frivolous thoughts of friday

My new camera that B gave me for Christmas is so little and cute. It fits perfectly inside this little gift card case which has become my new camera carrying case.


Crazy army camouflage Chinese dragon embroidered Skechers sneakers... this past Friday's Jean's Day sneakers.


We have a tradition at work of having a Chinese auction ever year on Fat Tuesday. The idea is to indulge in some decadent prizes before Lent starts. This year there were eleven prizes including wine, rum, spa gift card, mall gift card, Wegman's gift card, etc, etc. Everyone got six free tickets to bid on the prizes of their choice. There were five things I was interested in so I put two tickets in the wine. I won the mystery box which turned out to be $20 in lottery tickets. From these I won $7 and four more lottery tickets. Earlier this week I broke open a Chinese fortune cookie and my fortune read.... Generosity and perfection are your eternal goals. I think this cookie was right on. I may not ever come close to these goals but they are goals that I always keep in mind. I think there is some kind of Chinese theme forming here in this post.

wasting away again in margaritaville

Just kidding. I only had one because I needed to stay awake to watch the Friday night movie and to keep from falling off this

step that I brought up from the basement. I had to get in that 30 minutes of aerobic exercise to qualify for that point. I practiced my steps that I have been learning during our aerobic part of Total Body Workout class. We started the movie and I started stepping. Bill got used to the rhythmic patterns of my feet clomping on the step and I had so much fun that I did 45 minutes before I settled down on the sectional to watch the rest of the movie.


This Friday's fun plaid velvet-bowed Ked's-looking sneakers that I wore for Jean's Day. Not Keds but Keds-looking because I think I got them from Walmart a couple years ago.


Today was Hope's birthday. She was diagnosed with severe Celiac's Disease last year so she took herself off the birthday club list. Mary Ann and I were discussing it at lunch one day and decided that we would bring in a gluten-free cake for Hope's birthday. Mary Ann is on vacation at Disney World so I bought the mix and made the cake last night. It called for gluten-free vanilla. I didn't think vanilla could possibly have gluten in it but I didn't want to be the one to make Hope deathly ill so I left the vanilla out altogether. I greased the pan just with butter and made a frosting of butter, powdered sugar and half and half. It was so plain that it looked cute. I think Hope was very surprised and very pleased. I actually liked it better than a normal cake mix because I'm not big on cake anyway. Cookies are my thing.
And since it is Oscar weekend and The Academy Awards is the one awards show that I watch, movies are still very much on my mind. I don't have a very big collection of movies but occasionally I will see a movie that I just have to own. Here are some that I have collected over the years. The Spitfire Grill, The Seventh Sign, Memento, Angel Heart, The Age of Innocence, Moulin Rouge, The Four Feathers, Dangerous Liasons, The Girl with the Pearl Earring, Don't Look Now, Austin Powers, Anne of the Thousand Days, Romeo & Juliet, Beauty and the Beast, Fantasia, American Beauty, To Die For, The Cell and Fight Club. Then, of course, my collection of beloved vampire movies-The Hunger, Shadow of the Vampire, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Interview with the Vampire. I'll have to add Twilight although I love it more for the love story.
And then there are a couple that I'm almost ashamed to say I love. They are The Libertine and Quills. I also love The Bourne series. Often the music in a movie is what makes me fall in love with it. Bill knows now that everytime we watch a Bourne movie that he has to let the credits play out so I can listen to Moby sing Extreme Ways. A couple that I might like to own are The Believer with Ryan Gosling and Primal Fear with Ed Norton. In fact most of Ed Norton's. OK, I'm rambling now and I have to work tomorrow. Good Night.

and the people choose

I saw a blurb on aol listing the Top Ten People's Choice movies.

The Shawshank Redemption
Witness
The Notebook
Mama Mia
Citizen Kane
It's a Wonderful Life
The Others
The Deer Hunter
Amelie
Life Is Beautiful

I have to say that I definitely agree with most of them. They are all fine movies. I was surprised to see Mama Mia which I totally loved but still find odd to be on the Top Ten. Citizen Kane I saw for the first time a couple years ago and don't really see what all the fuss is about. It's a Wonderful Life is one of B's favorite movies and we watch it every year. The Shawshank Redemption is one of Jay's favorite movies. The rest are all movies I love and would watch over and over again. Amelie has to be one of my favorite movies ever. I own The Shawshank Redemption, It's a Wonderful Life, The Others and Amelie. I plan to buy Mama Mia when it comes out. I want to buy Twilight too. It's a beautiful love story with beautiful music. The Others is one of my favorite ghost stories. The other being The Sixth Sense. I would also add to this list - Remains of the Day, Pan's Labyrinth, Amadeus and The Heiress. What would you add or take away?

Smudge

Today Smudge is celebrating his 12th birthday. Or maybe I should say I'm celebrating Smudgie's 12th birthday. I adopted him from the SPCA in April 1997. We have a copy of the surrender papers to the SPCA. It states that Smudge was born 2/18/97 in Cheektowaga. The reason for surrender is unwanted. How sad. I have always teased Smudge that he was unwanted. "Nobody wanted you, Smudge. You were unwanted. But I wanted you. I picked you from all the other kitties".


Smudge got his name from the little black smudge on the top of his head. The lady at the SPCA said I should call him Smudge and I liked the name, so I did. But before he was a year old, his smudge disappeared.


Smudgie has always liked to curl up in small places.... boxes, the bathroom sink and this bowl.


Here he is standing in the catbird seat with friends, Sunny and Petri. Sunny and Petri are sadly no longer with us and failed to produce an heir although they tried their darnedest.


And here he is helping me with his birthday post. He has been having a little trouble with his eyes during winters the past few years. Smudge, Smudgie, Smudgie Smudgison, Tiny Triangle Face, White, Whitey Whiteness, Smudgediddidlyumtious, Smudgilini, My Little Kittily-Cattily Cat Wattin Dattin, Pinky, Golden Eyes, Smudgolister Dollister. I love him so.

a few thoughts on love

I recently took a quiz on Facebook entitled “What 80’s Movie Are You”? My niece, Becky, had taken it and she was “A Princess Bride”. I was curious to find out what 80s movie I would be. I was surprised to find that I too was “A Princess Bride”. I sent it on my friend, Barb, who also turned out to be “A Princess Bride”. I thought about the questions that were asked and I think we must all have answered that we believe in love at first sight.
I know that I do. I had never fallen in love with any guy I had ever dated. I liked some a lot but had never felt really right with any one. I doubted that I would ever marry. I wasn’t looking for anyone to marry. But then I spotted B in the cafeteria. Then again from my dorm window while he was playing flag football in the quad. I felt a strong and urgent need to connect with this person. I guess he felt the same. I was dating another guy on his floor who resided in the room directly across from B. I was sitting on Rab’s bed while he was on the phone. B walked into the room and whispered in my ear “I like your legs”. Rab was furious. He demanded to know what B had whispered but I never revealed it. My roommate, Libby, experienced love at first sight about the same time that I did. Fate is a funny thing. She and her love, Tom, shared the same last name. She didn’t have to change her name on her driver’s license or her social security card when she married.
I had a friend, Sharon, that I met in Lamaze class when she and I were preparing to deliver our first babies. She had lived and studied for a year in France while she was in college. She taught me to make the French vinaigrette dressing that she had learned to make while living there. It is still my favorite dressing to this day. She told me that she had met her husband at a function in a park. He asked her to share a paddleboat with him and they ended up kissing and necking wildly out on the water. She said that normally she wouldn’t do something like that but it felt right with him.
I went to see Mama Mia (another love story) on Sunday night with my friend, Mary. We have been going to plays together for eight years. She told me that she broke off a wedding once and then several years later she met Gabby. After a few dates he presented her with a mixed tape of heartfelt songs that he had made especially for her. Mary’s friend asked her if that didn’t weird her out and scare her. He barely knew her and was giving her such an intimate gift. But Mary wasn’t creeped out at all. She said that she knew she wanted to marry him less than two weeks after she had met him.
My baby sister, Melissa, also cancelled a wedding before she attended the Illinois State Police Academy and met her love at first sight. My big sister, Debbie, had a wild crush on her guy before meeting him and shortly thereafter marrying him.
I could never understand when someone was trying to make a decision to marry…was wondering if he was the one. You just know if he is or if he isn't. I knew I wanted to marry B. I felt as if my heart were being wrenched from my chest whenever we were apart or he made an offhanded comment about the cuteness of another girl.
I am seeing my son fall in love now. He had his first “date” when he was in seventh grade. He and Allison went to a movie. He was attracted to Allison because “Allison is not like other girls, Mom. Allison is more like a boy”. Time revealed that Allison really was more like a boy but by then Jay had moved on to girls who were more like girls. These girls had to want to do the things that Jay wanted to do. He had no patience for their interests and girl chatter. But someone has changed that. Now I see a boy who prepares special Valentine’s Day meals served on special heart decorated plates and gazes lovingly into brown eyes.
I love love. Don’t you love love?

b mine

B and I had a very pleasant Valentine's Day. We arose early and shared whole wheat pancakes left over from last weekend. Off to the BAC for me for my Total Body Workout class while B continued to work on making DVDs of Jay's football highlights from all the years (high school through college) of football he had filmed with our camcorder. I meant to get a lot of housework done but pretty much messed around on the computer all day. Late in the afternoon I did manage to change our bed and fold some laundry while B lifted weights and rode his bike on rollers in the basement. I had been having a taste for a petite fillet for several weeks. Earlier in the week I had mentioned this to B and suggested that we try Black and Blue or another smaller restaurant somewhat famous here in Buffalo (Loughran's) that I thought was known as a steakhouse. I was partial to Loughran's because I had never been there and it was a Buffalo landmark. He made reservations at Loughran's. After being seated we were a bit disappointed to find that they only had two steaks (sirloin and T-bone) on the menu. We both ordered pasta dishes. Both pasta dishes were very good, but I had wanted steak. So in that regard, reflecting on our choice of restaurant, I must echo the words of my dear niece, Becky, when she was a small child. "I picked the worst one". Tiny Becky had agonized over the decision of which stone pony she should select as her souvenir from a trip to Nogales, Mexico. Becky sobbed these words upon discovering in the car on the way home that the horse she had chosen had a piece broken off.
Since it was a special day we thought we'd share a dessert but the desserts at Loughran's sounded too plain and everyday to waste calories on. B suggested we try Butterwood's on Main Street in our village. We ordered Chocolate Mousse Cake and Carrot Cake to split. The waitress set the Carrot Cake in front of me and it was so lovely that I just had to snap the above shot.



For me, B picked up a dozen roses from Wegman's earlier in the day when he went out to run errands and get the cars washed. For him, such a deal! I used Kohl's cash that I received the week before when I bought myself some new slacks and a few items for Jay who happened to be visiting last weekend. This week I bought B a polo shirt and a fleece and nylon vest. I had also thrown in my cart two Easter bathroom towels and a wooden place mat. I handed the cashier my $30 Kohl's cash and she gave me back a credit receipt for 83 cents. So I got all those items for free. How sweet is that?!!!



We followed up our dinner by cuddling while we watched a movie on our big 52 inch. A perfect day.

pj party

My BBF, Barb, invited me over to her house for a pj party/movie night on Friday. She had invited several ladies but in the end I was the only one able to keep the date. Her hub, Mike, took refuge in their upstairs TV room. Barb provided the movie (Road to Rodanthe), a dry sparkling rose wine and dark chocolate M&Ms. I brought along two of Bonnie's heart-shaped sugar cookies and the ingredients to make a chicken pesto pizza. While the pizza was baking and the champagne bubbles were going to our heads, the phone rang. Barb looked at her caller ID and said in an apologetic-sounding voice "It's my mom". Having just spent an hour on the phone with my mom the night before, I know how important it is to take that phone call from your mom. I told her to go ahead and answer it. Flo had called to inquire about the Continental Flight 3407 crash which had occurred a mere two miles from Barb's house. While she chatted with Flo, I tried to take Elmo's picture.


Elmo is the younger and much more energetic of Barb's two look-alike dogs. Buddy is the other. Elmo was very happy to receive the attention. So happy that he just couldn't sit still for me. After Barb wrapped up her call with Flo - who didn't want to keep us from our movie - Barb held Elmo still so I could snap this pic.


You can see how much fun we were having. We ate our pizza standing at the countertop and blabbered on and on, then settled in for the very definitely chick flick movie. It was a wonderful evening.

treats

Friday... another Jean's Day (donations going to the Alzheimer's Association this week) and the day before Valentine's Day and Jeremy's birthday. Caroline was the last birthday so she was up to bake a cake for Jeremy. Fortunately for Caroline, her mother, Bonnie, was making a trip into Buffalo and offered to bake Jeremy's cake and bring us cookies. Bonnie is a retired school teacher who keeps herself busy with two part-time jobs and doing things she loves to do. One of the things she loves to do is bake. Caroline told me that Bonnie was asked to bake wedding cake cookies that will be given as favors at a wedding. I hear that Bonnie will be decorating these with candies that look like pearls and I will be anxious to see the final result.


Caroline and Bonnie
We were teasing Caroline at lunchtime that we were going to kick her off the birthday list and replace her with Bonnie. But even though Caroline often has peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, her cooking skills are not to be sneezed at. She made Jeremy a lovely and tasty Oreo cake for his birthday last year.


Jeremy cutting his Holy Cow Cake. Paula remembered that this same cake used to go by a different name a few years back. Does anyone remember the Better Than Sex Cake?

more time than money

When I was in college I had very limited funds and had to be creative in coming up with a valentine card for B. Sew... I used to make them. I was remembering a fabric card that I made for B. I dug around in a box of keepsakes and found it, but I also found two other cards that I made for him that I had forgotten about. One is the above pink satin (pin cushion?)with embroidered heart of my design.


front of fabric card


and upon opening....I had to keep it simple for time and space reasons.


But finding this one really delighted me. I even made the envelope. It has two cancelled 10 cent stamps on it. Inside are six pages of babble and pictures cut from magazines proclaiming my love for B. I showed it to B. He said "Boy, that's really something. You should keep that." so after photographing I put it back in the keepsake box.

tax games

Each year when tax season rolls around, we like to do little things at my firm to keep people motivated and give them a fun little little break from all the late nights and Saturdays. We have the fitness challenge that I already blogged about. So far I am on goal. With the added bonus each week there are 15 points max that you can get. The bonus last week was a nutrition quiz. I got all 15 of my possible points and I'm still on track this week. It's amazing how this little challenge can motivate me to go down to the cold basement and run on my treadmill at 9:30 pm when I'd much rather be reading or blogging. Our challenge this week is to see how many sit-ups you can do during a television commercial break. Since I rarely watch TV I guess I'll have to turn it on and wait for a commercial to meet my challenge this week.
Caroline runs a Bingo game each week. We each receive a Bingo board with four games on it and she doles out a few numbers each day. We usually have a winner by Thursday or Friday. The winner gets a gift card to somewhere. I used to run a Boggle game but this year I wanted to mix it up a bit more to appeal to more people. Last week I sent out a word search game and 22 people played. The grand prize was a Target gift card. Two winners each week get to chose a gift from my Box-O-Surprizes which is filled with various items from Target's $1 section. This week I decided to do one of the games that is circulating the Internet. The grand prize will be a gift card from Wegman's. Here is the e-mail I sent out.

Rules: It’s harder than it looks. Copy into a new e-mail, erase my answers, enter yours and e-mail back to me. Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real, nothing made up! You can’t use any word twice and you can’t use your name for the boy/girl name question. I will be posting these on the outside wall of my cube for all to view. So if you don’t want yours posted, please indicate that when you e-mail it back. Grand prize is $10 gift card to Wegman’s. Have Fun!!

1. What is your name: Ramona
2. A four Letter Word: riot
3. A boy's Name: Robert
4. A girl's Name: Rebecca
5. An occupation: realtor
6. A color: Robin’s egg blue
7. Something you wear: ring
8. A food: rutabaga
9. Something found in the bathroom: razor
10. A place: Rwanda
11. A reason for being late: retching
12. Something you shout: Rebound that ball, y’all
13. A movie title: Remember the Titans
14. Something you drink: Roobios tea
15. A musical group: Radiohead
16. An animal: rhinoceros
17. A street name: Randolph
18. A type of car: Regal
19. A song title: Ruby Tuesday
20. A verb: reticulate


My firm also provides us with Saturday lunches from various restaurants interspersed with subs or deli trays from Wegman's. It's always tasty and there is always a lot of it. I didn't work last Saturday so I missed out on the pancake breakfast that was prepared for us by the partners in honor of our being named one of the Best Companies to Work for in NYS. We have received this honor for the past several years for WNY but this is the first year for NYS. We will find out our ranking in April when Caroline attends the celebration dinner. The wall in this picture is the one that we will be crashing through after tax season to reveal the new space that is being built out on the other side. So we removed the pictures and everyone signed it. Now we kind of like it but I can't wait to see our new eating area. Hurry along, Tax Season.

for you

This one goes out to the ones I love. I've been too busy to post this week but remembered this photo I took last fall while I was out for a Halloween walk. This one beautiful rose was blooming next to Marinaccio's restaurant on Main Street. So with Valentine's Day coming up, I offer it to you.

warm up

Dirty Snow Mountain Range

Sunday it warmed up to the high 30’s. While I was shopping at Wegman’s all the chunks of dirty ice and snow that had been clinging to the underbelly of my car fell off. When I pulled out of my parking space I left a perfect rectangle of dirty snow chunks. After I arrived home and put away my groceries, I decided to go out for walk on my five mile path to enjoy the sunshine and warmer temps and because it was the first day of our fitness challenge at work. One point per day for eating 5 fruits and veggies, 1 point for at least 30 minutes of exercise. There will be five winners who will receive a $30 gift card to Dick’s Sporting Goods and everyone else will receive a $20 card to Dick’s. I think I can be one of the big winners. The Dick’s nearest to me is located in a strip mall on Transit Road right next to BJ’s Wholesale Club. I just think that’s wrong. Having BJ’s and Dick’s side by side in a strip mall.
My walk turned out to be a bit of an obstacle course. Snow up to my knees along Garrison Park. Thankfully I was able to take Gas Station Pass through Dirty Snow Mountain Range.


And then a water hazard


and another hazard....this one of canine origin, I believe


At last....open bike path


Back on Main Street, I encountered this obstacle but managed to make it past


But then this snow dude tried to coax me to sit on his lap but I didn’t take him up on it


Along the way I stopped to talk to many famous men but found them to have rather wooden personalities. Frank Lloyd Wright ignored me but his plaque said "For a period of 22 years (1927-1949), a critical mass of Wright's designed structures stood in and around Buffalo." I don't think Frank would have been so snooty had he known that someone had used his crotch as a disposal site for their chewing gum.


A final water hazard and then home again.

immortal

These are the very same mums from my January 14th post. They were several days old then and they are still going strong today.


Carnations on the kitchen table. One week old and still looking good.