This evening, if all goes well, my dad and stepmother will be arriving in town for a couple of days. Needless to say, I have been cleaning like mad to get ready to actually invite people into my apartment.

(Two clutter-bugs should not be allowed to co-habitate.)

I've also made a huge lasagna, made some truffles and bought the most gorgeous cobalt blue dinnerware set... so my table should be beautiful. If I think of it, I'll take a picture after I set it.

We have to work today--bummer--but hopefully all of my preparations will make things easier tonight. Although, I forgot to buy aluminum foil, so I'm sending hubby out tonight to get it for me. heh.

I hope all of my American friends have a fabulous Fourth!

Tomorrow night at this time I will be in Ft. Lauderdale! YAY!!

My daughter wants to have breakfast and some "alone time" on Saturday morning. Yay, again!

I cannot wait to breathe the salt air of South Florida again.

( But how could I leave this face behind? )

Here's a link to the new Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie. If the movie lives up to the trailer, it'll be the best one yet. My heart was pounding after I saw this! It looks like they've gotten all of the high spots of the book and the few things they've added are not TOO outrageous.
http://movies.aol.com/movie_exclusive_harry_potter_goblet_clip

I've already bought my hubby's anniversary gift and our anniversary is still over a month away. Five years! That's wood, and I've gotten him something that matches. :)

( Random pic of a cute kitty...it's Merry on a box! )

Guess that's it for now, nothing much else going on. My bags are packed and I'm ready to go! Leaving straight from work tomorrow, so I won't be back on (except for some sneak peeks at work) until Sunday.
You guys behave and don't break the internet while I'm gone. I'll have pics when I get back!

Neil Gaiman has become one of my favorite authors ever since Gregory introduced me to the Sandman series of graphic novels before we were married. Now, I think I've read everything he's ever written and am anxiously awaiting the release of "Anansi Boys" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/006051518X/qid=1125842471/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9427230-1647806?v=glance&s=books which is his latest novel.

I also read his blog religiously, and this week he has a combination of found kittens, Satanic tomatoes and hurricane relief information. Please check it out here: http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/journal.asp even if you just want to see a picture of a cute kitten.

On the homefront, hubby and I are simply relaxing this weekend--playing video games (yes, BOTH of us), watching the kittens and writing. I also need to finish crocheting the blanket I've been working on for one of my co-workers as this is her last week at work before she has the baby.

In two more weeks, I'll be in Florida! I'm only going for one day, but my sister is having one of her infamous cook-outs, so I'll get to see everyone. Can't wait to see how much the grandbabies have grown and I will be sharing pics once I get back.

That's it for now, just mostly wanted to post the link to Neil's blog since there's lots of info there.

I have been dying to tell everyone about what's been going on lately, but I couldn't. My sister and I were cooking up a surprise for the family and some of them read this LJ.

What was the surprise? Well, my sister got quite a hefty bonus from work and she decided one of the things she wanted to do with it was to bring me and my hubby down to Ft. Lauderdale for my little brother's birthday! She found some (fairly) inexpensive airline tickets online and called me. Of course, I was thrilled. As you know, I have been pining for my family for ages, and this was just the ticket.

We went last weekend, and it was fabulous. I will update again later when I have more time with all of the details--we surprised everyone!

TAR is on tonight and I want Lynn and Alex to be eliminated. I was so upset that the cute, funny brothers, Brian and Greg, were last to the mat last week. (But I was so happy that Rob and Amber got there first!)

I'll have a longer update with pictures soon!

I had such a great time in FL...I got to stay with my son and his fiance and their new baby. Tyler is such a good baby...it was a joy to be around him. I kind of wished my hubby wanted a baby...but--maybe not.

I will do a longer update soon...but right now I just want to say...

YAY!!!!!!!!!!

Chip and Kim won The Amazing Race!! I am so glad! This is the first time since I've been watching that a team I was rooting for has actually won. They played the game so well, they never gave up, and they had the best attitude throughout the whole race. I just fell in love with them and they totally deserve it.

I am sooo damned tired, I'm going to bed. I'll post a more detailed account of my trip (along with pictures of the babies) soon, I promise.

My sister is back in FL, my hubby started his new job, and I'm finally updating again.

The weekend was fantastic. My sister arrived on Thursday night and we headed to Ruby Tuesday's to meet my hubby for dinner. Much laughter and good food ensued. Afterwards we came back here, introduced her to our kittens and watched the Olympics for a while before heading to bed.

Friday dawned gray and rainy. We puttered around the house for a bit, got showered and dressed and headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. My sister couldn't decide, so we each got something different and shared. It was nice to have a taste of all different things.

After breakfast we headed to Nashville and the Parthenon. http://www.nashville.gov/parthenon/
It is an awesome structure and we love to take first-timers there. It had stopped raining by the time we arrived. Pictures were taken outside and then we headed in. There was a cool exhibition of Olympic art/photography in their gallery (not to mention their awesome permanant collection) to see and then we headed upstairs to see the statue of Athena.

It is awesome. Standing there looking up, one can imagine why the ancients believed the gods (and goddesses) were present in their temples. If you ever get a chance to visit Nashville, stop by the Parthenon.

After we had looked at everything inside, we went out to the manmade pond and fed the ducks some bread I had brought with us. They were fun and cute and we enjoyed that too.

Then it was into the car and off to my in-laws' house in the country. We arrived and showed my sister where our house is eventually going to be built, then we took her to the farm. She was impressed, and my MIL fed us BBQ and all the fixins. We visited for a bit and then went back home.

More Olympics and then early to bed.

Saturday, we got up and ready early, stopped by Sonic for breakfast and then headed to the Wilson County Fair. http://www.wilsoncounty.com/fair/
We walked all around looking at the animals and stuff. Then we sat and listened to a bit of the bluegrass guitar picking competition. Hubby spotted his grandfather in the crowd and we said hello and introduced my sister. Then it was off to see more stuff...bunnies, chickens, cows, etc---and we rode some of the rides and ate some fair food. (mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, fair food) We were there for hours...just doing fair stuff. We left before the demolition derby and came back here for more Olympics! We got take out food and talked and talked. We didn't want it to end, but it had to. We went to bed, sad because my sister was leaving the next morning.

Sunday morning--we got up and my sister got showered and packed. We went to Cracker
Barrel again (YUM!) for a last breakfast with my sister before taking her to the airport. Then we took her there, and dropped her off...I was so sad. *sigh* On the bright side, it was a fantastic visit and I am going to Ft. Lauderdale next month to visit my family again!

I guess this went much longer than I intended.
I miss my sister so much!