A Buffy Video

I've never done video here before - I hope that it works. This is a clip of our Buffy that my brother took on his camera. We both wish that we had taken lots of videos of her. I took some on my camera also but on 4 clips I stupidly switched the angle of the camera during it. I was able to figure out how to fix this on Windows Movie Maker and did one clip so far only I probably could've done a better job on it. Mom says it's fine. I kind of said a curse word during one when mom got in the way which I feel bad about. I guess audio can be edited too but it might take me a while to figure that out. We didn't take videos of her until the final couple days of her life. I keep thinking of all the other cute videos and photos we could've taken but I should just be greatful for what we have. I never even thought about using my camera for videos before this, I thought that it would be too hard to figure that out and it wasn't even that difficult. Mark says that there is a way to pause it while filming - I'll have to look that up. Not that I have much to take video of anymore. I hope that everyone has a wonderful New Year. This will be my last post until 2011.

Scrapbook Stuff 1

I was looking through one of my many scrapbooks the other day and seeing this made me both happy and sad. I miss our sunshine spaniel. This is my favourite scrapbook because it has mostly spaniels in it. I have another one with other doggies like golden retrievers. My brother says that I have too many scrapbooks. I had more stuff in them but over the years got rid of some of this. I was thinking of throwing out some more like from the TV ones. I would never throw out any of my animal pictures and articles though. Other scrapbooks that I have - about 4 tennis, classic actors, 70's - 90's TV, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, James Franco, British TV, Don Mattingly, Duran Duran, Bon Jovi, Travel, Concerts and Events, personal and more also. I use the 1 , 2 or 3 inch binders and put sheet protector pages in them. Maybe some people might think that doing this is kind of teenagish but I enjoy it.

Christmas Show

I can't really remember much about this show or even if it was a class or Girl Scout trip. I do recall that it was pretty exciting going to New York City and that I had a good time. I can't believe that this was 30 years ago.

Figure Skating Shows

My mom and I really enjoyed watching figure skating during the Olympics in the 1980s and early 1990s. We got to go to 2 shows in the early to mid 90's. Brian Boitano was at both of them. We took some pictures but they did not turn out that great. Boitano and Witt are in the first 2. In the bottom 3 are Petrenko, Kerrigan and Boitano. You can clearly see on the program page who was at the first one but it's harder to see on the second - Torvil and Dean, Nancy Kerrigan , Oksana Baiul and Victor Petrenko are included in this one. We went with a couple of friends. Skating 2 was at MSG in New York City and the 1994 show was in New Jersey at the Meadowlands. I'm not sure why after 1994 I lost interest in the figure skating. I must've been watching it in the late 70s a bit too because I remember getting the Dorothy Hamill haircut a couple of times back then.

More Christmas Memories

The top 3 photos are of Christmas 1986. My brother didn't get his first Lego set until that year. We both got an A&S bear. We used to like going to that store. The below photos are from 1979. I'm remembering how for quite a few Christmases we would get certain fragrances as gifts for family members. Dad - Old Spice, Mom - Charlie, Grandma Wrunski - Jean Nate, Grandma Wancea - Windsong. We would go to Christmas Eve mass at St John's - I think it was at 10:00. Afterwards we would look at the animals in the nativity set outside - llamas, sheep and goats. Then Dad would drive us around to look at the lights. There was also those small brown paper bags with sand and candles in them - I forget what the term for them are - at some of the houses. We enjoyed having the Yule Log on TV, watching White Christmas, It's A Wonderful Life, and all the holiday specials, particularly Rudolph, The Little Drummer Boy and A Year Without a Santa Clause (the Heat Miser and Snow Miser were so funny) We were always allowed to open our stocking stuffers before our parents woke up but the other gifts had to wait until afterwards. Christmas was always my favourite holiday. I have so many good memories of it.

Christmas 1973

I don't really remember much about this Christmas. I like looking at the photos though. The nativity set is on top of our TV/stereo cabinet. We used to hang our cards on the one wall inside garland shaped like a tree. We used to get alot of them in the 70's and 80's. I think that mom got about 8 of them so far this year. She only sent out one card this year - to her sister. I do remember the two dolls and the blanket in the one photo. I used to put some of my old outfits on the big one that's on the couch. Our living room looks very patriotic - red carpet, white paneling and blue couch. We had that carpet and couch in the basement for a long time after we redecorated that room.

Christmas 1981

The lighting isn't that good on the top 2 photos but you can still see my Miss Piggy and Kermit dolls. I was so happy to get those that year. My brother is holding the Colecovision football game in his hands in the photo of us with our grandma.I'm glad that Ginger got into the photo with mom and Mark - we don't have that many pictures of her. On the end table in that one is the angel that I made which I mentioned in my Christmas craft post - it's a little hard to see. Another photo of us with our friends Suzy and Jenny. We only got to see them 3 or 4 times a year when they were visiting their grandparents Mr. and Mrs. K who were our neighbours. They are from Allentown, PA. We only visited them a few times out there. I wish that it could've been more.

My Birthday Memories

The top photos are of my 6th birthday party in 1975. Cousin Sal is sitting in the lounge chair. My friends Erin, Tracey and her brother are also there. We don't have any Christmas photos from that year which is disappointing. On my 10th b-day part of it was at the Clark Lanes bowling alley. For my 12th birthday I had a slumber party. A couple of the girls made fun of me that night and I ran up the stairs crying. My Aunt Dorothy scared us. She was outside the basement window smoking a cigarrette. Mom knitted mittens for everyone at the party. On my 13th I got to pick a restraunt to go to and I chose a seafood place down the shore. I have photos but I didn't scan those. The bottom photos are of my 16th b-day at the Fulton Restraunt in Rahway. I'd love to hear some of your birthday memories.

Christmas 1976

I got my Family Tree house this year which I loved playing with and also a tea set. Mark and I are having fun decorating the tree in the first photo and our friends Suzy and Jenny are in the second one with us. I forgot to write in my Christmas 1977 post that they were in the one photo. Mark and I are sitting in the reclining chair with Uncle Mike. I'm wearing another one of my favourite dresses.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone and thanks for reading my blogs posts throughout this year.

Christmas 1977

The first photo is actually of my birthday which is on the 21st. Mom made those Santa curtains. I got my Superstar Barbie and Mark got Ken that year. I'm wearing one of my favourite chilhood dresses. My dad's family would always come over for Christmas dinner. We would have a second Christmas at my mom's sister's house between that day and new year's day. I loved decorating for this holiday. Sometimes when I was a kid I would make my little people and small animals visit the baby Jesus at the manger set which we still have. Mom got a newer one that looks like Lenox in the early 90s but I don't like that one as much as I do the old one.

Christmas 1974

Mark and I loved playing with my dad's train that we put under the tree. I sometimes put my little people and small animals on it. The train actually makes noise and it looks like steam is coming out of it. Mom let us put the ornaments on and she did the garland and lights. This is the year that I got my first bike with the training wheels.Mark got his wagon and Lincoln logs - I liked playing with both. Mom liked getting us games every year - Uncle Wiggly this time. Our cousins are in the one photo - I'm also holding my favourite doll Teresa in it. That's our family friend Gail in the 2nd photo up top. I love her crocheted sweater vest.

Christmas Crafts

I got this Woman's Day magazine in the early 80's and made about 4 of the craft ideas from it, including this angel but of course mine didn't turn out so nice. It is in a couple of my holiday photos which I've either posted already or plan on posting. I used an oatmeal container for the body and styrofoam ball for the head. I threw away all the decorations that I made but am glad that I kept the mag. I guess that at the time I had fun making these things. Mom said that she liked them. She made some nice Christmas crafts like a few latch hook rugs and a big Santa picture with the Tri - Chem paints. It's in the background of a picture in my Christmas 1980 post. I liked the handmade ornaments on our tree the most. They were made by family and friends and others we got at our school's Christmas bazaar, including a reindeer made out of clothes pins.

Christmas 1979

My mom liked buying us games every Christmas and this year it was Battleship. We got a few Make It Bake It kits too - suncatchers or stained glass window ornaments, I guess either description applies to these. Mark got some Battlestar Galactica figures. I wish that we had some pictures of my gifts. Probably a Barbie was one of them. I loved our old stereo with the record player and 8 track on it, our Encyclopedia and yearbook set and the big stereo/tv cabinet that are also in these photos. This is the first year that we got a live tree. I meant to put the top photos below because these are after Christmas morning. We went over to my Aunt Sylvia's house later that day or maybe the next day. I'm wearing my favourite sweater, Mom made this for me and also ones in different colours for my 2 friends. I hadn't noticed the Kirby vaccum cleaner under the tree until recently, so now I know what year we got that.

Christmas Music

I always loved listening to my mom's Christmas albums. She has Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Doris Day, Mario Lanza, Kate Smith, Elvis and a few others. She got my brother and I The Chipmunks one which we liked when we were kids but after about 1981 we didn't care for anymore. I dubbed those albums onto tape and we have a few holiday cds like the 2 in the picture. For many years we did not listen to any of these but the last couple of years we got back into doing so. I'm still a bit depressed about not having our Buffy pup around anymore but I will try to get into the holiday spirit and listen to the Christmas tunes that I enjoyed so much when I was a kid. We only have one decoration up so far - the wreath on the door. Perhaps I should get some more of our decorations out.

Christmas 1985

This is the year that I got my Pound Puppy that I named Chip, a Cabbage Patch premie that actually had my name, a raccoon to add to my collection and a Peaches and Cream Barbie. I'm glad that my mom took that picture of my brother when the Yule Log was on TV. We enjoyed having that on. We had live trees from 1979 - 1989. I loved decorating for the holiday when I was a kid. The stockings in front of the tree were handmade by my Aunt Al.

My Final Buffy Photos

I know that this is starting to seem like a Buffy blog, but I just had to post a couple of my very last photos of Buffy. I only wish that I had taken alot more of them. I don't usually like being in pictures but I just had to have mom take a few of Buffy and I together. I should've posted the one of her looking up at the camera though. I took 198 photos of her in about 6 weeks. I sent them to the Walgreens site to be printed out. I keep thinking about cute shots that I could have taken over the years like her playing in the snow. She was such an adorable puppy but I only took 12 photos of her then. I haven't really looked at the video clips of her that I put onto the computer yet - I messed up a few of them by switching the angle during parts of it. I never took pictures of her from mid 2005 - December 2008 which I totally regret. I know, I should just be greatful for the photos that I do have which I am. And I will always cherish the good memories of her. It has been almost a month since she's been gone and it has felt like longer. We now have her ashes on the video cabinet in between 2 pictures of her. She was such a sweet sunshine spaniel.

Thanksgiving Memories

My parents, brother and I would spend Thanksgiving at our grandma at the farm's house in the 70s and early 80s. She lived about an hour away and I always enjoyed the drive down there. She moved in with her brothers at the farm after my parents got married and she let them have her apartment. We didn't get to see her much - 3 or 4 times a year. It's not fair that Dad didn't want us going to visit her but we got to see his mom everyday. I wish that we had more photos of the farm but this is it. I can't remember being there any other time than Thanksgiving. We'd see her at Aunt Al's house at Christmas and she'd come up here one or two times. We might've seen more of her when we were younger.

There was a box of toys that she kept in a room that we never went into - or was it just a closet. There was a Pillsbury Dough Boy that I liked playing with and a car attached to a string that my brother pulled around. In another room was a pool table. I was only upstairs in her bedroom once. In the yard near the house was a tree with a swing hanging from a big branch. We would sometimes sit under the dining room table and watch TV. I remember a Hanna Barbera cartoon - The Blue Falcon being on once . My cousin Gene David was taking pictures of the farm one day - it might've been for a class project. We did look at the farm animals sometimes but those memories are hazy.

I can still smell all the good food in my memory. I never tried the turnips or mincemeat pie though. She made excellent apple and pumkin pies. There was about 16 - 20 people at these special dinners. I was upset when the people who owned the land told her that she had to move because they were redoing the house and giving it to their son - I think that's who got the place. They didn't give her much time to find a new house, maybe 2 or 3 months. She moved to Bordentown and was closer to my Aunt Al. My brother and I always thought of her as Grandma at the farm though. We had a few Thanksgivings there but in 1985 it was at my Aunt's house and unfortunatley in 1986 my grandma passed away in early November. We went to a friend of the family's grandmas house that year. It's sad that our family tradition was over.

My grandma made those two snowmen on top of the TV. She did alot of crafts. She taught me how to do a basic crochet stitch and even got me a set of hooks that I still have. My Aunt Al also tried teaching me more about crochet but I was never any good at crafts and gave up on it after making just a blanket and a scarf for my stuffed animals. Maybe if I had tried harder I could've gotten better at it, but I doubt it - I definitely did not inherit the craft genes.

We Miss You, Buffy

It has been nearly a week without a Buffy in our lives and we are still very upset about this. I miss so much about her, even a few of the annoying things like her waking me up at 4 a. m. to be let out. It is just so strange not having her around. Her enthusiatic greeting us when we returned home was always so funny and sweet - her whole butt and little stub would shake and she'd jump around alot. My brother was extremely emotional on her final day. He cried even more than I did. He sometimes used to call her a money pit and waste of money but he must've loved her deep down inside.

We had to wait 45 minutes before the vet came into the room. We did stay for both shots. She went quickly. I wish that we could've had her for a few more months, like up until her 13th birthday but she was getting worse so as sad as this loss is she is no longer suffering. Sometimes Mark, Mom and I pretend that she is still around, like during mealtimes we say " No, Buffy, you can't have people food." We did give her some fruit the last 2 days though.

I wish that I had figured out how to use the videotaping mode on my camera months ago then I could've taken lots of video of Buffy. I didn't even think about doing so until 2 days before we took her to the vets for the last time. Mark used his then but I was telling myself that it would be too complicated to figure out but the day before I was able to do so only I screwed up on 2 or 3 of the clips, changing it from widthwise to sideways partway through. Mom did the same for one clip of me and Buffy together. I did take alot of pictures of her but would've liked to take more. I'm still too upset to put these into our computer.

I keep thinking of all the things we should've done for Buffy, like taking her for walks and brushing her more. She was only on a few walks over the past 6 years. I only brushed her twice in one month. The vet and vet techs and other people have said that we were good owners but both my brother and I believe that we should've been better ones. She was such a sweet, loving girl. She definitely was a grandma's girl, very close to our mom. It was hard for me to even do this post because I'm really emotional about not having our special spaniel in my life anymore.

Goodbye, My Sweet Spaniel

Today is our last full day of having our sweet spaniel Buffy in our lives. These are some pictures of her from about 5 years ago. I have been having trouble focusing on practically everything because my thoughts are full of Buffy memories. I've been taking alot of pictures of her the past 2 days. I wish that I hadn't gone like from 2005 - late 2008 without taking any of her and it was dumb that I hardly took any puppy photos. She is so beautiful, loving and funny. We've been giving her bits of fruit the past week even though she isn't allowed people food. She deserves this. She is the best thing that has happened to me in the past 13 years. I am dreading 2:oo tomorrow afternoon when we have to take her to the vets office and say our final goodbyes to her. I am giving her lots of extra love and attention and we even sat together on the couch for an hour watching part of the Today Show and The Price Is Right. It is going to seem so strange and sad not having her around.

My Buffy's Final Days

Buffy's blood test results were not good 10 days ago. She has been in poor health for the past year and a half but now it's to the point where she's on so many meds and there's no hope of improvement. Mom said that it would be for the best if we have her put to sleep and even the vet agreed. I was hoping that she would be around until at least her 13th birthday in February. The vet said that we have been very good owners but I can't help thinking that I could have done better. I already wrote about the hating myself for not trying the non - steroid allergy med and don't want to get into that again. I feel as if we poisoned her because of this. We will be taking her to the vets on Thursday afternoon and I have been very emotional about this. We will be giving her lots of love and attention and enjoying every last moment with her this week. I love her so much - she is like a member of our family. I have so many good memories of her and will always cherish these. I pray that I get to see her again in the afterlife.

Girl Scout Days

I can't remember exactly what year I first joined the Scouts. It might've been 1976 as a Brownie. I was a Girl Scout up until early 1983. I remember camping trips to Camp Hoover in northern NJ and one at Camp Kettle Run. We went on trips to the Bronx Zoo, Washington D.C and Virginia. I was kind of jealous of one girl who had alot of badges. I still have my sash. The sad thing is that I heard that Girl Scout uniforms will soon no longer even be made in the U.S.A.

Cooperstown 1987 and 1988

Mom, Mark and I went to Cooperstown in 1987. We went there again the following year with Dad. We went to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Farmers Museum and the Secret Caverns. I pet a cute calf and it got snots on my pants at the museum. We went on a boat ride on Lake Ostego. It is very nice in upstate NY. I'd love to go back there someday. We were also in Saratoga Springs for my cousin's wedding in 1988.

Our First Doggie

Mom and Dad went to a mall in North Jersey with family friends Gail and Ray and came home with a cute shetland sheepdog whom we named Rusty. This was sometime in 1976, after our summer vacation to Disney World. He was very protective of my brother and I. One day my Uncle Mike was trying to swat at a bee to get it away from me and Rusty must've thought that he was attacking me so he started to go after my uncle. I don't remember if he actually bit him or not. My parents told us that they found Rusty a good home on a farm and it wasn't until years later that we found out that he had been put to sleep which was very upsetting. We only had this sheltie for about 2 and a half years. I hope that I get to see him and all my other doggies in heaven someday.

My brother and I - 1975

Two photos of us in front of the cool TV/ stereo cabinet. I'm in my St. John's uniform, first day of school of first grade. We are in our cave made from braches of the tree that got cut down in our yard. I'm wearing my Bullwinkle sweatshirt and have my Theresa doll in there with us. We loved playing in the leaves in the fall. Mom would rake them into low piles making a leaf house for us sometimes.

Too Much Stress

I have many topics that I'd like to post about and posts that I'd love to read but lately I just haven't felt up to doing so. I just feel so emotionally drained. My mom's health has not been good lately. She had a mini stroke on September 5. She was supposed to go for physical therapy shortly afterwards but she kept putting this off. I took charge and called the hospital about this earlier this week and they are supposed to call me back today. She has fallen 3 times since May - 2 times down steps and once in a parking lot. I had to take her to the ER last week.

I went with her to her 2 doctor's appointments to let them know about my concerns and to find out all about her problems. She has kept me in the dark about some of them. She has diabetes, high blood pressure, gastric reflux, depression, anxiety and a few other health issues. She just hasn't even been taking good care of herself which is really upsetting - it's as if she doesn't care anymore. I'm sure that some people might think that I'm a bitch for saying that I can't handle this stress. I do love my mother. I just don't have much strength to deal with even my own issues.

Her health problems started a long time ago and just have gotten worse over the years. She had gastric bypass surgery in 1979 when it was a new procedure and they botched it up and a few years later had to have another surgery to try to correct this. Since then she's has gastric problems. She also gets migraine headaches often. She used to take a nose spray and got addicted to it. She was really out of it sometimes - even hallucinating. Very scary. She was also taking pills for this at the same time. Her one doctor got in trouble once for over prescribing the spray.

She used to be on Valium for many years. I remember a time in the late 70's when I saw her on the kitchen floor. The ambulance came and I was crying. She had taken too many of those pills and it wasn't until about 6 years ago when I had to look through some of her paperwork that I found out that she had attempted suicide which made me both sad and angry. Dad and his family did cause her alot of anxiety. I was glad when she was taken off of this med. It's very addictive and I know she was overusing it. It's only been a few years since she's been off of it.

I did try talking to her doctors about my concerns regarding her meds a few times but they never seemed to take me seriously. The one finally took her off Ambien, another powerful med that she was overdoing, but then she went to her other doctor and got a prescription off of him. No one on her side of the family has had the hallucination problem - I truly believe it is all the overusage of these meds that caused this. And no history of strokes either. My therapist agrees that all those years of being on these meds did contribute to the few mini strokes that she's had and even the hallucination issue.

I am trying my best to remain strong but it is very hard because I get easily overwhelmed and even simple things are hard for me to do. I had to take over the bill paying in August of 2006 and since then other stuff like filling out important paper work that mom can no longer handle. I can't help but think that sometimes she doesn't even want to try to do these things and just likes being looked after by me. That sounds so mean. She has trouble with many things even setting her alarm and dialing certain phone numbers. There is no history of dementia in her family so I'm blaming this on the med addiction too. She sleeps alot and seems to be in her own little world. I wish that I could magically make her all better.

I didn't mean to ramble on and on about this topic and maybe I should not have even mentioned all this but it just gets so hard to be in a positive frame of mind between this and the other huge source of stress in my life - my brother. I won't get into all that today. I've said enough for one day. I promise that I will soon return with my usual fun and upbeat topics and that I will read and comment on more of your posts too. I take blogging seriously - I make a list of posts that I want to read. I write down the ones that I've read. I have lots of photos in folders for my posts and have written a draft of the info of what I'll include in them. I really enjoy this site.

I hope that everyone has a great weekend.

Sleeping Beauty

This was one of my favourite Disney movies when I was a kid. I have the Viewmaster slides - is that what they are called - of it too. I'm glad that we didn't get rid of our Viewmasters. Mark has Star Trek and Huckleberry Hound is both of ours. Mom got me this videotape years ago but I still haven't watched it. Maybe one night soon I'll do a double feature of this and my other fav, Lady and the Tramp.

My Disco/Franco dream

I dreamt that aliens abducted me and made me look younger - around 23. There was a shape shifting alien that made himself look like James Franco also at this age. The aliens had been observing me and knew everything that I like. I was wearing a dress that looked like a pink one that I had when I was a kid. We were sent back in time to the late 70's and were in a disco club in NYC. Last Dance by Donna Summer was playing and we were dancing to this. They gave me the ability to dance well too. I'm so bad at this in real life. I was having such a good time and wasn't even scared that I was with an alien.

Christmas 1980

I was in Home Depot on Saturday and they already have Christmas decorations there. Our cashier at Shop Rite said that they have them at K Mart too. This is just so ridiculous. It's getting earlier every year. I love this holiday but whatever happened to waiting until at least closer to Thanksgiving to put Christmas stuff in stores?

I was thinking about Christmas 1980 when I saw all that. The top 4 pictures are of my family and 2 friends Suzy and Jenny. We were singing Christmas songs for our families. I'm wearing one of my fav dresses. Grandma next door , Uncle Mike, Mom and my brother are in these photos.

The bottom 4 photos are at my Aunt Al and Uncle Gene's house in Bordentown. We had our second Christmas there during that week before New Year's Day. My cousin Mary, Mark and I were singing songs for our family. I'm wearing my favourite sweater that mom knit for me. I love Janet's overalls. Gene David, Ellen and her boyfriend Bruce are also there.

3 Concerts - 1991

I didn't go to my first concert until August 1991. My brother paid for my ticket to a Styx concert because I drove him there. It was at the Garden State Arts center. Tommy Shaw was not a part of the group at the time and they did not perform Mr. Roboto which was disappointing. We went to see John Denver there a week later. Lawn seats then. He did a song called Home Grown Tomatoes and dedicated it to our state. My brother went off on his own. About a month later we went to the Brendan Byrne Arena and saw Rod Stewart. He wandered off during that a few times. Rod said "Hello NY " or something like that and I was thinking we are in NJ, Rod, not NY. I didn't go to another concert until 2000. Well, there was an Oak Ridge Boys one at Great Adventure in 1992 that I was at.

Guilty Pleasure #1 - John Denver

This week is pledging on our PBS station which usually means there are music type programmes on instead of the regular stuff. I found this out when I went to watch Mystery and there was a John Denver special on. I only caught the last 10 minutes or so but kind of wish that I had seen the whole thing. I used to be ashamed to admit that I like his music but I don't care what people think anymore. I hadn't listened to anything of his in a very long time until 2 nights ago when I put this live cd into my discman.

I actually have a tape of it that my Aunt Al dubbed for me in 1980. It was the first tape that I ever really owned. She let me look through her albums and pick out whichever one that I wanted. She had his greatest hits 1 and 2 and I thought about choosing those but I went with An Evening with John Denver instead. About 2 years later I decided that I hate live albums and dubbed my own tape of it trying to leave out as much of the talking parts and clapping as I could. I got the cd version of it for free only to discover that a few of the songs that I like aren't on it which was disappointing.

I do have a special 2 CD box set that mom got me which I haven't listened to in a long time either. I should get that out of my storage container soon. I was laughing a little when I was listening to the live cd and heard him say "Far out!" It is hard to read the little print on the booklet included with this. I miss albums. The 4 songs that I was really getting into was Rocky Mountain High, Rocky Mountain Suite, The Eagle and the Hawk and Take Me Home, Country Roads. I think that one of the songs left off of it is Boy From the Country.

I was thinking about when he was on the Muppets and did Grandma's Feather Bed and the Garden Song. I loved the Christmas special that he did with them too. I used to have the 8-track of that.

My John Denver and Nat King Cole tapes used to be the go-to music for when I was feeling sad and anxious in the 80's and early 90's. Some people may say that his music is super corny and I do agree that it is a bit cheesetastic but I like it anyway.

Halloween 1976

I was looking at the sales flyers last Thursday and saw Halloween candy in them already. It might've even been in the ones from the week before. Does it seem like the Halloween stuff is out even earlier this year than last year? When I was a kid I liked this holiday but I haven't really enjoyed it in a very long time. My brother still does. He likes giving out the candy. I'm just glad when the day is over so I don't have to hear all the knocking at the door. That sounds so mean.

Our favourite Halloween was 1976. Mark was dressed up as a fireman. He had on his Emergency! helmet. That was one of our favourite 70's shows. I was an angel. This was my costume of choice three times. In the pictures we are trick or treating at our grandmother next door's house and also our neighbours Sandy and Rob. She used to help me with my math homework- fractions and percentages.

2 Favourites 80's TV shows

My brother and I loved the CBS thursday night line up of Magnum, P.I. and Simon & Simon. Knot's Landing was on afterwards but we only watched that for 2 or 3 years. I saw some reruns of Magnum a few years ago and it was okay but not as good as when we first watched them. I find that to be true of many of my old favourites. I'm not sure why.

I thouught of Magnum today as I was reading the review for the new Hawaii Five - O in the paper. The critics seem to like it. My brother enjoyed the original. He'd watch it sometimes. I probably saw a few episodes but I don't really remember it. My memories are of Magnum's Hawaii. There was once a crossover episode of this and Simon & Simon.

My cousin Janet was in the Navy and was stationed out there. My aunt bought me a Hawaiian shirt as a souvenier. I wish that I had kept it. I still have the bookmark that Janet got me though. Hawaii is definitely on my list of U.S. destinations that I'd love to travel to.

I did have a crush on Tom Selleck back then. I kind of had a little crush on both Jameson Parker and Gerald McRaney. I still have the two Selleck posters somewhere in my basement. I got this 8x10 sometime in the 90's and also still have my 80's Selleck scrapbook stuff. I only kept a couple of Simon & Simon things in it like this photo from a magazine though. I wish that I hadn't gotten rid of the rest of it.

My Semi - Fascination with Tennis Guy

I know that I've been going on and on about this event lately and I should've taken a break from posting about it but I can't seem to get it off of my mind. This will be the last chapter of it for now, I promise. Well, here are 2 totally crappy photos of the one guy that I was hoping to get good close up shots of after the matches. I did great with everyone else besides Melzer. It's kind of funny, I suppose. Not really. I didn't take the camera off of full zoom nor did I quickly check the shot to see how it came out. I wasn't thinking that clearly then, maybe because part of me was too excited about seeing him - how embarrassing. Worse yet, I actually was walking very quickly to get to him when he was standing with a group of people to try to get another photo. I felt as if I was stalking him. Sorry, Mr Melzer.

My brother actually got me his autograph after his first round match. He also got his opponent, Tursonov. That was nice of him. I am not really into getting autographs myself because I'm shy and wouldn't feel right about doing so but I am glad that my brother did this for me. Last year he got me Davydenko and this year also Ferrer. I forget which girls that he got for himself. He did get Tommy Robredo and I am a bit jealous about that.

I had not remembered that after the Melzer/Petzschner doubles match that I actually ran to the other side of the court to the gate where they were coming out to try to get pictures of both of them. Further shame. This is so unlike me. I wasn't able to catch them in time. I saw Petzschner already pass by me before I could use my brother's camera and then Melzer was walking pretty fast and I don't think that I got him either - I have to wait and look at my brother's photos. I was wishing that I had been sitting on the bleachers on that side of the court. I only missed 3 games of that match. I had to sacrafice the 3rd set of the Fish/Knowles doubles match for it.

When I saw the schedule for Day 6 at the Open I was feeling torn and confused and disappointed. I was hoping that the Melzer v. Ferrero match would be at Grandstand first then I would watch that and afterwards try to get into Armstrong for some of Wozniacki and then Mr. Fish. I had to make the decision to stick with Fish or bail out on him and head over the Mr. Melzer. This was a tough one. I was kind of semi- obsessing about this during the match. I was praying that Fish would finish off Clement in 3 or 4 sets then I wouldn't miss any of Melzer but unfortunately it was a 5 setter. I wanted so badly to see a happy Fish so I stayed there and luckily he won.

We needed to use the bathrooms before heading over to Grandstand. We went up top and used those. I first looked down to check out Melzer and the scoreboard. It was 4- 3, I think. That's what Mark said. Between waiting in line for the bathrooms and then a line to get into the grandstand, we only got to see 2 games of the first set. It seemed like a more competitive set than the remaining 2. I should just be glad that I got to see any of this match. If the girl's match before it hadn't been so long and also the Monfils match had a couple of tie break sets, I think, then I might not have gotten to see any of it at all. My dummy side didn't let me take that many pictures that night, saying don't you have enough of this guy already. But this was different, it was a third round match and nightime. It was nice seeing a happy Melzer. I like Ferrero too but I was rooting more for Melzer.

Okay, so I think I've covered just about everything - maybe I've said too much. I just started rooting for Melzer like during the French Open this year. I saw about 15 sets between 5 matches of him and 14 of Fish. So this was like the Melzer/Fish Open 2010 for me.