I'm grad-i-ated!!

I officially took my last final EVER at Buffalo State College!! This means I (hopefully) have graduated with my bachelor's degree. It's only taken me FOREVER! I first decided to get my associates degree, then I took some time off before starting my bachelors. Well by then I had gotten a job working full time and could only go to school at night, which meant part time. Then when I moved to Buffalo I took off another semester so that I wasn't too overwhelmed with moving. Now that I am finished with my bachelors I am applying to the MBA program at the University of Buffalo and I first get to take the GMAT's. WaaaHooo. That WaaaHooo was complete sarcasm. I am not at all excited to take this stupid test. Some have asked why I'm going to graduate school (mostly my grandma, who thinks I don't need to go to school anymore because I am wasting her money) and I'm starting to think it's because I want to punish myself.

Christmas present debacle

Tank's good friend Milo the cat gave him some toy mice for Christmas. (Tank plays with Milo's cat toys every time we go over there) It wasn't even 5 minutes after I had opened them for him that he ATE one of the mice toys. That's right, he swallowed it whole. These aren't just small mice, they are good sized. Big enough that cats and small dogs shouldn't be able to swallow them. But since Tank seems to eat everything in site, he figured, why not? As you recall, the little bonehead ate asphalt as a puppy and after an emergency vet visit, 2 x-rays, and $400 later, he was fine. I was pretty much a psycho after he ate it, I was freaking out. I called the vet ER and they told me to give him some Vaseline, which would "help it slide out". Disgusting, but at 1:30am I went to Rite Aid and bought Vaseline. That got me quite a few weird looks. James had to take the day off work on Monday and take him to the vet since he had not passed it. It's Wednesday and it still hadn't came out. But I spoke with the vet this morning and she informed me that stomach acid can break down plastic, so it probably won't come out whole. I guess I learn something new everyday, because I thought it would still come out in the shape of a mouse. Silly me. I've informed Tank that until he passes this mouse toy, Christmas is canceled for him and I have returned his gifts. But I think he knows these are empty threats and still has the mouse inside of him.

This is an old picture, but this is the same kind of mouse toy that he swallowed.

My favorite thing about Christmas time...

is being able to watch my Christmas movies over and over and over again. James hates that I can watch movies more than once but during Christmas I have an excuse. I just tell him it's Christmas and I only have a month to watch each movie at least 3 times. These are my favorite movies to watch during the season:

This one is my favorite!

Pet Peeve

I wouldn't really call this a pet peeve, but more of an annoyance. Every single time I go to get my oil changed, the mechanics come out from the shop, call me back and proceed to tell me that I need all this stuff done to my car. I don't see any of the men in the waiting room being called back so that you can attempt to rip them off. Is it because I'm a girl? Do I look stupid? Do I look naive? I've been going to the dealer where I bought my car and this might be my first mistake. I like going there because if there is any recalls on my car they can fix it right then, or if there are any other problems. I also like going there because of the really nice, clean, sanitary waiting room they have, unlike other places you can get your oil changed. This habit of mine definitely needs to be broken, because if they try to tell me one more time that it is $115 for a filter change, $90 for a tire alignment or $200 for a fuel injector service then I'm going to go postal on them.

Chrismukkah

We ventured downtown last night to see the annual tree lighting and to celebrate the opening of the ice skating rink. The line to rent skates was approximately 800 hours long so we decided to skip the ice skating but we did get to go on a free horse and carriage ride. We enjoyed some hot chocolate as well as some people watching. Events like this always bring out the weirdest people. The evening was topped off with our subway ride home. We were joined by some very interesting people who were very very high on acid/mushrooms/who knows what. The girl couldn't stop what I'm assuming was giggling and this other fellow couldn't stop fake punching his friend. Good thing they were only on the subway for two stops.

I didn't know Fila was ghetto

For James's birthday I bought him a new pair of sweat pants, since the ones he wears now are from Hollister and are about 5 years old. So you can imagine how dirty and raggedy they are. I went to Kohl's because I figured they would have a good selection, not to mention I had $10 in Kohl's cash from Black Friday. They had a couple different brands such as Nike, Adidas and Fila. But Fila was the only one that would be keeping up with the "sweat pant" theme. I was all proud of myself for thinking of such a good present, but when I came home and gave him his present, James informed me Fila is "ghetto". How am I supposed to know this? What makes them ghetto? They are just sweat pants.

We have a "handyman" on our hands, folks

I purchased a new mirror for our downstairs bathroom off Craigslist for $15. It was a steal. I got it home and realized that I couldn't hang it on the current wall holders because it would sit on top of my light fixture. So I asked James to use his "skills" and take out the old wall holders and put them in a new position for the new mirror. It was touch and go but he eventually got it to work. Nice job Handy Jammy.

He did refer to himself as James "The Tool Man" Lewis.

Pumpkin is my weakness

I love pumpkin. I love pumpkin coffee, pumpkin liquor, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pumpkin pumpkin. Mmmmm pumpkin. If you love pumpkin as much as I do, try out these Weight Watchers Pumpkin Waffles. They are only 4 points for every "1/2 waffle". They did not include a picture on their website so I took one of my own. If that doesn't shout deliciousness, then I don't know what does.

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp table salt

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 lrg egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1 1/4 c buttermilk

cooking spray

Instructions:

*Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup, level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder and next four ingredients in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk

*Combine egg, brown sugar, oil, pumpkin and buttermilk in a bowl; stir with a whisk until blended. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture and stir until well combined.

*Coat a waffle iron with cooking spray, preheat. Spoon about 1/4 cup of batter per waffle onto hot waffle iron, spreading batter to edges. Cook 5-7 minutes or until steaming stops; repeat with remaining batter.

*Yield: 5 servings (serving size: 2 waffles)

(Notes: I don't use buttermilk, I use fat free milk. I usually double the recipe so I can use an entire can of pumpkin and freeze the rest of them to have later in the week. I usually just pop them in the toaster to un-thaw them.)

A Kick-Off

James, Jimmy and Carter were have a Kick-Off contest on Sunday during the Bills game. Yes, the game was that bad that they resorted to challenging each other to a Kick-Off. It then lead to them just kicking each other. Exciting times at 24 Lemon Tree.

My Utah Men

Road Trip to Lime Lake

James's grandparents used to have a cottage on a small lake about an hour outside of Buffalo. They sold it about 15 years ago and James hasn't been there since. So last Saturday, when it was 65 degrees, practically a heat wave, we decided to take a drive down there. We took Tank, which turned out to be a bad idea. He usually falls asleep after about 15 minutes in the car, but he was awake THE WHOLE TIME.

We stopped at this restaurant called Earl's, where we drank out of Mason Jars and the meals did not come with fries. Yep, I ordered a chicken sandwich thinking I'd have fries, maybe chips with my sandwich. I had neither, nor did I have any mayo or ketchup on my sandwich. It was an odd place to say the least. But we did see Earl himself. He was inhaling a sandwich at the counter as we were leaving. We knew it was him by his overalls and white handlebar sideburns. It was like a page out of the website peopleofwalmart.com. We finally made it to Lime Lake and drove down near the cottage on the lake. I'm not sure what James thought we'd be doing, such as knocking on the door and asking to see inside the cottage now, which we would not have done, but he was disappointed no one was home. So instead we went and parked by Bob's Ice Cream and creeped around the parking lot for awhile.

He was back and forth between the front and back seat.

Lime Lake

Such a cutie

Trying to do a self portrait.

He was being such a jerk.

A real man fixes things

James was using a straw the other day that had a hole in it. Instead of just getting a new one out of the package, he decided to "be a man and fix something". So he got out some electrical tape and "fixed" the straw. He was so proud of himself. Now if he can just learn how to use some power tools, measuring tape and possibly a hammer, we'd be all set.

Wow, these ladies are awesome!

A couple days ago my friend Ashley became a fan of Becky Higgins on Facebook. I recalled hearing that name before so I clicked on the fan page on Facebook and I saw her face and realized she was an editor for Creating Keepsakes, a scrapbooking magazine. Since I'm practically obsessed with scrapbooking I became a fan as well. As I was perusing her website, I stumbled upon another website called Bakerella. This woman makes fantasticly delicious looking desserts. I'm attempting to make the Snickerdoodle Duo for Thanksgiving dessert. After looking at Miss Bakerella's website I found this other website Smitten Kitchen (It's a play on words, you know Smitten Kitten...) I'm tempted to make the Chicken Meatballs for our Sunday dinner to go along with our veggie lasagna, because according to James, dinner isn't dinner unless we have meat. Obviously he will have a BF (bitch fit) if I don't include some sort of meat so I think this will be a good addition to dinner. I just wish I was this clever/talented/creative to have ideas and websites such as these ladies.

Tank does not enjoy being a pumpkin

To me, this face says "Get this damn thing off of me". Nope, I just kept taking pictures.

This face is worse. It says "I'm going to kill you"

This was at the Great Pumpkin Farm. I'd like to believe it was the same one used in the movie Big.

So happy to have his picture taken. My pumpkins. I love finding ones with weird stems. James says the small one looks like Tank. Googly eyes and a snagle tooth.

Joke not funny

So I'm always, well not always, but I've heard of a few people who have gotten kidnapped and stuffed into a trunk. Then after this happens, the Today show has a special on "how to escape a trunk", which is useful everyday, right? Anyway, the "key" to escaping from a trunk is to punch out a taillight and stick your hand out and wave so passing cars can see someone is trapped in the trunk. Well tonight as I'm driving to the dry cleaners I pull up behind a car with a hand sticking out of the trunk! I almost run into the back of this car because I'm so focused on the hand sticking out and I start wondering what I should do. As I get closer (about as close as I can get since I've almost rammed the back of this car) I see this hand is fake! And I say out loud to myself "What the fuh". I do not find this joke funny and it is in bad taste. These people who have placed this hand there are asking for trouble because crazy people such as myself are going to see it from a distance and think it's real and call the police. Especially old people who can't see 5 feet in front of them and probably shouldn't be driving in the first place.

I almost missed the turn for the dry cleaners so I could get a picture of this stupid car.

The tooth fairy?

No, it's just Tank. He has started taking his bones (which he has several of) and hiding them in certain spots. He's been hiding them in the top of the couch (which has a crack between cushions), behind the pillows on the couch, in between my pillows on my bed, or when the bed is not made he tries to dig a hole in the blankets then ends up going under them and hiding it in there. He has also been very secretive about it, which baffles me. He will only do it when James and I are out of the room or when he thinks we aren't looking. I've caught him doing this a few times. He started hiding the bone in the cushion crack while we were watching TV in the living room. Then one day I had walked out of the living room and came back in just in time to see him pop his big head out of underneath the pillow on the couch. The other morning I was standing at my night stand putting on my earrings and watch and out of the corner of my eye I see him jump on the bed with a bone hanging out of his mouth. Then he shoves my decorative pillows out of the way with his head and then dives in between the two sets of regular pillows, still with his bone in his mouth. He was in there long enough for me to get a quick picture with my phone. Later that night before we got into bed I had James check under his pillow and sure enough, there was a bone. I'm not sure if Tank thinks he's now the bone fairy or what?

It's not a very good picture, but you get the gist of it.

Pink Dress Run

My two friends Kristin and Kristin organized the first annual Pink Dress Run to benefit the Roswell Cancer Institute. There were about 100-150 people that participated and hopefully next year there will be even more!