Wonderful...a State of Emergency!

Just checked in on the weather after opening the door and hearing the telltale sign of freezing rain hitting the surfaces... While beautiful, definitely dangerous. Seems the Governor declared a state of emergency...allowing out of state power companies to come in and help us if the power goes out. And they expect it will. So I will be online for as long as I can. This stuff is supposed to go on until midday tomorrow unfortunately. And it is coming down at a good clip right now as it's supposed to all night. I made hubby stay home from work tonight, and my employer pretty much told everyone to get out around 4. Tomorrow might be a snow day, well ice day I should say. Just have to wait and see. Hoping to get some good photos if I can tomorrow-but if internet service and poles are down I might be down for awhile as well as I have DSL. So if ya don't see me post for a bit or get a bounceback on my email-it just might be that the mail box is full! I will be glad to see summer again-and winter has only just started!

HP MAGIC-If Rhonda wins, you could too!

Ok, so my blogger buddy and co-worker Rhonda decided to enter the HP Magic Giveaway over at Chris Pirillo's site and talk about her latest hobby, which is geocaching. Last night she told me her entry had been posted and was open to comments. The person who gets the most comments wins that awesome $6000 prize package. Wow!

Rhonda's son is graduating next June, so she'd love to gift him with a laptop before he goes to college. Plus, I know she is in need of new upgrades herself but, like many of us it's just not possible right now. Rhonda and I were discussing this giveaway at lunch, and she asked a few of our coworkers to help her achieve her dream. One thing that was important for Rhonda and that she was really excited about was the fact that she can share this package with others too. And she decided if people were able to help her out, and if she won, she'd give away a laptop to one of her random commenters too!

So if you want to help her out, please leave a meaningful comment (Chris says short comments will be deleted) on her entry here: http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/12/05/what-is-geocaching/ before 10 pm CST on the 10th. And if she wins, you just might be a winner too!

I wanna have lunch with Mario Batali!

Don't you? Well, maybe not lunch with HIM-but I'd love to carry my lunch around in one of his new stylish lunchbags. Guess what? Over at My Wooden Spoon they are having a great giveaway, with three winners!

I've been looking for a great new bag and the styles are awesome! Head on over and check it out-but you'd better hurry because it ends the 14th! http://mywoodenspoon.com/2008/12/05/mario-batali-can-cook-me-hold-my-lunch-anytime/

HP Magic-Check out the Link Below!

Jake Ludington’s HP Magic Giveaway

Be sure to check it out! You could win (and share!) some very nice prizes~

PC Issues-Bear With Me!

My PC has been very sluggish lately, and I just assumed it was to all the feeds I had subscribed to... it was SUPPOSED to be protected by McAfee as part of my Verizon DSL service pkg. BUT when Fairpoint bought out Verizon here in Northern New England this past year, service has sucked.

I called for help, Fairpoint transfers me to Verizon-get Verizon and then they send me BACK. I guess when the change took place, my virus protection went by the wayside and I didn't figure it out. I deleted off McAfee last night and began running Windows One Live for their free trial. It supposedly isolated 2 adware programs (quarantined) and deleted 10+ Trojan viruses. Yet I still have the annoying pop ups going on, and don't know why that wasn't fixed. The worst part I hate is when my daughter is at the computer and those porno pop ups come up-I could be doing anything, just browsing email, working on my blog, searching for info-and up pops some semi nude woman offering to make my day (or night) Hubby, not normally a computer user-perks right up.

Currently am cleaning out my junk mail, seems lots of stuff got sent there that should not have gone there. So if you sent me an email, please be patient. I think it's time I get this PC to the doctor-but I might just have to make do a bit until after the holidays. (and tax refund time) I do have access to another PC but it is not hooked up yet-but I might be doing that soon! Thanks for understanding!

Sleepless Nights and Infomercials....

Goodness, what a difference a day makes. While I am kind of still in a funk, and still sick-I am past my raving and ranting yesterday. Whew! Who knew that doing all that raving and ranting would leave me exhausted?

You know, I am not sure I am sick with a cold-I mean it's more like allergies. We have forced hot air for our heat source, and I wonder if all that dust is just doing it's wonders to my poor nose. I swear, Jose changes the filters on the furnace every couple of weeks. But this is the reason I SO hate dusting and cleaning stuff, because the minute I get near anything dusty I suffer big time. Itchy red eyes, scratchy throat and stuffed up nose. All the classic symptoms. I was up at 4 am due to nose running, postnasal drip etc... I turned on the TV and sure enough, there was David Oreck talking to me. Well, not to me, but to anyone who would listen at 4 am about his wonderful air purifier. Boy, is he smart. He knows those people that need fresh, clean air are going to be up at all hours, miserable as hell. And there he is, offering help and salvation to those who watch. I could have sworn that as he spoke about his wonderful product and all that it had to offer and stretched out his hand the dirty air in the room parted and I heard the sound of angels singing.

A bright light shone in the room, and I took it as a sign. I started rummaging through my purse for my credit card. Just as I had phone in hand and was ready to plunk down some serious cash-hubby Jose walks in. Seems the blinding light were the headlights from his car as he was parking it in the driveway. Seeing me there, frozen like a deer by a pair of headlights-he swoops in and takes over. Suddenly I am transformed from the peace and serenity of David Oreck's magical promises to a face paced action movie in Spanish. Gone are the visions of thick smoke disappearing in little boxes filled with those air purifiers and now I am staring down the barrel of a .45 at some dude that resembles Juan Valdez. (remember the Colombian coffee guy and the simple nod of the head as he handed you a cup of Colombian coffee that made your morning complete?)

If Mr. Oreck is reading this, he can send me one of those lovely air purifiers to review and I will subject it to cat hair, dust mites, dander-heck I will even start a small grease fire in the kitchen to test out the smoke factor. And I won't hold him responsible if I manage to burn the house down in the process. All I want is a GOOD night of sleep-is that too much to ask?

I know I should be Jumping for Joy, but...

I mean, I won TWO COMPLETELY AWESOME wonderful blog wins today. Things I really wanted and am going to have so much fun using. And I am so damn psyched, but I just can't get around to feeling very happy. I have been so fortunate with bloggy wins lately, it has been amazing. I love reading new blogs, visiting new sites, and most of all meeting some very wonderful people online. Not to mention the recipes, hints, tips and other stuff I have learned.

Earlier this evening, my mom called me and told me she and my dad got back from his dr. appointment. His appointment was originally scheduled for Dec. 9th, but when they moved it up to today, the 1st I kind of knew that wasn't good news.

He has non small cell squamous lung cancer, stage 3. His cancer is good sized, about 6 centimeters and the reason he hasn't been breathing well is that the cancer is growing over his airpipe or in that area, blocking it. He also has moderate emphysema and his heart test didn't come back very good-some of the cancer has spread to his lymph nodes as well. Radiation and Chemo are definitely on the list, surgery in the future, we're not sure. The surgeons and team assigned to his case meets tomorrow to decide on his treatment plan.

My mom was supposed to run an errand for me to the post office since work has been completely nuts-and she hasn't because she forgot. I can understand, because we both have alot on our mind right now. Between my dad and my son-who just might be a teen father in the spring-lots of things have been going through my mind. Some people think I am brave to blog about these things, as most blogs are happy, funny, and very rarely talk about the bad moments. Maybe I am brave, because I bring up the bad moments, I dunno. But to me, writing is all about expressing yourself-the good, the bad and the ugly (which would be just a pic of me at 42 lol...) and if I feel I have to tread on eggshells because of what others might be thinking or writing about me behind my back-then I shouldn't be writing anything. I've seen some blogs promoting blog peace-and wondered what it was all about. I assume it is because people are writing nasty things about each other-which to me kinda sucks and reminds me of the movie Mean Girls. I thought that type of drama ended in high school... maybe I am just being bitchy, maybe it's hormones, a full moon coming up, PMS, anxiety or a combination of all of the above but bear with me-this too, will pass. Until then, goodnight.