One more thing

love all
olivia

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So i wont be on the comp at all tomoro so just wanted to wish everybody a very
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope all is doing well
love all

olivia <3

Vacation's all i ever wanted!

So winter break has started!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited, I have done all my xmas shopping it is just a matter of wrapping it =]

I got mom and dad snowglobes that you can put pictures inside of and i got some pics of the family that they like and have to cut them to size still, its really cute, and i also got this really cute glass thing that says love and it sits on a mirror and says i love you always!

Of course i am working this break

I LOVE MY JOB SOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!

The people are awesome and everything about it is really cool and fun

I worked today 6-230 and i was constantly busy until about 215 i love staying busy and rushing and having a million things to do and that basically descriebd my day!

Other than that i work monday and tuesday but im off wed, thurs, and fri. Friday im going to Busch gardens (an amusement park)

Other than that just hanging out with friends

I got into Santa Fe community college!!!!!!! which is in gainseville its near UF
other than that i havent heard back from UF

And i have been looking for scholarships so if anybody knows any good websites HOLLA! lol

Umm, so ya.. I wish it snowed in Florida!

And almost all of my bruises from the car accident are gone, im surprised they lasted this long, my friend is in a rental, and she's sueing the lady cause insurance only offered like 3000 i think and she wants a little more for whatever her new car is gonna be, the one she totaled which she bought 2 days before the accident was 4000 so i think its fair
The insurance companies have benen calling me like crazy! they keep asking if im fine and if i have seen any medical professional, and i keep saying NO!! lol



ok well im gonna peace out so ill ttyl

love all
olivia

Let it snow!

Hello cousins!

We got a nice storm on Friday. It snowed all day and left us with about 8 inches. It is snowing again today too. They say 4-8 inches but it doesn't seem like we are going to get that.

Daniel has had a stomach flu since very early yesterday morning so we have all just been hanging out. I baked cookies and I want to wrap gifts but have not figured out how to do it without Daniel finding me. Right now, I am watching A Christmas Story. Did you know that the kid that played Ralphie is now a director and often has small roles in the films he directs? He is in Elf, The Break Up and in Four Christmases. He directed (or maybe produced?) all of them.

How is everyone?

Susan--how are you feeling?

Sarah--what have you been up to when you are not caring for Susan?

Bernadette--that website is very nice. Coleman passed away early Saturday morning and the words his father left on the site are extremely moving.

Olivia--how is winter break?

Kristy--are you still running? I need to start doing something...all the cookies I ate are not helping me maintain my weight!

Mark--where are ya?

Well, if anyone wants to send me a Christmas gift...I guess I'd just like some tinker toys...lol..

Love,
Tricia

Winter Storm

How did all the locals fare in the storm? I chose not to drive into work today because 1) the weather and 2) i had little to do today work-related since the students are gone for the break. NU finally closed at 1:30, but I am guessing many did not drive in due to the road conditions. All the Niagara County schools except for Lew-Port closed early this morning, so I figured if they were all closed, it was not a good idea to drive! Plus, Bob was not working today because he was giving a presentation 10 minutes away so we go to spend the rest of the day together, and its his bday, so that was nice. Only 2 ppl showed up for his presentation anyway, so they ended up postponing it until April and briefly spoke about his company to the two poor souls that came.

Tricia and Jenn- how is your weather there?

Tricia- what a nice blog for Coleman. So many people have visited that sight! I hope he improves.

Well, we are considering going out to eat for Bob's bday since the snow stopped. gotta run!

Bernadette

If you get a minute...

I am posting a link to a blog. The guy mentioned, Coleman, is a friend of my friends. He was serving in Iraq when he became sick and it doesn't look too good for him. He can use some prayers if you have the time.

http://www.rootingforcoleman.blogspot.com/

I don't mean to be a downer but there isn't much else to do to help him.

Thanks,
Tricia

PS--I hope you are all doing well!

Do No Harm

is part of the hippocratic oath. That is ridiculous. My dad used the same one as me and went in around 20 minutes to closing and got right in and out. The one you went to sounds like they closed early and did not want to admit it. I would file a complaint with the BBB, or the medical board if you know the doctor's name. Do you have any others around you?

I am, thankfully, feeling much better. I still have a slight residual cough and a runny nose at times, but otherwise back to the gym and back to normal!

Has anyone else heard of "Feed it Forward" through restuarant.com. It is a great way to give gifts to people who you otherwise wouldn't or could not afford to. Its free! Check it out at www.restaurant.com/FeedItForward I have given to 9 people so far :)

Not much going on at work. The students are done and for the most part, out of the dorms (they kick em out on the 13th) except for the live in RA staff and the students that live in the apartments, and some of the athletes. So I have on average one appointment a day and sometimes a meeting here and there. Our work Christmas party is tomorrow afternoon so we all get together to eat, drink (alcohol too), and be merry. And it is during work hours! Friday our department along with the one next to us (we're close like that) are having our own Christmas potluck. I am making the same meatballs I made for thanksgiving, for those of you who were there. Nice and easy! I work next monday and tuesday too, then have off until the 5th. Not bad. Bob will have off some of the same days as me,which is nice.

Josh and I are going for sushi tonight. we have serioulsy been planning to go now for a year i think, or at least since he got his job at lowes, which was last february. we are finally going tonight! I got a $50 gc for $25 for O reestaurant through one of the local radio stations, which is a sweet deal. I can eat A LOT of sushi, so we will have no problem spending $50! Bob does not like it so it is nice to go with someone who likes it. Last time Bob went to that restuarant he ordered one of the only non-sushi menu items- a cooked whole tilapia fish, which did not fill him up, so then he ordered tempura.... lol...

ok, back to work. Happy almost Christmas to all.

Bernadette

Hello to all!

Hi everyone!

How are you all doing? Ready for Christmas? 10 days left! I am just about done. The kids are done but I still have to get something for my parents. I have a few ideas but I don't know for sure yet. Oh, the doggies are done too! Of course Santa brings them a present too.

Good morning Susan and Sarah! How is the patient? How is the caregiver? Sarah--I told Daniel that you said hello and he said to tell you "Merry Christmas and Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Christmas". He said to tell you too, that "it is almost summer time". So there you go!

Bernadette-how are you feeling? Here's a story for you...I am starting to feel better (thanks to the large doses of Vitamin C, I believe) but I still get tired pretty easy. So, yesterday I was out and I went to stop at this CareWorks place that is similar to what you went to when you were sick. The sign says they are open until four and it was 3:35-3:40. The sign also says to sign in but I can't find anywhere to sign in so I just sit down and wait. I can hear people talking behind the door. Well, after a little while, I know on the door and the doctor comes out and I tell her that I don't see where I am supposed to sign in so I just wanted them to know I was waiting. She said "Oh, I'm sorry but we see our last patient at 3:45 and its 3:48 right now." I said "well, I have been sitting out here for about 5 or 10 minutes." She said to me "that is not possible because I was just out here 5 minutes ago." I just looked at her and said "forget it" and I walked away. I was so pissed! Don't doctors take an oath to treat people? Apparently not if its after 3:45! Bah humbug to her!

Anywho, we took the boys to see Santa on Friday. Andrew wanted nothing to do with him. Daniel was really scared at first too but I got him to talk to Santa and then he warmed right up. He got his picture taken but Andrew did not get in it. It came out cute though.

Ok, well that is all for now! Talk to you soon.

Tricia

Rain drops keep fallin on my head

lol its rainy and sunny in florida today

about the acciedent the driver of the other car was ok too im assuming
my friend, the driver, said that she was told that she wasnt drunk or anything like we assumed from her being such an idiot, but now she owes a lot of money and maybe her insurance will cover it cause the accident was 100% her fault, and we were told we were lucky we didnt swerve even more than we did cause our car could have flipped. i counted my bruises today lol i have 9 and some scratches they're all sore but getting better =]

anyways so i transferred to a different petsmart and ive been working at this one for about a week and i LOVE it lol all the people are awesome and funny and cool and i really like it there.

anyways today is my day off so im applying for scholarships and maybe a school or two

talk to everybody later


loveall
olivia

ps. tricia- the tattoo was my first and it didnt hurt, and hopefully im getting another one soon =]

still on the couch...

hello all! well its just me and susan and cooper again. we are going out to lunch with jeff today, so susan is excited to get out of the house! yesterday i took her to the doctor to get her soft cast taken off and the actual cast put on. and also we stopped at grams for a few hours too!

olivia- we are so happy that you and your friends are ok! was the other driver ok too? how are school and work going?

kristy- so glad that you are back on the blog! its nice to have new posts to read! how was ur budweiser party? anything else going on?

lauren- where are you? we are supposed to be blogging back and forth together!... hope everything is well! tell alex we say hola! lol

where is the pa crew? how is everyone doing there. tricia- tell daniel i say hi! and give him a hug from me, i miss you guys! (andrew too, of course!) jenn- give the girls a hug and kiss from me as well! how is school going for mia?

well thats about all we have!
love and miss you all!
sarah and susan! (aka susarella!!!)

Hello All

Glad to hear susan is doing alright!!!

Bernadette that is awesome about the walk there is one in the clearwater area too in November I think, but I just thought the overnight one sounded like it could be fun for all of us to do together and I guess it is 20 miles and goes all through New York City, so I thought it would be cool. We will see though I am still not sure when it is.

Well I am getting ready to go Amber some friends and I are going to Tampa Stadium for a Budweiser party to watch the Monday night game, so I will talk to you all soon.

Love and Miss you,
Kristy

Accidentally...

So yesterday was Next Big Thing which is a concert held by a local radio station that has around 15 to 20 bands performing annually, this year they had bands like Shinedown, Flogging Molly, Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold, Flobots, Shiny Toy Guns, 3oh!3, and a lot more. and i always get Pit tickets which is like where you can crowdsurf and mosh and stuff and its an all day event, about 13 hours, and starts at 10am. So after about 13 hours of moshing and crowdsurfing and having one of the greatest nights ever lol me and my three friends that went in the same car as me left at about 1130pm. It was one of my friends car and first on the way home we stopped and she filled up her gas tank and then we went to taco bell because we were starvingggg. and by now its midnight and we're in the very right hand lane and literally out of nowhere a lady pulls right in front of us when we were going 50 miles an hour (the speed limit) and we had about 10 feet to brake and we swerved almost completely in the next lane but we still hit her at about 40 miles an hour, quite the impact i might say, right on the lady's driver side door. It all happened so fast but basically we hurried out of the car after i told 2 of my friends to not freak out and just unlock their doors cause our car was smoking. so we got out and i went to check on the other drvier and told my friend who was driving not to come and when i went to her passenger side door were she was flung she was unconscious which scared the crap out of me. But anyway me and my three friends are fine with just a little cuts and bruises and my friends new car totally totaled, she got it on friday. and so far they think the lady that we hit was either drunk or had passed out and let her foot off the brake. so mom and dad came to pick me up and i had to fill out a few thing and we went home which took us about 30 minutes and got back at 2am and i took a shower and had some tea and ended up going to bed at like 3am THEN 2 hours later i woke up to go to school Ugh and i worked 3-10. so i cant wait to go to bed tonight, which i think right now im gonna go take my shower and go to bed


love all
olivia

just sitting around on the couch....

good morning everyone! well its me, cooper and susan here now.... susan is doing ok. she is in alot of pain, until she gives in and takes her pills, (she doesnt like to take them unless she has too.) she gets a little goofy when she does. on wed we get to take a trip to the doctor to get susan a cast, so we will have more of an update on her condition then. (how long she will be off of work (yay!) and stuff like that.) and unfortunatly, susan is on the couch i normally sit on in the mornings while i enjoy my coffee but it hasnt been too bad, shes very entertaining.

well other than that, we dont have much going on here....
love and miss you all!
sarah

Still sick

Hi everyone. Almost everyone at my office is sick. Blah. I went to an immediate care yesterday morning because I was not getting any better and no longer thought I had just a cold. It is like an ER but for non-life threatening conditions. So much better than waiting in my doc's office for 3 hours, plus, the centers are open til 10pm on weekdays and 8pm on weekends. So I was in and out in a little over an hour and came out with a diagnosis (Bronchitis) and an antiobiotic script. So hopefully I am on the mend...

Kristy- there are Out of Darkness Walks all over the nation. I had posted on the blog all about it and did one here in September. It was a day walk and the Buffalo area had the most walkers in WNY! I invited all the cousins to do it but only my parents, Uncle David, and Grace came. Oh well, maybe next year. The overnight one sounds neat. I purchase materials for use at work from American foundation for suicide prevention. It is a great organization.

I am almost done with my christmas shopping...yay! How is everyone else coming along?

We went out and got our tree yesterday. It is a tall (probably 9 feet) blue spruce and smells amazing! Bob and I will decorate it tonight. His parents got a similar one.

This is my last busy week at work until mid-January. It is finals week so I anticipate we might be extra busy with students not coping well with grades and academic pressure and going home for the holidays. So many go home to dysfuctional families... I don't blame them for not wanting to go.

Well, I should go and do something productive (not that blogging isn't productive) before my client arrives. I hope everyone is doing well and is healthy!

Bernadette

So happy...

...to see so many posts here!!!

Hi everyone!!

Susan--how are you? How did the surgery go? Everything ok? I hope you are feeling ok.

Kristy--congrats to your team! They have a good coach. ;-)

Bernadette--how are you feeling? I have the exact same thing as you and so did both of my kids, and my mom, Mike and Mia too! Guess it really is going around.

Olivia--that was you with the tattoo! I really like it. Did it hurt much? Was it your first tattoo?

Sarah--are you taking good care of Susan? Is she hogging the couch in the mornings when you are trying to have coffee? lol... :-)

Today I am working from home. The boys are at school and Dave is working overtime so I am here getting caught up on my work. My goal is get everything corrected as well as to post a few things on ebay that I want to sell. If I get that done, then I want to make peanut butter cookies (the ones with the hershey kisses on them...I must say I make the best ones! lol...)

Did I tell you I have a home office now? We moved Andrew into Daniel's room and then converted his room into my office. I have a nice desk and a chair and my computers. His room also has a big bookshelf built into the wall so I have all my stuff there. I am much more organized and I can get work done in peace and quiet even if the boys and Dave are downstairs. But, we just did all this about 2 weeks ago and last night Andrew learned to climb out of his crib. So now we have to get him a bed. We were hoping to wait another 6 months or so because we wanted to get them bunk beds but they are not ready for that yet. I guess we'll have to buy another toddler bed for Andrew until they are big enough for bunk beds and this way we can save up a little too.

That's about all here. I hope you all have a good weekend. Do you have snow? We haven't had any here except a few flurries and a dusting. I wish it would snow so I could be more in the spirit of Christmas. Dave said I must sick because I don't want to put our tree up yet. Usually I start asking to put it up in July!

Bye for now!
Love ya's,
Tricia

OMG!!! I'M BACK

Hey all it's me Kristy, yes I know some of you are thinking Who? but yes I am still here!!! lol!! Well not much to say but I am glad to be back on the Blog, oh I updated the photo on our profile so it is a picture of all of us!!! I want to let everyone know about something I have been researching and think would be awesome for us all to do together. It is called The Out Of The Darkness Overnight Walk, it is affiliated with the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention. It is held once a year in Seattle and New York City. I am waiting for an email back from the organization, so when I get all the info I will update you. The 2008 walk was in June, so I hope this year's is around the same time. Well not much else to say, oh my Basketball teams last game is tomorrow and if we win our record will be 9-3 to end the season, not bad for a bunch of soccer and volleyball players!!! :-)

Well I am going to say goodbye for now and I love and Miss you all,

Kristy

Hello!

Hi everyone!! How's it going? Pretty good here, it's my last day at work for a month...I am a little sad because I really like my co-workers and will probably miss them, but hopefully laying on the couch all day will help me get over that! haha

So Lauren did go back to Colombia on Saturday. She had a layover in Miami for like 6 hours, which ironically Katy was there visiting her boyfriend's family for Thanksgiving. So Katy and Chris picked Lauren up at the airport for a few hours to hang out!

Hahah Bern that is so funny about Bob's niece, thinking you resembled a black person....know what else? Lauren's nephews on her other side call her Uncle Lauren....that's funny you get called Uncle as well!

Alright, well back to finish up work, I have to pack up my desk and get all of my away messages ready.

Love you,
Susan

Howdy cousins

Hi all.

I am at work on my lunch break eating soup, which I almost never eat but I am sick so it helps my throat feel better. My boss is cute- he told me to take care of myself and stay home, but it is the last week of classes so it may be the last time I meet with my clients until next semester unless they come in next week which is finals (so a lot cancel because they are so stressed), so it is a bad week to be sick in this business. I left an hour early yesterday and will today, but will see all my scheduled clients. If I felt worse I would stay home but right now I have a dry cough, sore throat, a bit achy, and a runny nose/sneezing. Could be worse. One of my clients cancelled today because he had been throwing up all night. That would be worse!

Anyway... the pics of Uncle David's wedding are beautiful. I was all set to order a bunch until i realized the cheapest (4 by 6) costs $10 each! Forget it.

So, where is Lauren now? I read in Sarah's post that she went back, so I am assuming Colombia, but there was mention of Katy? Did she have a layover in Tampa?

How was everyone's thanksgiving. I was happy that Bob and I had dinner at G'mas then dessert at his family's. I like the food at G'mas better, of course. His little cousin who is usually very active laid on the couch with a headache the whole time that I was there. Later we found out she has strep (spelling?) throat. I hope that is not what I have.

So cute story- little Annaleha (now 3.5 years but cognitive functions at a year earlier) was watching a show with a Black choir and she looks at the one soloist that they did a close up on and said- Uncle Det!! (which is what she calls me) So she thinks I resemble a Black person- too cute. I had just washed my hair and it was curly and a bit unruly, so I could see the resemblance. Bob's family thought it was hysterical. She calls me uncle Det because, I think, she is so used to saying Uncle Bob and knows we go together so naturally, I would be Uncle too. Another funny story- I went to the bathroom during dinner Sunday and she tries to follow me in and open the door (lucky I had locked it) and screamed "BERNADETTE!" So sometimes, she gets my name right. She has an obsession of shutting herself in a room such as the bathroom and turning off the light (brave kid) and knocking on the door. Don't think she understands yet what the rest of us use the bathroom for :)

Anyway, got to finish my lunch and get back to work.

Hope this finds everyone healthy, happy, and loved.

Bernadette

good morning cousins!

well here i am, hanging out with cooper, drinking some coffe and watching tv...it really is the perfect morning! well life with me has been pretty boring, just alot of working...

how was everyones thanksgiving??? mine was good! i had to cut it short tho, cuz i had to be to work by 345am on black friday! so i tried to go to sleep early, but ended up not being able to fall asleep anyways... black friday at my store was not so bad, didnt mind it at all! did everybody hear about the poor employee at the walmart in manhattan... its sad how people can act towards others. or the two fathers who shot each other at toys r us in front of their wives and children. absolutley rididculous!

olivia- i like the new tatoo! good for you! what did aunt donna say?

lauren- where r u? we r supposed to be blogging together! lol i hope ur trip back was wonderful! did u get to hang out with katy? we miss you!

well uncle dave wanted me to let you all know that you can view the pics from the wedding online. the website is www.saksphotography.com -go to view and order. and then to the nov 8th date it says Lacanilao & Peters. the password to get in is - saks30

well i hope everyone is doing well! love and miss you all!
sarah

happy thanksgiving

ya the tatto post was me, sorry for not signing lol

but susan and trip takers! i hope you took lots and lots of pictures!!!
cause i wanna see them my friend went to paris and took over a thousand pictures which it took awhile to look at them all but i still wanna see all of yours!


anyways thanksgiving is tomoro so i wish everyone the bestest

love all
olivia

Hi!!

Hello! How is everyone? Pretty good here, just working...kind of...this day is dragging, and I just need it to be done already!! Well we just got good news, we are ordering La Nova, and then closing the office at 2. Unfortunately, we do not get to go home, we are going to check out the new office (where we are moving in 2 weeks), and then we are doing a happy hour. I know, I know, it's not working so I should be happier, but I would really like to just go relax at home instead you know? haha I really shouldn't conplain. So I am only working Monday and Tuesday next week, and then i am having my ankle surgery on Wednesday. I am excited to not have to work for a few weeks, but I think I might get pretty bored on the couch, especially with Sarah working a lot lately, I will be all alone! But once again, I should not complain because I will not be working!! Yah!!

Ok, so our trip was absolutely amazing!!! Rome was awesome, the Colosseum and St. Peter's Basilica (in Vatican City where the pope says mass) were breath-taking. The ruins, Trevi Fountain, the Eiffel Tower were all amazing...Spain was beautiful; we stayed on the Mediterranean the first night in Spain and the Atlantic coast the next night. The cities were gorgeous, we got taken onto a mountain trail by our GPS, which was terrifying (picture a tiny road, pitch-black, on the side of a cliff, with no barriers...) Lauren did awesome driving! We spent the whole last night in a salsa bar in Madrid, staying up all night and went right to the airport....it was just an awesome awesome trip!! So that is it in a nut shell!! haha
Today is the first day that I actually don't feel super exhausted or jet-lagged!!

Alright, well I have to get back to "work" hahah Everybody have a great Thanksgiving!!!! And I will see some of you tomorrow!

Love you,
Susan

Hello all!

Who wrote that last post? Was that you, Olivia?

Nothing too exciting here. I just made homemade chicken soup and chicken pot pie for dinner tonight and tomorrow. We'll be eating at my parent's house on Thursday so no cooking for me until Friday. And if we're lucky we may get some leftovers to bring home so I may not have to cook until Sunday!

Susan, Mark, Lauren--how was your trip?

What is everyone else up to?

Hope all is well!
Tricia

Ah, another week without a blog!!!

omg!~!

we really need to update lol how is everybody? anything new?

something is new to me.

has anybody ever seen the movie Dead Poets Society?

well its amazing and you should

so in my pyschology class we were watching it and this really sad part happened and in the middle of class i just started bawling because i was remembering something and its hard to say cause i dont want to ruin the movie you should def see but throughout the movie these kids live by the words Carpe Diem and in the end... its amazing

anyway i got a tattoo of it

because throughout the rest of the day that i was tearing up i was just remembering aunt debbie

and i wanted to get something out of that movie that would remind me of her

so i got this

it means seize the day

Busy bees

so... b4 i go to work on my project thats due tomoro im gonna blog, so since im typing faster than normal please excuse misspellde words lol

sarah my ankle still hurts super bad, i think im gonna get it rechecked cause i can only move it up and down

other than that today was my last day at the petsmart ive worked at for the past 10 months im going to a different one for bigger and betyter things lol and i start tomoro so im excited about that by the time i graduate highs school i think im gonna be manager =]
but the petsmart i have been working at is basically with 3 of my best friends so they and a couple other people got a big cake that said good luck and pop and cookies and it was really cute <3 i love them

but ya soo i have a project in anatomy due tomoro that i have been working on with my group and i feel i have been the only one working on it and one of the girls just called me to say her computer crashed so now i have to do even more =s so ya...

anyways i hope everybpdy is doing goopd cant wait to see you all agian, ps i already need a new bills m and t magnet cause someone stole it off my car

love all
olivia

good morning cousins!

hey! where is everyone??? (including myself tho!) wow! it has been very slow on the blog this week. i hope everyone is doing well, and i hope that there will be great stories to share when everyone gets back on here. i just wanted to say that it was wonderful seeing all of you last week! and i miss all of you! whats been going on with everyone?

well- mark, susan, lauren and susan's friend amanda leave for spain tomorrow! so when they get back next week there will be some fun stories!

its just me and cooper, although hes been sleeping since susan left for work at about 20 to 8. well ive just been working alot lately. kohls is going really well actually. i like it, its been busy so the time is just flying by! and kyoto is as good as ever, so my jobs r good for right now. yesterday i got grandma, grandpa and myself lunch from kyoto. they really enjoyed it and grandma came to pick it up with me and got to meet some of my coworkers. so that was nice!

tricia- give daniel a hug and a kiss from me! i miss him, andrew too of course! how did your 2nd trip go? it must have been a fun 7 hrs back! (i think u said 7 hrs...)

jenn- give the girls a hug and i kiss from me! how is mia doing with school? and how gianna?, getting better at the wii?

olivia- hows your ankle? and how is work and school? get on here and start keeping us posted!

bernadette- hows work going? is it really busy still?

well love and miss you all! hopefully someone else gets on here soon!
sarah

I voted for the first time!!

it was exciting
i guess everybody went to early voting
cause i walked in the building waited for the guy in front of me filled out my ballot and then left
not even ten minutes, pretty sweet

We're leaving tomorrow!!!!!!
im super excited
cant wait to see everybody


love all
olivia



ps i applied to UF wish me luck!

To describe...

I said Lauren's flight comes in at 10:30pm, but didn't say what day she comes in...... Friday.

Hello!

Hi everyone!! How's it going? Thanks to everyone for your congrats messages on here and by phone....I actually did not send out a mass cousin text, which I really should have..sorry!

Lauren will definitely be in for Uncle Dave's wedding. When she bought her ticket to Colombia 3 weeks ago, she had bought a round trip ticket, not one way. Her flight comes in at like 10:30 at night though.

This day is dragging unfortunately....I have stuff to do, but am not incredibly busy, so I think that is why. Bern, your days must be flying by, sounds like you are super busy! Work has been kind of crazy lately, not busy, just crazy....the one partner flipped out on Friday about some job that didn't get done on time (which was the client's fault, not any of ours), but he went crazy and was swearing at everyone (like every single person that was in the building got yelled at). It was not how a professional should act, and especially not a boss....so a lot of people here are really mad. The one manager I think is going to quit, one staff accountant has been looking for a new job for awhile now, and the one bookkeeper keeps telling me she doesn't think this place is for her....so we just hired 2 new people, but that doesn't help us out at all because it doesn't even make up for the people who are quitting! And now we will still have to work a ton of hours during tax season because there will be even less people than last year (and last year we were under-staffed). What the heck!! haha

Alright, well I gotta get back to work now....they are trying to be more strict with us now (probably won't work how they like though). But I will see everyone this weekend, can't wait!!!!!

Susan

Voting!

I'm going momentarily to vote. The rumor is that lines in many places are an hour to two long. My dad went at 7 AM and had only a 20 minute wait but he is in a very small town.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone this weekend!

Bernadette--how sad about those children. I have been meaning to ask you what color the bridesmaids are wearing.

Mark--great to see you here, twice! Thanks for not leaving me out of your first post! :-)

I don't know about you, but I will be happy when the election is over. I am sick of all the fighting about it.

See everyone this weekend! I'm heading out to vote!

Love,
Tricia

I agree

With Mark- VOTE! Anybody vote yet? What was your experience like? Was your voting place busy? I am going after work. I heard on the radio that some woman went to vote at 5:45am and that two of the works (two elderly women) were already fighting about something. LOL. Should be a fun day.

So I just read on WGRZ that 3 young boys died in a fire in our town last night. They are unsure how the fire started but only one person (the boys' grandmother) got out. How terribly sad. That poor family. I don't know them but Bob might. they have not released names yet...

Susan- CONGRATS to you and Jeff!! I did not know until I read the blog last week. Where was the text to all cousins?!?! Are you still planning to get married in June? How exciting!!

Erin got engaged on saturday. A lot of you know her since we have been BFF's since we were young. She is soooo happy. She wants to get married this May.

well, work is stressful. i am so glad i took off friday. kind of had to to get to the rehearsal by 4:30. I actually had enough comp time from doing night presentations and trainings to i do not even have to take a PD or vacation day. If things were less hectic here, I would have taken thursday off or at least part of it but given the state of a lot of my clients, I can not justify that.

So has anyone talked to Lauren? Is she definitely coming in for the wedding? I hope so.

Amber and Kristy fly in today in about an hour. I think Joey is picking them up.

Well, I need to prepare for my next client. See everyone in a few days if not before!!

Bernadette

VOTE!!!!

FIRST OF ALL VOTE!!!! I'M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU WHO TO VOTE FOR BUT YOUR VOTE IS YOUR WAY TO SPEAK UP! THIS IS THE ONLY VOICE WE HAVE AND WE HAVE TO USE IT.

the wedding is less then a week away I am getting pretty excited to see everyone...Not sure when all of the out of town family is coming in, but slumber party at my place thursday night...!! I am off from all work thursday-tuesday so i will be able to hang with my out of town fam quite a bit....hooray!!!

well i gotta jet
I Love All Of You,
Mark

Congratulations!

Just a quick post because I am running out the door. I wanted to post here a big CONGRATULATIONS to Susan and Jeff!! I am so excited and happy for you guys!

I'll post more later once I get back from my meeting.

Love ya's,
Tricia

Goodmorning!!

Hi!! How is everyone?? Great here.....so in case word hasn't gotten around yet (which I am sure it has), Jeff proposed yesterday!!! I am engaged!! I am very excited, and he wanted to do it before everyone came in for the wedding so I can show everyone my ring (thoughtful right?!)!!! So I have to get to work now, since I have only been talking and smiling since I got here and definitely not working! But I cannot wait to see everyone next week!

Love you all,
Susan

Work it make it do it Makes us harder better faster Stronger

So I work at PetSmart and a few weeks ago we got a new manager, i loved my old one, he was the best but this new one is really cool too just some people dont like her cause she follows the rules to the tee lol. at petsmart each store is given a certain amount of hours to give to their employees and our old manager Sam just gave hours out the wazoo lol like he would give me 30 hours a week or so, which i asked for cause i like my job and its more money but he was going over on hours and everything so the first thing our new manager is doing is fixing the hours by cutting everybody back some last week i had four hours!!!!! so i talked to her and was like i cant live off 4 hours a week blah blah blah and she felt bad but there was nothing she could do and then she got an email from one of our sister stores that said they needed help and can give lots of hours. Basically its only an extra three miles so im transferring their next week, i went in for an interview on monday and it seems like a step up so... yay! lol and every manager that has moved to a different store says it looks good on your petsmart file so thats good too.

sorry that took so long

Halloweens coming! i was invited to go trick or treating with 2 different groups and to 2 parties and a haunted house but i have to work til 10! which sux cause who's gonna go to petsmart on halloween? so im just gonna go to one of the parties with people i work with cause its a sleepover and starts later

what about everybody else?

susan- when is your surgery?

im off my cast but there are certain ways if i move my ankle it hurts really bad and the other day i misstepped and twisted it that hurt really bad lol

also i got new classes i still have anatomy and physics but now i have art and psychology, i kinda dont like art but i love psych! but other than that juust chillin wit friends, going to panera bread in a little bit to study with some friends, physics test tomorrow!

love all
olivia

where the hell is everyone?!?!?

i know me too, but i hope someone will write soon! i hope everyone is doing ok.

here i am hanging with cooper, watching er and drinking coffee! im doing good, busy week.... both thursday and friday this week ill be working 8am until about 9:30 or 10:30pm. both jobs, both days. so thats what im going to be doing for halloween. what is everyone else doing? jenn, tricia- what are the kids dressing up as? do u go trick or treating together?

susan and i got to spend monday together, shopping for chirstmas bcuz she wont be able to after her surgery. and then she took me out for lunch! it was a fun day!

olivia- how is ur ankle? anything fun happen at school or work?

well hopefully somebody writes soon. hope all is well!
love and miss you all!
sarah

Who The Hell Is This?

I know, I know...i haven't been on in forever, i spent like 2 hours catching up on everyone...and i spent a good portion yesterday with a whole bunch of responses, but my dummy butt forgot to bring all of them in so i just have afew for now....

First and foremost thank you all for your anti-Mazz's sentiment...they are in a downward spiral and i cannot wait to stand over the burniong ashes of the building and urinate all over them....lol... The manager is a jerk and he is literally turning the cool hip place into a drab unexciting place for young professionals to hang out. they are trying to cater to an older crowd, but guess what the older crowd doesn't come out with 8 people on a saturday night, order 8 filet dinners and stay for 3 hours and drink themselves stupid, spending hundreds of dollars. He decided that opera music on a saturday night was a good way to bring in the people...they had the balls to insinuate that i didn't charge anyone for any drinks. they were like, you used to have the crowds bumping till like 4 am did you stop giving stuff out for free. I was like hell no, and f* you for saying that. no one wants to come in and talk to your manager that interjects himself into every conversation held in the restaurant, and more over who would want to go out and hang at a place playing italian tribal music or w/e bs music he listened to. it was horrible, i went from making 300-600 a week cash to making less than 150 in 2 nights. I took myself off of the schedule for saturdays and only worked wednesdays, they then called me up and told me it was pointless for me to be on the schedule for one day a week and that they wanted me more or nothing, so i told them to F* off...

well thanks for listening to that rant.
so my tux for uncle dave's wedding cost $160....to rent, they told me i'd get to keep the socks, but if they're used socks then i'll prolly slap them in the face with them,.....lol....

olivia- i'm so excited you made it to the blog! my cell number is 716-480-2420. Get your brother on here and remind your sisters to pop in and say hello, we miss them, and you all...
It def sux that you're missing your homecoming, but Uncle Daves wedding is gonna be alot of fun...i'll smuggle you drinks like i did for joe at tricia's wedding, which was a riot might i add!

bernadette- i'm sorry i totally forgot abotu the walk until i saw you guys come in from it and grandma's andwas like, how come i didn't get a reminder....but duh....idiot....i didn't check the blog, there were like 8 of them....
with your tire situatuion, you can put air in a tire with a slow leak. my back tire had a slow leak for like 6 months before i got a replacement on, and i'm sure by now its already replaced, but for future reference.
Sorry about Sammy, he was a cool pooch, but i think you did the right thing for him, and as hard as it was he's better off for it. have you guys thought abotu a kitten? they really don't need as much attentionas a dog. i never had one, but i couldn't imagine living without little Zink...she is a cutie.

susan- you're fitting an awful lot into the week after you get back, i say maybe get a little bit taken care of before you go, perhaps try and work out a deal with the dealer before we go, that way when its time to turn it in you already know what you're gonna do. just a suggestion, take it with a grain of salt if you want...i'm, also gonna suggest buying a car thats like 2 or 3 years old, you'll get it for half price, AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT MILEAGE, and even better when your term is up you get to keep it, now you have an asset, and of course it depreciatedin value from the time you bought it, but you're not just giving it away when the term is up. you could sell it after a year and sometimes get more than you paid for it leaving you the ability to buy more of a car with your next purchase.

sarah- hope you liek Kohl's, hopefully i'll be able to get you into M&T. have you heard from them? i hope so, you would love the branch i want you to go to, everyone is really nice there, plus i know like half the bank, so you'd be a superstar rightaway...! lol...

jen- i hope you're doing well with Mia in school....she's gotta be a trip there, i can't even imagine how much the teacher loves her in the class...Mia is a celebrity! 100% I can't wait to see you guys in a few weeks

trisha- WE'VE BEEN CHATTING ON E-MAIL, BUT I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO FEEL LEFT OUT HERE! LOVE YA

Well i gotta jet
I Love All Of You,
Mark

just talking

since there hasnt been a post in awhile i just thought id say whats up? lol

so i found out my homecoming is uncle davids wedding and im not going, which kinda sucks but i cant wait for the wedding. this week i dont work at all except for yesterday so today im going to heaths football game. not much planned for this week, exams thursday and friday fun no lol. going on a double date bowling on saturday that should be fun nothing else really except i hope to have my air cast for my ankle off by thursday!

anyways
so hows everybody?
sarah- hows kohls? where else are you looking?
tricia-hows the vaccuum? lol new windows?

just keeping from being bored and catching up

love all
olivia

Hello!

Hi! How is everyone? Pretty good here....today is our extension deadline at work, and guess what....we just finished our last tax returns 15 minutes ago! We are leaving on time! I am very excited. I am going to go home, shower, and Sarah is going to cut my hair after she gets back from dinner at Grandma's. Ok, so I have some news for everyone....since Lauren doesn't get on here much, I'm breaking the news for her...Alex did not get approved for his visa, so lauren is actually going back to Columbia on Saturday. She is going for 3 weeks and then coming back here the day before Uncle Dave's wedding, staying for the wedding, going to Spain with us, and sticking around for Thanksgiving, and then going back to Columbia. So, that's the situation....we are sad she is leaving, but at least she'll be back in 3 weeks! Oh and Olivia, take care of your ankle...ice it, elevate it, wrap it. What you did was my first injury, and I didn't take care of it good enough, so I kept re-injuring it, and 9 years later..surgery! Oh so my surgery, they are cutting the tendons in half, 'welding them' on top of eachother to make them tighter, removing a bone spur, and he said I have ligament damage on the side and back (?) and cartilage damage on top, so basically surgery on the entire ankle!! hahah off of work for at least 3 weeks tho!!! Alright, I am going home now (yah!) Have a great night everyone.
Love you,
Susan

birthdays again

how many in each month?

good morning

good morning cousins! well sorry i havent posted in awhile, nothing is really going on. its just cooper and i right now watching tv and drinking coffee!

bernadette- i wont be able to take another saturday off of work to go with you all. i dont think susan can either. sounds like alot of fun tho! im really happy for sam that he got adopted!

tricia- i got the job at kohls! my first day was last week... not really getting too many hours tho, so i may be looking for a different second job, havent decided yet.

olivia- that sucks about your ankle darling! how is school and everything going?

well thats about all i have to write about. talk to you all later
love and miss you
sarah

Ankles Ankles Ankles

lol
bern-yay for sam!!!!!!

tricia- cool sounding vaccuum i love vaccuums but not as much as my teacher who just spent like 500 dollars on one

so yesterday i was scheduled to work 930-6 and we close at 6 on sundays and every three months we have floor people come to wax and what not and yesterday we were moving everything into the back of the store and i was walking out and over a hand jack and my coworker didnt see me and started moving it so i hoped over it so she wouldnt roll my foot over and i landed right on my ankle and my ligament went across the bone and my coworker who was like five feet away heard it pop so corporate policy says we had to go to the er and i got x rays and thank god nothings broken but its a really bad sprain and its ugly bruised and swollen and i have to use crutches that hurt my armpits really bad lol

love all
olivia

Adopted

Sam got adopted this past friday. It is good to know that someone else is loving him and taking care of him now. I hope he is happy and that the family is happy with him.

Tricia- I have a HEPA filter too but something is wrong with my vacuum. It leaves chunks of fuzz all over. Same color as the carpet. I have the setting on the thickest carpet and it still does not seem to pick up right. I have to stop every minute or two and scoop out the fuzz stuck in the bottom. Any suggestions?

I can't remember if I posted on here about Grace's bachelorette, in case some of you out of towners can make it. It will be saturday, November 1st. We plan to go to a bunch of the wineries on the niagara wine trail by me, go out for dinner, then go to the casino. I think Uncle David has agreed to drive us. So far there is Grace, me, her aunt, my mom, Lauren, and Stephanie (depending on a babysitter). Susan and Sarah- are you both working? Two of Grace's bridesmaids are coming in town but I don't think until sunday. The one just got mugged and hurt pretty bad (I think she was pushed into the cement sidewalk) so Grace does not think they would want to go to all the festivities we have planned... so saturday seemed to work better for most of us.

So I need all new tires on my car before winter and especially now that I learned I have a slow leak from a nail. I went saturday (I had an appointment) to a local guy near me that knows Bob's family (and has a weird fascination with Connie, who is 25 years younger than him). Anyway, I get there and he tells me the tires are not in yet. So now I go tomorrow and miss an hour of work. The tires had better be there! I am afraid to drive with the one with the leak much longer. At least tomorrow will not be busy with work. The students have off. They have off today too, and the university is closed so I have off but I am finishing an editing project due tonight. The customer requesting the editing speaks something other than English as her first language and writes so poorly that I have made literally thousands of changes. It has taken me a long time to do this paper. I can't wait to be done with it!

Ok, that about all I have to say for now ;)

See everyone in less than a month for the wedding!!

Bernadette

Sunday

Olivia--We have at least one birthday in every month. That's cool!

Sarah--when will you know if you will be working at Kohl's? That would be great. Perfect time to start getting a store discount, since the holidays are coming.

Susan--Getting a new car is so exciting! Have you seen the new Ford Fusions? I like them and I love the ice blue color it comes in. Your trip sounds awesome! Be sure to take lots of pictures and more importantly, eat lots of great food! Why are you having ankle surgery? What are they going to do?

Let's see, what is new here? The weather is beautiful. Oh, and I got a new vacuum cleaner. I know, that isn't too exciting but for me it is. Duke sheds terribly and for some reason our old vacuum didn't pick up his dog hair. The new one works great and it has a HEPA filter and this cool feature where it sucks from the side too so it gets everything along the edges of the walls. Its the little things in life that excite me, really. :-)

I'm off to get Dave out of bed. Daniel has tried unsuccessfully so its my turn!

Love,
Tricia

how many months

does the cousins cover with birthdays?

its not that i dont know most birthdays but im doing something really cool and need the months we cover


love all
olivia

car

Well, I am already over on my miles for my car now (it's a lease, up at the end of December). So if Volkswagen gives me a good deal on a new car, and wipes out what I owe in miles, I will probabaly just get another Passat (I really do love my car). But, if they don't make it worth it, I saw a commercial for the new Mazda 6 that came out (they changed the body style), so I was going to go look at them too. Whatever is cheaper is really what I am going to get!
Susan

pushing daisies

the post about phone numbers was me =] (olivia)
lol sorry i didnt sign it

spain sounds super exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what kind of car are you looking for??

love all
olivia

Who?

Who posted that last message needing phone numbers?

So anyways, hi everyone! How are you doing? I am ok here, we have a deadline at work this coming Wednesday, but surprisingly, we've only been working like 50 hours/wk!! I am very excited to not be living here like I was last month!

So very exciting news for Mark, Lauren, and me....so I am pretty sure everybody knows we are going to Spain next month for a week. Well, we looked into airfare, and listen to the itinerary we made: we land in Madrid on Sunday morning, we spend the night there, the next day we fly to Rome, spend the night there, then we fly to Paris, spend one night there, and then fly to Barcelona. There we are going to spend the night, rent a car, drive down the coast of the Mediterranean, spend the night in Valencia (the town where Lauren used to live on the coast), then drive to Madrid, spend the night, and fly out the next day!!! And guess how much those 3 plane tickets cost around Europe....$100 each!!! Isn't that crazy! We are so excited!

I am just stressed for the next month leading up to the trip because in that time I need to buy all my Christmas gifts and work out a deal for a new car! I have to do that before because a week after I get back from Spain, I am having my ankle surgery, and I'll be on crutches (and there is no way I want to walk in the mall during winter on crutches, or through a dealership parking lot)!!

Well, somebody write and update us on your life!!
Love you,
Susan

i need phone numbers

that is so sad to here
i hope everything gets better


So last thursday i broke my phone lol
and the people at verizon couldnt get ANYthing out of it including contacts
so... im up for texts saying who;s who or if you wanna put it on the blog
thanks


kohls is AMAZING by the way!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Kristy!!!!!!!

well first of all i just wanted to say happy birthday to kristy! i hope you have a wonderful day!

sorry i havent blogged lately, nothing much was going on with me, so i just didnt blog. for the out of towners- on thursday, before our grandparents dinner, i was over at grandma and grandpas, when i heard a knock on the door. (grandma snuck downstairs to do laundry when i was putting away the dishes from the dishwasher.) i opened the door and jean and jen were there asking if it was grandpas birthday, i said that it wasnt today, that it was the 5th. jen, the older one (93) insisted that it was that day, and they came in and gave grandpa a card and a shirt. it was very sweet. they were telling us how they were going to spillios for dinner, a resturant around the corner from their house. jean (85) was saying that they had been to spillios a few days before but jen wanted to go back. well, our dinner was alot of fun. we went to tullys. grandma and grandpa really enjoyed themselves. after mark and i dropped grandma and grandpa off at there house. the next morning i went over to grams, she told me that jean had been over earlier and that her and jen got in an accident the night before. jen was in the hospital with three broken ribs. later, we talked to sandy (jens daughter) and jean. jen wasnt doing well and didnt even realize that sandy was there with her. well jen died friday night- saturday morning. yesterday was the memorial service, i think my mom took a few hours off of work to take grandma. we had jean over for breakfast on sunday and grandmas been over there checking on her, bringing food. just thought i would make sure everybody knows.

well i start a second job on thursday. i got a job at kohls! mostly because ive been bored, and hang out with cooper for about 4 to 5 hours a day, gets a little boring. so hopefully i like it, cuz i get an extra 15% discount on clothes!

well again, kristy have a wonderful day! and i love and miss you all!
sarah

Happy Birthday!!

Happy 29th Birthday Kristy!!!

I hope you have a fabulous day :)

Bernadette

Thats gonna leave a mark!

Hey everybody!!

i think we all know what thats from lol, by the way the last one was from ace venture pet detective lol

Bernadette-I’m sorry about Sam hopefully next time you’ll find the dog that is perfect for you!

Tricia-- I do work at petsmart and I actually work in the fish/reptile/small animal/bird department so if you guys have any questions when you go there the person you’re asking is doing the same job as me =] lol I actually have a couple fish tanks at school I have 3. They’re 55 gallon tanks I love them and my fish.

So college ugh lol umm.. I’m looking into ECC for now but I was thinking that I might stay in Florida just a little bit longer maybe go to Sante Fe Community College for a little bit and see if UF would want me because I know my dad wants me to go there and my teacher wants me to too and she’s on the board of something so she might be able to get me in. I don’t know for sure. But I graduate in June so…! I really want to be a vet.

My school is starting to do surgeries next month and I get to help with them! I’m so excited we spay and neuter a couple cats or dogs a week and I get to like hold the skin open or hand the instruments to them. I cant wait.

I registered to vote last Friday, I’m excited that I get to vote!!

So I spent all weekend with my friends in Tampa and I had a blast but I’m super exhausted and am going to finish my down syndrome paper and then go to bed cause its 5:00 and time for bed lol

Love all
Olivia

Are you registered???

If not go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8y1e-z1JA0

AND

http://maps.google.com/maps/mpl?moduleurl=http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/mapplets/elections/2008/us-voter-info/us-voter-info.xml

There are only a few days left. For those in NY October 10 is the deadline.

It's October already!

Hello my dear cousins,

It is October. "Don't you just love New York in the fall. It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would buy you a bouquet of sharpened pencils, if I knew your name and address." Joe Fox (played by Tom Hanks in You've Got Mail). Love that movie!

Anyway, it is October and with that comes the cold weather. It is supposed to be in the 30's tonight. I love fall though and I enjoy that cold crispness in the air.

What is new with everyone? Nothing really going on here. Oh, well, on Sunday we are getting a family portrait taken. We, as in me, Dave and the boys, Jenn, Mike and the girls, and our parents. We are having it down in my parent's yard near the pond. Jenn and I hired a photographer for it as our parent's anniversary gift. I am looking forward to it.

QOTW: Fall TV...who's watching what???
So far I am watching Brothers & Sisters, 'Til Death, The Biggest Loser, The Office and I saw the first half of Grey's Anatomy. I'm not really into Grey's this year which is disappointing because I really like the show. This season seems to me, so far, to be much of the same.

Well, I am sitting in bed with winter PJ's on and the blankets and I am freezing! I feel like there is a cold breeze in my room. Don't know why I am so cold. Dave has shorts and a t-shirt on and isn't cold at all. Maybe I am just tired? So, I will go to bed and see if that warms me up! Good night!

Love,
Tricia

Is it the weekend yet

Hi everyone. I have not posted in a few weeks so I thought it was about time.

Most of you probably know by now that I decided to surrender Sam back to the SPCA. I had been thinking of it for some time and decided to definitely do it after Bob and I talked last monday night and realized how much that Sam was not only stressing me out, but Bob as well. With us both being gone all day Sam was not getting enough exercise and therefore acting out behaviorally since he was unhappy and bored. He peed in his cage and/or while he was walking around in the house nearly every day, was getting more hyper by the day, and was hard to control when walking him. He was about 60 pounds and I consider myself to be strong but he wreaked havoc on my neck and back just trying to walk him. I consulted with someone familiar with the breed who said that coonhounds need to do what they are born to do- hunt. Since we were not using him for that and not giving him enough exercise, he was bored and unhappy. She supported my decision to give him back so that a family more able to meet his needs could adopt him.

So, Bob and I took him to Erie County SPCA thursday night (the only night they are open because I did not want to miss work) only to be told when we got there that they could not take them because they had no room. This had me feeling horrible. So we took him back home and Bob kindly told me it was "the baby Jesus' way of saying keep the dog." I disagreed. I knew nothing would change if we kept him and stood by my decision. So the next morning I called niagara county spca who did have a kennel available (I learned my lesson and called first) so I took him this past friday morning, alone, which was difficult. I felt better leaving him there because it is a smaller facility and it seems like he would get more personal attention. They two ladies who interacted with him were very friendly, so that made me feel a little better. Also, it being niagara county and not erie may increase his chance of ending up on a farm with other dogs or with someone who will use him to hunt, which I think will be good. So I am still sad and it is difficult to come home/wake up to an empty house (bob is long gone by the time I wake up and I usually beat him home from work) but I do feel it was for the best and hope to get another dog eventually. I miss his cute lil face and his craziness though.... [[sigh]]

Anyway, things at work have been very busy and a lot of students are coming in (or being walked down by coaches/faculty) without appointments and many are experiencing suicidal thoughts or have attempted, so I am feeling a bit stressed (hence my blog title). Otherwise, things are going well and Bob and I are taking my mom out for Mexican food as her bday present. I am looking forward to thursday night at Tully's, too.

Well, i need to finish up here and head on home. Hope all is well with everyone.

Happy Tuesday!

Hello!

Glad to see posts by Susan and Olivia!

Susan--tell everyone hello when you all go to dinner. I wish I lived there so I could go too! When do you leave for Spain? That will be an awesome trip!

Olivia--I didn't know you worked at PetSmart. We go there quite a bit because Dave has a huge fish tank and he likes to get supplies there. Your presentation sounds interesting. Good luck with it! Are you applying to colleges now? Where do you want to go? I remember you saying that you want to be a vet or a vet tech, right?

Not too much happening here either. Keeping busy with work. We are also taking on a huge home improvement job. We are getting all new windows in our house. The one's in here now are the original one's the house was built with in 1951. They are single paned and very drafty. I am hoping that our heat bills stay low once we get the new windows. But wow its expensive! I now know more about windows than I ever imagined. Who knew there was more to it than just glass and wood or vinyl! We had to choose from double pane to triple pane, aluminum spacers or this intercept thing, grids or no grids and if you want grids, what style??? Crazy how much is involved. We thought we would just pick a person and he would put windows in. Not so at all.

Can't think of what else we are doing so I am going to go.

Love,
Tricia

p a r t why? cause i gotta

hey everybody
not much is new in florida
im raising my grades in alll my classes slowly but surely i never let them slip into c's barely even b's but im getting focused so they'll be good. i guess i got caught up in my job. i love my job (at petsmart) and love the people i work with!
this weekend 8 of us are going to halloscream at busch gardens!! im so excited, for those that dont know what that is, its like an amusement park we have that is setting up a bunch of haunted houses, its really cool, ive never been to halloscream and i hear its not as good as halloween horror nights at universal studios which i have been to but im looking forward to spending the night with my friends and the beach the next day
so for anatomy and physiology class i have a report and presentation on down syndrome thats due next monday but im gonna go work on it now,
love all
olivia

7 days!

Guys, 7 days without a post is pretty bad huh? I know, I know, I am guilty too, but we shouldn't go this long!
So anyways, how is everyone doing? I am alright....just another bad day at work! haha So my new plan for my future is that I am going to have to work through another tax season, I will work here until August and then put my 2 weeks in....well that's my tentative plan, we will see what happens!
I had to miss breakfast at Grandma's yesterday cuz I picked up a hostessing shift at the restaurant. There aren't many shifts I can pick up, but when one comes up, I'll do it. I am trying to keep my foot in the door there, cuz if I go back to school, I want to waitress during that time.
I am excited for dinner on Thursday with Grandma and Grandpa. For the out of towners who probably don't know, Grandma and Grandpa are taking all the grandchildren out to dinner. I feel bad that they are insisting on paying, but they want to. And then after, Lauren, Mark, and I are going to plan out our Spain trip! We want to figure out where we're going, rental cars, hotels, and all that stuff....a month and a half and then we leave! I am scraed to death of the plane ride though, but as soon as that's over, I'll be alright!
Well, I gotta get to work now....have a great day everyone!! And there better be another post on here by next Monday!

Love you,
Susan

good morning cousins!

hi everybody! thank you for the birthday wishes! cooper and i are just sitting around watching tv... i love my mornings!

well i dont really have anything interesting going on... so ill just leave it at that for now....

love and miss you all!
sarah

Happy Birthday Sarah

Yay happy birthday lol


jenn, i got a new number cause i got a new phone all together
my number is 8043887

so in econmics on friday i found out that telemarketers have bought all cell phone numbers so that they can solicit to people on the go due to declining land lines, if you wouldnt like this service call 8883821222 if you sign up for them not to call you and they do they can get sued and a very heavy fine so tell your friends
love everybody =]
olivia

Happy Birthday Sarah!!

I just ran in quick to wish Sarah a good day. Also, Olivia..I sent you a text on your birthday, but you must have a different number than the one I have saved. The one I sent it to ended with 5171. Anyway, hope your 18th was fun!
I promise to blog very soon when I get more time. I have dinner in the oven now and have to hang some wet laundry.
Hope everyone is doing well. Love the picture of our newest cutie in the family!! Wish her and Steph well from us, please!
Love you all!!
~jenn

Sorry that was from me...Tricia

Sarah...

Happy Birthday!!!!!

kaylee ann

just thought i'd put up a picture of her for all to see!

Hi!!

Hello! How is everyone? I am doing alright here..happy for the weekend to be close!
So I got my car back yesterday...I was kind of hoping it would drag out a bit longer tho, or at least until Monday so I could've taken the rental to another Bills game! But it is good to have mine back, I just feel like now that it's been in a pretty bad accident, that it isn't 100% anymore you know? But I am just paranoid with cars so it's probably just fine!
Lauren and I went to see Steph and Kaylee in the hospital yesterday. Steph looks great, and Kaylee is sooo cute! The plan was that they are going to go home today, so hopefully that happens! I think my sister was planning on taking Grandma over to the house to see them today.
I get to leave work at 4 today instead of 5 to drive a sale tax return over to a client's house. I volunteered for it of course!! They live like 10 minutes from my house so hopefully I will be home before I would normally have gotten out of work!
I can't wait for the Bills game this weekend...it's going to be a littly chilly, like 60 - 65, but it's looking like it will be sunny so I'll take it! The only problem I have with going to the games is that then I have to miss breakfast at Grandma's, which I hate missing!! But, I guess it's a fair trade-off right? haha
Well, I guess I'll get back to work now. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Susan

Hey everybody!!

Thanks sarah! thanks for the message too and everybody else when i was up there.

My birthday was really good =] 18! yay!! anyways my friends got me balloons and stuff and one of them sang and everybody had to press the button to make it sing and i must of heard it like 100 times,

Bernadette- remember when your mom got mine a singing balloon that was fun!

mom and dad got me flowers and cards and mom is taking me and my best friend out to dinner.

and today was really good yesterday my work celebrated it to lol

anyways just wanted to say thanks and hi again!

tricia- i like the weekly thing too its a good idea

=]

olivia

Happy Birthday Olivia!!!!!!

(hopefully happy birthday to kaylee ann too!!!!) hello to all! sorry i havent posted in awhile, the computer wouldnt let me click on the new post button... no idea why! but it works now! so here i am with cooper watching some tv.. olivia we miss you here!

olivia- its great that you got on here! no problem showing you! well i hope you have a wonderful day! thanks again for coopers treats... i may have to force feed them to him... lol its the thought that counts.

well i forgot to mention... the general manager from ocb was fired... i feel it has to do with me talking to human resources about him switching my hours around so i didnt have overtime hours. and susan dont feel bad... cuz he could have done more for me when they fired me... he didnt do anything... but i am waiting for a call back from the hr lady that i spoke to about the hours... im going to speak with her about the dan issue and see what can be done... my old hr guy didnt do anything. so i will keep you all updated on that!

well thats about it! hope that people take tricias suggestion and start blogging!
love and miss you all!
sarah

Hi all!

Hello!

Olivia--welcome to the blog!

What's new with everyone? Things have been slow on here. I know everyone is busy and cannot check in daily but do you think we can start a check in once a week kind of thing? If we all post at least once a week what we are up to, we can still stay in touch. What do you think?

Today is my dad's 65th birthday. We had dinner and cake for him on Sunday and tonight I believe he and my mom are going out to eat.

I am trying to get caught up after being on vacation and I think I finally did it. The remainder of the things on my to-do list should get done tomorrow. The kids will be at school and classes are canceled at work so I will be home doing the remainder of my work. I am also preparing and sending out resumes in search of a full time job. I like the jobs I have now but everything is sporadic and it gets a little confusing trying to keep up with what I have to do for each job and knowing where I have to be each day. I would like to trade it all for one job and one steady paycheck. So, the resumes are going out. What will come of them, who knows but at least I am getting started. I would be lucky to get a job with the way the economy is. And hopefully I can find one locally sometime soon.

Anyway--that's what I am up to.

Bernadette--how was your birthday? Did you do anything special? Did you walk on Sunday?

Kristy--B&S Season 2 comes out on Tuesday. I am nervous to watch the upcoming season because I think Tommy's character is tainted for me since he cheated on his wife in real life. I think I will apply that to his character....although his character cheated on his wife too....so maybe it won't matter after all. What do you think?

Well, we are all getting hungry so I should get dinner ready.

Love,
Tricia

So, this is the blog

thanks sarah for showing me the blog
ummm.. i'm doing this before work so, just wanted to say hi to all the cousins, i heard stephanie hasnt had the baby yet so for sure tomorrow?!!
thats what mom told me
but other than that how is everybody, i read the blogs from this month and august so im kinda caught up plus i was up there like yesterday talking to everybody lol
anyways got to go to the job so i'll talk to everyone later
peace
Olivia

THANK YOU

Thank you for the birthday wishes, text messages, and voicemails from everyone!

Hope everyone has a great day.

Bernadette

Happy Birthday Bernadette!

Happy Birthday to Bernadette!!! I hope you have a great day.

Sarah--glad you are home safely. I'm sure Cooper is glad you are home too! I am catching up on all the work I let slide while we were away. That is the one thing I hate about vacations.

Hope you are all having a good day!

Love,
Tricia

Happy Birthday Bernadette!

good morning cousins! well here i am, hanging out with cooper. poor little guy hasnt been out in almost a week! i had so much fun visiting jenn and mike and the girls and on vacation with tricia and dave and the boys! but it is good to be home!

bernadette- i hope you have a wonderful birthday! what are your plans for the day?

also about the walk,lauren, susan myself and my mom were talking about it. lauren had mentioned that she didnt want to go because she doesnt want to remember her mom for that. that she wants her to be remembered for who she really was... not the sickness. and upon hearing that, i realized that i agree. (that is probably why my mom had said that she didnt think i was walking, cuz she was there for that convo.) i really am sorry about changing my mind on this. also susan asked me to let you know that she was planning on going, but there is a deadline on monday, so she wont be able to get out of work... shes going to have to be there on sunday for most of the day. she also says how sorry she is.

well thats about it for now.
love and miss you all!
sarah

I missed a post

Sarah- I had missed one of your posts from the beginning of the month that I just read now, and now I know what happened to Susan's car getting hit! I don't know how I missed it? And that is awesome about the large tip. I had that happen once at Damon's and I double checked with them and they said that yes, they had meant to leave me that much (I can't remember how much it was but over $100). God Bless those people!


B

Helllooooooo...where are my walkers?

Hi everyone. The Out of the Darkness walk is this sunday and so far only me and Susan have "joined" our Steps4AuntDeb team.

Sarah- I know you are on vaca with Tricia now but I mentioned to your mom that you and Susan were going to walk with me and she said she did not think so???

We have raised $225 out of $250 as our "team goal." If no one else ends up walking with me, I am not going to walk but the money still goes to the foundation, which is good. Bob and my parents may all be out of town this weekend, and Josh may have to work, so depending on their schedules, some of them may walk, too.

Please let me know before Sunday if anyone is definitely going to walk and we can set up a time/place to meet and then go to Grandma's after.

Thanks!

Bernadette

Hi everyone!

Hello!

How is everyone? The kids and I just got home from walking. The path usually takes me (when doing it alone) about 45 - 60 minutes. Well, today, with two kids, a cracker/juice break, it took an hour and a half. I think I will go without kids from now on. The path is about 4 miles long. Its a nice walk but my usually good kid was whiny and my usually whiny kid was very good.

Susan--how are things with your car?

Sarah-see you tomorrow maybe but if not, on Saturday for sure!!!! Can't wait!

I have to get lunch ready and then do a lot of work so that I won't have to do too much this weekend.
Bye for now!
Tricia

Qu for Susan

In addition to what happened with your car, when you joined the team for the walk, were you asked for a t-shirt size? I am thinking that is how people get t-shirts....

Thanks!
Bernadette

SUSAN

Did I miss something? Was Susan in an accident?

good morning cousins!

well here i am with susan and cooper again. susan and i just went to the police department to pick up her drivers license, registration and accident report. then a little later, off to enterprise to get her a rental...

i forgot to mention something that happened on my work day on friday. i get to work and find out that 3 out of 4 hibachi chefs left, just quit, at 1230 that afternoon. they told us a story of what had happened, but no one really believes what they said. we had one chef left, sky, and the bartender (who used to be a chef) had to cook also. we couldnt take any walk-ins between 6 and 730. and one of the servers became a bartender, which didnt work out wonderfully! but they had 2 new chefs in by saturday night, and tim, one of the chefs that we used to have, got back yesterday... so it back to normal for kyotos.

so thats about it! my last day of work is over! so i have 2 days before i leave for pa! cant wait!
love and miss you all!
sarah

Suicide Walk

Thank you Sarah and Susan for walking with me. I think my dad will too if he is off that weekend, which I think he is.

Thanks to Susan and Bob who have generously donated so far! We are already halfway to reaching our goal! Maybe I should have aimed higher than $250!

Don't forget to spread the word for those family members who do not read this or have email (Susan and Sarah- I forgot your parent's email so please make sure to tell them). That would be great if we can get a whole bunch of us walking that day. I completely forgot to mention it sunday at brunch...

I emailed them to change registration for a team so that we call get t-shirts. I am not sure why it says "individual" and only asked for one size. I definitely registered us as a team but probably did something wrong...

OK, almost time to leave work so I got to wrap up some things. Hope everyone is having a good day!

Bernadette

Join my Team

http://afsp.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.team&eventID=530&teamID=7142

Here is how to join. Let me know if you need a password.

B

HEre is how to support us!

http://afsp.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&eventID=530&participantID=13634


Here is the link. It only has my name on it. I will try to change that. You can email it to people to support us. Let me know if you have questions!

Bernadette

SUICIDE WALK

Hi all. I've registered us for the walk (if I did it correctly). I've named us "Steps4AuntDeb." I believe we get t-shirts but it did not ask me how many walkers we have??? Hmmm- I'll keep everyone updated. Please spread the word to your parents/siblings... let me know who else plans to walk in case I have to specify how many. Also, I put down that we will try to raise $250. I will let you know how to do this once I figure it out but I have a client now.

Jenn- So scary about the bear in your neighborhood! I am glad Mia is enjoying school! How are you doing?

Tricia- have fun beginning classes again. Did you get the boys and you ready by 7am?

Sarah- Sam is OK but still peeing in his cage. Ugh!

Gotta run!

Bernadette

where is everyone?

good morning cousins! i hope everyone is doing well! here i am, drinking my coffee watching tv with cooper...and susan.... susan was driving my mom to work this morning when this lady ran a stop sign and hit her car! so we have been waiting for the tow truck guy to call. and i have to drive her to get a rental car after her car gets towed. so here we are...

work has been pretty busy lately... on friday i had a table of 4 people. their bill was 163 dollars and some change. they gave me the bill and said i was all set. i counted out the money and there was 300 dollars in there! so that would be like a 140 dollar tip! the 2 guys that paid had left so i went up to the girls and asked them if the bill was all set and they had said yea is something wrong? so i told them that the bill was 163 and there was 300 dollars in there and they were like omgosh thank you so much for being honest!... they called the guys to see how much they actually wanted to leave and then the guys called back to tell them to leave more because i was so honest about the whole situation. just something i felt good about doing!

so i have one day of work left before my vacation starts. i have wed off and then thurs we are taking my parents out for dinner at kyoto's to celebrate their anniversery! and then friday morning i leave for pa! so i am very happy about that!

well its been about an hour since i started this... we went to meet the tow truck guy who was very nice and informed us of alot of stuff we didnt know. so we got susans car towed and now she is calling insurance companies...

so thats about it for me today! hopefully someone else posts soon!
love and miss you all!
sarah

Happy BIrthday Daniel!

well first of all i do want to say Happy Birthday Daniel!!!!!! hope that you have a great day!

ok... so on wed my mom told me that there was a message for me and joe on the machine from old country buffets human resources. so i called the lady back (this was a different one then the person i dealt with when i was fired.) the lady didnt even know that i didnt work there anymore. she was telling me that anything i said would not effect my job... anyways she was asking me about the overtime hours that i was not paid for and what manangers knew about what was happening and who was actually changing hours so that i wouldnt have overtime. so i said that marty the general manager was the one changing my hours. don one of the managers knew about it (cuz i heard them talking about it.) and kevin would clock everyone out at a certain time every night he closed, if they were done or not. so i guess they r going to be in a little bit of trouble! oh well! i may call that lady back and ask her if she does more for human resources then just stuff with the hours. but i havent decided yet.

so yesterday i went out to lunch with a couple of friends from ocb and then to grandmas. when i went out to my car to grab my work clothes to change into i didnt have my black button down shirt. so i had to go to the mall and had to go to express (i have a credit card for there i didnt have any cash on me) so i had to get a shirt for 40 dollars! so im probably just going to c if susan can use it for work... its a really nice shirt tho!

jenn and tricia - it was very nice talking with you both in the last week! cant wait to see you all!

bernadette - i def want to do the walk also. how is work going? and sam? any more accidents?

well i guess thats about it! i hope everyone has a wonderful day!
love and miss you all!
sarah

Roll with the changes.......

Hello Cousins! I know things have been slow on the blog, but I'm sure it's because we've all been getting every bit of summer out of these months that we can. For me, it seemed like last weekend was the last summer weekend. We celebrated Mia's birthday with a fun party and had a cookout.
On Tuesday, we had our first experience with starting school. Let me share that the first day of school is one that I imagined over 1000 times in my head. This summer alone, I thought about how it would be everyday...and everyday I cried- all I could think about was spending the last 6 years together all day, and now we had to separate for most hours. I hated that I couldn't yell out "how ya doin' honey?" while doing dishes and she yells back "Good, Mom. Just playing...or coloring..or dancing....." My thoughts were torturing me. (this is the part when I ask for Bernadette's expertise in referring a book on separation anxiety :o) I truly tortured and worried myself about not being with her. Although I never told her it was worrying me, by the time it was only a few days away, the poor kid thought I had terrible allergies because my eyes were so swollen and red. I even faked sneezing a few times when I needed tissues over and over again. (I'm telling ya, it was awful!!) - Well, the first day was really hard for me, but more importantly, She did FANTASTIC! She loved her day and her teacher. The 2nd day was just as good and a bit easier for me. Today, went quicker than the others and she is totally loving it. It's awesome how great she's adapted already. I hope it stays this way for her.
Sooooooo, that being our big news in my house, we did go on some really fun day trips to end the summer. We went to an amusement park, a couple of fairs, the movies, a sprinkler park by us and The Crayola Factory. My best friend and I even got out to the movies again, which is always fun for me.
Well, I hope everyone has a great Labor Day Weekend!! Oh, I forgot to mention that to add to my anxiety, we've had a bear in our neighborhood! A medium size black bear. It's gone thru our garbage a few times and last night, I watched it walk around our back yard for about 4 or 5 minutes. He's not afraid of noise, so the things I was trying to do to get him to go away didn't work. I talked with someone from our borough today and she said there's been a lot of calls from all over the area with sightings. Not what I think of as exciting... I'm pretty nerved out over everything, so it can go eat someone else's garbage. Oy!!!
Okay all, I'm heading inside to clean up. Have a good night!
love to you all!!
~jenn

Good morning!

Hello!

Susan--thanks for the update! How was your camping trip? I hope you didn't see any big and scary animals, like a mouse (Ok they are not so big but to me, they are pretty scary!).

I'm back to school tomorrow at JC and the kids start daycare/preschool. I am a little nervous as to how I am going to get them ready and myself and be out of the house by 7. Hopefully it will all go smoothly.

I need to make us some breakfast. Bye!

Love,
Tricia

Hi!!

Hey everyone!! How's it going?

This will be quick, just answering a couple questions!

Bern, I definitely want to do that suicide walk. And I'm pretty sure Lauren will also (since she'll be in by then).
Speaking of Lauren, we do email eachother back and forth. I heard from her last week, and if this news hasn't spread yet, she is coming home Wed. Sept. 3. Alex did not get approved for his visa, so he is not coming with her then. She is going to see what she can do once she gets home to get him here. But those are my only updates as of now about her!

Alright, gotta get back to work!

Love you,
Susan

Hello!

Hi everyone!

Bernadette--I would love to walk in that walk but I have to see if I would be able to get out there that day. Dave has work so it is a long shot but I will see what I can do. It is a good cause.
Is Sam in his crate while you are at work? If not, it would be a good idea to crate him for awhile. If he is, it is unusual that he would pee in there. Usually they say that the crate is the dog's security place and they have an instinct not to pee there. You may want to try adjusting his eating and drinking in the morning. Some dogs get only one big meal a day, in your case it would work best at dinner time. Or maybe Bob can feed him when he gets up so that Sam has enough time to digest and completely go before you crate him again for the day.
As for our rules of ethics in PA, we are allowed to represent family. We only have conflicts when the judge or the opposing counsel is a family member in which case certain precautions have to be put in place or possibly, withdraw from the case.

Sarah--I will call you soon (or if you have time, give me a call) to finalize our plans. It is only two weeks away!

Susan--have fun camping and enjoy all your days out of the office! Those days are always such a welcomed break.

Mark--I think I saw on Yahoo news that the bar you used to work at was shut down for rat infestation and bugs. Glad you got out of there before that went down. lol...

Yesterday was Mia's birthday so last night after dinner we went to their house for birthday cake. She was having a great day. We have her actual party this weekend and Daniel's next weekend (everyone is welcome to come if you feel like driving in. There will be a very good cake so in my opinion, it is worth the drive. lol...)
I was in court yesterday morning for my first guilty plea and a surprise sentencing that I wasn't prepared to handle but it all went well. The attorney I covered for was pleased.

Daniel and I are going to make penne and vodka sauce. I have been craving it so I bought all the fixin's at the store today.

Hey--Mark--you mentioned you and Susan are going to Spain soon. Will Lauren still be there or will she be home by then? How is she? Has anyone talked to her?

Ok, take care all!

Love ya's,
Tricia

PS- Last post about walk is from Bernadette!

CALLING ALL COUSINS- SUICIDE WALK

Hi. I just remember- the Out of Darkness Suicide awareness walk sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (www.afsp.org) walk is September 14th at 10:30am in Delaware park. I am going to do this and either join UB's team or create my own if there are at least a few of the family members what would like to do this with me. The walk is free to register but you must register and you have to have a fundraising goal of at least $150 (but you won't be turned away if you don't reach that) I'll copy some more info into this email. Please let me know ASAP so I know whether to create a team for Aunt Deb or join UB's. And suggest a creative team name if we are going to start our own team. Thanks!!


There is NO registration fee to register for a 2008 Out of the Darkness Community Walk.
• Each participant is asked to set a minimum fundraising goal of $150. However, donations of any amount are
accepted and no one will be turned away. People may continue to donate to you until December 31, 2008.
• Feel free to make customized t-shirts for you, and/or your team. Be creative! Bring signs, banners etc.
• EVERYONE is welcome!
• Any participant five years and older is REQUIRED to register for the walk.
• The walk will take place RAIN or SHINE
• Most parks DO allow dogs. Please contact your local walk coordinator to verify.


The Out of the Darkness Community Walk is a 3-5 mile scenic walk taking place in more than 100 communities across the country this fall. Proceeds will benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, to fund research, education, survivor and awareness programs -- both to prevent suicide and to assist those affected by suicide.