Ugugugugh

I had the damndest time getting myself out of bed this morning. I kept coming up with reasons why I should allow myself to sleep later.

1. You got home from work last night at 9, that should earn you at least 15 minutes of snooze.
2. No need to take a shower, you’re fine– sleep another 15 minutes
3. You never removed your makeup last night, it’s still intact so you can go without applying makeup– sleep a little longer

Yeah, it just went downhill real quick. Finally I looked at my clock and thought, “Usually you’re walking into the office at this time!” That’s what got me moving. That and I had to pee.

Another fire

I stepped out of the train this evening to find a beautiful snow falling. It had collected on the grass but the road was pretty much clear and I had no issues getting home. I completely forgot to mention Robert’s birthday on Sunday. I gave him my gifts and he seemed pretty happy with the loot: 2 books by Ron Paul, 3 t-shirts: An Andre the Giant t-shirt in which it says: “It’s not my fault being the biggest and the strongest. I don’t even exercise” (go ahead name that movie! First one with the correct answer wins!), a Dolph Lundgren t-shirt that says, “I will break you!” and a Transformers t-shirt that has a Transformer on it but which one I am not sure since I can’t tell them apart. Additionally, I gave him a Bonsai tree kit and a clock radio.

I started reading a new blog recently and I really love it. It’s called The Boat Lullabies and it’s a section of a site called Square America. Both are galleries of vintage snapshots. It’s fascinating stuff. I think you guys may also enjoy it.

So I am angry at XM radio. On my drive home I actually listened to a Britney Spears song because I am being forced to listen to regular radio since something dastardly happened to my XM. It just stopped working on Saturday. I keep calling their technical support and the techs tell me to keep my xm receiver on for a half hour and the stations will update and all will be good again. EXCEPT IT DOESN’T HAPPEN! Monday night I kept my receiver on all night and my car battery went dead. I had to call my dad to come over and jump it for me! The battery is back to being fine but the XM is still not working. I am at my wit’s end. Maybe tomorrow or Friday I will drive to a large open space with a clear view of the sky and have them send the signal again. Hopefully it will be received.

Dinner and fire

I just finished an absolutely delcious dinner that I made all by myself! A cuppa cocoa and a handful of edamame- boiled to perfection by yours truly! Now I am sitting here by a roaring fire and gazing at my Christmas tree. It’s sheer perfection. Actually it would really be sheer perfection if I didn’t bring work home with me that I am going to do once I finish this entry. Next week Robert and I are going to his family’s Christmas party. His sister actually requested I make my world famous Watergate Salad! She had it at our Memorial Day get together back when Rob was living at the farm. I figure I can slice some Marachino Cherries into it so it looks a little more festive (it’s already green to begin with). I am absolutely fizzy knowing that someone actually liked a dish I made. Here’s the recipe:

Watergate Salad
1 package (4-serving size) Jell-O Pistachio Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1/2 cup chopped walnuts nuts
2 cups thawed Cool Whip Topping

Stir the pudding mix, pineapple with juice, marshmallows and nuts in large bowl until well blended. Gently stir in whipped topping. Refrigerate 1 hour or until ready to serve. Garnish as desired.

Makes 8 servings

I blame the Republicans for this dish!

just a position

On Thursday, Rob played with his friends at a nearby bar. Rob had a full beard and wore a t-shirt with a skull on it. I stood in the dark smoky room and filmed it with my little camera. Two days later, Rob and I went to my company’s semi-formal Holiday party. Rob shaved his beard and wore a black suit with a light gray shirt and red tie. He looked smashing. I wore my black velvet cocktail dress and Aprille did my hair so pretty. The most common comment was, “Donna, you look so glamorous, I almost didn’t recognize you!?!” Is that a compliment? I decided I would take it as a compliment and not start worrying that my everyday clothing causes me to look dowdy. The other compliment I received with strange consistency was, “What a beautiful necklace!” My response was, “Oh thank you, it’s been in my family for years, passed down quite a few generations.” This of course is a joke since my mom bought it at J.C. Penney’s a couple years ago.

Most everyone went to an after party at a nearby restaurant. Rob and I considered going and we went back to our room to get our coats. I made the silly mistake of taking off my shoes and at that point there was no going back. I crawled into bed and fell fast asleep. Private room with bottle service, who cares! I didn’t miss anything.

The next morning I awoke to SNOW! It was beautiful watching it fall and collect on the trees and grass. Sadly it thwarted our plans of walking around NYC. Instead of spending the day, we drove home. I can’t complain because we spent a wonderful lazy Sunday in front of a roaring fire, reading Ron Paul’s manifesto and listening to music. It was lovely. All Sundays should be as simple and sweet.

Carol Burnett

I’ve been watching the YouTube CNN Debates. Not in it’s entirely. I watched about a half hour and then I went to a bar and had a beer and some french fries. I’m back and watching again. Can I just say that Mitt Romney is really handsome? He reminds me of Lyle Waggoner.

Regardless, he’s not getting my vote.

Looking forward…

On Thursday Robert is playing a gig at a nearby tavern. He and his friends get together every couple weeks to play. Their music isn’t my music but because Robert’s on stage playing, I pretend it is. His song choice this time? Alice Cooper’s School’s Out for the Summer. At least I think that’s the title, maybe it’s just a line from the chorus. At any rate, I am looking forward to it. And then on Saturday, we drive to Hoboken, or at least very close to Hoboken, for my company’s Holiday Party. On the invitation it said, Year End Party. I am guessing Holiday Party wasn’t secular enough. I am going to wear my black velvet cocktail dress that I bought last year for the charity dinner I attended back last Feb. Although, I also have that evening dress Lisa convinced me to buy the other week and from what I understand, there are two girls wearing full length dresses. Hmmmmmmmmm. Nah, the black velvet is the better choice. I think.

My company is paying for our room which is just wonderful! That means I can drink enough to feel good but not enough to compromise the image of successful businesswoman that I have worked so very hard to cultivate. The next day is Robert’s birthday and we will walk around NYC and do touristy things. I am really looking forward to it.

Now I just need to get through the next couple days.

Tired of it all

My copy of Philadelphia magazine arrived over the weekend. The first and last article I read was called Social Diary: Wreck the Halls by Amy Donohue Korman about holiday celebrations that end in disaster. Sounds cute, huh? Well, let me just say that the last paragraph really shocked me. I mean really disgusted and shocked me and I can’t figure out how it ever made it into the magazine. I am too embarrassed to even quote it here– you will have to read the article on their Web site and then tell me if I am overreacting.

To do item

About 3 years ago, I stopped getting my photos printed. It coincided with me truly switching to a digital camera and ditching my film camera. The last few months I’ve been considering how I might be able to print them out. I miss flipping through photo albums! The Picassa blog just alerted me to this Web site and it looks like a winner. The pricing seems better than Photoworks and Shutterfly, although I may be wrong. They also offer a service where you can actually PRINT out your blog as a book! What a crazy idea! Maybe I will print out Donnaville? Perhaps in a hundred years my ancestors will find my blog book and wonder why on so many pages it says, Click Here?

Email issues

A few months ago, my mom told me she could no longer open up Outlook Express. Turns out the email files were corrupted but after fiddling around and reading some support forums dedicated to the subject, I was able to re-import most of her mail and get the program back working. She continued to have weird issues with Outlook Express. I don’t know why it decided to act weird, nor could I get it back to working correctly so I told her that it was time to adopt an online email program. I opened up aGmail account for her and got her going. She called me not more than a day later telling me she hated Gmail because it doesn’t have an address book. RIDICULOUS! I drove home to show her how to access the address book only to find out my mom was right. Gmail doesn’t have an address book that you can access from the To: field. You must type the person’s name and then choose it. You can’t get a list of names. Okay, let’s try another email program. I registered her for a Yahoo account. Yahoo had an address book but there were so many ads and blinking icons– the interface was too busy. We deleted the account. How about AOL? Everyone and their mother uses AOL, it’s got to work. At first it seemed to be perfect. The interface wasn’t too overcrowded and she had an address book. She called me after 3 days to tell me that the Web site kept logging her out and wouldn’t let her log back in. I installed the AOL Toolbar and that seemed to fix that issue. She called me a couple days later to tell me that she although she’s able to stay logged in, she really hates AOL because she can’t seem to get links from email messages to open PLUS attachments refuse to open AND it’s dreadfully slow. My father told me I need to flush the online email idea down the toilet and get her an email program to install on her computer. Now I am madly trying to find an email application that isn’t Outlook Express that my mom will like.

Anyone have suggestions? Any ideas?