Also forgot to mention that today at 1015am is Olivia's first "Baby Power" day I am excited for her - I know she will have such a good time! AND - there's the added bonus that she will be napping by 1215pm! It is hard for her to meet other little ones her age (2) because of all her food allergies. There is no way I can take her to a Mommy and Me type of group - TONS of food that she is allergic too. Peanut butter, nuts, dairy, eggs.. all of these are in cookies, cakes, snacky type foods. There are certain brands that I buy because I KNOW Olivia can eat them without breaking out in eczema or hives ::sigh:: The poor kid. Heck - even my inlaws aren't that good with keeping stuff aside that can make her sick. They TRY.. but sometimes that's even worse. YOU take away a cookie from a 2 year old! They say "Well, maybe she can have a little bit, to help her tolerate it." Sure - ok.. how about rat poison in your coffee.. you know, just a little, so you can tolerate it!! ::eyeroll:: There are SO many products that contain dairy or some form of dairy (whey, casein, a dairy protein). LIke hot dogs, cold cuts, breadcrumbs, juices, chicken nuggest, pretzels, chips, cookies, cakes... etc.. I can go on and on. I am not looking forward to Olivia starting school if her allergic reactions are still so high. I suppose I will have to see what her allergies are like when she is 5. Perhaps she will be homeschooled until her allergies are manageable. Hopefully, the township will either have dealt with this problem before or is willing to deal with it. Paul and I already planned on really working with the school, helping to raise awareness. The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network has so much suppoort and will assist us, if needed. Yikes - that turned into one helluva rant! I will post more after we get back from Baby Power!

Didn't get a chance to blog much last night due to Blogger not allowing me to publish. Guess they must be overloaded. I want to thank everyone for their kind emails and comments regarding my Mom. They are appreciated so much and they do help! I will be going up to visit her tonight. But, on the flip side - 2 of my friends are pregnant. Both are due in August so it seems like November was a busy month for some people. My one friend, D, had planned this baby (her 2nd) with her hubby, T. In fact, HE was one one doing the ovulation charts and the predictions. Boy - I guess he nailed the dates and time correctly - pardon the pun. While I really like D, T is kind of a control freak. Ok - he REALLY is a control freak. They already have a son who turned one in October, the poor thing. He is so sweet and so unprepared for this. D&T are the kind of couple who plans for everything. It's kind of creepy. For example, they already have a bike for Aaron that they bought while D was PREGNANT with him. It was a bargain.. yeah ok.. whatever. Bargains are everywhere... J is also pregnant. She is getting married next month on Groundhog's Day. She and her hubby to be have been trying for a while to have this one. This will make baby #2 since J has a son (9yrs old) from a previous relationship. Babies can only mean 1 thing for non pregnant people - baby showers! While I love to buy all those little things, I HATE (and I stress HATE), going to showers, bridal or baby. I adore my friends but those type of things are SO boring!

I just read Susan's blog. I find I have a lot in common with her. My Mom also has cancer (NonHodgkins Lymphoma) and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. In fact, this week is her 4th course of treatment. Then she will be off 2 weeks and starts another course. Off for 2 more weeks and has her final course in February. My Mom is 53. It is so difficult to go through this with her. Sometimes I feel so helpless... I want to make it better and I can't. I don't want my kids to lose their Grammy. My grandmother passed away in May and I am still struggling with it. I miss her so damn much.

I did forget to mention this - as much as I adore my sister in law, she makes an AWFUL cup of coffee! Bleeech! As soon as I got home last night, I made a pot of coffee. Paul and I drank almost 2 pots of coffee last night! AND - I am on my 4th cup this morning... Maybe that's why I am feeling so adventurous about tweaking my code!

Hey faithful readers! Made it back from Malvern, Pennsylvania with no problems. In fact, on our way home, about 20 miles from our house, it started to rain. Phew! I was never so happy to see rain! I was afraid it would snow on our way back. Luckily, it wasn't cold enough! We had a nice time in Malvern.I don't think it's the total sticks - heck, I live in the sticks! Manahawkin NJ! Exit 63 off the Garden State Parkway. I have a 40 minute ride to Atlantic City. Long Beach Island is about 20 minutes and Barnegat Lighthouse is about 30 minutes from my home. Anyway, enough of that! I had such a nice time out visiting Barb and Tom. My nephew (14 year old resident with major attitude) was hardly around. Barb, Paul and I took the girls out to McDonalds for lunch on Saturday and then we all went to a really nice park for the girls to run around for a while. Olivia fell asleep in during the 10 minute ride from McD's and the park. Poor kid - she missed her regular nap and she was so tired! Paul stayed in the car with Olivia while Barb and I took Moira outside. It was SO cold out! I was glad I packed hat and mittens for the girls. We stayed for 25-30 minutes then left. Not too many kids outside as it was pretty damn windy. Headed back to Barb's place. I had brought a couple movies for the kids, Elmopalooza and A Bug's Life. The kids watched Elmopalooza and Animal Planet. The girls got to bed pretty late since we ate dinner VERY late. Normally, Paul and I eat dinner by 5-515. I hate eating that early but it's a lot easier on the lil monsters. Olivia crashed out by 9pm and Moira went to bed after we watched A Bug's Life. John, my nephew, crashed his system so Paul was trying to help Tom fix the computer. Turns out that John's computer had only 64mb RAM and was running Windows 2000 Professional along with Dazzle Video and some other programs. While cleaning out the hard drive, Paul found a TON of porn about 1.5 gigs worth of pics and some avi's as well! Barb was SO pissed! But, Tom and Paul wiped his hard drive and limited the Internet access. John was not a happy camper! We left on Sunday and made it home by 245pm! Woohoo! I will be tweaking my site a bit so bear with me if it seems a little weird! Bye for now!

Well - this will be my last post for the weekend. I am heading out to Malvern Pennsylvania tomorrow at 9AM. I am hoping there is NO snow! There is a slight chance of snow on Sunday, both here in NJ and in Malvern. We should be home before that happens!! Have a great weekend everyone and don't forget about Erin! Please donate!

See Erin beg See Erin plead See Erin hook? No, Erin, don't look to hook. Maybe you should design a book! Save Erin.. please!

We had a fairly uneventful morning here. Olivia and I were lucky enough to wait in line at KMart for 15 minutes. ::sigh:: Thank goodness Olivia was pretty patient - not bad for a 2 year old! I have a Daisy meeting today at 3PM so I must remember to take a few Tylenol BEFORE I get there. 13 little hyped up, "I've sat in Kindergarten all day and now you are going to pay, pay, PAY for it" 5 and 6 year olds. Why do I torture myself?!? Ah well, one of the many sacrifices I have made for Moira... although I really do miss my mind the most! Save Erin - donate today!

Guys - you have got to help my buddy Erin out. Read her plea for help here. She also has a tip jar on Amazon. All donations would be greatly appreciated!

Finally caught X-Men on HBO tonight. WOW! Very cool movie. When the movie was going to be released, I had never even HEARD of X-Men. I sat through it and enjoyed it very very much. I am ashamed to say that I think Hugh Jackman is cute but Patrick Stewart is THE man! Oh, that sexy "I can make grown women swoon!" type of VOICE! I could just melt and die.... although not melt and die as gross as Senator Kelly from X-Men. Talk about your poor bastard!

I completely forgot to mention that I signed Olivia up for one of those Gymboree-type classes. I can't wait! The first one is Tuesday. I wonder if I can take pictures...

We are all heading to Malvern, PA this weekend to visit my sis in law. Should be a good time. I am looking forward to Auntie Barbara playing (and distracting) the girls for a while!

Wooooooooo! I have comments baby! Yeeeehawwwwwww!

Well - nothing like a quick morning jog to wake yourself up. We were running a tad late this morning so we jumped in the car to drive to the busstop (at the end of the street). As I am halfway down the street, I see the bus pulling away from the stop! YIKES! So, I zip around the corner and chase the bus for a couple blocks. When the bus finally stops to pick up a child, I tell Moira to jump out. I throw on the emergency brake, hit the flashers, grab her backpack, and we ran to the busstop. Moira's bus driver is really cool - a no nonsense type of woman, maybe in her late 30's or early 40's. She waited for us. I gave Moira a hug and kiss and she jumped on the bus and Zoom! Off to school! Poor Olivia was in the car, just sitting there, looking perplexed. ::grin:: We get back home and she finished her bagel and is now watching Blues Clues on tape since my CRAPPY cable is out again! GRRRRR! Comcast SUCKS! We will be heading out shopping in a little while. I have to get a birthday gift for my nephew (14 yrs olds) and he's into the aggressive skating look. But, he had also requested accessories for his digital camcorder and hockey equipment. SO, he's getting a sweatshirt and a hat or cash. Not too sure just yet! Plus, I have to go find an outfit for a wedding I will be going to on February 2, in Massachusetts. I even get to go ALONE! Wooooohooooo! Paul will be home watching the girls. I will drive up Friday, around 4-5 ish and hopefully get there by 10-ish. The wedding is Saturday at 1pm. What fun - going solo tto a wedding. I will know the bride and maybe 5 other people ::sigh:: Leaving on Sunday and driving back home. At least I get a couple nights alone - peace and quiet!

Ahhhhh ... peace and quiet at last! We all went to Home Depot after dinner tonight. I bought my paint (Ralph Lauren), molding, and some miscellaneous bits of hardware.My project tomorrow is to sand the shelf. Fun fun! Paul will get the primer and I hope we can paint it by Friday morning! God - I am SO crafty! Look out Martha!

:::grumble::: Didn't get my damn nap - phone kept ringing. By the time I was finished with the calls, it was too late to get any quality nap time. Well, at least Olivia got a great nap!

UGH! Up wayyyy to early today. I do despise the mornings. Got Moira off to school then Olivia and I visited ShopRite. 90 minutes later and $194.32 poorer, we head back home. It took me a half hour to unpack and put away all groceries, including Miss Olivia's "help". I still have to head over to BJ's and get meat and chicken. Then we will be stocked up for a while. I have to head on over to Home Depot tonight or tomorrow morning to get paint and quarter round molding. Paul found a cute little 2 shelf case that someone had put out at the curb. So, he will sand it down and I will repaint it. He will attach the molding and VOILA! New mini bookcase! Now, I think I will be taking a nap. Leftovers for dinner tonight.. YUMMY!

Thank goodness my day is finally over! After getting up this morning, Paul and I un-decorated our tree as fast as possible. He dragged the half dead, needle dripping, branch breaking tree carcass out the door and down to the street. BUH-bye! Wreath - GONE. Lights on the house - GONE. Interior Christmas decorations - GONE! Hell - you would never even know Christmas was even HERE. Well, except for the dozens of toys strewn about my living room. I planned on making a turkey for today. A tradition for us. I call it Irish Turkey. My Mother in Law, who is from Ireland, makes her turkey this way and it is SO good. Prep the bird and place it in the roasting pan. Place strips of bacon over the turkey breast and drums, making sure that there is no exposed turkey. Then bake as usual. The bonus to using the bacon is - no basting... the bacon drips over the bird. Therefore, no need to disturb it while it is roasting! Nothin like a self basting turkey. So, I popped that big ole thing (14.5lbs) in the oven by 1245pm! By 530PM, dinner was served. Turkey (of course), gravy, corn, mashed taters, and rolls. Ummmmmmmm! Oh, almost forgot about the turkey bacon!!! When the turkey is ready to be carved, pull off the strips of bacon and eat them. Oh my God - it is sooooooooooooooooooo delicious. Not recommended for people with any cholesterol problems. My kids fight over it! The little monsters.. Paid bills tonight after the monsters went to bed. Gosh - what a bummer, those damn bills ::sigh:: I need to win the lottery. Actually, I should get my ass back in gear and start eBaying all my crap.. err..junk...err... merchandise - yeah, that's it, merchandise! Plus, I plan on starting some night classes in February - the first class I am looking at is Intro to HTML. It's basically a computer training class. There are 4 other modules offered... Web Design and Marketing, Intro to JavaScript, Intro to Macromedia Flash, and Basic Networking and Internet Information Server Administration. Sounds like fun, eh? Anywho - I am off to bed. We have school tomorrow! And I get to go food shopping. Yeeeha!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope everyone had a great time on NYE. I, on the other hand, spent my NYE watching reruns of Sex and the City while flossing my teeth. Paul surfed on the web. Wheeeeeee! Aren't we a couple of wild and crazy guys??? Oh - the kids watched a couple DVD's last night - "The Emperor's New Groove" (I love this one) and Michael Flatley's "Feet of Flames". Hubba hubba - gotta love Mikey. Moira likes him and even Olivia was step dancing around the living room. That man can DANCE! And, his butt, encased ever so nicely in black leather pants, ain't so bad either! The kids didn't get to bed until 930pm. Not for long - Moira goes back to school tomorrow - Hoooray! She and I have been bumping heads the past few days. Going back to school will probably save her life. Who knew that 5 year olds can drive you up a wall??

Hey all! Busy busy day....as usual. Skipped church today in favor of shopping and spending more money that I don't have at Home Depot and KMart. Picked up a new bedspread, sheets, pillowcases, and blankets. Of course, had to get new sheers for my windows... can't have mismatched bedding and curtains! Still feeling that motivation from yesterday so we got some more odds and ends taken care of today. Even my laundry pile.. my NEVERENDING pile of laundry got attacked today. A few more loads and I might even see the bottom of my hamper! Woooooooo! Does anyone remembers Barnum's Animal Crackers? The ones with the string handle in the little box? God - I love those things! Moira does too. Barnum's is celebrating it's 100th birthday! They will be adding a new animal to celebrate. Be sure to VOTE for the animal you would like to see added. I chose the koala. I got this link from Erika. In case I don't post tomorrow, everyone have a SAFE and Happy New Year!