Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Best Costume

The best costume yet... A mom dressed as the orge Princess Fiona from Shrek.. ears and green face to boot!

Now thats what I call Halloween! You go mom!

Happy Halloween!

five houses.. five houses... yep. That's all thats giving out candy on my street. Sad. And we're getting little kids. This is not how I remember Halloween.

Anyways.. we've a dozen or so kids so far. No really good costumes but its chilly out.

I'm going to back to cathing up on work and handing out candy for the night. One more day till vacation!

Thursday, October 26, 2006

It was a year without the Great Pumpkin?

With the aftermath of the October 12/13 storm, the latest news is that officals in the City and surrounding towns may cancel Halloween. Um. NO! Not in my book. My house will be lite and I'll be giving out Candy. Shame on you Officals. Shame on you. Do you think Parents are so stupid not use thier judgement on whether its safe to walk in thier neighborhoods? If parents says its OK, then 2 -1 they will be walking with the kids. Parents SHOULD be walking with the kids. Older kids should watch out for the younger ones and if the street is that bad, parents will probably take the kids to the Mall to go trick-or-treating.


For the kids who disobay or for the idiot parents who just don't care, those kids are out and about every night puting themselves in harms way. Halloween is just another night.

Halloween is going to happen - the majority of S. Buf is fine... I've got Resses, Hershery bars, Nerds and lots of the good stuff. I'll be outside waitning..

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Its only Tuesday

Just got out of the dentist's office - 2 fillings and $39 later, I can't talk. Mouth is numb and I'm drooling. Joy. I hate the anxiety that surrounds dentists. Pain and money... ouch. But today, it was good. Dr. May was fantastic. I am actually not nervous about going next week. That must be a sign of the end.

Speaking of... I saw something today that made me laugh out loud. Near my office on Washington (i think), there is a club, Club Diablo. Yes. Its a goth like place. Now, the funny part is its 2 doors down from the Catholic Charities office. Need I say more?

Sunday, October 15, 2006

The aftermath

Its now been 3 days -Friday we watched TV. Saturday, I made 3 gas runs to get Mom gas for the generator. Today, I'm going to loose it. Power isn't expected back on for NYSEG until Monday or Tuesday. National Grid until next weekend! Now, Mom and Dad don't have power - we suspect that NYSEG turned off the power to fix the rest of the grid they are on. I have a feeling they may do the same for us.

Amherst is still under a driving ban and has no power and most of Lancaster and Cheektowaga too. I have NO idea if DoodleBugs is going to be open tomorrow and I have no idea if the office is open. I hate not knowing.

Friday, October 13, 2006

images from the storm

These are some shots of the storm on my cell phone - not the best but ts what I have.


About 5 pm on 10/12 - it just started to stick

More of downtown -

Our street at 10:30 pm 10/12




The new tree in our back yard


The aftermath


Friday the 13th and State of Emergency

Good lord - its 6 am and got very little sleep. Let me tell you what has been going on for the last 12 hours:

I finally made it out of the office and to get Erin around 6 pm . It took me nearly 45 min to get to Daycare, normally a 20 min drive. Getting home was even more fun - slippery roads, changing weather conditions and crazy drivers.

Most of the evening was fine up until 9 pm. I heard some creaking out side and things falling. The tree in Roy's yard couldn't take the weight of the snow - it began to break and we have pieces in our yard. No damage. Just a lot of "oh my" comments.

I stood outside for 15 minutes or so listening to the erie silence of the snow, no traffic and trees creaking.

We woke this morning to find most of the area in a state of emergency and a travel ban. No power for some 300,000 homes and more than a foot of snow. Talk about a fun Friday the 13th! My hedges are FLAT!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

First Snow of the season

Yes - it is October 12 and its snowing in down town Buffalo. Real snow... I like my mom's reasoning... 'NO - IT IS SOLID RAIN IN DIFERENT SHAPES'

i'm not ready for this...

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Chicken a la Becker Farm

1 roaster chicken - about 3lbs
1 apple a la Becker Farms
some apple cider a la Becker Farms
salt
pepper
ginger
rosemary
all spice
carrots
potatoes

Gut and clean the chicken (and gross out the family). I use a little olive oil on the skin. Pour some Apple cider over the chicken. crush salt, pepper, rosemary and spread over chicken. Cut an apple and place pieces in the gut and on the legs (i only used about half the apple). Let sit in the fridge for a bit.

Cooking time - about 2 hrs at 350 (or so).
When ready to cook - get a roasting pan. put the chicken in and add a bit more cider to the bottom of the pan. Cook for about 1 hour
BASTE THE CHICKEN! thats the secret
After hour, get the fatty bits out of the juice and baste the bird one more time. Add in potatoes and carrots to the pot. Sprinkle with more salt, pepper, all spice and rosemary.
Cook for about another hour or until veggies are cooked and chicken is at least 165 degrees.

Remove veggies
Good luck taking the chicken out - mine fell apart
Eat and Enjoy!

Bedazzler is back!

Oh my god! The Bedazzler is back but it has a new name -- GeMagic. And wait... the Bedazzler is back too? NO!!! I'm so confused... why did the 80's have to come back??!!??? At least they are the same price...

New Look and a break

I know, I know.. I'm working on it. I'm not happy with it 100% yet either but its a start. I need to figure out the template that this is using (stylesheet based). I'm having an issue with the text right now so hang in there. Its a work in progress.. but its Halloween (Erin helped pick out the colors).


So yeah, I'm taking a break. 7 am today my daughter decides to throw up from coughing so hard (I get the same way). She wasn't right this morning so I kept her home just to be on the safe side - maybe catch up on some sleep. And she did - took a nap without me asking for an hour. Not bad. But, I've been working pretty much non-stop since 7:30 am. No lunch but I did take 10 minutes to prep dinner. Its amazing, I get more done when I work at home than I do when I'm in the office.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Lock your doors...

Lock your doors. Bolt your windows. There's something in THE FOG!
Downtown (ok - out my window near city hall and Niagara square and down near the arena) is covered in fog. just reminded me of THE FOG.......

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Why not 1?

I think I have reached a new low in understanding the medical industry. Why can't there be an all inclusive woman's clinic where your doctor is not only your general Practitioner but your OB/GYN? Men get a single doctor - why can't women? Does it make any sense to have 2 sets of doctors? Many women experience issues during pregnancy that require their primary to intervene. More appointments, more waiting, more stress and aggravation. You have 2 (maybe more) doctors who don't see the big picture who don't really see what is wrong with you. Yeah, that makes me feel really comfortable.

And why do Medical office receptionists need to be so damned rude and mean? I called for a script so I can go to the dentist and I'm disgusted. Never have I been talked to in that manner. This is my fault? Please! Someone got up on the bitchy side today. There something called Customer Service. If you don't like you job lady, leave. Enough. You are the very reason why I don't go to doctors. Its hard enough to get an appointment but to get yelled at in the process.. no way.

On a side note - I talked to my Mom about the receptionist - its the Doctor's wife and she hates working there not to mention the fact the other girls in the office don't like her either. It still doesn't excuse her attitude.

Week in Review

Must be Saturday - I'm blogging. So, we have some important news from the world of Mel

1) My office will be moving - WE GET NEW DIGGS!: We're moving to the Larkin building - a historic building in Buffalo that used to be a soap factory and was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was renovated a few years ago for a total of $65 million and well, it shows. Its a great building

2) Heading of to Virginia yet again - just a day trip but I'm not looking forward to it. 6am flight out and home around midnight.

3) Like some of my girlfriends (sam and lil), my pants don't fit either. I'm down about a size which is great. Mine is not a result of stress or school but lack of money. I'd rather pay my bills and feed my kid than eat. Lunch is over-rated

4) Dental work - If I start talking funny in the next few weeks, I'm having some dental work done. Don't laugh at me..Remember, I cook dinner and dessert for some of you.

I have a few rants I'll post in a bit but I need more coffee. Its the only thing helping the sinus/cough thing that really hurts and I feel like crap.