Big Black Boots

I was reminded of those big black boots with the metal buckles we use to wear when we were kids. Mom had a big "State Fruit" basket in the basement with all the boots in it. We would have to dig through them all to find a pair that fit us. I remember snow days when we would all want to go outside (or Mom would make us go outside?) and have to fish around for boots. She would put bread bags on feet with elastics to hold them up and then our snowsuits and finally the big black boots with those metal buckles. There was no insulation in those rubber boots so how come we never got frostbitten?

Holiday Traditions

I wonder how did Mom and Aunt Diane do it? Thanksgiving with all of us O'Malley's + the Allain's + Memere & Pepere. It is unthinkable how it went off so smoothly every year. I think Martha Stewart would be proud. We always brought our "play clothes" to Aunt Diane's to change into so after we ate, we could go run around the yard. I remember being on our best behavior or else...
I do not ever remember a store being open on Thanksgiving let alone getting up at 4am to go "black Friday" shopping.
Our new tradition is doing Thanksgiving early so friends can come over and still have their own Thanksgiving. The other thing Rick will always do is brine the turkey. We find it comes out so juicy and tender that it is worth doing. We tried the Martha Stewart cheesecloth method this year and forgot that she took the cloth off at the end to brown up the skin. No big deal but Rick really didn't like that method much. He tried Tyler Florence's easy cranberry sauce. 1/2 cup sugar, cinnamon stick, cranberries and orange zest & 1/4 cup of orange juice. Cook over medium heat about 15 mins until the cranberries burst. We will never eat canned cranberry sauce again!

Chalazion

I've had this thing on my upper left eyelid for sometime now. I swear it was bad mascara that seeped into my oil glands of my eyelid and has caused this thing called Chalazion.
I went to the Opthamologist the other day and he kinda said, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". A Dr. who did not want to cut my eye open only to find it is more tissue than swollen oil gland and not have anyway to cut it out. I was happy with the diagnosis since this does not cause me discomfort, itchy, or any other symptoms.
It is just one more charachteristic that makes me unique.

Rick's Birthday

Do you know how much I love this man? God definatly smiled down on me and showed me how a man is suppose to love me. It was his birthday last Thursday, the day before pay day. All I got him was a card and made him a Betty Crocker bundt cake. He doesn't want material things. To him the best gift is ...(well that is private) but it does not involve money. Just love is all he wanted.
Even if I had lots of money, I still would want to give him something. All he wants is love....I can give unlimited amounts of that.

Cute Kids

We saw the cutest little kids today working at the Panda Chinese Restaurant with their parents. The little girl was probably about 3-4 years old. Rick told me to turn around and look at the way she was using the chopsticks to eat. Her little fingers holding the big long chopsticks and using them like an expert. He said if it was him the food would have been flying around everywhere. Then some ladies got up and left and the little boy, who was about 5-6 yrs old, got up and walked over to clear off the table. This was all without his parents saying a word. When our food was ready the Mom said something to the little girl. She got up from the table went over to the walk in fridge and hunted down our 2liter Sprite from the back of the fridge. Her whole body was in the fridge pulling out the Diet Coke, Mt. Dew until she found a Sprite. Precious little thing. I said to Rick, "are you sure you don't want to try to adopt a little korean/chinese girl?"
Just made you think of all the kids who are brought up in their parents stores (or O'Malley's Tavern) like me.

Throat hurts

This is only because I am due to go home in two weeks and now I am coming down with something? I have a Dr. appt tomorrow am and it is for follow-up on BP and bloodwork. I better not get sick while I am home. Nothing is worst than feeling like crap around the holidays.
Michael Lynn -Balloon Animal, probably will remember the Thanksgiving eating at his folks in Swansea and then stopping on the Braga Bridge to throw up. But that was all his fault for giving me strep throat!
Sorry.....

Ghost shows

I love Ghost Hunters just because they are from Rhode Island and it my connection to back home. Plus one of the livelier ghost was in the New Bedford Armory.
There are a few other shows that are Ghost shows, but GH gives credibility by trying to "debunk" the claims. I like to hear the voices and see if I can see what they see. I have never had a paranormal experience, but I bet if the bar was still open, there were ghost there.
Rick is not a skeptic, he is a believer. He had quite a few "experiences" in his grandmother's house. His sister refused to go there that was how spooky it was.
Last night there was a new show on Discovery called Ghost Lab. This one looked believable. I just have to stay awake long enough to watch a whole episode.
Call me mystic but redheads back in medevil times were considered witches.

thanksgiving back in MA!

I am so excited. I had originally picked Thanksgiving week off but had to give up those days to use for funeral. The other girl who took my vacation week has now been moved to another team. The rules for taking time off is only two at a time. She is gone so I get to have Thanksgiving week back! Which means, I am coming home for Thanksgiving. I am so excited. I miss everyone and will get to spend some time with Mom. Maybe even do a "early" Christmas with the kids.
So JOMIII and Cathy...we will be there for Turkey Day!
See you then,
xoxoxo

I love Halloween

Maybe because we had so many in our family that we could all dress up and go out Trick or Treating. I know Mom loves Halloween. The year she dressed up as Witch with the green face and warts and fake nose then she pushed her way into Roberta's house, Jackie Ponte, and I think Michael too. She got them all good!
Now that I live on a highway, I "hope" no one brings their kids trick or treating because it would be too dangerous.
And folks back North, when I say I live on a highway, it is not like Rt 140 or 195, all the roads down south are some form of Highway number etc. I live more on a divided two lane road that just happens to have a speed limit of 55mph.
Now off to eat my Milk Duds I bought...just in case there are kids tomorrow night.

What size shoe do you wear?

Michael brought his laptop to the VFW last Saturday night so that we could SKYPE in and see everyone in Tyler's unit who just came back from Iraq. We even saw someone else SKYPE'ing so we were webcam to webcam which was pretty cool.
So if you ever want to SKYPE us, our contact name is rdotyc. We will only answer the call if we are home and if we know you.
During the webcast, no one could hear us because it was so loud. Molly singing her brain out and then doing the Electric Slide. (Whoever sang that dances great by the way) Victor Novo took us all around the place too. I told him he was welcome to come down to visit.
The reason the title of this entry is "What size shoe" is because Janet was thanking me for sending Colleen a pair and I was asking her what size she takes so I can send her a pair.
IF anyone from my family wants to order either Reebok or adidas, give me your size and I will order them for you.
go to shopadidas website and see if you find anything you like. I would rather ship Christmas gifts now that will fit you.
Which is second part of this post...what size clothes do the kids wear? I sent Austin a sweatshirt and it was too small. Not sure about kids sizes since I don't have kids.
So if you get a minute, email me your shoe and clothes size and if you have any suggestions on Christmas gifts.
Luv yah!

How Mom taught me to drive stick shift.

I just started thinking about my first car I bought. It was summer of 1983 and JP knew this couple who were selling their 1972 Toyota Corolla. It was in working condition but it had some rust, which I soon Rustoleum it same color as my hair.
I think I paid 300 bucks for it.
The couple lived on Peckham Rd and after I bought the car, they called me to baby-sit. Miriam was the wife's name and can't remember the husband's name. They were friends of JP and had a nice house and beautiful children. I want to call the boy Ethan but I am not sure of the little girl's name. I went to Roger Williams Park for the first time that summer. I thought Rhode Island was so far away back then. Little did I know I would end up working 5+ years in Providence commuting everyday there.
That car had so many memories for me. I didn't know how to drive a stick shift when I bought it so Mom took me to Sacred Heart Cemetery to learn. I had to try to drive up the hill where Dad is buried and not make it roll back. It kept rolling back. When she finally thought I was ready, she let me drive it home for the first time. Instead of taking Mt. Pleasant the whole way, she told me to go up to Hathaway Road. The light was red in front of Shawmut Diner and I was turning left. It is on a hill. I tried to let the clutch out slow and give it gas, but every time it would buck and stall. She kept her cool while I was panicking because the light went back to red and everyone behind me was mad. Light turned green and same thing….buck-stall/buck-stall and back to red light. Now people behind me were swerving around me, give me the finger etc..blowing their horns and I was crying at this point. Mom, who never loses her cool, tries to calm me down but then I get so mad that when the light turned green….I made it through.
I don’t know how the older kids were taught to drive, but cemeteries make sense.
I know Mom liked my Corolla because she didn't have to bring me back and forth to band anymore. Mrs. Lyons must of loved it because Bridget and I could carpool to NBHS. And I know Todd loved that car (at least once).

My body feels like it just fought Chuck Liddell

Okay so I know a little about UFC. Rick stops and watchs it from time to time and my cube neighbor Claudia is a fan so I hear about who is good and who is dropping like a fly. Speaking of who is HOTT! George St. Pierre can "Voulez vous choucher avec moi" anytime. Yes I probably just spelt something in French wrong Mom; but without you reading my blog, no one can correct it for me.
But seriously, I am dead tired after moving all weekend and can confirm we are 100% moved. We have to go over the apartment with fine tooth comb so we don't get charged any kind of fee. Two ladies from adidas lived in same apt. building and moved out. One of them was charged a $75.00 debris fee and the other was charged a $35.00 early key return fee. This is how crooked and unsatisfactory the apt can be. So with that being said, Rick and I are cleaning like no tomorrow. For those of you who know us, that is saying something because speaking for myself, cleaning is my least favorite chore. Why clean a floor when two minutes later the dog walks over and drinks water with his bucket face? No sense cleaning, re-cleaning and re-cleaning. Yes I do clean but it usually is with the moon. When it is harvest and spring moon!
Speaking of Harvest Moon and how Maureen loves this special lunar event...The Full Harvest Moon is Sunday October 4th at 2:10am which is also the autumnal equinox. Good time to clean!

How come God is taking them so young?

It must be that I am getting old and that God keeps taking young people who are in the prime of their life. Danielle's friend who was a druggie and got off drugs, got her life straightened out and then went to hospital with the flu and fell into a coma and died. Then cousin Freddie who was too funny and happy of a person to leave this world and be only 40 yrs old with pancreatic cancer. Sharon the DJ of radio station that I knew in high school and know that she was skinny and died of heart attack is still the biggest mind blower. All the lives she touched on Channel 6 and Fun107 is amazing that God is taking them younger and younger. Still wonder why Tyler at 22 years old?
Just makes me say more prayers for those I have lost and for those still living.
More Angels to watch down over me....

Where is my Mom?

I wish she could call me but all she has is her cell phone? I don't have her cell phone to say hello.
If anyone talks to her tell her I said hello and I miss/love her
xoxoxoxo

New House is scary

I was just telling Brianne how the first night sleeping in the house was so scary. I am not use to no noise and complete darkness. It is like house-sitting Maureeen's out in East Freetown. Thinking that Jason is out in the woods with kill kill kill muttering under his mask. Then Rick brought his Big Boy and Junior to the house and I could sleep better Saturday night.
I was so exhausted Friday night from a full week of work and I took Tuesday off to help move. Rick has pretty much been doing most of the move himself. I helped with a few heavy things like the sofa, until I dropped it on my leg and it went down the apartment stairs boom boom boom....to the bottom. The next heaviest thing was the bureau set but without the drawers in them, EASY-Peasy!
Now it is all the loose things like lamps, shelves, plants to bring over which I told Rick to let me do a few loads after work. No matter how much room you think you have, you never have enough.
For those of you who read the blog and want to know my new address, email me and I will give it to you. My phone is so static and busy tone so even that is not working right. My ADT alarm is working super which is another peace of mind knowing our stuff especially Big Boy and junior are safe. Brier has to be happy now too without all those stairs to climb. He likes to curl up in a ball on his beds in our new bedroom. Now he has the whole yard to himself.
Much better here in new house than old apartment. Little Non-town that has no goverment and has only one post office.

9/9

We are suppose to close on the house tomorrow, 9/9. I was trying to tell Rick how that date always reminded me of my first wedding to Todd and how slowly every memory I have of that marriage is ending.  Instead of thinking of Todd, now I will be reminded of "our" future together.
Yet I can't help but think back to where I was on 9/9/89 marrying the first man I ever loved and how I never got to experience or learn how other men would treat me. I never imagined 20 years ago that I would be divorced and living in South Carolina married to another man who truly loves me for who I am both externally and internally.
It makes me so proud look back and know that I am both mentally and emotionally stronger as a woman in my 40's than I was in my 20's. I wish I knew now what I should of known then. My only regret is not having the kids I could have had while in my 20's, but then that would mean they are half Todd's, which I am glad that I didn't have to go through a custody battle.
God has blessed my life and I am thankful for the second chance. We will be blessing our new home with prayers & holy water tomorrow afternoon.
A new beginning on Sept 9, 2009!

SKYPE

Mike, Sandy and Moe!
Thank you for SKYPE yesterday! I was so glad to "see" Maureen and get to feel like we were right there with you guys like a Sunday afternoon visit.
Now we just need to add smell-a-vision or better yet...can I warp over there like Capt. Kirk does?
Get the family on SKYPE so we can all do it

Massage Parlor

I need a neck, shoulder and upper back massage really bad. I noticed this after sitting in massage chair waiting for Rick's prescriptions to be filled at Walgreens. It took about 15 minutes to wait but in that small amount of time, I could feel the heat and rolling circular motion of the chair massage work its way to loosen me up.
My friend's husband is in school to be a massage therapist. He has to practice on volunteers so I have signed up for massage. I think I prefer man hands on me for two reasons 1) they are meaty and can grab-manipulate tight muscles better than little petite hands and 2)Mom has Man- hands so I never really was "touched" by woman.
I have had only one massage my whole life and it was given to me as a gift from ex-husband for Valentine's Day 1995. It was good for a year and he left me in Jan 96' so had to use the massage before it expired. That was my personal way of getting over him.

Weird but vivid dream

Here is my future invention that if I was not technologically challenged I would create this future TV. It was a dream but I woke up thinking to myself, "This is possible". I was "watching" a TV show about a bar, called O'Malley's of course. You were watching a TV episode but within that episode you could stop and touch the TV screen and it would give you more information and temporarily pause the TV show. For instance, a group of "characters" were sitting at a table talking about waterskiing. You could touch the TV and something you tell you more about waterskiing. One of the characters was drinking a SAM ADAMS Summer Ale and you could click on the beer and it would give you a commercial and info about SAM ADAMS. Some of the "characters" who were in the background, you could click on and off they were actual "E HARMONY" dating folks. Everything on the screen was "researchable" within the plot of the episode. I woke and said...that is the future of TV when you can "Google" anything you are watching by touching a screen. Gil Grissom and what his favorite bug is to how to cook whatever Alton Brown is making. This is my offical "un-official" post that if this happens in the future, I want the rights to it!!

How Tacky!

Maybe it is more rude than tacky but I just really find it offensive when someone is on a cell phone in the ladies room. They talk up a storm about their kids, medical issues, how fat their cat is getting to how much work they have to do. How come they can't wait to tell this person from their desk phone? Is it really that important that it can't wait?

Is it that I am just too much of a prude? I take "pottie spray" (thanks Christen Dellorco) into the work bathroom with me. I spray if I have #2 because I am too embarrased by my own bodily functions. Do guys care like women do? Claudia and Neasha on my team would love to have a private stall because it isn't just the offensive smell that we are embarrased about, but also the sounds that happen.
At home is one thing, and out in public with strangers is another. But when you have to work with the same people every day, you want to show some type of privicy.
Do you agree?

Just a dream

I wear a CPAP at night because of my sleep apnea. Last night I had a dream someone was breaking into "my house", which actually was a white house I was visiting. While I was sleeping I must have tried to scream but the owners couldn't hear me. Rick woke me up to ask if I needed my CPAP since it was laying on his pillow. I realize I must have taken it off thinking I could scream better without it!
I put it back on and told him to sleep close to me for protection...I was still dreaming.
Weird dreams.....

Luther Vandross

Just listening to Luther Vandross on IMEEM and have to say he is one of my favorite's. I remember driving up to AT&T Brockton in mid 80's while listening/singing each of these songs.

It was the last night of our adidas bowling league yesterday and my average is a 106 which I feel isn't too shabby. It gets me out of the house one night a week and I got to exercise and hang out with co-workers.

I was bowling like I normally do and in the first string got a 77. Not yet warmed up...

The second string I bowled a 180! Yes I said a 180! If you could of seen my frames I had four strikes in a row with six strikes total game and a few spares. I circled it in red above. Yes they spelled my name wrong (DOTYE) as I mentioned in post dated, ( February 12, 2009) I hate that. But I got a 180!!! YIPPPEEEEEE

The last string I bowled my normal 99.

Until next season ...or I can head to Village Tavern I and do video bowling next Tuesday.

Styrofoam

If you ever wondered where all the Styrofoam in landfills come from, it is South Carolina. I admit I am into Recycling, Reducing, and Reusing to help save waste. I have a hard time with a couple of things done different down here.
1. There is no curbside recycling where I live. My apartment complex has three dumpsters. If they could just put one general recycle bin for paper, plastics and glass that would cut down on quite a bit of waste.
2. When you go to a restaurant down here, (any waitress service restaurant) before you leave the waitress will ask you if you want a To Go Cup. That is a Styrofoam cup filled with whatever you were drinking for the road. Only soda/tea no alcoholic beverages.
3. ALL of the fast food restaurants still use Styrofoam cups. Unless you get a huge size and then it is the recycled plastic ones.

I am surprised McDonalds does not have the old Big Mac Styrofoam containers. I remember there was such a big stink about how much Styrofoam McDonalds was contributing to landfills. Now Big Macs are wrapped in waxed covered paper.

I think To Go cups should be outlawed and if you still want something to drink after your meal…sit there and drink it.

5th Year Anniversary

My 5th year anniversary with company was last November 3 but there was no recognition from the company. Then I heard from friend Dena who got a crystal globe and a nice framed plaque. Well I went to HR to ask if they have my start date in computer correctly. They showed 11-3-03 and explained that HR was previously handled in Portland so there might of been a mix up. I didn't really care about the globe or the plaque, but wanted to make sure my FTO (time off) was accumulating correctly. Plus you get an extra day off for being a 5 year employee.

So today during our team meeting, Tracy, my manager, got up and handed me my 5 year award. April said, "Do you want to take a picture?" and I said "yes". So the picture of me is getting my 5 year award. You can see me in red hat for valentines day but look closely to see my sunburn from Sunday.

I also updated my profile picture to my company ID photo. I wanted to make it more recent, even though that was taken a year ago when I moved down here.

http://www.adidas.com/campaigns/basketball2008/content/index.asp?strCountry_adidascom=us#/highlights/

My sales rep told me that he got invited to go to the NBA All Stars this weekend by Footlocker (my account). I said, "where is my invitation?" He laughed, but seriously I would have liked to seen the Footlocker Three Point Shootout.

I have a pet peeve. It is my last name and how people mis-pronounce it or misspell it. For those Doty's who are reading this, you feel my pain right?

Today I had to get a new IT software system and they put me down as Dotty. I don't want the work I do to be credited under the wrong name. So I emailed the guy to let him know my name was spelled wrong. He replied back (copied and pasted from my email)

From: Belger, John
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 9:01 AM
To: Doty, Christine
Subject: RE: Information from Todays training as well as Webex info

Sotty about that. I completely understadn and will have it corrected.

So he likes to mis type things and use the letter T a lot. Sotty Dotty just made me laugh out loud (LOL). I never replied back because I wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic by me asking to change my name or if he is an idiot. Well as it turns out IT guy responded with "I am really sorry about all these spelling errors. I really wasn't trying to be funny below. ' I can accept his apology since he has a lot of people to work with on the new SAP project. But DUDE!!!! that is what spellcheck is for.

So when the telemarketing people call and ask for Mrs. DOT-ee, I always correct people and say it is DOE-TEA like "DOE a deer a female deer, TEA a drink with jam and bread" (Name that Musical)
I knew I should of kept O'Malley!!

Can I really of gotten a sunburn on February 8th? Well yes I did. We went to Gun & Knife show in Greenville and had to wait in line a good hour. Yes the sun was not at strongest, since it was about 10am, but I felt the 60 degree warmth on my face. By the time we finished the daggum Gun and Knife show, which I totally went just to please the husband, it was about 1pm. After a quick fast food bite (which I haven't had fast food in a long time and it tasted funny) we took a drive a hour past Spartanburg to a town called Blacksburg. That is where the rodeo was in August that I wanted to go to but it had a bad thunderstorm that night. So right off the highway was Ironcity Motorsports. He said, "do you hear the bees buzzing"? and me in my redhead moment thought I heard bees. We pulled up to this large motorcross track where they were practicing for upcoming race season. It was amazing to see, watch, smell, and hear. We sat in the bleachers for a couple hours and I came home pink. We went back yesterday and I did put sun block #30 on, but still got a sunburn. R just called to say he was out on his motorcylce and he saw a sign that said 71 degrees. Nice spring like day for February 9th!
S-T.com says it is 34 degrees back home. Don't miss that at all....

I was having such a "emotional" crappy day and then the phone rings. It his him. His voice saying "Howdy" which is always what he says when I say hello. His voice just letting me know he was thinking of me. His voice letting me know he misses me and it is just at the exact moment that I needed to hear this. How does he know? He has this hidden psychic ability to tune into my emotions and know when I need him. He is the bestest husband in the whole wide world.
He made my day!

Children

The crazy lady in the news who is single, lives at home with her parents and had six children, just gave birth to another 8 children is pissing me off.
Here I am for years trying to have a baby, and this yah-woo goes and has 14 children? After growing up in a family of seven, I would of loved to have my own big family but in today's world, feeding, clothing and taking care of more than three children is tough. Forget three, just two is tough sometimes. My cube neighbor Claudia for instance, has been fighting with her pediatricians office to get her 2 yr old daughter diagnosed correctly. It is a fight she has to fight because she is a great Mom.
I was given the name of a infertility clinic and told that my insurance covers up to 10,000 dollars but I am still fat.
Even if I go that route, how much of my overweight, fat, out of shape body can handle carrying a baby. I would rather drop 60 pounds and then try to conceive. Then again, I think if God really wanted me to be a Mom, he would have made it happen by now. I put it all in His Hands. No extra doctor appointments poking and probing me to see what condition my tubes, uterus and eggs are in. I just have given up hope. That doesn't mean I don't love children, it just means it hurts even more looking at others children.

Happy Birthday brother MPOM. Which still sounds like a gangsta name to me, but for the sake of anyone I don't know looking at this blog, he remains anonymous.
Dude I forgot to send Birthday cards which stinks to high heaven knowing that I have started the year off procrastinating (again). Not to mention I have no stamps and that would require me to either a) walk to the adidas mail room and purchase them or b) find the flipping PO in Spartanburg. I am lazy and don't want to do either. Plus I never carry cash on me so mailroom doesn't take debit card.
Art is on his way home today after a nice visit with us. He probably was bored to death seeing how there was not much going on to do with him. He did say he'll be back so I guess he still had a good time. If only we had more money then we could of really entertained him. Not by going to the Men's Club down on 290 but movies, auto show, elegant dinner etc...
I am still working at my diet and did have cardio bowling last night. Only two out of four on my team showed up so once you finished bowling in one lane, you moved over and bowled in next lane. Never had time to stop to sip my drink. I didn't do too badly seeing how if I break 100, I think I am doing okay.
I remember going bowling with Mom and Roberta at Wonder Bowl. I remember Mom was pretty good too. Can't remember if they had the bowling shirts like Laverne & Shirley. We were adidas polo shirts since it is adidas bowling league. (9 bucks a week for a night out and some exercise is worth it)