Stress

I was wondering about stress responses today. Everyone has some odd bodily expression of stress. For example, the corner of my upper right eyelid involuntarily twitches when I'm under incredible pressure. I became aware of it during my days at Mount Saint Mary College. The other thing that happens to me if I bottle too much inside, I pop the blood vessels in my eyes. It's really uncomfortable, in case you're wondering.
You all know how adorably mellow my husband is, so when I posed the question, "So, what reaction do you have?", I was surprised. Apparently when he finally does reach his breaking point (didn't know he had one) the corner of his right nostril twitches. I've never seen it. Then again, he's never seen my eyelid either.

So, what reaction do you have????

With Sympathy

Let me say to Leslie, Aunt Julia, & Uncle John that our hearts go out to you during this tough time. Miss Frances was a wonderful lady.

I'm With the Band

Last night was the Little Big Town concert. The group formed in 1998 & has the same 4 members now as it had back then. They are, Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Roads Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook, & Phillip Sweet. The band's musical style is dominated by four-part vocal harmonies, that allows for all 4 members to alternate as lead singer.

But, back to the start of our time at the fair grounds. We parked over by the stables & told Mandy to go to the main gate. Well, she ended up parking by the 4H gate. We were playing phone tag while Mom, Kelsey, & I were trying to find her. After 30 minutes, we did & then we wandered around the fair grounds for about 2 hours before the concert. Mom got us really good seats. We were in the 11th row back, centered with the stage & on the aisle.

Producer Dave from WRWD, was there to kick off the show, as he does that for every single country concert that comes to the area. In the beginning the had all the former & current military, police, firefighters & EMS personnel stand up for the crowd to give their thanks via applause. I thought that was really nice. Mandy was looking at me to stand up. I didn't, but I still applauded everyone else.

The concert lasted about 1.5 hours. Mandy went to the front of the stage with Kelsey, who got 2 autographs on a piece of paper & got mom's cowboy hat autographed. That was pretty cool. You can check out all the pictures on flickr. I'm sure that at her age she was in complete awe of being that close to the band.


I'm With the Band lyrics:

Last night in Memphis
Tonight in New Orleans
Tomorrow I’ll be miles from here
Ain’t nothing to me, nothing to me

Sweet gypsy highway
Won’t you let me chase my dream
Cause I got a song to take me there
And it’s something to see, something to see

Lord I was born with a suitcase in my hand
Living in a life that few could understand
Sometimes it gets so confusing that I don’t know where I am
But I always know who I’m with
I’m with the band

Cheap whiskey midnight
Another round with my friends
Watching the world through the windshield
And we’re rolling again, rolling again

Lord I was born with a suitcase in my hand
Living in a life that few could understand
Sometimes it gets so confusing that I don’t know where I am
But I always know who I’m with
I’m with the band

Oh Lord I was born with a suitcase in my hand
Living in a life that few could understand
Sometimes it gets so confusing that I don’t know where I am
But I always know who I’m with
I’m with the band

Last night in Memphis
Tonight in New Orleans
Tomorrow I’ll be miles from here
Ain’t nothing to me, nothing to me

What To Wear

Tomorrow is the Little Big Town concert & I've got no clue what to wear. All I know is that jeans will definitely be worn. I should see what Mandy & my mom plan on wearing. Geez, that sounded so high school. I guess I'll have to rummage through my closet to see whats there. I'm sure that I have something that won't make me look dumpy.

Joe's doing a side job on Saturday in Stanhope, NJ for the parents of an old friend of his. He & Sugar will visit with Rob, Lauren, & their dog Macy while I go to the concert. Joe's not the biggest fan of country music, but I'm working on changing that! He saw Deana Carter with me a few years ago, but never made it to see Lonestar, Phil Vassar, or Taylor Swift with me.

This got me thinking about how many concerts I've been to over the years. Thus far, I've seen Bruce Springsteen (which I waited my whole life to see!), Phil Vassar, Deana Carter, Taylor Swift, Lonestar, Little Texas, Tim McGraw, Blackhawk, Live, Fuel, Godsmack, 3 Doors Down, & Shades Apart.

Since we live within a resonable proximity to Penn's Peak, I hope that we'll be able to see more concerts together. Joe likes it when we can go to the movies together & I like it when we can go to concerts together. It makes me feel like a young'un. =0)

Shopping Trip

I was going through my closet while in the midst of tearing the house apart for redecorating. It dawned on me that I really have no clothes for the fall. I have a lot of summer stuff & even more stuff for the winter, but nothing for those transitional seasons.

So I made the hour long trek to Middletown to go to the Galleria. Now, I haven't been to a mall in a long time. Long before we bought the house, that much I do know. I have a small sense of style, it just falls flat most of the time because I'm always in my scrubs. I have decided recently to make an effort to look at least half-decent when I'm not doing home renovations. Oh, to get back on track. I was in Macys for 1.5 hours & only managed to buy 4 things. For a change, I did try stuff on. That's probably how I only walked out with 4 things, as opposed to the 20 things I was carrying around. I got a nice pair of charcoal gray pants (capri's, but full length on me), a 3/4 sleeve chevron stripe shirt with a black satin sash around the waist & some unmentionables. I was really disappointed with the shopping. I got everything during a 75% off super sale, but the pickings were slim. I was either too fat or not fat enough for what was left. I looked for stuff in the petite section, but it all looked like stuff you would see on an old lady in Boca Raton. I'm starting to really understand why I do most of my shopping online.

I used to love going to the mall & going shopping. Now it just seems like such a chore. The only shopping that doesn't feel like a chore is shoe or purse shopping. Accessories never let you down because you can never really be the wrong size for them. That explanation, along with the simple fact of being female explains the shoe-purse addiction. Yeah, I'm sure Joe's going to be thrilled when he reads that line...

Spackled

This weekend Mandy & Bryan came down for a visit. It's the first time we've had over night guests since we bought the house. Of course, we planned for them to stay in the guest room. Then I remembered that the boys would be ripping that apart to put up new drywall. That meant that Mandy & Bryan would have to spend the weekend sleeping on the guest bed set up in the living room. Although, they didn't seem to mind.

It was a fun weekend. The boys had a good time taking down all the wood paneling & destroying stuff on Saturday morning. Mandy & I went out shopping. I bought a new coffee table, which is a story I'll get into in a few minutes. Friday night I made chicken with dumplings for everyone. Saturday we made pizza for lunch, dinner was a few steaks with a sweet & tangy home made secret BBQ sauce, to be complimented by some pasta in a light olive oil with sauteed garlic & tomatoes. Around 8:30pm we all went out to make s'mores around the camp fire. Joe & Bryan were happy to find any form of wood to burn, while Mandy & I were fascinated by the fact that marshmallows expand when they catch fire. Those little suckers burn for a while, too!

Sunday morning we got off to a bit of a late start after spending the night before hanging our around the fire pit. Joe made French toast & scrambled eggs for himself, Bryan & Mandy, while I made cinnamon buns for breakfast. Then they finished up the drywall & spackling, while Mandy ran out with me to get some paint for the trim work in the basement. Unfortunately, I began painting after they left, but it was a quick little job. All I have left is to paint all the doors down there & the bonus room is done! That's going to be my task for Thursday afternoon.

Ok, so let's go back to the story of the coffee table. I went to Sawmill Furniture to see Jennifer, my favorite sales person. I knew which table I wanted, so I just told her & we got it. I really wanted to have it for the weekend, so I said I would take the floor model. She called the warehouse & they had a new one there. Mandy & I went back to the house, switched from my car to Bryan's truck, because they boys went to Lowes in Joe's truck. Mandy & I drove over to East Stroudsburg, go the table, & came home. We take all the wrapping off to screw the drawer pulls in & the draws don't line up on the left side. I call Jennifer to let her know about it & she offers to swap it out for the floor model. Now we load it back into Joe's truck to head back to the furniture store. Of course, Jennifer & her supervisor are checking the table to make sure it really is messed up. One look at it & they knew it was. So off goes that table & on goes the new one, along with a nice little discount to apologize for all the aggravation. Now the table is in the living room, looking great. Joe really likes it.

We had been using the antique cherry wood side table as a coffee table. That has since been moved into the bedroom as a bedside table. It works much better than the little round ones that we had. It also looks a lot nicer. I plan on taking the little round ones to sell at a yard sale that the Rizzo's will be having, at a date yet to be determined.

So, as you can see this weekend was an active one & the house is totally turned upside down until I can paint the guest room (again). I'm going to try to do that next Sunday, if I'm alert enough after the concert on Saturday night.

OHHH...check out this youtube video called "My New Haircut" It will remind everyone of the kids on that show "Growing Up Gotti"

Return of the Raccoon

I woke up early this morning because Sugar has an appointment in Newton, NJ to get groomed for the first time. So, I rolled out of bed, got the puppy out of her bed & said good morning to Sensei & Eclipse. Then I went out to the porch to see if Lily & Orion were around for their morning check. Sure enough, they were staring at the front door waiting for me. When I went onto the porch, I noticed the door was closed. I wondered why, but just thought that Joe may have accidentally closed it behind him when he left for work this morning. At lunchtime, Joe called me to see how my day was going. Sure enough he mentions about the front door being closed. Here's that conversation:
Joe- "Did you noticed the porch door was closed this morning?"
Me- "Yeah, I was wondering why. I just didn't really think much of it."
Joe- "Well, the cats were laying on the floor and the rocking chair, waiting for me, and the raccoon was on the other chair."
Me- LAUGHING
Joe- "Yeah, and just like the other night it didn't want to move until I went out on the porch. Then it just ran behind a tree in the front yard and was watching to see if I would leave."
Me- LAUGHING "It seems as though our little raccoon like the domestic life."

Relaxing Raccoon

Last night while Casey was relaxing on the couch, I went to look on the front porch to see if our stray-adopted cats Orion and Lily were outside. Orion was a couple feet from the front door cleaning himself, and Lily was laying on the rocking chair. For a split second, I thought I saw a cat resembling another stray we came to call Gimpy sitting on the chair across from the door cleaning his paws. Then I realized that the raccoon I thought I had scared away a while ago had returned. The raccoon was just hanging out, and the cats didn't even react. I went to open the door, and the raccoon looked up. He didn't move until I opened the door and yelled at it. Even then, he took his sweet time getting off the chair, and went out the door.
Casey got up to see what I was reacting to after the raccoon left. We were just confused as to why it had been so long since we had last seen the raccoon. And that all of a sudden it seemed somewhat domesticated. I'm sure Casey got some ideas, but she didn't say anything. She probably knew I would shut her down anyways. Not ready for an animal like that.

Movie Goers

We finally got around to seeing the latest Batman movie. Joe reviewed it, so take a look at that on his movie review blog. I loved it!

I personally have a hard time going to the movies. After seeing the last few movies at the Galleria, which is full of hoodlums & hood rats, I couldn't take the aggravation anymore. I resided myself to just waiting for stuff to come out on DVD. We discovered Foxmoore Cinema, which is a small theater near our house. We saw the movie 300 there & were 2 of 4 people in the entire audience. Even today, the turnout was small there...about 20 people. The only annoying part, is (because we're still in tourist season) all the schmucks from the city come up & ruin a good time by talking through the movie, answering cell phones, that sorta crap. We both agree that we need to go during the week, at which time the tourist flow isn't as bad.

I also have a hard time justifying spending the money on ticket prices, when the movies come out on DVD within weeks of being in theaters. I guess that's just my little quirk. However, if a movies looks good enough, as was the case with Batman, I'll justify the splurge.

UFC 87: Seek and Destroy Thoughts

After missing out on the last UFC pay-per-view, I was very excited to get to see this event. Not only did my favorite fighter Georges St. Pierre fight in the main event, but there were many other entertaining fighters to see.

The first fight was between Demian Maia and Jason MacDonald. Although MacDonald was an underdog, I thought he had a chance. But he was very sloppy, and Maia easily finished him off in the 3rd round. Maia is definitely a fighter to watch. Then they had Roger Huerta vs. Kenny Florian in what I thought was the best fight of the event. Both guys went back and forth, and in the end Florian got the decision win. But Huerta showed a lot of heart. Then they showed Rob Emerson vs. Manny Gamburyan. Almost everybody was expecting Manny to win this one. Instead, Emerson surprised everyone by knocking him out in 12 seconds. This hurts Manny, but he can make a comeback. Next was another quick fight with Cheick Kongo and Dan Evensen. Everybody was expecting Kongo to win this fight too...and at least he did. He got a nice TKO in the first round. Good job Kongo.

The two big fights of the card were up next. Brock Lesnar had his second UFC fight against Heath Herring. The fight went like this: Lesnar knocked down Herring several times, and stayed on top and beat him up throughout all three rounds, and got the win. Personally, I never gave Herring any credit, and he simply doesn't belong in the UFC. Lesnar looked good and got his first win. Then it was the main event between Georges St. Pierre and Jon Fitch for the welterweight title. Although people were expecting St. Pierre to finish Fitch, I knew better. Sure enough the fight went all five rounds, but St. Pierre won every single round and got the decision.

The event was great to watch. Although most fights went the distance, they were entertaining. But now there is some uncertainty as to what will happen next in the heavyweight, welterweight and lightweight decisions. The heavyweight division needs some top fighters, and the UFC really needs these guys to move up. Although Kenny Florian earned a lightweight title shot, he didn't make a plea for it. And with current champion BJ Penn making a challenge to Georges St. Pierre, who knows when these titles will actually get defended again. Just gonna have to wait and find out.

Pillow Talk

I went to bed last night & tried to get comfortable on our new pillows. I tossed, turned, & got generally frustrated before I just did what I always do, put the pillow over my head. After that I was quickly off to sleep. When I woke up this morning, it got me thinking about the strangeness of it.

I started to sleep under my pillows when I was working at ERH. At that time, I was working from 3pm-7am the following day, for 2 back to back days. In order to block out the sights & sounds of the early morning, I began putting the pillow over my head to achieve total darkness, because 2 sets of curtains were not enough.

When I moved in with Joe & he noticed that I did this, he thought it was a bit strange, but now he's just used to it. Here's where the whole thing takes a twist... In the morning, when he gets up to get ready for work, I crawl out from under my pillow to fall asleep on top of his. There is no difference in our pillows, other than the fact that his big head makes them go flat really, really fast.

Now, what I need to know from all of you... am I weird????

Walmart Greeter

Do you have what it takes to be a Wal-Mart Greeter?

A very loud, unattractive, mean-acting woman walked into Wal-Mart with her two kids, yelling obscenities at them all the way through the entrance.

The Wal-Mart Greeter said pleasantly, 'Good morning, and welcome to Wal-Mart. Nice children you have there. Are they twins?'

The woman stopped yelling long enough to say, 'Hell no they ain't twins. The oldest one's 9 and the other one's 7. Why the hell would you think they're twins? Are you blind, or just stupid?'

'I'm neither blind nor stupid, Ma'am,' replied the Greeter. 'I just couldn't believe someone would sleep with you twice. Have a good day and thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart.'

Days Go By

Yesterday it really hit me that more than half a year has flown right by me. I can't help but wonder where it has all gone! It feels like only a few days ago the leaves were just starting to bud & the first few birds of spring were coming home. Now as I look out the window, I'm noticing the occasional flock of Canadian Geese.

A lot of locals are beginning to think that fall will arrive early this year. If it does, then we're sure to be in for a long, hard winter. Plus, we're due for a horrible winter. With fuel costs going crazy, this winter will probably be a sad one as people are stuck between choosing to pay for their home, food, medications or fuel. Because our oil tank is outside, it must be filled with kerosene, which is more costly than fuel oil. Thankfully we're getting a new heating system this winter (we love you Abuelita!) The new unit will pay for itself in about a year & a half!

On the southern front, I got a letter from Grandma Johnson. She's been feeling a bit under the weather for the past several weeks. After 3 trips to the hospital she was finally diagnosed with diverticulitis, a condition in which diverticuli in the colon rupture, which then leads to an infection of tissues surrounding the colon. On that 3rd trip, they finally did a CT scan to diagnose her. Far too many trips before a CT was ordered, if you ask me. In that CT they also found a a 2.4 cm mass on her adrenal gland. Her PMD wants to wait 3 months to see what happens before sending her to a specialist. Since PMD's are really not good clinicians when it comes to that type of thing, I have encouraged her to talk to her endocrinologist about it. That's one doctor that is better qualified to make a determination about the effects of a mass on an adrenal gland. Of course, being the stubborn Slovak woman that she is, she's not doing anything about it right now, other than praying that it will go away. I think if Pop-Pop were here, this would be playing out differently.

The Needs of Men & Women

This was written by a guy...it's pretty damn smart.

I never quite figured out why the sexual urge of men and women differ so much. I never have figured out the whole Venus & Mars thing. I have never figured out why men think with their head & women with their heart.

FOR EXAMPLE:

One evening last week, my girlfriend and I were getting into bed. Well, the passion starts to heat up, & she eventually says, 'I don't feel like it, I just want you to hold me.' I said, 'WHAT??!! What was that?!'

So she says the words that every boyfriend on the planet dreads to hear...’you’re just not in touch with my emotional needs as a woman enough for me to satisfy your physical needs as a man.’ She responded to my puzzled look by saying, 'Can't you just love me for who I am and not what I do for you in the bedroom?'

Realizing that nothing was going to happen that night, I went to sleep. The very next day I opted to take the day off of work to spend time with her. We went out to a nice lunch & then went shopping at a big, big unnamed department store. I walked around with her while she tried on several different very expensive outfits. She couldn't decide which one to take, so I told her we'd just buy them all. She wanted new shoes to compliment her new clothes, so I said, 'Let’s get a pair for each outfit.'

We went on to the jewelry department where she picked out a pair of diamond earrings. Let me tell you... she was so excited. She must have thought I was one wave short of a shipwreck. I started to think she was testing me because she asked for a tennis bracelet when she doesn't even know how to play tennis. I think I threw her for a loop when I said, 'That's fine, honey.' She was almost nearing sexual satisfaction from all of the excitement. Smiling with excited anticipation, she finally said, 'I think this is all dear, let's go to the cashier.'

I could hardly contain myself when I blurted out, 'No honey, I don't feel like it.' Her face just went completely blank as her jaw dropped with a baffled, 'WHAT?'

I then said, 'Honey! I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while. You're just not in touch with my financial needs as a man enough for me to satisfy your shopping needs as a woman.' And just when she had this look like she was going to kill me, I added, 'Why can't you just love me for who I am and not for the things I buy you?'

Apparently I'm not having sex tonight either....but at least that bitch knows I'm smarter than her.

Pour Me Another Weekend

Wow, this weekend was busy! I drove up to Ulster County on Friday after work so that I could bartend that night & Saturday night at the Ulster County Fair's beer tent. Sean runs it, so how could I say no to him & to that kind of money. I didn't make as much money as I planned, but it also rained on Saturday evening & that cleared out most of the fair patrons. No one planned for that to happen. I did eat oodles of fair food, so that alone makes it worth it! Gosh, is there anything better than cotton candy with sno kones? Oh, along with pretzles, vegetarian gyros, & popcorn... I also got to watch a tractor pull on Friday night. That's the epitome of redneck fun! Someone gimme a tractor...
Normally I work with Mark, the airbrush guy at the Orange County Fair. It's been very good money for the past several years. He hadn't planned on coming back this year because he & his wife have a brand new baby girl. However, at the last minute he decided to come down to OCF. He thought it was too late to call me to work since I normally have to give pretty good notice to miss out on 10 days of work.
I know that some people won't understand why I love working at the fairs, but it's just so much fun to get out of a stuffy office, shed my health care responsibilities, spend time in the warm summer weather, & people watch. For me, it really is a mini vacation from my real life, so it never feels like work.
I made it home early this morning & slept for a few hours. Rob & Lauren were supposed to get together with us this weekend, but she got stuck working. Joe & I didn't want to waste the day loafing around the house, so we headed out to Dingmans Falls. Originally, we planned to go to Bushkill Falls, but the weather was looking a tad gloomy. We decided not to spend the money to get it, only to have the rain drive us out. At least Dingmans Falls is free. It drizzled a bit on the way to & from the falls, but held out while we were there. I posted all the pictures of that online. The last time we were there was May 8, 2006. That was our 2 year anniversary, when & where Joe proposed to me. It was nice to go back.
Saturday morning I finally got to watch the Simpson's movie. That was great. As a fan since it began, I was thrilled. I definitely have to watch it a bunch more times to catch all the stuff going on in the background. Joe has yet to see it. I'm sure when he does, he'll still do a blog about it. Not that my opinion matters, but I think everyone should see it.
Well, now it's getting late & we're watching WEC. We've gotta get the fights in before the weekend is over.