stories

Had a very nice, but very busy weekend...full of surprises.

Beth ended up coming out not till Saturday morning, then we drove about a half hour South on 71 to go to the Outlet Mall in Lodi. What a gorgeous day to walk around outside. I made a few purchases - I had wanted to get started on my picture frame shopping (we're giving wedding photos as Christmas gifts) but Mikasa had jack. I bought clothes instead, and a few more pieces of Pfaltzgraf to add to my collection.

So, we get home, and the phone rings, and it's Julia. This is how our conversation went:
Julia: Hi!
Me: Hi!
Julia: Can you hear me ok? I'm on my cell phone in the car.
Me: Yeah. What are you doing?
Julia: Traveling.
Me: Traveling? Where are you?
Julia: I'm on 480.
Me: WHAT?
Julia: What are you doing right now, because we'll be there in a half hour?

We had a good laugh over that one. Inevitably, every time Julia and Matt come to visit, we have a new story to tell.

Saturday night we went to my favorite sportsbar Cleats - they have the best burgers I've ever had. There was a group of 7 of us, 3 which were from New York. We all got ID'd (even Gerry who is 40), but the management gave the New Yorkers the biggest hassle because of the out of state licenses. Beth got a little irate, and I think probably could have punched the waitress in the face.

Sunday after church we went out to brunch where Kevin was lectured about smoking several times by the restaurant's owner. He stood over our table explaining that he has had 4 heart attacks and detailed the specifics of his open heart surgery to poor Kevin who has been through enough health related issues as it is. Meanwhile the rest of us tried to choke down the remainders of our breakfasts.

It was a good weekend.

you are the "I hate you so bad" happy
bunny. You hate everyone and eveything and your
not ashamed of it.


which happy bunny are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Today my parents celebrate their 32nd wedding anniversary. Unheard of, practically, in this day and age, although happily lots of my friends' parents are still married to each other. I suppose I can only hope my own marriage will last as long as my parents', and survive as well as theirs has. Speaking of which, my first anniversary technically is in three weeks. Yikes!

Courtney and I occasionally swap recipes. Here's the one I shared today:

Simple & Sweet Kielbasa Appetizer

Ingredients

2 lbs. Kielbasa
1 24 oz. jar applesauce*
1 medium onion, chopped
1 Cup brown sugar**

Directions

Preheat oven to 325. Simmer Kielbasa for 20 minutes in about 1 inch of water. Drain and cool to touch. Slice kielbasa in to 1" pieces, on the slant. Spray 9 x 13" baking dish with Pam. Add kielbasa, onion, applesauce, and brown sugar. Mix together well. Bake uncovered 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

Makes a nice appetizer, but I've had it over brown rice with a salad, which is fantastic.

*You can use cinnamon applesauce if desired.
**Use dark brown sugar with regular applesauce, or the light brown sugar if you use the cinnamon applesauce. I think using the dark sugar with the cinnamon applesauce makes it just a little too sweet.

This is SO yummy.

Feel free to copy, and enjoy.

happy fall

I love Autumn, but most especially I love Autumn food. Ok, I love to eat no matter what time of year it is. It's a wonder a don't weigh 200 pounds. (Two jobs, 3 cats, 2 dogs and a husband keep me pretty active.) I am so looking forward to apples - apple pies, apple crisp, etc. I also have my food pet peeves. I cannot tolerate foods flavored like other foods, i.e. Barbeque or Sour Cream & Chive flavored potato chips, strawberry flavored applesauce, grape flavored bubble gum, anything flavored orange or banana. You get the idea. To me, these are the grossest foods imaginable.

I have to come to work to recover from the weekend

Friday night was wedding rehearsal night, after which I was exhausted. It was a long week.

Saturday, the wedding I played for was a piece of cake, if rather boring. All the Brides like the same music, wedding after wedding, regardless of how tedious it is for us church musicians to play the same thing (Canon in D) over and over again. I'm sick of it, really. I played extremely well, except for a little problem I had with the Principal stop on the Great sticking, which was easily remedied by a registration change. (Our organ is the most archaic piece of CRAP imaginable.)

Saturday night we went to Lou's 25t birthday party. Good food, but obnoxious Romanian relatives, who were all dressed to the nines for an outdoor picnic...ties, 3" stilettos, tons of make up and perfume. Ick. One lady was even wearing a green leather business suit.

Sunday after church Kevin and I spent most of the afternoon with Harley at the Akron Emergency Vet Hospital. Turns out she has a urinary tract infection that probably could have waited till today for her to see our family vet, but I was a little concerned (ok, PANICKED) because of the urination of blood happening with her.

Needless to say I got nothing accomplished over the weekend around the house or the yard. This week is just as busy as last week with Kevin's doctor's appointments, more Vet appointments, and Beth's visit possible on Friday for this weekend. Sheesh!

Subject: The Cleveland Browns


Q. What's the difference between the Cleveland Browns & the Taliban?
A. The Taliban has a running game

Q. How do the Cleveland Browns count to 10?
A. 0-1, 0-2, 0-3, 0-4, 0-5, 0-6, 0-7, 0-8, 0-9, 0-10

Q. What do the Cleveland Browns & Billy Graham have in common?
A. They both can make 60,000 people stand up & yell "Jesus Christ" !

Q. How do you keep a Cleveland Browns player out of your yard?
A. Put up goal posts

Q. Where do you go in Cleveland in case of a tornado?
A. To Cleveland Browns stadium - they never get a touchdown there!

Q. What do you call a Cleveland Brown with a SuperBowl ring?
A. A thief

Q. Why doesn't Akron have a professional football team?
A. Because then Cleveland would want one

Q. Why was Butch Davis upset when the Cleveland Browns playbook was stolen?
A. Because he hadn't finished coloring it.

Q. What's the difference between the Cleveland Browns and a dollar bill?
A. You can still get four quarters out of a dollar

Q. How many Cleveland Browns does it take to win a Superbowl?
A. Nobody knows and we may never find out!

Q. What do you call 47 people sitting around a TV watching the SuperBowl?
A. The Cleveland Browns

Q. What do the Cleveland Browns and opossums have in common?
A. Both play dead at home and get killed on the road

the effects of Isabel

It has been raining for about 14 hours straight in Cleveland. Today is the first day since May that I've worn a long-sleeved shirt to work, socks, and actual shoes rather than sandals. This is how I know Autumn is right around the corner.

The Hurricane headlines amuse me, because my cat is also named Isabel. Darkenss, Death in Isabel's Wake, Isabel Leaves 13 Dead, Isabel Still Cutting Power in its Path, etc. While I realize to some the situation is grave, I can't help but chuckle just a little, because these headlines make it sound like my baby kitty is terrorizing the entire East Coast.

"Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in

waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the

frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses

and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid

deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."

fall onto me onto her fall onto me the sky's crimson tears

It's almsot Autumn here. This is my favorite time of year because the seasonal change is never so apparent as it is in Autumn. Some of the trees have brown and orange poking out a little already. I think I'm ready for it this year, ready to embrace it. I used to try to fight it off, which is silly, because everyone knows you can't fight Mother Earth. But this year, something feels different. It feels like there's a hidden message in the cold, brisk air of these mornings.

(I still despise Halloween, though, which I will probably never get over...too traumatic during childhood and the teenage years.)

you won't see me surrender, you won't hear me confess,
'cause you've left me with nothing, but I've worked with less...

your walking
on the water Bit
by far
my
favorite one,
But now
it seems
we're drowning
in a
drop of water
Love
and even as
I'm climbing up the stairs
I know there's Heaven
there
and then Empty arms
that comes with the
Morning Star

*zzzzz*

If you want an insight into somebody's true personality, then try to catch a glimpse of the way they sleep.
Or so this article from the BBC says. I'm the Freefall and the Starfish.

Busy-ness

I have such a busy week....meeting with the pastor tonight, class tomorrow, Choir on Thursday, a wedding rehearsal Friday night, then Saturday I'm playing a wedding. No rest for the weary, I suppose. Pretty soon it will be Christmas!

I thought I was going to be able to get church stuff done at work this morning because Boss was supposed to have gone to Philly. Turns out his wife got sick at the last second, which always happens, so the trip has been postponed. Boy was I surprised at 9:30 when he came in and I have church paperwork spread everywhere on my desk. Oops! So Boss also brings in his hulking yellow lab Duke, who has subsequently slobbered all over my new shiny red-burgundy pants. I told Boss he owed me a new wardrobe, since inevitably I always wear new clothes the same day Duke visits. Go figure.

Things to do in Cleveland this weekend: Berea Arts Fest

herbal tea drinkers beware

I just love the little news teasers MSN puts on my Sent Mail page. This morning it was "Herbal Tea Linked to Seizures?" Being a regualr consumer of herbal tea, of course that caught my attention and almost caused a little panic. So I click on the link, which takes me to this article on MSNBC. Turns out only drinking Japanese star anise tea is dangerous, according to the FDA. All that worry for nothing. I've never even heard of Japanese star anise tea, let alone consumed it. Why do people do this? Why do these idiots give news stories headlines which are completley unrelated to the story? I honestly thought I was going to have to stop drinking herbal tea to avoid having seizures. Geezus.

Happy Birthday, Gretchen!

Today my little sis turns 22.

"come back i'll show you the roses that brush off the snow and open their petals again and again"

I find it extremely funny how things from the past can come back to you at any time. (Not funny hah hah, funny odd.)

Everything has its season
Everything has its time
Show me a reason and I'll soon show you a rhyme
Cats fit on the windowsill
Children fit in the snow
Why do I feel I don't fit in anywhere I go?

Rivers belong where they can ramble
Eagles belong where they can fly
I've got to be where my spirit can run free
Got to find my corner of the sky

Every man has his daydreams
Every man has his goal
People like the way dreams have
Of sticking to the soul
Thunderclouds have their lightning
Nightingales have their song
And don't you see I want my life to be
Something more than long....

Rivers belong where they can ramble
Eagles belong where they can fly
I've got to be where my spirit can run free
Got to find my corner of the sky

So many men seem destined
To settle for something small
But I won't rest until I know I'll have it all
So don't ask where I'm going
Just listen when I'm gone
And far away you'll hear me singing
Softly to the dawn:

Rivers belong where they can ramble
Eagles belong where they can fly
I've got to be where my spirit can run free
Got to find my corner of the sky

good days

I went to the third NAMI sponsored Family to Family class last night. The facilitators had some time set aside for everyone to tell their "stories" - why they were there, attending the class. I went toward the end, but when it was my turn, I felt relieved, in a way. Out of the 25 or so people attending the class, I'm probably one of the luckiest ones....my situation is not nearly as bad as other people's. So many of the other people, who were there either for their children or their parents rather than spouses, told stories of suicidal tendencies, police restraint, disappearances, etc. Horrible, horrible things. None of which I really had to go through, other than Kevin's hospitalization. Thankfully. Maybe my story will provide the others with some hope - that there are medications that will work. Kevin is living proof of that. I think we're almost back to being in a good place.

On another positive note, we're actively planning a little weekend getaway for our first anniversary next month. (I love it - we celebrate our first anniversary only 2 months after our wedding. Heh!) Well, I am, really. As a surprise for Kevin. I'm looking at a little Bed & Breakfast in Amish Country.

And... I'm also excited for the new Tori Amos album coming out in November - a "best of". I hope it's good, because I would hate to have to call her a sell-out. Amazon already has a listing for Tales of a Librarian. We will see!

How far do our feelings take their colour from the dive underground? I mean, what is the reality of any feeling? -Virginia Woolf

even more depressed

I just found out my co-worker's wife died this morning of cancer. She had been ill for a long time, but I don't think that prepared any of us at all, really. I didn't know Pam at all, but I've worked with her husband for 3 years. I started thinking about what it would be like to lose my own spouse. In a way I already have, because mental illness takes a person away almost entirely. All I'm left with is someone who looks like my husband, but who is a complete stranger to me. It's a living nightmare, really. Now I think about how I will react when it's time for my parents to go, and how will each of them react to the other's passing? Scary stuff. I'm not ready for any of it, mostly because I still feel like I'm 12 years old sometimes and couldn't possibly survive without my parents in my life.

depressed in Ohio

Our economy, that is. Just out of curiosity, I went on line looking for jobs this morning and now I feel like crying. There is nothing.

blah, blah, blah; bored, bored, bored

Here's one thing I really hate about my job: when business is slow, I have nothing to do. I've been entertaining myself with the Internet for the last 2 hours, eagerly awaiting lunch time. 14 minutes to go. Still no word on whether Boss is closing up shop. I know I'll have a job at least through the end of the month, since we have some events planned. But after that, I don't know.

This weekend I plan to catch up on some things around the house, and get myself organized for the new Choir year at church. I had planned to do that over the holiday weekend, but I was distracted first by my parents, and then by the neighborhood girls who wanted to come over and play with Harley, Merlin, and the cats. (I did get carpeting ripped up in the hallway, though.)

I want to try to get to Columbus in the next week or two, to get the first of my Reiki treatments from my Aunt, who has recently become a Certified Reiki Practitioner. Some people think healing with energy is a lot of hocus pocus, but I really believe in it. And, I'll try anything to relieve the stress in my life, because it's just about unbearable at times.