New Traditions

We had the first annual progressive dinner in Boiling Springs last night. It was so much fun to get together with coffee shop friends and enjoy and evening of food and good company.

Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres were at our house. It's fun to dress up the house for a party, so we had candles and crystal and lots of Christmas everywhere.

And my first ever Martini experience. They were chocolate, pomegranate or lime (red, green and chocolate... that's Christmas!). Anyway, they were a hit, as was the food.

By the way, I got those fabulous martini glasses at Gabe's 4/$5!!!






Dinner was at Becky and Bob's beautiful house (and no one remembered to take a picture...) and we had real authentic Southwestern YUMMY food. Becky loves to cook...and boy does she do it well!!

Our final stop was at Linda's and we ate some of the best deep dish apple pie I've ever had. And played some pool. And, courtesy of Mark, sang some Christmas carols.

Finally there was a group photo, which I'll post soon.

You know, we get so involved in all the 'things' of Christmas... the gifts and plans. We hurry and we stress. Family and traditions are what it is all about. But I just realized that we need to keep our minds and eyes open for new traditions. This, I think will be one of them. We may not live in Boiling Springs next year, but I hope it happens again. And if it does... we'll be back!!

Carols for the Psychologically Challenged

It's been so long... However, the holidays are coming quickly and I just read this, thought it was funny (and somewhat insensitive) so thought I'd share:


Carols for the Psychologically Challenged


Schizophrenia — Do You Hear What I Hear, the Voices, the Voices?

Amnesia — I Don’t Remember If I’ll be Home for Christmas

Narcissistic Personality Disorder — Hark the Herald Angels Sing About
Me

Bipolar Disorder (Manic Episode) — Deck The Halls And Walls And House
And Lawn And Streets And Stores And Office And Town And Cars And Buses
And Trucks And Trees And Fire Hydrants And…….

Multiple Personality Disorder — We Three Queens Disoriented Are

Paranoid — Santa Claus Is Coming To Get Us

Borderline Personality Disorder — You Better Watch Out, You Better not
Shout, I’m Gonna Cry, and I’ll not Tell You Why

Antisocial Personality Disorder — Thoughts of Roasting You On an Open
Fire

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder — Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells

Agoraphobia — I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day But Wouldn’t Leave My
House

Alzheimer’s Disease/Senile Dementia — Walking In a Winter Wonderland
Miles from My House in My Slippers and Robe

Oppositional Defiant Disorder — I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus So I
Burned Down the House

Social Anxiety Disorder — Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas While
I Sit Here and Hyperventilate

Attention Deficit Disorder — We Wish You……Hey Look!! It’s Snowing!

Mr. Obama... just exactly what are you saying?

I've finally come across something that makes me have to talk about politics.. I mean, no skirting the issue, dead on politics. It was July 2, 2008 (you have to wonder why a semi news junky like me is just becoming aware of this) The speech was supposed to be about volunteerism and new social programs that will promote the common good. Then the candidate went off the prepared speech. Here's the quote:

"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded." (emphasis added)

Umm... What? a civilian security force? Just what does that mean? And what are they going to make secure? My neighborhood? Football games? National security objectives we've set? We've been attack free since 2001, so what other objectives do "we" have? Seriously..why do we need a highly funded powerful group of civilians? Does that mean they are armed? WHAT are they doing? I just can't figure it out. Or maybe I'm afraid to try.

Prayin'

I was trimming the bushes about a month ago, when something flew at me. I looked, but I couldn't see anything, just the bush.

Then it happened again on the other side.

I looked closer.... praying mantises seemed to be inhabiting our bush.

Don and I both agreed we hadn't seen one in a long long time, so it was worthy of a few pictures...

Cool huh?

Sarah Palin on Saturday morning

Today was a good day for politics. We decided to go all out in preparation for the election. Here's an early morning picture....





No, the Obama sign is all coincidence...




We were waiting in line to see Sarah Palin!




The crowd was huge. We waited in line for at least a half mile.


But we got through security and into some seats just in time to see Sarah Palin walk in carrying little Trig.



The crowd went wild.

As she spoke often chants of Drill Baby Drill would break out.



She talked about pulling for the Underdogs


And she talked about our country's need for a leader who could lead, not a lawyer who can speak.



She asked the audience members who have served our country to raise their hands. And she led the rest of us in a grateful round of applause.



She was intelligent and articulate. She was like a breath of fresh air in this season of way too much rhetoric.

I'm hoping for my candidate and his VP choice to win...big or little. I'm afraid of the alternative. But whatever happens, I'm glad we took the opportunity to see a great American-- one who is so like everyone else today

Gaelic Libations

I got to take a little vacation this past weekend. I'd had a business trip to Pittsburgh last week, so on Thursday I drove up to Buffalo to have a couple fam days. I forgot the camera, but fortunately the iphone came through for me! It was great to spend a little time with the babies, especially when we went to the little town of Olcott for the Celtic festival on Saturday.

Every family needs a Celtic knight...




and a big guy with a sword...


Then of course there was the menu of ice creams... photographed and sent on to the family guiness lover--

and, believe it or not.. the guiness ice cream? YUMMY!!

Politics and Mike

We are surrounded with politics. He said, she said... It's the best and the worst of this country.

That captivating "Hi Daddy" last night... the chilling stories of the small cell in Viet Nam... and the courage, beyond anything I could summon up...

The words, the pictures, the questions and answers. Wondering what do the Clintons have up their (collective) sleeves? Is McCain too old? What exactly is that change I am supposed to believe in?

What a statesman Kennedy is (in spite of the fact that there is very little I agree with). The solemn, almost tearful look on Maria Shriver's face while her uncle spoke, which said volumes.

All of these things are what makes our country great. That sounds like a canned statement, but today I am really reflecting on that fact.

My intern Mike is twenty something and a great asset to my group. He has the day off tomorrow. He is going to Baltimore and he is going to answer somewhere around 10 random questions. If (when) he is successful, he will undergo a computer search for any suspicious passport behavior. And then, all hurdles passed, he will say the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And he will repeat words that will result in his becoming a citizen.

I watch the events of the political season with some cynicism, but then the joy on Mike's face as he says 'awesome' when he is talking about the prospect of becoming a citizen of the US reminds me...

We are a blessed nation.
We are blessed people, individually and collectively.
And the agreement, disagreement, cynicism and lofty ideals -- they are all ingrained in the foundation that results in Mike's smile.

At its best and at its worst... I'm proud to be an American.

And so is Mike. An early congratulations to the newest citizen, Mike.

Here they are...all in one place!

We didn't do too much this weekend, or at least on Saturday. It was a lazy day, so I took a little time to edit some replacement photos for my black and white framed photos

In my opinion, it doesn't get any better than this ---

If you were born on my birthday...

Check out this website!
www.paulsadowski.com
Birthday calculator

19 June 1951

Your date of conception was on or about 26 September 1950 which was a Tuesday.

You were born on a Tuesday
under the astrological sign Gemini.
Your Life path number is 5.

Your fortune cookie reads:
You were born with the skill to communicate with people easily.

Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 5 & 7. (Melanie is a 5! Don is a 7!)
You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 3 & 9. (Brad is a 9)
You may or may not get along well with those with the Life Path number 8.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 6, 11 & 22.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2433816.5.
The golden number for 1951 is 14.
The epact number for 1951 is 22.
The year 1951 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/6/1951 and ending 1/26/1952.
You were born in the Chinese year of the Rabbit.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Elk; your plant is Mullein.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Mesore, the fourth month of the season of Shomu (Harvest).

Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 15 Sivan 5711.
Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 16 Sivan 5711.

The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.16.17.10.12 which is
12 baktun 16 katun 17 tun 10 uinal 12 kin

The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Tuesday, 14 Ramadan 1370 (1370-9-14).

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 25 March 1951.
The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 29 April 1951.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 7 February 1951.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 13 May 1951.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 20 May 1951.
The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Tuesday, 2 October 1951.
The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Sunday, 22 April 1951.
The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 6 February 1951.

As of 8/15/2008 11:43:43 AM EDT
You are 57 years old.
You are 686 months old.
You are 2,982 weeks old.
You are 20,877 days old.
You are 501,059 hours old.
You are 30,063,583 minutes old.
You are 1,803,815,023 seconds old.

Celebrities who share your birthday:

Zo‰ Saldana (1978)	Brian 'Head' Welch (1970)	Paula Abdul (1962)
Kathleen Turner (1954)	Phylicia Rashad (1948)	Salman Rushdie (1947)
Gena Rowlands (1930)	Louis Jourdan (1919)	Pauline Kael (1919)
Pat Buttram (1915)	Lou Gehrig (1903)	Guy Lombardo (1902)
Moe Howard (1897)	Wallis Simpson (1896)	Blaise Pascal (1623)

Top songs of 1951

Cry by Johnnie Ray	Because of You by Tony Bennett
How High the Moon by Les Paul & Mary Ford	Sin by Eddy Howard
If by Perry Como	Come On-A My House by Rosemary Clooney
Cold, Cold Heart by Tony Bennett	Too Young by Nat King Cole
Be My Love by Mario Lanza	Mockin' Bird Hill by Les Paul & Mary Ford

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 8.17103718199609 years old. (You old hound dog, you!)

Your lucky day is Wednesday.
Your lucky number is 5.
Your ruling planet(s) is Mercury.
Your lucky dates are 5th, 14th, 23rd.
Your opposition sign is Sagittarious.
Your opposition number(s) is 3.

Today is not one of your lucky days!

There are 308 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 58 candles.

Those 58 candles produce 58 BTUs,
or 14,616 calories of heat (that's only 14.6160 food Calories!) .
You can boil 6.63 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1951 there were approximately 3.6 million births in the US.
In 1951 the US population was approximately 150,697,361 people, 50.7 persons per square mile.
In 1951 in the US there were approximately 1,667,231 marriages (11.1%) and 385,144 divorces (2.6%)
In 1951 in the US there were approximately 1,452,000 deaths (9.6 per 1000)
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

In 1951 the population of Australia was approximately 8,527,907.
In 1951 there were approximately 193,298 births in Australia.
In 1951 in Australia there were approximately 77,298 marriages and 7,269 divorces.
In 1951 in Australia there were approximately 81,788 deaths.


Your birthstone is Alexandrite

The Mystical properties of Alexandrite

Alexandrite can assist one in centering the self, reinforcing self-esteem, and augmenting ones ability to experience joy.

Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)

Pearl, Moonstone, Opal

Your birth tree is

Fig Tree, the Sensibility

Very strong, a bit self-willed, independent, does not allow contradiction or arguments, loves life, its family, children and animals, a bit of a butterfly, good sense of humour, likes idleness and laziness, of practical talent and intelligence.

There are 132 days till Christmas 2008!
There are 145 days till Orthodox Christmas!

The moon's phase on the day you were
born was full.

Copyright © 2006 Paul R. Sadowski (http://www.paulsadowski.com)

Person Don and

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Pandora

I made a new discovery, thanks to Don. Since Apple is now allowing (even encouraging) third party software on the iphone, there are a ton of exciting things out there. But I haven't found anything as cool as Pandora (no, not even the Light Saber or the bubble wrap that you can pop).

Pandora allows you to create your own 'radio station'. After you open your account, you search an artist and Pandora plays a selection of songs, by that artist and others that are similar. You have the option of giving each song a thumbs up or a thumbs down and by doing that, you shape your future song choices for that station. How cool is that?

In a mellow mood? Create a station based around that. Feeling rockin? Just add a different station with a different theme! I'm tellin' you it is the best.

Oh...did I mention it's free?

That's what I'm talking about. I LOVE my iphone!

What's it gonna be?

Decisions decisions....

Once in a while in life you are faced with an opportunity for change. It's the Road Less Traveled thing again. Only this time it's this...

or this...

So...Love it here
Friends
Picturesque
Warmer winter
Small town life



Love it here
Friends
Exciting
City life



Oh yeah... the other thing?

---------->
(among others)

Three hours away (and Erie just one)...
or
Seven hours away...



Decision?
by a landslide.

Summer vaca...another part

One day we decided to take a picnic dinner to the State Park.
(By the way, Mel and Kyle came too...apparently they are camera shy)

Cam was daring. He wanted to hang from the bars and walk his way across...

The first one was easy. Then he had to move his hands...

But... he did it!! (ok, Melanie was on the bottom end helping just a little)

Kaela took off on the slide...

Cam was close behind...

Kaela's turn to be daring with a swing from the high bars..

And there was time to play at the beach...

Back at home, Kae was just hanging out. Looking out the door. What's this --a screen door?

YEAH!!!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation, part 1

Summer vacation this year was a week in Family Fest 2008. It was great to spend a whole week with everyone, but especially Cam and Kaela. Here are photos part 1:

Kaela with a happy thought...

Maybe she had an idea...

Cam is seriously considering it...

Then we went to Artpark to consult with the vultures...

And all the kids painted (thank goodness for the mom's forethought to remove shirts. Turned out the paint wasn't the kind that washes out...


The adults critiqued...
And finally for today, Kaela rides her trike...
It just doesn't get better than this...more photos to come

Misha Simone Lunger

Last week was family week, or Family Fun Fest, as Melanie describes it. So there are lots of pictures and fun events to come, but here is the most important! We got to meet our newest family member, little Misha. She is just wonderful..pretty little girl with a cute little nose and maybe her daddy's eyes.

Misha sleeps on daddy's shoulder--

And in Aunt Melanie's arms--

And in my arms--

But finally -- awake and looking forward to when she can play with her cousins (sorry, Mel, it was the only pic of all three of them)