Halloween pic for you.

I've been a bit under the weather lately so I have been resting a lot. However, today is my favorite holiday and I thought I'd share a picture that we took at work. I call this my Austin Powers Wannabe outfit. :)

"They Might Be Giants" is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

I got to see them perform live last night and I had a fabulous time. The music was great and I danced the whole time. They did two long sets, the first of which was their entire "Flood" album---in order. That is the only album of theirs that I have and it was really cool to hear it. The second set was all newer stuff and it made me want to buy more of their albums. The band is made up of great musicians, they are very funny, and many genres of music can be heard in their tunes. This post isn't doing justice to the amount of fun I had last night. I'm exhausted and throat hurts a bit from cheering so much. By the way, if you are unfamiliar with their music, search www.youtube.com for They Might Be Giants + Tiny Toons. Enjoy!

Oh, and I don't think I've mentioned before that we have a neighbor who is a professional pyrotechnician. Tonight he held one of his famous parties and I got to see an amazing fireworks display. It was a smaller version of what I saw on the 4th of July and, watching it from the porch off Susan's room, it felt like my own private show. How cool is that?

I spent $400 at the dentist's office yesterday.

I had four cavities that needed to be dealt with. Two minor, one a bit more complicated, and the last a bit more than that. Oh, and I don't have dental insurance. Yesterday's visit felt traumatic and I needed several shots of novacaine in order to get through it. I do feel much better now, though. I am also trying a new regimen to get more flouride to my top teeth because I don't want more cavities.

TV Show Reviews:
Here's my take on the season 5 finale of "Project Runway". I'm not too surprised that Leanne won because I think she was a strong designer all the way through. I preferred Korto's collection, however. I felt that it was vibrant, pretty, and original. I also disagree with the judges; her pieces were not overworked! Quite frankly, I thought that Leanne's collection was repetitive and I was bored before she was through showing it. I understand that the judges are looking for the next new idea and her wave inspired petals and sustainable fabrics are definitely future oriented. I'm just glad that Korto won "Fan Favorite" and will, hopefully, be able to use that money to get her designs sold.

I also want to put in a plug for "Do Not Disturb" with Jerry O'Connell and Niecy Nash. It is very funny. The first three episodes are available to watch for free on www.Fancast.com. Warning: It can be offensive.

It's Fall Festival weekend!

The weather this weekend has been even more beautiful than the weather we had during the week. Saturday I got some chores done and bought groceries. That left Sunday free to attend the Fall Festival, in a nearby town, with Steve and his family. I had invited Wendy & Keith, Lynette & Andrew, Jonathan & Page, and Susan but, unfortunately, they couldn't go. Before I left the house, I told Susan I was planning on eating my way through the event. I had my traditional fried dough with maple cream (YUMMY!), really good clam chowder, some not so great curly fries, and a bit of awesome dark chocolate orange fudge. I had planned to bring something home for Susan but the fried dough would have been too messy and they were all out of apple pie. The fudge stand, however, had an apple pie fudge with pieces of real apple in it. Susan loved it! I had a little but it isn't really my thing. However, after a taste of their dark chocolate orange fudge, I splurged and bought a piece of it too. There isn't much left but I'll be back on my diet tomorrow. Today is still a holiday weekend. :)

It's a beautiful day!

The weather today has been absolutely gorgeous! When I took my break at work I didn't need a vest or jacket. I was able to walk to my car to get a bag of stuff to donate to the Salvation Army store that's right around the corner. Then I headed to the bead store to visit my friend Laura. I really enjoyed the fresh air and the sunshine as I was walking around.

Not much else is going on. My car is completely legal (it passed inspection on Tuesday) but there is an annoying, intermittent, squeaking/chirping sound that I am keeping tabs on. I took it back to my mechanic but they didn't hear anything and said the breaks are fine.

One last thing: CSI season premiere tonight! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can hardly wait! :)

I had kind of a busy day.

I was really good and went to sleep after watching the series premiere of "Sanctuary" on SciFi and then the rebroadcast of episode two, season five, of "House" on USA last night. (I missed it when it was on Tuesday) I was able to get about 8 1/2 hours of sleep and be up by 9:30AM today. The premiere of "Sanctuary" was pretty good. I liked the story and the characters. Unfortunately, though I think she's a great actress, Amanda Tapping's British accent seemed a bit inconsistent to me.

Anyway, after breakfast Susan and I took Casey for a walk in the gravel pit behind the house. It was absolutely beautiful out! We took the trash and recycling to the dump and I was able to find two Garth Nix books, in great condition, in the re-use shed. (This is in addition to the four books I purchased at the used book sale this week at the library across from my workplace.) There is another used book sale tomorrow on my way into town and I may just have to stop there as well. I'm incorrigible! :)

I took a load of stuff to storage (summer/professional clothes, books, games) and pulled out my sheet music/voice lesson stuff (so I can sing "The Rose" at Jessie & Matt's wedding in January), some winter clothes, and my Halloween stuff. I haven't figured out what I'm going to be yet but it needs to be something I can work outdoors in because we'll be filming the local "Rag Shag" Parade. I can't wait! Halloween is my favorite holiday.

After I paid the rent on my storage unit, I headed over to a nearby town to get my hair cut. I brought in a picture of Anne Hathaway as she looks in her new movie "Rachel Getting Married". I saw the picture and thought I'd look good with the same hair cut. The stylist said that it would work for me and we will slowly work my hair into it. Right now it's too short. The nice thing is that my haircut was half price today because Sandra didn't really have to do much to it but snip the back a little.

Next stop, the mall. I made another attempt to purchase winter boots. Sears was having a big sale but I wasn't sure that the boots I wanted were really made for snowy outdoors. I think they are just supposed to look "wintery". On the upside, I finally used some of my JC Penny gift card by getting a new pair of, "stylie" (to go with my "sporty" car) sunglasses. No, really, I finally accepted that I needed a new pair. My old ones were plastic, all scratched up, and had been a giveaway at an expo quite a few years ago. I feel a bit like I'm re-working my whole image (with the car, haircut, and sunglasses), or maybe finally finding out who I am and what I like. Plus, I really like myself most of the time now and I think that makes it easier. I've come a long way baby.

I think I mentioned before that I've been watching a lot of "Doogie Howser, MD" lately and I believe the end of that last paragraph is very Doogie diary-like. Too bad I don't really want to end this blog post there. See, I also got to, almost, use up my Macy's gift card as well. Aunt Nancy was very thoughtful and sent me one for my birthday this year. Tonight, I treated myself to a Godiva 16 piece, dark chocolate, assortment. Yummy! I also picked up a cribbage set, for $3, at Target. Some friends of mine got me hooked and now I get to play whenever I want (and have someone to play with).

Anyway, I really didn't mean for this post to go on so long. I came home, told Susan about my day, watched some Doogie, and now I'm going to brush my teeth and go to bed. I'd also like to say that I'm still enjoying driving my new car. I listened to my Garth Brooks double live album today. It's fun to listen to all my music again now that it's out of storage. Tomorrow I need to do laundry and go grocery shopping. I'll also hang out with some friends. Monday it's back to work and dental cleaning and Tuesday I get my car inspected. Not much else going on. Love you guys! :)

Lots of catching up to do with you.

So, a lot has been going on and I haven't had a good chance to blog until now. The biggest news is that I am now driving a car that does NOT have 314,000+ miles on it. I said goodbye to my 1994 Saturn on Wednesday morning. I sold it to a friend of a friend and made her part of a 2 Saturn family. I like this shot of my former car because it reminds me of KITT from the original "Knight Rider".I really like driving my new car, a 2005 Dodge Neon. I took Wednesday off to do all the car stuff and was able to get it taken care of that afternoon. I think my new car is kinda sporty (I don't think of myself as a "sporty" person, but I'm enjoying it) and it's smaller than the Saturn. I am grateful to be able to lock its doors, have the overhead light come on when I get in, and listen to whatever music I want on the CD player. I feel like I have a grown up car now! :) The only drawback is that it's an automatic so the gas mileage isn't as good as my old car. Otherwise, I think I love it! :)
The other thing about having my new car is that our yard no longer looks like a used car dealership. See if you don't agree when you look at the picture below. I took it Wednesday morning before I sold my car. I couldn't help but laugh out loud when Laurel (the woman who bought my car), her partner Susan, & I returned from her test drive and the mailman's car was parked in the spot we'd vacated. We had 6 cars in front of the house! We were all laughing at that.
The next two pictures are of the dogs. I've been intending to do a tribute to Allegra and Susan suggested that I put up a cute picture of Casey as well. Casey is a sweetheart and she's slowly adjusting to being an only doggie. I sang to her tonight as I pet her and she seemed to really enjoy it.

Susan and I both miss Allegra a lot and think of her often. She was a great dog and lived a long and happy life. She loved to play and eat popcorn. Rest in peace, Allegra.Casey