Eat at Crabby Bills and get Free gulls on the side

Day two at Clearwater (we'll get back to day one later). Dinner at Crabby Bills. El Fresco. Shrimp, scallops, salmon, oysters, sea gulls. Yep. They came right in, circled the tables, marked their target, and came in for the swoop, score.......luckily it was a woman's plate who was 2 tables away! True story though. We got it on video. Only problem is I still can't figure out how to upload vidoes on here. I mean, I know how, but when I view the blog, they're not there. Oh well. We'll discuss the previous events of the trip later. Ta ta for now.

Talk about everything at once.....

We are leaving for Florida in the morning. We will be there for 8 days. This trip was originally planned four months ago for this particular week in order to attend my soon to be daughter in law, Vanessa's nursing school graduation. As it turns out, not only will we be doing that, but also during this timeframe, we will be attending a a wedding ceremony, a closing on a townhouse, and a celebration dinner for all. Oh and I will get to feel my granddaughter up close and personal! The weeks building up to all these events has been well, let's just say there have been a myriad of emotions. I don't know how many of you have gone through the purchase of a home since this economy hit the (well, you know). It seems it might be just a little bit easier to be cleared to work for the secret service, than to get a mortgage approved. I swear, I'm waiting for the phone to ring and them to ask for some teeth out of my mouth, or perhaps some blood, or maybe one of my kids as collateral!! Ugghhh!!!!! Anyhow, the latest word is that by Tuesday we should have the definite closing date, which we are hoping is Friday. On Tuesday, Vanessa graduates nursing school and I could not be more proud of her - for sure I will cry! On Thursday, Justin and Vanessa will become Mr. and Mrs. Wise. Through those tears will be excitement for their new life together and more pride for me as I can officially call her my daughter. As mentioned earlier, hopefully the closing will be on Friday and then we can return to New York, just before we would have to help the kids move!!! Through all this, my boss retired. Today was her last day and that in itself was quite emotional! I sure hope somewhere in this schedule is time for relaxation.........and maybe a licky or two from my Pradapuppy!!!!!!!!

Granddaughter update

In case anyone's curious - this is what my granddaughter looks like in her momma's womb now. Almost 1 foot and nearly 1 pound!! Fascinating, no?

22 Weeks Pregnant

Who says big boys don't cry?

Last weekend we had a surprise 80th birthday party for my uncle in law,
Boxy. He thought that he was making the trip from Baltimore to Stewartstown, Pennsylvania because it was a birthday party for me. (He didn't know my birthday is in December). Cousins, nieces, nephews, inlaws, outlaws (ha ha), daughters, and many other family members and honorary family members joined in the celebration. When he walked in, he was so surprised that it brought him to tears. I must say it was the best surprise party reaction I have ever witnessed. Especially when his daughter "came out of the woodworks!"

One thing I especially enjoy when chatting with folks of his generation is the storytelling. I asked him where the name "Boxy" came from. At first he said he did not know, that he had had it for as long as he could remember. Then it came to him -when he was a youngster growing up in Baltimore, he had a part time job delivering groceries. The produce was always packed in a box. The patrons would eagerly await their deliveries and when they saw him approaching up the block, they would yell out "hey box boy......" Eventually "Box Boy" turned into "Boxy" and that is what he is affectionately called to this day - nearly 70 years later. I don't even know his birth name!

Check out a picture of Boxy in his newly acquired Yankee jersey. (I wonder where he got that from?!!!) Orioles fan that he is, he still took on my father in law's tradition of proudly wearing Yankee gear, because it was given by someone special!!!!

Installing a husband

The following was emailed to me but I found it so funny that, well, here you go:


INSTALLING A HUSBAND

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overal

system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly

under Boyfriend 5.0 .

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as
* Romance 9.5 and
* Personal Attention 6.5,

and then installed undesirable programs , such as

* NHL 5.0,
* CFL 3.0 and
* MLB 4.1

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2. 6 simply crashes the system.

* Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,
Desperate.

DEAR DESPERATE ,

First, keep in mind,
* Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while
* Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget

to install the Guilt 3.0 update.
* If that application works as designed, Husband1.0 should then automatically run the applications

Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to

Grumpy Silence 2.5 , Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1 .
* Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download theSnoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, D0 NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the

background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to re - install the Boyfriend 5.0 program.

These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0 .

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot

learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve

memory and performance. We recommend
* Cooking 3.0 and
* Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck Desperate

So I guess it's true - it really does come in 3's

The Three Who Died: Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon

Along with the rest of the world, I'm stunned.....

My Granddaughter's well - you know...

Can you find it? LOL

My Granddaughter's Feet

Could you just die????

Almost ours...

We're so excited!!!!

Father's Day

I remember Father's Days past from 1995 until last year as a day that I dreaded. My dad was gone, so I was envious of everyone who still had one. I couldn't stand seeing Father's Day cards out of the corner of my eye if I was shopping for a different type of card. My own kids hadn't seen their biological father in a long time. Most of my friends had lost their fathers as well. Basically it was just a depressing day. Today is the first Father's Day that my father in law isn't here. It's sad. It's difficult. It's unfair. He and my dad are very much in my thoughts. Flashes of things that both of them have said to me have been drifting in and out of my head all day. I'll keep those sentiments to myself. But, sad as that may be, I must look ahead and wish a happy Father's Day to my son, the expectant daddy! Life sure does toy with one's emotions, doesn't it?

Make new friends but keep the old...

I am pleased to report that most of the dogs I've written about in the past few weeks have gone home. It's wonderful for them - but it takes a bit of getting used to when we expect to see them and they are gone, without saying good bye. Our little friend Sprite, the cocker spaniel with the wiggly butt, is still there:



















And then, there's Byron: He is only 7 weeks old. A lab mix. He and his sister, Catalina, share a kennel and the only way to tell them apart is to look at, well, you know!! We had him out for several minutes, thinking it was Catalina, until he rolled over to get his belly scratched and, what a surprise!!! As you can see in a couple of the pictures, he was a bit intimidated and not very sure of the leash. Also, walking on pavement was a problem, he much preferred the grass. For a special bonus, this week, my step son was able to join us on our walk:


























































Remember - if you or anyone you you know is interested in adoption, www.bideawee.org

thanks!

My Little Chickadee (and I don't mean WC Fields!)

Thanks to my friend, Debbie and her daughter, Melanie - I had chickadees eating out of the palm of my hand!! What a fun day - walking through a nature preserve in Nyack - on the north side of the south shore of Long Island. On the way back, we met up with momma turkey and her seven , yes seven babies! There were plenty of chipmunks running rampant as well. They were adoreable. Of course we named all of them either "Chip" or "Dale!"

Also seen, but not captured on the camera, were a bunny, many cardinals (both males and females, they came up very close to us, but will not eat out of your hand), catbirds, sparrows and plovers. (Boy I learned a lot about birds - thanks, Deb). I think we may have heard a woodpecker or two, but did not see them. That's ok, though - I see those everyday at our birdfeeder.

A fun day was had:

Saturday Morning Bide A Wee Update

This is Jani - who I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. I thought for sure she would have "gone home" by now, but alas, she was still there. Still sweeter than ever. Still loves to be out. Still jumps higher than any dog I've ever seen. I would swear there are little trampolines on her feet!!








Remember Manee? Well today, we walked her sister, Mali, who had "gone home" for a while, but unfortunately, came back. She is very exciteable and although she is so big already, she still is a puppy. Once again, hubby uttered those words "if I could bring you home I would, oh yes I would...!!"

















And last, but not least, this is Mike. He is a baby and is still in "holding" so we could not take him out. Maybe next week. Talk about "puppy eyes....."




Interested in adopting one of these or any others - www.bideawee.org

Drowning in a sea of pink

Dresses and pjs and shoes - oh my!

5 months to go and already I can't stop shopping!

Yep - this grandma thing is definitely awesome.
(I think "Gramps" is having fun with it too!)

Puppy uppers and doggie downers

Back to Bide A Wee we went today - our first time solo. We brought out Sprite - she is a cocker spaniel who epitomizes the word "spunky." Sweet as can be, she never stops wagging her tail, even while she walks. We wanted to take her into the pen and let the leash off, but it was occupied (volunteers are not allowed to let their dogs mingle with other dogs - it's a safety thing). We had a nice walk and then brought her back. Next we took out Cleo. Talk about the difference between night and day. Poor Cleo is so timid that she didn't even want to walk. She had to be bribed with treats just to get her to take some steps. Eventually, we made it all the way out and I was pretty proud of us that we did. It seems she was abused before finding her way to Bide A Wee and therefore, she's afraid of her own shadow. We did a good thing today. On the way out we saw a huge litter of puppies, but alas, the hubby had to go to work so we couldn't stay. "That's ok, we'll see them next week, he said." "Yea, right - they'll be adopted by the time we get back," I told him. That's ok though, isn't that what's it's all about? Sorry, no pictures today, but if you or anyone you know is interested in learning more about pet adoption or Bide A Wee - check it out: www.bideawee.org

P.S. - Went shopping last night with the hubby - came home with lots of pink things on teeny hangers............OMG so much fun!!

It's a ..................

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!



And she's sucking her thumb!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's walking with you, dog!

We had our last training session today. We are now official Volunteer "Green" dog walkers. (I can't remember if I previously explained the color code) but "green" dogs are the most docile, have no or very little issues and are easiest to walk. Today's walkers were Jani:



Jani is mostly Jack Russell Terrior and extremely hyper! It took a good 10 minutes to get her to stop jumping and start walking; but, once she started her walk she was just adorable! Very sweet - I'm sure someone loving family will scoop her up by the next time we go back.

And Jermaine:


Jermaine is some kind of mutt (can't remember). He is very sweet but has a slight neurological disorder. Any family who wants to adopt him will be put through a vigorous background check; but I'm sure he would be very happy to have a loving home. A great time was had by all!!








Oh yes, remember a couple of months ago, I spoke about Nalla (one of the retirees?) Well, here's my girl:

Oh how I would love to take her home!!

May 26th

On May 25th, 1984 at about 10:00 in the evening, a nine month's pregnant me had a slight stomach ache. Must have been something I ate, thought I. The rest of the details are a bit sketchy in my mind, for instance, I can't remember what exactly made me decide that perhaps I should go to the hospital, because for the life of me I cannot remember having even one labor pain. The next thing I remember I was pushing out my second son. He was born 7 minutes after midnight, making his birthday the 26th. Happy birthday, Justin!! That was 25 years ago.

14 years ago, on Justin's 11th birthday, my dad passed away; making this day very bittersweet. A day does not go by that I don't think of him. The only difference now is that I'm finally able to do so without tears; instead it's a smile, because I know he would be proud.

Honorable mention to my favorite female singer, Stevie Nicks, whose birthday is also today. She's still got it! Listen for yourself:

then:


now:


not bad for 61, huh???

There's always someone new waiting...

It took several weeks to get back to Bide A Wee to continue our volunteer training. But oh, I must say it was so worth it. Today we got to meet Manee. She is 3 months old and has been at the shelter for 2 weeks. According to the experts, she won't last long because the younger dogs always get adopted very quickly. She is some kind of hound mix. We got to walk her for a long time and play with her in the pen. She was very full of love. Hubby said if we could have pets, he would have brought her home. I'm quite sure that each time we go, we will want to bring another one home. I'm almost grateful that we can't have pets here or I fear that we would have 50 of them!!! We were able to snap a few pictures but honestly, it isn't easy to walk them and play with them and hold the camera, so I don't think I will be doing that again. I had my first turn at getting her back in her pen. You have to get her in, without going in yourself and trust me, they do not want to go back in there. So, I must say, that part was a bit difficult and heart breaking. Still worth it though, to love them up:

Mother's Day

Some Mother's Day stuff to make you laugh, or cry, or just say "aww..."

I'm on the phone with Justin, Friday night and he says something not so nice (in a joking way) and I tell him that he has to be nice to me because it's Mother's Day weekend. He innocently says "Mother's Day - when is it going to be kid's day?" I'm quite sure that every mom reading this can figure out my response, but nonetheless, I will write it anyhow: "EVERY DAY IS KID'S DAY!" He had no reply! (that's the stuff to make you laugh) Kudos, however, to him and Vanessa for sending me a picture (the same one that is posted here on 4/30) of the baby, but this one is much clearer and it says "Happy Mother's Day, Grandma" on it. (That's the stuff to make you cry.)

Mr. Boston himself (Joey, as he allows only my mom and me to refer to him) came to visit for Mother's Day. A hug from your child is the best gift a mom can receive. (that's the stuff to make you say "aww..."). I loved the visit, the card, the stuffed puppy cause he knows I want one and can't have one, the dinner, the three boxes of Entenmann's cakes (because he just discovered the outlet store) and most of all the conversation. Oh the conversation. Priceless.

Happy Mother's Day to all.