This is it..in a nutshell (so to speak)

YOU KNOW.... SHE'S RIGHT!!!

'I haven't left my house in days. I watch the news channels incessantly. All the news stories are about the election; all the commercials are for Viagra and Cialis. Election, erection, election, erection -- either way we're getting screwed!' -- Bette Midler.

Halloween Prep

This was always my favorite holiday just after Christmas.  I can remember sitting at my Mom's
 dressing table getting ready for a night of trick or treating.  I actually think I enjoyed it more after 10 years old but maybe it's just that I remember it better. I really don't have the best recollection of my costumes but I remember the houses with the best treats.  Some had prepared individual bags for each treater loaded with all my favorites.  Back then it wasn't necessary to have your candy examined ... by anything more than your tonsils.  I would methodically sort my favorites, trade with my friends and make it last as long as possible.  In my house, my sister was 5 years older and my brother 8 so I don't ever remember t or t (ing) with them...nor do I remember my parents going with me but I'm sure they did in the early years.  Also, our neighborhood was pretty safe and everyone knew everyone.  I do remember the pranks!  Somehow I though that someone burning a bag of sh-- on Mrs' R's porch was hilarious.  She did, however; give out wonderful treats....she was one of the ones w/ little bags!  The next morning,there would always be a strategically placed outhouse somewhere in town....usually near the bank on the corner. Toilet paper would be flapping in the breeze throughout all the trees on Main Street and if you weren't careful, you might step on a smashed egg or two.

So in that same spirit, we're preparing for Halloween this Sunday.  We carved pumpkins, we painted and made one into Cinderella's transformed coach and we've placed HUGE ones in front of the house as decorations. Today, I'm putting the finishing touches on Bailee and Jess's costume.  They've been a "team act" each year and have been lucky enough to win a prize each time.  The first year, before she even arrived, Bailee was a"bun in the oven", her Mom was the Oven...literally and her Dad the baker.....1st prize.  The next year she was a beautiful little monkey and her Mom was a Banana...1st prize. Next she was a sheep and her Mom was Big Bo Peep...1st prize. Last year the venue changed to Moravia and they won with Bailee being the UPS man and her Mom was a giant package ready for delivery.  This year's costume is driving us buggy....we'll share some photos on Monday morning.  Might be a tricky night as Miss B has to go to Daddy's in Cortland for 2 hours.  She'll be one tired but......oops, almost gave it away......

Happy Halloween to my old cronies!

You know you are too old to Trick or Treat when:

10. You get winded from knocking on the door.

9.  You have to have another kid chew the candy for you.

8.  You ask for high fiber candy only.

7.  When someone drops a candy bar in your bag,

you lose your balance and fall over.

6.  People say: 'Great Boris Karloff Mask,' 
     And you're not wearing a mask.
5.  When the door opens you yell, 'Trick or...' 

 And can't remember the rest.


4.  By the end of the night,

you have a bag full of restraining orders.

3.  You have to carefully choose a costume that won't dislodge your hairpiece.


2.  You're the only Power Ranger in the

neighborhood with a walker.

And the number one reason Seniors should not go

Trick Or Treating...
*
*
* 
1.  You keep having to go home to pee.

No matter, have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN anyway.

My Fitness Program

I don't go to Zumba, I don't belong to a gym (well sort of, I must own at least a board in the high school or elementary gym by now), I don't jog and I don't eat exceptionally well, health-wise..shocker!  Heck, I don't even watch Biggest Loser.  All of these revelations are painfully obvious! I read an article that said people should take at least 10,000 steps every day- that equals about five miles of walking.  So I did some fancy calculations:

My bedroom to the front door = 18   (10 in case of fire) but then I have french doors in the BR  duh)
My front door, around the house and back to the front door = 161 (now I know why I have a riding mower)
My home to a friend's home = 79 ( I have a friend living in the lower garage)
The door of my parked car to my refrigerator = 20 (short jaunt for grocery delivery)
My desk to the bathroom = 22 (x 10 trips a day)
My refrigerator to the media room = 39 (which includes 13 steps which is = to climbing the Glen steps)
My desk to the kitchen =31 (several times)

So if I add up all the times I do each of these hikes per day, I've only walked 749 ........at home.... Now that doesn't count my steps to the diner, two post offices, the Modern Market or Kinney's.  That must equal a couple thousand.  So, let's say I walked 2749 steps a day.. or round it up to 3000!!!  If 10,000 is 5 miles than 1 mile is 2000 steps and 1000 steps  is a 1/2 mile.... So, If I weren't to leave my dooryard, I'm walking 1.5 miles a day.  Wow, I feel better (and healthier) already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BRB, I have to go potty....44 steps down!

Indian Summer

"The air is perfectly quiescent and all is stillness, as if Nature, after her exertions during the Summer, were now at rest." That's how one early American writer penned his thoughts on Indian Summer. I think today will begin our version. We've had the prerequisite killing frost and with temperatures predicted to be in the 70's for 3 consecutive days, this is it.  Enjoy it and let the pre-winter "bitchn' begin! The corn has been combined and chopped across the road and is on it's way to happy cows and cornflake factories. The trail cams have been randomly placed throughout the woods to spy on the unlucky doe and bucks that will fill the freezers for the long winter months. (Ours will take their rightful place next to the filets and rib eyes).... The eaves have been cleaned and the lawns groomed for winter. Furnaces have been serviced and the heat turned on low in the Locke houses. Once again we will keep the heating companies in business for another season. Those houses should so belong to someone else. Outdoor accessories have been moved to the back of the storage room while the Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas boxes made their way front and center. I think we're ready with the exception of Jerome.  He's still on alert if we decide to make one last quick trip. I'm thinking his next journey is south to N.C. and on to Florida for a couple weeks in February. No big stay for us this year, last year was bad enough.  Lee is heading north to Alaska next summer so we'll keep the piggy bank a bit fuller (is that a word?) by working through the winter. So now that we're ready for winter and Indian summer is here for a visit, I think it's the perfect time to put up the Christmas lights!!!!!!!!!! I heard a bit of grumbling upon mention of it but a gentle reminder that I actually do the "trimming" of the bushes, placing of the deer and running of the cords quieted the spouse to a gentle roar.  We'll see who's the Chief and who are the Indians during this Indian Summer!

Technologically challenged!

T.C.-that's me!  Josh (our carpenter extraordinaire) just asked, "Do you know you have TWO 5 disc DVD players?"  "No".  "Yep, once came as the receiver with your surround sound".  I think I looked for many hours online to find a DVD player that had 3-5 discs so I could play our opening music, our trivia game and then the feature presentation.  So now we have an extra DVD player.. Merry Christmas somebody! 
The H.U.T. is nearing completion.  Hoping to hook up the TV today.. I can't wait.... worse than a kid @ Christmas. The candy counter is filled, the popper is ready to pop, all the lights are up and working. We're just waiting for the seating to be delivered......We have a spaghetti and poker day planned for Sunday but I doubt the seating will be here by then.... Still planning on a "premiere" around the 1st of the month.. Maybe an election night movie would be in order so we don't have to watch all the returns....which will probably return us to the same old status quo anyway.. why be depressed when we can be entertained?

Here are some pictures for those of you who haven't already been bored to tears with my nightly face book updates.

Enough Already.....

13 more days and counting till we finally stop hearing those well thought out campaign ads.  A few are clever...very clever...most suck.Talk is cheap and I refuse to vote for anyone who rips apart their opponent..even if they are braggarts and big mouths with little to back up their platforms.  I want to hear from a candidate that is going to tell me what they "hope" to accomplish.... not what they will accomplish because we all know it's easier said than done.  When we were in Charlotte, I got a taste and earful of some new ads.  I saw such possibilities for some of the candidates...not for what they'd do but how clever their ads could be. (my blind ambition would have been to be in advertising..too little too late for me) One candidate running for something in NC was John Spratt...Holy cow , the guy didn't even go there...so many Jack Spratt ideas, lean-fat, etc. ran through my simple little mind.

Unfortunately, party is becoming less and less meaningful to me. I'm disgruntled, discouraged, disgraced and disturbed with every single aspect of our government from local to federal and if I never hear the words TEA PARTY again, I'll be happy. Even poor Bailee can't get Grandma to set the table and talk about a pretend tea party....Christine O'Donnell wants to lead in government but doesn't understand the separation of church and state.  Carl Paladino just plain creeps me out.  Our state Government is truly steered by the Big 3 and our president is well, full of change.  How's that change workin' out for us....? I think it would be such fun to run an advertising campaign for a good candidate....As a good friend recently told me...."If God had wanted us to vote...he'd have given us candidates!!!"  Well he must want us to, cuz we have a ----load of 'em!

HOME SWEET HOME

Can't say it enough....I love being home!  We had a great trip... scenery was spectacular, Jeff and Heather are great, golfing was fun and Jerome (and Lee) got us there (and back) safe and sound!! It's the only way to travel.
We changed our plans and stopped at Cabellas on the way down rather than the Biltmore.  Lee had mentioned it and I thought he deserved to do something HE wanted to for a change.  He's always good to go with whatever everyone else wants....figured he deserved a turn.   It was quite a place.  Only took us a bit out of our way and we weren't planning to make Jeff's till Thursday anyway.

 Got home bright and early this morning at 7:15.  We had stayed just north of Harrisburg and Lee was up at 3:30 heading home.  I bounced around back in bed for a couple more hours...Once I was completely tossed, I decided to head to my shotgun position for the rest of the trek to EIEIO. Arrived home and Josh (carpenter) was already busily working in the H.U.T. All the little finishing touches are coming together... I am So impressed with the little things that Josh comes up with to polish each part of the project.  Seating is ordered and should arrive within a week.... Then it's time for Lights, Camera, ACTION !!

Ready for Vacation....

Nearly ready to jump in Jerome and head south.  My plan is to head to the Biltmore for Thursday and into Jeff's for supper.  Lee is balking at the Biltmore so we'll see how that goes.  Maybe we'll hit it on the way back when he's more amenable and relaxed....or maybe we'll just stick to MY plan.
My carpenter is back after a week being AWOL..... I think he tries to make too many people happy at the same time and ends up just the reverse when he "goes away".  We're too close to stop now.... Trim, lobby and bath flooring, sink and we're pretty much done except for seating and decorating....Need wallpaper border in the bath and the 'woods mural" in the man cave. That will be my project to look forward to when we get home.... Then Halloween, Birthday, Hunting, Thanksgiving, another birthday and then CHRISTMAS.......Can't wait....The anticipation is more than half the fun.. Just ask Carly Simon.
I'm not sure how many blogs I'll get to while we're gone but will keep you all updated from Jeff.s....(for those who give a hoot)

Off to make our traditional travel feast of egg salad, tuna and LOTS of munchies !!  We try hard not to dig in till we hit Rt 90......

Wicker (fall) Wonderland

We had a beautiful, fall day yesterday.  Bailee and I took a tour to the inlet, through the corn and played outside...She said, "Damma, isn't outside awesome?"  She was right.  We also celebrated the Canadian Thanksgiving with a family gathering at the Pond.... The leaves reflecting on the pond was an "awesome" sight!

This morning, as I sit pondering the days events, I finally learned how my favorite wicker furniture meets it's demise.... The little critters that I unsuccessfully tried to exterminate, our having it for lunch :-)  He sat there, munched away and all but waved to me through my den window.

Lee's off to Pulaski fishing for salmon, Jess, B and I are off to visit Grandma and have lunch at A & W and then to maybe start the wallpaper mural in the man cave ( a fall scene with deer -shocker).  Trim up in the H.U.T. this afternoon....

Happy Columbus Day. We're off to discover something too!!

Invested....

Nope, not stocks or bonds, real estate or commodities... just being invested with your day to day jobs.  As you all have heard (ad nauseum), we're putting in a media room.  As I have also reiterated time and time again, I love a project. Today I'm bragging about the guys I've chosen to help make my project a reality.  All good things take time and this one took several months to get off the ground.  I had drawn and planned and shopped and compared most every detail.  My decisions had been made and I was waiting for my "carpenter of choice, Josh!  I knew my painter would be Billy and I just had to find a carpet layer....wasn't sure who I wanted....was very sure who I didn't!  Anyway, back to being invested.  Both Josh and Billy have made wonderful suggestions and I seldom hesitate to ask their opinions... they're the experts, not me. I hired them to make our room appear as I had sketched.  The other day Josh came up with an amazing idea for the concession area.  It would mean a bit more work for him but his lighting idea would transform this wall into a retro work of art.....Whoever invented rope lights....Kudos!  Speaking of works of art,  Billy cringes when I tell him we have a "little project".  I think his words this time were "God help me!"  It is SO coming together and it is awesome....Once again, we collaborated and are making a teeny, weeney extra 1/2 hours work for Josh but boy will it pay off. I love paint, stain and poly...3 of my favorite decorating words.  No longer is paint made to just roll on a wall and stick there....It's much happier when it has some other colors join in and make it fabulous.  We're nearing completion. It's almost time to decorate.  I'll be thrilled when it's finished but then what......?  No more projects?  Oh wait, I did see a beautiful leaf area rug in reds, goldy yellows and an amazing red leather chair in a catalog this week.. I just happened to tear out the pages and slide them into my "projects" folder. We haven't been here quite long enough to redecorate yet so...... I may just have to add on a room....a sun room...hmmm yellow and leaves.......perfect!

Media update....

For those of you that don't enjoy or use or care about Face Book..... here are some updates of the H.U.T.  (Hatfield Underground Theater)... It's coming along really well... considering it's actually 3 rooms (media, lobby and bath) we're in good shape. The next step is wood..... crown, chair moldings, baseboard, Pergo lobby and bath floors and that will be the majority of the construction.  Still need the sink and "barrel" installed in the bath, the wallpaper border applied and pictures hung.  Then (maybe this week-end) we can bring in the TV.. all 73 inches...I'll be ordering the seating soon so it arrives when we return from Jeff and Heathers.  The I can put up my posters, wall art and poster lights, stock the candy counter and roll in the popcorn machine.  Sounds like just in time for a Paranormal Premiere at the end of the month.....

That's silly

The latest craze for the kiddies (and their grandparents) is Silly Bandz.  They're inexpensive, colorful, they don't take batteries and they come in wonderful shapes.  When you stretch them and let go, they come right back to the shape they originally were. As you can see, they're also the latest fashion statement for the fall season. Please note the wrinkled arm pictured above.... Now there's a craz(y) Grandma.  She has the Italian charm bracelet from several years ago, the breast cancer rubber bracelet of the 2009 era, the Pandora bead bracelet from 2010 and the ever fashionable, silly band.  This particular band has great significance. It says I♥U !!  Bailee, her Mom and I all proudly wear one. Bailee did, however; lose hers last week-end and we were several seconds short of hiring a private detective, a bloodhound and the F.B.I.   Luckily, Grandma found an extra and all was right w/ the world.
Teachers are lamenting this latest invention as kids are fiddling with them , trading them and in even some cases, stealing them.  The media says they're unhealthy and showed photos of them digging into the wrists of (obviously morbidly obese) children and cutting off the circulation. Doctors say they really don't present a health problem and Grandmas, who should ultimately have the last word, say they're educational, fashionable and will be a thing of the past by spring.... So lighten up everybody, we probably have bigger and sillier things to fret about.....like finding a black one to match my outfit today.....I'll bet there are Halloween ones being sold somewhere.....Be right back!

Our Ladybug!!!

I LOVE LADYBUGS....especially this one ♥♥♥♥3♥♥♥

Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home
Winter Is Coming, The Summer Has Gone!
~ The Flowers Have Bloomed,
Autumn Leaves Are Falling ~
Time To Find A Cozy Spot Til Spring Comes Calling! (That would be Grandma's house)

Who's the Leader of the band that's made for you and Me?

M-I-C   K-E-Y   M-O-U-S-E.....!  Today, way back in 1971 (doesn't really seem so "way back" to me) Disney World opened in Orlando.  I vaguely remember the hype but this was my first year out of high school and large black ears were not top on my agenda. I can remember the first time I was there and it was with my kids.  Our parents weren't very theme oriented in terms of vacation unless it was connected to golf.  We went to Florida almost every year but it wasn't to take the kids on any type of adventure.  We were around and either had to go with them on their treks or they'd have to find a babysitter willing to spend a couple weeks with 3 very different.kids.... not necessarily different,.. just different from each other. We were 5 and 8 years apart from youngest to oldest.  I was the baby....shocker.  I do remember going to McKee Jungle Gardens and Cypress Gardens so we weren't in total deprivation.  After all, we were in Florida and all of our friends were home in the cold going to school.  We never went to the North Pole to check out Santa or camping at the Glen. We never went to concerts or the Ice-capades. We did go to Hotel Syracuse every year for a special shopping, dining and overnight experience in the "city".  We'd drive to Auburn occasionally and get to sit in the big leather corner booth at the Elks Club. That was always a treat to smell the cigars and whiskey and enjoy the small bowl of pretzels we were allotted with our small cokes in a glass with more ice than soda.  Funny the things you remember.  Don't get me wrong, we had a good childhood.  We'd spend 6 months a year at the lake boating, skiing and entertaining. I'd get to go to the country club every Tuesday and Thursday with my brown bag lunch and get to play with all the rest of the spoiled children of Auburn's doctors and lawyers. Maybe as I think back on our vacations, they (being Mom and Dad) were right!  They were enjoying the fruits of their labor, we were certainly not neglected and had experiences which I obviously remember. They enjoyed their lives and lived them fully if not exactly as I have chosen to live mine.  I learned from those times that I wanted my kids to have some different memories.  I wanted them to realize that our time spent with them was exactly where we wanted to be.  I wanted them to hear me say "I love you" but instinctively know it if it wasn't every day.I know there's a point here somewhere....and I guess it's the old adage of quality vs quantity.  It doesn't make any difference if you all go to Disney World or the pool at the Motel 6 as long as you all do it together.  "We've" promised Bailee that she could go to Disney World when she's 5..... that was when she was 3...no we're only a year away.  The best part is, she'll remember it and we'll be together.

One of my favorite stories is: When Jeff  was a toddler and would be asked how old he was, he'd answer "FOUR, except when I go to Disney World then I'm THREE!"  Damn cheap parents!