My new motto...

Courtesy of (gasp) Donald Rumsfeld... this is perhaps the most brilliant quote that I've heard in a long time... what is it??

"Quitting is NOT an exit strategy!"

Don't ya' love it... Keep an eye out for the t-shirt!

Later

My Tree...

It's not the best pic, and I'll take a better one once the sun is back up, but here's the Charlie Brown Tree I told ya'll about... Festive, isn't it?

Later

44 Cents later... it's Christmas!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas here at 9 2 Bay... and frankly if Mr. 9 2 Bay had brought back my media card reader you'd all get a dose of it here, but he didn't, so you won't...

This lovely holiday weekend I spent all of 44 cents to bring to the spirit of Christmas to the house... How much Christmas can you get for 44 cents you ask. Plenty... and here's how... I took a quick 15 minute walk in the woods with a machete and hacked down a couple of mini - Charlie Brown - type christmas trees... brought them into the house... placed them in bud vases throughout the house and then decorated them with blue and silver metallic curling ribbon... Lovely!

So now it's beginning to look alot like Christmas and it's not even December yet... How's that for a change from last year where the Christmas tree went up just the day before Christmas Eve? Amazing! And very very festive... Watch for the pictures once I wrestle my hardware from Mr. 9 2 Bay's sticky fingers...

Christmas tree - free
Curling Ribbon - 44 cents
Pine pitch on the hands - everlasting
The Christmas Spirit - Priceless!

Later...

Food, Family and Fun...

It was a great Thanksgiving... even with the 3 inches of snow... actually that just made it all really pretty... So, we've survived another Turkey Day here at 9 2 Bay... The crowd was a little thinner than I had hoped as both my brothers and their respective "significant others" were missing, but a wonderful time was had by all... I managed to get ahold of that second "set it and forget it" rotissiere and both turkeys were done to a turn (pun intended!)... nothing burned... no-one got upset (which is AMAZING when Mother and I get in the same room never mind try and cook together!)... we had a ball playing "Catch Phrase" for hours after dinner as we snacked on the multitude of deserts and reverse appetizers... SUCCESS!
I LOVE IT!

So now we just have a lovely long weekend to relax and ruminate about the whole lovely affair... my house is actually clean for a change and feels really nice... and we still have a plethora of lovely foods to snack on... now if I could just do something about that turkey smell that fills the kitchen every time the fridge is opened... it's always something...

Later...

Thanks Full....

Ok.. so here's the Thanks listing...

- Brother Ed tops this list for his quick actions during Dad's heart attack, you rock Ed!

- Mr. 9 2 Bay's employer... really... they not only ponied up for the majority of our wonderful Caribbean cruise as a 25 year award for Mr. 9 2 Bay, they also sent him to Holland for 5 weeks, again ponied up with a great Holiday bonus, and now a new job for Mr. 9 2 Bay that will get him off those cement floors and trim his hours by 10 per week. Just not having to get up at 4:30am is gonna be like a semi-retirement for him... WOOHOO!

- The families... we've had some great times and some hard times this year, and everyone of you made the good even better, and the bad more bearable, just with your presence!

- All the members of the armed service... Your dedication and selflessness is appreciated

OK.. and now the Thanks but NO THANKS listing!

- Everyone that preyed on the hurt and suffering down South during and after the disasters - may you get what you so justly deserve!

- The terrorists that target women, children and innocent civilians - may you be reincarnated as one of the 70 virgins awaiting Saddam in the afterlife!

- Cindy Sheehan... you may not agree with your sons choice of enlisting TWICE in the service, but I at least respect his decision to do so. It's hard to argue with a grieving mother, and I can't imagine even beginning to understand your pain, but the least we can do for our children (especially our ADULT children) is to support them in every endeavor that they choose to participate in, whether we agree with it or not. I truely am sorry for your loss but you earn a huge "NO THANKS" for disrespecting his wishes and using his name to fight against a cause that he obviously believed in. Your political beliefs are your own and I respect that - I don't really care what your political beliefs are - I simply say "NO THANKS" as a PARENT, that see's another parent, disrespecting the wishes and memory of her beloved adult child. Whether you agree with another's wishes or not you should respect their right to believe in it.. no matter what! Your not an activist to me, and I may even agree with your point of view, but to me, your just a disrespectful bitch!

Ok.. and that's the "Thanks" part of the Thanks-giving post...

Later...

RIP Sam!

Poor Sam... It couldn't have been easy being the World's Ugliest Dog, and now poor Sam has gone to the great Fire Hydrant in the sky... You can read all about it here..

Poor... poor Sam!

It's gonna be Tryptophan - tastic!

Almost Thanksgiving! Woohoo... and yes... we're gonna have a houseful this Thanksgiving at 9 2 Bay! Lovely... The way I figure it.. the more the merrier, Thanksgiving meal cooking always seems to be the same amount of work and time whether your cooking for 4 or 14... so more family? Bring 'em on!

The build up to the holiday has begun.. I've begun pulling together the shopping list and menu... actually the menu is pretty much the same every year and luckily I get lots of help with this.. each sibling has a 'specialty' that they bring... Anita is squash.. Jeannette is bread... Mom is biscuits... and I'm the Meat Stuffing.. This year we will have a few new added items tho, I'm thinking a nice crisp Waldorf Salad to start things off, a lovely Strawberry Shortcake to finish things up, and a giant batch of Sea Breezes to wash everything down with! Yummy...

So basically I just have to figure out the turkey situation. Last time I did a full turkey in the oven and a turkey breast in my Ronco Showtime Rotissiere... That's right... ordered directly off an infomercial by my lovely in-laws and presented to us for Christmas one year. Well you know what? My guests cleaned up every morsel of meat off that Ronconized Turkey and several went back looking for more only to have to settle for the oven roasted. So I'm thinking I need to borrow one of my in-laws Ronco's so I can do the same this year, only Showtime both the birds! It should work, as long as the in-laws aren't planning on "setting and forgetting" their birds this year as well!

Anyway... so now that the menu is planned and the shopping list is made, it's time to start pulling out and cleaning the "good" china.... and the dusting.. and the vacuuming.. and the mopping... and setting up a second kitchen table... and wrangling up every stray chair in the place... and the list just goes on and on... How did I get into this again? Oh yeah... You volunteered, stupid! Yeah, it's gonna be Tryptophantastic.

Later...

Self Fulfilling Irony...

So you want irony? Have I got irony for ya! Being home alone Friday nite, I decided to have myself a little comfort food type dinner... A couple of slices of nice French bread, slathered with butter, sprinkled with some garlic, and shoved into the oven for a nice toasting. Yum... what's so ironic about that you ask? Well, I decided the only thing better than toasty warm garlic bread would be a little spaghetti sauce on the side for dipping... and I COULDN'T GET THE JAR OPEN! That's right... after my own advice of getting together a Man Bag with an electric jar opener to replace that average man in your life, I was foiled by my own ineptitude at opening a jar of Classico... OK.. so I hand out the advice, that doesn't mean that I follow it.. Irony: you are an evil bastard.

So I sat down to my dinner of toasty warm, albeit dry - garlic bread and tried to soothe my wounded pride. Not an easy task. Although I was able to make myself feel a little better knowing that my manchild was sitting thru Harry Potter 4 in a local movie theatre surrounded by throngs of wiggly children. It really is amazing what a 19 year old Male will do for his date. Somehow knowing that he was suffering too made things a little better. Is that wrong?

Later...

United Commercialization...

Have you seen those new United Airlines commercials... you know the ones... they look like a hand drawn cartoon with piano music behind them... I LOVE those commercials... they so remind me of that old Christmas Special... The Snowman... No.. Not the Frosty ones... this one...



something I haven't seen in OH so long, but I'm pretty sure that I have the VHS and if I don't I think I'll be picking it up...

OH MY.. is that an inkling of the Christmas Spirit?? OH NO...

Later... much Later please...

Get your "Man Bag" ready....

I gotta get a copy of this book!

"Are Men Necessary?" by Maureen Dowd... You can read an article about it here... I've had the answer to this question for a long time now, I'm just sad that she beat me to the book deal!

Now this is in no way to be taken seriously by the man in my life, he knows he's special and doesn't fall into this catagory, but I've always said that the AVERAGE man could be replaced by just three items... What are they you might ask?






And last but certainly not least!



Yes Ladies... for a grand total of under $50 bucks, you too can pull together a handy dandy "Man Bag" with all the items needed to replace that man in your life. And you men thought we were actually talking about plastic ware at all those late nite Tupperware parties... mmmuuwwwwaaahhhaaaaaa.....

Later...

More of Bermuda

Just getting to some of the lovely Bermuda photos that I snapped while dodging the wrong way - crazy moped drivers, on this beautiful island.

Here's a really cool Gargoyle man from outside one of the shops. Of course I shopped him - just a little standard fresco filter.



Definitely "click to enlarge" this one... the "coolness" is in the details on this one!

Laura

Got Gecko?

Bermuda Blue

Bermuda Pink

And last, but certainly not least, a taste of that famous Bermuda Pink.

Later

Some new words....

I think we need some new words on here. I used to do the word of the day and maybe I'll go back to that, but in the meantime, here are some new words for you to practice using...

Pillification - What happens to your favorite sweater after repeated washing and wearings.

Pillivacation - The act of taking those funky little green pills that allow you to get on airplanes.

Pillowfication - The act of drinking a glass of wine with a shot of NyQuil on the side.

Pillofanation - Prozac... Prozac for everyone.

Did I miss any? Send 'em along via the comments button!

Later...

PS.. how could I forget this one?

Pillofelation - Yup... Viagra!

Worlds ugliest carpeting...

Ok.. so a bit of a strange post today... you know how cruise ships are supposed to be all about elegance on the High Seas... Well we certainly had the "High Seas" but the elegance? You be the judge... here's a couple of shots of the carpeting on the Norwegian Majesty. I swear the seasick feeling we all experienced wasn't so much the up and down of the 20 foot swells, but because we were surrounded by yards and yards of this stuff!


This was in the Disco... Club 52! Memorable, isn't it? And I love how it matches the furniture SO well... not!


This one was in every hallway that had cabins. Nope.. I didn't brighten the colors.. or change the colors.. This is exactly what they looked like...

The rest of the ship was no more modern either... which begs the question: "If this ship was built in 1990, where did they find the 20 year old 70's carpeting?" and... "How did they find so much old carpeting?"... OH.. Maybe its because it was too ugly even for the 70's! No doubt!

OH.. how could I forget this one... purple zebra outside the Spa!




Later

There was an October?

A week on vacation always gaurentees a crazy week when you get back but throw it at the end of the month and it just gets crazier... End of the month books and reports are always a task but they just seem worse coming off of a lovely week of vacation. Not to mention the feeling that October was somehow overlooked this year. It feels like we went straight from September to November for some reason... Very sad as October tends to be my favorite month.

Anyway... posting may get a bit scarce around here as I've got a couple "HOT" new business ventures on my plate that will be announced later, you know, once the trademarks and copyrights are all in place, and the details worked out. It's all very exciting and time consuming! But hey.. I love this stuff!

At least it doesn't seem that I missed much while I was off being tossed around a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic.

- There doesn't seem to be any news about the woman that was murdered in her home in Ware. Scary to think that the sick bastard that would beat the life out of an 83 year old woman is still out there walking around.

- AMC seems to finally get it that Sunday morning television is better served with a good old Sci Fi movie rather than a morning full of old John Wayne Westerns. They are actually playing "The Day The Earth Stood Still" this morning... yup, the movie I just bought... of course... we finally get in the correct genre' and they start things off with one that I just purchased. Typical.

- The Chicopee Mayor... why is there even a debate or polls asking if the guy should resign? They have the sleaze on tape taking $5,000 campaign contributions in exchange for towing contracts. HELLO?? Am I crazy or does this automatically mean "impeach the guy & put every contract that he awarded during his tenure back up for bid"... OK.. so there is that sticky "innocent until proven guilty" stuff, so maybe instant impeachment isn't quite constitutional, but if the bid process for some contracts are under suspicion, I don't see what the problem would be with a new bidding process on these. Plus.. shouldn't those bids still be part of the public record somewhere? Maybe it doesn't even need to go to 'new bids', just review the bids that were placed on the contracts in the first place... Anyway, the whole thing is just disappointing and maddening... Nobody likes a dirty city!

Anyway... that's about it for now on this lovely mild, foggy November Sunday morning!

Later