Day of rest? HA! Lisa and I spent the morning pulling the weeds that have grown between the bricks of our patio. We got a little less than half pulled out. Tomorrow after work, I will continue the process. Our back patio should be beautiful but it’s uneven and plagued by weeds (not for long). It costs far too much to have someone come out and fix it and it is too involved a task for Lisa and I to do ourselves. What I have decided to do is a short term solution. Pull the weeds. Wash/scrub the bricks. Put down weed killer. Fill the cracks with sand. Voila! Yes, the bricks will be uneven but I figure I can just pretend I am going for that look, shabby chic, if you will. Then, once I win the lottery, I can hire some strong men to come in and redo it the right way. I think I have a plan!

At any rate, I am showered and dressed for Easter at my parents’ house. All I need to do is dry my hair, put on my makeup and get the heck out of the house. Yes. And then I will spend the rest of the day thinking about the Allfather eggs sitting in the dining room. Yummy!

I could hardly rouse myself this morning! It was a little after 8:00 that I realized I never flipped on Rockin’ Ron Cade’s Elvis and Friends radio show. Once Elvis’s voice flooded my room, I began to feel a little more motivated to move. I still feel like I am wrapped in Saran wrap, though. I must make coffee. Must drink coffee.

Just got back from church. We had the Easter Basket blessed. The priest had a hard time controlling himself! He wanted a piece of my mom’s Hrudka!

Here’s a list of items we include in our Easter Basket and their meaning:

Pascha: The Easter bread – a sweet, rich egg bread decorated with braids, crosses, or plaits looking like a crown. It is usually round and is symbolic of Christ who is our true Bread of Life.

Ham: This meat is popular for its richness and symbolic of the great joy and abundance of Easter. Some people may also have lamb or veal.

Hrudka or Sirets: (egg cheese): this is a custard-type cheese made from eggs and shaped into a ball. It is mild and usually sweet, representing the moderation that Christians should have in all things.

Kielbasa: These sausages are spicy and garlic seasoned, are usually of pork and indicative of God’s favor and generosity.

Butter: This favorite dairy product is often shaped into a lamb or is decorated with a cross. It reminds us of the goodness of Christ that we should have toward all things.

Eggs: Eggs are brightly decorated with many symbols, like triple-bar crosses, suns, stars, flowers, birds of water motifs. These elaborately decorated eggs are known as pysanki and have been an artistic expression of the season due to the intricacies of the designs and the number of colors used. Eggs are symbolic of new life and resurrection.

Horesradish (Chrin) Horesradish is usually mixed with grated red beets, symbolic of the Passion of Christ, but sweetened with some sugar because of the Resurrection. This bitter-sweet mixture represents the sufferings of Christ.

Each basket is covered with a cloth usually embroidered with the words “Christ is Risen” and containing a lighted candle, which is also usually decorated. The articles are placed in a WICKER basket, and a ribbon or bow is tied to the handle. A DECORATED CANDLE is placed in the basket and lit at the time of blessing. A LINEN COVER, normally quite intricately embroidered with various Resurrection themes and symbols of Christ, or simply an intricate multi-colored border and the words “CHRISTOS VOSKRES” OR “CHRIST IS RISEN” (depending which language is more appealing to you) is placed over the food. These baskets of food are brought to the church to be blessed after the Resurrection Service. All meals on Easter Sunday are eaten from the basket, so that no one need be busy with preparation of additional food on such a solemn Holy Day.

Pretty much word for word except for the slightest bit of tweaking from TRADITIONAL EASTER BASKET By Debra Beckerman

You have no idea how much I want to see the Missing Links: America’s ONLY Monkees’ Tribute Band!

Here’s a video

Just in case you aren’t monitoring my myspace page, CREIGHTON from Ghoul A Go-Go added me as a FRIEND and he commented!

4/11/2006 3:46 PM

Creighton like Donna.
She pretty girl who like eating and sleeping.
Creighton do too!
Creighton like Donna.
And soft furry things.

He also commented on some of the pics I have posted on there as well! HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!

I am back from my trip to Dallas! I can’t tell you how wonderful it was stepping off the plane and knowing I could sleep in my own bed! Not that I wasn’t comfortable at the Marriott. The bed I slept in was by far the most comfortable bed I have ever experienced. I asked the concierge for the name of the mattress because I intend to get a bed just like it. He said it was a pillow-top mattress from their Revive collection, 300-thread-count sheets, six pillows, a white duvet, with a decorative bed scarf across the foot of the bed. It was like sleeping on a cloud! I must replace my bed immediately!

Before I left, I read this entry on Dustbury which stated, “men give out business cards to women they want to sleep with.” Since I was going to a 4-day business function, I was quite excited to possibly see this in action. I really thought I might collect quite a few business cards but by the third day, I hadn’t received a single business card and I was feeling extremely dejected. On the last day, I met a man in class who I thought was just the absolute ginchiest. He was so cute but sadly he came from Kansas City so I knew there wouldn’t be any chance or anything but I still hoped that he returned the attraction and might prove it by offering me his business card. Right before the class ended, he turned to me and said, “Here’s my business card, I’d like you to keep in touch, maybe we can form a user group.” I was OVERWHELMED! Not only did he give me his business card but he wanted to FORM A USER GROUP WITH ME!!!! I smiled and gave him my business card and said with a wink, “I really want you to have my business card, too and a user group would be great!” I was so happy and completely unready for what happened next. He then stood up and announced to the entire class that he wanted everyone in the class to have his business card and join our USER GROUP! What a pervert! Very disappointing. Very.

Off I go! Wish me luck!

I am looking forward to this trip and I am not looking forward to this trip. It is a jam-packed 4 days of training classes and meetings. Hopefully I will emerge with a better understanding of the product and services that my new company offers since right now I am making cold calls in the dark. Not good. We shall see! I have done this a hundred times with my last company so I am familiar with the whole rigmarole.

Last night Lisa and I watched the movie, Vampyres: Daughters of Darkness. I do not recommend seeing this movie with sisters or parents mainly because it was a little more sexy than what is comfortable under that situation. Regardless, both Lisa and I agreed it was nice to see women with real bodies and not cantaloupes under the skin.

Must get ready! Must pack! Go go go!

It may look like a wonderful dessert but I must caution that Mt. Ali Grass Jelly (“It’s jelly for your belly”) tastes like poop. DO NOT TRY IT! Not even with honey.

I can’t seem to get into myspace.com. I think it’s because I have donnaville and that’s enough of an outlet for me. It was back in July that I created a profile but I never did anything with it. A couple weeks ago while I was unemployed and bored out of my mind I thought I would check myspace.com to see what my fellow Pennsbury and Rosemont graduates were doing with themselves. Myspace.com pretty much showed me that my fellow graduates are simply not Internet savvy (or perhaps they have real lives) since there were very few profiles listed. Darn. But it did instill the urge to trick out my page which I did using Thomas’ Myspace Editor V3.6. I even uploaded a spycam image of myself wearing ganzfeld goggles and I figured that was that. Once I got a profile pic, guys started sending friend requests. A few seemed like honest requests but most I think are after something else. When I view their profiles, they have 300 or so friends, all girls. I think they are essentially profile collectors. The girls are really quite pretty so it’s an honor to be chosen but the picture I posted is a rather silly picture OF ME WEARING GANZFELD GOGGLES! At any rate, today I must have gotten 5 requests. I don’t know if I should deny them or let them add me. Once I’m added as a friend, I never hear from them again so I guess there is no harm. The one thing I do wonder about is how are they finding me? What are they searching for that is bringing them to my profile? I have no clue.

I wonder if Evgeni Plushenko is on myspace?