PJ and I went to the beach to take a walk. The skies were blue and it was 59 degrees out IN FEBRUARY! I took my camera with me so I could get a shot for this project. As we were walking and talking, all of a sudden something wet landed in my mouth! My first thought was HOLY CR*P thinking it was bird poop! It wasn't! It was a rain drop. I couldn't believe it...rain on a beautiful day. The clouds down at the beach turned very dark and looking inland by just a few miles, it was still blue skies. Within 10 minutes we turned around to head back to the car. We were already drenched! I wasn't going to take my camera out to get a picture of rain so i just kept it in my pocket. By the time we got back to my car it was down pouring!! We left and drove home only to see the blue skies overhead!
When we got home Alyssa called.... can you guys pick me up? I'm so sick and I need to go to the doctor tomorrow. She's had a fever for 3 days, coughing, sneezing, runny nose...just feeling terrible. So we left and went to the Bronx to get her. Boy does she look awful! As soon as we got home, she went straight for the couch and within 15 minutes was out like a light! She slept for 3 hours! I have to drive her back tomorrow so hopefully she gets an early appt.

ICY MILL POND...

Today I went for a short walk around parts of Mill Pond. There were too many dogs running loose so I left rather quickly but not before taking a few pictures.

I didn't realize that the waterfall in the front of the lake was so strong!

I love watching ducks and geese walk on the ice.

One of my favorite bushes in the winter is a Red twigged Dogwood. The red color in an otherwise colorless season is really nice.

Lots of duck and goose footprints but no humans!

MAKING MY LIFE SIMPLIER...

I have found that having to post a picture a day and add journaling has become quite the challenge! Sometimes my computer freezes, adobe isn't working etc. So that I don't have to feel guilty that I haven't fulfilled this challenge, I'm changing the rules for ME! I will add something to be for each day but I may not post it until a week later as in today's case. If I have a picture, great. If it's just journaling, great. I'll have something to contribute. Oh, I'm also steeling pics from google images!!

So let's get back to the project:

Feb 6th

Today is my day to run errands. I have to return things, bring back recycling bottles and cans, pick up my referrals from the Dr., clean etc. Nothing special.

*** I just had to come back to today's posting to tell of something that I saw that just made my day! (KIDDING!) On my way to the post office, I saw an oldish man up against a bush that is across the street from a friends house. I thought he was looking for someone or watching someone because he was looking down the block. I drove past him and happened to look in my rear view mirror. WHAT! WHERE ARE HIS HANDS?! I wasn't sure of what I was seeing so I just HAD to turn around and make sure it wasn't what I thought... especially since the school was right down the block if you know what I mean! As I was coming down the block, he was walking toward me and I got a closer look at him. He wasn't doing what I thought. He was peeing in the bush! He had an envelope in his hand also. When I got to the post office, I alerted my good friend that works there to wash her hands if this guy comes in and she waits on him!

Feb 5th

Chatted with HM today for a long time. It's always fun catching up with each other. I also spoke with Chris. The 9 friends are getting on each others nerves so him, Natalie and Natalie's brother will be coming home on the 17th instead of the 26th. Some of the friends already went home and some just went their separate ways. He'll be camping this week at a national park where the campground is fenced in (so he tells me!) and you can hear the lions etc roaring outside the fence. SCARY!

Feb 4th

I worked today with the same child as I did on Monday. I think he's getting a little too comfortable with me. I had to lay down the law! I got a lot of responses to my craigslist adds today!

Feb. 3rd

I put some things on craigslist and ebay. I've been getting good results so far. It just makes me want to put more and more on there... especially craigslist!

We got about 4" of snow today.

February 2nd

I worked today.

PJ was off because he's working on Saturday. He had a fun day doing errands, paying the bills etc. NOT!

He was looking forward to dinner all day. He made one of our favorite pork recipes...

Roasted Pork from Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisana Kitchen cookbook. The smell in the house made me feel like I was in New Orleans again! You could almost smell each individual ingredient on it's own! I will put the recipe on my cooking blog.
http://mamazukecooks.blogspot.com/
I took a picture (YES! It's my picture) of the leftovers instead of before we started eating. I forgot to take a pic.

Feb. 1st

PJ was off today. We didn't do much... we food shopped at our new favorite store... Guinta's Meat Farms. They have great prices and a huge array of 'different' foods. We love shopping there!

January 31st

YIPPIEEEE!!!It's crop day! 10 AM to 10 PM! We had a great day. It took me a while to get started but I do my best work in the 2nd half of the day! Being that i don't get to see Judy and Margaret much, I tend to have diarriah of the mouth!

One of the women at our table heard us mention the town of Wantagh so she asked if we were from there. She grew up there and graduated from Wantagh HS in 1978. She mentioned that her husband graduated from MacArthur and Judy and I said that we did too! I asked what year did he graduate and it was '76... same as me! She said her last name is Hamft and I said WAYNE? His locker was probably 2 or 3 away from mine! That was pretty funny. We had lots of laughs and that's what it's all about!!!

January 30th

First off... Happy Birthday Pops! 88 years old today!

Today I spent a good part of the day unpacking and then packing for the crop tomorrow. I'm so excited! It's been a while since Judy, Margaret and I have gotten together. I've condensed everything to pack in my smaller tote and for some reason, I really feel disorganized!

January 29th

Today I had a great day at school. I worked with a sweet little boy who just had to smile and I would just melt!

We bought a huge tenderloin yesterday and cut it into 3 pieces.

I came home today to the smell of my crock pot cooking away at the pork loin that will become pulled pork. YUM! We're going to freeze this though!