Life with Lynda

Israel

2011-09-24T12:59:00.000-04:00

For the few (if any) readers out there who don't know - I'm Jewish.   I'm quite proud of my religion and the history of my people.   I had the opportunity to visit Israel the summer of '99 and it was awesome!   I can't wait for the opportunity to go back again, but this time take my husband, who has not seen the beauty the Jewish state has to offer.

I used to always say that if I had the physical abilities to serve in the military - I would have done it for Israel.   (When 9/11 came, my view was swayed slightly - but it makes no difference, because I'm not physically able due to asthma, herniated discs and piss poor eyesight/eye issues).

For those of you living in the deep depths of oblivion and don't pay attention to any sort of news - it has been expected that Palestine would ask the UN for recognition of statehood.   The thought being that maybe the US could work a border deal out with them.   They never worked a deal out and Palestine did ask for recognition.   And this article pretty much sums up my whole reasoning on why it should not be granted.

Don't get me wrong - the Jewish people have their own recognized country, and I would be willing to recognize Palestine with fair borders/land being offered given that a) peace comes with it and Israel isn't in a constant state of war and b)its agreed that those are the borders - done, end of story, nothing else, zip, zero, zilch.   But as you can see - there are still too many people (with too many guns and too much violence) to allow that occur.

I know there will be a lot of people out there who might not agree with this post - and I respect your right to have your own opinion - but this is my blog, so I get to say this: I just don't respect your opinion.

Wishing all Jews all over the world, and especially in the Jewish State, a L'Shana Tova.   And stay safe!

Life is....

2011-09-23T12:18:00.000-04:00

BUSY!   Its that time of year at work.   Well I guess its always that time of year except in the summer and that one really bad year.   But as soon as September hit, work got really busy, and therefore I have a thousand posts in my head that I want to write (if I can even remember them), but I barely have a second to write them - I really need to get back to completely OCD and have my life scheduled out like I used to (yes I was that crazy!).

Well, eventually I will finish finish all the posts I started over the last month and start (and finish) all the posts that are in my head, but in the meantime, I quick recap of the past week or so:

- We are officially getting Kali!!! We got an email the other week about her giving us a little description of her personality - and Adam and her will be best buds!   She loves her foster mom because her foster mom just lies with her and cuddles.   Adam could never get me to sit still and cuddle, nor can we get Charger to do that (well sometimes we can), so maybe adam will finally have his match :)   We will be changing her name to Kalas (in honor of the great Harry Kalas).   I think we will give her a middle name - but Im not set on anything yet.   My friend Marci recommended J-Roll (nickname for Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins for those non-Philly, non-baseball folks).   I do like that, and I definitely want a Phillies name - any thoughts? Plenty of names in my head - Tug, Schmidty, Utley, Dutch, Whitey, LA, list goes on and on and on....

- Adam and I unofficially gave Charger a middle name - cause if Kalas gets one, he should to! For those that don't know, although some might think his name is Charger because he charges someone as soon as he sees them (we - ie. I - are working on that), he is named after the Dodge Charger, the name just fits his personality perfectly.   I wanted to give him a taste of the Phillies, but then Id have to give Kalas a car middle name, so I comprimised - although I did pick this one.   His new middle name (when its not Barks-a-lot or something that we are just teasing him with) is Mustang.   Charger Mustang Needleman

Trust me those are not the things that have been keeping me crazy busy, just the stupid things that I felt like sharing right now :)

Oh - and I started to follow a new blog, and Im starting from posts in the end of August, and only gotten a few in, but I really like this one. Sadly I like it cause it sounds like she is in the same boat as my sister-in-law and I with our in-laws - but its entertaining.   If you like my crazy MIL stories - go check out Elle at This is Mommyhood - she has some good ones up there about hers.

Hopefully Ill catch up on blogging this weekend - but more than likely not since I have a list a thousand things long (in my head) of what I need to do this weekend...

Philadelphia Chocolate Tour - for real this time

2011-09-18T00:07:00.003-04:00

I apologize - I meant to write these posts over the last week - but work just got CRAZY!    So now that Im wide awake after the Phillies clinch - Im working on finally getting one of my posts up!   Maybe I can get some more up tomorrow after the marathon....

Last Sunday, Adam and I redeemed our groupons for the Philadelphia Chocolate Tour.   As with many things, the only reason I ever heard of this was because of groupon.   Back in October 2010, there was a 50% off deal.   At the time, Adam was unemployed and I was looking for good deals for things we could do, and I didn't think the price was all that bad.    Originally it was $40pp, the sale was $20pp - more in line with what I was willing to pay, whether we are both gainfully employed or not.

Back to present day now.    The tour started right outside the Reading Terminal Market.   For those of you not from, or familiar, with the Philly area - the market is an (awesome) indoor farmers market.   Whatever you want, you can find here.   It offers your typical farmers market stands with lots of produce, your standard amish market stands with a whole section of amish vendors (that section is closed on Sundays), tons of yummy food vendors for breakfast and lunch, some stores, ice cream vendor, cookie vendor, tons of bakeries, flower vendors, etc, etc, etc.

Adam and I decided if we were meeting at the market for a chocolate tour at 11:45am - we were gonna get there earlier and grab a bite to eat for lunch.   We went to Kamal's Middle Eastern Specialties - I had a falafal "sandwich" and Adam had a schwarma "sandwich" and then I ordered a side of hummus for us.   They had a bunch of things that looked really yummy that I wanted to take home with me - but alas, I knew I didn't need them.    In the end we were both happy with our choices and I would totally go back again (as a matter of fact - that wasn't my first time there).   I really wish we lived and/or worked close by so I could stop at the market much more often!

After lunch, we went and met the tour outside of the market and waited for a little bit for everyone to come. We started at that spot and discussed chocolate and got to smell, and if we wanted taste, a cocoa bean. It looked nothing like what you may think - I didn't try because she warned that it was really bittersweet and dark chocolate lovers (which I am not) would like it. Our first stop on the tour was inside of the market at The Famous 4th Street Cookie. At this location, we met the owner and he and our guide gave us a little history on the chocolate chip cookie - did you know the cookie was accidentally developed over 80 years ago in MA at the Toll House Inn, over 7 million are sold each year - and only account for about 25% of cookies sold each year? Oh and the cookie at Famous 4th Street - YUMMY in my tummy!   So yummy - I bought a dozen plus cookies (but only about 1/2 were choc. chip) for dessert at my parents that night.

I couldn't wait before taking a picture...

Next stop on the tour was the Pennsylvania General Store (also in the terminal market). This store has a lot of chocolate and food - but is not just about that - but about anything PA. They are mostly an online store, shipping gift baskets and items all over the country - but they do have a shop in the market. Here, we got to sample three local chocolates:

Chocolate Scrapple - this is just the idea of scrapple - with a combination of chocolate, pretzel bits, nuts, popcorn and marshmallow - but definitely no pork.

Zeitner's Creme Egg - most commonly seen around Easter - but apparently a Philadelphia company

Where do you think the kiss came from?

Bottom of the Wilbur Bud

Wilbur Buds - when you look at this, you might think Hershey Kiss. Except Hershey worked for Wilbur, then went out on his own and all the sudden the Hershey Kiss appeared. Wilbur continues to make the buds - and I must say it is so much better! It also is "personalized" a bit more

We also learned at this stop that Philadelphia has the largest import of Cocoa Beans in the country (you can thank Mars and Hershey) accounting for 70% of all imports to the US.

The chocolates at marcie blaine


chocolates bought by us

Our next stop took us to Marcie Blaine Artisanal Chocolates - which is inside of Verde - a jewelry and accessory store. Additionally, the folks who own this place own like half the block.

We tasted a piece of chocolate bark, which tasted good, but their chocolates looked so good, we had to buy a few (overpriced) chocolates so we could taste. We bought the following chocolates (only 5 shown on the right): Mint Julip, Lemon Mint, Love Park (Rasberry), Soft Pretzel (Pretzel and Peanut Butter), Italian Flirt and Hot Lolita.

So far, I have just tasted 2 of the 4 - I plan to eat the rest this coming week. The first we had was Lemon Mint - it was pretty disappointing - because Adam nor I tased Lemon or Mint. On the other hand, we then had the Mint Julip - and that was really good.

Next stop on the tour was Teuscher - which is a famous swiss chocolate maker. They make all their products fresh and everything gets shipped directly from the the best locations for those items (no matter the price). Then they are made in Switzerland and fly first class to their final destinations (they have locations throughout the world).

Chocolates at Teuscher

At this location, we learned what makes Swiss chocolate so different and how it was an accident. Mr. Tobler (ie Toblerone) was mixing his chocolate, and when he left, he forgot to turn the mixers off - so the chocolate was mixing throughout the night. He came in the next morning and noticed and was upset because he just ruined a lot of expensive chocolate. Before throwing it out, he decided to taste it to see if he could somehow salvage - and he found that it was really good - it was no longer bittersweet. Now that is the process that is used (it has some official name) to make Swiss chocolate.

At this location, we got to taste the champagne truffles, which uses dom perignon champagne. Im not a big truffle person - nor champagne, but I figured Id try - and it was good! We even bought a couple - one for me and one for Adam. Since that was so good, we decided to buy a few other chocolates and a couple chocolate bars. I can't remember exactly what other ones we picked out - and we haven't tasted, but maybe Ill update once we taste the rest of our chocolates this week.

Last stop on this tour was sweet and cold - Gelato!! we went to Capogiro Gelato - which has a few locations across the city. we tasted 5 different Gelatos: Dark Chocolate (had a nicer name than that), Malt, Mocha, Hazelnut and a Choc Chip (in a vanilla base). I was a fan of all of them except Mocha (I don't like coffee though). In the end, there was so much left that we could take a flavor if we wanted - I chose the Malt (but was debating between that and hazelnut) and Adam took the Mocha. This place was a bit more affordable, so we would probably go back again if we were around one.

All in all - I learned a bit about chocolate, nothing about Philly, enjoyed some yummy chocolate, and spent a whole lot more money so we could taste some more chocolate. But I would still recommend - definitely worth $20 a person - probably the $40 as well, but I would be disappointed I didn't get to taste more, or pick what I wanted to taste at that price point.

For more pictures from this tour and our purchases (and our day in Philly) go here.

"Slow " Drivers

2011-09-12T18:00:00.001-04:00

Patience is a virtue I never truly learned.   I really wish that I had patience, and there are times - few and far between - that I am patient, unfortunately those are very rarely when I drive.

Im not one of those crazy drivers that weaves in and out and is constantly flipping back and forth between slamming on my breaks and my gas.   I am one of those people that many would consider to have a lead foot.

Today, I ran into one of those drivers on the road that drives me crazy and puts me in one of those moods.    Its not the slow driver - those I get frustrated at, but can handle and can quickly get over, especially if/when I get past them.

The driver Im talking about is the ahole who drives slow when you are behind them, but as soon as you try to pass them (and do if you are able to) speeds up.   I really hate those people! And 90% of the time, they really are dicks.

Today's person kept on slamming on his break whenever a car got in front of him, even if the were 3 car lengths ahead.    I finally got the chance to pass them - or so I thought - and I got over, but the car didn't pickup as quickly as I wanted so I had a very small window of opportunity to get around him and it was tight - but definitely doable.

I HATE cutting people off, and I usually don't make those moves, but this time I decided to do it.   Don't worry - no accident - I still had a good half a car length between me and the car behind me.   But wouldn't you know it.   Mr. Ahole decided to beep at me (thats fine - honestly, I can understand that - I did make a kinda dick move) and then SPED up crazy fast and right on my bumper and started to yell out his window at me.   Like if I seriously hit my breaks, he would have hit me.

I then got in the left turn lane, and lucky me it was at a red light for all, so Mr. Ahole slowed up and left a LARGE gap between him and the person in front so he could be next to me and YELL at me, giving me the finder and whatnot.

I really hate those drivers (and hope none of you are that type of driver).   Id really much rather that you make a decision and stick with it - you are either slow, or fast, not whichever one pisses off the people around you who are fast.

Food, Food, Food

2011-09-11T22:07:00.000-04:00

In the coming weeks, you will be seeing a lot of posts about food - mostly sweets, but a few restaurant "reviews".

Adam and I went on a Philadelphia Chocolate Tour using groupons I had purchased last October for half price.   More to come in a much more thorough posting, but a quick review: for the price I paid, its definitely worth it, for the price they charge normally - Im not 100% sure.    Keep in mind, I'm VERY cheap (or frugal as many people like to call it), and thats really what it comes down to.    If I were single and only had to buy one ticket, I wouldn't mind buying it at full price, but since I have to buy 2 tickets for Adam and I, its more pricey than I like to pay for a date day/night for us.   I might look to do it in Boston and/or Chicago where I have personal and business trips planned to and they have sister companies (and I now get $5 off since Im a loyalty card holder just for doing one tour...)

Additionally, tomorrow starts the first of two weeks (weeknights only) of restaurant week in Philly.   Since Adam and I have date night on Monday nights, I figured this would be a good chance to check out restaurants we wouldn't necessarily be willing to check out.   I picked two restaurants that I actually had never heard of, but I based it on what they were offering on their restaurant week menu and the fact that they had to be an expensive restaurant to begin with (because its not a deal unless they are normally pricey). And of course who had availability as I didn't realize it was going on until the other day.

So look for these reviews over the next few weeks, as soon as I get the chance to write everything out and upload the pics.    Hope you enjoy it, and I promise to try and intersperse it with other life events so my blog isn't so focused on food.

10 years ago..

2011-09-10T10:34:00.000-04:00

10 years ago all our lives were forever changed - and just like my parents generation could tell you where they were when they heard that JFK was shot - everyone can tell you where they were when they heard about the September 11th attacks.

At that time, I was a sophomore in college at American University - located right in our nation's capitol. I remember that morning I had worked the 5am-8am shift at the Anderson Front Desk, and like usual after one of those shifts, I would go back to my room and go to sleep.   On that day, my roomie was getting ready for her morning class, when she got an instant message from someone to turn on the tv, a plane had hit the towers.   So she apologized to me as she turned the tv on.   I too, of course, started to watch the tv - and I just lied there in shock as we watched what was going on.    We saw live the plane hit the second tower, and then saw the second tower crumble, and then the first tower crumble.     During this time, we also heard and watched about the Pentagon and then the strike that was diverted from the capitol and instead crashed in Central PA.

I can remember my moms call to make sure I was okay - I think it was before the second tower was hit - because I remember at that time, making sure my dad was safe (as he works for the gov't on a Navy "base") - but still not realizing quite how serious it was and joking with my roommate that it was my mom calling before I knew it was her.

I remember, finally getting out of bed - after lying there and watching for 2+ hours.   I remember hanging out/mourning on the front steps of Anderson with all my friends, I remember the phone calls I got to make sure I was safe since I was in DC.   I remember sitting on those Anderson steps when my friend Kat finally heard from her good friend who was a marine.

AU is right down the street from the Naval Observatory, the VP's residence (which is on the observatory) and NBC News - so I remember going to the other end of campus and watch the military and news drive up and down Mass Ave.

I remember the candle light vigil that night outside of Kay Life Center and then having fighter planes fly directly over us right as it was ending.

I remember being glued to the TV for days - probably weeks.   I remember saving newspapers and magazines so I can show my kids someday*

I remember the interest that grew inside me about this day, turning into me putting together a paper on the effects of 9/11 on the global marketplace - my only A+ college paper - for my global marketplace class

I remember a bomb threat being called into the Anderson front desk on Thursday morning, and everyone having to evacuate campus - and me being stupid thinking that it wouldn't be long and classes would still occur - so I stuffed my backpack full of books and had to lug that around until they let us back on campus later that afternoon.   I remember that my roommate had the 5-8am shift that morning, and the call came in right after she left.   I remember exactly who it was who handled that call so well - I don't think I could have.

Most importantly, I remember all the lives that were lost, and I will always remember 9/11 and how it changed everything...we will always remember.

*Im not a history buff - but when I was in hebrew school I had a lot of interest in reading and learning more about the holocaust - no matter how devastating and sad it was, I just couldn't read, watch and hear enough about it.   I found the same thing occurring with 9/11 - and it still continues.   I can't read or watch enough about the devastation and the stories that people have to share.

MLB vs. Umpires

2011-09-08T16:55:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure who is worse - MLB Front Offices or MLB Umpires...

Over the past 5-10 years, umpires have just been getting more awful by the pitch. I'm not talking about the close calls that could go either way, or the not-so-close calls like Armando Gallaraga's perfect game that wasn't because of an umpire. I especially am not talking about situations like that when the umpire fully admits he made a mistake (which is extremely rare). Those are, unfortunately, calls that happen . I'm not even talking about the awful ball/strike calls by many an umpire.

I also understand that we are in a different time right now with everything being digital and available with a snap of a finger.   We, the fans, have the benefit of watching replays of calls and watching them in slow motion.   Umpires on the other hand have a split second to see the play from whichever angle they are standing at and make a call.   And the thought of having review in the games has a lot of negatives and positives associated with it.   I think maybe it should be expanded a bit to be more than just home run or not but you have to be really careful on how far you take it - because one of the great things about sports is that split second decision.

I'm talking about the umpires who think they are G-ds gift to earth and make it a point to be seen and heard.   The ones that when the players start to question something, the ump is the one jumping in their face and trying to make it a bigger situation than the player is.   The ones who have ridiculous arm motions for the strike out calls - so ridiculous you might think they are putting on a show of their own.

More specifically, Im talking about the umpires who consistently make bad calls. Like really bad calls that get discussed on SportsCenter or MLB Tonight. These are typically the umps that are rated as the worst by ML players. I'm talking about guys like Joe West and his call in the Phillies/Marlins game last week.

There were multiple issues with what occurred - with the biggest being that West broke the rules by going and viewing the replay.   There was never any question that there was fan interference.   But it was also apparent that it was a double with or without the interference.   It was Jack McKeon, the Marlins manager - not Charlie Manuel, the Phillies manager - who went and fought.   And why would the opposing manager fight for it to be a home run. Charlie Manuel went out there, but barely said a word to West before the review occurred.   The smaller issues are all revolve around whether the right call was made - which is that split second decision that I can understand.

The Phillies ended up playing the game under protest, filing with the league office to review what occurred.   They were protesting whether West had the right to go to replay and make a decision other than home run or not home run.   According to the rule book - he can only decide home run or not.

With the protest being filed, MLB offices had the chance to come out and say Joe West broke the rules (not even that he made a bad call with the fan interference - but that he broke the rules on going to replay and making the final call that he did).    Instead, they denied the Phillies protest haven't said a peep since.   Its rumored that West got a talking to - but that's just a rumor.

It's one thing to protect the umpires - I really do understand that - but its another to continue to stand by the umpires who consistently have poor performance and break the rules.   Eventually in any other position, you will be fired.   Even in professional sports - those players end up getting released.

So, who is worse - MLB Front Office or MLB Umpires?

I vote the front office is worse.   First off, its not fair that the bad umpires put out this persona of umpires as a whole.   Secondly, MLB is just cultivating this behavior by standing by them all the time.

The things dogs eat...

2011-09-07T20:57:00.006-04:00

I start this off with a warning that there could be a bit TMI included in this post - so continue at your own risk :)

Dogs really do eat the craziest things - and I'm not talking about the food we humans give our dogs.   Charger, like many dogs, loves to tear through the trash.   He specifically loves to tear apart, and occasionally eat, tissues and dryer sheets.   The trashcans that cause the most trouble are the upstairs bathroom and our bedroom - because that's where the culprits usually lie.

Typically the tearing apart of tissues and dryer sheets doesn't bother me - I just pick up the remnants after he gets to it.   Oddly enough he could care less for the feminine products that lay in the trash can.   He usually could also care less for plain old tissues - he really likes the ones with flavor (ie used tissues from a cold).

I remember my mom telling me that our childhood dog, Tanya, loved to get to the used pads.   Well if you think that's gross - you might want to stop reading here.

I know - you don't want to read further, but you just can't stop!

Charger LOVES to eat (used) condoms. This past week, I came upstairs and found a wad of tissues sitting on the bedroom floor the next morning and it was barely touched, and I couldn't figure out why Charger took out tissues but didn't touch them - and then I realized...

I swear the minute he realizes they are in the trash can, he goes on his own little trash diving adventure as soon as we aren't in sight and digs it out and leaves everything else behind.    We hide them in loads of tissues and push it to the bottom of the trash can - and that just doesn't work. The simple solution is to buy a lid to my trash can - I just keep forgetting.   The good news (or bad news depending on how you look at it) is that it always comes out...

I do have brand loyalty!

2011-09-06T18:28:00.000-04:00

A couple months ago, I wrote about brand loyalty, and how I pretty much had none.   It just occurred to me, as I was getting dressed for my aqua zumba class, that I do have some brand loyalty.

Its 60 degrees outside today, and soaking wet from a day of rain - and the rain isn't supposed to stop for a while.    So I decided that I was gonna put on sweats over my bathing suit, and I pulled out the top pair of sweatpants, which were red, and then I took out a gray sweatshirt as that would best go with the red sweatpants.   I was deciding what to wear on my feet, when I decided flip-flops would be best since Im heading to the pool.   You know what everything that I picked out had in common?

They all had the Phillies logo or name (or both) scrolled across them :)   Of course everything is a completely different brand - but I am 100% loyal to my Phillies!

Let's Go Phillies, Let's Go!

There is a league for everything

2011-09-06T17:30:00.001-04:00

Back when I worked at the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association - many people liked to tell me there was an association for everything.

Well recently, I made a similar statement (there is a league for everything) when I found out that my friends fiance was in a cornhole league. You know cornhole - its that tailgating game, also known as bean bag toss. Seriously? I wonder - do cornhole leagues only exist in DC (where they live) or is this a national thing?

It's important...

2011-09-05T15:43:00.001-04:00

I try to only publish one post a day, and when I have lots to say, I save them for posts during the week, as I don't have time to sit and write every night.    But the craziness with Adam's parents called for a special Labor Day double posting.   So without further ago...

Adam and I hosted a Labor Day (Weekend) Barbecue on Sunday and had sent the invitations out WAY in advance to try and get better attendance (no luck with that - but oh well!). Anyways, we sent the invite out back in mid-June and never got ANY response from his parents.   Now mind you, we were pretty sure they weren't going to come because we invited the rest of her family.    I had sent a few updates out within the last month because of a date change and I was trying to finalize numbers, and still no response from them.

Then on Friday morning - two days before the barbecue, they finally responded - with of course a no response - I imagine they got the final reminder from evite, to actually spurn their response.   Later that morning, Adam got a call from his mom (really two) - the jist of the call(s) being that she wanted to know when we were gonna go to see them and complaining that they never see us and how she is hurt - blah, blah, blah*.

Then on Sunday morning Adam got a text from his dad saying that if we weren't going to the Phillies game on Monday, then he would like for us to come over and that its really important to him. It took us a while to figure out the best way to respond to the text. We were going to the Phillies game, but its not an all day affair (its a night game for that matter) and Im sick of this back and forth about it always being our fault, so I wanted to open ourselves up to seeing them. But I wasn't gonna allow it to be on their terms, cause they have to learn (I know - that phrase is funny!) that its not all about them, and they have to compromise.

We had plans to go visit Adam's mom-mom in the nursing home that morning, so we texted FIL back (8 hours later..) to let him know we were going to the game, but that it was a night game, and we had plans to visit mom mom that morning, but they were more than welcome to come visit us between the two plans.   No response that night (even though Im fairly positive he saw it).   No response by 8am, even though I know they don't sleep past 6:30am.    No response by 10am.

Finally, while we were with mom-mom, we heard back from FIL around 10:30am.   The response? Call us when you get home, it depends on the weather.

When we never heard back from them last night, we made plans to stop at our favorite burger joint, Five Guys, on the way home from visiting mom-mom, so we still did that, and when leaving there (at noon) we called FIL to let him know that we were leaving and would be home in 20 minutes if they wanted to come over.   The response?

There is a flood warning, so call us when you get home and then we will decide.    Yes that's right - in that 20 minutes it would take us to get home (the same amount of time it would take them to get on the road), the sky's were just gonna open wide and start POURING down rain and cause mass flooding across the entire region and they were gonna be stuck in the middle of the turnpike when this happened!

20 minutes later, when we get home and called them to let them know that we were home - the response?

What time are you leaving for the Phillies game?   When we told them 4:30ish, they decided, immediately with no discussion, that they weren't gonna come because they didn't want to feel rushed.    They were clearly just looking for excuses, because it wasn't raining, and they didn't even have the time to discuss whether it was worth coming over in that time frame.    To put it into perspective, this conversation happened at 12:30, so even if they didn't leave until 1:30, they would get to us at 2:15 and have just over 2 hours to see us.    The conversation between the 4 of us would have been done in 15 minutes, so the level of uncomfortableness would have gotten to the point of them leaving well before 4:30pm.

Pretty much what it comes down to is:
- We don't make any efforts to see them unless we specifically drive over there to see them and only them - it doesn't count if its a family dinner and everyone is there.   Otherwise, any other attempts or visits (kids bday parties, barbecue for family and friends, offer to come to our house, etc) just don't count.
- They only want to see us to tell us what we are doing wrong, and they only feel comfortable treating us like little kids and chiding us when we sit on their sofa, in their house, in their comfort zone - with no place to go except listen to them chide and criticize our decisions and choices.

And yet they wonder why we never want to go see them...

*I saw them the week prior at the boys bday party - which they ran out of as soon as cake was served and the gifts were opened because it started to drizzle and they didn't want to get stuck in the hurricane on their 10 minute drive home.

Facebook

2011-09-05T11:00:00.000-04:00

For years, I refused to get on facebook. I had many reasons for this, but recently the reasons to be on facebook were finally starting to outweigh the reasons not to be on.

The final breaking point was when I didn't know that two of my friends had their daughter. The husband sent me an email, but selected the wrong Lynda, so I had no clue. Had I been on facebook - I would have already known.

Anyways, two of my big concerns about joining facebook were:

That I would get addicted to it. I knew all along that when I finally joined, I wasn't just gonna be another profile, I was going to be active, but I didn't want to get addicted.
That random people from my childhood and high school were going to start to friend request me. I know I can just decline the friend request, but I also know my personality wouldn't allow me to do that.

To counteract the second point, I planned (and did) to sign up under my dogs name, not completing any personal information and keeping my profile completely private to those who weren't my friends. I emailed those in my address book to let them know I was joining and the name my profile was under so they would accept the friend request from me.

Unfortunately, after a couple months, I started to check facebook more frequently, slowly becoming addicted.   Its not an addiction I couldn't survive without, its one of those addictions that if I'm near a computer or my phone, I sign on and see what updates are out there - and then I sign off after reading - but I do it often.

Then, last week, I started to do exactly what I was hiding from.   Even though Im not on under my name, I started to friend request people from my childhood in NE Philly and let them know it was me. Mind you, those aren't the people I was necessarily "hiding" from.

I'm really hiding from the people I was "friends" with in high school after I moved.   Its horrible to say, but I was annoyed with most of them after 2 years, but I just needed to get through one more year, and then I was outta there and never gonna see them again - and I knew one of them would track me down on facebook if I were on there under my name (I hadn't spoken to her except for maybe a couple SHORT AIM conversations, and I still got invited to her wedding 5 years after high school.

So here I am 6 years after facebook became open to everyone - finally a facebook user and now a blog writer - who would ever have thought?

Cape May Winery & Vineyards

2011-09-04T11:00:00.000-04:00

Our last stop in our daytrip to Cape May, NJ was Cape May Winery & Vineyards - it also was the main reason we headed into Cape May for the day.

I had bought a deal on Philly Dealyo for 2 for 1 tour and tasting tickets - and I couldn't have redeemed it on a better day. Adam and I have done probably about a half dozen winery tours or so - and Ive done another couple without Adam - and for the most part - they start to get redundant.

This one though had a few things that none of the others ever had on my previous tours:

We came on a day that they were bottling their port, so we didn't just get to see the bottling area - we actually got to see the process in work - which was really cool.
We got to pick a grape off the vine and use a cool (expensive) tool that could show you the sugar content of the grape.
We got to taste a brand new wine that hasn't even been bottled yet
We got to taste wine straight from the barrel

To start with, we got there super early, so they told us that they had a deck that we could hang out on, as that would be the only place the tour wouldn't take us, so Adam went upstairs to the deck - and that would be an awesome place to just hang out with friends, a bottle of wine and some food. They have an indoor and outdoor area that are well furnished and decorated. When outside, you have a beautiful view of the vineyards.

After hanging out for a bit on the deck, we went back downstairs and met the tour guide where we were directed.   At that time, she took us outside right in front of the vines and had us taste our first wine.   It was their Barrel Fermented Chardonnay - which was unfortunately out of stock   It was a really nice, dry white, slighlty fruity flavors, but not sweet and very smooth.   Adam and I were both fans of it and would have totally bought 1 or 2 bottles if they had it.

At this point on the tour we started to get a history of the vineyard and their process.   It was actually at this winery (before it was a winery) where grape growing started in the Cape May area.   The owner at the time had a farm on the land, and was approached by Rutgers (I think it was Rutgers) to see if they could test the ability to grow grapes for wine on the land.   It thrived, and the owner ended up planting many more vines and it only grew from there.   I also learned something that I had never seen/heard on any of my other tours.   This winery has a rose bush at the end of each row - the reason being that the rose bush is susceptible to all the diseases and bugs that the vines get, but will show earlier, so they check the rose bushes everyday, and if something is wrong, they will know how to handle it before it even affects the vines.

Next stop on the tour was the bottling facility, where they were currently bottling their port.   I had seen many bottling facilities, but never when they were actually in action.   I tried to get a video, but there were some SUPER annoying North Jersey folks on the tour who stood in the middle and barely let the rest of us in - so alas, no good video.

From there, we went in to their brand new tasting room - which is where they used to keep all the barrels (and still are keeping many of them).

Then on to our last stop - the barrel room, where they had cheese and cracker display for us, as well as some cabernet grapes that were taken off the vine for us to try (pretty good!).

In the barrel room, we got to try a couple wines that weren't bottled yet, and therefore we were tasting them directly from the barrels.   This was a new experience for me - and was pretty neat.

In here we got to taste the majority of their wines, and unfortunately I can't find my tasting sheet and can't remember all the wines - but I know that I liked the majority of their wines.   Adam's palate is different than mine - he likes more sweet, I like dry.   I prefer smoother wines, but do like a lot of dry wines that have some "boldness" to them - whereas Adam only likes them dry if they are smooth.   So with that, we only agreed on 3 wines - so thats all we walked out with.

We also learned something random on our tasting.   Many people get headaches after (even during) drinking red wine, and the reason (they think it) is because of the sulfites.    We were told that red wine actually had much less sulfites than other food and drink that we consume often - instead its because of the histamines in the wine - and that you should take an antihistamine to prevent the headache.    She actually joked/encouraged taking the antihistamine with your wine - even though we are directed not to mix OTC drugs and alcohol - LOL.

Anyways, we really enjoyed this winery for the wine, atmosphere and the educational and fun tour - so if you are in the area, I highly recommend the tour.   As I mentioned in the beginning, we bought it as a 2 for 1, but Id even recommend it at the full price of $20 per person.   You get a good tour (and if you go around the same time we did - end of August - you might also get the opportunity to see so many things you don't normally get to see on these tours), a free glass, lots of wine to taste and plenty of cheese and crackers to snack on.

Click here to see all the pictures I took during the tour.

Michael Vick - Part I

2011-09-03T07:30:00.000-04:00

In case you know nothing about me - I am a dog LOVER. Adam and I currently have a handsome black lab mix and are in the search for another lab mix to keep us company.

I also am a believer in second chances, because people make mistakes.   I've given family and friends many second chances when they screw things up. I of course am always perfect, so I don't need them* :)

Back in '07 (or whatever year it was) when everything went down with Michael Vick - I was disgusted by what he did, and felt strongly that he should be sent to jail for a long time.   He was sent to jail, but not for a long time - but that was the courts ruling, and it was his job to serve it and get on with life afterwards.   He has done just that.

I will admit that I wasn't a fan of Vick being signed by the Eagles, but I did feel that he deserved to be given a second chance, I just didn't want it to be my team.   When he was signed, I just accepted it, and continued to root for my Eagles, because they took a big chance, not just on signing Vick who was unproven at that time, but because they knew there was going to be a large public backlash for giving him a second chance.

In my opinion Vick has done a really good job of the afterwards part, and working to prove himself a decent human being.

He chose not to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy where his debts would have just been cancelled out, and all the people he owed money to would never have seen a penny. Instead, he worked with lawyers, financial advisors and the court system to make a plan where he would pay back all his debt over time. (With his new contract, as long as he is able to play out the majority of it, he will have his debts paid off pretty fast).    Many other people (and companies) have chosen to just wash away their debts and start anew, leaving their debtors in the wind.

He brought in a huge team of people to help fix his image and help him make the correct decisions. This was a decision which was obviously needed if he wanted any shot of having a fan base and/or endorsement deals - so this point is less showing his good character than his choice to have a career in the NFL and make money.

It also has recently come out that he had the opportunity to join other NFL teams where he would have been the starter and in the spotlight, but those teams were full of people and issues that could have easily led him astray.   He took the advise of those he was learning to trust, and went with a 3rd string position on a team known for winning and professionalism, instead of a starting QB job on a team known for a culture full of legal and immoral issues.

He still has a way to go to prove he is fully a changed man, but there are plenty of other professional athletes who have abused and killed human beings and gotten very little to no punishment, and then come back into the spotlight without an ounce of anger from the fan-base. For example:

Brett Myers abused his wife and never got suspended or charged - he endured some booing when he made his next appearance in Boston (which was like 2 days after the assault took place in that same city), maybe he got some minor booing in Philly - but barely anything.
Donte Stallworth drove drunk and killed a man. He killed a human being and got 30 days in jail, and was out of the NFL for one year and has since played for the Ravens and now the Redskins, and I haven't heard anything about him.

I love my dog, and he is one of my best friends, but a human life is considered of higher importance/worth than a dogs. For those who would disagree with that, see basic examples below:

If a dog has cancer and doesn't have a good life left to live, you can put them down - if you did that to a human you would be arrested and charged for performing euthenasia. Hell, if you were stupid enough, you could put a dog down just because he has some training issues that you don't have the time or money to work on - and there would be no penalty in you doing that - just don't tell me.
When you have a kid, you can claim them as a dependent on your taxes; when you get a new puppy, you spend TONS of money on them, but don't get any tax benefits.
You can leave a dog at home by themselves and put them in a crate (and should for safety reasons); if you leave a young kid at home by themselves and put them in a crate, you are charged with child endangerment and abuse (as you should be).

If you haven't done so already, I think you should forgive Michael Vick (and the Eagles, if you are also holding them in contempt), as he has served his time and should be afforded a second chance. I think the only lifetime punishment that should be afforded to him is that he should NEVER be allowed to own a dog. I know he wants one, and he might be a changed man, and for that he deserves to have a fair shot at life, but dog ownership is a privilege and he lost that privilege in my mind.

Im sure there are MANY people out there who disagree with me on this - probably even some family members - and you have the right to both disagree with me and share that disagreement and thoughts with me. I will consider your thoughts, I just hope that you consider mine, and think how you would want to be treated if you went and made a HUGE mistake, served the punishment you were handed - but no one ever forgave you or gave you a second chance - that's part of why we have so many repeat crime offenders in this society.

*I shouldn't have to explain sarcasm, but for those of you who know nothing about me, first and only time Ill say this - I am EXTREMELY sarcastic - even when i probably shouldn't be. This last comment is obviously me being sarcastic.

Mother Nature

2011-09-02T14:30:00.000-04:00

What an interesting week month of August on the east coast in regards to mother nature...

First we were having record rainfall in the month of August (for the Philly region).   As of the middle of the month, we had already broken the record books for the amount of rain in the month of August, and were less than half an inch away from breaking the record for the most rain in a month EVER - and we still had half a month to go in the middle of hurricane season.

Then came last Tuesday, when we had the first "major" earthquake on the east coast in a century.   I personally didn't feel a damned thing, and feel jipped about that, but all of my family felt it, the people in my office felt it (I wasn't in the office) and many friends felt it.    Who would have really thought that there would be an earthquake on the east coast? I know that there is a fault line right in Huntington Valley (which is right outside of Philly for those non-locals who read this) but I still thought that a local earthquake was along the same lines of Jersey being washed away during my lifetime. Sidenote: although most people wouldn't miss the armpit of America - I think it will take hundreds to thousands of years for that to occur.

After people handled an earthquake in exactly the opposite way you should (running out of buildings and into the streets) and the local news covered it live for HOURS so that's all you could find on TV and all you heard on the news for 24 hours - the news of Hurricane Irene came pounding in and took over the news.

On Friday before Hurricane Irene hit, we got another storm that helped put the Philadelphia area over the record for any month EVER- and were still expecting another 7-12 inches from Irene.   Massive evacuations occurred throughout the tri-state area (PA, DE and NJ). It ended up not being as bad as expected, but after Hurricane Katrina, you can never be too safe. We still did have PLENTY of flooding and power outages.   The below picture is of the Neshaminy Creek flooding one of many streets in Bucks County (this is near my parents and sister, pictures courtesy of my sister - although she doesn't know that until she reads this).

I'm fairly certain that the car got flooded into the middle of the street from a nearby driveway, but I guess there could have been an idiot who tried to drive down that street in the middle of the hurricane, no matter what - that sucks!

Hope everyone survived the month of August in tact without any major storm (or earthquake) damage.

Camp Levitties (or your Summer Camp)

2011-09-01T15:30:00.000-04:00

I miss the days of summer camp and not having to worry about anything!

I used to go to both day camp and overnight camp.   I did day camp for as long as I can remember at Camp Levitties which was/is a local JCC camp. But for two summers, I took a "break" for 2 weeks and then 4 weeks to do overnight camp at Camp Arthur Reeta.   Unfortunately the only reason I stopped going to overnight camp was because it shut down :( There were other overnight camps - but that was my camp, and I wasn't gonna go be a traitor and go to a rival overnight camp :)

Anyways, I recently got thinking about my days at camp levitties.   Not quite sure how I thought about it, but once I did, my mind just kept going.   Man that place was fun!   I used to be such a klutz (not sure how much of that has changed), but here are some funny stories from my summer days:
- I seriously bruised my butt playing kickball.   I put everything into kicking the ball, missed and fell on my ass.
- I gashed my knee open - probably should have gone to the hospital to get stictches - but I enjoy my scar.   My friend Jaime and I had gotten dressed from the pool quickly, ran back to our "bunk" and hid behind furniture - our goal was to scare everyone else when they came in.   Well I apparently was next to a vent and when I got up - I slashed my knee - and it was GUSHING blood.   It didn't hurt much at all - but I was crying my eyes out cause there was blood everywhere.   I wasnt able to do any activities for like 2 weeks until that thing heeled
- I somehow defied the odds and choked on a lifesaver - I know they say its not possible, but I swear I couldn't breath.   The good thing is, it melts, so I put warm water down my throat and could breathe again.

Im not sure how many times - or for what reasons - I was in a wheelchair, but I clearly remember being in a wheelchair a few times.   Looking back on it - I probably just enjoyed hanging out in the nurses office or playing around in the wheelchair.

Anyone else remember any of those crazy summer camp stories - either about me or your own?

Also, for all my Levitties peeps - how did the camp song go?!?!?   I know Im gonna kill it - but this is what I remember:

We are Camp Levitties
we are great, we're the best
we're better then then rest
Having a good time in the warm summer sun,
making friends and having lots of fun
We have arts and crafts and ....

And I completely go blank after that (and Im sure I killed that!)

Oh - and camp levitties is where I started my obsession with Baby Got Back :) Im fairly certain, either my bunk or another did that for lip sync one year - probably wasn't appropriate for the young-uns...and Im fairly certain most of my friends (especially the ones who had a wedding I attended) wish it never existed - LOL

Happy Halliday!

2011-08-31T09:22:00.000-04:00

After pitching only twice in like 20+ days due to rainouts and scheduled days off, I wasn't sure what to expect from Roy Halliday - and I'm not sure even he was.

Although rusty at first - he had another great game.   But this game was a little different.   Nothing you would hear about on the local news outside of Philly - it wasn't another perfect game, or even a no-hitter.   This time he threw a decent game - pitching 7 innings and just giving up 2 hits, no runs, but he did walk a couple guys and even hit a guy - but his bat came alive!

Roy doesn't know how to do things like a normal person - even a normal MLB player.   He happened to hit just his second extra base hit ever (which is also the second this season) and get the first RBIs of the season off the hit.   Oh - did I mention the bases were loaded, so he had a 3-RBI double.    He definitely was the player of the game!

In other Philly sports related news
In case you live in a hole, Michael Vick just signed a 6-year, $100 million dollar deal with the Eagles.    I know many people are not a fan of him because of what he did, and by no means do I condone it, but he served his time in jail, and has worked to prove himself good by others not just as a professional football player, but as a human being.    I will save this topic for another blog post - cause otherwise, this could go forever...

Random Thoughts

2011-08-30T23:17:00.000-04:00

Just some random thoughts that are going through my mind that I want to share with everyone:

Local (and not so local) Politics
I just read an article about Adam Taliaferro being selected to run for a Gloucester County Freeholder. For those who don't know the story of Adam, just google his name and you will find it, but the short of it is he played football for Penn State, and as a freshman he suffered a life threatening injury that was supposed to leave him paralyzed. He fought the battle and the long odds, and eventually walked again, graduated from Penn State, and went on to go to law school and become a lawyer.   He was an inspiration around PA and NJ, and although I never had any interest in Penn State, or paid attention to their football team, I always loved to read updates about him.

Anyways, I obviously can't vote for him, since I don't live in that county, better yet that state, but for those few people I know who do - I think you should vote for him, not just because he is a democrat and therefore stands for most of the ideals I believe in, but also because he truly has the strength and willpower to push for what he believes.   Additionally, in the story, the leader of the local republican committee said "that while he respected 'the challenges [Taliaferro] has overcome,' he thinks he is on the ticket to wow the public with his personal story and relative youth, rather than experience in government".   Im sorry - but what was Jon Runyan on the Republican ticket for and why did he win a seat as a US Congressman?!?!?   It was for a whole lot less than what you just said.   He was on the ticket AND won because of his time and success with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Hurricane Irene
Im glad that everyone survived it well, and I hope you all have your power back.   Those of us in the Needleman Levittown house survived quite well.   We watched some movies that I bought for $1.99 from Blockbuster (more in the post about that), baked cookies and brownies (maybe a future post), cooked a Sunday night dinner in the crock pot, and I got my eye scratched up by Charger.   And never lost power (knock on wood for future storms), but were quite prepared with a flashlight with extra batteries, a lantern, glow sticks, a battery operated radio with extra batteries and plenty of reading material and shelf-stable snacks.

Movies
Along with many of my other bad, but harmless, addictions - I have an addiction to buying movies.   If you live nearby and ever need free rentals, I am OCD and actually have an excel listing of my DVDs (which I now need to update), which probably is over 200 by now.   Anyways, I continued that addiction at Blockbuster on Saturday in preparing for Hurricane Irene. I was hoping they would have a 5 for $20 deal on their previously viewed movies, of which they did - but I couldn't find 5 movies I had interest in spending $4 each on.   On the other hand, they also had a $1.99 table, and there were a bunch that looked interesting enough to spend two bucks on.   We ended up watching two of them.

The first, An Education, I had NEVER heard of - but would definitely recommend. It was set in the 60's in England, and was about a schoolgirl who was going to ruin her chances at Cambridge if she continued on with her "love affair".   Im not good at giving film reviews, so Ill just leave it at that so I don't give too much away, but it was surprisingly good and kept both Adam and my interest throughout.

The second, Brooklyn's Finest, I had heard of, and would not recommend.   After 2 minutes I was already having trouble following, and by ten minutes Adam had already fell asleep (and it was a hard movie to actually sleep through).   It was all over the place, and the ending was pretty pathetic.   They tried to do the Crash thing where all the story lines that were separated throughout the movie came together in the end.   It worked great for Crash, its worked okay in a couple other movies, but overall - it doesn't work well anymore, and I'm sick of seeing screenwriters trying to sell it again.   But that wasn't the only reason it was bad - it was just bad - and I have an eclectic sense of what I like, which does include action movies, but this will not fall into the like pile.

Weight Loss
I think my sister and I are gonna join Weight Watchers again.   I had GREAT success with it back in 2003 when I lost 50 lbs - and Ive kept it all off.   I lost a bit more after I stopped WW, but unfortunately, have put most of that on since my wedding, and I want to take that back off, plus some more to get down to 150.    Let me know if you are interested in going to meetings with us, or if you just want to follow along together via email, text message, phone, etc if you don't live in the area.

Im sure there are other random thoughts, but I can't remember them, so Im just gonna go to bed now.

Lucky Bones Restaurant in Cape May, NJ

2011-08-29T18:15:00.000-04:00

On Adam and my recent day trip to Cape May, NJ we were looking for a place for lunch in between our winery visits, so we searched for a place through the Google Places app on my phone, and decided upon the one that didn't take us into "downtown" (as the wineries weren't in that location).   The closest place I saw that sounded good was Lucky Bones Backwater Grille - so we went.

When we got there, I noticed that they had a sign for a grill night at Cape May Winery & Vineyards - our next stop - and on the way out I noticed a wine barrel with Cape May Winery & Vineyards logo on the barrel end, and finally on the way to the car, there was a Cape May Winery & Vineyards truck.   I figured they had some partnership going - I later learned at the winery that they are actually owned by the same person, along with a well known, fancy restaurant in town - the Washington Inn and a cute store in town that Adam had shopped at last time we were in - Love the Cook.

Anyways, back to lunch. We got there around 1:15/1:30 and the parking lot was packed, and when we got in, there was a little bit of a line.   Nothing major, but in the end it just ended up being a back-up in getting people seated, not a wait.

When I looked them up on google, it said that they were known for the sandwiches and brick-fired oven pizzas - so at that point I was originally thinking a sandwich, but if Adam and I could agree on a pizza, I could easily go for that. Once I looked at the list, there were like 4 or 5 that I could easily choose from, and same for Adam.   Our thoughts crossed on 2 of them and finally settled on the Shrooms and Cheese Pizza.

After we ordered and were chatting, I noticed on the wall their soup of the day, and it sounded really delicious, so Adam and I decided to ask the waitress if we could order 2 cups of that in addition to the pizza.   It was a Jersey BLT Soup.   I really wanted the soup without the B, but I knew that wasn't possible, so I just hoped that it wasn't too crazy with the bacon.   I love tomato soup, so I hoped the tomato might be able to overpower the bacon.    Im glad I took that chance, because it was perfect for me.   There were small pieces of bacon bits (real ones) throughout the soup - and provided good texture, but the flavor wasn't overpowering.   The tomato soup portion was DELISH - we both scarfed it down.   The lettuce part was cute - provided as garnish on top.   If that were on the menu when we go down there again, I would definitely order it!

Just as we finished our soup, our pizza came out.   The size was perfect for Adam and I to share and I loved the thin crust that they had.   It turned out to be really good, but not something that I would order over and over again.   As I said, the crust was perfect for me, there were a lot of mushrooms of a few different types - unfortunately I couldn't identify which types.   It wasn't cheesy at all - just the right amount - it was just missing an extra flavor of something.   Not sure what additional flavor would have done the trick for me, but maybe a little bit of truffle oil (but that would have caused the price to jump).   Although I said I wouldn't order it over and over again, I would order it again - but there were lots of other things on the menu that Id like to try.

Oh - and the prices were very affordable - if you go to Cape May and are looking to drive around and not stay in the historic area - I would definitely recommend this for a lunch spot.

Phillies Games

2011-08-28T10:30:00.007-04:00

I have a full season ticket plan to the Philadelphia Phillies - as I am that much of a die-hard - but I sell about 2/3 - 3/4 of the games depending on the year.

Two years ago, I went to like 35 games - and I learned that was just too much even for me.   It was a lot of time that I wasn't at home - a lot of money to be spent on parking and dinner - and hard to find someone to go with me to all those games.

Last year, I didn't get to go to as many games as I wanted to because there were home series scheduled the same weekend as my wedding and while Adam and I were on our honeymoon - so that was a couple weeks of games taken out of the mix.

Every year work also gets in the way of a few games that I planned to go to, and then had to switch around because of trips that came up along the way (I plan what games Im gonna go to in February, and don't know my travel schedule until a few months beforehand - if I'm lucky).

Well this year, I had planned to go to about 20 games.   I was going to go to about a dozen games with my mom and another half dozen plus with Adam.   Adam and my second game of the season was supposed to be on April 16th - which ended up being a day of DOWNPOURS and the first (of many) postponement(s).   Of course they then rescheduled a weekend evening game to a weekday day game - which we both couldn't go to - so I had to sell those tickets.

Then Adam (thankfully) got a new job - one whose hours were noon-9pm Tue-Fri and 7a-5p on Sat.   This knocked out 95% of the games we were gonna go to together (plus our 3rd shot at a U2 concert...), so I found family and friends to go to those games with me, and Adam took on a couple of my mom's Sunday games, and kept the Saturday evening game we had.

Then came two weeks ago.    I had tickets to 3 games in 6 days.   The first was a Sunday that Adam was supposed to go with me to.    It was raining bad, and therefore the game was postponed (of course to a day game in the middle of the week - so again, tickets now need to be sold...). The second game ended up being a beautiful night, and we got the whole game in - unfortunately we lost in the 9th inning. The 3rd game got to the end of the 3rd before a 2 hour plus rain delay started.    About 10 minutes before they announced that they were gonna prepare the field and get back to the game, I left with my friend - because it was getting late, and I needed to work the next day.    So three games - and I saw a whole 12 innings...

It of course doesn't stop there.   I had a ticket to a game the next Saturday (13 days from the first "game").   Well that was last night - the night that Hurricane Irene hit - which meant yet another PPD game. This one at least is a night game - and the only reason for that is because Sunday's PPD Game is gonna be the day game of a D/N doubleheader.

So far this year, I have had 3 games PPD and sat through another 3 rain delays - and only got to attend about a dozen games so far...this better not be the beginning of the bad signs for the Phillies this season...

Back Issues

2011-08-27T10:17:00.000-04:00

I am not one to really complain about pain. I have a crazy high pain tolerance. So high, I had a cavity filled without any numbing agents or drugs. My tolerance for pain has a few negatives:

I get annoyed when people are constantly bitching about being in pain or something hurting - because I just wish they would deal with it like I do (I do know that everyone has different thresholds)
I feel like a baby when I do finally bitch about something because I have it so well ingrained in me to just deal with pain.
Because my tolerance is so high, I sometimes ignore things that are really an issue because they don't bother me all that much. Probably ignoring them until its too late.

A good example of the last item is my back.    Back in November 2005, when I was still living in DC, I had a lot of pain and numbness going on between my back and legs - and I just ignored it, until one day I realized my leg was really numb and I had to drive home to Philly that night for Thanksgiving.   I called the doctor and he got me in, and the way I described it, he thought it was just a pinched nerve, but since I had a long drive ahead of me, he wanted to send me to a neurologist, and was able to get me an appt for that day (it was the day before Thanksgiving).   So I went to the neuro and he was agreeing that it was just a pinched nerve and gave me some muscle relaxers and set up an appt for me to come back in a few weeks.   I came back, and thought it was getting better, but then it got worse a couple days before going to the doctor, so he figured I reaggravated it and told me to take it easy and come back in a few weeks.   I came back and it wasn't getting any better - just a hell of a lot worse.

By this point I would be in crazy amounts of pain at night and in the morning.   At night I would toss and turn until I found a position that was the least uncomfortable and didn't send sharp pains down my legs.   In the morning, I would have to lie down on my back every few minutes for the back pain to subside - to the point that I would get out of the shower and lie down on the bathroom floor before I could take the 5 steps to my bedroom, and then I would get into my bedroom and lie down on the floor before starting the long process of getting dressed with constant interruptions of lying down.    I had a HELL of a time getting socks and stockings on because it was way to painful to put my arms past my knees at that hour.   I felt like I was an old lady or something.    Then Id get on the shuttle to the metro and on the metro and Id flip back and forth between sitting or standing being better - and I had horrible pains written across my face it was so bad.

So at my next appt the doc finally said I should get an MRI, but then I couldn't get back in to see him for another month to see the MRI, so I found a new doc that I could get an appt with right away.    As soon as he put the screens up - he scared me shitless.   He had no clue how I was even standing/sitting in front of him.   I had 2 fully herniated discs and 1 partially herniated disc as well as a few other issues going on in my back including spinal stenosis.   He said I needed to have surgery right away.   I said thanks, I just want to get a second opinion - which offended him greatly.

He did give me a 1-week steroid pack to help reduce the inflammation and relieve the pain - which I have to say was the best thing any of the doctors ever did.   It worked! But I still took the diagnosis seriously and went to get a second opinion from my mom's doctor in Philly. I knew that she usually had to wait a month or so to get an appt with him, so I was prepared.    The Philly doc wanted to get the doctors notes and scans from the DC doc before seeing me to make sure that I really need to see a Neuro and not an Ortho doc or soemthing.   Long story short, during this time I found out that the doc who was offended that I would get a second opinion was a complete ASS, but I finally got the information needed to the Philly doc - and the nurse called me that day (a Friday) and asked if I could come in on Monday.   Uh-oh!   A typical one month wait and they want to see me the next business day!   Even my mom was shocked and concerned.

So I went to see the doc, and he said that its great that the steroid pack was working and that I was feeling better, but that yes, I really do need to have surgery.   He also said that based on the fact that I had no trauma to cause this and my mom's back history, although "they" say this is not genetic, he does feel that this is genetic (more issues Adam and I can worry about passing on to our kids).

With that I was back to square one, but I at least knew what my issues were.   I was living in DC, but no longer had a doctor in the area to do the surgery, so now I needed to find a new doc.    I was able to get recommendations from a co-worker at the time, and found a new doc with good bedside manner.    Not only did he have good bedside manner - he wasn't in a rush to get me on to the operating table.    He agreed with the Philly doc that based on my scans I absolutely needed to have surgery. BUT, the 1-wk steroid pack worked and Im not in pain, and therefore he was in no rush to get someone feeling good into surgery. He had another MRI done, but there wasn't any change in the scans, and he felt strongly about not operating on me if I was feeling good.   Therefore he weened me back into an exercise routine, and I continued to go pain free, so after about 6 months, I stopped going to the doctor.   Since then, I have stayed consistent with my exercise and kept the pain away.   I usually find that when I get lazy, thats when my back starts to flare up.

Well at least that was the case until 6 months ago or so.   Around that time, I started to realized I would have flare ups with my back more often - and they were BAD.   They also happened to correlate with something else that would occur at that time of the month.   And then after some heat, drugs and keeping exercise to a minimum, the flare up would die down at the same time that my "something else" died down as well.   Each month I think about going back to a neuro - and now I'm back in Philly, so I could go to my moms doc.   But the flare up eventually dies down - and the last thing I want is to have back surgery.   But now I also think about the fact that Adam and I want to start to grow our family in a non-fur-creature way, and how will that affect these back flare-ups?   Will it be a 9-month long back flare up?   I have a high tolerance, but I have trouble handling 2-3 days of it some months, I don't think I could possibly survive 9 months of it....

But surgery usually isn't the answer.   A lot of people who have back surgery end up continuing to have back pain - and in all honesty the pain Ive been getting now is back pain, not sciatica or the other pains that came along with the herniated discs.   Its pain that (I feel) is due to weak back muscles.

P.S. Although my back is usually better, I still did wait too long with my back issues.   I have a permanent "scar" from my sciatica - a numbness in parts of my both legs - so although my back is much better I really did ignore the issue until it was too late

Everyones favorite topic to read about - my in-laws

2011-08-26T18:15:00.058-04:00

Based on the stats that I can track through blogger - the topic people most enjoy reading about is my in-laws - and how couldn't you - they are just that crazy and ridiculous its so funny and enjoyable to read about.

So I'm gonna try to write a weekly post about their craziness.   Since I'm currently in the middle of a really good streak of not seeing or talking to them, Ill be going back into the 3 year vault of stories for some of these weekly posts :)

Thinking about it, I think the last time we saw them was for the "pizza party" that MIL threw for FIL in the beginning of July.    That's right - Ive gone almost 2 months without seeing or talking them - and its been wonderful! Of course, during that time, Adam has gotten calls from them bitching about me on numerous occasions - but alas, its impossible to be completely free of their craziness.   Unfortunately, that streak will be broken on Saturday for the sake of attending the joint birthday party of my nephews - but I'm sure the few hours spent with them will provide for some entertaining stories later...

Since I mentioned the pizza party - I guess Ill start with that topic for this post.   Back in the end of June, we received a card in the mail.   When I looked at it, it had no return address (which was a sure sign it came from the in-laws, cause my MIL refuses to put a return of address on things she sends - or at least to us, which is one of my many small pet peeves with them).   But I wasn't sure cause I could tell that there was a kids party invitation inside.   We were 2 months away from any of the nieces or nephews birthdays, so I was really confused.   I finally opened it up - and it WAS from my ILs.   It was an invitation in the shape of a pizza slice - and for a pizza party for my FILs bday.   SERIOUSLY?!?!?   First off - the invitations was circa 1990 - and if it really wasn't that old - then that's just more pathetic.   Second off - the invitation went out to a whole TWO freaking people - Adam and I and my SIL and BIL.   Just f*ing call us and invite us over for dinner for his bday, don't make some stupid big deal with a childish invitation.

Unfortunately, we had no plans, and I knew we had to go, so I had Adam call to RSVP, but let them know we would be late, as they are calling the party for 5pm - and Adam doesn't get off work until 5pm. He still has to come home, change/clean up and we have another 45 minute drive to get to their house - so we wouldn't be there until 6:30ish.   Im pretty sure they weren't thrilled we were coming late - but work has priority in this instance over some childish attempt to invite us over.

Party day eventually arrives - and Adam calls to let them know we will be leaving shortly, and guess what - they went out to dinner with my SIL, BIL and nephews and were gonna bring home a pizza for us.    I knew they were gonna eat before we got there, because they eat dinner crazy early and it annoys me that they don't have the decency to wait for us when they invite us over - but I'm somewhat used to it now.   But seriously - you take everyone else out to dinner to order whatever they want and then bring home a pizza and keep it in a warm oven for us?

We of course still went, and I didn't eat anything or really talk to them much because a) I was trying to be healthy and didn't want pizza and b) I was annoyed at them.

My MIL must have asked me if I wanted pizza about 6 times - 5 of those times I politely said, no thank you, Im fine for now, and continued to play with the boys.    On the 6th and final time, I finally had enough of the same question and gave some attitude with my answer - which clearly annoyed FIL and MIL - but MIL FINALLY stopped asking.     Although that wouldn't be the end of it...

The next morning Adam got a call from MIL pretty much asking what my issue was.   If you have an issue with me, "man up" and bring it up to me - not to Adam.

Why can't I just have normal in-laws?   I know they provide good entertainment and stories - but they get to me. I hate how the thought of them or sound of their name is like fingernails on a chalkboard....

Cape May, NJ and Turdo Vineyards

2011-08-25T18:15:00.001-04:00

While on our mini-vaca with my family in OCNJ, Adam and I took a day and went down to Cape May for a date day in our new favorite beach town (we fell in love with it on our first anniversary trip earlier this summer).

Originally we were going to go to the beach with my family in the late morning, and then go to Cape May Winery for a 3pm tour that I had bought a deal for on Philly Dealyo, but Adam's legs really bothered him the evening prior after going to the beach, so we decided to bypass the beach altogether - which I was completely okay with since I'm not a huge beach person.

After deciding not to go to the beach, we hung around the house for a little while after everyone else left for the beach and then decided to head to Cape May earlier and grab lunch there, and maybe stop at another winery for a wine tasting.   We ended up stopping at Turdo Vineyards for our first tasting, Lucky Bones Restaurant for lunch and then Cape May Winery & Vineyard for our tour.    This post will review our first stop, and then Ill go into more detail on another posting (or two) for lunch and the Cape May Winery Tour and Tasting.

Our first stop when getting into Cape May was Turdo Vineyards. This is a small vineyard which makes about 200 cases of each type of wine and when they sell out for the year, they close shop.    When we visited, they had sold out of at least 1/3 of their wines, and she told us that they typically sell out of everything by labor day weekend.

When arriving at the winery - you will think you are in the wrong spot, because it looks like you are at someone's personal house and they don't have a parking lot.    They recommend parking at the lot down the street, but since Adam is limited in how much he can walk, and I knew we would be walking on the wine tour and that night on the boardwalk, I didn't want to park down at the ball fields down the street. Instead, I parked on the lawn after the house because I someone else did the same thing. (Initially I thought that's where I was supposed to park until I walked up to the sign and saw that it said the ball field parking lot). Anyways, once you park and walk up to the house, you see a small building to the side/back of the house and that is the tasting room - the house really is their personal house, and their backyard is the vineyard - wouldn't that be awesome.

We went in for the tasting, which was $5 for 5 wines. I didn't save the tasting sheet - but I think they have about 10 wines available for tasting - 3 dry whites, 6 dry reds and 1 sweet red and 1 sweet white (I think that was the breakdown).   Additionally, they have some reserve collection wines which aren't available for tasting, and finally the owners son is starting his own label (Rossi) and currently has two wines with that.

Unfortunately for us, all the dry whites were out and a couple of the reds were out - so we tasted 4 dry reds and got to pick one of the two sweet wines.   I liked all the dry wines, Adam typically doesn't - and didn't - but we did agree on 2 of the dry reds - their Barbera and their Merlot.   To be honest, for the first time in a while I didn't take any notes on this day, and therefore (as I already mentioned) didn't save my tasting sheet - so I don't remember what the wines each tasted like - but I do know my taste buds lean more towards the dry, smooth wines and within that, Adam likes the smooth wines - and likes the ones that are more semi-dry.

Adam and I each tried one of the sweets, that way we were able to taste both.   The sweet red - which I believe was the Dolcetto was actually pretty dry with a dash of sweetness.    I typically don't like sweet wines, and in typical fashion - I didn't like this wine - but for a different reason.   I actually found it to be more dry than sweet - but it was really an odd combination of sugary sweet and dry.   The sweet white we tasted was the Moscato.   It wasn't a bad sweet wine, I just know that I won't sit there and drink a sweet wine, so its always a waste for me to buy, because I would have a few uses for it in cooking/baking and maybe have half a glass - and the rest would end up going to waste as I wouldn't be able to use it enough before it went bad.

Before we were done, I did ask if there were any wines that weren't on the tasting sheet that they had - because I noticed on the site that they had a Pinot Noir, and that wasn't on the sheet (even crossed out).   That's where I found out about the reserves not being available for taste - but they actually were sold out of even those reserve wines. At this same time, the woman who was doing our tasting did mention that Luca - the son - was just working on his own label and that those are available for sale - but not for tasting - and then she realized she did have a bottle of the red available for tasting because there was just an event or something.   Now this red was really good - the best one I had tasted there.   It was really smooth, semi-dry and flavorful, so I said I definitely wanted a bottle - and then she had to double check that there were ones available for sale and the price.   Good news is it was available. Unfortunately, no white available. We ended up walking out with a bottle of the Rossi label Red, the Turdo label Barbeca and Merlot.

Additionally they had Gelato and Sorbetto that was made with their wine, and a few other Gelato flavors.   Adam wanted the Gelato with Moscato and Almonds, but they didn't have any, so he got the Sorbetto with Moscato and Peaches.   I ended up getting the Gelato with Rossi. Both were yummy and delicious - mine a little more.   They are made by a gelato company in Cape May - so they can be found at that store front as well - unfortunately, don't know the name of the company.   I know - Im full of a lack of details!

If you are in Cape May and enjoy wine - this is a cute place to stop at - if its a nice day (like we had), take some time to relax on their patio with your own picnic or with wine and/or Gelato.

And if you do go to Cape May - let me know - lots more recommendations from our short trips there - and plenty more places and things we want to check out.

Ocean City, NJ Restaurant Review

2011-08-24T16:54:00.000-04:00

My mom rented a house down in OCNJ this week, and Adam and I were down there for a few days, and everyone who was there on Monday night went out to dinner just off the boardwalk at a place called Bloom N' Tulip.   My mom selected the restaurant based on the fact that she was able to get a good deal for the restaurant on restaurant.com. I don't think we could have all had a WORSE restaurant experience.

There were 16 of us - 13 adults and 3 kids (2, 3 and 3 1/2). I had called that morning to make a reservation for all of us, so they were well prepared for the large group.   By the time everyone showed up, we were about 15 minutes late to the reservation, which I initially felt kinda bad about - but no longer do after our experience.

The atmosphere wasn't anything spectacular to write home about, but nothing awful either. Once everyone finally arrived, it took about 20 minutes to get our drink orders, another 20 minutes to get the drinks, another 5 minutes to get bread (of which my mom had to specifically request and the waitress had a lot of attitude), another 20 minutes to get our food orders taken - so we were there for well over an hour before our orders got taken.    Once they finally took our orders, things finally got moving - but by this time, the kids just wanted to run around the restaurant, and the only reason we hadn't just left was because of the certificate we had.

When the food FINALLY came around, it took forever for everyone to get their meals, and my cousin who got a salad was one of the last ones to get her meal, even though that was the simplest of the meals - and my brother-in-law almost didn't get served because she forgot to bring his out.

Unfortunately for my family, the bad review doesn't stop with the poor service. I had ordered stuffed shrimp with sides of mashed potatoes and apple sauce.

I knew the apple sauce wasn't chunky because my uncle asked before orderering, so I was a little disappointed to begin with, but Im pretty sure the extent of the kitchen prep for the applesauce involved opening up a jar of motts applesauce and pouring it into the bowl.   It tasted fine, it just wasn't anything special, and nothing stood out about it that made it seem "homemade".

The mashed potatoes aren't a very different story.   When I got my meal, I saw someone else ordered theirs without the gravy, and I originally wished I would have thought to do the same. Im glad I hadn't done that because the potatoes were so dry and bland the gravy added some flavor and moistness.   This time I think that the kitchen preparation involved in making the mashed potatoes was mixing a box of potato flakes and water (with too much flakes) and then taking an ice cream scoop and scooping it into a bowl.

The stuffed shrimp weren't too bad in flavor, but the filling felt like it was a whole lot more filler than crab.   After eating one and a half of the three stuffed shrimp, I was done.

That was just what I ate, but Adam and my uncle both ordered rice pilaf, mu uncle specifically didn't see any other sides he wanted so he got a double order (cause we got 2 sides with out meals). The rice "pilaf" consisted of white rice and lots of butter, so my uncle finally said something (rightfully so) after staying good for not compaining about anything else earlier. Here is the basic jist of the conversation:

Uncle: I ordered rice pilaf, this is just white rice with butter
Waitress: Thats what our rice pilaf is - white rice
U: Rice Pilaf is not white rice
W: Well thats what our rice pilaf is
U: Rice pilaf isn't white rice, it has the other stuff in it
W: You got what you ordered, white rice
U: I ordered rice pilaf
W: This is our rice pilaf - its white rice.

This conversation pretty much sums up all the talking we had with the waitress - she was COMPLETELY unorganized - the type of person who you would think wouldn't remember her head if it wasn't attached.

By the time our restaurant experience was done - we had been there for TWO HOURS!!   My mom complained to someone, and they pretty much just brushed us off.

To top off the bad service and "meh" food - the food didn't sit well with me at all.   I had to literally run to the bathroom two times in the next hour because it didn't agree with me.

But we got back at them! Well not really - but there is a funny story to share.   My 3 and a half year old cousin, who is potty trained and hadn't had an accident in a while told her mom she had to go to the bathroom and then got off her chair and pee'd right on the floor.   Of course my little cousin felt really bad and my "big" cousin (her mom) felt even worse for her daughter.   But we never bothered to tell them they had a pee spot in the middle of their carpeted dining area.    And we ended up letting the kids run around the table.

Eventually, we finally got some boardwalk time with the kids.

So all in all - don't ever eat at Bloom N' Tulip in Ocean City, NJ - its at 10th and Ocean (but really on 10th), right off the boardwalk where Kohrs Bros and Steele Fudge.

Catching up from vacation...

2011-08-23T21:25:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, I was busy last week with plans every night after work and then on vacation down the shore Saturday-Tuesday. I have tomorrow off for a staycation day and am hoping to do a whole bunch of stuff - including writing up all the posts that have been going through my head (if they haven't already left it) the past week and a half.

In the meantime, don't forget to check out the other blogs I follow:
www.sharynfrenkelphotoblog.com - my amazing wedding photographer
www.twofrugalmommas.com - a savings blog co-written by my husbands best friends wife
eatingwitha.blogspot.com - a food blog from a college friend who live in Long Island

Two frugal momma's has giveaways often, and currently has one going for chobani greek yogurt - one of my two favorite greek yogurts (between that and Oikos/Dannon) - go check it out!