Anxious

Two dear friends of mine are pregnant. Both of them are due either this week or next week. This will be the first child for both, so it could be any day now! I'm so excited. I'm just anxious to hear the great news that the babies have arrived.

I'm no where near wanting children of my own yet - I think my 'clock' may need new batteries or something - but I'm always very excited to see my friends start this new journey in life. There's just something about watching your friend holding their newborn baby in their arms - and the look of peace and love on their faces... that's priceless.

Birthday weekend

Love birthdays, hate getting older. But, what can ya do?

Lots of love from my dearest friends and family. Makes one feel all warm and fuzzy inside - it's a great feeling.

Had dinner with my parents and grandma on Friday. We went to one of my favorite Chinese restaurants, Koi Palace. They had a wonderful seafood selection, which is apparent when you enter the restaurant. There is a special display area of live seafood - various fish, crab, lobster, clams, shrimp, from all over the globe. There is nothing more delicious that fresh seafood. It was a wonderful evening with my family, and lots of leftovers to enjoy later.

On Saturday, my hubby took me to my FAVORITE Indian restaurant for lunch. Indian Clay Oven on Clement St, between 25th and 26th Avenues. The Buffet lunch is what it's all about. There's something for everyone. All you can eat buffet for $7.95. Yes, I pigged out big time. We worked off some of the meal by stopping by my parent's place and washed and waxed our car.

Interesting story. Some guy on a bike rode by at one point, yelling something about gas. We didn't even realize he was yelling at us until he commented on our SUV and that he couldn't wait to see us suffer when we use up all the gas in the world. OK... Someone was a little bitter, huh? He stopped at the red light at the end of the block, and every once in a while he would turn back to us and yell, "I can't wait!"

After running some errands and resting up at home for a few hours, we headed out to another favorite restaurant of ours, Bursa Kebob, to meet up with some friends for dinner. Bursa serves up fabulous Mediterranean cuisine. Seriously! Try their appetizer platter, and their lamb kebobs! You won't regret it! And for dessert - they have a fried cheese that is out of this world. My husband always gets this sliced beef dish. All I know is, it's the first one listed on the right column of the menu. As you can tell, I don't know the names of these dishes, but the menu has descriptions, so you'll be able to find them without any problem. I know, I sound like I'm advertising these restaurants, but they're really so good! I want to tell everyone to try them!

After dinner, we headed over to The Beach Chalet to hear my friend's band play. They're Porkchop Express. They're kind of a country/rock band. I don't know how else to describe them. They do some cover songs, but most are their own. If you go check them out, don't leave until you hear their 'pancake' song. They usually sing it for their finale. It's hilarious - and catchy. It will be a cult favorite someday, I'm sure of it. They sang me a special birthday song - very cool!

The evening ended at my friend June's house. I have proclaimed their puppy, Mochi, as my God-puppy, so we had to go visit with him. He is just so adorable. I'll have to post some photos of the little darling. He's about five months old now. My friend got him for her birthday - he was only 8 weeks old then. Just a puff ball of cotton with little legs. Cute just does not describe him.

So, 3am - we all decided, yeah, it's time to call it a night.

Sunday, my hubby and I got up late, lazed around some more, and then finally went to the downtown shopping area around 4pm. We just walked around - I had to return a couple of things. We then had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. It was 5:30p, and we still had to wait over an hour for a table! Unbelievable that so many people eat that early! Anyway, during dinner I realized, HEY! I never got a cake for my birthday. I'm not a big sweets person, so I was just joking about it. I thought of it while some folks were singing 'Happy Birthday' at a nearby table. So, we got a slice of my favorite Strawberry Cheesecake to go, and he sang me a personal 'Happy Birthday' at home. No candle, but the cheesecake was damn good!

So, that was my birthday weekend. Now, I have three months left to lose the new weight I've gained.

Feeling better

Stayed home one more day. Got a lot of work done without the usual interruptions I get at the office. Too bad I can't just work from home. Someday, when I have my own business...

It's been a weird week. I've never napped so much in my life! But I'm definitely feeling better - and thanks to my friends who make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside by sending me their 'get well' wishes.

Wow, this is going to be a hella short week. I worked half a day on Monday, will actually go back to work tomorrow (Thurs), and then I'm off on Friday for my birthday. Hee hee. I love it.

On another note, my favorite college roomie is getting married! The wedding is set for November - so that gives me just three months to lose all this fat and look fabulous. I'm going to be a bridesmaid. I love this girl, and this is the event that I've been waiting to celebrate with her since forever. She met her hubby-to-be in high school, and nearly 15 years later (15 years!) they're finally tying the knot - and all of us couldn't be happier.

Unfortunately, I can't make the bridal shower, but I am going to the bachelorette party. Wouldn't miss it for the world. Got my plane ticket already. Where will it be? Fabulous Las Vegas, of course!!! I'm helping the matron of honor plan out the evening's festivities. Yes, there will be some embarassment - but that is tradition, right? It's like a rite of passage - you gotta do it. I'm just thrilled to be able to spend some time with her. We rarely see each other (maybe once a year?), but we have one of those relationships where we'll call each other and just pick up right where we left off. She's a very special person, and my heart just bursts with happiness for her and her hubby-to-be.

Sick again!

I'm home sick again. I was coughing more and more last night, so I decided it would be best to take today off and really just not talk and rest up. I want to be 100% by the weekend. At least I didn't lose my voice this time. I haven't coughed much this morning. GOOD! I'm blowing my nose a lot, so it's all raw now. NOT GOOD!

So, I'm just working a little from home today. Trying to update a website for work. Monte, for the first time that I've seen, has settled onto the blanket area we set up for him on the window seat next to me. He's keeping me company.

Early birthday present

Lookie what my mom-in-law got me for me as an early birthday gift!



Aren't they wonderful? She gave these to me while we were still in NY. I'm going to knit them together - I did a test patch of it while in NY, and it looked so cute. I wanted to try with bigger needles, so I took apart the little I started with. Can't wait to use these up! The colors are fabulous - almost like candy.

Great news

A few posts ago, I mentioned that my friend's cat might have to be put to sleep because of kidney failure. Well, the great news is, after further testing, Max is OK!!! He does not have kidney failure. There is nothing wrong with him at all! What they suspect is that he must have eaten something, maybe a dropped pill, that shot his toxic levels way off the charts - leading to the signs of kidney failure.

Good thing they did more tests. Max is alive and well - and healthy. Yea for the kitty!

In not so great news, I'm sick again. It hit me suddenly Friday night. My throat was sore, but I thought that was just from the allergies I was suffering. I had been sneezing all day. Well, I woke up Saturday morning and I was just miserable. My throat was on fire every time I swallowed, and my sinuses are completely swollen. I'm doing that thing where you lay on one side for only a few minutes before that nostril gets completely plugged up, and then you have to flip to the other side.

My birthday is on Friday - I'm just praying that I don't end up losing my voice like I did the last time I had a cold. It takes several days just for my voice to recover, even when I'm not feeling sick anymore. I don't know what to do to prevent it. I just wake up in the morning, and it's gone.

Finished Harry Potter!

Forgot to mention that, while I had received my new book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the day it was released, I had been saving it for my NY trip. I even reread the previous book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, just to get back into the story. And it's a good thing I did - they mentioned a lot of characters and events from that book.

So, on my trip, I started and finished the book. Couldn't help myself. Didn't have anything to read on the plane ride back. I loved it - and now I have to wait another year for the final story.

I'm not going to spoil it for anyone and talk about it further, but it's definitely a much darker story and a little disturbing with what happens to some of the characters. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are growing up - and it will be sad to know their story will be ending too soon.

The next movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is coming out in November! I haven't seen the trailers yet, but I saw a poster for the movie in the theater a while ago.

Reunion week/Cedar Point

What better way to begin than going back to the beginning? This was a trip to NY to meet family that is on my mother-in-law's side. Aside from an aunt and uncle, my hubby and had never met any of the other family members. So, to clarify references in my following entry, I consider all these people my family as well. They are the kindest, most generous, loving people one could ever hope to meet in life. And even though it's only through marriage, they are fully my uncle, aunts and cousins as well. If you can learn to love people within a week - then I declare to everyone, I love my new family!

8/11 - flew from SF to Philadelphia. Quick stop - just enough time to enjoy a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. OK - it may not be the 'real' thing that is out there in the city, but with only an hour, we had to make due. Important thing? It was delicious.



Then from Philly we flew into Syracuse, New York. It was already 10pm, so the entire day was gone. My in-laws picked us up from the airport and we called it a night at the hotel.

8/12 - Syracuse to Sacket's Harbor to meet up with family and have lunch. We ate at this wonderful place called Tin Pan Galley. If you happen to go there, try the BBQ pork with sweet corn pancakes. Delicious! After lunch, we walked around a little bit to take in the town, and then we headed to the 1000 Islands.

Most of the family live in the major cities, but they have these wonderful lake front cottages they stay at on the weekends/summer - so we spent most of our days at the cottages. We stayed at this bed and breakfast called The Chateau. It's a very old building, and while the proprietor there was very nice - all I can say about it is that there were spiders everywhere! Anyone who knows me, knows that I am terrified, TERRIFIED, of spiders. First night we were there, my hubby killed 10 spiders in our room. I am not exaggerating. I counted. And these things were the size of nickels. It was quite ridiculous. I didn't sleep all night.

8/13 - Went over to cousin Jim and Sue's cottage for the day. They have a boat, and as more family members arrived, a couple of us went out on Jim's boat for some tubing. I have never done this before. Let me tell you, I only lasted a few minutes, and my arms were so tired, I'm lucky I didn't get flung off the tube. For the next 5 days, I couldn't lift my arms, they were so sore. Anyway, back to the cottage for a casual reunion celebration - complete with cake for all the August birthdays (including me)! Everyone was having a fabulous time - getting to know each other, reliving old family memories. It was a very special day.

Later that afternoon, we went out on another boat to do some fishing. I like fishing - I can do the bait and everything, but I just can't get the fish off the hook. Jim says he hadn't taken that boat out for a few weeks - and I believed him. At one point, I was hopping onto a bench screaming while three people were trying to maneuver on this little boat to kill a 1/2 dollar sized spider for me. Disgusting. Funny sight, but disgusting.

Anyway, all I can say is, to all you fisherman out there, don't underestimate the power of the worm. Jim and Doug, both fishermen, used their special bait - and I used the icky, squirmy worms. I caught 10 fish! They were small Perch, so they were thrown back, but I caught them. They were biting before the hook touched the bottom. It was awesome. Poor Jim, never really got a chance to fish, because almost every time I let my hook down, I was already reeling it in before he even had a chance to pick up his own fishing rod.

Back at the cottage, we had a casual dinner of sandwiches. Said goodbye to some cousins and ended our evening back at our B&B killing more spiders.

8/14 - Happy Birthday to my father-in-law! Dropped the parents off with our uncle and aunt for Bridge day. The rest of us went sightseeing around the 1000 Islands area. First stop was a barn/garage sale. Would you believe what I found? This cup! I had this exact same cup back when I was a toddler. I totally remember it. I couldn't believe someone was selling my cup on the other side of the states. It was very surreal. I didn't buy it, but it sure brought back lot of memories.



Next stop, Alexandria Bay. It's a cute little waterfront tourist area. Very much like SF's Fisherman's Wharf, only much cleaner and not fishy smelling. It definitely had its share of tourist shops. From the dock of Alex Bay, you can see Heart Island - and sitting regally in the middle of it, Boldt Castle. A very brief history of the castle goes like this... George Boldt was building this castle for his wife Louise. She died when it was about 90% finished. The day she died was the day the construction was halted. George never returned to the island. It's very sad. There are heart motifs everywhere. I don't know if he was the one who name the island, Heart Island.



We then headed over to Clayton. Beautiful little town. Brick facade buildings, cobblestone streets - it's very cute. Most stores were closed by the time we got there though - so we headed back to Jim and Sue's cottage. Jim took us out on his boat for a mini tour of the islands. It saw many restored Victorian homes, quaint little cottages, and others that can only be described as mansions. The sunset was coming soon, and the sky was on fire with the most beautiful colors of orange imaginable.



As the night progressed, the sky went from orange to bright pink. Words cannot describe it, so I'll just let the picture speak for itself.



8/15 - Left the 1000 Islands, headed to Buffalo and to the Niagara Falls. If you have been there, you know that the Falls are amazing. The power of the water as it plunges down, creating a mist so thick that you can't even see the back end of, what they call, the Horseshoe. We rode the Maid of the Mist to get as close as possible to the Falls. What an incredible feeling.



8/16 - Said good-bye to my in-laws as they headed back to SF. My hubby and I got a rental car and headed towards Cleveland, Ohio. The first quest was to find a White Castle. I have heard about these little burgers for so long, and darn it - there aren't any on the West Coast. Finally we found one in Cleveland. We were so happy. They were delicious!



While we were in Cleveland, we also stopped by The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Wow - if you love rock & roll history, then this place needs to be on your places to see list. It's incredible how much memorabilia they have. From Jimmy Hendrix's childhood drawings to Britney Spears' latest tour costumes - they've got it. You're not allowed to take pictures beyond the main floor, so all I could really get were the cars - which I don't recognize from anywhere - and I couldn't find a description plaque.



After that - we headed to our final destination - Sandusky. Home to the Cedar Point Amusement Park. The park was our agenda for the next day, so we drove around and found this store called Meijer's.

Let me tell you - Meijer's is an incredible store. Just picture Target, Home Depot, Michael's Arts & Crafts, Petco, Sportsmart, Safeway, and a mini Blockbuster - all under one roof. I kid you not. This store was amazing. I never take pictures like this - but I couldn't resist.



8/17 - Cedar Point! This was the best park I have ever been to, if only for two rides there - Top Thrill Dragster and the Millenium Force coasters.



Both are incredible. Top Thrill Dragster blasts you 120 mph straight up a 420 feet tower, and you come back straight down. The ride is about 17 seconds. The line for the ride was over an hour and half. See in the picture, the train is actually on it's way down on the left side of the tower.

Millenium Force has a 310 ft drop. Also has a line of about 90 minutes, but was worth it.

After 11 hours of waiting in line and screaming at the top of our lungs, my hubby and I said our farewells to Cedar Point.



8/18 - The journey home. We drove back to Cleveland and from there flew to Denver and then SF. Somewhere over Denver, I happened to look out the plane window and the noticed how the fields were shaped. It was very unusual - the squares and circles. The different colors. It was almost like a work of art laid out below.



So, that, in a nutshell, was my week.

I'm back!

Just got back tonight from fabulous week in Syracuse, NY and Sandusky, OH. Right now, I'm exhausted, so I'll have to do my update later. It's been a blast, but it's soooooo good to be home. Monte is ecstatic. He's been head bonking me all night and purring his little heart out. We missed the little guy so much. Thanks to my mom who came to check in on him this whole week and give him a little loving while we were gone!

Miserable week!

It's only Wednesday, and this week has been a complete nightmare so far. Monday started out OK, until a coworker told me something that would effect my job directly. Nothing I can do, but it was the kick in the butt I needed to get me to start looking to my future and start brushing up my resume. My supervisor hasn't mentioned anything to me yet - but I know she was in the meeting where my coworker heard this information.

When I got home that night, I started looking for the cable I needed to connect my MP3 player to my computer. It is nowhere to be found. Seriously. I went through every box and bag there is in the house. It's gone. I started my search after dinner around 8p - and stopped around 1am.

On Tuesday, still not happy about my work situation, but nothing I can do until someone actually says something to me. Went to the GAP at lunch, hoping to get some cheap tank tops or t-shirts for my trip this week. Nothing. It was all Fall stuff. What happened to the end of summer sales??? It's not even mid-August yet! So, I'm walking back to work. Stopped by Taco Bell to get some lunch. When I look down at my beloved purse to get my wallet out, there were wet, brown blotches on it. BIRD SHIT!!! I couldn't believe it. It must have happened right as I walked into Taco Bell. The street outside the entrance is a mess of doody.

You have to understand. I have a pink Dior bag. It is the pride and joy of my life. I am not materialistic, but when I first saw this purse in Vegas I just had to have it. Mind you, I don't normally go buy expensive purses for myself like this. During my search, I discovered that this purse was sold out for months. Went and ordered it - and three penny pinching months later, I had the beautiful pink and white purse in my hands. I've been using it ever since - only changing purses when it rains, or when I go out of town. I love this purse. And now some #$(@*&! bird decides to let loose right as I walked by? So, no, I didn't have lunch yesterday. I was too upset. I spent the next half hour in the bathroom cleaning my purse. All I can say is Shout Wipes, love 'em. Thank God for them.

After work, I went home to search for that stupid cable again. This time I actually emptied out all the boxes - just in case I missed it the night before. Nothing! Where is it??? It is a complete mystery. Went through the entire closet too. Nothing!

My hubby didn't get home until almost 9pm last night. He was in a foul mood. So, I let him vent to me for 15 minutes until he calmed down a little. Apparently, work was miserable - and when he got to the car that night - what was all over it? BIRD SHIT! What is up with the pigeons yesterday?? He said this bird must have had diareah or something, because it was all over the car. So, he had to clean it up before he drove home. Why? Because we have no hose in our garage anymore.

Anyway, he spent the rest of the evening watching TV, while I gave third attempt in finding my missing cable. What is the point of having an MP3 player when you can't put your songs on it from the computer? 11:30pm - I gave up.

This morning, hubby was still grumbling about his work, and I made some comments in support of him and he snapped at me. Well, not snapped, but he was snippy - totally uncalled for. So, that was a great way to start the day. Got to work and around 9am, my friend Sue emails me that she just found out one of her kittens has kidney failure. She was going to leave work to meet up with her boyfriend. They're going to have to put poor little Max to sleep. He's not even a year old yet - how can a kitten have kidney failure? I felt so bad. Tears came to my eyes the second I read the email. I went over to Sue and we just hugged each other (she and I work together). I know Sue loves those kittens so much. Sam, Max's brother, is going to be so lonely.

So, like I said, it's only Wednesday, and it's been miserable so far. It really can't get any worse at this point.

Farewell

The weekend has come and gone. After three nights of eating, reminicing, and more eating, the reunion weekend has come to an end. We had our Farewell Dinner at Yet Wah Restuarant, and as it was arranged by my dad, the eternal host, everyone had a blast. Aside from a wonderful dinner, we had a singer come for the entertainment. All the children went up on stage with her to sing "Getting to know you" from The King and I. It was so cute. We also did a few rounds of family karaoke. Since my own family is so small, we went up with another family group to sing "American Pie." Mind you, I really don't know this song except for Madonna's version from a few years ago. My goodness, can there be a song that is more depressing? And LONG? The

Anyway, the evening rounded off with individual fruit/custard tarts for everyone (which they all loved) - and a special birthday one for my cousin Eddie, Jr. Happy Birthday Eddie!

I'm wishing everyone a safe trip home - and hope that we don't have to wait another five years to see each other again.

Summer night with family

Playing around with the title bar a little bit. I found this cute 'Summer' theme - so I thought I'd change the look for the next month or two. Can't always be 'Spring' right?

The Reunion Banquet went very well last night. We arrived at Ghirardelli Square around 3:45pm, and for the next hour and a half it was just hectic. Can you imagine trying to gather 11 sets of family groups, then 1st generation, 2nd generation, 3rd generation, 4th generation, and finally a huge 100 member group for pictures? Not easy.

Lots of yelling, directional pointing, running up and down stairs, maneuvering between the billions of tourists, calling around to find out that those single people who are missing, who are preventing specific group shots, have been driving around the Square area for the last 20 minutes looking for non-existent parking. Yeah, my feel were hurting pretty badly by the time I could sit down and have something to drink. Something funny, when we were all gathering for the big group shot, and the photographer was checking out the group - making sure all faces were visible - a pair of tourists who were standing by, whipped out their camera and took some shots too. It was hilarious. I guess they're going to go home and tell their friends, "Look what they do in America!"

In the end, we got all our pictures done - in record time! We were all able to enjoy a lovely cocktail hour before dinner. Each 5 year reunion is headed by a set of cousins, currently from my generation (the 2nd). We go down by the order of uncle or aunt children. I figure, by the number of cousins left in the my generation, me being the youngest, I'll probably head up the reunion in 2015. Quite an intimidating thought to know there will be this big, three night party every five years - and that we'll most definitely be over 100 people by then. Delegation is the key. And I plan to do a lot of it. After me, the torch will be passed down to the 3rd generation to continue. I hope it never ends.

Tonight, we have one more big meal for those who are still in the city. It's the Farewell Dinner sponsored by the Bay Area family for the out-of-town folk. It's been a LONG weekend, and while I'm relieved that the big feasts will be over, I will miss my family. We're just so big that most of us really don't see each other except during these events. It's funny how spread out everyone is, but it's cool to think that I have family EVERYWHERE! Hong Kong, NY, California, Chicago, Michigan, New Orleans, Atlanta, Colorado, Florida, Vancouver, just to name a few places. We did a contest for the kids last night to see how many states are represented. I think we were at 15 or 17. WOW! And as the 3rd generation kids are growing up - most will be in college or working by the time the next reunion comes up, I'm sure more states will be represented.

I wonder if Grandpa and Grandma were smiling down on us last night? To think that they started it all with having my first uncle over 90 years ago.

A little more tweaking / Family time

I figured out a little more stuff from messing with the template. I couldn't find a nice light green to go on my sidebar, but I did manage to find a pretty light creamy color. It's better than the awful yellow from before. I also changed the Monte Kitty title to pink instead of green.

I found some other templates that I like - so I may have to mix it up a little in the future. Maybe not so pastel - and I can change the title bar occasionally.

So, last night was the first of three nights of our family reunion weekend. This is on my dad's side. He is from a HUGE family. Just from Grandpa and Grandma - our numbers have grown to four generations, and almost 100 family members. Last night was considered a 'Welcome dinner' hosted by the first generation of brothers and sisters. Tonight, we have the big family reunion banquet. Tomorrow night is the farewell dinner for those family members who are still in the bay area. It's really quite amazing. Amazing that we have three huge meals in three nights too.

Next week, we are flying to upstate NY for my husband's mom's family reunion. We'll be at a cousin's house by a lake for a few days, then the four of us (me, hubby, and his parents) will drive over to Niagara Falls for a day. After that, my husband and I will be heading out to Ohio. Why? We're going to the Cedar Point Amusement Park, home to some of the countries top roller coasters. We figured it wouldn't be likely that we would ever fly out to Ohio just for the park, so since were would only be several hours away from there, why not?

Check this out! How can any true roller coaster lover NOT want to experience this? See that tall yellow thing? Yeah, we're going to be on it. 420 feet at the peak. Everyone in the country is going to hear me scream. Whoo hoo!

Another stupid movie review

Before I plunked myself in front of the computer for four hours last night, my hubby and I watched Boogeyman. STUPID, STUPID MOVIE! What the heck was going on? Why did things happen? We have no idea. So, before I begin my rant, just to warn you, there are some spoilers - so if you still intend to watch this movie, don't read the following...



The movie starts out with a little boy in bed. The room is dark and creepy, of course. Things that shouldn't be moving, do. Clothes on a chair seem to come alive. Things shake and break. Boy is freaked out. Daddy finally comes to the rescue, and when he checks out the closet to show that there really isn't anything to be afraid of, he's suddenly sucked in by an unseen force. In fact, he's thrown around in the doorway of the closet and finally gets sucked in. That's the end of that happy family.

Fifteen years later, the boy is all grown up, and still terrified of the dark. The story told is that his father left him and his mother that fateful night, and since then mom wasn't doing well. In fact, she dies. So, the son goes back to his childhood house to go through her belongings - and that's when the creepy things start to happen.

Throughout the rest of the movie, we're left wondering why this Boogeyman is following this guy around. Where did it come from? Why is it there? At the end, there is the obligatory mental battle between good and evil - and who wins? Who knows. I just want to know how that Boogeyman came about and why was it targeting a grown man? And throughout the WHOLE movie, there were way too many moments of 'quiet' and then something suddenly running by the screen. A couple of times in a movie - that's expected. But when it's every other scene - come on!

Anyway, it was a waste of time. Why do I bother with these 'horror' movies anymore? The only one that has successfully creeped me out so far was the original Japanese version of The Grudge. You want some goosebumps? Watch that.

I fixed it!

I didn't have a link to the site where I had originally downloaded my blog template while I was at work, but luckly I had saved the link as a Favorite at home. The site had moved! And there was a notice that the template was no longer going to be hosted from that site anymore. Bummer! But lucky me, the person who put the site together actually took the time to make it so that, if you could find another spot to host the images, the files are yours to use. THANK YOU!!!

After almost four hours of copying, pasting, testing, starting over again and again, I finally got all the files and images I needed in just the right spots. The biggest difference is my sidebar. Instead of the lighter shade of green that normally complimented top bar of darker green, it's now a yellowish color. I don't like it at all, but it will have to do for now. At least I have all my pretty little flowers back on the title bar and the pink is mainly in the background again. I'll have to find a nice light green shade and figure out how to get it into the template.

It's amazing I figured out any of this stuff. It was all trial and error.

So to celebrate the return of Monte Kitty in all its pastel glory, here is another special Monte Moment to enjoy...

You've got to be kidding me

Well, as you can see from my blog, it looks like the site where I got my template from is gone. Hence, all the cute little flowers and pictures that used to be the background for my blog are no more. ARGH!!! I was wondering where the pictures went for the past two days and why my text background is all pink now. I love pink, but this is a bit much, don't you think?

So, now I have to find a new template to use. I'd like to design my own, but three problems...

1. I am not artistic.
2. I have have no earthy idea on how to even begin to design a template. HTML is not my thing.
3. I have no time to do it anyway.

I guess the search begins again on finding a cute template to use. Darn it! I liked my little pastel flowers. Bummer!

No more alarms, please!

Around 2:15am this morning, my hubby and I were rudely, and very shockingly awakened by the fire alarm system in our building. Not only do we have the standard little fire alarms on our ceilings, and the lovely little sprinkler system nozzels sticking out of our walls, we have a PA system on both sides of our unit.

So, there we are, hearts pounding, thanks to the loud siren going on in our room. And it's not just a siren. It's a LOUD, VERY LOUD annoying bleeping alarm. I can't even describe how loud it is. This alarm went on one time in the middle of the afternoon a few weeks ago, and we couldn't even be in the same room with it.

Anyway, the recording comes on explaining that the fire alarm has been activated in our building and to not use the elevators. It also tells us to stay where we are, so no need for us to get out the kitty carrier. In the meantime, my hubby is trying to find towels and duct tape to cover the darn PA speaker, and I'm trying to calm Monte down - who is one step from hiding under the bed again. The towel helps muffle it 'a little', but at least we're not going deaf anymore. It takes 11 minutes before we hear a fire engine siren in the distance. Hello? I KNOW there is a fire station exactly two blocks away. It took them 11 minutes? They could have literally walked over.

Finally, after twenty minutes of continuous bleeping and the same recorded message, the strobe lights in the complex and the alarm shuts off. All is suddenly peaceful again. I fall back asleep fairly quickly, just from exhaustion. A little less than three hours later, my radio alarm goes off. I want to throw it out the window. What a way to start the day!