Closet Org Pictures

And finally, for my final post of the day....closet pics!!
In case you did not see my post on this here it is....

Andddddddddd

Here are the pics of my shoes in the closet now!!!!

Funny story about this - when I got the pics developed at one hour photo, the lady developing them said "Are you taking all these pics to sell these on ebay - cause I love these shoes and will just buy them from you right now? I said "All my shoes?" and laughed and she said "oh yes, I am serious". I felt bad saying nope, not selling them organizing them....funny hugh?!?! I was actually tempted to sell few as cheap as I am ...:-)

I will now leave you with a pic of one of the cats exploring the new boxes all over their closet play area (trying to figure out where all their play space went...HA!)
Have a happy and fun day!!!!!!!!!!

Family, Flowers and Haloween

Here are a few miscellaneous pics from the weekend..
It was daddy's Biday on Monday Sept. 28 so we celebrated this past weekend at mom and dad's house.
Here is Poppy and KyKy blowing out his candles (on his Bethel Bakery cake-the family favorite)...

Here is MeMaw reading to KyKy...

My Halloween decor on the patio!!!!

A little more Halloween decor...I love this web (and I think the real spiders think it is real and are staying away - extra bonus!!! HA HA HA)

Flowers from my sweet baby (I love him sooooo many bunches!!!!!) There were so many in the bouquet that I split it ito two vases....this is vase 1

This is vase 2...soooooooooo pretty (I love you sweet baby!)

Fundraiser in Memory of Vince Lascheid

Wow! I have a lot of posts to catch up on as I just uploaded pics from my camera!
Lets start with the fundraiser game at PNC Park on Sept.19th, 2009.

We held the fundraiser itself on Sept.12th and it was a huge success! It was to benefit Pirates charities and was in memory of Vince Lascheid - the long time organist for the Pirates and Penguins and daddy to my best-est friend Mindy!!!!!!!

Anyone attending the fundraiser was given a ticket to the game on the 19th. Mindy recruited 39 students from Mt. Lebanon, PA elementary schools (one for each year Vince played for the ballpark) the sign the national anthem for the start of the game - I sat out of the signing this time and elected myself honarary photographer. Here are a few pics...

Practice before the game start...

The choir on the jombotron...

Mindy leading the kids... (dont look into the stands :-( - the Pirates are not doing very well this season and attendance is simply pitiful...empty stands!!!) The kids had a ton of fun though!
Thanks again Vince for all the great years of music and melody and memories!!!!!!!

I am a winner?!?!?

First let me strat out by saying that I never win anything! I am verrrrryyyy unlucky - however this may be changing.
I was sooo excited to open my email this AM and find an email from Barbara that I actually won!! I am soooo excited to get my new book and start reading.
It is supposed to be hillarious!!! And goodness knows I love my cats!!!
Thanks again to Barbara at Serenity Gate - make sure you check out her blog - she is a wonderful lady and her blog is soooo entertaining whether you enjoy reading or not!

Organization is my BEST friend

I am definitely OCD without a doubt. I am working on this as it is not fair to the wonderful man I live with to have to pick up and clean up constantly.
I have however taken one step back with this latest idea but I LOVE it!!!
I can never find the shoes I want to wear easily as I have three cats and if I leave them on the floor they get chewed (yes, cats do this also-not just dogs...at least my cats do! LOL)
I saw this in a magazine and did it at home and LOVE it! I fourgot to take a pic of mine so this is the gist of it and I will show you mine tomorrow.

Isn't it AWESOME! I bought a bunch of clear boxes from the dollar store and took pics of each pair in the boxes. Then got the pics developed and tapes the pic to the side of the box and lines them all up on the floor of my closet!!! Waaaaalaaaaaa - instant additional shelf room (more sweaters????) I will post my tomorrow!!! Sooooo awesome!

Happier Topic....

On a happier topic...I ran last night 6 miles again on the treadmill and did Zumba class!! Shake it!!!!!!!!!! I am soooooo psyched and back on track!!! The piece that I cut out was the running and now everything is back in place and I am losing weight like CRAZY again!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks to EVERYONE that I follow on these blogs because I read what you write everyday and truly get inspired to be better and do better - so thanks for alll of you and your blogging!!!
I am off to do a work presentation and then to dentist!! I ate (tried to chew) a few fireballs and lost a filling - HA HA!!

Have A Great Activity Filled Day!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS - I forgot to download the pics from the weekend - will definitely do this and post tomorrow - wait till you see!!!!

G20 Prep

For anyone that is not aware - I live in a suburb about 10 minutes from Pittsburgh.
This city has all of the sudden turned upside down with the G20 summit that is to be held here in 2 days.
We are having police barriers set up all over our beautiful city just in case of rioting (what?!?!??!) and there are protestors camping out (yes, in tents and burlap cites) in our public parks!! There are cops EVERYWHERE!!!!!
Most companies in downtown itself are closing and my company has shut down its road entirely unless you have an employee driving pass. Walts company has shut down all week and he will basically just not be getting paid this week - this has really become annoying!!
This is just beginning to get a little scary...not sure whose idea this way but I am not thinking it was a good one.....Please Please pray for my beautiful city and comunities that there is peace and not choas and ruin!!
What do you think - scary or no?!?!?!??!

A new best friend..

I have three cats and I have now found a new best friend!!! Two of my babies have long hair and my elderly cat is shedding like crazy also. Anyone with cats knows that a little issue with hairballs exists and it seems like each time a hairball comes up there is fourty pounds of food with it! Needless to say, I used to have a beautiful offwhite burber carpet - ha ha!

Usually about twice a year I rent a carpet cleaner from Home Depot and do a deep cleaning of the carpet. Which entails renting this HUGE machine and dragging it home in the car and getting it out of the car and dragging it in and cleaning then returning it...you get the idea - PAIN IN THE REAR!!! Here is my new best friend.....she's a Hoover!!!!!!!!!


I am sooooooo excited to say that I have FINALLY invested in my OWN carpet cleaner and it worked soooooooo well and soooooooo easy that my OCD perosonality is happy to say I will be steamcleaning at least every other month!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hereis a pic of my new nest friend and I will also upload pics tonight and show the carpet after cleaning pics tomorrow!!!!

Yippee!!!!!!!!! (See, it takes soooo little to get me excited!!!)

One another note: I lost three pounds this week just from adding my running (jogging) back in - YEAH ALSO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shrimp Pasta with Pesto

Okay, I've been reading Kelly's blog for ages and ages, and though I have always loved looking at the "Show Us Your Life" posts on Fridays, I have yet to actually participate in one. Well, this week everyone is sharing their go-to dinner recipes and I am soooooooo excited to share what Waliacha and I will be eating tonight...Yum-Yum and quick and easy!!!!!! (A little side note is that I make a TON of pesto at one time and then pour into ice cube trays and freeze. Then just toss the cubes into freezer bags and store until needed - this is a HUGE help!)









PESTO
1 1/2 cups (lightly packed) fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper



LINGUINE
12 cherry tomatoes or 2 regular tomatoes
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 ounces fresh linguine or thin spagetti
2 garlic cloves, minced
20 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
Parmesan for garnish

Make the pesto: Grind the basil, pine nuts, lemon juice and parmesan with a mortar and pestle until a smooth paste forms. (Or use a food processor.) Slowly add the olive oil, grinding until a smooth sauce forms. Season the pesto with salt and pepper to taste. Then cover and set aside (or freeze).

Prepare pasta according to directions.

While the pasta cooks, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic, chopped tomatoes and shrimp and cook 3 minutes, or until the shrimp are just cooked through and the garlic is tender. Stir the pesto into the shrimp mixture.
Drain the linguine, reserving about 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. Toss the linguine in a large bowl with the shrimp-pesto mixture, adding enough of the reserved cooking liquid to moisten the sauce so that it coats the pasta evenly.

The best is you can add whatever you like to this recipe (olives, jalapenos or tonight I am adding baby portabello muchrooms and asparagus chopped). YUM YUM YUM!!!!

additional update

I was just reading my post after I posted it and realized that I had not posted since Waliacha was laid off again. Not that anyone reads this but me but just in case you are out there wondering (ha-ha) this is what eventually happened...
He went to the Roofers Union and complained and they finally moved him to a new company and a new boss and a new job!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!! It seems like he likes this alot better and I am sooooooooo happy for him. So, he is again no longer unemployed but still makes dinner every now and then...YEAH!!!
It is raining in Pittsburgh today so he if off and as I write he is at home making stuffed peppers for dinner - I am soooooooooooo hungry thinking about them - YUM!!!

Have a great day and thanks for allowing me to believe that someone somewhere is reading this........LOL!!!!!!!!!!

Long time no post

WOW! It has been awhile hugh? I have been silently lurking and following all of your other blogs however, I had nothing to write...just got a little writers block I guess.
What's new with me?
Nothing....
life is rolling along happily...
which is nothing to take lightly with my track record - LOL! I am enjoying it IMMENSLY!

This Saturday is the Night at the Races that Mindy has been preparing for (with a tiny bit of help from me - but mostly her hard work) and I am sooooooooooo excited. So excited in fact that I bought a new outfit which for me NEVER happens!!!!
Wait till you see...
I will post pics of Waliacha and I all dressed up! I am psyched!!!

Also, I am back into running.

For a while there I was doing classes at the gym (BodyPump and Zumba, etc.) and not running at all and my weight loss stalled out. Now I am jogging at least 1 hour everyday and if I have time in the evening then doing the classes...I think this is working!!! YEAH!!! I will let you know for sure next week after I see how much I have lost this week.

Anyway-that is my justification for new running shoes. I LOVE ASICS and someone told me to try New Balance as they are supposed to be really comfortable running shoes....I hated mine! So, I bought a new pair of ASICS...aren't they pretty???? The New Balance are hitting the dumpster after work!!

Have a great day and I will DEFINTIELY post soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!