Pink Flamingo on Toast

As 2006 closes I'm reminded of the events of the year. Nothing spectacular in the sense that I won the lottery, gave birth to twins or anything like that. Just little things that make life pleasant. Jerry and I celebrated 10 years of marriage this year. I can't imagine a day without him. ♥ Another year at school and my overall GPA has risen above 3.0. Those years at CMU were fun but man I didn't have the best grades. I guess all you have to do is pass right? The yearly cruises with my family are great and I'm looking forward to the one in 2007. Usually it's Mom, Dad, Chris, Francie and Marty but the past year Francie and Marty couldn't make it because of their foster kids. I wish I had enough courage to be a foster parent, like my sister and her husband, but hearing the stories I couldn't handle kids being taken from me in the middle of the night to go back to their "crackhead" mothers who have temporarily cleaned up their act. This year's...

Fire up Chips ! Nice win at the Motor City Bowl

M e r r y C h r i s t m a s !

..and the Jaguars just lost. Oh well... The weather here is icky..rainy and such. Jerry told me to think of it as snow but it just isn't the same. It's times like this I really miss Michigan. I love seeing the snow covered Christmas lights on the trees. Although Mom said that there wouldn't be a white Christmas there this year. Too bad... We're heading over to Jerry's Parents house tonight to do Christmas with his parent, his sister Melissa and her step-daughter Ashley. Dennis, Ashley's dad had to leave this morning to get back to Vancleave Mississippi because he has to work tomorrow (Navy). So we gave him his present last night. (Tiger Woods 07 for PC) To my family and friends I want to wish you all the very Merriest of Christmas' I love you and wish I could be spending the holidays with all of you. ♥

Happy Festivus to all! May the airing of grievances be quick..and the feats of strength be mighty!

1. Find the nearest book. 2. Name the book & the author. 3. Turn to page 123. 4. Go to the fifth sentence on the page. Copy out the next three sentences and post to your blog. 5. Tag three more folks. 1. Death of a Red Heroine 2. Author - Qui Xiaolong 3. Pg. 123 4. According to a colleague of hers, it would serve Yang right, if having left her in such a situation, she divorced him. But Chen had not discussed this with her. There was no hurry. 5. Jerry , Mandi and Amber .. Tag, You're it!!

I got three A 's and one B (ASL IV). No President's list for me this semester. Oh well....My B grade is disappointing. I know it shouldn't be...but I didn't know I was getting a B, let alone any grade, until the last day the class met. No one knew their grade because we had NO feedback all semester long. Not like we didn't ask..because I did ask..several times. It kind of became a joke that I would raise my hand and ask "Do we get grades?" oh well.. As Jerry reminded me most people would be happy with "Just passing the class" and that a B is an excellent grade. He also reminded me that it wasn't my fault that I didn't get the feedback I needed in the class...it is just poor teaching technique. Oh well...new teacher...new ways...no going back. The journey keeps going forward

Jerry is on vacation this week. He definately deserves it. Poor guy had to put up with cranky Jeanne today after work. I was hungry and needed to get to the the grocery store and to the UPS Store to mail out Christmas presents. I didn't think I was really that cranky until he pointed out that I was driving like one of those... soccer moms ... After being out for an hour and a half we got home and I had some lunch. (Breakfast was 7 hours earlier) So if Vacation Man were to give out advice on my blog he would say "Please eat at regular times so that you don't get cranky and go out in the holiday hubbub with loved ones". Poor guy...I really am lucky that he puts up with me.

More ASL Practice!

...are brutal. They cut you off in traffic and back out without looking in the parking lots. Maybe they are overwhelmed by the holiday hubbub...but sheesh...take a chill pill and relax..it will all be fine. In other words, I went Christmas shopping today. 4 hours of shopping and it's pretty much all done. Just a few things left to pick up and lots of presents to take to be mailed out. I just want to mention that not one person said "Merry Christmas" "Happy Holidays" or anything remotely seasonal to me. I was a little disappointed. I guess I could have said it...but I didn't. So, Merry Christmas and all that jazz.

Man..I was nervous when I recorded this Yesterday. I need to do more of these. _\,,/

Bah...humbug...that's how I'm feeling lately. I don't know if I'm still recovering from the overloaded semester or because one day it's 77° and the next it's 43°. I tried to do some Christmas shopping today but after looking for a parking space (in Avondale) for 20 minutes I just drove home. I haven't done any shopping yet...none...zero...zilch...I'll try again tomorrow.

Man...what a great day for football. It was 63° F with a slight breeze and the sun was shining! The Jaguars took down the Colts. It was beautiful. Maurice Jones-Drew is amazing. It's only his rookie year and this game he racked up 166 yards rushing. 305 all purpose yards. So fun to hear the whole stadium cheer "DREEEEEEEEWWW"! A great game and tons of fun to be there cheering on the team. I can't believe New England lost to Miami though. (21-0) I mean...a shut out..come on..it's Miami for goodness sakes. I ♥ Football!

Jerry and I just watched the glow of the shuttle taking off at Cape Canaveral. I was so excited I was jumping up and down. It was so neat. Not as cool as if we were right there..but still...very cool.

At 2:30pm today I will take my last test for the semester. I'm so excited. It's an open note test too...CAKE!

I hate it when I wake up before my alarm goes off. 5:30am is early enough, I really do not want to be up any earlier then that. On the School front, Finished another class last night with my last presentation. I only have a test to take on Thursday and I'm done for the year. YAY! I do have classes today but one is a review for the test, the other is just our last class. It's ASL IV and I finished all my presentations but many haven't. I doubt it will last the 3 hours that it is supposed to. (maybe that's just false hope though)

Ooo-WAH! Chip-oo-wah! That's right folks, The Central Michigan Chippewas are the MAC Champs and will be playing at the Metro City Bowl on December 26th! Congrats to the Chips!

One to go. I got some good news today. I'm exempt from my fingerspelling final because I have an A in the class. That is a relief. Things to do next week: Expressive Test in fingerspelling Presentation in ASL Structure on Ethnic/Gender/Regional differences of signs Show up to ASL IV class but we are done so we are partying Final in Intro to Interpreting I have to say that this semester has been tough on me. With working and taking 4 classes I felt like I had very little time for me. So bring it on, let's finish it..I'm ready for some ME time!

Christmas break is only two weeks away. I don't think I've been this excited for a break from school since I was 8. I think part of the problem is that I thought I was going to get a month off in the summer and it ended up being the ENTIRE Summer. Anyway...Two weeks..that's it..I have Four presentations, three written tests, two receptive tests, two vocabulary quizzes and I'm sure other things I'm forgetting about to get done. Thank goodness I have that 4 hours of time at work to do some studying. Now if I could just get the people to stop calling in

Today was alright...we went over to Jerry's parents to have dinner. We took a smoked turkey from Honeybaked Ham store and a small mini ham. They were wonderful!! This is the start of a season that really doesn't make me happy I get tired of the commercialism and the "What do I get out of it" attitude. I guess I'm more interested in visiting and just spending time with people in a casual atmosphere. I don't need anyone to go to any great lengths and although I love getting gifts I really don't need anything. So with that said...Happy Holidays.. Now for the obligatory "What I'm thankful for" list. Jerry - My rock, My love, my best friend, my straight man, my caretaker...Thank you! I love you! ♥ Tabitha - My surrogate child. Thank you for being the cat that knows just what I need. My Mom and Dad - I love them, they are possibly the coolest parents a girl could have. Did I mention we are cruising again the upcoming spring break? My family - Fo...

OMG this movie was great. The stunt work was amazing. Not cheesy like some of the Roger Moore/Pierce Brosnan. These were...well...believable. It was also nice to see that Bond could NOT do everything the bad guys could. Don't want to give away the movie. You should just go see it. This Bond film is great. Back to the real feel of how a Bond film should be. WTG Sony. Girls, If you don't like action movies, GO anyway. The eye candy is worth it. Daniel Craig is, as my friend Lisa says, all caps HOT! My...what a big gun he has...

My Uncle Armando died tonight. He was very ill and I'm sure is in a much better place. I'll never forget his stories of the Birgin Mary and how he used to drive behicles. His cuban accent was thick and for the first year I couldn't really understand him. Although I was young and didn't know any better. For any diabetics that read this...Please...PLEASE take care of yourself.

The Fajitas were yummy and the stove performed amazingly. Next week I'll be using the oven. Too hot this week to bake anything. It's suppose to cool down soon.

I really don't get how networks stay alive with reruns of the same shows 3 nights a week. Meanwhile they take off shows that were interesting. So now..I don't watch their networks on those nights at all. In fact my Tivo isn't recording anything there either. Justice was one of the shows recently taken off FOX. Why...so they can show reruns of House, which I don't watch, so now FOX doesn't get my viewing on that night at all. Happy Hour, another FOX show that was cancelled or pulled or whatever they are calling it. At first they were trying to get people to watch Til Death but we nixed that in this household quickly. I think one week they showed it 3 times...come on..It sucked the first time don't torture us. Smith - This was a great show on CBS that unfortunately cost a LOT to produce. Too bad, it was intriguing and Jerry and I were looking forward to seeing where it was headed. Jerry just told me that Friday Night Lights is struggling. This is a wonder...

The stove has arrived. Isn't it lovely? I can't wait to cook with it. Unfortunately it will have to wait at least a night. I have class tonight. I'm thinking that tomorrow I will make fajitas though. The elements get hot in about 15 seconds. That is TONS faster than my old stove. (Darn...I should have taken a picture of it...)

Today we went out and ordered our new stove . Should be here by Tuesday which means Wednesday I'll get to check her out. I'm so excited to have a glasstop stove. Oh yeah, the oven is frakin huge. I could bake like..I don't know..something really tall.

I hate colds....that is all

I am Bad Luck Schleprock, I have the AIM name to prove it. Anyway, tonight I thought I would try steaming some asparagus in our new steamer. To go with our yummy veggie I would prepare a Perdue Perfect Portion Teriyaki chicken breast, as well as a nice salad with a light vinaigrette . So I put my chicken in the oven, turned it on to 350 degrees and was standing at the sinking cleaning my asparagus and placing it into the steamer tray. All of the sudden a loud humming sound and sparks flew out of the oven. Smoke started billowing from the burners. I yelled to Jerry "help...help... thing...fire...sparks...". Now usually I'm a cool cucumber underpressure but tonight, not so much. He ran into the kitchen and thought I was talking about the new steamer so he unplugged that. Finally I said the right words and he killed the power, via the fuse, to the stove and pulled it out to unplug it. Now I have been wanting a new stove/oven but not tonight! Thankfully I had mor...

Voting! What a privilege it is. We are one lucky country that we have the right to vote without fear of other "camps" coming into our homes and killing our families for our political views. Jerry and I spent most of last night researching amendment proposals, candidate and other things. I do have to say that I crossed party lines a few times this election. Voting the issues and not the personality is what is important. (Besides, Katherine Harris is just scary ) So tonight we have been glued to CNN to see how America has voted. It's really interesting. I do have to say that the Senate race in Virginia is a nail-biter. Who would have thought back when I was hosting Cigarette Potpourri Parties that I would one day get a kick out of staying up late and watching vote results come in?!

Jerry and I have been struggling with our way of eating. We need to eat many more veggies and decided that this weekend we'd go out and buy a steamer . I didn't think it would be as easy as it is. Heck..the darn thing does eggs even. Jerry and I are a huge fan of boiled eggs and so right now we are "steaming" 8 little ovums right now. I'm thinking soon I'll have to buy some shrimp to steam as well. We kind of went a little crazy in the veggie aisles today. Asparagas, whole green beans, brocolli, yellow squash, pepper medley just to start our steaming adventures for the week. I'm excited. I know, crazy for getting so geeked about steaming things. **UPDATE** 3:15pm - Steamed hard eggs are wonderful. They peeled better than when I boil eggs. That alone is worth the price of the steamer.

The Famous Featherstone Pink Flamingo Lawn Ornament factory is closing . Thankfully I have my boxed set and it seems that it will be worth more now in the box then in my front lawn.

My cat is crazy. Today she decided that Dora the Explorer was a TV show she wanted to watch. Jerry was watching Bonanza on the Tivo and it stopped. When it flipped back to live TV, Dora was on. Tabitha came flying into the room so she could watch. She was mesmerized. Crazy cat!

Wow...traffic in town is crazy this weekend. Part of it is the Florida/Georgia football game . I have no loyalty to either team so *shrug*. Also the Air Show is this week. I did watch the jets practicing yesterday as I was driving home from work. So cool. I do have to say that the weather here is perfect. Maybe even a little on the coolish side but over all it is sunny.

Losers : Jaguars ...they didn't even bother to show up for the game today. They looked terrible. Winners : Lisa and Mike for completing the Chicago Marathon. Way to go you two. I'm proud and impressed. In other football news, CMU won again. They are doing great this season. Fire up Chips!

How can two people go thru so many dishes. Our dishwasher was slampacked today. The odd part is that Jerry was even gone for 3 days. I guess I'm the guilty party then. *shrug* Tomorrow my college roommate Lisa and good friend Mike are running the Chicago Marathon . Have fun you two and run like the wind! Tomorrow I'll be buying new printer cartridges....wheeeeeee

Ok...maybe not free, but I am a "bachelorette" for the next couple of days. Jerry is in Atlanta for a work seminar. Fun Fun.... I took my car to get the driverside mirror replaced. I backed out of our drive and the neighbors tree attacked my car and broke my mirror. Anyway...I went to the dealership at 10am and the service dude told me that they wouldn't even see my car until 1:30pm. So I took the courtesy van home. They service dude said "Go to the mall...shop" but I couldn't imagine spending 4 hours in the mall. I'm not a mall rat at all. Wow *UPDATE* ...I just..and I mean JUST got a call and nearly $300 later and my car is ready to go. Guess they got my car in sooner then they thought. Now I just have to wait for my ride from the courtesy van. *sigh*

Today was absolutely beautiful out. Jerry and I woke up, went and had some lunch and then headed over to the St. Johns Town Center for some shopping. My hairdresser was telling me about these cute Crocs over at Dillards so I wanted to check them out. These are my new Crocs . I bought them in Black. Well, actually Jerry bought them for me. I was wavering back and forth. "Do I need them? I mean..I already have five pair of the Beach Crocs". He snatched them out of my hand and proceeded to the cashier. I can't wait to wear them on Monday. After Dillards we strolled along the shops ducking in and out of stores at our leisure. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon. So much nicer then a traditional mall. Especially on a sunshiny day like today.

♥ To my best friend, my confidant, my silly, the straight man to my jokes, my love, my husband, Happy Anniversary! I love you more and more each and every day. You never cease to amaze me in your tolerance for my antics. Thank you! ♥ ...I know...the afterlife is still up for grabs

Just tried the new Splenda Flavor Blends . I have to say that the Mocha was very yummy! Yet another inexpensive way to enjoy some froo froo coffee!