Keith can cook?

Yesterday was our first dinner in the kitchen in over a month. Using the chicken parm leftovers, Keith became a cook. He boiled some big, long macaroni and stuffed it with pieces of the chicken parm, heated it up, put some sauce on it and taaaa- daaa. Yum-o-licious. (We were out of provolone cheese otherwise he would had put that on it too.)

Hit me with your best shot

NOT!

Keith is very willing to smash wedding cake in my face. I, however, am not willing to have cake and icing in my face, which could then get in my hair and worst of all, on my very pretty dress which was a very pretty penny. So I created a compromise. Next year, for our first anniversary, I will let Keith hit me with a slice of cake from our thawed first layer. I will even throw a party so that others can watch. I think this is fair, don't you?

Being Thankful

I've written in the past about our plans for the summer. Duh we're getting married but due to the wedding, and due to the recession, I am teaching summer school. Trust me, teachers count down to the end of the school year too and we enjoy summer. My reasoning for doing it was because there were A Lot of guys out in Keith's local and I was afraid he too would be out of work. At one point the unemployment number was in the 600s for the fitters. We simply could not afford for neither of us to bring in any money. So I sucked it up and went for the summer school. Last week we did not have to worry even a little bit of him getting laid off. His contractor got a big job out of Merck pharmaceuticals for a shut down. He worked 64 man hours last week, not including the 2.5 hour round trip everyday. Crazy. Needless to say we didn't see much of each other nor did he see much of the kitchen. But now we are not only bringing in his paycheck, and my extra pay, but also his overtime. So we are thankful to be able to do this, esp when the money world is so crappy.

Finger Lickin' Fifteen

Stephanie Plum from Trenton, NJ is out and at it again collecting FTAs and accidentally solving mysterious crimes in Janet Evanovich's 15th novel of the series featuring Stephanie in Finger Lickin' Fifteen. So what's the big deal? Only that this is my favorite author of my favorite series and I have been patiently waiting for this book to come out for a year now. But it gets better!!! Janet Evanovich toured a book signing, starting in Cherry Hill! Did I go? Hell yes! And I brought my sister along with me.

Tuesday the book came out and Diane and I had planned on meeting with Janet that night at the Cherry Hill Barnes & Nobles. The signing started at 6 so we decided to get there around 3:30. A big block party was planned. We get there, and get our bracelet and information for the signing. We are number 673 and 674 and we were told to report back at 6:45 to get into line to get our books signed. We read our packet and it said we were only allowed to get our books signed if we bought it at B&N. Opps. We went to Target. 30% off, duh. We quickly removed the target sticker, problem solved, haha. We went up and down the block looking at the vendors. There was free food and games. Diane and I stepped up to the spinner game. You know, where you spin the wheel and you win whatever prise it landed on. Of course there were many slots for pens, and t-shirts, and a few for a coffee mug. There was only one for a gift certificate. I was first, I spung the wheel and landed on the gift certificate. Yeah me!!! I had my pick of Home Depot or a free handbag with a GC inside. I first thought of the kitchen and choose Home Depot, but got selfish and got the handbag. Good thing too, bc it was a $25 GC. AWESOME! Diane spung next and landed on... Gift Certificate! "It's rigged" I said. The lovely assistant was surprised, and Diane picked out the same prise, just a different color handbag. So yeah, we both won two handbags and GC for $25.

We go to the handbag store and picked out items to buy. I bought a cool hat to match my outfit and Diane bought another handbag. The handbags we won were worth $15. Not bad for a spinning prise huh? We went to put the bags in the car and guess what?! Diane got pooped on by a bird on her shoulder. She didn't even know it. Some got in her hair but it wasn't bad at all. My brother randomly called as we were walking to the car and I answered the phone by "Guess what, Diane got pooped on." Not your traditional "Hi".

Afterwards we got some frozen yogurt at a store called Sprinkles. Cute name. You go in and get greeted by the cashier who explains how the store works. You get your own cup, fill it with whatever flavor(s) of frozen yogurt, top it with what you like, weight it, then pay for the weight. There were about 15 flavors to choose from and a lot of toppings. I went with NY cheesecake and Peanut Butter yogurt and topped it with reeses cup and snickers. MMMmmm.

By the time we finished our yogurt it was 5:45. 15 minutes until Janet arrives. We went in the store and it was mobbed. U boats kept making their way to the front to satisfy the demand of crazed fans. Diane & I got a couple balloons that tied into animals of the books and made our way to the area where Janet would sign the books. After a few minutes we heard "Excuse me, Excuse me. Make way". We got frightened and back up, thinking someone was hurt up front or needed medical attention. Why did we think this? Seriously, we were the youngest readers there. Nuts! But no, there was no medical emergency. Janet was making her way to her table. She touched us! So cool. I took a picture and this is what I got.

So we then proceeded to the area where you get in line. Since our bracelets read 673 and 674 we thought they started around 600. Wrong! They really started a 1. People were being called in groups of 50. We started getting nervous. Will she get to us? Look at all these people. We timed how fast she was signing and it appeared to be 100 every 30 minutes. So by calculation, we would not get up to her until 9 o'clock. And B&N estimated 6:45. Good job on that one.

While we waited, we ran into some people we knew and some new people that were fun & interesting. There were readers from all over the Northeast. It was awesome. The last we heard, there were over 1400 bracelets given out. On the same calculation, that would mean they would not meet Janet until 1am. Whoa.

Our numbers were finally called at 9:40. We went through our line, got pins that say "I heart Morelli" and took our picture with Janet who look exhausted! Poor Janet. I know I was. 9:30 is my bed time!

It was an awesome time, the whole 7.5 hours. Of course here are more pictures.

Yard Sale

Keith and I participated at a Flea Market. With getting a new kitchen, and a bunch of stuff from the shower (which upgraded our current appliances and cookware) we have a bunch to sell. So off we were packing the truck at night, and then in the early morning. I wanted to get to the flea market early to get a good spot, but Keith slept 30 minutes over the alarm and we got a not much desirable slot. All in all, we made a little over $100. More importantly, we made a lot of room in the house.

Where oh where have Keith and Kim gone?

No where really. We have been SUPER busy with everything that is going on. We are sorry that we haven't been updating you on our lives, and that we haven't been updating ourselves with yours. We promise to read and write!!!

What should you look forward to? Aka what have we been doing: Last day of school, first day of summer school, yard sale, mass$ve overt$me, KITCHEN, new refrigerator & stove & microwave & dishwasher, gardening, WEDDING WEDDING WEDDING. Not to mention, our wedding is in 22 days. And I am sure I am missing some stuff. Stay tuned!

Overwhelmed

This is how I am feeling. It's the combination of work and the wedding and now the head coach of cheerleading quitting. For some reason the spring flipped a switch on in my kids heads and now they are acting like I haven't given them any sense all year. They are countlessly being rude to each other, calling each other names, and telling others to shut up. I've had it. They have even gotten out of their chairs and presented themselves for a fight. Before I would get in between them whether they were "playin" or not. But now, I told them "Go ahead. Hit each other. The sooner you get it done, the faster your out of here in cuffs and I won't have to deal with you for the rest of the year." They stare at me astonished. It works for a day or two. But not for the whole week, and certainly not enough before a section quiz. I have a bunch of appointments running for the wedding. I think we have 43 days left. Crunch time. And my friend is now going back to school and can't do cheerleading. So I'm the head coach. Nuts. I have tryouts next week and these girls and one guy want to do so many things. I know no sooner do I set it up, they will back out. Ahh... patience, I need patience.