Anozzer sonny day in Ocean City

I know it's rude to start out with an inside joke...but I did. Kev has a friend from childhood that had some vacation videos of Ocean City. On a particularly overcast day, one of the videos shows his friend saying in a defeated, hopeless voice "Anozzer sonny day in Ocean City." Kevin usually says this to me when I am in a bad mood.

I am not, however, in a bad mood - but we had our traditional run-of-the-mill crazy weekend around here, which gave me the sense that it was just "anozzer" crazy weekend. We had pizza with some Casey family on Friday to celebrate my cousin Colleen's birthday. Saturday Kevin had to head out to Etown for a meeting at 11 a.m., then back to pick me up and off to a wedding in Delaware at 4:30. Late night for me prepping for my MK holiday open house on Sunday, which was a long (and successful) day as well.

Speaking of that - here's a shameless plug for myself. If you missed the open house or would like to order holiday gifts and get started early on your list, e-mail me THIS WEEK and I can get your order in to the holiday one. Things are going fast, and I bet you could knock a few people off your list with some items from our offerings. There are many nice gift sets and I love all of our products.

Shop online at www.marykay.com/jbonner8

Happy Shopping!

A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum

Today at work, we lost water. Apparently there was a main break in the township, cutting off water to our building. "Well," I though, "I'll have go to across the street to the other building to use the bathroom," which in and of itself is a pain. Then we heard all our buildings on this side of campus were without water. Suddenly, though I hadn't had anything to drink yet, I had an uncontrollable urge to pee - and I couldn't!!

I ran home to take care of my situation (15 min. door to door commute has many perks) and run another errand. When I returned, portable toilets had been set up outside and 30 cases of water were in our lobby. I was impressed by the speed with which my company responded and the way they kept us informed.

However, I'm not peeing in a port a pot in a dress and heels. Or ever if I can help it.

Fall Blogthings

The Blogthings Web site that I use for my quizzes has a bunch of festive fall ones up - I took a few and here are the results:

You Are Apple Cider

Smooth and comforting. But downright nasty when cold.

What Part of Fall Are You?

Your Halloween Costume Should Be

A Girl Scout

What Should You Be For Halloween?

Your Vampire Name Is...

Phoebe of Turkey

What's Your Vampire Name?

I am Butterfinger

They call you sticky fingers for a reason!

What Kind of Candy Are You?

You Are Not Scary

Everyone loves you. Isn't that sweet?

How Scary Are You?

Chicken club wreath

This weekend our friends Allison and Pat visited on Sunday and we had a nice lunch. This menu is from Pampered Chef, so it's nothing unique, but it got rave reviews from the test audience so I thought I would share, at least for Allison to replicate it!!



3 c coarsely chopped cooked chicken (I cooked in grill pan with paprika, S&P)
4 slices bacon, crisply cooked, drained and chopped
1 c (4 oz) shredded Swiss cheese, divided
1/3 c mayonnaise
1 tsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp snipped fresh parsley (I used 1/2 this amount, dried)
1 garlic clove, pressed
2 plum tomatoes, sliced
1 egg white, lightly beaten
2 containers crescent rolls

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In bowl, combine chicken, bacon, 3/4 c cheese, mayonnaise, mustard, parsley, garlic; mix well.

Make desired shape with cresent rolls (this link shows one shape which is nice if you only have a jelly roll pan but we made the wreath). To do this, unroll 2 8oz packages refrigerated crescent rolls; separate into 16 triangles. Arrange eight triangles in circle on large round baking stonewith wide ends 3 inches from edge of baking stone and points toward the outside. Points will extend off the edge of the baking stone. Arrange remaining triangles in center of baking stone, matching wide ends with triangles already in place. Points will overlap in center.

Using roller, roll over seams of triangles where wide ends meet, creating a smooth surface for filling. Do not seal center triangles.

Using large scoop, scoop filling evenly over dough in continuous circle. Top with tomato slices. Beginning with last triangle placed in center of baking stone, bring point of triangle straight across filling. Next bring point of opposite outside triangle diagonally across filling, covering point of previous triangle. Filling will show. Repeat, overlapping points of inside and outside triangles to form a wreath. Tuck last end under first.

Brush with egg white and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 25-30 mins or until golden brown. Yields 8 servings.

100th Post

In celebration of reaching the 100th post marker, here is a little video that we saw while we were up late watching the Phighting Phils on Saturday night. I haven't caught SNL in a while, but this was really cute

Rolf & The Swedish Chef

I'm Hatin It

As some of you know (and for those of you that don't, my dear husband will be glad to tell you), I have an addiction to McDonald's. I know it's not healthy, but it's very hard for me to skip those golden arches when I am driving by. It's especially awful when I'm in a rush or have had a bad day - I just want to drown my sorrows in a warm burger with tangy pickles, salty fries and a cold drink.

I think my addiction stems from senior year of high school when I had night classes at Gwynedd-Mercy College as part of the Diocesan Scholar Program. I would leave school, hit up the Mickey D's on High St. in Pottstown and get a cheeseburger, small drink and small fry for $2.22. I remember the price being wonderful for my budget. And because I did this repeatedly, I think I created an addiction.

That was when I weighed 118 pounds soaking wet. Fast forward to now, when I weigh...considerably more. Ahem. I cannot afford to eat this junk (or "rental food" as my dad calls it - because your body doesn't really "own" it; the food just rents and then gets evicted quickly) not because of my budget, but because of my body. I have resisted watching Supersize Me because everyone says you will not eat McDonald's after you watch that and I didn't want to know how it was affecting my body. I've ignored Kevin's rants about the total caloric intake of one meal there. I've hidden the paper bags deep in our trash can or thrown them out in public places so no one knows I ate it.

Yesterday, I had to get another blood test. It was no fun, took an hour and resulted in two stuck arms (my veins are roll-y and tough). I felt this deserved a trip to see Ronald.

Four hours later, I was paying for it. Seventeen hours later, I'm still feeling the effects.

So I'm telling you all in print - I will NOT be taking another trip to McDonald's anytime soon. I will only eat there if it is the last fast food joint on earth (which it may very well survive a nuclear holocaust). I will no longer make it my go-to location for depression or anxiety. I will add Supersize Me to my Netflix queue.

Please help keep me honest!

Cheers and Jeers

In the spirit of TV Guide's "Cheers and Jeers" section, here is our weekend in a nutshell.

Cheer - the biggest cheer, obviously, is that the Phillies won the NL East. I can't believe I'm at a point in my life where that is my biggest cheer, but it is! We attended the game on Friday night with Kevin's brother Brian. The atmosphere at the stadium was very exciting, even if that game wasn't that thrilling.

Jeer - on the way home from the game, we were downtown on a narrow street and hit a curb, immediately deflating one of the rear tires on my car. We had to change the tire on Sansom St. The only thing that makes this kind of a cheer is that I didn't have to change the tire myself, I had two able-bodied young men to do it for me. This means I also spent Saturday morning and money we didn't anticipate on 2 new tires.

Cheer - another big cheer is that my friend Sandy had her twins on Saturday! They are early, they are little, but they are all doing well. Very exciting!

Cheer - in other twin news, my twin cousins slept over on Saturday night. Nothing too exciting, but it is always nice to see them since they have such busy schedules.

Jeer - due to the flat tire on Friday night, and the sleepover on Saturday night, I was tres fatigue on Sunday. Kevin also had a long weekend of home remodeling (@ his parents), bachelor parties and golf. We did not see each other much.

Cheer - another big cheer is that my dad solved our tile finishing issue on Saturday. We just have not got that project done because I was unhappy with the caulk finish I had planned. We devised a wood trim solution, but in the end, a different brand of caulk was all we needed. The master caulker went to work, and now the tile project is (almost) done. A clear sealer will be applied, a table will be purchased for the kitchen, and our kitchen work order will officially be closed. Before and after pictures will be posted.

That wraps it up! Have a good week!