Things I Learned While Watching the NFC Championship Football Game With My Father-in-Law

1. I learned that NFC stands for "National Football Conference"
2. I then, naturally, figured out that AFC stands for "American
Football Conference." And that both conferences make up the
NFL, much like the National and American Leagues of the MLB.
Go ahead, make fun of me, I never knew...
3. I learned the difference between "false start" and "off sides" - thanks,Pops, for explaining, in plain English, so that
I could understand it. (And even pointing out examples.)
4. I learned that Pops likes to root for the underdog.
5. I learned that he sneaks chips to Daisy when he thinks no one
is looking!
7. I learned that his mouth becomes vulgar when he disagrees with
one of the referees. (Yikes!!!)
8. I learned the difference between sac(k) and blitz. I did not,
however, learn how to spell sac(k).

I thought my list would reach at least ten things, but alas, I may have to wait for the AFC Championship game (which starts in about an hour) or possibly the Superbowl (two weeks). And now that yet another football season nears the end, I've learned that it's not THAT boring after all.

Dodging a white bullet

So, I'm in Pennsylvania for the weekend. Kicking back and watching the "Today" show this a.m. as they show the New Yorkers hanging out just outside the window of the studio, I can see the snow falling fast and maybe not so furious, but enough to have that white effect - AGAIN. Ha ha, mother nature, I'm in PA where it's a toasty 31 degrees and there's no snow. 1:00 p.m. weather update: the flakes are falling in PA now. I guess the margarine commercial was correct - "you can't fool mother nature."

And just an aside - also on the news this morning (not the Today show, rather the local Baltimore station) I learned of the salmonella scare with the peanut butter products. When the story was finished, they cut to a commercial. "Choosy mothers, choose Jiff." Ok, that's not their present-day slogan, but you catch my drift, I'm sure. I kid you not - you can't make this stuff up.

After Memorial Day Until Labor Day

That's what "white" used to represent to me - the period of time between the unofficial start of summer and the unofficial end of summer, during which it was fashionally acceptable to don white shoes and a white pocketbook. I used to love "white" and what it represented. Now, as I described in yesterday's post, it just reminds me of snow and cold. Since I'm suffering with a sinus headache today which models the pain of an axe splitting apart my head over and over again, I decided to stay home. My right eye was nearly swollen shut this morning, but thankfully, that has subsided. Anyhow, sick or not, my little birdies who are too stupid to migrate south to get away from this "white" still have to eat. I tried to capture them, but alas, I suck as a photographer, and only got a shot of one (not a great shot either):



I also tried to get a shot of them at the birdfeeder (which is my neighbor's) but I missed:



Here's yet another example of why I detest "white" now:


And here's what we have to look forward to for the next several days:



And finally, this is what I think about every second of every minute of every hour of day of every week of every month of this *&^%#@* winter:

WHITE

like the next snow storm that is on the way
this page is filled with white for yet another day
the emptiness surrounds me to the point so it seems
that i'm no longer amazed when i see it in my dreams

i need the summer's colors with the crashing of the waves
i want to feel the warmth emitting from the sun's rays
i long to sit on the beach with the sand between my toes
i need to stop wearing layers upon layers of clothes

i'm obsessed with this monster called winter
it's taken over my mind
it's stripped me of my inner peace
it's stripped me so i'm blind

there's nothing left for me to see
the page still remains white
it's probably going to stay that way
for many more nights

SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP RAPIDLY FROM WEST TO EAST LATE TONIGHT AS LOW PRESSURE APPROACHES FROM THE WEST. SNOW WILL CONTINUE DURING THE PRE-DAWN HOURS WITH THE HEAVIEST SNOW EXPECTED BETWEEN 7 AM AND 11 AM THURSDAY. THE STEADY... GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS WILL DEVELOP. BY EARLY THURSDAY AFTERNOON TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE GENERALLY FROM 2 TO 4 INCHES. A FEW AREAS IN EASTERN SUFFOLK COUNTY NEW YORK MAY RECEIVE UP TO 5 INCHES OF SNOW ACCUMULATION.

ROADS WILL QUICKLY BECOME SLIPPERY AT THE ONSET OF PRECIPITATION AS VERY COLD AIR IS IN PLACE OVER THE REGION AND THE SNOW IS NOT EXPECTED TO MELT ON CONTACT WITH ROADWAYS.

IN ADDITION... AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW MAY BRIEFLY REDUCE VISIBILITIES IN SOME LOCATIONS AS GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS DEVELOP THURSDAY MORNING AND LAST INTO EARLY THURSDAY AFTERNOON.

SOMEONE NEEDS TO TELL ME WHAT IS "PRETTY" ABOUT THIS?????

Purple Passion Proves Promising - Let's Go Ravens!!

This may come as a shock to most of you, but I actually watched the entire Baltimore Ravens vs Tennessee Titans football game this afternoon with the hubby. (Kudos to him, for not losing his patience with me at my myriad, non-ending list of questions-which by the way, would not have been so non-ending, if he had answered them so I could understand the first time I asked.) That I watched the game is not so much shocking to me as the fact that I kind of liked it. Who knew? Flashbacks of my dad yelling at the screen while watching the Jets, or the Giants, or whatever game he could, swept rhythmically through my brain and some of his words actually, for the first time, made some sense to me.

I loved the fact that the phone kept ringing throughout the game with devoted Baltimore fans yelling and screaming in their glory. Even my fellow Commackian friend, Anne, (who's a Redskins fan) kept calling in her delighted bliss! Not to mention, my son, Justin, in Florida, who finally wasn't calling to tell me it's 80 degrees down there! I guess this football thing's kind of important to some people. And now that the Purple Passioned Baltimore Ravens have won, I have to do this all over again next week against either Pittsburgh or San Diego.

And although I enjoyed myself, if the truth be told, I'd still rather be shopping!

Whining in a Winter Wonderland

I know it's probably getting somewhat boring reading so many posts about the friggin white stuff that seems to be never ending this winter (and it's only early January); however, any one who knows me, knows how much I hate it. And, this is my blog, so I'll whine if I want to.

Here we go again:

WINTER WEATHER EXPECTED OVER THE WEEKEND...

.LOW PRESSURE WILL TRACK UP THE OHIO RIVER VALLEY THROUGH SATURDAY... PASS JUST SOUTH OF LONG ISLAND SATURDAY NIGHT... AND THEN MOVE WELL EAST OF THE AREA ON SUNDAY. THIS SYSTEM WILL PRODUCE HEAVY SNOWFALL OVER THE AREA FROM SATURDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING... MIXING WITH SLEET AT TIMES SATURDAY NIGHT ACROSS SOUTHERN LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK CITY.

SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY AROUND MIDDAY BEFORE SPREADING FROM WEST TO EAST THROUGHOUT THE DAY. SNOW WILL THEN CONTINUE TO FALL THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT AND BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES. THE SNOW WILL TAPER OFF SHORTLY AFTER SUNRISE ON SUNDAY.

THE LOW WILL PASS CLOSE ENOUGH TO LONG ISLAND THAT THE SNOW WILL MIX WITH SLEET AND POSSIBLY FREEZING RAIN LATE SATURDAY NIGHT ACROSS NEW YORK CITY AND LONG ISLAND LOCATIONS...

TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS FROM THIS SYSTEM WILL RANGE FROM 6 TO 9 INCHES ACROSS THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY AND INTERIOR CONNECTICUT... AND FROM 5 TO 7 INCHES ACROSS NORTHERN NEW YORK CITY... NASSAU AND NORTHERN SUFFOLK COUNTY... AND COASTAL PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY.

A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW...
SLEET... AND ICE ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.

This means I cannot escape to the mall and lose myself in the only in-door exercise program in which I enjoy participating - "shopping till I drop," while the hubby watches his beloved Baltimore Ravens further their attempt at this year's Superbowl. I guess I'll have to "work out" by exercising my hand to my mouth while munching on the chips and dip; and cheese and crackers; and other delicious comfort foods purchased in an attempt to escape the dreaded forecast.

This also means that by the time bathing suit season returns I shall be shopping for a mu mu to cover up the damages from the winter-long nosh fest. Oh well, a girl's gotta eat.

And a quick shout out to my future daughter-in-law, Vanessa, (who resides in Florida and thinks snow is "so pretty") - I will post some pictures of the storm for you, as I curse my mom for telling me to take a civil service test when I was 18 so now I'm stuck here at a job that's way too good to leave so I can move to Florida - oh the epitome of irony.

Heavy sigh. 10 weeks til spring. More like 20 weeks til it gets warm. Heavier sigh...here's a peak at what I dream of while I look out the window as the thermometer struggles to climb out of the
20's:

P.S.

I meant to add this to the previous post, in honor of my dad, who used to laugh so hard at this show, that he would cry...


And let's not forget what this man used to do to him...

Dad

I can't help but wonder what my dad would have been like had he lived to celebrate his 84th birthday today.

Would he get on a computer? Would he have an email address? A cell phone? A GPS? A subscription to Satellite radio? An Ipod? A big screen tv? A DVR? An auto start for the car? My initial thoughts are no to all; (I mean this is a man who even refused to use a calculator!) however, after some pondering, I kind of think that perhaps he would have expanded his technological abilities along with the rest of the world!

Would he have sold his car and pedaled his bicycle all over town when gas cost over $4.00 per gallon? Oh, I'm pretty sure he would have! I don't have to ask if he would have voted for Obama, because there's no doubt in my mind about that.

I bet he'd love the fact that the Yankees haven't won a world series in several years and at the same time, be frustrated that the Mets still can't get their act together in the month of September. I wonder if he would have purchased tickets for this year's Superbowl, since it's going to be in Tampa (probably not).

I wonder about how nice it would have been to have a 50th wedding anniversary party for my mom and him (which would have been 5 years ago). I wonder what he'd think about the fact that both of his kids remarried. I wonder just how proud he'd be of all his grandchildren (very, I'm sure - and that's one of my favorite things to think about.)

I wonder if he would have talked my mom into getting another dog by now! (I'm really undecided about this one!)

And although I really do not believe in the afterlife, I often find myself wondering if he's been trying to send messages my way every now and then. Happy birthday, Dad - I miss you.