Ahhhh. I wish every weekend was like that!; Progress on "Marty"

Well, Tom, Lisa, Dean and I had a great weekend away! Oh and the dogs did too! As I posted previously, we went to the Holiday Inn in Uniontown for the weekend and made the trek up the "mountain" to Nemacolin Woodlands Resort (http://www.nemacolin.com/) for dinner, drinks and to see the Fabulous Gunslingers (http://www.fabulousgunslingers.com/). Since we just ate at the bar where the band was playing, the menu, of course, was bar food. Wings, Nachos, Pizza, Steak or Grilled Chicken Salads, etc. Dean and I got a Pizza that was huge and an order of Nachos that came with everything-Chili, Salsa, cheese, black olives and chives all piled on top of a liberal helping of chips. Our server, Tia, was incredible. A very nice, perky but not to the point of annoying, (which was a feat in itslf since she had worked since noon that day!) girl who kept checking on us and never let our glasses empty. She was also very knowledgable about the attractions on the property which she told us is part of their training which is two weeks long.
Then we moved to the bar side of the establishment to get seats near the band. We let Tia know and it was not a problem. The only seats however, were at the front side of the mechanical bull ring. So we took 4 stools. Then a table in the back opened up, and we moved again, letting Tia know about yet another move. Still not a problem.

Then it was time for the band to go on! Yea! They tuned up, did sound check, then Danger from Froggy Radio (http://www.froggyland.com/) introduced them and they rocke the house! Halfway through the 1st set, they do a song called "Dance With Me Tonight". I freaked. That is a song from one of my favorite movies "That Thing You Do" with Tom Hanks starring and directing! When they took their break between ets, Scott (the lead singer) asked me how they did! I said wonderful and told him how geeked I was about "Dance With Me Tonight". He said that they are putting it on the new CD. Now I am even more geeked and ask him to play it again. So, guess what the last song of the evening was? Yep, it sure was!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch..........Tia's shift was over at Midnight. She told Dean who would be taking over for her, but I couldn't hear what she said. She said she could leave our tab open and we could just settle at the end of the night. So, we gave her a cash tip right then and there.
I am glad we did, because whoever was supposed to take our table over, we never saw till last call. We had been going to the bar ourselves to get our beverages. So, when they announced last call, Lisa made her way to the bar once more to get our drinks. So, we told her we already got ours. She asked if we had a tab and we told her our names so she close out the bill. Our total, including the food.........$31.00. Tom and Lisa's including food..........$38.00! Neither of us added a tip to the bill. Why should we tip when we got no service from the second girl?

Now to back up to Friday night. We all got to the hotel and unpacked and dean and I went to dinner. Ponderosa, which is usually very good there in Uniontown, was mediocre at best.
Then we went back to the hotel and we all headed to the pool/hottub area. We played ing te pool, then drank some. They had beer, I had Sangria. I drank half a bottle! It ws fun, sitting aroud the pool, drinking, enjoying the hottub. We met a nice couple, Stormy and Todd. So we talked to them quite a bit. The pool are closed at 11 on the weekends, so the hotel employee or guard or whatever he is told us we had to go. And by the way, you are not allowed to have alcohol inside the fence of the pool area. Oops. We didn't see a sign, so we didn't know. I don't think he would have said anything if it hadn't been for the empty beer can pyramid Tom, Dean and Lisa made on the table. 50 beer cans makes a hell of a pyramid!

So, we made our way back to our rooms, and I dried off and put my pj's on. Then the three of them decide to go to the bar. My stomach was hurting from the half bottle of Sangria on top of that mediocre dinner, so I didn't go. Those 3 closed the bar. I was asleep. Dean said the bar bill was $27.00. Now, one would think that the 5 star resort bar bill on Saturday would have been substantially more then the one at the bar at the Holiday Inn. I guess they figure that with the rooms being over $300 a night at Nemacolin, they down't want you to pay out the wazzoo for food and drinks at the bar............

We had a great weekend! Alot of fun had by all. I wish we could live like that every weekend. I'll post pictures once I upload them from the memory card and edit them..................
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Henry Michael, who I have now decided to call Marty since he was born on MLK day, was a week old on Monday and went to the pediatrician for a check up. He grew a 1/2" and lost 2 ounces. So, he weighed 6:12 at the doctor's and was 19 1/2" long. Mom and baby are doing well and Jordan loves his little brother. He can't say Baby Henry, so it comes out Baby Honey. Too Cute!
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PS. On Tuesday, I called and talked to the Food and Beverage Manager at Nemacolin. She told me they were all having a meeting on Friday and that the issue of the take over would be addressed. It's a 5 star resort after all! We shouldn'thave even noticed a difference in service from one girl to the next!

FYI Nemacolin is owned by Joe Hardy who owns the 84 Lumber Company. He is now 84 years old and on his 4th wife. the last 3 all were in their early 20's. His first wife died a few years back and he has been looking for another to love him for who he is not his money. Good Luck with that!

He's Heee-eeeere

Henry Micheal was born today, January 21, 2008 at 11:05 a.m. He is 19" long and weighed in at 6 lbs. 14 oz.! Since his father's name is Henry, and I just can't see naming this baby Henry, I am going to call him T.C. for Too Cute! Henry is too old fashioned a name for my taste.

Pap-pap, The new big brother, Jordan and T.C.




Mom and new baby. Her blood pressure is out of whack, but baby is fine and dandy!





Dad and namesake. I am glad that they gave him Dean's middle name for his middle name.



And a close up. Granny was holding him here.

So, that's our new grandson. Sara is nursing him, but I don't know for how long. She tried nursing with Jordan, but he wouldn't latch on + he was lactose intolerant. Hopefully she will have more success this time 'round. I hope for her sake, it's the last time 'round. Two kids is enough.

Jordan had his first overnite stay with us at 2 weeks old. If she is successful at nursing this one, it may be a while longer before I can get my hands on him................

But he is a beautiful baby. And healthy with all his fingers and toes. While we were at the hospital this evening, he had hiccups, sneezed and made a good poop that I got to clean up. It's fun to be the Nani.

You should read directions; getting over Christmas; Going away

Well, I promised to post some pictures from Christmas that I took with my new camera, but when I uploaded them to the computer, they are all blurry. So, after taking ALL those pictures, I then decided to read the book in more detail than just reading to get started. I was just pushing the shutter button all the way down, rather than halfway and waiting for the little purple do flicky to show itself to tell me it has focused, then pushing it all the way down. So, I won't disturb you with the out of focus, dark, grainy pictures. When the book says read thoroughly before using your new camea, you should listen.
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We have finally put most of Christmas away. Everything that gets stored here in the house is put away. The tree and the village are still up, but they get stored in the shed and since it has been really could the last few days, We will wait to put that stuff away for a few more days till it goes back up in the 30's or so.
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This coming weekend, we are going to Winterfest at Nemacolin Woodlands. We tried to get a townhouse on the Nemacolin property for the weekend about a month ago or more, but they were all booked. Even the big double rooms were booked. Since Tom and Lisa are going too, we wanted to bunk together. So we are staying at the Holiday Inn in Uniontown and we will drive up the mountain to Nemacolin. Why are we going there? The Fabulous Gunslingers are playing, silly! The Holiday Inn has a great indoor pool and hot tub and a great poolside area. All indoors! Now that I know how to work the camera with pictures in focus, I will take some and post them when we get back!
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On another note: Dean and I will become grandparents again tomorrow. Sara is having her second child via scheduled C-section. Jordan will be getting a little brother. His name will be Henry Michael. I will call him Michael. I cannot bring myself to to call that child Henry. That is his father's name. Michael is for Dean who's middle name is Michael. I wanted her to name him Michael Dean, but for some reason she insists on pleasing that loser boyfriend of hers. It's not the children's fault and I have to remember that.
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Sorry for the lapse in blogging. Time seems to slip away from me..............

A sad thing; Two for two; A funny thing happened on the way to.....

I went to the funeral for my friend Pam's sister, Michele. It was sad. As all funerals are. The family and friends gather to pay tribute and or say goodbye to their loved one. It has to be the hardest thing at that moment to have to say goodbye. Pam was inconsolible when it was time to go to the other room for the service. All I could do was hug her as did her husband. She just didn't want to leave her sister. I so understand that. It's so hard to say goodbye. I do have to say that the funeral home did a nice job on her. She looked like I remember her. I think the last time I saw her was at her parents' house right after she got married. I was at her wedding too. She got married the summer after my mom broke her hip. I feel so sorry for her little girl. She looks so much like her mom and really reminds me of her when she as that age and Pam and I hung out together in jr. high and high school. And that's all I have to say about that.
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Well, it's playoff time! As you have seen on a much earlier post, we have a football pool at work every week and it continues in the playoffs. I won last weeks pool with one wrong (just about everyone else had one wrong as well) and I won on points! After yesterdays games with Green Bay and the NE Pats being victorious I am 2 for 2! I need the Colts and the Giants to win today! alot of people at work took Dallas, but I thing NY can beat them. Eli is not Peyton, but hopefully he got some advice from big brother..........
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Well, it once again is mid January and the annual Pittsburgh RV show was in full swing this past week. It started on the 5th and runs through today. Dean and I have made it a tradition to go check things out every year as we plan to buy a new camper once the truck is paid off in 2 years. You can really get a deal with some of the RV show specials! So, we parked in the lot at the beginning of the Strip District and saved $5 on parking at the Convention center. So we walked from the car and a funny thing happened on the way to the RV show. We crossed the street, went around the back of half of the building (the building has a road that goes through the middle of the bottom floor)and went to cross the street and as we stepped on to the street to cross, my foot landed on one of the expansion joints in the concrete! You know how they fill them with that gray, rubbery stuff? Well, it gave and my ankle turned pretty good! I stumbled, but luckily Dean and I were holding hands and he was at least able to stop me from landing on my face! I thurt and I limped for a good while, but I was a trooper and went in to the show and looked at tons of RV's! Over 4 hours worth! We did stop to have a dog and fries, but kept water bottles with us and just chugged along. I must say that we have gotten more picky about the ones we actually go in and check out. The ist year we went, we went in just about all of them! Now, we don't go into fifth wheels cause our truck can't tow 99% of them, or travel trailers with bunk rooms, cause we don't have any kids that go with us. We just need a Queen bed, a big bath, a nice kitchen area with work space so Dean can do what he does best-be the chef-and I nice living area. We saw quite a few that fit the bill and the monthly payment was what we are looking for-about helf of what the truck payment is. Since our unit is 30 years old, we know they can last a long time with the right maintenance and care!
Back to my ankle. When we got home and I took my shoes off, is when it stared to hurt. It was swollen, so Dean wrapped it in an Ace Bandage for me. I took an 800mg Motrin and kept it propped up on the couch. We watched the football games and had dinner and then while Dean was watching the midget cars on PPV, I fell alseep. I woke and he told me I was snoring, so it wasn't long and I went to bed. The ankle feels better today, not aching, but when I put weight on it, it feels like something in there is pinching slightly. I'll stay off of it today and then it should be fine..........

Wish me luck on today's games! We used the Pats/Jags game for points and I only took 49 total points. 30 to 21 = 51 points. I might be okay there. I think alot of people took 52 or more..............

What is going on in the world?

Or should I say what in the world is going on? Today, one of the girls that work in the back at Parker called and said her fiance' died. He was 44 years old. She had called off work today because she didn't feel well, and since he is a landscaper for a cemetery, he doesn't work in the winter, so he was home. She said he has been coughing and hacking lately and she has been urging him to go to the doctor or to the ER. He wouldn't do either. So, he went into the bathroom today and she heard a thump like he had fallen. She went to check and couldn't get the bathroom door open cause he had collapsed right in front of it. She finally was able to force the door open enough to get to him and he gasped twice and then quit breathing. She called the paramedics, but the could not revive him after working on him for 30 - 45 minutes. They had to call the coroner.

Then after dinner, I check my emails. There's one from my life long friend, Pam. Her sister, Miki (Michele is her right name), who is 9 1/2 years YOUNGER than us, died suddenly yesterday of what turned out to be a brain aneurysm. 37 years old and just gone. She would have been 38 in June. She and her husband Jim, have a daughter, 9 years old. How sad for both. I called Pam and got the details. Jim and Miki had no life insurance, no money, nothing. They couldn't find a funeral home that would take her. Finally Pam's daughter who has a friend that works at Henney's in South Park said they would give her a proper service. But again, they had no money, so it will be a 1 hour viewing with a short service afterward then she will be cremated.............

You just never know when your number will be up. So live life like your number is up next.
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On another note.....I had my 100th post!! What a milestone!It was my post from last Thursday. It says it 101, but a while back I had a post with nothing on it because I thought the post I was trying to post didn't post, so I re posted only to realize later that it actually posted and the second attempt was a blank post. My nephew had commented "Boy, when you have nothing to say, you really have nothing to say!"......

I know, I know; A fast Christmas vacation; Happy New year to you too!

Well, so much for not having that lapse in blogging. I had every intention of jotting in this or that while my sister was here, but it just didn't happen. I didn't want to spend time away from her and after she went to bed, I was too tired to even think of posting............

Christmas day was such a whirlwind. Dean and I got up and dressed and opened our gifts to each other. He got a PS2 with extra controller and 3 games, an Earnhardt, Sr. TV table for the camper so he doesn't have to use the step stool for a table when we sit outside, chocolate covered nuts, a christmas apron since he IS the cook, and just to be funny, I got him the Reynolds zip loc gizmo that suck the air out of the freezer bags. We have a FoodSaver, but when you only have to do a little meat sometimes, it's a pain to drag that out. I got a Hitachi DVD recorder/camera. It is so cool cause it takes stills and video on dvd. I got chocolate covered pretzels, body wash and hair clippies. Then he went and got Sara, Jordan and Henry so we could do Christmas with them. While he was gone, I brought out their presents and straightened up so the mess was kept in tow. Jordan had a great time, but he is such a neat gift unwrapper. He tears the paper and hands you each piece that he rips off. He seemed to really like his toys once they were out of the box. He tried to ride his tricycle, but his legs are a bit short and he can't pedal yet. His mom and dad took him on the back street to try and ride it. He didn't want to come back in when it was time! We had dinner and Jordan played some more while I tried out the new camera on my favorite subject for photographing--Jordan of course! Then Dean took them all home and I cleaned up again and just relaxed the rest of the evening and the next day. My sister was coming the next day and to my surprise my son came into town! He was staying at my brother's, so I went Thursday morning to see him and we went to lunch, I took him for a haircut, and bought him some personal items he needed. Then we headed back to my brother's so we were there and ready when it was time for all of us to go to the airport to pick up Dar! I didn't think that the car was going fast enough! We had about 15 minutes before Dar would be there, so we parked and went down by baggage claim to meet her! I kept pacing and pacing. Then--there she was coming down the escalator! I ran to her and hugged and hugged her! We went and found Bill and Nick and waited for the bags to come off the plane. Then back to Bill's for a bit and then home. She stayed with Dean and I through Sunday and the rest of the week with Bill and Patty. She said she had to be fair, but I DON'T THINK SO! Saturday, we just hung out then went to get Jordan and he opened his presents from Aunt Dar. Then we all went to see Dar's friend Dorothy and she put out quite a spread! Everything was delicious!. Jordan played with Dorothy's grandchildren's box of toys and had a blast. He wasn't feeling good, he had been sick at his tummy the night before, but was pretty well behaved. Back home and Jordan spent the night. Sunday we went to Kohl's and I got new shoes, and then Toys R Us so Dar could get Jordan's birthday present and a gift for the soon to be little brother of Jordan. We took Jordan to his other granny's and then we went to Walmart and the store. Back home in time for the Steeler game and Bill and Patty to come over so we all could have Christmas together. That was ok, but some things were discussed about Nick that maybe should have been for another time. It ripped my heart out! I love Nick with all my heart, but some things from the past I am not ready, and may never be ready, to forget. I will help him when I can, he is my kid, but I cannot live with him or have him in my house. Anyway, we had a nice dinner and got great gifts from one another! Then they took my sister and went home.
Sometime in the middle of the night, a stomach bug hit me with avengence! I ran to the toilet all night, just so sick at my stomach. Got done with that, and then dry heaves. Then the other end had to have a turn. TMI, I know. So, I just spent the day in bed. So sick. And just tired and feeling wrung out. I was going to try to venture to the party we planned on going to, but the hosts cancelled because they had the same bug! So, here we are, New Year's Eve, and I slept through it! In the middle of the night, about 24 hours after I first got sick, Dean started. So, he was sick New years' day! Happy New Year to you, too! I went and spent the evening over my brother's so as to spend more time with my sister. Then again on Wednesday. It was back to work for me and Dean today. And Dar flew home. (Yeah, I bet her arms are tired) So, it was a very fast Christmas vacation! I can't wait for this year's!

I will post pictures as soon as I figure out the new camera a bit more. Plus, my all in one printer fried, so, I have to get a new one so I can upload the stills from the memory card.........Sheesh. Tomorrow's Friday already. That's a good thing. I AM NOT doing anything this weekend but go bowling.........