Countdown To Vegas, Baby!

I've always wanted to go to Las Vegas, but I didn't think that dream would come true in the near future. That is up until last week. Jason and his softball team want to go out to Vegas for a softball tournament. Now, normally I would not be interested in a softball tournament, but this is VEGAS! This dream of mine is not going to take place until March of 2010, but it is something to look forward to. A lot of things can happen in that amount of time, so I just hope everything goes as planned.

We have gone back and forth about the travel to the Sin City, I am willing to get on a plane (it would be my first time), however, think of all the beautiful parts of the USA we would miss out on seeing! The plane ride to Vegas would be around 7 hours, and the car ride to Vegas would be 33 hours. I thought of a third option, the train (which Mason was all for!), but that took 4 days!! No thank you! So, I think we are going to rent a car and enjoy the drive, I mean, how often am I going to go that far west?

On another note, when we informed Mason that we are planning a trip to Las Vegas, he was only concerned about on thing. He wanted to know if we could hit up the local Toys R Us! I searched online and sure enough, there are 5 T.R.U's in Las Vegas! That made him happy! We plan on seeing two Cirque Du Soleil shows while we are there. The first one is 'O', the show is done in water, it is going to be amazing (like any Cirque Du Soleil show is). I can't wait to see this one!



The next show that we want to see is called KA, I watched a short clip of it and it looks SO exciting! There are other Cirque shows playing in Vegas like, LOVE, which is all Beatles songs, which I think would be amazing as well, but you only have so much time, you know?!



Well, even though it's over a year away, I still can't wait to see what Vegas holds!!

*Today's Events*

Today I spent the day at the Dogs Deserve Better headquarters and I helped out with the ebay auction. In the process I got to answer a phone call from a very irate woman who, well, let's just put it this way: She was pretty upset that she received a brochure from DDB (an educational brochure, might I add). Well, let's just say that if she were to be put on TV, this is what you would hear:___________%$##*,____________&*$#,________________*&@#______________________. Yep, you would not have been able to hear one word because the entire conversation would have been bleeped out! Then she hung up on me, I didn't even get to say a word! I hope she feels better and I hope someone steals her dogs, because she seemed so proud to have, not one, but two chained dogs!! Aside from that uplifting phone call, I sorted through all the donated ebay items in preparation for the November 20th auction start. We usually bring in about $2000 plus dollars for the dogs. Every year I make something, the item that I made last year went for $167.50. So hopefully, even though the economy is bad right now, DDB can get lots of money to help pay the ever increasing vet bills. Here is the item that I made for the auction:


Here's the back with all the months:


I had made a cookie sheet calendar awhile ago as a project for the scrapbook store that I go to and it was such a hit with the customers that Sandy (the store owner) made it into a class project! I was thrilled. So, since it was a hit there, I am hoping it will be on ebay, too. Here is the one I had made before:

Only The Best Will Do.

What is that you ask (a bad picture, maybe!)? This is THE sandwich that puts all other sandwiches to shame. Doesn't it look delicious? Can you almost smell it? Still can't tell what it is? Now, let me remind you, my taste buds are a little, let's just say, weird, so I can't say that everyone would enjoy this sandwich as much as me. Am I keeping you in suspense!! Ok, here goes. It's a grilled peanut butter and marshmallow cream sandwich, YUM, I know! The marshmallow cream has to be spread on first, now let me also say something that is of the utmost importance. The bread has to be superb. It can't be just your average store bought bread, it has to be bakery quality, or the sandwich will just not work. In this case it is stone ground whole wheat hearty rye bread from Panera. Anyway, after the marshmallow cream has warmed slightly, then it is time to sandwich together the peanut butter side, let brown lightly on both sides in the skillet and then enjoy!

So Proud Of This Kid

Tonight we had our parent/teacher conference and it was so nice to hear positive things instead of what we heard last year! Mason has made great strides in improving his behavior at school. He is above average in reading and got all 'Outstandings' in math, art, science, gym (that's tough, I'm sure!), and library. I know that at this age it's not hard to keep up in class and all it requires is a little attention span to score an outstanding on your report card, but it is such a step up from last year. His teacher also said that he is very good at using his manners! Even when she has to raise her voice to him (when he loses minutes at recess) he always says,"Ok, thank you, Mrs. Nileski."!! He is a good kid that we probably give a hard time to too often, but he's doing fine and is turning out to be a very responsible kid!

{Break It Down} Foodie Time

I am currently brewing this:

It smells FANTASTIC! I love to find new teas. I do brew it in my coffee maker, perhaps not as classy as how my Aunt Gwen brews tea, but it gets the job done! I am also getting ready to roast some veggies for lunch. On my shopping trip to Giant Eagle this morning I saw this:

I am not quite sure what it is, I am thinking it may be a turnup, but not 100% sure. It smells like a carrot, so it can't be bad, right? Nonetheless, it looked interesting. Since I was already planning to roast some asparagus for lunch, I thought I would give it a shot. I could eat roasted asparagus everyday for the rest of my life! I don't care for it many other ways, but the roasting just gives it SO much flavor. Mason likes it, too, however, Jason is not too into the mean-green veggie. Just more for me!


And now roasted:

just a little pepper, sea salt and pam @ 450 degrees for 15 minutes=deliciousness!

I also found at the store this morning Orville Redenbacher's salt & lime flavored popcorn! Oh. My. Goodness. Is that ever a combo made in heaven! I stopped eating popcorn for awhile because the fake butter chemical stuff that they put on there always made me sick. Then I got an air-popper (which gave me memories of elementary school)and it made really good popcorn, but it was a lot of work! So good old Mr. Redenbacher has come out with a line of popcorn that is all natural, just kernels, oil and salt. So, I am now back on the popcorn wagon, so to speak!

Hilarious!

On my way to work last week, I spotted this sign stuck in a tree along Rt.219 towards Johnstown. Upon closer inspection I saw that this political sign was indeed spray painted onto a car hood!! How funny is that? This is, of course, in reference to John Murtha's comments about our area {the area that KEEPS voting him in for some reason} being racist and full of rednecks. Along Rt.22 in Huntingdon, there was also a hand painted sign in the front yard of a farm house that read, "Clinging to God and Guns" in reference to B. Obama's statement that we are bitter here in central PA. Well, today is the last day to see all of those signs littering the highways and all the TV ads that you just end up tuning out anyway, so hopefully by this evening we will have a clear answer on where our country is headed in the next 4 years.

Don't Forget To Vote!

This is one of the most important elections to date. Tomorrow, history will be made, no matter who wins. The safety, welfare and security of our country is in the hands of the voters, so don't forget to get out there and vote!