Makin' Whoopie

Happy Wednesday to one and all!!!

The title of today's blog refers to the fact that I'll be spending the evening chained to the stove, making whoopie pies for a work event tomorrow.  Every once in a while, we throw a 'Pizza Party' for all the testers in each of the various locations throughout the company.  Since I'm on the committee that organizes said events, I thought I'd actually step up and volunteer to make something for the party.  All the food is provided by the higher ups (pizzas, salads, soda, etc...) but we ask for volunteers to bring in a dessert or something for all to share.  So, there you have it.  I'm making whoopie pies.  :-)
I'm not a cook, by any means, but I do OK when it comes to making certain things, and whoopie pies are one of those things.  I've made them several times before and they were well received, so I'm fairly confident that I can bring them into work and not be humiliated.  I figure, if I can bring them to a softball cookout and a group of gay men enjoy them (they tend to be a tad critical) then my co-workers will enjoy them as well.

I realized this morning while I was showering (focus, people, focus....) that it's been just over a year since Jim and I submitted out initial adoption application.  Jim dropped it off on Friday, June 26th and the waiting began!  I can't believe it's been a year already.  People say (who are those 'people' anyway?) that the entire process usually takes about a year, so we should be getting a child any day now, right?!?! Of course we will.

:-)

Well, my friends......have a great Wednesday....the week is almost over. xoxo

P.S. - I was searching for some cute 'Happy Hump Day' graphics and this was the best I could come up with. ;-)   There are some DOOZIES out there.  Yikes. 

It's Tuesday.

Hey y’all!

Boy what a weekend it was.

On Saturday we had a softball game at noon and played like we’ve never played before! Meaning, we played like we’d never seen a softball before. Needless to say, this hasn’t been the best season for us. I’m beginning to think that we should maybe be playing in division 3, as opposed to division 2. I know that I’d have more fun playing in the lower division, and I really think that it’s a better ‘fit’ for our team.
Trust me, it’s no fun showing up every week and spending the entire afternoon stressed out. Seriously, what’s the point? That is NOT how I want to spend my summer. Hopefully the team will talk about it and come to that decision for next year.

On Sunday, we spent the day down the Cape with Jim’s family and had a GREAT time. His entire family was down there, along with a couple of their cousins and their kids. We relaxed on the beach, had a ‘few’ drinks, and played lots of games. It was a very fun day.

Yesterday, I had the day off and barely stopped for a minute. I went to the town hall to get Scooter’s dog license renewed, went to have my car’s windshield repaired (there were a few nicks in the glass from rocks hitting it on the highway), and then went grocery shopping. Once I got the groceries unloaded and put away, I headed out the door once again to get food for the dog (different store than where we go grocery shopping) and some chlorine tablets for the pool.
Once I got home from that ‘trip’ – Jim’s mom and our nephew Danny showed up for a swim. It was so incredibly hot out, I joined them in the pool (as did Scooter) and we spent some time cooling off. About 45 minutes later, Jim’s sister and her other two kids came over to get everything ready for the BBQ we were having to celebrate our oldest niece’s birthday. The party went off without a hitch, even though it started POURING shortly after everyone arrived. Thankfully, the heavy rain passed by quickly, so I was able to grill everything without getting completely soaked.
Once all the food was eaten, and presents were opened, we had dessert and then some folks went in for one last swim. After everyone left, we cleaned up the house; I made coffee for the week (iced coffee in the fridge), lunches for today, and then collapsed on the couch until it was time for bed…..about 10 minutes later.  :-)

So – that brings me to today. I’ve got a ton of meetings to attend today and nothing planned (other than helping to make dinner and doing laundry) for tonight.

PLEASE let this day go by quickly!!!!

Decisions....decisions

The big decision on my mind these days is whether or not to attend my 20th class reunion.

I just received the ‘official’ Evite and found out that we’re having a DJ, open bar for the first hour, and appetizers – all for $60 per person.
Now, I’m not a cheap-skate, but that seems like a lot of money to me. Am I crazy?
I’ve heard from a few of my fellow classmates who feel the same way, so I don’t think it’s just me.

I’d love to attend and have the chance to see everyone again in person (as opposed to facebook) and I’m sure I’d have a good time – but yikes, that just seems like a lot of money to me…..especially if Jim wants to come along. I was talking to my sister about it and she said “Just go…..you’ll have a great time and I’m sure everyone will want to see you.” She’s probably right. There’s really no way to ‘escape’ it – especially since I’ve been in touch with a bunch of classmates recently, to suddenly not show up at the reunion would be weird.

Hmmmm……I’ll have to talk more about it with Jim. I’ll leave it up to him if he wants to join me. He’s met several of my classmates, and I’m sure he’d love to see the people I endured for 4 years…..we shall see. I’ll be sure to keep you posted.  :-)

Senior Prom!!!

Apparently I was VERY happy about graduating.

I have NO recollection of this being taken.

Almost there...

This week has certainly been taking its time going by, hasn't it!  I knew it was going to be a challenging week, but this is just silly. :-)

Jim was gone all day yesterday on a whirlwind 'day trip' to Chicago.  He left the house at 5:30 am, boarded a plane to Chicago, was in meetings all day, hopped on another plane around 5:00pm and then headed back to Boston.  He got home around 9:30pm and seemed to be just fine.  I was very impressed.  I would have been an exhausted mess.

I had a meeting last night at the SpeakEasy Stage Company 'home office' to discuss plans for their upcoming 20th Anniversary Season.  I'm very excited about it.  :-)  I've been part of the organization on various levels (volunteer staff, set builder, tech crew, actor, etc...) for just about 14 years, so I'm looking forward to helping plan the anniversary events.  We're planning on having an anniversary concert in the fall - doing something super fun at the annual gala/benefit, and then the at the end of next season we're planning on having a big party for all the people who have been a part of SpeakEasy's 'life' over the past 20 years. 
It's certainly going to be a lot of work, but I'm sure it'll be a ton of fun.

Tonight I have another 'gathering' in Boston, this one is a reunion of sorts, with all the folks who worked together at my old company - which was bought out by my current company.
Does that makes sense?
It should be very interesting seeing some of these people, many of whom I haven't seen since they were laid off in February of 2009.  I'm pretty sure that anyone I was close to has found a job, but won't it be awkward if some people are still job hunting after all that time?  Hopefully, I won't have to deal with that. 

Other than that, I've got nothin'. 

Tomorrow is Jim's dad's birthday, but I don't think we have anything planned for that.  He's down the Cape all the time now, so I assume we'll be heading down there at some point to celebrate with him and the family.  Just a guess.

Happy Wednesday to you all!!!

5 day work week? How rude.

I was just looking at my calendar this morning when I got into work and realized this is the first 5 day work week I've had to 'endure' since the week of May 10th! Unheard of.
Thankfully, it's the last one I'll have to struggle through until the week of July 19th.  :-)

I hope all you fathers out there had a great day yesterday, and if you're not a father yourself, I hope you did something nice for your own fathers and/or husbands (or both!).  For those of you who no longer have fathers to do something nice for on Father's Day, I know how difficult it can be, but I'm sure your dads were in your thoughts throughout the day yesterday, and that certainly counts for a lot!!! 

Jim and I hosted a Father's Day BBQ at our house yesterday that was SO much fun.  I had a softball game early in the afternoon, but I managed to make it home around 3:15, changed out of my softball gear, and fired up the grill!  My dad and Betty were there along with Jim's parents, Jim's sister Barbara and her family, and our brother-in-law's dad (who's wife recently passed away).  I was so happy to see him there and was glad that he spent the day with all of us.  Later on in the day, Jim's brother and his family stopped by for a quick swim and some dessert.  Everyone had a great time.  We had a ton of food, plenty of games were played, and LOTS of time was spent in the pool, since it was VERY warm out.  Even Scooter joined in on the fun and had a great time showing off his swimming skills for everyone. 

The rest of the weekend was equally as fun, and in spite of my softball team not quite looking our best on either Saturday or Sunday, it was a nice weekend. 

I went up to NH on Friday night to see the production of RENT that my friend directed and it was VERY good.  After doing the show for 5 weeks and then seeing another production of it recently, I was afraid that it was going to be torture to sit through, but it most definitely wasn't.  He did an excellent job with this show, and had a great cast.  They were totally age-appropriate and he had a super talented group of 'kids' to work with.  SO good.  The audience seemed to share my opinion and from what I could tell, they had a great time.

Well, on Friday morning (the last time I wrote) I was heading out in the afternoon to the 'Car Seat Clinic' being held at work - remember?  So, I headed out to the parking lot at my allotted time and met with the policeman in charge.  As it turns out, the two car seats we were given were in great condition, BUT they were just about 7 years old, which is pretty much the 'expiration date' for car seats.  BOO!
After the policeman told me that, I was like 'OK, no problem, I'm glad I brought them and had you take a look at them as opposed to using car seats that I shouldn't be using.'
He said 'Well, that's one of the reasons we do these check-points, so that we can be sure that people are not only installing them correctly, but that they're using seats that are up to code.  Since yours are too old, we can replace them for you. It's all part of a federally funded program.'
Yes....that's right.  He took the two, un-usable car seats from me and gave me two, brand-new car seats (literally out of the box) in their place....and he showed me how to install them.  I was BEYOND surprised and couldn't thank him enough.  I kept waiting for him to take them out of the car and send me on my way, but he didn't.

I was thinking about it later on and I figured that it's probably a super-rare occurrence for someone to show up with an out-of-date car seat (never mind two of them!).  Since they have them to give away, they're probably happy when they see someone who can use them.  In the time I was there, four people showed up and they all had car seats fresh from their baby showers, so they were all up to date and brand new.   I'm sure that was the case for the majority (if not all) of the people who came to the clinic that day.

I will say that one of them is a tad 'girly' - but seriously I couldn't care less.  Jim thinks it's a sign that we'll end up with twins....a boy and a girl.  God help us. 
Either way, we're SOOOO grateful to have been given them, and it's a huge relief knowing that they're up to date and brand spankin' new. 

OK, my friends.....I'm going to get to work now.....have a great day!!!
xoxo

This is the one I LOVE! 

In case you can't tell, those are green and brown elephants. 

So cute.

This is the 'girly' one, but seriously - it's kind of cute.

Not to mention the fact that I was reading about it online,

and it's received nothing but great reviews.

SO lucky.

CRAZY week!!!

I apologize for the lack of blogging, but this week has been the craziest week.
I had Monday off, worked Tuesday and Wednesday, went to a wake on Wednesday night (more on that in a moment), followed by a funeral (and the day off) yesterday, and here I am, back at work on FRIDAY.
Holla!!

So, as I mentioned above, Jim and I were at a wake and funeral this week for Susanne - our brother-in-law's mother, who passed away on Sunday night.  (She was the mother-in-law of Jim's sister Barbara)
Normally, you wouldn't think that you'd be all that close to your sister-in-law's mother-in-law, but since Barbara's husband John is an only child, his parents were invited to any and all holidays with Jim's family. 
She had scleroderma for many years and unfortunately she finally lost her fight against it last Sunday.  I'm not all that great when it comes to funerals, and this one was especially difficult because our nieces and nephews were quite upset over the loss of their 'Nana' - BUT I managed to keep it together (mostly) and get through the day without embarrassing myself too much.  :-)
It's truly one of those situations where she's in a 'much better place' now that her suffering is over.  Of course we'll miss her, but as it is with any loss - we have lots of great stories to tell that will help us keep her memory alive.

Jim and I received our 'official' signed letter from the state stating that we are 100% approved and licenced to be an adoptive family in the state of Massachusetts.  YAY!!!
So now we're 'officially' waiting.  :-)  Yes, we've been waiting all along, and it's really no different beyond the fact that now were waiting - with all our paperwork signed.  Just for the record, we submitted our initial application, which said that we wanted to begin the process, on June 26th of last year - so the entire thing has taken just about 1 year.....CRAZY. 
Now we 'officially' wait......

Speaking of babies.....I currently have two car seats in my car right now.  The town in which I work is offering a free 'Car Seat Clinic' today (at work) and I've signed up for one of the slots.  Basically, a car seat 'expert' from the police department is going to show me the proper way to install the car seat in my car. 

Jim and I were given two car seats that are in excellent condition.  I not only need to know how to put them in my car correctly, but also make sure that they're up to code.  Our sister-in-law Emily (who runs a day care) got them for us from one of her families.  Apparently this person's brother and his partner (another gay couple) adopted twins and are no longer in need of the two infant car seats.  From what I've gathered, they adopted the twins, but they quickly outgrew the infant seats (the kind that face the back of the car) so the ones that we have were hardly used.  They certainly LOOK brand new to me.  I also looked online to make sure neither one has been recalled, and so far everything checks out.  Hopefully the police officer today will give me the final 'all clear' that they're OK to use and we'll be good to go.  Of course, if there's even the slightest possibility that they're not up to code we'll be at Babies 'R' Us first thing in the morning.  :-)

OK - I'm getting back to work.....after I grab a cup of coffee, that is.

I'm heading up to NH tonight to see a production of 'RENT' that a friend from college  directed/choreographed so that should be fun.  Yes, I know....RENT.....AGAIN!?!?!?
But this one I'm confident will live up to my expectations and be a great show.  I'll let you know on Monday. 
Tomorrow I have an early morning softball game, followed by a softball fundraiser in the afternoon/evening.
Sunday I have more softball, followed by a Father's Day pool party/cookout at our house.
B-U-S-Y weekend.  Busy, but fun.

Have a GREAT weekend!!!!!!
xoxo

This is a new purchase for the kitchen.  One of our favorite stores is going out of business and they're having a huge sale (everything 40% off!) so we decided to buy it.  I REALLY like it.

Scooter was very interested in it as well and clearly needed to be photographed with it.  :-)

Sunny days

Hello all!

"The sun is shining, it's a lovely day...."  and here I am - at work. 

I'm not complaining though....I managed to get outside and take a lovely little walk around the neighborhood at lunch time.  It is SO nice out, I was thrilled to get outside. 

The weekend was a blast - and in spite of the crappy weather (rain!!) we managed to enjoy ourselves.

Here are a couple of pictures from the Pride Parade (thanks to Barrie - naturally)

I LOVE this picture....

Another great picture.

Even though {b} looks sad, he really had a blast.  :-)

Awwww!!!  Me likey.

So, we had a good time at the parade, until the rains came.  It was sprinkling and hardly noticeable at first, but then it started POURING.  Not cool.

K, B, and {b} decided to take off, Jim and I 'braved the storm', waited in line, and finally got into Fritz.

We stayed inside for a while, then once it stopped raining we went outside and hung out at the block party.  After a few (several) drinks, we were chatting with a very nice couple for a while until they realized we weren't going to sleep with them.  Suddenly they lost interest in chatting any further.  How nice.

Anyway, Jim and I eventually left the block party, went to dinner, and then headed over to a teammate's house for a BBQ.  We had just eaten dinner, so we didn't eat.  We stayed there for a while, which was quite fun, and eventually headed home. 

Sunday morning we slept in, did some work around the house & yard, and then I went into Boston for a reading of a new musical.  The show wasn't all that great, but I LOVED the performers.  SUCH a great and talented group of people. 

Immediately following the reading, I FLEW to our friend Julie's house for a Tony Award viewing party.  I'm not going to go into great detail about my opinions on the Tony broadcast or the winners that evening,  I will however say that it was great watching it with so many fun people, it was a blast celebrating K's birthday, and as always, I was THRILLED to have the opportunity to see  little bit of Broadway on TV each year. 

And yes, I was totally giddy seeing my peeps on TV....SO cool.

For those of you who missed it on FB - I'm now clean shaven. 

I hope that doesn't cause me to lose any readers. 

Have no fear - I have a feeling that the beard will be back in the fall...

                                             

The 'new' me.

Here are the fancy-pants theatre folks who were in the reading on Sunday:

Zachary Prince (National Tour of 'Jersey Boys')

Clarke Thorell (Orig. Corny Collins in 'Hairspray' on B-way)

Spencer Moses (most recent 'Guys and Dolls' B-way revival)

Heidi Blickenstaff (Heidi in [title of show], Ursula in 'The Little Mermaid')

Jennifer Simard (Original cast of 'I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change' - Shrek; The Musical)

Erica Spyres (local Boston gal - Clara in SpeakEasy's 'The Light in the Piazza', 'Pirates' at the Huntington Theatre)