Birthday

Once again, I'm scolding myself for waiting so long between posts. It's not as if I haven't got the time, since I've been home on disability... I guess it's just that the days get away from me... Right... no excuse... I'm sorry... Ok, I can chalk it up to old age. After all, I DID just have another birthday this week!

We had lots going on around here since I last posted. First, Margie & Charlie FINALLY closed on their new home, and spent all week moving in. I felt so incredibly guilty because I really wanted to help, but with my back the way it is, I knew better... it actually hit me that the last time they moved was the start of my most recent back problems! Tommy helped a little, but unfortunately, their big moving days were the same days we were celebrating mom's birthday and mine.

Last Saturday was mom's birthday. She decided she wanted to go on the gambling boat, so Margie volunteered to babysit! My folks gave me a little cash for my birthday and believe it or not, I only gambled $10 in the slots and came home with the rest! For the first time, I really was not in the mood to gamble. I didnt feel lucky and wasn't willing to lose! Tommy isn't a big gambler either, so all in all, it wasn't a bad night! Although everyone agreed the food on a Saturday night is not half as good as any other night of the week!

Sunday Linda & Tony invited us all to their house for dinner. Linda is a fantastic cook, and made a yummy dinner including the pork bones my mom & I both love so much. Dad also brought a birthday cake for mom and Rachel was MORE than happy to help blow out the candles!

On Tuesday, it was my turn. My folks actually gave up their regular Tuesday night movie night, and took me out to the Chinese buffet for dinner... yum! Rach had a great time too, and decided to create her own soup concoction. Her favorite dish is Egg Drop Soup with Wontons & peel & eat shrimp! Of course, the shrimp must be carefully ripped into bite size pieces! LOL...

Then on Wednesday, my girlfriends took me to lunch... it was so nice to sit and chat with them! Wednesday was also Charlie's birthday, and we had a great night! Margie & Charlie took Rachel & I to Outback Steakhouse for dinner... I absolutely adore their "Walk-about" Creamy Onion Soup - and now, so does Rachel! She also loved my shrimp scampi! A splendid time was had by all!

Today, we are having a play date with Rachel & Margie's granddaughter Arora! The girls had a great time playing on the swings and on the slide until the rain started. Now they are inside playing so well together with the chalk board and the farm... Tommy's putting in some overtime, so maybe we will have a little spending money for our trip to Chicago! Oh yeah... we are going to spend Chinese New Year in Chicago with Victoria & Paul & the kids! I am SO SO SO excited! So we will have TONS of pictures and updates then, but that is 2 whole weeks away! I will try to be much better about posting before then! :-)

Time in a Bottle

Wow... has it really been this long since I updated this blog? Boy, that's bad! A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks...

First, I have to say congrats to our friends Margie & Charlie... they are now officially homeowners... and the best part of all is, they bought a house 3 doors down from ours!!! WOOHOO... they will get electricity tomorrow, so I guess the big move will be happening this week!

Sadly, another friend of mine lost her dad on Friday to cancer. It's times like this that makes it hard being here in Florida. I would have wanted to be up north with her...

Strange thing is, I will probably be heading up north for an extended visit. Not all for fun, unfortunately. As most of you know, I've been having some really bad issues with my neck and back, oh forever it seems... so back in August I had the first of a probable two surgeries. The Dr removed 4 discs from my neck, replaced them with plastic "cages" and then fused them all together. Unfortunately, I was recently declared a "surgical failure" (surgeons words). So right now I'm out of work on disability (no pay but hopefully my insurance will kick in soon) and the surgeon basically said he has no need to see me until I am ready to let him operate on my LOWER back... uh... yeah... right... as IF!!!! So anyway... my regular Dr wanted me to go to another neurosurgeon for a 2nd opinion... well, that guy refuses to see me. So now he says I should go outside the area for the 2nd opinion so no chance of anyone covering for anyone else..

So that being said, it looks like I might be heading up to Boston to get my 2nd opinion! That way I can stay with my family up there. If I do this, I'll take Rachel with me so Tommy doesn't have to worry about finding a babysitter. Marla volunteered to babysit for us both! LOL...

As for our little Rachie.. all I can say is wow... what a ride! This kid is more amazing every single day. She now has a pretty extensive vocabulary, and is saying several complete sentences to get her point across! Life sure is SO much easier now that we don't have to GUESS what she wants all the time!

She watches too much TV, for sure... BUT... she is really learning SO much from the shows we let her watch. Naturally, she watches Sesame Street. So, she now can count to 20, and she knows her ABC's.

She watches NiHao KaiLan, so she also knows at least 20 different Chinese words, as well as a few sentences. I have to admit, I've had to really pay closer attention to the show, because she comes out with a few Chinese words that I wouldn't have recognized otherwise! It's pretty funny, but I'm actually learning from my 2 year old! Some of her other favorites are "Max & Ruby" (which I don't really like... Ruby is just so darn bossy! LOL) and of course, she STILL loves M*A*S*H*.

We haven't really pushed the potty training issue with her. She will sometimes tell us when she has to go and other times she'll tell us when she already went. I just know that when the time is right, we will ALL know it.

Lately, she has also taken a real interest in gymnastic moves. She does sumersaults, and is ALWAYS trying to stand on her head! She is also really into climbing, and the more "Daredevil" the better! She is climbing on the furniture, but purposely going the hard way up instead of taking the normal route. She also LOVES to climb up onto my bed BY HERSELF! So, I guess I'm gonna have to find some kind of gymnastics or tumbling class or something! Sure hope they are cheap enough!

Oh, this outfit she is wearing in today's pictures is one I bought for her while we were in China. I had to let her wear it at least once before she outgrew it! LOL... trust me, it was a really close call! I was thinking of waiting until Chinese New Year, but didn't want to risk it!

Same Auld Lang Syne

On Monday, we had Margie, Charlie & all the kids over for our gift exchange. I made an extra tray of lasagna when I was cooking for mom's xmas eve party, and we actually finished just about all of it! Rachel got some really nice gifts, and so did we! It was a great evening!
Of course, the main topic of conversation had to be the fact that in just a little while, Margie & Charlie will be moving in down the block! They bought a houes 4 doors down from us! Yay!!! They should start moving in just after the New Year!

Before we went to China, my folks had started buying presents for the baby for Chanukkah. Last year, I gave her one of those presents - a cool little electric keyboard - but I never put the whole thing together... till yesterday. I finally got around to putting the stand and the seat together. There was also a microphone that came with it... Well, after putting all that together, it was as if she had a brand new toy! She LOVED the microphone! She actually would do a music countdown - grabbing the mic and saying one - two - three and then started singing into it! We have a budding rock star on our hands!

We welcomed in 2010 with our dear friends Margie & Charlie. Nothing spectacular, but comfortable. We made some finger foods, watched the ball drop, and relaxed. The boys actually had lots of work to do earlier in the afternoon, trying to install a new door in the garage. The old one had rotted away, so they were installing the new one for the past 2 days. It's looking pretty good, and Rach really enjoyed having "Unca Cha-lee" around! But poor Penny did NOT appreciate all the fireworks being shot off all over the neighborhood. She's such a whimp for a big dog!
New Years Day was a "do nothing" day... we lounged around the house, watched the Twilight Zone Marathon, and just relaxed. Heck, I never even got out of my PJ's! It was terrific. The whole family enjoyed relaxing... even
Penny! But they didn't leave any room for me!
And so, we start 2010...
I wish for all my family & friends a New Year full of peace, good health, love & prosperity...