On the Long Island: Steuben Boulevard episode: The new designer, Edward, did a GREAT job in his room. WOW! Very hotel-ish but I really really liked it. Frank's room was .. well.. typical Frank! ::grin:: On the Long Island: Split Rock Road episode: I just LOVED the kitchen that Genevive designed tonight. The copper hood over the stove was gorgeous. I couldn't believe how much brighter the room looked when they were finished! Vern's kitchen - not so good. Very un-Vern.

8PM baby.. It's Trading Spaces time!

AND - A big 30th birthday shout out to Scott! Go on over and whisper sweet nothings in his comments!

Good morn...er... afternoon! Paul and I stayed up too late last night watching the "Soap" marathon that was airing on TV Land last night. We were just cracking up. God - what a funny show. Olivia woke me up at 545am ::groan:: so I just stuck her on my side of the bed and let her go back to sleep with Paul. I came out in the living room and promptly passed out in the recliner! When we all woke up, we did a quick cleaning/vacuuming around the house so we didn't freak out Dad and Millie. They came down around 1130 for a quick visit. The girls had a blast. Moira is at one of her little girlfriend's house this afternoon. I am hoping that they keep her for dinner! Bad, ain't I? Heehee! ***UPDATE*** She was invited for dinner and was brought home around 730pm!

Having a good night with the girls. Moira played with her buddy up the street for an hour. She wanted to watch the Veggie Tales videos when she got home. Here it is 830pm and they are just getting into the showers now. Ai yi yi! I talked to my Mom today and she seems to be in good spirits. She is planning for the next couple months. She is a bit of a control freak so she loves to plan and organize. ::grin:: Gotta give Miss O her bath.. later gators!

In case anyone is looking for Kat, she has a temporary home here. Hopefully, her other blog will be up and running soon. By the way, CONGRATS on the new job!

I found this while visiting Sandy's blog. She snagged it from Saucyspot. "Where was God?" Read it.

Cebuuuuuuuuu.... Damn Veggie Tales!

No big plans for today.. the usual errands.. My Dad and StepMom are coming down for a visit tomorrow. The girls are excited about that! I am going to try listing some things on eBay. I have become motivated by the Auction Divas! I am hoping to join up - it looks like a lot of fun! I'll chat more later. ::smooches:: Bye!

It's Time for the Friday Five! 1. What was/is your favorite subject in school? Why? I took a great Shakespeare class and loved it. We would watch the performance and then discuss it. I also liked any course that required me to read. I cut class too much to develop a favorite class. 2. Who was your favorite teacher? Why? John Ratkowski. I learned so much from his class (Baking and Pastry Arts). I blogged about him - check it out here 3. What is your favorite memory of school? HA! Hated HS. HATED it.My favorite memory was LEAVING. 4. What was your favorite recess game? I remember playing Duck Duck Goose as a child. Lord - it was FUN! 5. What did you hate most about school? I was tortured during my 7th-10th grades by my "peers". So, I guess if they happened to fall off the face of the earth, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. (Hmm - bitter much Kate?)

I talked to my Mom tonight.. her doctor's (oncologist) appointment was scheduled at 5pm and she didn't get in to see him until 6pm. Bad news. REALLY bad news. NonHodgkins Lymphoma Stage 4. The lymphoma has metastasized. It is now in her coccyx as well as collarbone, upper/lower back, femur and pelvis. The doctor gave her 2 options. She could wait 2 months and have another CT scan or immediately start chemotherapy. She will be doing heavy duty chemotherapy starting Tuesday. It will take 6-8 hours to administer the medications. Rituxan. CHOP (The specific chemotherapy treatment usually given is referred to by the acronym "CHOP" by physicians, and includes Cytoxan®, hydroxydaunomycin (Adriamycin®), vincristine (Oncovin®), and prednisone). This approach results in cure in more than 80% of patients.) Mom will be doing 6 cycles of chemo. The doctor assured her that she will lose all her hair. The side effects will be brutal.. nausea, vomiting, mouth sores.. the list goes on... I am not ready for this. This course of treatment will knock her on her ass.. hard. I don't even want to think about how difficult the next few months will be for her.

Chicken Cacciatore for dinner tonight... Yum.

I'm back! I stopped at WalMart to get diapers and to enlarge a picture of Paul and I from our wedding. We couldn't afford photographers so we counted on a lot of people to take pictures for us. A lot turned really well but I can't help but wish I had a couple really formal shots done. Maybe on my 25th anniversary ::grin:: Stopped at Bruno's for more deli - sheesh - I am there every 6 days! Oy!

Oh - when I was at the bus stop this morning.. I got stung by a bee! I stomped the crap outta him... Mosquitos and bees - HATE them all!

I had a great night last night.. I took Moira to soccer where they had a practice and a game (they lost).Picture the Bad News Bears playing soccer. But, before the game started, there was an announcement over the PA system, asking people to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Then, a local kids choir sang the National Anthem. They were very good. It was amazing to see 500 people, scattered over 9 soccer fields, standing still in respect of September 11. I should have brought my camera - just to see all those poeple, stopped as if they were frozen in place. When I got home, Paul told me that Joan had IM'ed him, thinking he was me. Paul suggested she give me a call after 9pm. I checked my email and I found an email from her, saying that she wanted to do "25 Things about Kate"! Boy - was I surprised! She gave me a call around 9pm and we chatted EASILY for over an hour. We had a lot of fun.. lots of giggles and major silliness. After our chat, I jumped back on the computer for a little while, surfing blogs and catching up on emails. Scott IM's me and we had a nice chat. He and his wife, the lovely Shelley live in Oklahoma. They will be coming out to NYC at the end of December. I am going to meet them (somewhere) in the city. YAY! Scott mentioned that they had confirmed the hotel reservation. I jokingly said we would need to call each other and Scott thought that was a GREAT idea! He sends me the phone number and said he would answer and hand the phone to Shelley. Well, 4 rings later with no answer and when I am momentarily wondering if they just went to bed, Scott answers and hand the phone to Shelley. She says "Hello?" quite cautiously. The rest of the conversation: Kate: "Hi Shelley, it's Kate." Shelley: silence Kate: "Kate.. like KateSpot Kate.." Shelley: "Oh.....OHHHH! HI!!" We laughed about that for a little while... The best part about talking to them is that they hand the phone back and forth to each other. 20 minutes with Shelley, back to Scott, Shelley again.. then Scott. Talk about getting tag teamed! I can honestly say that they 2 extremely nice people and I can't wait to officially meet them in person. I gotta say I LOVE the accents ::giggle:: Ya'll! I just know we will have SO much fun when we meet up in NYC!

It took over 2 hours for all of the victims' names to be read. Chilling.

I was watching some of the memorial services on CNN - I had to turn it off. We are going to watch Sesame Street. The girls and I are wearing red, white and blue today. I hung a new flag outside today and took down the old flag. It has been hanging in my front yard for 1 year. I am going to have it folded properly and I will store it away. {{{HUGS}}} to all of my friends and family. God Bless America.

Did a few errands tonight.. nothing too exciting.. Paul and I watched the ABC special about the WTC. It dealt specifically with the FDNY and some NYPD. The men were describing their own personal experience while attempting to rescue people. Brothers digging for brothers, a father searching for his son. It was heartbreaking. I bawled through most of it.. watching all these tough guys crying just sent me over the edge.. I know I must have known somebody who died there. My brother has gone to several memorial/funeral services. My StepMom works with people who have lost loved ones. My StepSister lives next door to a firefighter.. My heart breaks for everyone who lost a loved one.

(flag gifs found here)

List of Victims of September 11th 2001