Wonderful Wednesday

So, around 11 this morning, I got a phone call.  All I heard when I answered the phone was, "Lee Lee?  I was wondering if you would like to come ovuh?"  It was my Monkey!!!

I jumped in the shower, and got dressed, and an hour and half later, I was at my brother's.  (Have I mentioned how much I HATE how far he lives from me?!?!)  While I was driving, it occurred to me that tonight is an overnight for him, and I immediately started plotting in my head how I was going to get to take her home with me. ;-)

Later tonight, we are having a Girls' Night at my mom's house.  My mom, sister, sister-in-law KC (Ok, my brother's long-time girlfriend, but after almost 15 freakin' years, we consider her our sister-in-law!), a good friend of ours and myself try to plan these Girls' Nights every couple of months.  We usually do them at our friend's house, but this time, my mom volunteered to host.  I started thinking I would ask my brother if Monkey could join us for Girls' Night for a while, then he could come pick her up later.  I was really going to play up the angle that if I took her with me, he could run errands, go to the bar and get some work done, or just nap.  I was prepared to pull out all the stops until I wore him down, and he let me take my Monkey home.

Minutes after I walked in his door, I casually asked, "So, you have Monkey overnight tonight, right?"

"Yep..."

"Well, you know, Mom's hosting Girls' Night tonight.  I was thinking maybe she could join us..."

"Yeah, I know, KC mentioned it to me.  She actually said the same thing."

SCORE!!  Way to go, KC!!  Long story short, my Monkey is currently sound asleep in my bed.  When she gets up from her nap, we are going to make cookies to take to Nonna's house for Girls' Night.  Yay!!

Is it STILL February!?

Thursday, February 28, 2013
When do you feel your sexiest?

About an hour and 45 minutes into my 2 hour workout, when I have sweat pouring down my face, my clothes are stuck to my body cuz they're soaking wet, and my muscles are screaming for mercy.

Wow, this answer would have been TOTALLY different a few months ago.  I pretty much never feel sexy.  But lately, with all the changes going on with my body, the above really IS the best answer right now.

Confession time - Sometimes, I can't keep my hands off myself.  I find myself feeling myself up a lot lately! :P  It's amazing to feel muscles in places where there was nothing but blubber before.  Now, don't get me wrong, there's still a substantial layer of "fluff" covering these muscles, but I can feel them now.   I can feel bones now.  I forgot what that was like, it's been so long.  My rings spin 'round and 'round my fingers now.  Soon, I'll be afraid of them falling off.  (The last time I lost a substantial amount of weight, for my sister's wedding, my wedding rings used to fall off constantly!  I finally had to stop wearing them, and got a plain gold band to wear every day.)  My shoes are all too big, which is pretty hilarious!  And, don't get me started on my bras!  I have mine on the last (tightest) hooks, and the straps are as tight as they'll go.  Thankfully, I have a drawer full of really pretty Victoria's Secret bras from the last time I was thinner, although most are too "sexy" for every day, so usually I stick to my too-big collection.  It does make me giggle sometimes, though, to know that under my plain ol' every day shirt is a rockin' bra! 

Now, as great as this all sounds, there is a downside to this weight loss.  One I KNEW would be coming.  My face is always the first place I lose weight (along with my hands, feet and boobs).  And now, without all the padding, my face is looking old!  Every little line and wrinkle shows!!  People have always told me how young I look for my age, and how I haven't changed a bit over the years, blah, blah, blah.  Yeah, well, I always said it was because the fat in my face kept it looking smooth!  Now, not so much. =(  But, I guess that's the trade off, huh?  Hopefully, soon, people will be too busy checking out my booty to notice my wrinkles, right?  Haha!

One a different note, my mom, sister and I got a few things accomplished for my dad's party.  My sister and I decided on centerpieces, and my mother and I went and finalized the menu.  Woo hoo!!  Now, my sister and I have to put the centerpieces together, which shouldn't be too bad.  I also have to make the labels for the favors and put those together.

This is what will be served at the party:

Sausage and Peppers
Chicken Vesuvio
Baked Ham with Pineapple
Stuffed Peppers (stuffed with rice and ricotta cheese, with a white sauce)
Roasted Potatoes
Broccoli (sauteed in olive oil with garlic, covered in breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese)
Green Beans Almondine
Tossed Green Salad

There will be platters of bruschetta on each table for everyone to munch on until my dad arrives.  And, of course, there will be the killer sweet table I told you about the other day.  How does this menu sound to you?  Well, besides excessive.  We Italians ONLY know how to do excessive, sorry. ;-)

Well, the giant pot of 4-bean chili simmering on the stove smells too good to ignore any longer.  Guess I'll call Stud up for dinner!  Enjoy your evening!

Still gettin' my craft on...

Here's something else I was inspired to make thanks to Pintrest. (In case you haven't figured it out, it's my new addiction. I'm not even kidding. Thank God I don't have a job, or a life, cuz I'm on there 5 or 6 hours a day right now sometimes. I'm a loser...)

I've seen people turn picture frames into dry erase memo boards, and thought, I could use that! I have this tiny little strip of wall between the door jams of the doors that go down to my back door, and my spare room. It's the perfect place to leave little notes about things I need to remember, because I can't help but see it when I walk out the door. I usually put post-its there for myself. But, I don't like how wasteful that is, and I really liked the idea of something dry erase, that can be used over and over.

I wasn't sure what size frame would fit, so I picked up 2 different ones. I think I may just go back and get another bigger one so that match. But for now, here they are.

I figured I would put different things on this one, inspirational thoughts, motivational thoughts, silly thoughts, whatever strikes my fancy for the day.I'll use this one the way I've always used this awkward little strip of wall, either to remind myself of things as I'm walking out the door, or just things I need to keep in the forefront of my mind. Like Stud's orthodontist appointment this Thursday.
I put these together while I was on the phone with my sister for the past 2 1/2 hours, listening to her horror stories of just having spent 3 weeks in Italy with our mother. She probably could have vented for another couple of hours, but she was tired and needed to go take a nap. They just arrived home yesterday afternoon, and she's still feeling a little jet-lagged.

All she managed to do was give me horrible flashbacks to my last trip to Italy with my mother, which was 10 years ago. I took Stud and we were there for 6 weeks. I swore I would never do it again. I usually can only take small doses of my mother here, at home, where I can get in my car and be back in my own house in less than 5 minutes. Being stuck there with her was not pleasant, to say the least.

Let me just stop for a minute and say, I realize what a horrible daughter I sound like right now, but rest assured, I love my mother with all my heart. We just don't get along most of the time. The crux of it is that I'm so much like my father. She can't stand either one of us most of the time! Not only am I the spitting image of him, we have almost identical personalities. It just pisses her off royally!

My poor, sweet friend Jen was actually a witness to it at my Tastefully Simple party. As an ice-breaker, she had all the guests go around and introduce themselves, and then tell what they love and/or admire about me. (Thanks, again, for the tears, by the way, Jen!) Well, when it was my mother's turn, she started off saying, "What I love and admire most about ChiTown are her parents!" Ha, ha, very funny. Then she says, "Well, I can tell you what I can't STAND about her - she's exactly like her father!!" Well, hardy, har, har!

But, just so we're clear, yes, I DO love my mother!!! And, I know she loves me. But most of the time, we're like oil and water. Correction -OLIVE oil and water.

So, after telling you all that, I figured now might be a good time to share this little tidbit of news. I leave 2 weeks from tomorrow for Italy. Yep, you read that correctly. I will be leaving, on a jet plane, but I DO know when I'll be back again.

Isn't that what most unemployed folks do - take a European vaction? I'll be there for two weeks. Two really LONG weeks.

But, here's what's saving me. MY DADDY IS GOING WITH ME!!!! This will be my fourth trip to Italy, but the first with my daddy. I'm really excited about that. I can't wait for him to take me to his hometown and show my where he grew up. I want to see his house, where he went to school, where he hung out, all of it.

Now, there is a very real possibility that my mother might put the kibosh on all that, but I'm going to try and stay positive and hope for the best.

The other reason I've decided to suck it up and do this is that my brother's LONG-time, on-again, off-again girlfriend will also be joining us. I'm SO excited for her!!! She and my brother started planning almost a year ago for this trip. She's even been learning Italian. But, things have gotten a little rocky with them recently, and between the baby and the bar, my brother just is not going to be able to take 2 weeks away from either.

A couple of weeks ago it occurred to me that KC should just go anyway! She adores my daddy, almost as much as I do, and she actually likes spending time with my mother. But, I had a feeling she probably wouldn't go by herself. Admittedly, that would be a little weird, right, to go to Italy and hang out with your sometimes-boyfriend's parents? (for those of you who haven't been keeping up, KC has been around for nearly 13 years now, and she really is part of the family.) So, I told her I would go with her, if that's what it took to get her there. In her mind, she always imagined her first trip there would be with my brother (duh!) so I was a little stunned when she agreed.

A lot of different things have been falling into place for us, making both of us think we are meant to take this trip. Luckily for me, I don't have a job, so my schedule is wide open. We were able to get the tickets for nearly $300 less than my sister and mother paid. Which worked out great because my passport expired last month, and to get an expedited one cost nearly $200! We just changed our tickets yesterday to leave a day earlier, which saved us another $100.

Last week, I closed on a refi I did for my house (which I did because I knew I wouldn't be working, and wanted a lower mortgage payment) and I now get two months without having to make a payment. Hello! There's my vacation money. Plus, I'll be getting a check back from my old mortgage company for the left over escrow money in the account. Can you say "spending money?"

Like I said, lots of things are falling into place. I was able to keep myself focused on the positive for the past week, like having my Daddy and KC there, but after hanging up with my sister, I want to call and cancel. I just told my Daddy the same thing a minute ago on the phone, and he was able to talk me down a little. He keeps telling me not to worry, KC will take care of my mom. Good God, I hope so!!!

In the meantime, whatever positive thoughts you can send this way would be awesome! I'm off to my Daddy's house to visit, and Stud' going to cut his grass. CSJ is meeting us there, and we'll have dinner together before my dad leaves for another trip tonight. He's off to his annual national trap shooting tournament. (I think I may have mentioned it in the past.) He'll be gone a week, then he's home 6 days, then we leave for our trip. I hope I can find the silver lining again before then!!!

The spinning is coming to a halt...

Just got home from my parents' house. Mom is doing MUCH better today. She actually made the appointment with her regular doctor for a follow-up. In the meantime, he prescribed some kind of medication (which of course, she couldn't remember the name of!) for the dizziness, and wants her to take it everyday for a week, then stop the next week, and see if it makes any difference. He said that she can then take it as needed.

Did I ever tell you about my parent's GP? Actually, he's also my mother & father-in-law's doctor, and my friend's parents also go to him. EVERYONE loves him. Well, Joe, their doctor, actually went to high school with me!!! How hilarious is that?! My parents were the last of this group to start seeing him. When I told my mom we went to high school together, she says, "Well, we can't go to this kid!" Um...yeah...mom? I'm OLD!! Trust me, he's a full-fledged doctor!!

She got over it pretty quickly. He's a VERY successful physician, and I'm really happy for him. He actually runs the rehab facility that my father-in-law is in right now. He's a big-wig in the Adult Medicine dept at the hospital. In a nutshell, he's done pretty damn well for himself!

Another one of my friends from high school became a neurosurgeon. Way to make me feel like a loser, guys!! The three of us had almost every class together for 4 years. I'm a disgrace to my fellow nerds. :(

This nerd is so ready for bed. CSJ has to work all night, so I'm going to curl up with a good book, and enjoy having my bed all to myself tonight. (Is that bad?)

Can I go to bed now?

I'll keep it short. Mom is home, after spending the night in the hospital. They did the MRI around 11, got the results around 5, everything looks great. So, that's a HUGE plus. However, the only diagnosis they could give her was vertigo. She's supposed to follow up with her regular doctor this week.

I only slept about an hour since Saturday night, so I'm off to bed. THANK YOU so much to all of you who sent well-wishes and prayers to my mom. The power of prayer never ceases to amaze me. Neither do my Bloggy Buddies.

It's 2:10 am...

...and I'm just getting home from the emergency room. I tell ya, there's never a dull moment around here.

I didn't mention in the last post that my mother wasn't feeling well when she left. When I said that my last guests just left, I was referring to my mom, sister and brother's girlfriend (SIL).

For a few months now, my mom's been experiencing these dizzy spells. Sometimes it's as quick as a head rush, sometimes it's a few seconds longer, but it always passes. At her last visit with her oncologist, she mentioned it to him. He wasn't too happy to hear about it, and immediately gave her orders for a CT scan of the brain. He had just finished telling her that even though she had passed the 5-year mark that usually indicated full remission, the type of tumor she had was a slow-growing tumor, and doesn't usually show itself again for 7 years. So, technically, she isn't in remission yet. Naturally, he was worried that perhaps the cancer had spread to the brain.

Ok, well, the scan came back clean, so no worries. But, my mom kept having these moments of dizziness. She mentioned that a while back, while cleaning her ears, she went in too far with her Q-tip (WTF?!) and hurt herself. There was some bleeding involved. So, she thought maybe that's what was causing this dizziness, or maybe some kind of inner-ear infection. Yet, she never made an appointment to see her GP and have it checked out.

Now, fast forward to today. When the party was winding down, my mom, sister and SIL went out to sit on my deck. I came out a little while later to join them. Apparently, my mother was feeling dizzy but never said anything. SIL made her some coffee, and we sat around chatting. When she said she was ready to go, she finally mentioned that she was feeling dizzy. But now, she was feeling REALLY dizzy. We thought maybe she was a bit dehydrated, between the margaritas and the coffee. I got her a bottle of water, and she took a few sips, but she said it wasn't helping. Every time she tried to stand, she had to immediately sit back down because she was so dizzy. She was also feeling nauseous at this point. We decided that I would just drive her home in her car, and CSJ agreed to follow us in his car, and drive me back home. My sister was pushing her to guzzle the water, since we were sure she needed the hydration.

I went out front to get my mother's car and pull it in my driveway so she wouldn't have to walk far, and CSJ left for my parents' house. When I walked back into my yard, I see my mother slumped over a bucket (actually, it was a big plastic party bucket, the kind you put drinks in). She had been puking her guts out. Well, we all know how I feel about puke! I went in to get her some ginger ale, while my sister and SIL tended to my mother. I guess she tried to stand up again, and almost fell. My sister put the puke bin in my trash can and we tried to get her in the car, but no such luck. She immediately started to heave. Thankfully, my sister got the bucket back in time!

A few minutes later, she thought she was ready to try getting to the car again. My sister and SIL each walked on either side of her, basically carrying her along. She got about 10 feet down the driveway, and had to stop. She then started projectile vomiting all over the side of my house. I ran to get her a chair, and she just sat and puked for a few more minutes. We went in and got her cool rags for her forehead and face, and an ice pack to put on the back of her neck. SIL swears it always helps her when she's pukey.

By now, about 25 minutes have passed, and I realize CSJ is sitting at my parents' house. I call him and tell him what's going on, and suggest he just bring my dad back to my house. I figured by the time they got there, we could get my mom in the car, and my dad could just drive home.

My mother was still sitting in the chair when the boys arrived. It was very slow going getting her in the car. Every time she moved, she felt like she wanted to puke. Every time she tried to stand up, she was overcome with dizziness. We finally got her in the car, but then my dad had to wait for a while for her to settle in before he could drive. I gave her a good, sturdy bag to puke in, if needed, and they finally were on their way. My dad told her that if she threw up any more, he was taking her to the hospital instead of home. While they were waiting around to leave, my brother called my dad, and said he was at my parents' house, so my dad told him to just go in, they were on their way. My sister and SIL were both going to head there, also. My SIL stopped on the way to get Pedialyte and Smartwater.

They all left, I came in, cleaned up a little, and called there about a half hour after they left to check on my mom. My sister said she seemed better, but she was still dizzy. I told her to call me if things changed. I went downstairs to finish cleaning up, but realized I was just too tired. I came back up, put on my jammies and got in bed. I then wrote that last post.

I watched some TV, and just as I was settling in for sleep, my SIL called. "Ok, so there's an ambulance here, they're taking your mom to Christ [that's our local hospital]. She had a really bad attack, and she's been puking her guts out for about a half hour." I tell her I'll meet them there, tear off my pajamas, throw on the first two things I find in my bedroom, and run out the door.

Wow, this is quite the saga, isn't it? Let me jump ahead a bit. They gave her an IV with saline to hydrate her, and something for her nausea. The first doctor that came in (intern?) took the whole history, did and exam, and basically said that given her history of cancer and her age, etc., she would like to do an MRI of the brain because even though the CT scan came back clean, there could be some abnormalities not picked up by the CT, but the MRI would see it. But, they don't do those in the ER, so she'd have to be admitted overnight, and have it done in the morning. Mom didn't like that a whole lot. The intern said she was going to discuss it with her supervising doctor, and the supervising doctor would be in soon.

Well, the supervising doctor completely agreed. They gave her some Valium in her IV, because he said that if it WAS an inner-ear thing, the Valium would help with that. (The intern had mentioned that she did see a scab in my mom's ear from the Q-tip incident, but that it wasn't far enough in the canal to have really caused a problem) If it isn't, it would still calm her down enough to maybe sleep. They also gave her more anti-nausea medication. They got her into a room in the CDU about an hour later, and that's where she is right now. I drove my daddy home, and here I am. I'm exhausted, yet I can't sleep. Holy crap, I just looked at the time! It's now 2:49! I've been sitting her typing for 40 minutes?!?! How could that be?

I have a killer migraine coming on, so I took a couple Advil before I started typing. Maybe they'll kick in enough for me to lie down now. I will, naturally, update tomorrow. In the meantime, feel free to send some good juju our way.

Day 8

Friday, June 8, 2012
How do you feel about new people jumping into your life?

I love it! I especially love it when it's a new Bloggy Buddy. The most recent "jumpers" are Funny, and her sister, Mel. I have NO doubt in my mind that the three of us will be meeting up sometime in the near future, and when we do? Boy, the world had better look out!!

Big news - I picked up the disks today from my MIL's birthday party!! Woo hoo! They turned out even more beautiful than I had anticipated. CSJ and I sat here at my computer and looked at all the photos together, and were both smiling the whole time. I'm SO glad we decided to hire a professional to capture this special day.

Oo, and another bonus - there are several wonderful shots of my parents. That might not sound like a big deal, but trust me, if you knew the issues my mother has with taking pictures, you'd understand. Because she hates to have her picture taken, she usually doesn't photograph well. Because she doesn't photograph well, she hates having her picture taken. Sense a pattern here? CSJ and I were both amazed at the great shots of my parents. Here, take a look at a couple:I LOVE how excited CSJ is for his mom in these pictures.Surprise, Grandma!

I know some of you have already seen the "amateur" versions of some of these, but I wanted to share the shots from the professional.

Brian, Grandma and Stud

The Grandkids (10 out of 14)

The Great-grandkids who were there.

Shhhh....don't tell anyone, but this is here favorite ;-)

Six of her nine children

With the "significant others"Mommy and her "baby" (#9)

#3, my SIL, Liz

#6, SIL Liza (pronounced Lisa)

#4, SIL Roxanne (on her ninth birthday, she got a baby brother. Yep, CSJ!)

#1, SIL Lindy (she's only 2 years younger than my mom. Crazy, right?)

Just a couple more I liked.

As tempted as I am to share the almost 200 photos the pro took, I'll spare you. There are a couple more pictures I'll show you though. My sister, Stud and I had hair appointments last night. Here's his new look.
I, too, have a little bit of a new look (went with some highlights) but I haven't taken a picture of it yet. As soon as I do, I'll share. You have so much to look forward to this weekend! ;-)

Oh, c'mon already!!

I've been feeling hot and cranky all day today. It started this morning when the power went out, leaving me without air-conditioning for a while. Like I said earlier, I opened the windows in my room just a crack, just to get some air circulating. All that did was let the humidity in, making it more miserable.

Like I said, the power, thankfully, was only out for a bit this morning. However, it just wouldn't cool off. I turned the thermostat down a bit, hoping that might help. I took a cold shower around 5, which helped for the moment. Later, I actually went to lie down on my bed, right in front of the fan, hoping to cool off. I ended up falling asleep for a little while, but woke up because I was so hot. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore, and got up to see what the hell was going on. My thermostat was set at 75, but the temperature of the house read 87!! WTF??!

I checked to make sure the fan was on, then walked over to a vent, thinking that maybe it was just blowing warm air. Well, it wasn't blowing at all! Again, WTF?!

I ran down to the basement, and sure enough, nothing is happening. I checked the circuit breakers, no problem. Then, I opened the front of the furnace. I don't know what the hell I was looking for, but I did notice that the air filter hadn't been changed in a while. So, I grabbed a new filter, slid the old, dirty one out, and started to slide the new one in. I figured, if nothing else, when the HVAC guy came for the inevitable service call tomorrow, he would at least find a clean filter.

As I was trying to slide the new filter in, I somehow bent the cardboard frame a bit, and it fell to the bottom, hitting the blower. Low and behold, it started up. For the third time, WTF?!? I have no idea what made the blower start working again, but you know what? I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

The last couple of days, I feel like the universe has been angry with me for something. Yesterday, when I walked out to take Stud to school, my car was dead. I tried unsuccessfully to jump it from my mom's car before leaving with her for lunch. Then, after lunch, I tried it again. It still didn't work. Last night, after he ate dinner, my poor daddy came over and took care of it for me.

Then, this morning, the power went out. Now, this weird air-conditioner thing. I hope to God it doesn't go out again. My air-conditioning unit is fairly new (less than 3 years) but my furnace/blower is pretty old. I hope I don't have to replace it, cuz that would suck hairy donkey balls.

On a different note, we apparently have big storms rolling through tonight. When I went outside to throw the dirty air filter away, I was stunned to see a light show going on in the distance. I ran back in the house to grab my crappy camera so I could try and capture some of it for you.

Unfortunately, after I downloaded these to my computer, I tried to watch them, and they were almost pitch black. But, I figured, what the hell, I took them for YOU, the least you could do is watch them! ;-)

Ok, I just watched these through Blogger, and they're pretty awful. You can see the lightning, but you can't see what it really looked like. The sky was pretty light, and the lightning show was going on behind a curtain of clouds. Eh, I tried.

Oh, what a night...

Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Tell us about the day you were born.

I kinda wish I could have had my mom do a guest post, for obvious reasons, but I'll do my best. I've certainly heard the story of my birth plenty of times, but I think it would be better hearing it straight from the horse's mouth.

First, let me tell you that I was VERY late. "Back in the day," they let women go past their due dates, and in some cases (mine!) WAY past their due dates. I was due to be born sometime around the first week of April. My daddy was kind of hoping I'd be a couple days late so I would be born on his birthday (April 11). Well, as you all know (*snicker*), my birthday is May 8. I know!! A month after I was due to enter the world. WTF, right?!

Now, before you start crackin' wise, and saying that the due date was just miscalculated, it wasn't. My parents know exactly when I was conceived. Right after my mom got pregnant, my paternal grandfather passed away, so my dad went back to Italy for about a month. So, no, there's no chance that I was conceived later than they thought.

My parents tried all kinds of things to get me to finally come out and meet them. Their favorite was driving up and down the rough, bumpy streets of Chicago (there were still some 'back streets' then that were pretty awful) at high speeds, hoping to bounce me right out of there. Yeah...not so much.

My mom always loves to tell the story about the day before I was born. She says I was incredibly active that day. According to her, I was trying to come out her belly button. She says I exhausted her with my acrobatics all day, so she tried to go to bed early. But, when she tried to lie down, she said it seemed like I was trying to stand straight up. She says I was literally lifting her off the bed. (Keep in mind that my mother has always been a tiny little thing. She weighed 95 lbs on her wedding day. The day she had me, she weighed in at a whopping 110!) My dad spent most of the night trying to hold me down, with BOTH hands, so my mother could try to sleep a little. He even fell asleep that way.

Very early the next morning, my mom woke up because she had to pee. When she got up, she realized her nightgown was wet, but padded to the bathroom anyway, thinking she peed the bed. When she got to the bathroom, she turned on the light, and saw that her entire nightgown was soaked with blood. She went back to the bedroom and flipped the light on, and says it looked like a murder scene. All my jumping around the night before must have really shredded her insides.

Enough with the gore. I'm making myself queasy. I was my mom's biggest baby, weighing in at 6 lbs 15 oz. She brought me home on Mother's Day. Perfect, huh? And, I've been perfect ever since - NOT!!

I AM perfectly nuts and obsessed with one thing. Come on, say it with me....PENGUINS! Just because I love you guys so much, I took a picture for you today to share how crazy I am. THIS is what I saw when I threw my covers back this morning:Ok, stop laughing. I've decided to do a whole series of photos for you of all the different combinations of this set up I can come up with. I have a couple of other pairs of penguin pajamas. I just bought myself a new pair of fleecy penguin pajama pants at the freakin' grocery store the other day (hey, they were on clearance! How could I possibly say no?). I have several more sets of flannel penguin sheets, and a couple more pairs of penguin socks. Alright already, enough with the laughing!! You know you can't wait to see the pictures.

Finally tonight, at the request of a fellow teacher blogger, I want to share this link to a post on Miss Elphaba's blog about the movie "School of Life." Based on the clips she's posted, I'm going to search this out. And, hey, Julie, it stars Ryan Reynolds!! (although, being his girlfriend and all, you probably already know that, huh?)

A peek at our Thanksgiving

It's nearly 2 am, and I'm just getting home from my parents'. I hated to leave so early, but I've got a date tomorrow (tonight?). I'll tell you all about it later. In the meantime, let me share a few photos from our Thanksgiving.

I just had to start with this ridiculous picture. My poor Daddy!! He was cursed with a non-existent rear-end (of course, I did NOT inherit this trait!!) which means his pants tend to droop. While he was in the middle of removing the turkey from the pan, my brother noticed that his pants were droopier than usual. So, of course, he started teasing him. He lifted my dad's shirt, and noticed that the top of his underwear was showing, so that added a whole new dimension to his teasing. He started asking him when he went 'gansta' and so on. It was pretty funny, actually. Then, as my brother tends to do, he crossed the line, and decided it would be really funny if he tucked my dad's shirt into his underwear. Now, my poor father had both hands literally full of a hot bird, so he was helpless against my brother's antics. Obviously, I decided that instead of helping my dad, I'd take some pictures of the torture!

Here's my niece, posing with her favorite cousin. Isn't my brother's dog a cutie?!
My mother sure knows how to set a table. This picture doesn't do it justice.
The antipasto platter. I know - typical dagos, right!?
I HAD to take these next pictures, just to share the insanity. THIS is what the spread looked like AFTER we all ate!! My mother only knows how to cook for a minimum of 20 people. Too bad there were only 8 of us!

Um...yeah...that ham went completely UNTOUCHED.

As usual, my brother took a nap after dinner. Don't you love how he's hanging half off the couch so that the dog can snuggle with him?
My sissy and her youngest. So sweet!
How cute are these two?
At some point, my older niece ended up taking a nap right on the floor, alongside the dog.
These two really love each other. Can't you tell?
My Sissy and Me!!
Aw...my sissy loves me. :)
I hope you all had as wonderful a Thanksgiving as we did.

Beautiful Family Photo

I have been scanning photos for hours. I finally finished, and now I'm about to burn them all to CDs. I'm also going to attempt to make a powerpoint slideshow of the photos to show at the wake tonight.

Here's an AWESOME photo of my grandma and her children. I have no idea what year this is from, or where they were. It would seem like they're at a wedding, maybe? And, my mom says my sister was already born, so maybe early 70s.

My mother is stunningly beautiful, isn't she? She finally made it home from Italy yesterday afternoon. She was too exhausted to do much, but I'm afraid that when she woke up today, the reality of losing her sister must have set in. I'm almost a little afraid to see how the wake goes tonight.

Marylou, Roseanne (my mom), Eddie, Grandma and Lucy I have a feeling I'm going to be posting several more times today, in between burning CDs, making slideshows and putting together photo boards...