Mom's recipes

My brother has been putting together a book of family recipes. Luckily, my aunt found where my mom wrote down her spaghetti sauce. It's the only time she wrote it down. I'm so glad because I couldn't get it right; here I was missing some key ingredients and cooked it too fast.

It hit me though to see her handwriting again. And then to finally to taste it that sauce again.

It brought her closer. I remembered the one time she taught me how to make it but I didn't get it all written down. It chokes me up to see her writing and the Love, Doris.

I miss you, Mom, but this gave me good memories.

I'm such a sap

Something is seriously wrong with me because I choke up every time I listen to this Disney song. Walt's words in the beginning do me in and it just gets to me. But I've listen to it 5 times in a row so far and still get all a lump in my throat. I'm such a goober.

(Case you're interested: it's originally from Brother Bear but became the theme song for the 50th celebration)

I'm so upset and FURIOUS because of Ustream.tv

If you've been on my blog & seen my Disney trips, you know I do a webcam. I've been doing it for years using Ustream.  I went to download the videos from some trips to make DVDs.

They deleted all my videos! YEARS of them!!

They made a decision that Basic accounts don't get to keep their videos longer for 30 days; you have to upgrade storage for $20/month or go Premium for $100/month to $1,000/month!

Before you yell at me: YES, they have the absolute right to do this change. BUT! THEY SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME! WARN ME BEFORE YOU DELETE MY VIDEOS!

I would have considered the $20/month. Not now. Now I'm looking for another webcam streaming provider with good customer service ratings and clear policies. I'm fine with downloading my videos by a certain deadline, just let me know before you delete them!

Long Beach Island

I went to LBI with my sisters Gerry and Cathi a little bit ago. What a great time! We saw family favorites from when we went every summer growing up and when my mom was still alive.  I climbed to the top of Barnegat Light House and got a certificate. :)

Cathi and Gerry had never seen the family bench dedicated to my Nana, Mom, and Aunt DeeDee, so that was first thing we did.

We had a nice dinner at a place in Bay Village that looked over the bay. I got a present from Gerry: a print that I can't wait to hang up. We went from one end of the island to the other, ending with us sitting on a bench looking at the stars and the ocean before we left for home.

Just a beautiful day.

I hate feeling stupid...

and I hate being made to look stupid.

I know I shouldn't let things or people get to me. Unfortunately they do.

Right now for example: something is really screwed on my company's WordPress pages. I can't even get into the admin page. I've done everything I can think of and put posts on the forum. But nothing I tried work and no one has replied. Now our clients are complaining and I don't know what to do.

As for being made to look stupid, I was told some facts and passed them on. Ends up I was wrong so I feel like an idiot for repeating them. I also hate that all these haters jump on the wagon to slam me and others about how much we suck because of these kind of mistakes.

One of these things ended up being true. The sad thing is: I'm so glad I didn't make a mistake and make a fool of myself that even though the thing is negative, I feel good.

People seriously need to get lives and I seriously need to find a way to let these things go.

Diet tracker

I put a diet tracker on the blog so you don't have to get bored hearing me talk about it and yet I get to be happy by posting what I've lost.

You know what's funny? There are no happy diet smileys. LOL

When your human is away

John had a business trip last week. You never saw a dog more miserable than Rico. As much as he loves me, we always teased that he puts John first. Last week proved it.

He looked for him each day. Each day he got a little lower. He has a unique way of snuggling with John and he tried it with me. I obviously just wasn't as good. By Saturday, he sat in John's favorite chair.

 

When John got home, he didn't know whether to run, hop, or wiggle so he did all of them & launched himself at John.

And people say dogs feel nothing for us.

When being a Disney geek gets you in trouble.

Not trouble per se. But last week I had the top down on my car and the stereo going. It was such a great feeling that I completely blew by my exit.

So I turned around at the next exit.  And totally blew by the exist again. Just signing along and having a ball.

So why did I say it's being a Disney geek is behind it all. The music I was listening to?

Phineas and Ferb

C'mon! Gitchee Gitchee Goo? Busted? You'd do the same thing.

That reminds me. I haven't watched their Star Wars special! Inconceivable.

Back to the blog!

I'm going to bring this blog back. Enough of using Facebook and other places for purposes they're not meant to be.

I'm starting with perhaps something boring to anyone but me. I started a new diet. It had what I was looking for: strict so I eat right, accountability with weigh ins, and results. I was disappointed the first week because I thought I had been good for nothing. I stood on that scale and braced myself to see 1 pound gone or nothing at all.

But I lost 10.6 pounds! I must have looked like the stereotype of stunned because I couldn't believe my eyes. When the woman confirmed it, I leapt off the scale and hugged her! She asked me what was the last digit and I stood back on the scale hoping it wouldn't change. It didn't!

It's given the willpower to go on!

I need to do this. I can't even look at myself in the mirror because it made me cry. Now I just need to stick with it. I know these remaining weeks will not be that much. They told me to expect 3 - 7 pounds a week which is still good, right?

John has told me how proud he is for me even doing this at all and my sister Gerry, who had been on this last year, has been so supportive.

Fingers crossed!

MK here we come!

Seven Dwarfs mine and Mickey's Kitchen Sink Sundae!

Happy Father's Day from the pups!

Here's where the pups took John for Father's Day! He also gets a trip to Disney. 😊

Made myself work out.

I really wanted to take a nap and then almost left the fitness room when I saw the Hot Guy working out. I wear a sauna suit and a weight loss belt; who wants to look like that in front of a Hot Person? :)

But let's face it. I haven't looked good in a very long while so what difference does the sauna suit make? So I got up on the elipctical or whatever that torture machine is called and did my workout.
I couldn't wait to stop the whole time. :)

I grabbed a shower and felt at least I didn't give up. Then I saw myself in the full length mirror. I haven't looked at myself in years.

I want to cry. I'm not exaggerating. I want to cry and how horrible I look. I swore I would never be this person and I'm much worse than I ever imagined.

So yes, it's good that I did the workout and didn't eat badly today (so far). But it's not making any difference and I hate that person in the mirror.

Four years ago today...

John got to work like any other day. A co-worker, Jim, called him over to a car to see what was inside. John got there and saw:

 

A lost dog that had been abandoned and finally found his way to a co-worker's home. Jim's wife also worked with Oasis and said to John, "One of us is going to take him home" and Jim had large dogs that he worried would be too aggressive.

And that's how Rico entered our life, first as a foundling and foster who immediately got into our hearts. In one day, John told Oasis that we wanted to keep him. By the 24th, he was ours.

 

 One of the luckiest days in our lives: John's best buddy who helped him heal after losing our beloved Casey.

Where would we be without our snorting, snoring little man?

I had a little adventure today.

Maybe not an adventure, but a great day.

I saw a post on Facebook asking for someone to help out a local shelter by picking up a dog and taking her to her new home. I volunteered; I thought it was a little way of helping out.

When I woke up this morning, I regretted I had volunteered. I thought it was a quick drive, but it was a couple of hours. John was unhappy that I was missing work for the morning, so not a great start.

And then the shelter where I was picking up Hazel had this sign on the gate:

“Saving the life of one animal may not change the world, but the world will surely change for that one animal.”

And the people around them.

So my spirits picked up. They picked up more when I heard the enthusiasm in Carole's voice when I said I was bringing the dog to her.  I thought Hazel, my terrier/pit bull co-pilot for the day, would be timid, terrified, and shrinking from everything. Instead, I met this sweet, loving soul:

Far from timid and scared, Hazel greeted everyone with love and happiness. Despite all the hardship and abuse she had at the hands of human beings in her past, she gave us all another chance. I said to Carole later on, "She's a better person than me."

You know how much a dog has affected shelter volunteers when they come out to say goodbye. Hazel was hugged and kissed as she rolled over to get her belly scratched. As she licked hands and thumped her tail, I said, "I can see where your breed gets it's terrifying reputation."

She never barked or cried, just wagged her tail and came with me happily, jumped in the car and immediately settled in. I stopped for gas once where she charmed all the attendants around her, big huge men who whispered sweet things to her and reached in the window to scratch her ears.

When we got close to our destination, I put the top down on the car and pulled in with Hazel sitting prettily in the seat, nose up catching the breeze. She met her new people with big thumps of her tails and a large smile.

So, a few hours in the car and I was a part of brightening the world of a handful of human beings and one dog.  It picked up my spirits so much. (And I'll make up the lost hours.)

Hazel is at PAWS Montclair where she will get her weight back up. I don't know if she will be put up for adoption or if Jenny is keeping her. If she does go up for adoption, you would be foolish not to snatch her up. She is an angel, smaller than a full pit since she has terrier, sweet disposition, and gentle with everyone. You can also keep an eye on their Facebook page.

Thank you, Hazel, for a perfect morning.

Writer's block. Or inability to focus... or both.

And that's it!

Even with all the stories in my head, trying to get them from there to the "page"... uh, no. Even with writing in this blog: I have spent so many days, months, years thinking of things that I want to post and ... black hole.

This wonderful art piece is by Lissa Treiman.

Now that's loyalty.

John took this picture on our last vacation:

 

That's my Elphie waiting for me. John, for the fun of it, tried calling her and luring her away with promises of treats. She would not budge; she would not even shift her stance one bit. I was in that shower and I might need her. So she waited for as long as it took.

I also needed protecting which is why you can just make out Daytona in the doorway. He doesn't always stay right there; he will wonder off to see John or look for trouble and/or treats. And why not? He knows Elphie never will. So I'm safe.

I usually tease about this: does she think the terrorists are going to raid our bathroom?  But I just read a series of stories about dogs jumping in between their humans and a bullet or knife or fire...

So I'm not going to joke about it today. Today I'm going to say I'm lucky to have that undying love and loyalty. I should remember it and this:

"Be the person your dog thinks you are." ― J.W. Stephens

Makes me feel like a failure....

I swore I would never let myself get fat again. Instead, I not only put all the weight I lost back on, I put another 20 - 30 pounds heavier. I have never looked or felt so terrible.

So I made myself get started again; can't just whine! Get out there, work on it!

I went back to the gym today and back to eating better. It would have been easy to push it to tomorrow, but I made myself go. I worked out for a half hour on the sky machine -- not a lot but it's something! And I felt good that I carried through with what I said.

Then I went to shower and change... ... and caught what I look like in the mirror.

So very ugly. And every bit of good feeling and intention fled.

I'll still go back, but I can't get that horrible true image out of my head.

TheFrantics - Her First Period

This is sooooo funny! I was bent over double with laughter!

Review of Rifftrax Live: Manos Hands of Fate event

Found this wonderful review of "Manos: Hands of Fate" and the Rifftrax LIVE event for it:

The NFL is a non-profit corporation?!

That is bullshit!

Somehow, the NFL got itself declared a non-profit corp.! They don't pay taxes AND they get government subsidies!

• They make $10 BILLION dollars a year AND PAY NO TAXES ON IT!
• They take another BILLION DOLLARS  A YEAR in government assistance!

Assistance for what?! To make 20 Billion next year?! To pay Commissioner Roger Goodell's a whopping $29.5 million dollars-a-year salary? That is 15 times more than what the league gives to charity!

What a disgusting mockery! A mockery of real non-profit companies! A mockery of people who really need government help!

We, the tax payers, need the league to pay their fair share of taxes AND put that billion dollars a year in assistance back into our economy!

If you're not disgusted by this, that's part of this whole wrong situation.  If you want to help get this travesty undone so the taxes and subsidy goes into our economy, check out SackNFLTaxBreaks.org.  This is not some liberal leftist attack on the upper class. One of the founders is Ryan Rudominer, a proud shareholder of the Green Bay Packers. That's right: an NFL shareholder agrees the league needs to be a giving part of this country like any successful company.

The news and the government are starting to take notice and speaking against this. But a lot of people still don't know it's going on or protecting the league.

Just let them know you want that billion going to real needs and the taxes we'd get to go into the country's infrastructure.

All it takes is you signing an online petition. 30 seconds to help yourself and everyone else. The NFL will still be a hugely successful organization with all of its revenue avenues still bringing in the profits. No one is saying that is wrong. I'm saying that a successful company that is a profit organization should pay taxes like all other companies and not get government assistance.


Please sign the petition. You'll see my name there.