Let Sleeping Dogs..........

...Sleep? Look at that face! He crawls up on the back of the couch and burrows a hole in the cushion. There is a permanent dent where he usually sleeps. After the busy weeks we've had, I don't blame him.
I'm looking forward to more sleep. The Kings home stand has finally ended. Don't get me wrong, I love the games, but they need to space them out a little more. This was the longest home stand of the year. Add to that, the free tickets to various Ducks games in my company's suite. I was going to games every night! Crazy! 4 games in 5 nights. AND I had to be at work by 6 am. Thats a 4 am wakeup call for me, people. Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not a morning person. I may be up, but I don't communicate any other way than short grunts and facial twitches. The snooze button is my friend. And I don't do people this early either. Recently, more people have started coming into the office earlier and its killing me. They want to talk, make conversation, sing, whistle and whatever else. This is my quiet time, where I get a lot of work done. Add to my usual non-morningness the fact that I'm averaging just a few hours of sleep a night and I become a serious grump.
But its HOCKEY season!

......we will return to our regularly scheduled program in June......

Much better...

I'm still exhausted, but at least the day started out better than the last one.

Want to see what made me feel better? I got to watch the pregame show from Monday's Kings game and guess what I saw? My jersey! On Fox Sports Warmup Show. Haha!!

See that slightly blurry '35' held up to the glass? That's my Jason Labarbera jersey. He was sent down to Manchester this season because Kings Brass decided to bring in a proven goaltender to be out #1. Well, that 'proven' goaltender was none other than Dan Cloutier from Vancouver.

Anyone who knows me, knows how I feel about Labarbera. He had some personal issues last year to deal with and let his game slip. He was still the best goalie we had and you could see that when he played. (My friend Brian will argue that Garon was the better goalie......).

So now we're stuck with the promise from Management and the coaching staff that Dan Cloutier is a 'proven' #1 goalie and that he is an upgrade from the Garon/Labarbera tandem we had last season. Whatever. Every once in a while, management does something that makes me seriously question them - this would be one of those things. Cloutier sucks. He just stands there. Never moves. I've even seen him duck. Yes, he actually ducked out of the way of a shot during the Dallas games. Sad.

So, Jason sits in Manchester now. I haven't given up. I wear his jersey to every game Cloutier starts. During warmups before the game on Monday, I had an idea. I should have made a sign (although there might be one at the game tonight......) to attach to my jersey that says "Someone in Manchester wants your job" and hang it right below the name on the back. For now, it was just a jersey hanging against the glass for the moron to see. It was all over the jumbotron during warmups but that is closed captioned video. I had no idea it would actually make it to the pre-game show, but there it was. A quick shot of it as Blake whizzed by. Thank God for Tivo and that awesome pause feature. I paused that puppy and took a picture for posterity. I think I might send it to him. My husband thought I was nuts as I danced around the room trying to think of the people I had to email this picture too.

What to know the funniest thing? I think the lard ass goalie saw it. He played better than I've seen him play all season during the first two periods. Of course, once Detroit scored their first goal, he suddenly froze up again and sucked. And he'll probably get the start in goal again tonight so it looks as if the Labarbera jersey is going to this game too. Normally I switch out between my many jerseys and give them all a chance, but I might have to stick with this one for a while.

Speaking of jerseys, I've got my eye on a cool replica Road jersey for Anze Kopitar. I need one. I have to have one. I can't live without one. A nice, clean, shiny #11 jersey. Mine, mine, mine. (If you couldn't hear the Smiegel (Lord of the Rings) tone in my typing, it was there. My preciousssssssss.) I've got my eye on it. And I think I might want an O'Sullivan one too, but I might wait. I have a feeling they're going to be sending him to Manchester for 'conditioning'. I'll wait till next year to get the O'Sullivan jersey.

I have to include this picture. Its the full shot of the Labarbera jersey - won in a silent auction straight off his back. That was a good day. Autographed and everything. And here's a picture of my boy! I have to try and find the good one of us together at Tip a King last year.

Ever had one of those days......

....where nothing goes right?

Not only was I subjected to less than mediocre hockey last night, but I was so upset about it, sleep eluded me. I shouldn't care. Its just a team, right? No, I've seen better from these guys and to watch them play like crapola makes me sad. Well, we're supposed to be 'reloading' this season..... Not rebuilding, reloading. At least thats the current buzz word from Kings brass.

With little sleep, I drap my sorry butt out of bed this morning and get ready. For once, I'm on time for work, however fate has a different plan for me. The normal way I go to work in the morning was blocked with an accident. The road isn't a major one, so when there is an accident, its closed down completely. Nothing is getting through there. So, I have my one other option, the major highway that is so congested now, it takes me almost 2 hours to get to work. This is why I like the early shifts - less traffic. However, since no one could take the other road, we were all forced to shared the measly 3 lane highway. :(

Not a happy camper. So I try to call the office and let them know I'll be late, but there isn't a soul in the place. Funny, there should be someone in my office 24/7 since we need to monitor servers every minute of every day. Nope, no one.

Whatever. Not my problem. Four attempts at a phone call are more than adequate. Once I finally get there, I find that my boss beat me in. Normally she saunters in around 9 so to see her sitting there at 6:30 is a bit of a shock. She's cool, knows about the commute etc and knows that I put the time in to cover.

Now, lets add to this the pile of work that gets dumped on me. We're in the middle of a huge integration getting the processes documented and approved is very time consuming. Not what I want to look at today.

Yesterday, I spent 45 minutes at Target uploading photos. Why Target and why 45 minutes? Because the Savon by my office is semi closed this week as it turns into a CVS. Fine with me, I prefer CVS anyway. Of all of my options, Savon/CVS has always been the easiest, quickest, cheapest way to get my digital photos burned to CD, printed etc when I don't have time to do it. Lately, I don't have the time. I usually spend all of 5 minutes uploading in Savon, but Target's Kodak dealy took 45. For 100 measly photos. If my cousin wasn't begging for a CD of these pictures, I wouldn't really care. But I stood there and waited. I could have been driving to the Staples Center to see my team warm up......
So, I go back today at lunch to pick them up. Not only did they forget to burn the CD, but they ran out of paper. They tried to sell me the half pack of photos. What I really wanted was the CD. Sorry, the machine is down today. Yeah, I think it was on its last leg last night. Uploading my all of 106 pictures must have killed it. So now, i have no options. I have to find some other place. Some other picture dealy to upload and print from. I stopped going to Target two years ago - I'll never be able to explain what made me think I could go back there and be happy.
I miss Savon/CVS......

With the few minutes of my lunch left, I raced over to Carls Jr for a quick burger. I'm picky, so we're talking meat and a bun. I like to apply my own ketsup - I know, I'm odd.
Do you think the lasy could get the plain burger order right? Nope. Some cutsey little Brittney Spears wannabe in her daddys Mercedes in front of me orders a burger - that was a burger with no specification as to what was on it. They gave her a burger - with the stuff on it. She gives it back to them and they promptly give her my plain burger. What do I get left with? A burger with everything on it. Probably Brittneys burger that she fondled and is now rewrapped.
I just want a plain burger. I'm almost 2 hours late for lunch because of a crappy meeting.

Not my idea of a great day. Not my idea of a great post after nothing for the last 3 weeks right? Sorry. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.........

A mountain of challenges....

from 2 peas. I just went through the challenges from the last two weeks and updated the blog.

9/6 Challenge

What handmade items are you making for Christmas this year? Anything? Any Ideas?

I made my own cards last year and never got a chance to send them out. My FIL died in a fire before Christmas, so the holidays weren’t so cheerful. I luckily have them ready to go for this year and just need to stick a family photo in them.
The only other thing I plan on making are small scrapbooks for my family. I retyped the quizzes from the Simple Scrapbooks Quizzes book and passed them out to everyone. This will be their gift from me.

9/7 Challenge

You love to scrapbook. You love to create something with paper. With all the cool papers out there, or the ones you already have, what is something on your heart you really wanna start… an album, a layout, a project – anything…!!!

I have too many things. I’m trying really hard to get caught up on all of my trip pictures. I’m about 3 years behind. And my dogs album is behind. I just started a book of “us” that I need to start doing pages for as well. I have hundreds of ideas and haven’t really sat down to work on them.

9/8 Challenge

What do you do when you are feeling down… to get your spirits lifted?
Exercise?
Music?
Friends?
TV?
Reading?

It depends on what I’m doing, where I’m at and what I have access too. And who is with me. I really love to just relax and cuddle up with Rascal. He always makes me feel better. Like Charles Schultz said “Happiness is a warm puppy.”

9/9 Challenge

Blog about your top 5 fave songs right now.. and your top 5 latest movies you’ve seen…

5 Songs:

Hate Me by Blue October
Anything by the Killers
Steady as she goes – Raconteurs
For you I will & These Walls – Teddy Geiger
Juicy – Better than Ezra
Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol
(Okay, more than 5 but these are the ones on repeat on the Ipod, so they must be my favorites.)

Movies – that would actually imply I go to the movies. Everything I see is through Netflix and is several months old.
Curious George
Sisterhood of the traveling pants
Eddie and the Cruisers (I know, its old, but it’s a good one that I just recently saw for the first time)
Casanove
Finding Neverland


9/10 Challenge

A challenge about what you believe in.
What things in life, do you know.. FOR SURE?? As Oprah would say…

I know that family is the only sure thing in life. No matter what.


9/11 Challenge

Answer this question…
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were younger?

That my mother WAS right. That you turn into your mother at some point. To enjoy every day to the fullest when you’re young because once you’re an adult, life isn’t all its cracked up to be. Yesterday I was 18 wishing I was older and now I’m pushing 30 wishing I could turn back the clock.

9/13 Challenge

If I had a motto, it would be:

Uhm…….


9/14 Challenge

Autumn Season
What do you do for this season around your home?
Do you decorate for the season? And if so, what do you use..how do you decorate??

I have a box full of stuff to decorate my home, but I haven’t pulled in out in two years. I fully decorated my home the first year we were in it, but since then, I haven’t done much. Where I live, there isn’t much of a change of seasons and that kind of kills holiday spirit. I usually go back to New York to get in the mood for Christmas because So Cal doesn’t exactly offer a holiday atmosphere.
I don’t have any plans other than to carve some pumpkins this year.

9/15 Challenge

What kind of simple things do you like to surround yourself with? And why?
What ordinary items in your life give you the great comfort and/or joy?

My dog. The little piggy faced pug that follows me around the house waiting for me to drop treats as I cook. The one who follows me into every room because there might be an adventure and he never misses a good adventure.

9/16 Challenge

Who is to blame? Who got you hooked on Scrapbooking.

My friend and old neighbor Karen. I saw a little puppy dart out her door one day that looked just like mine. After a few minutes, I realized that we both had pugs. She invited mine down for a play date. As we got to know each other, she started telling me about scrap stuff and then we visited a store. It was all over after that. She now owns her own store – which is one of the premier stores in So Cal.

9/17 Challenge

Food Preferences:
--How do you take your coffee/tea? Lots of sugar and cream. I don’t do coffee and only drink tea when I’m sick
--How do you like your eggs? Blech. If I do eat them, scrambled and very well done. I can’t do runny or wet eggs.
--Favorite breakfast foods: Glass of milk or bowl of cereal (I know, I’m boring.)
--Coke or Pepsi? Either. I don’t care. For a more politically correct answer, it would be Pepsi.
--You’re feeling lazy. What do you make? A bowl of cereal.
--You’re feeling really lazy. What kind of pizza do you order? – Always pepperoni and extra cheese
--You feel like cooking. What do you make? In the winter, I love a good roast or stew. Any other time, teriyaki chicken or pork.
--Do any foods bring back good memories? Anything made at Christmas. I love baking with my grandmother.
--Do any foods bring back bad memories? No.
--Do any foods remind you of anyone? Home made ice cream – reminds me of summer holidays with my family
--Is there a food you refuse to eat? That list is too long to even start…..
--What was your favorite food as a child? Another long list….
--Is there a food you hated as a child but now love? I’m such a picky eater, its just not funny.
--Is there a food you loved as a child but now hate? See answer to the last question.
--Favorite junk food. Anything Chocolate
--Favorite dessert? Anything chocolate.
--The perfect nightcap? Anything chocolate.
--Do you have any weird food habits? I’m picky. If I don’t know what it is, I don’t put it in my mouth.


9/19 Challenge

Share one of your favorite cold weather/fall recipes.

Beef Stew

Boil 4 cups of water with 2 Bay leaves and onion soup mix
Add stewing beef and simmer for an hour or until meat starts to get tender.
Add a cup (or more) of barley and simmer for 2 hours.
Add potatoes and celery
Add 2 tbs of Worcestershire sauce
Simmer until celery kind of dissolves and the sauce is getting thicker
Add salt and pepper to taste
About an hour before serving add chunks of potatoes that are cut in large squares.
Simmer until the potatoes start getting soft
Add baby carrots and simmer until they are soft but not mushy (unless you like them mushy) They should be fresh, just a little cooked.
At the last minute, add a bag of frozen peas.

Serve.

I just throw everything in and let it go all day, adding the vegetables at the end. The longer you cook it, the more tender the meat will be.


9/21 Challenge

How did you meet your significant other.

We actually worked together at Frito Lay. I had a good relationship with a lot of the other guys there, but he was too shy. He used to keep to himself so I made it a challenge to get him to talk to me. I’d find things to talk to him about. Two of the women I worked with stated hinting around (I had no idea they were doing this, but they knew I had a crush) to him about me and finding things out about him. About a month before the company Christmas Party, he asked if I was going and that maybe we could go together. I accepted before he finished the question. Our first date was the next weekend. We saw a movie and had dinner at an Italian restaurant. That was 8 years ago this November!


9/22 Challenge

Blog about your hair. The good, the bad and the plain ugly.

I should have pictures to post. I have naturally stick straight hair that I hate. Its not just straight, but flat. Imagine a really ugly hippie with flat hair. It parts in the middle no matter what I do. Since I love curly hair, I take the time and spend the money for a perm. Its really kinky curly right now and I LOVE it. Its starting to relax and looks awesome.


9/24 Challenge

Blog about your favorite fragrances. What do you love smelling/wearing as a perfume? What do you love to smell as a room spray in your home?

I love Bath and Body works Gardenia, Pear Blossom and Coconut Lime Verbena. I have the shampoos and conditioners that match the body washes and sprays.
For home scents, I love Yankee Candles or the candles that have a strong scent. I usually stock up on a bunch of scents and then burn them one by one. Right now, I love their citrus scents they came out with this summer. I have a Buy 2 get one free coupon that expires this week……. Might be time to stock up again.

2007

Well, we took advantage of the great discount on booking future cruises on the boat. $300 shipboard credit and a smaller deposit. We have all of 2007 booked. A coastal cruise in May up to Vancouver and a 15 day cruise, round trip to Hawaii in September.
I'm trying to convince Bryan to book 2008.........

Poland

Not sure why everyone makes fun of the Polish.....
Very nice country, nicer than in some of the other places I've been this week. Saw the best castle yet on this trip - Malbork castle. Had lunch there. It was a Teutonic Knight castle built in the 12th century.

On our way to Oslo now - the last stop. One day at sea and then we stop in Oslo and then back to Copenhagen. Can't believe its over already. Well, 3 more days of feasting and then its over.

Had to check the Kings pre-season schedule and I was VERY happy to read that they beat the Ducks last night 7-1. My Jason Labarbera stopped all 10 shots he faced. Garon stopped 13 of the 14 he stopped and Cloutier stopped all of his. Thats my boy, Jason. He'll be the #2 goalie this year. He should be.
I'm going to miss Frozen Fury 9 in Vegas - should be a good one. But I'll be back in time to see the last home pre-season game on the 25th. At last, hockey is back!

From Russia with love.

I love Russia. What a country. I wasn't ready to leave - I know there is so much more to see. I'm thinking about one of those river cruises now. Maybe 2008 (2007 is all booked up). A trip down the Volga River. Yeah, sounds like fun. Now I just need to convince my husband that its a good idea.

I saw Yusopov's Palace today - where Rasputin was murdered. Church on the Spilled Blood where Alexander II was assasinated, ate lunch at a place called "The Last Palace" where I had beef stroganoff. The story behind the meal was that some rich person named Stroganov was too old and couldn't cut his own meat. So they made the dish with sliced beef and boiled potatoes for him. At least thats what the guide told me. Makes for interesting stories.

Visited the Hermitage Museum. Now there is a museum. They said it would take you 7 years - going 7 days a week and spending 1 minute on each painting/piece of art etc to see everything. We got the quick tour. Some amazing stuff in there.

And now we're cruising out of the city headed for Estonia. Now there is a place I never thought I'd visit, but now that I've done some research on it, I'm excited. This is one heck of a cruise and I highly recommend it to anyone.

Definitely spend some time in Copenhagen either at the beginning or end of the tour.
Now if only I was booked on the extension of this cruise. After dropping off in Copenhagen, it heads home to New York. 15 days and it stops in several ports in England, Scotland and Ireland. I might have to quit my job - anything beats flying home......