Bowling Week #1 2016

It’s that time again. Year 9 of the Bowling league has begun.

Game #1 – 156

Game #2 – 194

Game #3 – 105

My starting average going into the night was a 152 carried over from last year, after the first night I believe it will be unchanged.

This week we played Team Fruits and Nuts, which honestly is comprised of good friends of ours so we enjoyed playing them the first night.

We took 1 points for the week putting us in 8th place to start the season.

I am still on the Board for the league this year as are the other 2 members as well as the officers remaining unchanged. I have also volunteered to run the league Facebook Page.

My goal for the year is to get as many over 200 games as I can and really work to improve my game.

 

Groundhog Day Miracle

Well we have a court date for The Kid’s adoption, this will all be over on Weds Feb 3rd.

#1049daysinfostercare #toolong #almost there.

18

My true-love hath my heart, and I have his,
By just exchange one for the other given:
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss;
There never was a bargain better driven.
His heart in me keeps me and him in one,
My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides;
He loves my heart for once it was his own;
I cherish his because in me it bides.
His heart his wound receivèd from my sight;
My heart was wounded with his wounded heart;
For as from me on him his hurt did light,
So still methought in me his hurt did smart:
Both equal hurt, in this change sought our bliss,
My true love hath my heart and I have his.

-Sir Philip Sydney

Year 18 seemed an uphill battle at times but we end it just as well as we began it. We had hoped that the adoption would have been complete by now but alas the system just moved too slow. Here’s to 2016! Wherever you may be at Midnight I raise a glass and toast you!

Christmas time was here

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is already almost a week behind us. It was a great holiday with lots of food, fun, and family. Not to mention a visit from a certain someone as you can see by the pile under the tree.

The Kid absolutely loved the song I want a Hippopotamus For Christmas and wouldn’t stop singing it so we naturally had to get him one.

Even the puppies got some gifts in their stockings, though Mabel seems to be enjoying the pheasant more than Duncan. This was taken mere minutes after giving it to her.

One of the newest ornaments on the tree this year was purchased back in June while on our trip to Lake George with the Drum Corps

This is my 3rd most favorite gift, 2nd most being the slew of graphic TShirts (one which combines the Witch below with Doctor Who) I got from the Hubby. The Kid and I have already begun playing the Lego Dimensions Game but he is mad I haven’t put the Witch and Monkey together yet. All in due time my Pretties.

Christmas Day we hoofed it up to my Brothers house to spend a mostly quiet and uneventful day there drinking and eating and laughing. The Hubby and I brought with us this lovely specimen of Meat. It was just easier to cook it at home rather than try and transport all of the outdoor cooking utensils and all the other stuff. By far one of the best Prime Ribs we have done. 

Not to be outdone in the cooking department My Dad took up the reigns and made my Brother his Birthday cake. My lucky Brother was born on Christmas day and up until my Mom passed she was always the one who made sure he got both Christmas presents and Birthday Presents separate. And the Birthday ones were always wrapped in Birthday paper. Honestly not so bad for what I think is my Dads first attempt at a character cake.

This is my favorite present of all. Not just because I bought The Hubby a matching one of Flying Pigs, but because of what it represents. Moons and Stars and Suns were my Moms thing, She had tons of them everywhere. These will remind me of her and that’s the best gift anyone could give.

I love to you the Moon and Back.

Decking the Halls

It’s the (2nd)* Most Wonderful Time of the year………  The Tree has been trimmed, and the wooden tree The Hubby made a few years back has been put out and plugged in. We had a nice afternoon as a family decorating the tree and telling The Kid about some of the ornaments and the stories behind them. He has a few of his own that he put on there as well.
  As is our tradition the The Hubby opened a couple bottles for us to enjoy while we decorated and listened to Christmas Music. The Wine decided they wanted in on the action and donned their Ugly Christmas Sweaters.

  This is one of my favorite parts of Christmas, watching the Sun and Moon card holder that sits empty 10 months of the year fill up.
  Since we had so many ornaments I had to make room for on the Tree the Mermen have been relocated to the 2 rods in the living area so they can shine bright for all to see.   Santa Merman of course gets the middle spot near the tree.
The other most important piece of Christmas and the most special decoration I have is the ceramic lighted tree. This was my Grandmothers tree, that my mother made, and keeps them both close to me during the Holidays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*The first would be Back To School Time.

Choo Choo Magoo

It’s that time again, our annual excursion to The New York Botanical Garden and then lunch on Arthur Ave in the Bronx.

It wasn’t open when we arrived at 9 but I thought it was a cute scene.

  This was one of 4 sets of bridges they constructed for the trains, all of them iconic New York Bridges.

  The above picture is the Conservatory where all of the Trains are set up within all of the plant beds. The picture doesn’t do the actual piece justice.

The above picture is a recreation of the New York Worlds Fair, although the big fan piece looks shiny but it is actually Fabric Swatches.

  I love how they captured the iconic Lions from the New York Public Library.

Back on Veterans Day we watched them installing these trees into the fountain. They came out beautifully. We did take a nice Family Photo in front of them as well.

 After we toured the Train Show, walked through the Childrens Adventure Zone, and took  Tram ride around the Garden grounds we hit the gift shop then headed on over to Arthur Ave for lunch and perusing of the meat and cheese stores.

If there was one store like this there had to be at least 5 of them. Meat curing as far as the eye could see, and it smelled heavenly.

Later in the evening we were invited to my brothers house for a little Christmas gathering he was hosting. It was a nice evening full of food, fun, and shenanigans. I saw this recipe for Christmas Tree Brownies and thought I can do that, well of course I had to add my own spin to it and add the Eyeballs, though someone asked why the trees had boobies.

Flowers, burgers, and Noodles

So to close out the staycation 2 weeks ago we had a visit to the The Botanitcal Garden on Veterans Day. We saw they were in the process of setting up the Annual Train show which started this past weekend. What we didn’t know about was the Chrysanthemum displays they had in the greenhouse.

This ornamental display was outside the greenhouse.

We also finally got to visit the Rockefeller Rose Garden, and we were presently surprised to find some roses still in bloom in November.

No trip the Bronx is complete without a trip to Arther Avenue. No only do we visit the Meat Markets and Cheese shops, we also had to get pizza for lunch. Well The Hubby and The Kid had pizza I had stromboli.

Thursday found The Kid back in school after having Veterans day off, and The Hubby and I headed out to meet a friend for lunch. We were going to meet him at his Familys Wine shop then head over to Steak and Shake for burgers and milkshakes for lunch.

We arrived to town a little earlier than expected so we wandered the street and popped into a couple stores. The above item may just end up on someones Christmas list.

This is our friend Carl who we were meeting up with. He Actually DOES work when at work.

To wrap up the final day of the Staycation we slept in, had some coffee, then went for Manicures and Pedicures. They ladies who work remembered us from the last time we were there. Afterwords we headed over to a local Thai place we haven’t been to in a very long time, and both ended up ordering the Special for lunch Drunken Noodles.

OMG They were amazing! The hubby had Shrimp and I had Chicken.

The Weekend brought us back to our normal schedule, but also found The Kid at my Brothers house for a sleepover which allowed us to both attend Gayme Night (together, on the same night even!).

Last week was an uneventful week and now we we find ourselves gearing up for Thanksgiving. Bring on the Deep Fried Pickles and Turkey!

Staycation

So the hubby and I both figured out back in October that we each had some vacation days to burn before the end of the year. He has the ability to carry over days from previous years (well in his business they count them as hours), I can’t carry over anything. Come January I get an additional 2 days of vacation to add to the mix.

Since we both had time we decided to just take a week off and do some stuff together, we of course will keep The Kid in school for the 4 days he has it. Oh and we also failed to mention to him that we were taking these days off.

Monday started with our normal weekday routine, we got up our normal time, showered, got him ready and on to the bus, I even went so far as to get in my car and drive around the block. After the bus pulled away we came back inside and had some coffee and watched a couple of our stories, then headed out to catch a mid morning showing of The Martian. We both enjoyed the movie very much, The Hubby had read the book, and mentioned a few things they may have left out. I enjoyed it for what it was a good movie with an interesting story and Matt Damons butt.

After the movie we grabbed lunch and headed home to wait for The Kids Social Worker to come over with a bunch of paperwork for us to sign to move forward with the Adoption. I know I haven’t said much but things kind of just happened within the last few weeks. Both of his Bio Parents consented to terminating their rights and signed all of those papers last Thursday. This was the best news we had heard since up until then Dad was still going to fight  and Trial dates were supposed to be this week. We hope to have this done by the end of the year but realize with holidays and the way the state moves it could be January.

Tuesday morning we went through the same motions of getting ready for work, and getting The Kid onto the bus, though instead of just driving around the block I went and picked us up some breakfast. I made a pot of coffee and we hunkered down on the couch for some PS3 time for The Hubby and a couple more stories. We then jumped in the car and headed out to the happiest place on earth IKEA! And as is the rule we walked out with a few things and spent the requisite $100. Since we were out and about we ran a few other errands as well that The Kid would have complained about.

The rest of the week is just as jam packed as the beginning, Wednesday we are visiting the NY Botanical Garden and Arthur Ave for lunch, Thursday is a lunch date to Shake Shack and a visit to our friends Wine Emporium, and I think Friday is a lot of nothing planned but who knows what the day could bring.

The weekend we are shipping The Kid off to my Brothers for a sleep over and The Hubby and I are heading to Gayme Night together for the first time in over a year. So even though we aren’t doing anything super exciting we are making the most of our time off.

Prost!

This past weekend The Hubby, The Kid, and I got the chance to hit up a local restaurants Oktoberfest offerings. We have been to this particular restaurant quite a bit, it is also the home of a monthly social gathering, which we haven’t been to in a while. This is the 3rd set of owners since the social started 2 1/2 years ago.

I was excited when I saw they were offering the special menu for Oktoberfest for the entire month of October, not just a week or 2.

  I had the Cider, Hubby had a Octoberfest Beer, and The Kid had a Shirley Temple

Naturally a Pretzel Appetizer is a must

  Here is my Best of the Wurst.
I missed getting a pic of The Hubbies Schnitzel Ala Holstein but as you can see his was just as horrible as mine was.

The Kid had some of the pretzel and then Chicken Fingers and fries. What can I do, he is still hesitant to try any new foods, but we managed to get him to the spaetzle which he liked.

Happy Gotcha Day!

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of #DanburyJr moving in with us. It’s hard to believe it has been that long (though some days it’s seems longer).

There have been many ups and downs and mood swings and craziness that has ensued over the last year. I won’t bore you with the mundane stuff like therapist visits and Bio Family stuff (though the book I could write about that shit), but there were many firsts for all of us.

The Hubby and I dealt with the first lost tooth, our first winter cold, our first fire drill of closed or delayed school openings, our first Christmas through the eyes of our own child.

Junior had his first Deep fried turkey, Christmas that was purely about him, New Years Eve party with all of our friends excited to meet him, his first Taco, his first Foster Greyhounds, along with his first Drum Corps weekend in  Lake George, Wine Tour weekend with the dogs, and his first Cruise, just to name a few things.

So now we move onward, things in the legal aspect haven’t really moved much but based on some new meetings this past week we are heading in the right direction finally.

The photo above is the best I can do right now for him on social media. This was taken on the cruise as we were getting ready to set sail.

To celebrate his Gotcha Day we are planning a dinner out and I think I will now have to make a cake. He’s a fickle one which is sometimes difficult to deal with, but we are helping to expand his horizons little by little.