Friday Fill-Ins #10

1. The last band I saw live was when I went to Warped Tour. I don't remember which band I saw last!
2. What I look forward to most on Thanksgiving is visiting with my family AND the food. (if you don't celebrate thanksgiving, insert your favorite holiday)
3. My Christmas/holiday shopping is mostly done already!
4. Thoughts of baking, shopping, visiting, snow, and love fill my head. ('Tis the season, after all!)
5. I wish I could wear funky colored hair.
6. Bagpipes remind me of parades and men in kilts.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to getting more sleep! tomorrow my plans include hopefully visiting with my family and setting up our tree, but that depends on how my brother feels... and Sunday, I want to either clean and veg, or do the Saturday thing if they can't make it tomorrow!

Check out Friday-Fill Ins HERE... :)

These *R* A Few of My Favorite Things...

So, I was visiting a good bloggy friend of mine, Aubrey, over at The Fam Five, and she had participated in this fun post about her favorite things... The twist on it is this: you have to list ten of your favorite things that only begin with one letter.

Aubrey had an *I*. And she did *I*ncredibly *I*ngeniously with her list, if I do say so. Many of the things on there are things that I might say I love, too! Internet, ice cream (who doesn't?!?), iPod, Iron Chef... I won't give away her whole list, but it was pretty good. She asked any of us who wanted to rise to the challenge to give a *holla* and so I did...

And I got an *R*.

So, without further adieu (SIDETRACKED: is this the right way to spell this TYPE of adieu? I know it means "good-bye", but does it also mean "rambling on unnecessarily"? hmm...) here is a list of my favorite *R* things. At least, these *R* my favorite *R* things that I can think of *R*ight now. heh. In no particular order, other than the order in which they popped into my head...

(1)

Reading. I have always loved to read. I have so many books on my shelf that I haven't gotten to yet, it is *r*idiculous. A few favorite authors are: Jodi Picoult, Chuck Palahniuk, Gregory Maguire, Stephanie Meyer (yes, Twilight... lol), JK Rowling (oh shush!), Michael Crichton, Dean Koontz, James Patterson, Francesca Lia Block...

(2)


Rest and/or Relaxation. Don't get much of it these days, but when I do... it is great! Who doesn't love to sleep... or curl up on the couch and veg with no obligations?

(3)

Reese's. Especially cold ones. They are oh so good.

(4)

Ribs. I am a sucker for some awesome, on-the-grill-all-day, meat-falling-off-the-bones ribs. Yum. Yum.

(5)

Running the dishwasher. Yes, you heard me. I am a little bit happier every time I turn that knob. That means less chores for me, fewer dirty dishes, more time to spend with the girl... it's all good, see?

(6)

Recipes. This is kind of cheating, because I'm using it to mean cooking and baking and in general, having fun in the kitchen. Although I couldn't do any of this without the recipes. I mean, I sorta could now, but before I ever used recipes to cook, you would NOT have wanted to try something I came up with on my own (it may have looked something like the recipe above, lol). Now that I have some experience WITH the recipes, I am better at inventing yummy things. So recipes= good. We have to eat, and it's better to have fun with it and try new things.

(7)

Raising my kiddo. Sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's frustrating... But it is always *R*ewarding, and I am always grateful for having her in my life. I couldn't imagine being without her.

(8)

Rewards. I am one of those survey-filler-outer, points-racker-upper people. I am a member of Upromise- which helps you save for your kids' college; Mypoints, which rewards you with gift cards once you've racked up a certain amount of points through doing any number of things, including surveys, online shopping, clicking on ads, etc.; and a bunch of survey sites, the best of which is Pinecone Research, which pays you $3 each time you fill out a survey, on top of at times sending you free products that are still in the development stage to try out and give feedback on.

(9)

Recycling and Reusing. Whenever I remember to do this, it makes me feel all nice and good and like I'm doing something to help the world. Which is a nice feeling. We have been trying to bring those reusable bags to the grocery store, and we have to go to the dump now for certain things anyway, so I like to try and recycle what we can when we go...

(10)

Riches. Both the show "The Riches" with Eddie Izzard (who is so freakin hilarious, if you haven't seen him before, YOU MUST. Go. Rent. Laugh. Be happy.) and real-life, actual, in your hands, cash money, riches. As if I have those. But someday, I hope to... And when I do, I know I WILL love them, trust me! hehe.

...So, there they *R*. This was a lot harder than I thought. I guess there aren't a ton of *R* things that make me so happy I dance and pee in my pants a little. But there *R* a few. Okay. I'll stop with the *R* now. *R* you annoyed yet?

PS: Let me know if you want to participate in this little listy! I swear I'll go to random.org to pick your letter so you don't think I'm evil if you end up with, like... X. Or Z. And, just to be nice, if you don't think you can come up with ten for your first letter, I'll give you a new letter. But only once. Come on, we can't just keep picking letters here, that wouldn't be random enough! ;) *R* you up for it?

My Birthday Weekend Post

(A peek at some lingering foliage in Nana and Papa's yard.)

So, last weekend was a blast! A little crazy, but fun nonetheless.

We did the whole trick or treat thing on Halloween (Friday) night, which you can experience second-hand through the post below... Down there... Keep scrolling. See it?

Saturday we hung around the house and I got the necessary cleaning done. Okay, most of the necessary cleaning. The damned kitchen floor is still filthy, but I am pretty much on strike when it comes to that. At least until I start feeling grit beneath my toes when I walk out there. Then I'll be sufficiently disgusted to yank out the ol' mop and bucket to do the maid good housewife thing. Ilyana spent most of the day:

Sitting in front of our computer watching "doo doo doo doo doo Dora!" in her pj's...



Attacking me with booger-nose kisses/ leftover breakfast face....



And stuffing her face with tomatoes at lunchtime. :D



Later that day, we headed down to Nashua to pick up my new cell phone (woooo!!) and eat a nice pot roast meal that my Stepdad David made for me. My brother Mitch came over for dinner, and after we ate and he went home, we all sat down and watched "The Happening" since my parents hadn't seen it yet. Most of the pictures I took that night didn't come out for some reason, so here's what I got.


Uncle Mitch tries to tempt Ilyana with the Halloween spider. It didn't work.



In fact, she was not too happy about it at all.




But she let her friend, the rat, try and scare the spider away.



I told you it wasn't much for pics. I must have been too busy enjoying myself and checking out my new phone to take that many photos. Don't worry, I made up for it the next day- when we went to visit Will's side of the family...

My MIL Patti made a great ham dinner for us! (Thanks again Mom :D) Complete with rolls, potatoes, fried carrots, raisin sauce and homemade pumpkin cheesecake... mmm.... I didn't get a picture of the ham (which is funny, since it was my favorite part... guess we were too busy chowing down on it to get any photos.) but here is a small idea of what the meal was like:


Momma Patti taking the warm rolls out of the oven. She threatened my life and/or the life of my camera if she was to make an appearance on my blog. So if I suddenly disappear, you all will know where to look first for my body... :P




Couldn't wait till they were off the stove to take a pic!




Homemade Pumpkin Cheesecake. Yummmm yummm... :D



We spent the rest of the day catching up (it had been way too long since we'd seen them!), visiting and playing with the kiddos- Ilyana and Kaden enjoy each other's company so much, it is just too adorable!


Kade shows Illy how to use the blocks




So she goes and grabs some for herself!




He stacks the blocks...




And she stacks the blocks!




They both love technology, too. Kaden spent much of the day trying to snap shots of me with Papa Dave's camera while I was trying to snap shots of him.


Doesn't he look like a little angel?



When he didn't have the camera in tow, he had to at least drag along his fake pink cell phone.




Bendy Ruggles wanted in on some phone action, too. But only because it's fake. If someone were to actually be trying to talk to her on the phone, she would most likely run away and refuse to say hi. Cuz that's how she rolls.



Illy was pretty fascinated by the swirling colored lights in this wand. And being able to press the "buttin" was a super bonus.




She also really enjoyed climbing up and down the stairs (with Dada's supervision, of course!)




Nana and Papa: OMG, Jade, Will! Look, over there! It's.....



A (really cute little) POWER RANGER!



All that playing and running around really wiped Bendy Ruggle out. So what's a girl to do?

Grab a monkey, make a face...


And tuck yourself in with big pouffy pillows on the couch!




I was so grateful to get to spend the whole weekend with so many people I love... My mom and stepdad, brother, mother and stepfather in law, my nephew, and- as always-



My wonderful hubby...


And my beautiful, beautiful Bendy Ruggles. <3

Birthday Lovins'...

It's mah birrrrrf-day on Sunday.

Happy Birthday to me:

I'm gonna be 25. I feel sorta grown-up about that. Don't know why 25 feels like the milestone into "true" adulthood, but it does for some reason. Maybe because now I have a little girl, and a *real* job, and benefits, and responsibilities above and beyond just watching out for myself. Maybe after Sunday happens, I'll change my mind and say I don't really feel like a grown-up. That's probably the case. But right now, I feel as if the adulthood is looming over my head like a big gray storm cloud.

I don't know why I describe it that way. It's not that I don't want to be a grownup. I guess I just don't want to lose all those things you get to have when you're a teenager. For instance, I liked having friends that I could actually see. I don't really get to have that anymore. Most of the old friends I had either moved, have busy lives of their own so we never connect in person, or our friendships have drifted, as some things do. The closest contact I have with friends now is usually the net, since I am not a big fan of the phone. I also liked being able to spend my money on things I didn't need but at the time that I bought them thought I did, rather than spending money on *yawn* bills and necessities. Bills are such a bad idea. I think we should just scrap them and start over with a bartering system. Wait, maybe not. I don't know what I have that I could barter. This could take some contemplation...

Back to the topic at hand- I am having a birthday! WoooOOoooOO :D

So, anyway, my Mom already gave me my present from her and my stepdad- she took me out shopping on Columbus day weekend. I know, it was way early, but all the good sales were that weekend and I was having a crappy day, so we decided to go out. I got so much stuff, I was psyched! I love shopping with my mom, it's one of the great fun things in life. We will both happily walk until the soles of our shoes wear out, carrying five bags and our purses and our leftover drinks from the food court as long as the sales are worth it. We are the ultimate bargain-shoppers. Sometimes I think it's unnatural. Will was saying to me the other day that he thinks I have an addiction to shopping. Pfffffffffffffft. (Notice that is a super long pfft.) As if. I just love it. And can't stop. And won't... erm... lol. No addiction there.

I told him that at least my *addiction* saves us money. I am very scrupulous about what I buy, when, and what price I pay for it. I usually get way more for our money than most people would. Lately this includes clipping coupons- I have found some sites online that I love for coupons, and our grocery store doubles manufacturer ones, so between shopping there for the little things we need, and shopping at BJ's for necessities that would cost way more if you bought them in small batches (i.e., toilet paper, paper towels, gatorades, etc etc) we save tons.

Whoops, this is turning into another tangent.

So, my point is this. I really wanted this camera for my birthday:

It's a Fuji Finepix s700, and it's MUCH MUCH nicer than the point-and-shoot I've been using for years. I've wanted to get more into photography, now that I am on a constant Bendy Ruggle pic hunt and am more into blogging... and my old camera just wouldn't cut it. But I thought no way would I get this. It's generally between $175- $275 at stores or online to buy, which is very moderately priced for how nice it is, but is still too much for us to be able to spend on me for my birthday.

BUT!

He found it! On newegg which is the best website for computer-related items and electronics. It's where all the techies we know get their gear and upgrading stuffs. Not only that, but he found it refurbished for $110! AND it comes with a 2 gb SD card and a carrying case/ bag for free. HOORAY for the bargain-shopping hubby! He has learned well. :)

So I am totally getting an awesome new camera for my birthday.

And it should be on my doorstep when I get home.

What-what!

I am so excited. A shopping spree, an AWESOME gift from my hubby... And my Dad promised to cook me an nice meal when I see him, too. If you knew my Dad and his cooking, you'd be jealous. Trust me.

What more could a girl want for a birthday? 'Cept maybe a kiss from her little girl, which I always need.

Can't wait to go home and get my package- er, packages. Although the diapers on the doorstep are not nearly as exciting as the camera. But still. More than one package awaits me.

**Pep's Birthday**

Today would have been my Pep's birthday.

When I was young, before the time of friend parties, we shared a couple of birthdays together (mine is November 2nd) and I still have the image of the two of us blowing out candles together burned in my brain.

He was a great man.

Pep, in your honor, I want to write down some of the things you passed on- the things you contributed to my life which will live on forever in my memory.

--You made the best toast ever. I never figured out what made your toast so special. I remember sitting at the kitchen table at the house on Stark Street in the early morning with Nicky by my side, studying you making toast. I was trying to figure out what you did to make it so good, but you only toasted and spread the butter. It remains a mystery.

--Your special touch went beyond just toast. You also made the best baked beans ever. Nobody makes them better, not even Nana with your recipe (sorry Nan!) so you must have had some secret ingredient that you never revealed. I got so spoiled on your beans that I have barely eaten them since you passed. It's just not the same.

--We could always count on you to make us laugh with a tickle or a pony-boy ride on your knee. Whenever I bounce Illy on my knee like that, I think of you.

--You always rose early, with the birds. I remember when us grandkids used to spend the night, we would bet we could wake up before you and Nana in the morning, and we NEVER did. I don't think even once. I certainly didn't get THAT from you, because I absolutely hate waking early.

--Your SNORE! I don't know if you would want this broadcast for the world to read, but if there was a best-snorer contest, you would win, HANDS DOWN! I remember you'd fall asleep on the floor while watching TV with us (pretty early, too, since you always woke up so early in the morning) and we'd be trying to watch but could never hear over your sniffle and roar noises. You were also pretty hard to wake up, and even when Nana was successful at waking you, you'd deny you fell asleep. As if we hadn't just been listening to you snore for the past (however many) minutes. :D I never thought I would MISS a snore. But I do.

--You would always open the pool up early for us. We were chomping at the bit to swim as soon as we could without getting hypothermia, and you would oblige and uncover the pool, switch on the filter and get it all ready for us before it was even really summertime.

--My love of camping came from you and Nana. I don't know if we ever went tent camping, which is what I prefer now, but Kings and Queens is where my love of camping started. I remember late nights up with you and Nan playing Uno... Bingo games in the big building next to the pool... And many, many trips down the big yellow waterslide. I remember walking to the craft hut with you and buying italian ices at the store with "my money" (that you gave us, of course)... I remember one year going with you, Nana and Nicky alone and feeling so cool, so grown-up because you would let us go to the playground alone. I remember you helping us search for marshmallow-toasting sticks in the brush, and building fires together... And I remember one particular ride where we drove poor Nana up a wall singing "99 bottles of beer on the wall" for about an hour on the way up there. Good times, Pep, good times.

--I remember listening to your "adult" conversations at Thanksgiving through the vents in the floors in your house, thinking we were going to hit the jackpot and glean some adults-only info from you all, when we hardly understood what was being said- and of course it was never anything we really shouldn't hear. We just felt cool spying. I remember you looking up at the vent and seeing us there, knowing we were listening, and us running away giggling and pretending we hadn't been. I remember you didn't tell.

--I remember the way you always treated Nana with love and respect. I am still awed by the fact that I never heard you two argue (at least I don't recall it) and I know that you loved her more than anything in the world. I'm so glad for it, because we all need examples of true true love in our lives.

--I remember your faded tattoos from the military. They were all green. I wondered where they came from, and what they stood for. I was always intrigued by them... And now I still love tattoos. Nana, Nicky, Auntie Lisa and I have been saying for years that we should all go get a tattoo together. Dad wasn't too keen on the idea, but Nana said she gets to override him since she's his Mom. I think maybe we should all get one that symbolizes our family...

--I remember you always watching "Wheel of Fortune". I used to think it was an old-people's show, but now I watch it. Almost every night. I'm sure Illy will think it's an "old-people's show" when she gets to be a little older, too. But she'll watch it with me anyway.

--I remember playing Yahtzee, drinking V-8 and doing puzzles together. I remember playing Memory. A lot of the games I like I learned from you.

--I remember riding bikes in your driveway, and you moving the cars so we could. I remember you cheering us on as we rode, and working in your garage so you could keep an eye on us. I remember the sparkle your smile had, and how you always had one ready for me.

I don't ever remember you being mad at me.

Thank you for being the best grandfather a person could ask for, for giving us a safe place to rest our heads and play without worrying, for teaching me games and making me food and smiling and laughing and making me laugh. I won't ever forget.

Thursday Thirteen #5- Link Love- Favorite Websites!!

So, I'm doing Thirteen Favorite Websites today. I'm not counting blogs in this, because there are sooo many great blogs out there that I love, my whole list would be consumed with them! So if you don't see your bloggy self on there, please don't feel shunned. And, without further adieu... Some of my faves :D



(1) I just found this website a couple of months ago and I LOVE it! The basic idea is this: it's a (free!) interactive wish list. You download a little button to put on your bookmarks toolbar at the top of your browser, and then whenever you come across ANYTHING on the web you want (whether it be from an etsy store, ebay, a retailer's website, etc.) you click on that button. The next thing that happens?? It's SOO nifty!

Above your window, a box will pop open with a photo of the item and most of its information, including the price and name, filled out. You can tag the item to put it in a category (i.e., clothes, art stuff, etc.) and add any notes about sizes or whatever in the comment box. You can keep as many lists as you want, and make them public, private, etc... For instance, I have one wish list for things I want, and one wish list for things my daughter wants and/or needs. My Mom is building a private list (which only she can see) for things she wants to buy for other people. I am SOOO trying to get everyone in my family to sign up and fill this out! It's great because you know EXACTLY what the person wants, and they never know you looked or what you're buying them. You can send your URL to whoever you want, and there is also an invite tool. If you want to check out MY list for an example, go ahead and click :D



(2) Of course, as always, a tried and true favorite of mine :) I find all things yummy on this website and could spend way too much time browsing (and drooling.) You can keep a recipe box on there of your favorites and also submit your own recipes.



(3) For games... I use I have since I was 16, and they are still the best.



(4) Of course, if you're a gambler, you can use This is how it works: you watch an ad, and they start you off with 1 penny. You bet that penny against someone else with a penny, watch another (short) ad, and play a game against them- whoever wins gets both cents. The other person starts over, and the winner moves on to bet their 2 cents... etc... etc... There's potential to win a LOT if you are lucky (and smart), but there are only three games. I haven't been on in a while because I was up to a few dollars and blew it all down to like 16 cents. Made me mad. But it's still a cool idea, and you COULD become a millionaire from it. If you want an invite (I think they're still invite-only right now), comment me with your email and I will send ya one! :D



(5) Another good foodie website- especially for slow cooker recipesI don't know why they have it listed under southern food, because it seems like there are dishes from all over. Yum, yum... and it makes dinner so much easier! Gotta <3 that Crockpot.




(6) is the BEST (hands-down) website for nutrition information, fitness tracking and food logs. It's free and it's how I managed to stay on track and lose the baby weight from the girl. I love this website, although I haven't used it as much lately as I should. I could go on and on about its benefits, but really, there's so much, you should just check it out! They have workouts, videos, articles, support groups, a food and fitness tracking system, and you can even keep track of and achieve your other goals through their system. There are some awesome people on there and they are so inspiring! This website is a GREAT motivation tool.



(7) For those of you, like me, who enjoy watching TV on the web (we lay in bed at night and watch it, because we don't have a TV in our room, just the computer), is a great place to find those shows you may not be able to on the network's website.
Sometimes, even if they DO have the show on the network's website, it's still better at Hulu because you can full screen it.



(8) If you can't find it there, it just might be on
So check them too. If you have no luck, it most likely isn't out there for streaming video. You'll just have to download (shhh... did I say that?!?!) ;)




(9)

I just love them. I like their website, too, and the fact that they usually hold the same sales online as in the stores (like that crazy jeans sale I somehow missed?!?! $12 per pair for adult jeans and $7 for kids. I shed a tear when I found out...) I do admit, I like going to the store better, because there's no shipping, and the clearance is way better. But, being as the closest one to me is about an hour away, I'll take the online shopping happily.




(10) is the best email. That's pretty much all there is to say about that. Once again, if you want an invite, give me a holler!




(11) online classifieds. I am always shocked when people tell me they haven't heard of Craigslist! It was so popular in NC when we lived there, we got almost everything in our house from there (we were very broke... lol) including our dishes, our couch, some blankets, our kitchen table (which we still use and got for $15!)... And, two weeks ago, I found a portable dishwasher for just $75! We also found both of our last two apartments on there, and they have a great job listing section as well as community listings for yard/ garage sales and events in your area. I have been keeping my eye out on there for an elliptical to get my butt in gear and do some cardio, since I know it's the best type of workout and I do... pretty much none of it.



(12) when you can't find things on the TV websites above, you can usually download them here, and they are much safer than using Napster, Limewire or another program like that. The trick with that is that you need to understand how torrents work (you can find an explanation there) and you need to have a torrent downloading program like uTorrent to download the files. Then you search on the net at different websites like The Pirate Bay for what you want. This is different than searching within the programs, like Napster, etc. Some other good websites to look for torrents are: Mininova, TorrentPortal, Isohunt, Torrentz, BitTorrent, and Demonoid. I'd say Demonoid is the best, but you need to be invited or sign up during open sign up, and they have strict requirements for seeding back to others.




(13) I <3 Disney, mostly due to the fact that my grandparents brought us up worshiping their movies, and for a time when I was about 6, I really thought it would be possible for me to grow up and be Ariel (yes, I know I don't have a fishy tail). I am constantly on their website planning fake vacations I can't yet afford, praying that somehow they will miraculously see me there and award me- their biggest fan- with free lovin' (i.e. vacation!) They have a fun new feature where you can actually interatively tour the parks. Sweeeeetttt. I can't wait to bring my little princess there! Hopefully next year.. or the year after... She may still be too young next year, but I am in total denial of this right now. If any of you have stories of bringing young children (mine would be 2 1/2 if we were to go next year), please share. I'm dying to know if she could enjoy it, or if it would be a total meltdown vacation.

There you have it... 13 of my best of the best. If you check any of them out, let me know what you think! :D