Shirt for Summer

I want to get this shirt for the Summer season.

Weekend with the Thomas Family

Over the weekend, my cousin Christi and her husband Brian visited Cleveland with their two children, Madison and Grant. We had a fun time showing them around the city. Friday we went to the Winking Lizard! On Saturday, we spent a few hours touring the Museum, followed by dinner at the Harp and cake at Mom Schrift's house. She's into these yummy, triple layer chocolate cakes from Corbo's right now. We enjoyed that! On Sunday, we had breakfast together and then they headed back to Pennsylvania.

Below are a few photos from the day at the Museum. Let me add that Juliano and I are not used to being around a 5 and 8 year old. Oh my gosh, were we tired on Saturday night. We crashed on the couch at 8:00!

Penzeys

Many of you have already tried Penzeys spices, but for those of you that haven't, you need to get online and place an order. Penzeys sells the freshest and best tasting spices. Their garlic salt is outstanding, along with their basil, oregano, garlic powder, thyme, 4S, savory leaves...I could go on and on. Check them out at Penzeys.com.

Court Date Set!

I finally received my appeal date from the City of Cleveland. I filed my appeal in January and it took until March 16 to hear back from them. I will go to court for my parking ticket "violation" on April 18. We shall see if the system works.

Very Bad Kitty

Juliano and I stepped out for a few hours this morning and returned home to find a mess in the kitchen, courtesy of Miss Muffin Skylar. Apparently, we didn't latch the cupboard and Miss Muffin climbed up onto the counter (no no #1) and got into the cupboard (no no #2). She rummaged around in the cabinet, knocking down glass jars of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. She finished off her mischief by knocking over all my spices.

As punishment she is receiving no Pounce kitty treats today.

Here are some before and after shots of the cupboard.

Another Dinner!

As a "thank you" for helping shovel us out, I made lasagna for Greg and Mike the other night. It was quite a spread of food for four people! All was consumed.

To: Renee From: ?

Look at this hot little item! I need this fan before the hot weather arrives!

Blue Dot

Someone needs to blue dot LUI5.com. I mean it hasn't changed since Valentine's Day. Wake Up.

Trip to New Germany

Last weekend, Juliano and I ventured back to the cabin. The storm that hit us, threw a ton of snow on the Alleghenies as well. My uncle plowed our road to the cabin and we all made it back successfully! The depth of the snow made it impossible to even take a walk.

Valentine's Day Blizzard

We had quite a snow storm in Cleveland over the last 2 days. The storm dumped nearly 2 feet of snow on us! Juliano ventured out to shovel on Wednesday afternoon. He quickly realized the task was daunting. And we had to call in the Grecos. Those of you that do not know the Grecos need to picture two guys that will do anything for you at any time of the day. Sure, you have to put up with a little lip from them, but they get the job done. Last Spring, in less than 15 minutes, I watched these two carry 15 cement boards up 2 flights of stairs and then proceed to carry a cast iron tub out of our bathroom. They're unreal.

The Grecos arrived around 5:30 and within 30 minutes, our driveway was clear. And then they did the sidewalk!! Juliano and I cannot thank them enough for helping us out.

Note below that Boogers Greco wore a pair of gold lamay pants while shoveling.

Happy Groundhog Day

Today, the groundhog named Phil did NOT see his shadow in Punxatawney, Pennsylvania. This means Spring is just around the corner! Bring it on.

The Museum was kind enough to allow me to adorn a stuffed groundhog for our main lobby. I made her a top hat and a sign letting today's visitors know that Spring will be here soon. Hard to believe since it's 5 degrees outside right now.

Bird in the Chimney

On Friday, Juliano emailed me at work because he thought he heard something in our chimney. On Saturday, I went down to do laundry and I could hear something too. By the afternoon, we both heard noises quite a few times and decided to try to get it out. Juliano disassembled the entire vent for the water heater. We thought it was in the vent. With that completely off, we realized the critter was still in the chimney and it was indeed a very large Starling. We placed bread in the pipe venting the water heater and the bird quickly flew out of the chimeny and into our basement, carrying the bread it its beak! The poor bird flew around our basement for quite a while. I'd like to point out that initially Juliano was laying on the floor in a "tornado warning" pose. We turned out all the lights, propped open the side door and, after much chasing, the bird finally flew up the stairs and out the door.

City of Cleveland vs. Renee B.

Well, it's official. I have submitted my Notice of Appeal for my unjustiifed parking ticket of December 28. How can one place coins in a meter when the meter is malfunctioning and will not accept change? Yet, I'm supposed to pay a $25 ticket?

Today, I submitted my appeal with three notaized affidavits from my co-workers that witnessed my attempts to insert quarters and dimes into the meter. We even left a dime in the meter to show our intentions before going into a downtown buidling for less than 10 minutes. When we came out the meter maid was writing the ticket. We approached him and he acknowledged that the meter was not working. HE ACKNOWLEDGED THAT IT WOULD NOT ACCEPT CHANGE. He also told us he would note that in the "system". Apparently the note was not made.

On January 10, I recieve a letter from the City stating that I must pay my outstanding $25 ticket. I decided to take it to court. Most would simply pay the ticket, but it's the priciple of it all. I would have much rather put my coins in the meter and not had it come to this.

I'll keep you posted with how this turns out. I should receive my court date in a few weeks.

Sad News

It is the end of an era. Join me in saying good bye to my 1994 Eagle Talon ES. It was a good little car for the first 10 years of its life. Within the last 2 it has turned into a devil, the doors won't lock, the gas tank leaks, there's oil all over the engine (wonder where that's coming from?), it sounds like a tank coming down the street, that is when it actually starts, it needs a battery, and our good friend in Cleveland Rust has come to see it more than a few times.

It's a sad day. Bye Bye General Talon...
P.S. If you know of anyone that may actually want to buy this car, please let me know!

Cleveland Orchestra Concert

In December, my friends Billy and Michelle gave me 2 tickets to attend a brass and organ holiday concert at Severance Hall. The concert helped get me into the Christmas season. My Mom and I really enjoyed the lights that accompanied each piece too. There were snowflakes dancing on the ceiling and walls.

Coffee Backpack

It's not easy to see in this photo, but below is a photo of my Mom receiving a cup of McDonald's coffee from a man wearing a backpack full of coffee! The Museum had an event in early November to kick off the holiday season and this man walked around the party filling coffee cups. It was so funny.

Opening Night

Last night, Juliano had his opening reception at the Kunstwerk Gallery. We had such a fun time seeing so many of our friends and family members at the party. Thank you to everyone that made there way to Cleveland for the evening. Juliano has 9 prints on display at the gallery until the beginning of January. "Passing Aspens" sold last night!

If you would like to see the images on display, visit Juliano's personal website, boronka.name.

Our friend Garrett also has images on display at the gallery. Pictures of each space are below.

Juliano's artwork


Garrett's artwork

Our Tree is Up!

Last night Juliano and I ventured out in the arctic temperatures and got our Christmas tree. It's a super-fragrant frasier fir. I picked a fir as they tend not to lose many needles and smell good. Tonight is decorating night!

Corn Caserole meets its match

Last night those crazy kids from The Correl (minus 1 bitch) got together for a reunion at our house. I slaved over the stove for hours. The menu featured chicken scaloppini, green beans and rice pilaf. I forgot dinner rolls, oops.

After much food and conversation, I presented my banana creme pie! This is when disaster hit the party. One cut and we realized we needed spoons for this one. It ran faster than Klunky through Ohio City after dark, faster than Jules over the Lorain Carnegie Bridge, faster than Boogers chasing Chance on Whitman.

I believe I out did my corn caserole flop of 2005. A photo of the infamous pie is below. It sure looked pretty before the knife hit it.

Raking Leaves

We spent most of today in the yard raking leaves and cleaning out flower beds. Juliano filled at least 20 bags of leaves. Muffin helped out by chasing down a leaf or two.

Our First Holiday Decoration!

Theresa and I ventured out shopping on black Friday. I picked up this cute snowman for our mantel.

Muffin and her new kitty bed

Happy Thanksgiving!

I recently bought Muffin an adorable kitty bed. It's super soft and fuzzy. She has been a good kitty and uses her new bed all the time. Here is Muffin on Thanksgiving morning.

CoUnTeRtOpS

Well, we finally have them. COUNTERTOPS. They look great and we're quite happy with the fabrication & installation process. Our situation was unusual, but the Home Depot contractor did a good job cutting them to fit our farm sink. We decided not to remove these cabinets. They are original to the home. We do hope to refinish them at some point--at our rate, in like 10 years! :-)

I made the curtains. It's a cute striped fabric, but hard to see in these pictures. I'll take pictures of the curtains later. I still need to make the top valance.

Our Kitchen-Month 6

Despite Theresa's attempts to distract me from organizing the kitchen, I made much progress yesterday! The only item needed in the kitchen now is countertops and they have been ordered. Hopefully we'll have them by Thanksgiving. Here are some pictures of the new and improved kitchen.

Happy Halloween

Boo! Saturday night was filled with costume parties. I attended Mama's party and the Museum's annual Halloween party.

I got dressed up around 7 and headed out to the festivities. I wore my standard hippie costume, but it was spiced up this year. Thanks to Judy for loaning me some of her 70s clothes! The totally 70s shoes were a huge hit.

Let me start by saying that Mama's party was not at Mama's house. Five minutes upon my arrival at the neighbor's house, Mama and I witnessed a sight I wish on no one. The house was filled with children, hitting a pinata and scavenging on the floor for the candy! In the midst of this scene picture a cute little Jack Russell terrier-type dog pooping right in the middle of the living room. Enough said, Mama and I exited stage left...

Outside, there was a heated tent and cool bales of hay for sitting. After a beer, I headed out to the Museum party. Many attended the Museum's annual Halloween party and they put an extraordinary amount of effort into their costumes.

On Halloween night, Jules, Mike and I passed out candy and watched Halloween 2. Here's a picture of the me in my hippie costume and the pumpkin I carved!

Update on 1-800-Contacts

Apparently this is a scam the doctors run to get their patients into the office for a visit. I called my Doctor's office and convinced them to release my order. They were trying to make me come in for an exam. Eventually they released the order, but they told me that before I can order more contacts, I must come in for a visit. She acted like she was doing me this big favor by releasing my order, but Ohio is a 2-year state for prescriptions-so technically my current prescription is good until May.

Contacts should arrive in mail today!

Screw 1-800-Contacts

So I realize on Sunday that I'm putting my last pair of contacts in my eyes. I got online Monday to order another supply. Today, I come home from work to a message from 1-800-Contacts saying they could not fill my order because my eye doctor told them my prescription was incorrect. I've been wearing the same prescription for the last 10 years. Apparently my eye doctor told them my BC (Base Curve) on my eye is 8.7, not the 8.3 that I was ordering. But wait, you'd think that 1-800-Contacts would tell my eye doctor that I've been ordering 8.3 for the last eight years. No, they assume I'm ordering it wrong. Apparently when the doctor calls, they don't bother checking their records. So I have another 5 days left on my contacts and no resolution in sight (no pun intended).

Thanks Brian for telling me about 1-800-Contacts.

Polish Festival

Today, my Mom and I went to the Polish Festival at St. Stanislaus Parish. The church is located in the Cleveland neighborhood of Warszawa, aka Slavic Village. The inside of the church is beatifully ornate. (see picture below) And it was visited by Pope John Paul II in 1969, at that time he was known as Cardinal Woytyla. After lighting a few candles in the church, we headed over to the hall for the festivities.

The line for food was super long but well worth the wait. We had golabki (stuffed cabbage), potato pancakes and perogies. After eating, we set out to find the games of chance. My Mom quickly found them and within 5 minutes won $200! Shortly thereafter, I won a basket of goodies. We then sat in the hall and listened to the polka band play great music and shared a bottle of Okocim.

It was a great festival. I look forward to going back next year.

Days 13, 14 & 15-Chicago

What can I say. It's Chicago. We love it here and never miss an opportunity to swing our flights through this town! On Friday morning, we feasted on a dozen dried out cake donuts and then went out shopping. In the evening, we headed downtown in search of a Serb restaurant. The place I had found online was defunct. Nowhere to be found. But the restaurant in its place had Cevapa on their menu so after much going back and forth, we decided to give it a try. It was delicious. We had yummy salads and huge servings of Cevapa. Jules tried a Czech beer, Brian had an unusual German beer, Luis ordered a Beck's Light (hello?).

On Saturday, we got up and headed downtown for lunch at Fado. I love Strongbow cider and Fado is the only place I know that has it on tap. We drank & ate much and then went to the lake shore to walk and take pictures. After a day of mucho walking, we made our way home, stopping at Oberweiss along the way for ice cream!

On Sunday, we had a bloggers reunion at Walker Bros Pancake house w/Mary (from Ain't No Thing But a Chicken Wing). We nearly got jumped at Walker Bros because we moved to the front of the line for having a party of 5 when no one else in front of us did. It was scary because Mary wasn't there yet and people were throwing us nasty looks. Mary finally showed up and had to enter the restaurant through the exit for fear of her life. Aside from this fiasco, we all enjoyed a good breakfast. Afterwards, we went to Ikea for a 30-minute run through. I bought a pack of napkins...Woo Hoo.

We spent the rest of our time lounging, watching Tivo and chatting. Jules and Luis watched Episodes 3, 4 & 5 of Star Wars. Luis couldn't hang or they would have made it through 6. Thanks guys for a fun weekend. Looking forward to your visit to Cleveland. When will that be???

Day 12-Travel Day

We got up early today to begin a full day of travel. We stopped at Bread for coffee and pastries before our journey to Albuquerque. Our flight left ABQ in the afternoon. We arrived in Chicago in time for dinner. Luis baked up about 8 lbs of chicken breasts and handed me a box of Stove Top to cook up! It was delicious, but 2 lbs of chicken per person was a gross over-estimation.

Days 10 & 11-Colorado

We did a lot of relaxing these two days. Went shopping, ate at Gazpachos again and tried a new place called Kennebec Cafe. Juliano helped our friends Bev & Bob install a new Macintosh at their house. It was nice to rest and sit around talking!

Day 9-Colorado

For breakfast, Jules and I discovered Jean-Pierre's, a fantastic French pastry shop in Durango. The croissants were buttery delicious. Afterwards, we strolled the streets and did some shopping. In the afternoon we drove towards Silverton and went off at an old Forest Service road called the Old Lime Creek Road. The drive on Old Lime Creek Road was fun, very bumpy and rugged. We parked the car and hiked up the Spud Hill Trail about a mile. The wetland and mountains were beautiful. We got super muddy on the trail. Got back to Bev's and Bob's and went to dinner at Seasons. Another yummy restaurant in Durango.

Day 8-Colorado

Today we did the 200-mile San Juan Skyway loop. It took us from Durango, north to Silverton and Ouray and west to Telluride. We had a late lunch in Telluride, a cute little town nestled in the mountains. From Telluride, we traveled south to Dolores and then back over to Durango. It was a beautiful drive and we stopped often along the way to take in the spectacular mountain scenery.

Day 7-Travel Day

Today Jim, Juliano and I drove from Flagstaff to Durango. It was a 320 mile journey that took us from Hopi to Navajo to Ute lands, or from the Colorado Plateau to the San Jaun Mountains, in about 7 hours. We arrived in Durango in time for dinner at Gazpachos, Juliano's favorite New Mexican-style Mexican restaurant. Very, very hot food. Jules was in heaven eating his tamales and sopapillas.

Days 4, 5 & 6-Southwest Trip

I attended the Natural Areas Conference on these days. On Wednesday night, we all went up to the Lowell Observatory-the site where Pluto was discovered. Flagstaff is a "Dark Skies" city and stargazing was outstanding. On Friday, I rafted down the Colorado River from the Lake Powell dam to Lee's Ferry. It's a very calm portion of the river, no white water. I also spoke at their banquet on Friday night and rallied the troops to attend next year's Conference in Cleveland!

All in all, we ate at two good restaurants and enjoyed the company of Museum friends. But Flagstaff is a very congested city. Old town Flagstaff was cute, but the roads are extremely busy and not pedestrian friendly at all. We couldn't wait to head north to Colorado...

Days 2 & 3-Southwest Trip

WOW! No other words can explain the awesomeness of the Grand Canyon. It is the most magnificent place I've ever seen. On Monday, we stopped at every vista along the 25-mile south rim tour. It was incredible. On Tuesday, we picked up sandwiches at Canyon Village and made our way back to our favorite spot on the Grandview Trail to eat lunch. We hiked down 4 switchbacks to a secluded rock. It was so peaceful. The ravens and vultures fly by and you can actually hear the wind in their wings. We took our time hiking back out of the Canyon, stopping at every switchback due to the elevation. After lunch, we headed to our second favorite spot, Lipan Point. We crawled down the rocks and sat here for an hour, taking in the view. Click on Juliano's Photography on the right to see some of his photos of the Canyon.

We made our way back to Flagstaff for dinner at the Flagstaff Brewery. Our two days at the Grand Canyon could never do it justice. We hope to get back sometime for a full week of hiking and exploring.

Juliano at Grandview Point:

Day 1-Southwest Trip

We arrived in Phoenix on Sunday morning and rented ourselves a red Chevy Cobalt. We started our journey to northern Arizona immediately. We stopped along the way for some Del Tacos and took a nap at a roadside pull off. I awoke to Jules screaming that he was being burned. Apparently the sun came around on him while we were sleeping. He jumped out of the Cobalt like he had ants in his pants. Below is a picture taken along the road to Flagstaff. We made it to Williams, AZ around dinner time. Williams in located along historic Rt 66. We ate at Pancho McGillicuddy's. Yep, a Mexican Irish joint. Food was pretty good. Went to sleep around 7pm. Tomorrow we're heading to the Grand Canyon, bright and early...

Yard Work

In preparation for Fall, we worked on the yard today. Our oak tree in the back yard is prolific this year. Jules raked and swept 1,000s of acorns. Muffin helped up by rolling in the acorn piles.

Storm Windows

Theresa can attest to the jankiness of our two storm windows on the back of the house. They didn't slide up/down and the one window had a homemade screen. On Saturday, Juliano & Michael "Meyers" Greco removed the two windows and installed new ones. They look fabulous and the view of our backyard from Juliano's office is pleasant.

New Appliances at 7005

We finally made a decision and purchased our appliances tonight!!

Whirlpool Range

Whirlpool Refrigerator

Frigidaire Affinity iWash

Frigidaire Affinity iDry

New Germany, PA

Despite the gloomy weather and occasional rain, Carl, Judy and I had a good time in Cambria County, PA. On Thursday, we took our time driving along the Lilly Mountain Road through Game Land 198, a whopping 7,000 acre game land. The amount of striped maple trees was astounding. We saw quite a few warblers, no dragons! The forest was thick and lush. We passed several open meadow areas that would be great for bugging on a sunny day.

From there we headed towards SGL 26, through Blue Knob State Park. It was a pretty drive, we stopped to see the Lost Children of the Alleghenies Memorial along the way. Along the road to the memorial, we checked out Bob's Creek. It was stocked with brookies. We saw a couple hummingbirds on the jewelweed and a spicebush swallowtail. The Memorial was freaky. Apparently in 1856, two boys wandered from home and were lost in the woods for 2 weeks. A man in town had the same dream three times showing the location of the boys under a birch tree. He lead a group to the spot in his dreams and the boys were found, dead, at the base of the tree. Seems shady to me. They never mentioned cause of death. I wonder if the dreamer didn't have something to do with it?

SGL 26 didn't have much to offer. We stopped again at the Beaverdam Reservoir. Judy and I watched as a newly hatched damsel fly weakly above the water. A cedar waxwing made a swooping attempt to eat it and missed. Knocking the poor damsel on top of the lake. Moments later, the damsel met its demise when a fish gobbled it up. The day wasn't a complete bust for dragons, we did see ONE white faced meadowhawk.

From here we jumped on the highway and head to Off the Rak for spirits and dinner!

On Friday, we visited the Wilmore Dam Reservoir - Willow Beach area (Conemaugh River). We weren't seeing much and then Carl and I heard Judy screaming, "Carl, Renee, Carl, Renee". We headed over to see what she had. Judy had found a long-tailed salamander! I had never seen one and it was way cool looking. The tail was at least 4-5 inches long. At the same time, we spotted a rather large dragon along the stream, either a shadow darner or Boyeria sp. It was flying low and close to the bank, near the roots of the bank. We never captured it. From here we hiked along the edge of the reservoir. Found many cavelike openings, a chrysalis of an eastern comma, a cool orange fly w/a monster-sized ovipositor and rain. It began to rain and we had to head out. We grabbed a late lunch and called it a day. Ernesto had finally reached us, it rained for the rest of the night and all day Saturday.