My Baby Is 4!

On Saturday my baby girl turned 4 and we had a 'beach' party to celebrate. The weather was great, the guest list superb and a great time was had by all!

Just in case you were wondering...yes the kids and I made the sand castle cake. As you can see, Hannah was SUPER PROUD of it.

Wheeler Reunion 2008

Every one agreed, this was the best reunion yet. The sun was shining, a breeze was blowing and a great time was had by all!

4th of July Fun

Ahh! Cool breezes and warm lazy days at the beach. What more can a person ask for?

Summer Camp

Yesterday was the 1st day of Summer Camp for Jacob & Hannah. I was so worried that Jacob would find the transition hard since it was a new place for him. Luckily my boy is a whole lot less shy than his mom'cause he walked right in and made a friend...another Jacob. Both he and Hannah had a great time so I think I made a good decision. What a load off.

Now I just have to worry about being a chaperone next week on a trip to the zoo. ;)

Storm Damage

On 6/10/2008 a storm went through Sandy Creek, NY and winds at Greene Point were clocked at 109 MPH. We got off very lucky with a broken window, a small area on the right side where the siding peeled back and the antenna has been flattened. Our neighbors did not fair as well. There was a lot of damage at the point with a number of trailers tipped over, rooves peeled off and many trees down. The power was out for about 2 days but the water system is the real problem. The trees that were ripped from the ground also ripped the water pipes out. The ELMS lost 75% or more of their trees and they aren't sure when they will reopen for business. The trees at Greene Point look like they were twisted off.

Can I just say 'DUH'

I just have to comment on today's 'news' that American families are feeling the economic crunch and how it is effecting women versus men.

Excerpted from a piece on Yahoo news -

Another reason politicians aren't making hay of the plight of males is that they are well aware that women are in no mood for it. Working-class and lower-middle-class women in particular, whether or not their men have jobs, are feeling economically stressed, says Bill McInturff, a pollster for Senator John McCain. He adds, "In focus groups they talk about how 'I'm taking care of my parents, his parents, buying groceries, taking kids to the doctor.' These women are tired."

Once again I get the feeling that the politicians all have their heads up their butts. This is nothing new so I'm left saying 'DUH' to this quote and wondering why they needed focus groups to figure it out.

Goodbye to a friend

Goodbye Dear Martyn. Enjoy your jamm sessions with 'the greats'. You will be missed here but I imagine there will be a party tonight to welcome you Home.

LeAnn can sing it so much better than I could say it!

Can I pull off Katie Holmes Hair?

What do you think? I'm tired of the same old same old and thought Katie's new do was cute.

Easter Pictures

Aren't we a good looking bunch?
There was a mad dash for Easter Eggs...
And Jacob grabbed the most.
But Hannah wasn't complaining.

All in all it was a terrific Easter!

Exciting News

I'm finally going to be an Aunt! Mandy and Flo have just spilled the beans that they are expecting a bouncing bundle of joy in September! Check out the peanut's first pic.

What do you think? Does he/she look like Mandy or Flo? LOL!

Kisses to the expectant Mom and Dad. I'm so very happy for you!

Spring will be Sprung

Spring is almost sprung and I am contemplating planting a garden. I love the idea of being self sufficient. Before I go further let me say that I have no talent for gardening. Growing up I was dragged kicking and screaming into the fields to help my mother plant our vegetable garden but I've never been good at growing things (with the exception of peas which seem to grow themselves which is why they were my responsibility). I've been known to kill mint and if you've ever grown mint you know this is not any easy thing to do.

So, I thought I'd start small. Problem is that it is hard for me to do things in a small way. For me its usually go all out or don't even start. So now I'm trying to decide what vegetables I could grow that we would actually eat and that I could defend from dehydration and deer attack without driving myself insane. So far I'm thinking peas (gotta have em since they may be the only things to survive), lettuce, tomatoes and maybe some herbs. It seems reasonable to me. I was kicking around cucumbers but unless you are prepared to do some pickling, how often do you really eat cucumbers? Anybody have any suggestions for easy to grow yummy stuff?

Simple Pleasures

Since today is hump day and I'm happy to be on the down side of the work week, I'm going to institute a new habit for myself. Every Wednesday I'm going to attempt to post a Simple Pleasure.

Today's Simple Pleasure is Mom's Sour Beef & Dumplings. When I dropped off Hannah this morning at my Mom & Dad's, my Dad told me that my Mom had packed me a surprise lunch of Sour Beef & Dumplings. This is my favorite and I'm sad to say (well not really sad but chagrined) that I ate the entire thing and I now feel as if I will pop any second.

Thanks Mom for today's Simple Pleasure!

I'm Obsessed...

With Jericho. If you haven't tuned in to CBS on tuesday nights you really should. Last night's episode was so good I was about to fly to Kansas with my shotgun and join the revolution myself.

Now I have to wait a whole week to see what happens and Ithink it just might kill me.

Really! Its THAT GOOD!

www.cbs.com/jericho

Campaign 2008

I don't usually do this... that is, I don't usually discuss my views on who I think should be running our country. As far as I'm concerned, who I want is my business and who you want is yours. But frankly, I'm thoroughly disgusted! This election, more than any prior, seems like same old same old politics. Here I am worrying about how I'm going to afford a $500 oil bill to heat my house while watching the equity on my house deflate due to a recession that everyone swears is not occurring and the politicians are saying they can fix what it is that THEY broke.

Lets do the roll call. We have two socialist Democratic contenders that want to tell me how to live my life. They tell me that they can take care of my problems with more laws and more government policy. Oh please! It's obvious to me that they are going to take more of my money and put it into programs that don't do a darn thing to help anyone. On the other side of the isle we have two conservative but I'm really liberal Republicans who want to tell me how to live my life except they will take more of my money and spend it on different programs. Last but certainly not least we have one Republican Constitutionalist who thinks I can figure out how to live my life on my own. He actually believes that I can make my own decisions. It's just unheard of! Unfortunately that one guy who has faith in We The People has been called crazy by the media and then completely ignored. You may not even know who it is that I'm referring to. That guy is Ron Paul.

So there it is. I'm throwing my hat in the ring with all those crazy 'Paulites' and hoping like crazy that somehow it'll make a difference.

Private Parts

Yesterday we got a note from the teacher because "Jacob was engaging in inappropriate bathroom behavior". Yes folks, my boy was comparing notes. Do boys just come out of the womb like that or what? I don't think there is a girl alive that has wanted to do this. Maybe it's just the way our parts are situated but I really don't think so.

So anyway, Phil and Jacob had to have the "private parts are called private for a reason" talk. I guess if it wasn't my kid I would find this whole thing highly amusing and I guess I do find it a little bit amusing but still...

Birthday Bliss

Jacob's birthday party was a total success! All the kids had a great time! We had some pro-bowlers in this group let me tell you. Some of these kids can wing an 8 lb ball like nobodies business! The boys had fun driving the video games while waiting for their next turn.


After bowling we had pizza, soda, cake and icecream and just when everyone was good and sugared up...we brought out the gifts. It was total mayhem and so very much fun! As you can see from the pictures, Jacob made out like a bandit.

10 Years of Wedded Bliss

On February 7th it will be 10 years that my hubby has had to put up with my ISSUES (and I his but we won't go into that).

Long ago I said I wanted to get re-married in Vegas by Elvis for our 10th but time and money have nixed that plan.

So I Googled 10th Anniversary to find some ideas. Did you know that the Traditional 10th wedding anniversary gift is Aluminium and Tin. So my mind immediately went to the gutter. I'm certain that I could spring for a roll of Aluminium foil but do you know that there are actually laws against wearing Aluminium underwear? I did find an alternative in these Calvin Klein Steel underwear but I guess thats more of a gift for myself .

A contemporary or modern Tenth anniversary gift has a theme of Diamond Jewelery but alas we come up against the lack of money situation again. No diamond anniversary band for me and no diamond studded lingerie for hubby. LOL!

The flowers associated with the Tenth anniversary are Daffodils and while I do like Daffodils I don't love them so I think not.

So if anyone has an idea that costs...well basically nothing...drop me a line. I could use the help.

The Latest Obsession...

Jacob has been polling his friends since September to see who would be attending. Every day a new list of friends who say 'yes' the will come. Is he my kid or what?

So we've decided on a bowling party. the invitations are being hand-delivered today. I can only hope that I don't end up with 21 Kindergartners. It just didn't seem right to exclude anyone...

Oh The weather outside is frightful...

Our rude awakening this morning...