NEVER EVER AGAIN....

My friends, if you ever hear me say that we are going to an Oriole's game, in the summer, in the afternoon, please please take me by the neck, and slowly squeeze me until it hurts. Please, I'm begging you. We went on Saturday afternoon, had some of the best seats in the stadium, they were free, with a parking pass mind you.... But, it was 97 degrees, oh, and it was sunny too. So, if I ever even say that word again: Orioles, or even Camden Yards, remind me of this blog. It won't happen again my dear friends. I won't let it.

• Pat's friend, Kyle, caught a flying broken bat... I bet you never heard that one before, huh?
• George Will was seated right below us.
• Ozzie smiled at me.
• I ate a snow cone, and a coke-flavored freezy.

Even so, I'll never do it again....

Ahhhh, The Beach.....

I finally got my beach fix in and was it great! We had a great time at my sister's beach house in Bethany. What a beautiful place! Just sooooo peaceful. Rick would bring down a cooler of Corona's (with lime) every evening at about 5 ish, and we'd sit on the beach at that time of day... It was soooooo nice to sit there at that time. Very very calming and good for the soul. We sisters chatted and chatted, and just had a nice quality time. Pat and the girls got along very nicely, and had nice bonding time (they hate when I say that...). Oh btw, are my nieces beautiful or what? Anyway, a very good time had by all. Thx Colleen and Rick!

My vacation didn't end with the beach... Today, we spent the day with Ann and the kids in Wernersville to celebrate her 50th; had a really nice day. On the way home, I told Joe how much I enjoy the boys, all five of them - Pat and Ann's four, and their uniqueness.... Everyone of them so different in their own way. All growing and becoming their own persons... I love discovering all them, seeing them grow and change everytime I see them.... But mostly, I love how they all love eachother; they are so close, all of them, just very warming to my soul. It was just one of those moments today, that I was happy to experience that feeling, and to know these five young men, all different and unique in their own way. Just neat...very neat. Funny how you can come from the same womb and yet be so different and special in your own way? I thought of that about Jordan and Shannen also.... Just neat....

Tomorrow, we are off to Baltimore for a game (White Sox) with Uncle Bob and Kim and Sunday, we take Pat to Alvernia for B-ball camp...

I hope the fun never ends.....

Another Legion Win!

We won tonight 7-2!!!! Whooo hoooo.... I continued with my "I'm not screaming" mantra and it seems to be working just fine. We play Hummelstown tomorrow, and I don't wanna say anything about that, but hey, weird things happen sometimes in baseball....right? Anyway, nice kids; nice team! Go Middletown Legion!

Lizzy came to our game with Uncle Mike and Aunt Vicky. How cute is she?

I don't really have too much else tonight; I just wanted to post our win! I'm soooo happy for our boys.

Have a great, terrific Friday!

WE BEAT STILTIN'!

What a bittersweet night for me... Not really, I wanted to win, of course, and we did! The score was 5-3, a nice game! Ben Horst (Ben's 6'7") hit a two run homer for us, and our Tom Bracht got the win! I like Tom so much, and his mom, Sue... such nice, nice people. This whole Legion team is nothing but classy guys, who have the greatest parents. It's been such a good experience for us, and I'm glad we ended up doing it! We play Upper Dauphin tomorrow at home. If we win, we move on, if we lose, we're done. Nevertheless, a great experience for all of us. I started really really behaving at the games, I don't scream anymore or anything (Ok, tonight maybe we did the wave when Ben hit the homer) ... and I think this strategy is really working for us. I will continue with the non-aggressive behavior throughout the playoff season. My family is most grateful.

I still have laundry to do tonight (Pat's uniform) and I'm on my second Corona! I had to celebrate our win! Plus, we stopped for pizza on the way home, that was fun, and you must have a beer (or two) with pizza, right?

I have a carpooler now, my neighbor Barb, which is fine. This has really made me such a responsible State worker. I wake up early, start the coffee, get in the shower, and I'm out the door by 7:20 a.m. That never happens, but I'm grateful for the discipline! Plus, I LOVE her sharing the expenses! Our parking is soooo high and gas is high, so I welcome it. It's temporary, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts. Do you think my boss will notice my punctuality?

Gotta go, laundry is calling me! (Speaking of laundry, I went to TARGET today at lunchtime for some necessities (OK, so I took a 2 hr lunch, but I got to work at 7:40, doesn't that count for something????) and I saw a $49.00 hamper. Our hamper is really really old and broken, it cuts me every time I lift it, but for some reason, I couldn't spend that money for something that I put dirty, stinky, clothes into.... Sorry.... I guess I'll live with the scrapes and cuts....

Goodnight all! And to my Stiltin' Folks, I still love you very very much despite our win, and I'll always, always, be a Roller and Stiltin' girl in my heart......... I just now have a Raider and I have to go with the flow...........

Hand Towels, Greyhounds, Feelings, and Respect

We had our first playoff game tonight in the 105 degree heat, with the sun setting on our side of the bleachers, of course, the away side.... I love the heat as you know, but even I couldn't take it, and ended up sitting on the Visitor's Side; glad we brought the chairs! Anyway, when Pat got in the car after the game, he swore us to never ever talk about that game, and out of respect for my son, I'm NOT blogging about the game. There, that's done.... Get this: I think we play Stiltin' tomorrow, at home, in about 106 degree heat.... Nice huh?

Got home and ate leftovers, which was very good. I made a very nice steak salad with leftover steak and salad from yesterday. It was very yummy. Pat had a salad, a hot ham and cheese sandwich and a peach! How do you like that for leftovers!!!! Joe gets whatever else is left! Ha!

Someone in our house (I won't mention any names out of respect) obsessed about little hand towels that he collected over the years (I won't dare say from where) and their whereabouts... Anyway, he was at that for about 25 mins. while I ate my steak salad. You know, I really don't like hand towels, honestly, I don't.... I can honestly say that I possibly have never even given hand towels a second thought! Sure, you have to have them, and use them, but I think mine are about 20 years old or so, serve their purpose, and they're ok, I guess.... But you know, to go on and on about a couple hand towels and their whereabouts, I just can't get a grasp on that. I wish I did care about them, and perhaps I would be more understanding about this dilemma. I most pointedly informed him that this silly discussion over hand towels made my precious Dawnydoos hide for cover, and not come out! It made my stomach knot up, and even upset Mac who really doesn't get worked up about anything....

So just remember people, you never know the damage you may be doing when obsessing or upsetting over a simple, non-issue....albeit, a terry cloth hand towel. Sometimes, you just have to say: It's not worth it!

In sum: Everytime you fight, you may just be shortening the life of a very nervous greyhound.... Think about that one before you go looking for some hand towels!

How Very Cute !!!!!

I scanned this picture for Eileen, and I was just sitting in my office, putting things away, and thought I'd put it on my blog. It's Colleen, Eileen, and Vic, in front of our house on Second Street. Is it precious or what? Why did Ei have the curlers at the bottom of the braids - such a fashion statement! Kelly needs to see that! And Vic, she's just too cute! Colleen, well, she's perfect and the dress is perfect, as usual.... (I just happened to take a second look and I think Colleen still has that same hairdo? Different color though, right?) ha!

Had to share a bit of Americana with you tonight.....

I have nothing else.....

But you gotta admit, this is sweet...........very very sweet...... Second Street, my porch on Second Street... How many sweet memories I had there; you have no idea... I so miss the Steelton of old...

Just a nice lazy Sunday....

We're just vegging this afternoon - Joe's taking a nap, and I've been reading, took Patrick to baseball, and I think I'll nap too! Our game is at 5:00 p.m., so we have some time to veg. I took these pictures last night, while I was lying on the sofa in the Sunroom, and reading.... It was nice, the sun went down, there was a nice breeze, I had a nice grigio...it was so peaceful. My camera was on the table from the game that afternoon, I reached for it, and took these shots. I thought the sky just looked so cool. The candle on the table looked so beautiful to me... I just put it there in the morning. I bought it at Rhodes Giftshop about a year ago. They have an entire collection of them. I never saw anything as neat as these candles! The top screws into the holder; the top is made of wax. When it's lit, it looks like a little night light. You can't tell the glow from this picture, but you get the point. When the wax in this one is done, you simply go and buy another top for it - they had several different shapes and colors so it will be fun to choose another one. I think they are called Candlelights. Cool huh? Someone made a fortune on that little diddy, huh?

Other than baseball, we really relaxed this weekend. It was kinda nice for a change. We shopped for a kitchen table 'cause Joe really doesn't like ours, hasn't for a long time, and it finally got to him. We went to Horning's in Annville. Joe went a route that I wasn't familiar with, it was a nice drive, through Hershey, Rt. 743. Neat little road; nice drive. Anyway, we picked a set and it will be delivered tomorrow. I'll take a picture for you all to see. It's very nice; you must wait to see it! We also found a nice little shelf/rack that we wanted for the bedroom for books and things. That too will be delivered. Now I need a part-time job. Anyone hiring?

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend, and relaxed a bit like me! I promised to relax this weekend, and I kept that promise!!! Ha!

I'll blog later this week. Nicole and I are trying a new restaurant Tuesday night on Riverfront, and I'm anxious to see her and to try the restaurant. I'll let you know how it is!

Have a great week Folks, and don't work too hard!

An Average Day in My House...

This picture depicts an average day in my house; two greyhounds just lazying around. The life of a dog - nice huh?

I like these three day weeks, do you? I can't believe that it's Friday tomorrow already! So great!!!!

I was sooo busy at work today, but I actually enjoyed it, and really really challenged my brain. I had a tough case, and had a good time trying to figure it all out. I just love alcohol abuse cases, I seem to do well with them - I wonder why? ha! Anyway, I love writing them, and I think it came out well - I granted of course. Pat and I ran some errands tonight, and on the way home, I told him about the case, and he said, "Mom, he was under the influence, that's a rule violation." I created a monster, didn't I?

Tonight, Pat and I went to Old Navy, where Amber works, and returned some clothes that he and Amber so cleverly bought that didn't actually fit (the jeans were tooooooooooooo tight!) ... When Joe saw him in the jeans, he said, "Those jeans will never fit in September." Hmmmm, he had a point, huh? We returned them, and then we went to Cold Mountain Creamery.... mmm mmm good..... Get the Mudslide Mojo.... very very good, but too much - I got a small and couldn't eat it all. Pat got some gooey concoction, I think it was cookie dough with all sorts of candy in it; yuk, but he said it was good.... Oh, BTW, don't tell Joe about it; we didn't tell him we went there! ha!

I started my Ben Carson book tonight in the hot tub, Think Big. Very very good so far. I'm going to give this to Carol M. when I'm done, 'cause she loves memoirs, and I think she'll really like this one. It will help her make Quinn the genius he's bound to become! Ben Carson grew up in the inner city of Detroit, with shot guns being a normal occurrence outside of his front door -with poverty everywhere he looked. His mother was illiterate but swore he'd have more opportunities than she had. He's the head pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. He lectured at Harrisburg High School last year. I called and asked if I could come; they told me it was for students only. But I was a student once... They said no way. Read his first book: Gifted Hands, an incredible must-read. An awesome guy.

I also met members of our Raider Pride group tonight, and distributed the raffle tickets that took me 14 days to compose. If you wanna buy a raffle ticket for our little Raider Pride club, call me. $2 each or three for $5.00. It's a gas card raffle, clever huh, in these million dollar a gallon gas times; we may do well on this one. Our first project in our little group is painting the football locker rooms on Aug. 5. Query: A. I don't think I'll like the insides of Football Locker Rooms, and B. I don't know how to paint. I'm in trouble, huh?

We have a baseball-kinda weekend with games on Sat., Sun. and even Monday night! I'll be busy, running here and there to games!

Have a great, terrific Friday All!!!

Vic's 50th Birthday Party!

Oh, we had a great time, we really did. Vic was kinda surprised, I guess. She didn't know until the last minute, when she put it all together, but that was fine! We had so much food and spirits. Just a really nice time! The party migrated to the backyard, and patio, which was really nice. My brother Bob, brought over his fire pit, and that was fun to have. We also did lots of candles and it really did keep the bugs away. Lots of Vic's neighbors and a couple friends came, and lots of family. I think I had about 25 people or so. I got to bed at 2:30 am, and am a little pooped today. Uncle Mark spent the night; can you guess why?????

Today, we played Upper Dauphin. We really needed this win, and we fought for it, and got it! After the game, Joe and I were walking from the restrooms, and the game was just ending, and we heard the other coach scream at his players: "You gave that one away!" I felt like saying, "Uhhhh, excuse me, Coach, sorry, you're wrong, you have no idea how wrong you are... we played really really hard for that win, it was a tough one for us, we were losing and we came back - had a nice little rally, and earned that one" but, you'll be proud of me, I said nothing....

The other night though, at our game against Hummelstown (they remain undefeated to date) ... Joe worked the concession stand, thank goodness, so I was free to be me! The Steelton girl I am... I lost it several times. I was just hoping he wasn't watching from the concession stand; I was hoping he was eating his hot dog right about at the time that I called the ump a blind bat.... I'm not sure if he heard me or not. I tell him he's not from Steelton so he simply can't understand the team spirit in me.... He has no clue. Thank goodness he was out of town when we played Trinity in basketball this past season; I almost got a technical...

We have a game tomorrow, but hopefully, I can go to the pool on Tuesday! I haven't been there yet, and really wanna go!!!!

I also picked up the new book that Ben Carson, MD, wrote. If you haven't ever heard of him, Google him .... he has a wonderful story to tell, and is an inspiration. A really fascinating guy. I can't wait to start it!

Have a great, terrific 4th of July Friends!