In the past couple of days, I've started planning our annual holiday open house. I love entertaining but it's so hard to get everyone together in one place at the same time. This year, instead of trying to do it in the crazy few weeks before Christmas, I've decided to wait until the Saturday between Christmas and New Year's, when the big holiday rush has died down a bit.

Last year's party was a big success, although I had been miserably sick, recovering from strep throat with a fever that I just couldn't shake. We had about forty relatives, some neighbors and very close friends at the house. I made mini bacon-and-cheese quiches, hot crab dip, and shrimp cocktail, some baked ziti, and bought some catered food too...hot roast beef, green beans Amandine, roasted red bliss potatoes, and--undoubtedly the MOST popular item on the buffet line--Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets! Man, those things just about disappeared right before my eyes.

For dessert, I made a few trays of brownies and dozens of different kinds of Christmas cookies. The other big hit of the party was the electric, multi-tiered chocolate fountain that I won from my office's holiday gift exchange. I cranked that sucker up and put out long wooden skewers and yellow cake cubes, pretzels, and marshmallows for dipping.

This year the invite list has gotten bigger...I'm a little afraid that everyone is actually going to RSVP "yes!" Oh well, the more, the merrier, right?

Next steps: print the invites, mail them, and test some new recipes.

Any good recipe suggestions for a buffet?

Labels: decisions, family, friends, holidays

Some women collect shoes.

Others covet designer handbags.

My passion is perfume. I adore scent! I wear a different fragrance every day, depending on my mood.

Here are the perfumes that are currently in heavy rotation at my dressing table, in no particular order:

-Victoria’s Secret Dream Angels Divine
-Ralph Lauren Blue
-Ralph Lauren Glamorous
-Perry Ellis f
-Armani Mania
-Liz Claiborne Realities (the new version, not the one from the 80s)
-Christian Dior J’Adore
-Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue
-Glow by J. Lo (I know! I can’t help it, though…it smells fresh and clean, and I get SOOOO many compliments when I wear it!)

On my Christmas list:
-Victoria’s Secret Dream Angels Desire
-Marc Jacobs Daisy

The one scent I hate? That's gotta be patchouli. Yuck. Reminds me of the kid whose locker was a few down from mine in high school. He was a hippie-wannabe who never washed his hair and was perpetually stoned.

What are your favorite fragrances?

Labels: fashion, holidays, memories, school

Well, the holiday mayhem is winding down.

NOT.

For us, Christmas was fairly low-key this year. We were home, not in Binghamton, which always makes me very happy. There's just something nice about waking up in your own house on Christmas morning.

We went to the movies on Christmas Eve and saw The Good Shepherd. Word of advice? Skip it. It was unbearably long and drawn-out. I thought we'd never make it out of the theatre. Ugh.

When we got home from the movies, we opened our gifts. Remember how much I loved Madonna's Confessions on a Dancefloor last year? I've decided that my favorite CD of this year is John Mayer's Continuum, which was one of the things that The Huz bought for me. Love it. LOVE it. It's sublime, bluesy goodness. I especially like the first three tracks and the last track. Fantastic album!

I also got Alicia Keys' Unplugged...another great album. I've seen Alicia in concert twice and she never disappoints. In fact, I think that she is one of the few artists whose voice sounds better live than on recordings. This album captures her at her best.

So now I'm getting ready for the party we're having on Saturday afternoon. Hence, the title of this post. We're expecting almost fifty people--more than I've ever tried to entertain at one time! I'm trying hard not to start hyperventilating when I think about it. The guest list consists almost entirely of my family, most of whom have never seen our new house, but we're also having a few neighbors as well. I think I'm in good shape so far...the catered portion of the food has been ordered, I've test-run a few recipes for food that I'm making myself, and we've been slowly straightening up the house for the past week. Still, I've had a couple nightmares in which people show up at our house and I've overslept and there is no food for them and I am still in my nightgown. I wake up gasping for breath.

Entertaining shouldn't be this stressful, should it?

Hoping that you all had a wonderful holiday!

Labels: holidays, movies, music

I took this picture on my regular walk a few nights ago.

OK, so my new camera phone takes lousy photos.

Or maybe it's just operator error.

Or maybe...just maybe...the quality of this particular photo is so crappy because my poor camera phone was too busy recoiling in horror at the display of Christmas monstrosities on this property to capture a decent picture.

All I can say is Thank Dog this house is three streets over from mine. It has been literally lit up like Las Vegas since Thanksgiving.

This is the same house, by the way, where passersby can admire a lovely array of Confederate flags snapping proudly in the breeze every other day of the year. Oh yeah...and a bunch of Nascar banners, too.

Every neighborhood has one of these houses, right?

Yikes.

Labels: funny stuff, holidays

I'm amazed by the sheer volume of hits this blog has been getting from my post last week on the Pflaumers' Christmas display in Drexel Hill. It's hard to believe that so many people are searching Google Blogsearch and Technorati for it.

<small voice> I would really love it if some of you lurkers would out yourselves and leave me a comment...

Labels: holidays, technology, Upper Darby

One of my favorite holiday traditions from my childhood was going to see the Christmas decorations at the Pflaumers' house in Drexel Hill, PA, known in my family as the "Christmas House." Every year, either my parents, my godmother, or my grandparents would take me over to the large Tudor-style home on Fairfax Road, where I'd stand, mesmerized, admiring the incredible variety of Christmas decorations on and around the property. The Pflaumers owned the Schmidt Brewing Company in Philadelphia, a beer distributorship that was fairly well-known in the area. Mr. Pflaumer wound up in the slammer for tax evasion and eventually had to declare bankruptcy in the 1980s, but that didn't stop him (or his family) from wowing the local residents every year with their Christmas display.

You could actually hear the Christmas House before you saw it, thanks to the holiday music that blared on an endless loop over a loudspeaker system. Often we had to park our car two or three blocks away from the house; there was always a crowd gathered around it, from Thanksgiving all the way up until New Year's, and understandably so: there were so many fantastic sights on the property that one's eyes could hardly rest. Here was a life-sized illuminated Santa's sleigh, complete with eight reindeer, suspended from a pulley system that wound around the side yard of the house. On the front lawn was an enormous Nativity scene, with real straw and a real stable and nearly life-sized figures gathered around the manger. Not to mention all kinds of flashing lights and holiday statuary scattered everywhere. From the peak of the roof, a huge lit-up Santa statue appeared on the verge of climbing into the chimney.

If I had to guess, I'd say that there were easily 50,000 lights in the display, but that may be a conservative estimate. I remember the adults standing around and speculating what the Pflaumers' electric bill must be. There was a hurricane fence erected around the property, and I was always curious if anyone actually lived in the house during the holiday season. I never saw any cars, interior lights, or other signs of life within the house when we went to look at it. Now, as an adult looking back on it, I wonder how the Pflaumers' neighbors tolerated this show year in and year out. As much as I loved going to see it, I can't imagine living next door to it!

I can't remember exactly when I stopped going to see the Christmas House; I suppose it was sometime around the advent of my teenage years, when I thought myself too "cool" to be transported by the extravagance and magic of the display. You know what teenagers are like--nothing impresses them. But now that December is upon us, I've found my thoughts turning back to the Christmas House, wondering if the Pflaumers still put on the display.

Labels: childhood, holidays, memories, nostalgia, Upper Darby

You know, I was ready to launch into a very angry post this afternoon about the idiocy of the uproar in Colorado over the woman who hung a wreath in the shape of a peace sign on the side of her house...but I'm just too disgusted to even get into it now.



Common sense--less common than you'd think!

Labels: bitching, holidays

One of my dearest, wisest, oldest friends bought six copies of the novel in which my essay on friendship is published. She has asked me to autograph them, as she will be giving them to a bunch of her other friends as Christmas gifts.

???

Labels: friends, funny stuff, holidays, writing

Do you think it's maybe just a wee bit premature to have Christmas decorations littering your front lawn right now?

I took my regular walk last night and saw that one of our neighbors had every imaginable Christmas monstrosity already out and LIT UP on his property. You know what I mean...the huge, inflatable Christmas snowglobe, the illuminated, animatronic reindeer (creepy!), and icicle lights hanging from every eave of the house.

I was most amused by the fact that the house directly across the street still has its huge, inflatable Halloween jack-o'lantern on the front lawn.

It's almost as though they're competing to see whose front lawn can look the tackiest.

Labels: deep thoughts, holidays

1-888-5-OPTOUT

If you're sick of getting unsolicited credit card and/or insurance offers in the mail, call this number and add your name to the opt-out list. Your opt-out is good for the next five years. The call takes about four minutes and is completely automated and confidential. I did it myself just now and am looking forward to my mail volume being reduced by about half in the near future!

In case you're wondering, I read about it in Newsweek.

Enjoy the holiday weekend!

Labels: FYI, holidays

I have a dilemma on my hands, people. As some of you may remember, we moved into a new neighborhood in August 2005. Since then, we've met most of our neighbors and they're very nice people.

BUT. (You knew there was a "but" coming, right?)

There is this family who lives two houses down and across the street from us. A husband, wife and at least two little kids. Maybe more. They also have a beagle.

My problem is the way this man treats the beagle. I have witnessed the guy screaming at the top of his lungs at this poor little dog. For the record, I have never seen any of the family members actually take the dog for a walk. Instead, they tether the dog to a stake in the front lawn and leave it out there for hours. It howls and whimpers, and occasionally the man sticks his head out the front door and yells at it to shut up. Why do people like this even own a dog?

Somehow, I've managed to look the other way about this since we moved in, but something happened yesterday afternoon that made my blood absolutely boil.

We had invited my parents and grandmother over for brunch to celebrate Mother's Day. They left around 2 p.m., and Brian and I stood on our front porch to wave goodbye as my mom's car began slowly driving down the street. As she passed that family's house, the beagle somehow got loose and darted in front of my mom's car in the street. My mother slammed on her brakes and thankfully, the dog ran back up on the lawn, unharmed.

The "man" of the house (I use that term with reservations) was doing some kind of garden work at the time and saw everything that happened. He hollered an apology at my mother, who I am sure was quite shaken by the close call. Then, as soon as the beagle returned to him on the lawn, he scooped it up in his arms and started beating it and screaming at it.

I watched this from our front step and Brian had to physically restrain me from marching across the street and giving this asshole a piece of my mind. How a grown man can beat a 25-lb dog is completely beyond me. Worse, what exactly are his young children learning from this? More than once I have seen the guy scream at and smack the dog right in front of his kids. It makes me sick and I feel like I should take action.

So the question is, what do I do? Do I ring his bell and try to speak to him about it myself? Do I call the Humane Society and let them deal with it? Do I send an anonymous letter? I don't even know their names, but I could find that out easily enough.

I am not a violent person, but when I see animals or children being mistreated, it just about puts me over the edge.

Labels: decisions, family, holidays, neighborhood stuff, pets

Whew! It's good to be back. I fell hard last Wednesday due to an unexpected case of strep throat. I have no idea how I got it. Haven't had it since I was a kid. It came on so suddenly...Wednesday morning I felt fine, then by lunch started getting that weird taste in my mouth that always precedes a cold. By Wednesday afternoon, I felt like I was hit by a freight train. Fever, chills, sweating, couldn't swallow, hurt to talk.

I'll spare you the details, but just know that I'm extremely grateful for antibiotics. Still not feeling 100%, but much improved today.

Anyhoo...although I missed the New Year, I figured I'd post my goals for this coming year today. Better late than never!

2006 Goals (in random order)

1. Be in bed and asleep by 10 p.m. on work nights. Hah!
2. Take a daily multi-vitamin. Even if it's Flintstones.
3. Get some form of exercise for at least 30 minutes, at least four days a week. Racquetball, weight-lifting, walking are some ideas.
4. Plan my meals better so that when I'm hungry, I can eat something nutritious and homemade, thereby reducing the frequency of eating out.
5. Study for and pass the ASPPA DC-2 exam, so I can get the QKA designation for my job.
6. Start thinking about having a baby. Perhaps.
7. Travel somewhere fun. No more Caribbean islands, please...I'm talking Europe, Africa, or somewhere I've never visited within the borders of these great United States. I've always wanted to go to a dude ranch. Brian thinks I'm nuts but I'm totally serious. Hee-haw!
8. Pay off all the new appliances that we bought when we moved into the new house.
9. Volunteer.
10. Continue on the home improvement spree. I slowed down due to studying for DC-1 and then the holiday onslaught began. Now I have all the time in the world to paint and strip wallpaper!

I hope everyone has a happy, healthy, and fulfilling 2006!

Labels: food, goals, health, holidays, home improvement, marriage, work

Hope everyone who celebrated a holiday had/has a great one!

We just got home from visiting Brian's family in Binghamton, NY for the weekend. I don't have much time right now to write because my parents are coming up here for lunch, but I did want to say one thing:

Madonna's latest CD, Confessions on a Dancefloor, RULES!!!!!

I got it from Brian last week before we left for NY and have been compulsively listening to it since then. It is fucking brilliant. There. I said it.

If you like to dance, you MUST get this CD immediately! No matter what you think of Madonna, the music is irresistible.

Enjoy!

Labels: deep thoughts, family, holidays, music

Sorry I haven’t been around lately. It’s been a difficult week.

First of all, this coming Monday, I am taking a very difficult exam in order to get credentials for my job. I have been studying for this exam for months, and though I know deep down that I’m pretty well-prepared, I am still a nervous wreck. I hate tests.

Then, last night I took my older cat, Bailey, to the vet. He’s been acting weirdly for the past several months, and I figured he should be checked out. He’s lost weight, seems listless, and no longer plays with his brother (our other cat Sebastian) anymore. He just kind of mopes around and has no energy.

Trying to get this cat into his carrier to go anywhere is an ordeal. It took Brian and I about ten minutes, working together, to secure Bailey in his little crate. Bailey doesn’t like car rides, nor does he like the vet (does any cat?), so the fur was definitely flying…his little legs kept splaying all over the place as we tried to stuff him in his cage. At one point, I just started laughing hysterically, much to Brian’s annoyance. It was a pretty funny sight!

We finally got Bailey settled into his cage, and although he was yowling very loudly, we got to the vet’s office without further incident. I put Bailey on the scale, and learned that he’s lost more weight than I’d thought: in April 2003, he was 11.7 pounds, and last night he weighed only 7.4 pounds. Which means he’s lost around 60% of his total body weight. Not good.

The vet examined him as I described his symptoms. She immediately thought it might be diabetes, because I’d noticed he was drinking slightly more water than normal. So she took a glucose sample, and it came back normal, which was a relief. His temperature was normal, his heart rate was a little elevated, but probably due to his vet anxiety, but she commented that his fur seemed dull and a little flaky. She also remarked that he was moderately dehydrated, so she gave him some IV fluids. She took some more blood and a urine sample (and I have no idea how she did that) and sent us home.

This morning, she called and said that everything looked normal from the blood test, except his kidney function was elevated. She was still waiting on the results for the thyroid panel, though, and thought that it could be hyperthyroidism. We won’t know that until later. Then she recommended that we leave him there at the vet’s office for the entire weekend for IV fluid therapy, which costs $400. At which point I nearly fainted.

I said, “Well, after that, then what?”

She said that they’d do an x-ray to rule out any obstructions or other problems. She seemed to think that the kidney issue was indicative of some other problem, and not necessarily a kidney problem itself, because she mentioned that his urine was still very concentrated (whatever that means) and that it was a good thing.

So instead, I told her we’d bring him in again tonight for the x-rays, to look for the problem right away. As much as I love this cat, I just can’t see blowing $400 on IV therapy for the weekend and then spending $150 for the x-rays on top of it. Why not just get the x-rays out of the way first?

I have no idea what to think now. I’ve been doing research all day here, trying to figure out the problem. Unfortunately, many health problems share the same symptoms: lethargy, increased thirst, moodiness, vomiting (which he’s been doing intermittently for months), depression.

The two issues that keep coming up in my research are chronic renal failure and hyperthyroidism. However, the chronic renal failure stuff indicates that most cats lose their appetite…which is not the case with Bailey! He has remained interested in food, and especially his treats, so no problems there.

Now I am completely stressed. I thought that I’d be spending this weekend doing some final preparation for the DC-1 exam, and maybe some Christmas decorating, but it seems that I now have other obligations.

Bailey is our first cat. We adopted him from a rescue just a few months after we got married. He is really the best cat I’ve ever had, and I’ve had many in my life. He’s a real lap cat who loves all and any kinds of human interaction. In fact, many times it’s almost as if he WERE human. He sits on the empty chair next to us at dinner every night—not begging for food, just to keep us company. He sits on the bathroom vanity every morning while I shower and get ready for work. He sleeps with us every night. He lays on my lap as I work on the computer at home. Sometimes, if he’s feeling really affectionate, he grooms me…he licks my hair and nits it with his teeth. He just wants to be around us all the time. If something is seriously wrong with him, we’re going to have to make some hard decisions, and I just don’t even want to think about it right now.

Thanksgiving was good, by the way. The food turned out fine and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Labels: family, holidays, money, pets, scary, stress, work

This week, I find myself slowly descending into the cold panic that always comes with planning and preparing an Important Meal for more than just Brian and me.

All my recipes are neatly clipped together and hanging on the refrigerator. I made the brine for the turkey on Sunday evening. I also put together the cranberry-orange compote (with Grand Marnier, mmmm) and it's still sitting in the blender, also chilling in the fridge.

Tonight: I am going to assemble the ingredients for the green bean and sweet potato casseroles, and refrigerate them, uncooked. I am also going to bake one of the two desserts for the big day: Paula Deen's Gooey Pumpkin Butter Cake. I did a test run last week, since I'd never made it before, and it came out pretty good.

Tomorrow morning, I am going to the farm in Spring City where my fresh turkey is awaiting me. Tomorrow night, I will bake the apple pie.

Still, even though I know I am somewhat on top of the game, I get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about Thursday. That is because I have two less-than-perfect Thanksgivings under my belt.

I hosted Thanksgiving in the first year of our marriage. We'd only been married two months, and I'd never cooked a turkey before in my life. My mother told me not to buy a whole turkey, since there would only be five of us at dinner, but to instead get a turkey breast. Sounded good to me. So I wandered the aisles of my local Giant supermarket, peering in the freezer wells, in search of this elusive cut of bird. Finally, I came across a frozen Butterball, about the size and shape of a regulation football, whose label read: Boneless Breast of Turkey. This must be it, I thought. I can do this!

So on the big day, I stuck the thing in my roasting pan and baked it per the label instructions. My parents and grandmother arrived just as I was pulling it out of the oven. My mother came into the kitchen and asked if I needed any help.

"Oh, no," I assured her, "I've got it all under control."

Then I took the lid off the roasting pan. She glanced at my roast and said, ever so tactfully, "What the hell is that thing?"

I blinked. "I thought you told me to get a turkey breast instead of the whole bird," I reminded her.

She said, "Lori...that's not what I was talking about...that's a rolled turkey with white meat and dark meat. You got the wrong thing!"

Oh, the horror. And she was right! None of my family eats dark meat, and I was mortified when I saw that my little football roast yielded about five slices of white meat. I didn't even have a taste of any turkey that day, because I wanted to make sure that everyone else had some for themselves.

The following year, I decided to buy a whole, frozen bird. How can you mess that up, I thought.

I thought wrong, my friends. You see, there's a little bag of goodies inside that big cavity...that I completely bypassed and DID NOT REMOVE prior to roasting the turkey. Like some kind of wacked-out version of Groundhog Day, my mother swanned into the kitchen again just as I pulled the roaster from the oven. She asked, as customary, "Is there anything I can do to help you here?"

This time, I replied, "Yeah...let the turkey rest for a while, then carve it up."

Half an hour later, she picked up the carving knife and went for broke. She didn't get very far into it, though, when she suddenly cried out, "LORI! You didn't take the giblets out of the cavity!" I watched as her hand snaked into the innards of the bird, and my jaw dropped as she yanked out the bag, still frozen solid. Well, duh. Using an instant-read thermometer, we learned that the roast wasn't even cooked through. So back into the oven it went, for another HOUR. Sheesh. By the time I put it out on the table, everyone had already finished all of the side dishes.

So this year, I've decided that I am most definitely due for a good turkey. Third time's the charm, isn't that how the saying goes?

Feel free to share any or all of your Thanksgiving disasters here...if not just to make me feel better!

Labels: family, food, funny stuff, holidays, marriage, stress

You know, I have been insanely busy. I feel awful for neglecting this little piece of internet realty.

We rented the movie "Crash" on Friday night. What a powerful, interesting story! It really made me think. Definitely not a feel-good piece, though. At the end of it, I was quite disturbed for the remainder of the evening, even though it attempted to go out on a high note with the suggestion of redemption.

Overall, I thought it was an excellent movie. Of course, I think that any movie with Don Cheadle is great, so no surprise there. It featured quite an ensemble of actors: Sandra Bullock (in a decidedly different role), Matt Dillon, Thandie Newton, Ludacris (who I thought did a great job), Larenz Tate, Brendan Fraser, and Ryan Phillippe.

We spent most of the day Saturday painting our bedroom. Between Coat #1 and Coat #2, I did endless loads of laundry, and made French onion soup.

Time-out: can someone please tell me how two adults manage to create SO MUCH DIRTY LAUNDRY? I did four loads over the weekend, and when I opened the hamper this morning, it was full again! Maddening!

October 21 marked the beginning of my 28th year on this planet. The Huz surprised me with Rachael Ray's newest cookbook, and we went out to dinner with some friends of ours. It was a great time.

I can't believe I'm 28. It seems that all my life, I have been waiting for my chronological age to catch up with my perception of my maturity. In school, I often felt frustrated by my classmates, because they acted so much younger than I did. Most times, my good friends were several years older...I got along with them better, and felt that they understood me, too.

Now, however, it seems that it's going the other way for me. At what point will I feel like a "grown-up"? This is something I ponder all the time.

I am married with a mortgage. I have been working a full-time job since I was 21, and have even remained in the same industry. I have a platinum MasterCard and an impeccable credit rating. I subscribe to Reader's Digest (well...I didn't subsribe to it; my dad gave me a gift subscription to it...but still, I read it every month when it comes!). I garden and cook for pleasure, for pete's sake, which I had always considered "old people hobbies." I can't remember the last time I got sick from drinking too much. Yet, I still feel like a kid most of the time.

Last week, I received an invitation to my 10-year high school reunion, which is being held the Friday night after Thanksgiving. I decided to attend, just out of blatant curiosity, since I was never really close to anyone in my class. So after I RSVP'ed yes, I logged onto Classmates.com because I'm nosy, and wanted to see what my fellow Class of 1995 grads were up to. Many of them have a kid...or three!

I'm still not sure if I even want to be a parent. I like my life the way it is now! I only have to take care of myself, my two cats, and my husband (to a reasonable degree). I still cannot imagine being wholly responsible for another human being, 24/7. It scares me. I don't know where I'd get the energy to do it. And I'd be afraid to mess it up. Don't get me wrong, I loooove kids. Just can't imagine birthing and raising one at the moment.

Maybe if/when I have a kid, I'll finally feel like an adult. But still, not in any hurry to do it. Much to my mother-in-law's dismay. Ugh.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Labels: childhood, deep thoughts, holidays, home improvement, life events, memories, movies, parenting, weekends