Black Friday

Jeff went out first. He went to Circuit City and bought nothing because their prices are still high even though they are closing the store. Then he went to Best Buy and got a few things, but nothing for himself. He ended up at Linens 'N Things - that store is also closing down. He bought me a set of "Rachel Ray" pots and pans. Very nice - they're blue and I already used one.
I went to the post office - which amazingly wasn't crowded - it doesn't have to be near Christmas, that post office is always crazy. I needed boxes and stamps. I went to Walgreens and Old Navy afterward. Neither place was too busy.
We spent some time doing nothing at home for a while, but then we went to Zoli and Chris's house for coffee and dessert at dinner time.
Now I'm waiting for my cream cheese filled, breaded jalapenos to be finished because I'm hungry!!!!!!

Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving at my mom and dad's house.

Randy, Billy & Keith

Louis, Maria, Apu & "Old" Papa

Everybody, except Chris because she took this picture.
Courtney, Cody, Zolika, Zoli, Cathy, Maria, Jeff, Randy, Apu, Louis, me, Anyu, Billy & Keith

The high was 67 degrees today, Billy wanted to go swimming anyway!
Don't ask me what the temp. of the water was - I wasn't getting anywhere near it!

Maria and Anyu

Me and the boys (yesterday).

It's Wednesday

It was all cloudy and dark and raining this morning. I had to go to work for a color class today. We no longer use Chi Color - now we have TiGi -- it should be good. Can't wait til we try it on my head!
The boys had a half day today - as usual. My class was supposed to run til 12 noon, so Michele was going to pick the boys up for me. As it turned out, the class ended 15 minutes early - so I called Michele to tell her that she didn't have to pick them. Well - she was already at the school waiting! What a great friend! Thanks Michele!! I really appreciate it! She did go home and I got the boys. I have to say they were a bit disappointed to see me instead of Michele. I took it in stride and didn't cry. Just kidding! I knew they were excited about Michele picking them up and blew it for them!
We had to go to the store to get those darn eggs that I forgot on Monday. Which reminds me, I should be making pumpkin roll instead of sitting here in front of this darn addictive computer!!!!
My mom's cousin, her husband and two grandchildren arrived this afternoon, not without some drama of course! They almost made it.... the radiator overheated on their van and my dad had to drive out to meet them. Luckily they made it all the way to Cotton Lane - they were coming from California. All is well now.
The boys and I went to see them at my mom's and joined them for dinner. We brought cousin Billy back to our house to spend the night with the boys. He's been looking forward to this for two months, he tells me. Hopefully he'll have a good time.
Jeff left work almost an hour early today, but ended up getting home at his normal time because of some craziness on the 101. So much for leaving work early. At least he and Frank get to out to Rosita's tonight. Their favorite place to go!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!!

I'm cold and it's not sunny! And I'm not liking it!
It's even supposed to rain!!! Yuck!

One more picture...

While we were waiting for things to get started at the Suns game,

we had our picture taken.

I just got the picture from their website!

Ball Kids!!

I entered Randy's name for a chance to be a ball kid at a Phoenix Suns game. I never thought that they'd pick his name, but they did!!! How exciting! And how lucky!!! Not only was he going to be the ball kid, but we also got 4 free tickets! If I had to pay for them, it would have cost $240. The luck didn't stop there... We went to check Randy in and Nick informed us that the other Ball Kid cancelled, so he asked Keith to be Ball Kid #2 with Randy!!!! So both my boys got to go sit on the Suns bench while they were warming up. They got their picture taken with #17 Louis Amundson (I call him "ponytail") and the Gorilla. They were on the Jumbo-tron - of course they weren't acting excited or even happy - I think they had stage fright, but it was still sooooooo cool!!!! They got to watch the first half of the game right from the court (talk about court-side seats) - literally sitting under the Trail Blazers hoop (right next to the sweat sweeper-upper guy - gross), but still cool!! Amare Stoudemire said hi to them while he was standing there waiting for one of the Blazers to take a foul shot. The Gorilla came over and high fived them and messed up Keith's hair. I think they'll have these memories for a long time!! They each got a shirt that says "Phoenix Suns Ball Kid" on it and when they were brought back to our seats, they each had ice cream! It was such a great night! To top it off, the Suns won!!!!! The video isn't great, but you can make them out!

Papa gave each of them money so they could get some souvenirs. They chose the big foam finger and the purple basketball - the sale item of the night. Thanks Papa! Jeff took a ton of pictures and video. Here are some pictures- you should be able to pick out the boys sitting on the floor behind a camera guy (with Nash in the right side of the pic), when they were close to the Suns bench and the other is of them sitting in their spot for the game.

Girls night out

Amy, Michele and I took Lisa out for her birthday. We went to a German restaurant in Glendale, called Haus Murphy's. www.hausmurphys.com The food was great. And a guy wearing tights and lederhosen (that is how you spell it, I looked it up) and our waiter sang happy birthday to Lisa, in German. It was cool, we'll definitely have to go back!
As we were walking to the car, we passed a "shop" where people were dancing.... Frank, I got the info for you. It's called the Gaslight Swing - it looked cool. www.myspace.com/gaslightstudio
Today we found out that a child molester moved in across the street from us, a few houses down. So much for my boys new found freedom. They aren't going outside without me. Even though Keith says he'll just kick the guy in the nuts - I don't think I'm too confident in his nut-kicking skills.
We went to the "Ghetto Fry's" today and bought lots of soda, water, Gatorade and caprisuns -we had nothing to drink in this house!!
I was supposed to get my car washed, but shhhhh! Don't tell Homer, I didn't do it. Maybe Monday.
Next Thursday is turkey day! Where does the time go? Company is coming - this house needs cleaning. Any volunteers?

How's that?

No more stripes, no more "hard on the eyes" paisley. Happy now?

No more stripes

Randy just informed me that he didn't like the stripes on my blog. So I found a new background... he approves of this one. Keith has taken off in search of some fun. He's gone to the park and to visit mama. I'm going to have to go check on him in a little while. Me? Overprotective? You bet I am.
Normally on Wednesdays, the "kids squad" gets together, but not today. Randy is bummed about that, but we should be back on track next week.
So breakfast was at Ground Control this morning. I got a Greek bagel sandwich and I couldn't even eat it! I gave half to Lisa and I let the other half get all cold and un-eaten! My coffee was yummy though. Cheesecake flavor - how can you go wrong with that?
What's for dinner? And who's bringing it over? I don't feel like making anything! But I suppose I will. :-)

The Hawke Brothers

The boys on the way to mama's house and Keith, being Keith at mama's house today. :-)

Flowers

These are the flowers that Ildi sent to my mom. My mom wanted me to take a picture and post it on the blog.... so here it is.

I quit!

My garden must be broken. Nothing grows to maturity! My green thumb is discolored! This pepper has been on the plant forever - it's supposed to be red! I'm covering that garden up with rocks!! Maybe then I will actually plant the grass that I wanted, months ago when I started clearing the rocks out of the backyard. Or maybe we should just concrete the whole backyard - nothing like turning it into a bigger oven!

Woooooooooo & Hoooooooooooo!!!!!

Randy was chosen to be a ball kid at Saturday's Suns game!!!! He'll get to go on the court, meet a player and the gorilla and have his picture taken with them. Then he'll get to watch the first half of the game from behind the Suns' bench!! How cool is that?!?!?!?!?!? And we get 4 free tickets! Woo hoo!! I can't wait! Let's just hope the Suns win! And let's hope I can leave work early to get there in time!! Go Suns!! Go Randy!!! Here's a pic of "mini Nash", ok, that's just what I call him. His name is Goran Dragic .

I like Sundays

The only bad part about Sunday is the laundry! At least I get to watch TV while folding it.
I have just discovered Facebook and I am addicted... I'm waiting for the novelty to wear off. It's very cool discovering people that I haven't seen or heard from in about 18 years. Lots of memories!! And some really old pictures! There is a picture of my 4th grade class posted up there - too funny!!
I'm hungry and my boys have not made me any breakfast... I guess I'll have to do it myself. Eggs? Waffles? Cereal? I think I'll go with the eggs.
Happy Sunday :-)

I've forgotten to share this...

Last Friday Keith rode his bicycle by himself to Mama and Papa's house. I know they only live a block and a half away, but this was a big deal. Probably more of a big deal to me than to him. But he went by HIMSELF - all alone! Since then, he has gone to the park by himself a couple of times and Randy has gone with him twice. My boys are growing up!!! That means I'm getting old!!

Coffee, Half day, Suns!!

It's Wednesday!! I'm meeting my friends at Einstein's Bagels for breakfast this morning!
The boys have a half day and after school we may go to my work and get them haircuts! We also have to stop at the library. I finished reading the Cherry Cheesecake Murder, by Joanne Fluke and I'm almost done with Jodi Picoult's Vanishing Acts. I reserved the second book in the Outlander series - and the library has it, so I have to go get it!!!
Then tonight, Homer and I are off to the Suns game!!!! WooooHoooooo!!! He got the tickets from work! Thanks!!
I'm hungry! Got to go get myself a bagel, or maybe a pumpkin muffin!

It's been so long - do I even remember what to do?

I guess I remember how to blog, but do I remember what we've done? I'll have to think about it for a while. After Halloween...
the next day was Saturday - I worked and the boys stayed home doing their usual thing - I think.
Sunday I was off from work and we all cleaned and did laundry and prepped the house for guests.
Monday Keith stayed home from school because he didn't feel good. He watched TV and did homework and I cleaned up the rest of the house.
Tuesday both boys went to school and I helped out Randy's teacher for a little while. When I got home, I learned that the company had arrived at my mom's house. My cousin Ildi, her husband Scott and their baby Logan (who turned 1 on Oct. 30th) were here from Alaska. My cousin Attila, his son Justin (5 yrs. old) and my aunt were here from Jersey. My lucky boys were picked up early from school that day so they could hang out with everyone.
Wednesday, I met my friends for breakfast at the Wildflower Bread Company - I don't like to miss out on that. The boys get home from school about noon on Wednesdays, so we went to the Wildlife World Zoo with everyone. Randy and Keith had their own money, so they each were allowed to buy something from the gift shop. Randy got a long stuffed snake and Keith got a tiger grabber - it's a tiger head on a stick and he can control the mouth making it open and close.
Thursday was a regular school day. We met up with everyone at Old Mama and Old Papa's house for dinner.
Friday Keith stayed home from school again because he was sick. I got stuff ready for dinner because everyone came to our house for dinner and to say goodbye. Everyone went back to their respective homes on Saturday. We did clean the whole house and we made up the futon so some one could stay with us, but no one did. Keith got pretty worked up about us making up the extra bed for no one. He keeps mentioning it - still! I told him that the cats and Ace are enjoying it plenty!!
I left work early on Saturday, so I could go to a Passion Party with Michele, Lisa & Jill. That was interesting - and very loud! I think some of those ladies might have had a little too much to drink.
Sunday - a day of doing laundry - what fun! At least I did go out and get a pedicure.
I forgot to mention that I got a new computer on Tuesday - a desktop this time. It's cute, pink and small. A Dell Hybrid. Jeff picked it out and set it all up for me.
I also forgot to mention that Jeff's boss, Beth gave us a wine chiller!! Thank you! And she gave us wine to put in it too! Now we just have to learn to like drinking it! I think I'll try some right now... or should I wait until dinner? Thanks again Beth!
That's all for now. Happy Veteran's Day!