Cutness

The world's cutest nephews, Anthony and Noah, looking intently at whatever was on the television. I miss them so much and wish that I could see them every day. They are growing up way too fast and I would love it if they would stay this little for just a bit longer. Too bad they don't seem to want to oblige their dear Aunt Manda and instead they just keep growing and getting bigger. I suppose, though, no matter how big they get, they'll always be my little noodles.

Briefly

I've only enough energy for a wee little post tonight. I've been a little sad today. I learned this morning that a friend of my dad's passed away a few days ago and his funeral was today. He used to work with my dad and I was introduced to him years ago. My dad told me to call him "Uncle Jack" even though he's no relation. He was a cool dude and my dad thought highly of him. And, while I really didn't know him well, I'm saddened by his death...mostly because I'm sad for my father losing his friend. I hate the thought of my dad being sad, I hate death, and I hate the fact that I'm crying right now and I don't exactly understand why the tears are falling. Maybe it's stress-plus-death-plus-whatever else is in my head. Or maybe it really is just because it hurts me to know that my daddy lost his friend and is sad. I think I'm too sensitive sometimes.

In True Stick-Figure Fashion...

...I present to you my brother. He is tall and clearly upside down. My mother saw this and said he looks like an upside-down stick figure. I agree. I'm also envious of his ability to do a headstand, as I haven't been able to do one since my younger and much lighter days. Hahaha...his feet are just sticking out. It makes me laugh.

I Skipped It

I so cheated and didn't post last night. I was planning on posting last night...instead I went to my aunt's usual New Year's Eve shindig, which was neither shin-y nor dig-y. It was as it always is: cousins, aunts, uncles, kids and food all wrapped up in a very noisy package. It wasn't a super-big party (we're not the big-partying type of folk). I tried to read, and I managed to read a bit. A friend of the family was there watching some of my cousins playing Guitar Hero (on a side note, I was impressed when I saw "Holiday in Cambodia" listed as a song to play on that game). He wondered aloud "Doesn't anybody read anymore?" to which I held up my book. He had an expression of thankfulness that at least someone still reads. I wanted to tell him that there are a lot of us readers in the world, just not a lot of them in my family. So I continued to read on the couch, read for awhile and fell asleep. I woke up a little before 11:00 and went home to go to bed. I slept through the ridiculous midnight ball-dropping nonsense. It was so nice and quiet sleeping in my cozy bed. I should do that EVERY year!!!

The Day After...

I'm so glad it's all over for this year. All the Christmas bullshit can wait for 365 more days (yes, it's 365 because 2008 is a leap year) before I'm forced to worry about it again. I'm so excited about the prospect of no more holiday stress. The day went well and I had a good time, but it's nice that it's finally over with. I did get the one thing I asked for, which was digital camera so I can post pictures here and elsewhere online...those pictures will be coming soon once I learn how to use the stupid thing. I'm getting there, it's just difficult for me to use technology. I prefer my cameras to use FILM not MEMORY CARDS. However, it is more efficient to post photos online with a digital rather than a standard camera, so I finally relented and joined the 21st century. Other than that one thing I asked for, all my other gifts were quite lovely. I received a very pretty sweater, a bath set and bag, socks, pajamas, a manicure set and several other things that I know I will enjoy immensely. My main joy of Christmas, though, is when my family likes the gifts I've given them. Everyone liked their gifts this year and I couldn't be more happy with that. My brother LOVED his Johnny Cash T-shirt and my mom thought the giraffe picture I got her was beautiful. My dad is sure to enjoy his Hickory Farms box of tasty goodness and my grandmother was tickled with her hand-knit dishcloths and the berry candle I gave her. All stupid, rampant holiday greed and gluttony aside, I did have a nice Christmas.

And So It Begins...

Noise, noise, noise. All I hear is early Christmas noise. My sister and her family are in town this weekend from Carlisle, PA for their holiday time with us. I don't know who is louder, the adults or the two toddlers. It's ok, though, as I love seeing my little nephews. Anthony (4) and Noah (2) are very cool little dudes. They were very excited to open presents, not caring whose presents they were opening. The MagnaDoodle was a big hit, as were the various "Cars" toys. Now, though, they have forsaken those lovely new toys to watch their father play with the huge remote control Hummer my brother gave him. I won't get into what I got from them, as it's not interesting to anyone but myself. All in all, it's a hectic and kind of nice time right now. And this is yet another wee short blog for my one lonely reader. Sorry, dude.

More Eventful Than Yesterday

This morning was interesting. I got up at the normal time, did my normal morning activities, went out to my car and there it was--a nearly flat tire. Eep! Luckily, my uncle was over at the garage he and my dad share (and in which an air compressor resides). So, I very slowly drove over the snow- and ice-covered driveway to the garage and asked my dear uncle to save me. He laughingly obliged, slightly over-filling my tire so that I could make it to work. I thanked him profusely and was on my merry way.

Things were going great until after I had turned onto Clemens Center Parkway. For those not familiar with the parkway, it is a four-lane roadway that cuts through Elmira. One can get almost anywhere in the greater Elmira area via the parkway. My destination from the parkway was, as it is every day, the highway. I had turned onto the parkway and was going along in the right hand lane and was nearing the traffic light on Cedar Street. Suddenly, this woman in a silver-ish Nissan starts veering from the left hand lane into my lane. The bitch didn't even bother to look and see if anyone was in the lane before she changed lanes and nearly side-swiped my car. Had my reflexes not been so quick, I'd probably be in the hospital right now because the back end of her car would've hit directly on my driver side door. So I beeped my horn, flipped her off and mouthed the words "learn how to fucking drive, bitch," which she saw because she kept looking in her rear view to see my reaction. Then, after witnessing my reaction to her piss-poor driving, she had the nerve to give me dirty looks. She acted like I was the person driving like an ass and she seemed more annoyed with me than I was with her. I mean really, do you think it's appropriate for a person to get more annoyed with someone else's reaction when you've just nearly totalled their car because you were too busy not paying attention to notice a whole entire vehicle in the other lane than the person who was nearly hurt in the first place? I don't think so. Well, I got past her after the light and again went on my merry way until I realized that the bitch was following me. Oh great, now I had to deal with an idiot road-rager on the way to work. Happily, when I arrived at my destination (the highway), she managed to (safely) get into the left hand lane and went ahead of me. Well, she was keeping pace with one of the more irritatingly slow vehicles in my lane as if to stick it to me by being a lane-clogger. Whatever, she was ahead of me and I didn't have to worry about her rear-ending me or trying to run me off the road. I got to work a few minutes late (due to flat tires and lane-cloggers), but I was happy to be in one piece.

Work was work. It was about the same as yesterday, only time seemed to move more slowly today. I called my very awesome dad shortly after I got there to inform him of the issue with my tire. He told me to drop it off at his workplace and swap vehicles, or call him if my tire was flat again. Finally, 5:00 rolled around and I was able to clock out and go home. Yeah, I wasn't quite as able as I thought because the tire was FLAT AGAIN!!!!! Goddamn! I called Dad again and about 40 minutes later, I was rescued for the second time today. Dad brought a portable air compressor thing and filled my tire enough so he could take the car back with him and fix my tire. I took his big truck and finally got home an hour and a half after I clocked out of work. I'm not complaining about being home so late from work, though. My dad's going to be later than normal because of my stupid tire. And because he's the best, coolest dad in the entire universe. I'm really lucky to have such a handy father who loves me so much.

That was my day.

All I Want is Quiet

It's so loud here right now. It just seems like everyone is pissed off and screaming at each other and I'm just here typing, being ignored. I really wanted to get out of the house tonight, but it seems that I have no life whatsoever and the two people who I could've spent time with had better things to do. I should work on the socks I'm making for Christmas presents. Yeah, go in my room, shut my door and knit. The hermit's perfect night.

NOAH!!!!!!!!!

My sweet and wonderful nephew, oh how I love this little guy. He's such a happy little dude, too. He smiles like the picture much of the time (you know, when he's not crying because he's hungry...that boy can eat, let me tell ya). He and his brother and parents (and dog, hehehe) came for a visit over this past weekend and the minute he saw me, he remembered me with a smile and a giggle. We played the last time he was here (about 3 weekends), and I got him smiling and laughing so much and he remembered that. It made me so happy. Don't get me wrong, I love his big brother Anthony just as much, but Anthony doesn't get excited to see me like Noah does. Anthony is excited to see Papa and Omma (my mom and dad), and Noah is excited to see his Aunt Manda. They each have their people they get excited for. And that's ok. Speaking of Anthony, he does such cute things. He found my socks on the living room floor and picked them up and put them in his brother's diaper bag. He grabbed my sister's glass of water from the end table and drank from it like a big boy (the first time he'd ever done it) and took 2 good drinks before he drizzled some down the front of him. Everything he does is amazing and special. Everything that both of them do is amazing and special. I don't think I could've asked for better nephews.

Nephews (plus 1)

I dare say I have the cutest nephews on the whole damn planet. Anthony, the elder of the two, is making sure that Noah doesn't have a fever (or perhaps it's a headache he's worried about...I don't know as that part's not clear). They're sitting here with their friend MaKenna, who is about midway between the two boys. I'm not sure if it's just the camera angle or something else, but man do her feet look big. And Noah's legs are all froggy and sweet. I love my nephews. They're two of my favorite people in the universe. Sometimes, Anthony likes to make sure that Noah's feet aren't too hot, so he takes his brother's little socks off. This is mostly because Anthony can't take his own off because his parents like to keep his shoes on him almost all the time. When Noah sleeps (or is laying on his back), he puts his hands behind his head like he's lounging. It's the sweetest thing. I don't know much about MaKenna except that she's the daughter of my sister and brother-in-law's friends and she's tiny, but spunky. And she seems to be quite the finicky eater from what I hear. I'm rambling I think. I tend to do that when I talk about my nephews and their friend. So I'm going to stop rambling right...........now!