Happy Birthday, Mom! (and All About the Weekend)

First of all, here's a big Happy Birthday wish to MeLissa's mom. We hope she has a year full of happiness, health, and God-willing, wealth! :)

Now....on to the weekend wrap-up:

As we mentioned previously, we had a rather busy weekend! We started out on Friday night with a little informal (but fun!) birthday celebration for our friend Lisa who is still enjoying the ripe old age of 25 (and hopefully will for many more years)! MeLissa made some virgin margaritas to celebrate the occasion (and to try out our new spiffy blender!) and we enjoyed a tasty meal from O'Hana Hawaiian grill.

After dinner we chatted and let Lisa open her birthday presents - she loved them all! :) And, of course, we had some pretty yummy strawberry ice cream (homemade!) to celebrate - we didn't feel like trying for another "caketastrophe" so ice cream's the deal around here for birthdays until Martha Stewart comes to the rescue (seriously, we've written to see if she can come up with a suitable eggless recipe).

On Saturday, MeLissa finished up the baby blanket she made for a friend's little one and we'll be mailing it out (hopefully) this week. We hope they find it helpful in keeping the little tyke warm! Meanwhile, Mark studied....and studied....and studied some more. His board exam is next weekend so he's pretty much spending all his "free" time with his nose in a book!

MeLissa also spent some time quilting Saturday and Sunday. She's actually close to finishing the Drunkard's Path block. She just has 3 seams to go...but due to Sunday's activities taking precedence (and a little project for Mark which we'll discuss shortly), she expects to finish it later during the week. So far, the block is looking very bright and cheery!

Instead of finishing her block, she and Mark spent a fair amount of time on Sunday recording a video (which MeLissa will try to piece together over the next few days) for Mark's physical therapy class on various excercises, stretches and assessment techniques for those who sit behind desks all day to fix them right up when they start having problems. Apparently this malady is referred to as "Upper Cross Syndrome" in chiropractic circles. MeLissa is now privvy to the why it is Mark keeps making her do all these exercises and stretches she isn't terribly fond of. :)

Finally, we wrapped the weekend up by doing a little experimental cookin'. This week's foray was into the realm of bread making...specifically, spelt bread. MeLissa decided to try because she was craving a hamburger and really wanted to have it on a hamburger buns. Since she can't buy hamburger buns that she can actually eat, she decided to make her own. All things considered, they turned out pretty decent and worked well for last night's dinner, but we do have a couple of modifications in mind for the next attempt! Alternatively, MeLissa may start using a little low-carb eating trick and just ditch the bun since she's pretty picky - two lettuce leaves seemed to work pretty well at the hospital cafeteria the last time Mark had surgery. As for the bread itself, it also turned out pretty decent, however, due to a good portion of the batter going to the buns, it was pretty flat. Mark was certainly grumbling about his "toast sticks" while eating breakfast this morning.

MeLissa also did some grumbling because it appears that one of her favorite foods is just not going to cooperate. Unfortunately, there don't appear to be any pictures of evil pineapples. What a shame. At any rate, this pretty much leaves us at a 100% fail rate as far as MeLissa's food reintroduction attempts. We may give the pineapple one more chance later today, but we're not terribly hopeful...

Happy Birthday, Miss Pixie!!!

Today is our little Pixie Cat's Birthday! She's a spry 2 years old...and looking just as cute as when she was a kitten.

In other news, we had a pretty busy weekend, but we're letting Pixie have her spotlight so we'll get more into that later! Besides, posts with pictures are much more fun and the pictures we have for you aren't accessible at this very moment!

Evil Carrots....

What? You didn't know that carrots were evil? Well, we have verified it. Last night we tried to reintroduce them into MeLissa's diet and man was that a mistake.

The first sign that there was probably a problem should have been that when MeLissa tried them alone, they didn't taste nearly as good as she remembers them tasting. We later determined, though that it was because we didn't have onions cooking with them in the roast pot. So, she persisted, ate a few more with dinner and went about the rest of the evening's activities (which included finishing the stitching on the blankie, though, we're now at the point of yarn weaving which always seems to take much too long!).

About 2 hours after dinner, MeLissa all of the sudden started experiencing the following:

very scratchy throat

very scratchy nose

very scratchy ears (inside)

Shortly thereafter, she began having trouble breathing (her first asthma attack for a couple of months!) and developed a killer headache (which, incidentally is still with her this morning - doh!). So, we think it's pretty safe to say that carrots will be added to the long list (potatoes, tomatoes, avocados) of foods tha we tried to add back in and that just didn't want to cooperate. We're debating whether pineapple or green pepper will be the next lucky food...

In other news, while looking at quilting sites of all things (found some great resources for free patterns, friends - if you're interested, shoot us an email), MeLissa came across a site which is the polar opposite of every other e-greeting site you have seen. We think we'll call it the "Anti-greeting" site. Here, you can send "Resentiments" to those who've broken your heart, been lousy friends, etc. We will warn you that many of the cards use less than sophisticated language, but they were kind of funny so we figured we'd pass them along. Please don't send them to us. :)

Please Sir, May I Have Another?

So, apparently, Mark's surgeon (and Mark) felt that the operation on his left eye the other day to remove the silicon oil and repair his retina were so much fun they want to go and do it again in a couple of weeks to the right eye! How exciting! :)

Well, okay, actually the real reason is that it is past time. We were supposed to have had the oil removed from the right eye in January, but due to the left eye not behaving so well, it was postponed. Now, though, the doctor is having a difficult time seeing in Mark's eye and so he's unable to really see if everything is behaving and what not so it's time. That coupled with the fact that Mark has a break the last week of March led to the surgery being tentatively scheduled for March 22. Keep him in your prayers, please.

At least with this timing, he shouldn't have to miss too much school for his next quarter, but he will probably have to retake or at least take an incomplete on a few classes from this quarter...which is fine - it just means he'll be even more prepared when he takes his next board exam, right?

Speaking of board exams, Mark will be taking his first round on March 18 and 19. Last night, we did a little practice exam and it was really hard (even though it was the exam Mark figured he was the most prepared for!) so now we're both a bit scared for him. At least if he doesn't pass this time, he can always retake it, but please pray that he's a first timer! :)

As for MeLissa, nothing nearly as exciting. She has 5 rows left of the little blankie she's been crocheting. That's pretty exciting! She also joined a quilting site last night that has quilting lessons over the internet. She's looking forward to seeing how a different teacher does things as well in getting copies of all the nifty patterns that the site gives out for free. Total cost of membership...$15. Having an invaluable quilting resource available 24/7 and getting a lot of cute patterns for free...priceless. The site is called Victoriana Quilt Designs if you're interested in checking them out. They do have a free block pattern every month as well as a wealth of free quilt information suitable for beginners on up.

Crazy Scientific Facts About Love

Here's an interesting article detailing various scientific findings about love we thought you'd find amusing - we've linked it above as well.

Love: 10 crazy scientific facts
By Laura Schaefer

1. It’s like looking in a mirror! It turns out we all have a little something in common with Narcissus—the mythical fellow who fell in love with his own reflection. Scientists at the University of Liverpool recently concluded that our brains favor people with familiar faces. The research team asked over 200 participants to view a number of digitally altered human faces. They found that subjects preferred the features they found the most familiar—whether that means his or her own visage or that of a family member. This may explain that common phenomenon of couples looking like they could be siblings.

2. Manner, schmanners: Go ahead and stare. Another new study says that when a woman walks into a room, she is considered more attractive if she turns her eyes directly toward a certain man. Men would rate the same woman as less desirable if she doesn’t make strong eye contact. In this study, conducted at Dartmouth University, lead researcher Malia Mason had male participants sit and view a series of faces of fashion models, digitally enhanced to either be gazing toward or away from the participant. The study authors asked the viewer to rate the likeability of each model and found that those who turned away were seen as less agreeable. The study’s researchers went on to suggest that a woman’s gaze can be a powerful arousal cue and that our impressions are largely formed by nonverbal communications such as eye contact. So start locking eyes, ladies!

3. You’ll know it when you see it. A recent study at the University of Pennsylvania reveals that regardless of what people say they are looking for in a dating situation, they don’t need a lot of time with or information about a person to tell if they’re interested. Single people’s behavior suggests that individuals know “it” (a person who appeals to them) when they see it—almost instantly. Lead researcher Robert Kurzban and his colleagues studied data from 10,000+ daters. They found that men and women assessed potential compatibility within moments of meeting, using primarily visual cues such as age, height, and attractiveness. Says Kurzban, “Somewhat surprisingly, factors that you might think would be really important to people — like religion, education, and income — played very little roles in their choices.”

4. Listen up. The next time you call up a potential love match, pay special attention to how they sound. Researchers at the University of Albany had 149 men and women rate the attractiveness of a series of recorded voices on a scale from 1 to 10. The researchers also gathered information about the sexual histories of the people whose voices they recorded. They found that the voices found to be the most appealing belonged to people who had sex at an earlier age, had more sexual partners, and were more prone to infidelity than those rated as having less appealing voices. So know that what’s a seductive voice to you may be linked to a person with a bit of a past…

5. I couldn’t help it baby, it’s in my genes. There may be a genetic component to infidelity, says a professor at the Twin Research Unit at St. Thomas’ Hospital, London. This is based on the fact that if one twin exhibits infidelity, the other twin strays 55% of the time. In the general population, the number is 23%. The tendency to remain faithful is a component of personality, the scientist elaborates, which is governed both by a number of genes and societal factors.

6. It’s official. Love makes us crazy. For one, it causes serotonin levels in the brain to drop, which may lead people to obsess about their lover. (The levels of serotonin, a chemical produced by the body, are also low in people who have obsessive-compulsive disorder.) Next, it ramps up production of the stress hormone cortisol, leading to slightly higher blood pressure and possible loss of sleep. Finally, a scientist at the University of London has found that when people look at their new loves, the neural circuits that are usually in charge of social judgment are suppressed. All in all, love kind of leaves you obsessive, stressed, and blind. And we love it.

7. Why broken hearts hurt... A recent UCLA study suggests the psychological hurt of a break-up is just as real as a physical injury. Two areas of the brain that respond to physical pain also become activated when a person is dealing with social pain, such as being dumped. The study’s authors used an MRI to monitor brain activity in participants while they played a game simulating social rejection. The researchers believe that the pain of being rejected may have evolved as a motivating force that led humans to seek out social interaction, which is crucial for the survival of most mammals.

8. Blushing is best. If we take our cue from apes, rosy cheeks are crucial in the dating game, says a new study. Scientists at Stirling University in Great Britain have found that primates prefer mates with red faces. A rosy glow might also act as a similar cue in humans, say the British researchers, sending a message of good health. They speculate that it could explain why women use blusher.

9. Kiss this way. Did you know there is a “right” way to kiss? People are more likely to tilt their heads to the right when kissing instead of left, says a report published recently in the journal Nature. A scientist from Ruhr University in Germany analyzed 124 pairs of smoochers and found that 65 percent go toward the right.

10. Meet for drinks before dinner. Researchers at NYU and Stanford have discovered that hungry men prefer heavier women. By staking out a dining hall, scientists had hundreds of students fill out questionnaires about their preferences in a mate. Men who filled out the questionnaire just before they entered the hall described their ideal woman as an average of three or four pounds heavier than men interviewed after they ate. Incidentally, researchers did not find the same change in women’s preferences, so guys: Go ahead and schedule that drinks date for before or after dinnertime.

Laura Schaefer is the author of Man with Farm Seeks Woman with Tractor: The Best and Worst Personal Ads of All Time.

Mousse to the Max...

Wow. We just had chocolate mousse. Or should we say MOUSSE? For those of you who know MeLissa well, you know she can really put away the chocolate, but she may have met her match. Yes, she's sitting here typing this (oh, come on you all know it's MeLissa typing here, don't you?) looking at an unfinished bowl of mousse seriously contemplating whether or not she's going to finish it. It is actually making her head swim. *That* is unheard of, but that is what a good mousse is like! If you'd like to try this delectable treat, please have a look at the recipe here- you might just want to invite a bunch of friends over to share it with.

Other than this little bit of sweet excitement, the Rocco house has been pretty quiet. MeLissa has been busy crocheting (the finished product will be showcased in future post!) while Mark has been studying chiropractic and laying face-down. We have another appointment for Mark tomorrow with the doctor. Hopefully, we won't have too much to talk about after that either! :)

Pixie's ABCs

Pixie hasn't posted anything for a while, but has decided to grace us with a better understanding of herself.

ABC Survey
A is for age: 2
B is for booze of choice: Milk, if I can get it.
C is for career: Professional Whiner
D is for your Dad's name: Mark
E is for essential items to bring to a party: Catnip

F is for favorite song at the moment: What's New Pixie Cat
G is for favorite game: Chase the Laser
H is for hometown: Castro Valley, CA
I is for instruments you play: I meow. That's it.
J is for jam or jelly you like: Tuna
K is for kids: Not gonna happen, folks.
L is for living arrangements: with my typing and food slave and the enforcer in a 2 bedroom condo
M is for Mom's name: MeLissa
N is for name of your crush: The enforcer...but since he's being a pest and won't pet me enough, my typing and food slave.
O is for overnight hospital stays: None
P is for phobias: Vaccuums
Q is for quotes you like: "Meow."
R is for relationship that lasted the longest: With the typing slave.
S is for soda preference: Tuna flavored if they have it.
T is for tasty desserts: Ice Cream
U is for underwear: I go commando.
V is for vegetables you love: Yuck.
W is for weekend plans: Sleep, eat, terrorize, be pet.
X is for x-rays you've had: None.
Y is for year you graduated from high school: Cats are too smart for school.
Z is for zodiac sign: Pices

So Far, So Good...

Well, it was quite a day in the operating room yesterday from the sound (and look) of it. Mark's retinal surgeon came out to speak to MeLissa after the procedure was complete yesterday. He looked like he'd been in quite a battle. So far, it looks like he won....again. :)

He said that when he got his first look in Mark's eye, he wasn't sure he'd actually be able to do anything, but he made an attempt and with a lot of patience and perseverance, he reached a point where he was satisfied. The procedure included clearing fibrous material from both sides of Mark's lens (which is no easy task since he didn't want to scratch the lens. He contemplated pretty seriously whehter to actually take the lens out - apparently, it is more of a hinderance than a help, but it was pretty well situated in there with scar tissue and it would have been difficult to accomplish successfully. So, for now, he's leaving it in.

Apparently, one this that was a little disappointing to see was that the fibrous membrane that had formed has become vascularized (i.e., there are blood vessels running through it) and had actually filled the front of Mark's eye with blood (probably due to the drop in eye pressure that occurs with anethesia) so he had to cauterize those after removing the membrane. He also gave Mark a little shot of steroids outside of his eye to hopefully control their growth in the future months.

Once that was taken care of, he moved on to the retina which he had seen was detached once he got in there. He removed the scar tissue without too much trouble in one piece, cut the retina off about 270 degrees around the eye with the laser and then smoothed it out and reattached it. He filled the eye with gas to keep the retina in place and then patched Mark up.

We finally left the hospital at about 7:45 p.m. last night (we arrived at around 9:30 a.m.) and headed home. As usual, we made our "traditional" stop at Jamba juice on the way home. This pretty much served as supper until about midnight when Mark enjoyed some leftover soup and MeLissa had some very tasty toast.

So, now, Mark is back to his favorite (or so it would seem) position - face-down. It will be the same drill as before only with a twist. This time, since Mark has the gas bubble in his eye, we have to make sure that we don't go anywhere with significantly higher (or lower) altitude - this includes, of course, flying. Breaking this "rule" would essentially guarantee blindness in his eye. So, it looks like we'll definitely not be travelling to Hawaii or the Tahoe/Reno area (a recently considered Hawaii substitute - if you can't have Maui, snow is the next best thing, right?) anytime soon.

Please continue to pray for Mark's complete recovery. :)

For those who might be curious, MeLissa passed her day yesterday rather "eventfully." By this we mean, she read the text for her event planning course. She's almost finished - just about 50 pages to go which she should be able to finish up today. We're moving right along here....

Surgery Day

So Mark has surgery today. He'll be going in around 11:20 a.m. The doctor plans to remove some fibrous material that has grown in his eye which is obstructing the view of the retina. As part of the surgery, he'll have a look to make sure that Mark's retina is doing okay. If so, he'll patch him up and we'll soon be on our way. If not, the doctor will make repairs and then we'll be back to the same ol' same ol' face down sentence.

We'll give you an update on how things went soon. Until then, please keep Mark in your prayers.

A Class Divided

We don't post a lot of "heavy" stuff on our blog usually, but MeLissa contributed this comment to a discussion on MC Hammer's Blog. She really wanted to put it here as well since it is just a great program and she really feels that it deserves a wider audience. We hope you'll go check out some of the materials available (including the video program) at the site linked to the post title or at the bottom of the post.

I'll apologize up front because this is gonna be a long one...

Has anyone seen the PBS documentary called "A Class Divided" or read the book?

I was introduced to this program in a diversity workshop I attended for my company. Until I saw this short film and then read the related text, I had always sort of had a thought in the back of my head that African-Americans, Hispanics, and others who were discriminated against acted in certain ways that "brought on" discrimination. Sounds, strange, right? Why would anyone act in such a way as to encourage others to discriminate against them? And, yet it is a view I've heard from others as well.

I have to say this short documentary and book really gave me a new perspective. It's not as simple as I once thought. This documentary followed an experiment done by Jane Elliott, a teacher in a small all-white Iowa town in 1968 (interesting that it coincides with Mr. Hammer's date, hmmm? It is because she implemented this lesson the day after MLK, Jr. was assassinated. She wanted to help her children understand what it was he died for). Ms. Elliott divided her class into two groups based soley upon an arbitrary trait: eye color - the blue-eyed people and the brown-eyed people.

She had the brown-eyed people put on collars so they could be easily identified. Then, she proceed to tell them that for the first day, the blue-eyed (I think) people were better than the brown-eyed people. They were cleaner, smarter, more respectful, etc. Basically, if there was a positive trait...it was attached to the blue-eyed children. During that day, anything that a blue-eyed child did that was even remotely good was lauded and applauded. Everything remotely "bad" that a brown-eyed child did was scoffed at and made fun of. You would be shocked to see what happened. I really think everyone should check this out if you can find it (and I'll provide a link to a site at the end of my commentary).

Essentially, the end result was this - a class full of happy, kind, caring and well-bonded children turned into two opposing groups. The blue-eyed children tormented the brown-eyed children, acted as though they were superior and actually did better than ever at their studies - and this occured even between classmates who were easily categorized as inseparable best friends just the day before. On the other side, the brown-eyed children who also were usually happy, joyful souls became sullen and withdrawn and actually exhibited less academic prowess than they had the day before.

On the second day, the roles were switched. And, despite Ms. Elliott's believing that the same thing couldn't happen two days in a row since they had already done the experiment, it did. The only difference? The brown-eyed children who had been given a pretty nasty taste of how it felt to be discriminated against were a little less harsh than their blue-eyed classmates had been before. Still, though, the brown-eyed children excelled while the blue-eyed children's academic skill dropped below even pre-experiment levels.

For me, this was a real eye-opener. I can now see that certain minority groups act in ways that are less than becoming and perpetuate the belief that they are inferior, but I also understand that their experiences in life which have conciously or subconciously suggested this to their psyche plays a part. It is really a nasty vicious circle that could potentially never be resolved unless we're all willing to look beyond skin color, eye-color or any other arbitrary trait and see the person and the *soul* that is inside and value that.

I personally believe we have a long row to hoe here since our society is so focused on exteriors anyhow...but with materials and excercises like these, I think we can at least begin to see put ourselves in another's shoes and see things from a different perspective...which ultimately is what it's all about in every conflict known to man.

Thanks for "listening." Have a look at the site below (or click the post title above) for more information on this insightful program.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/

Here's MC Hammer's comment in response:

MC Hammer said...
Fanatastic! Mark and Melissa,
this is the type of feed back and input I'm looking for.

11:52 PM

USS Ronald Reagan

We figured we'd keep tabs on what Christopher's old shipmates have been up to since he jumped ship for the recruiting stint (which seems to be going well so far, we've heard). It looks like they've been very busy!

There are some great photos (including the one you see here) of the crew available on the Reagan's website. Click on the post title above to go there.

We also really enjoyed looking at the ship's newsletter - especially the caption contest winners in the February 24 issue (see page 4). The winning caption is a hoot!

They Grow Up So Fast

We figured since we don't have any terribly exciting news to share, we'd show what our little darling Pixie looked like when she came to live with us. Wasn't she just a doll? Thankfully, she's calmed down quite a bit...she was quite the little bundle of energy!!!

Sending happy thoughts to all far and near!

Food Fiasco...

So, we had more excitement in our household this morning. Nothing too critical - no wedding rings down the sink. *phew!* But, it is rather entertaining (to us if no one else!).

It all started last night. MeLissa arrived home from quilting class and proceeded to tell Mark that Chicken Marsala was just not happening. Cooking at 9 o'clock at night - not MeLissa's idea of a good time. Anyhow, she set Mark up with lasagna leftovers and decided she would make herself a very healthy dinner of bacon and toast. Too bad she can't eat eggs - they would have been a nice addition...as would have hashed browns!

While she was cooking "supper," Mark grilled up a chicken breast for her lunch - what a sweet guy, huh? MeLissa also prepped breakfast - rice pudding made with coconut milk (yeah, yeah...it's a strange breakfast, but when you have to rotate foods and you have a lot of allergies and you have used the last of the bacon for your supper, you get creative folks!) and put it in the oven. Once we were finished eating, we cleaned up and went to bed. In that order.

So, we got up this morning to a wonderful scent wafting through the house. Yep, the lovely scent of rice pudding greeted us....which, although it was pleasant, was not a good thing. No breakfast...oops. So, we invoked the "Let her eat toast" rule and breakfast happened as usual.

Nothing too exciting, but definitely amusing...especially since we left the lunch chicken breast out, too. :)

It's Hammer Time

Oh my goodness do we have a treat for you today! MC Hammer's back baby!!!

Thanks to the folks at Blogger who put The Hammer's blog on the front page for MeLissa to find! Yeah, folks, MC Hammer is bloggin' and though we've not had a chance to read everything he's said to date (he just recently started blogging folks so you can get in early!), it looks like it will be an interesting site to keep tabs on. :)

Just wanted to give you the heads up since we know you're in your office today just looking for something other than work to do!!

To visit MC Hammer's blog, click the post title above...

Update from MeLissa specifically: Oh my goodnesss! I am so flattered at this very moment. I left a little comment for MC Hammer on his blog and he replied with a thank you and that our wedding picture that we use for our profile (look right) was a nice picture. Wow. I'm hooked. :)

See:

Mark and MeLissa said...
Wow. MC Hammer. Blogging. Very cool. I'm glad that I came across your site and look forward to hearing what you have to say. My little brothers and I really enjoyed your music when we were growing up (and still even do that Hammer walk every-so-often!)Glad to see they still "Can't Touch This!" :) (sorry, I'm corny...can't help myself sometimes!)MeLissa of "MeLissa and Mark"
10:27 AM

MC Hammer said...
Thanks and great photo.
10:33 AM

The Dragon in Our Sink

He's saved us all! Prince Mark saved us all! Long live Prince Mark! He has conquered the sink dragon!!

What? Your sink doesn't have a dragon that tries to hoard your most precious possessions? Lucky you! We in magical Roccoland are not so fortunate.

Seriously, though, we had some excitement in the Rocco household this morning. And, for those of you who know us well, if we *mention* that there was excitement, that means there was *bad* excitement (there's always excitment afterall!)...like, perhaps, a certain person's wedding ring flying off her hand and into the sink as she prepared for the shower! "Princess" MeLissa, to say the least, was a bit upset.

Now, thankfully (?), Princess MeLissa has had this happen before - in college her favorite snoopy pendant went for a swim and was, happily, recovered. So, she knew what had to be done and under most circumstances, she would have had it taken care of before Prince Mark even exited the shower, but this morning's "dragon" was much too strong for her so she called on her handsome prince to rescue the precious crown jewel!

With the help of a pipe wrench from Home Depot (who knew they'd be open at 6 AM?), our handsome prince rescued the crown jewel and returned it to the princess who promptly soaked it in peroxide and then cleaned it.

And so they lived happily ever after, finished getting ready and ventured to chiropractic school and the office to conquer poor posture, subluxations and to keep the IRS at bay...

Picture: Saint George slays the dragon.

Worthy of a Double Post

Believe it or not, we try not to post more than once per day, but sometimes, we just get so excited or are so moved, that we can't help ourselves. This is definitely one of the most moving things we've ever heard and seen and we want to share it with everyone. It's absolutely beautiful. Click the link in the post title or continue on to find the link.

Here's the story behind it:

The elderly parking lot attendant wasn't in a good mood! Neither was Sam Bierstock. It was around 1 a.m., and Bierstock, a Delray Beach , Fla. , eye doctor, business consultant, corporate speaker and musician, was bone tired after appearing at an event. He pulled up in his car, and the parking attendant began to speak. "I took two bullets for this country and look what I'm doing," he said bitterly.

At first, Bierstock didn't know what to say to the World War II veteran. But he rolled down his window and told the man, "Really, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you." Then the old soldier began to cry.

"That really got to me," Bierstock says.

Cut to today.

Bierstock, 58, and John Melnick, 54, of Pompano Beach - a member of Bierstock's band, Dr. Sam and the Managed Care Band - have written a song inspired by that old soldier in the airport parking lot. The mournful "Before You Go" does more than salute those who fought in WWII. It encourages people to go out of their way to thank the aging warriors before they die.

"If we had lost that particular war, our whole way of life would have been shot," says


Bierstock, who plays harmonica. "The WW II soldiers are now dying at the rate of about 2,000 every day. I thought we needed to thank them."

The song is striking a chord. Within four days of Bierstock placing it on the Web http://www.beforeyougo.us/ , the song and accompanying photo essay have bounced around nine countries, producing tears and heartfelt thanks from veterans, their sons and daughters and grandchildren.

"It made me cry," wrote one veteran's son. Another sent an e-mail saying that only after his father consumed several glasses of wine would he discuss "the unspeakable horrors" he and other soldiers had witnessed in places such as Anzio, Iwo Jima, Bataan and Omaha Beach. "I can never thank them enough," the son wrote. "Thank you for thinking about them."

Bierstock and Melnick thought about shipping it off to a professional singer, maybe a Lee Greenwood type, but because time was running out for so many veterans, they decided it was best to release it quickly, for free, on the Web. They've sent the song to Sen. John McCain and others in Washington. Already they have been invited to perform it in Houston for a Veterans Day tribute - this after just a few days on the Web. They hope every veteran in
America gets a chance to hear it.

God bless the veterans of World War II and Korea. As Douglas MacArthur said, "Old soldiers never die. They just fade away." They'll be with us always in spirit.


CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO HEAR THE SONG AND SEE THE PICTURES:

Surgery...

Looks like Mark will be having another one next Wednesday. The purpose is to see what exactly is going on with his retina. There is some fibrous material that is obstructing the retinal doctor's view. So, he'll go in and see if the retina is okay. If so, he'll patch Mark back up and we'll be on our way. If not, he'll fix the retina and Mark will have to endure another bout of face down time.

MeLissa's doing a little internal surgery as well. She's had a couple of interactions with her bio-family over the past week and she's currently working on disconnecting. Although we're not going to go into detail (there's some in existence if you're willing to dig in the right places), this is a pretty significant thing in our lives and we believe it is due to Dr. Laura's indirect guidance that MeLissa is ready to take this step. It has been a long road, but MeLissa is really making progress toward letting the past stay in the past rather than letting it influence her life.

Keep us both in your prayers while we tackle these issues.

Also, many thanks to a blog friend of ours for posting the following very timely inspiration:

'Choose now'

Just because you experienced anxiety a moment ago does not mean that you must continue to hold on to it.

Choose now to let it go.

You may have recently been angry about one thing or another, yet that destructive anger does not have to continue.

Choose now to transform the energy of that anger into positive, healing, productive thoughts and actions.

Whatever the past may have held, this moment can be filled with what you choose right now.

Peace, acceptance, joy, forgiveness, and positive purpose are all as close as your decision to choose them.

Think of the most joyful and fulfilling times you've ever known. Allow yourself to feel the way it feels when you're at your very best.

The world is as it is, the people around you are as they are, and this moment is here.

You can choose now to face it all with the best you have to give.

Life is ever filled with all kinds of possibilities, and this moment is no exception.

Choose now to make the most positive of those possibilities a part of who you are.
-- Ralph Marston--

One Crazy Cat

This particular cat from MeLissa's page-a-day Bad Cat calendar (generously given by Diane for her birthday!) has continued to bemuse and intrigue her. She figured it was time to share it with the world. The expression on this cat's face is just plain bizarre...and pretty much fits perfectly with the caption they gave it.

We'll share other "bad cats" if they fascinate us as time goes on, but it's going to be pretty hard to top Mr. Chicken (for that is what Monsieur Poussin translates to folks). How a cat makes such a face is well beyond our understanding.

Woodstock Alert!!

Well, this is just awesome news! MeLissa was having a little look around the Peanuts Collector's Club site and found out that Santa Rosa (home of the Charles Schulz Museum) plans to have The Summer of Woodstock! The city is hoping to have 70 Woodstocks (Snoopy's best friend!) gracing its streets beginning at the end of May and continuing through September 24, 2006. MeLissa and Mark will definitely be visiting Santa Rosa this summer! For more information on this exciting development, check out the link to the Collector's Club or visit Peanuts on Parade.

As if that weren't enough to make any Peanuts lover go absolutely bonkers, there is also word that Beaglefest IV (who knew there was a Beaglefest and didn't tell MeLissa?!?) will take place from June 1 to June 4! To attend, you have to be a member of The Peanuts Collectors Club. We're guessing MeLissa will be signing up!

The Official Last Valentine's Day Post

It's official - Valentine's Day is over! We finally received MeLissa's last "package" last night. Boy oh boy did Mark do a great job!!! But then, Mark is rarely a blockhead. :)

Some of the movies are brand new while others are to replace VHS copies so that we don't have to worry about them wearing out over time. MeLissa was very surprised and very pleased with Mark's thoughtful gifts! We enjoyed each other's company while watching the Valentine's Day special - it seemed appropriate!

In addition, MeLissa *finally* received her books for her Event Planning course so she'll be doing a bit of studying this weekend (which will be good since it will keep her out of Mark's hair!) in addition to watching all her new Snoopy movies!

Finally, we have one more picture for your enjoyment. As promised, here is a picture of the Cake that Couldn't. Perhaps MeLissa will try cupcakes next time...maybe even this weekend.

In other "baked good" news, MeLissa has agreed to enter a bake-off at Mark's school. She's going to see if she can make a cake to wow them...and she's using eggs and normal flour so it should go well. We'll let you know when the judges have had their say!

Computer Amusements for Friday

Just something MeLissa has come across the past few days that she thought you might find amusing! (Which should tell you that we don't have a whole heck of a lot going on here in the Rocco household at the moment. MeLissa did go in and act as a "model" for Mark's Activator II class last night, but beyond that it's been pretty quiet - which is probably a good thing!)

The "site of the day" is Dogpile. MeLissa has been doing a few of her searches on this site which claims to (and seems to) pull its results from all of the top search engines, including Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Could it be that she likes this site so much because when she typed in "Mark and MeLissa Rocco" our blog and our recipe site were listed in the results? Maybe. :) She also likes the cute Doggie icon, though. Check it out.

More Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday Laelle!!! We hope you have a fun-filled night to celebrate your entry into a new decade! Congratulations!

Not a lot else to write about today here. We're just plugging along with school and work. MeLissa is excited that she'll soon be able to get back into her Event Planning studies, though! She *finally* received notification last night that her books have been shipped. She was going a bit nuts waiting!

And, tonight, she'll be skipping quilting class (she hasn't quilted anything for a little over a week anyhow - just not in the mood lately) to go to Mark's Activator II class at school so that Mark's instructor can show him what to do with her adjustment wise. We're hoping that this combined with Mark's recent tissue work on MeLissa will eventually lead to a pain-free life. Now wouldn't that be nice?

Valentine's Day Wrap Up (Sort of!)

First off today is a very special day! We're sending birthday wishes out to Rob! And, a Happy Anniversary wish out to Brad and Sarah as well! We hope the next year will be full of happy memories for all of you!

We also want to give a "shout out" to MeLissa's mom whom we're very proud of. She has embarked on another segment of her journey to health and fitness! Today was her first day of water aerobics with the folks at Physcial Therapy Plus in Lamar, Colorado. Way to go Mom!

Valentine's Day is not yet over at our house (as the song says, each day is Valentine's Day for us!) - we're still waiting for one more giftie for MeLissa to arrive. She can't wait to see what it will be!

Mark did give her something to tide her over, though - a sweet little pink locket style picture frame and a lovely card. Now she just has to decide what picture of Mark gets the special honors!

Mark received a pretty nice selection of gifts as well. MeLissa was able to procure a copy of a software program Mark's been wanting and also treated him to a pair of Valentine Snoopy Boxers (there's always going to be something about Snoopy it seems when we talk gifts around here!), a pair of silk boxers with hearts and martini glasses and a cute (yet masculine!) pair of lounging pants with candy hearts on them. MeLissa has to admit that she may be "borrowing" the candy heart pants some time. :)

Mark's favorite gift from MeLissa, though, was his annual hand made card. It's become a well-loved tradition for MeLissa to make a little hand-made Valentine for Mark! This year's valentine was pretty fun to make and included a poem which MeLissa wrote for Mark. We may post it (as well as previous valentines!) at some point, but for right now, you'll just have to be happy with front and back views of this year's special valentine!

In other news, we tried spelt pasta last night and it was great! We definitely think we'll be eating that again soon. It basically was just like "normal" spaghetti only it doesn't have wheat so MeLissa's not allergic to it! It was a nice change from corn and quinoa pasta which we've been using for a while and which we've found to be slightly annoying because it isn't as "stable" when cooked as typical pasta. It also tends to absorb sauces which can be rather frustrating at times. At any rate, we're pretty pleased to have found an alternative which will allow us to have pasta a little more often!

Wishing you a....

Happy Valentines Day!!!!

Thanks to Lisa for sending me this lovely valentine so I can share it with the world!!

V-Day Surprises

Here's a peak at what a few (very few, unfortunately) lucky close friends and our immediate family members should have found in their mailboxes by now!:

Innocent little wrappings









with Bears and Flowers on the back...









Soon they'll find...









A soothing treat inside the flap!









It's not much, but we did want to send out a little something this Valentine's Day...not saying we'll do it every year, but we know how much we enjoy getting a little surprise in the mail so we figured we would pass that joy onto others even though it isn't Christmas!!

Believe it or not, though, during her college years, despite a rather heavy work load, MeLissa did send out greeting cards for most major "Hallmark" holidays...and even some not-so-Hallmark ones. Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving - they were all an excuse to tell friends and family how much she adored them. It's kind of fun to do it again!

The Cake that Couldn't

MeLissa tried to conquer new territory this weekend in the world of allergy-free baking. Let's just say, she's going to have to make a few more attempts. She tried to make a chocolate cake without eggs and without "normal" flour - a daunting task to be sure!

Despite our past successes in the realm of brownies and cookies, we have been a little skittish about trying a cake. Cakes are a little more "touchy," shall we say, than cookies and brownies. There are lots of little chemistry-like things that have to happen for that favorite birthday confection to turn out in edible form. MeLissa knew this going into her experiement and was not terribly surprised (though, admittedly, she was disappointed) to learn that her fears were well placed.

We took a picture of the "carnage" before we threw it out which we'll share (as usual) later! MeLissa thinks one thing she'll have to modify is the baking time next time around - it looked like it could use another hour or two!

At any rate, it looks like our newest nemesis (since the triangles seem to be, if not vanquished, at least under control), is "The Cake." We'll keep you posted as the story unfolds...

The Recipe Exchange Olympics

Okay so one of MeLissa's favorite bloggers is participating in The Knitting Olympics and that gave her the idea that we should do something for the recipe exchange. So, she devised the following events not only to increase our membership, but to get all of our members to participate! Here's a list of the events our members will be participating in over the next two weeks:

Event 1 - Recipe Groups Aren't Built in a Day - In this event, every member who gets another person to join the group gets a point. The person who gets the most points wins!

Event 2 - Snow Bunny Beverages - In this event, group members will be submitting their all-time favorite hot beverage recipe for Mark and MeLissa to judge.

Event 3 - Olympic Fare - In this event, group members will compete to earn the most points by posting unique recipes. Additional points will be awarded for posting recipes which exclude all of MeLissa's allergy foods (no small feat!).

All of our contests have officially begun and will run through 11:59p.m. Pacific Time on Feburary 26, 2006. If you're one of our friends (blogging buddies count!) and you'd like to get in on the action, click on the purple box on the left and sign up for the group!

Oh, by the way, we should mention that MeLissa plans to devise some sort of award for our Olympic Champions - she just doensn't know what yet so you'll have trust that you efforts will be worthwhile. :) Also, MeLissa is not participating in any of the events to keep things fair so the playing field is level! We hope you'll join us! Once the games are over, we'll post the winners here and in the recipe group!

A Thing of Beauty...

This is a picture of a beautiful, though small, bloom on our hibiscus plant. It has been contemplating whether it would open for a few weeks now and finally decided to share its beauty with the world. A hard decision even for a flower...

We come across so many people who are scared to share their true selves with the world - how unfortunate. This flower looks like no other bloom we've seen from this plant and that makes it all the more beautiful. It is the same with human beings.

There are so many who aspire to be like Britney, Jessica, Ashley...or another superstar athlete, vocalist, etc. Role models are great (though some of the aforementioned celebrities are probably not ideal), but we should approach modeling ourselves after them or anyone else with caution. Can you imagine a world made up entirely of Paris Hiltons? Kind of scary... Thus endeth the philosophical ponderings for today.

V-Day on Tap...

Interesting that a post about Valentine's Day comes after a post about the Death Calculator, don't you think? For our single readers who are gnashing their teeth that V-Day (short for "I think I'm gonna vomit day" in MeLissa's single days) is fast approaching and for those married husbands and wives who are perplexed as to whether they should just go with "tradition" and bring home a dozen roses, a box of chocolates and a cheesy Hallmark card (and we all know that Hallmark is one of the biggest beneficiaries when it comes to this holiday, don't we?), we've found a couple of articles to make February 14 a bit more palatable and to help you get out of the gift giving rut...or at least provide comfort that you're not alone in your sentiments.

The first - "Why I Hate Valentine's Day" pretty much hits the bulls-eye as far as the single (and even some couple) sentiments regarding good ol' Heart Day. There's definitely a few stories that will make staying at home with a pint of Ben and Jerry's sound like the best time in the world! Our favorite part? The one where the girlie says that impromptu surprises are worth way more than roses and chocolates. There's something magical about a sweet little gift for no particular reason.

The second - "The 10 Worst V-Day Gifts" provides some great pointers regarding what not to give. Good information for singles and marrieds alike. MeLissa would just like to add for all the guys out there that Number 3 is definitely something to be followed at all times not just Valentine's Day if you're in a committed relationship but not married! The reaction that a beautiful necklace or pair of earrings should bring will be muted by the disappointment that the hopeful girlie will be feeling if she thought you were about to make a bigger statement!

One thing we think they forgot to mention, though, is giving hand made gifts such as cookies and cards. These are always a big hit with the guys, and show that you like 'em so much you're willing to make time to make something special just for them. That can definitely make a big hit without you having to drop anything more than a lot of cookie dough. Get creative! If you need a little inspiration, have a look at Martha Stewart's site - she has several innovative ideas to wow your sweetie! Finally, remember - there's no rule, guys and gals, that says you can't be your own valentine - make or buy yourself something if you're single. The ultimate payoff? You know whatever you choose, your recipient will love it!

Wishing you all a pleasant Valentine's Day regardless of your relationship status!

The Death Calculator

Well, here's a cheery bit of fun for today. While listening to the radio on the way to work, MeLissa learned about this site where you can learn how long you'll live based upon your current lifestyle. The calculator was developed by a gerontologist (you know, the doctors who study the elderly). He has determined that several factors add or subtract from your life span and decided to put the information out there to help everyone improve their health and extend their longevity. Not a bad bit of information...

May you all live long and prosper!

A New Woman Is In Town...

Her name is officially "MeLissa Rocco." Yep, that's right. MeLissa finally decided that managing two names for a second time in her life (long story short, she wasn't officially adopted by her papa until 1997) was too much effort and submitted her name change to the Social Security Administration today.

She figured it was an excellent early Valentine's Day gift for Mark. :) Unfortunately, now she has to complete the task of changing all their many accounts, utilities, etc. to reflect her new legal name. She thinks the trouble will be worth it since she can forego any further explainations as to why she didn't change her name immediately after she and Mark married. She had her reasons - one of which was dread due to the sheer number of accounts she'll have to update; another was that it was just hard to give up a name she'd only had legally for a few years! And, of course, name recognition in the business world was a concern (though ever so small) - but old-fashioned values finally won and the name change is underway.

Now she just has to figure out when exactly she has time to visit the DMV (which is no small undertaking as those of you in California are well-aware!).

Happy Birthday, Mr. President!

Today is the birthday of Ronald Reagan the man voted the Greatest American of all time. He brought about so many beneficial changes to not only the United States, but in the world including bringing about the demise of the "Iron Curtain."

The post link above takes you to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library site which has information about President Reagan's life and times. www.ronaldreagan.com also appears to be a valuable site in reminding ourselves about one of the United States' greatest personages. We hope you'll take a little time today to refresh your memory of Reagan's greatness and we ask the question - When will this day be a national holiday? It should be given the profound influence he had on our country and the world which continues into today.

You Say Tomato...

Progress! Happy Progress! We've knocked the list of MeLissa's 25 allergy foods down to 24 this past week. It appears that tomatoes are back in good graces. We've had them two nights and there seemed to be no adverse effects. Yea!

We had another fun experience with Martinis on Friday night as well. MeLissa can now make yummy Sour Apple and Watermelon (2 different types there...not a combo, though, that might be a future attempt) Martinis!

In other happy news, MeLissa finished yet another quilt block. The Card Trick was a bit tricky, but she managed to complete it . The next block to be attempted will be "Drunkard's Path." Perhaps we'll have to break out the Martini glasses for that one. No? Well, yeah, it might not be a good thing to stitch under the influence...

We also did a little house cleaning and in the process MeLissa found a number of recipes she'll be sharing with the recipe group just as soon as she finishes with bridal shower recipes. Be sure to join the group if you haven't already - there are some super treats on the way!

Now we're off for a bit of grocery shopping and supply gathering for some Valentine surprises we have in store for a few people...

False Alarm

Yesterday, MeLissa's friend Lisa told her that Rob (Lisa's husband) had visited the Hayward Animal Shelter looking for their errant kitty, Simba, and saw a kitty that looked like Banshee. MeLissa left work early hoping to have a little black friend with her on the way home.

Unfortunately, though two kitties looked very much like Banshee, they didn't appear to be her. It's so difficult to tell with black kitties sometimes, but both of these kitties were a little too loud and didn't purr like motors when pet. So, we're still hoping she's safe and warm and enjoying her trip into the wild outdoors.

On a very happy note, Simba was spotted by Rob later in the day yesterday! Apparently, he's just avoiding the house when Minnie Mouse, the newest addition to Lisa and Rob's menagerie is out and about. She's apparently a bit too bossy and agressive for sweet Simba's liking...

State of the Union

If you missed the State of the Union address given by President George W. Bush last night, you can read the speech by clicking on the post link above. This address is a blueprint for where our President plans to lead our country in the coming year. Last night's speech addressed many issues important to our country's future including the War on Iraq and terroists in general, Social Security and Tax Reform, Immigration and the Economy, etc.

We are behind President Bush in the Rocco household! To show our support, we have signed a petition to Senators Boxer and Feinstein requesting that they join President Bush in his efforts. We encourage you to do the same by on "Help Pass the President's Agenda" on the GOP's website. Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, a conservative or a liberal, hate George W. Bush or love him, our country needs you to stand strong and fight against those who would destroy us. As President Lincoln said, a house divided can not stand.

As a lighter-hearted side note, yesterday was our 1.5 year anniversary and the state of our "union" is also very very strong!

Our Word Cloud

This was a fun little thing we found on Kat's site. If you have a blog, it creates a "word cloud" out of what you've written there. If you want, you can order a T-shirt with this on it.

Kind of fun, eh? If you wanna try, visit the post link above!

Purple Flowers

While picking up Mark's medication from Safeway (as well as some marshmallows so that we can enjoy a tasty treat the next time we build a fire - one of our favorite "silly" activities!), MeLissa came across a purple calla lily plant.

Calla lilies tend to be the one type of lily that MeLissa isn't allergic to and she'd never seen a purple one before so she snapped it up. Apparently, calla lilies come in a rainbow of colors (who knew?!? - MeLissa thought they only came in white!) which you can see by visiting the post link above.

Triangular Triumph

We have made great strides here at the Rocco household today. Believe it or not, the E-V-I-L triangle block called a Dutchman's Puzzle (and it certainly was puzzling) which MeLissa started in her last quilting class is finally complete. It's not perfect, but it is "good enough" - it should make a nice pillow or maybe a framed picture if nothing else. MeLissa learned some information in her quilting class this past Thursday that cleared up why she was having so many troubles with this block. As they say, knowledge is power...and MeLissa now is one powerful triangle vanquisher. Or, at least, we hope so! She'll soon find out when she attempts to make yet another block - the Card Trick. Hopefully it won't be too "trixie."

In other news, our kitty seems to not be coming back. We're sad (well, MeLissa's sad - Mark and Pixie were of the opinion that Banshee was more trouble than she was worth), but we hope that she's found a nice warm and safe place that will make her happy. We still plan to keep our eye out for her.

As for Mark, studying and face-down time are the rule. He visited his retinal doctor this past week and discovered that part of his retina has not yet healed despite nearly 4 weeks of face down time to date! So, he's now face down with his head at a very uncomfortable angle in the hopes that it will heal and he won't have to have a repeat retinal surgery. We are really praying that this won't cause another delay in his board exams...or graduation!

As a side note - let us also send a "shout out" to Mark's parents who celebrated their anniversary yesterday! Congratulations! We hope you'll enjoy many more years of each others' company and success in the coming year!

Feline Haiku

Pixie has asked that I share the following with you. As any good typing slave would, I immediately obeyed. Pixie did not write this, but it expresses many of her views on life. For more feline haiku, check out the post link.

Feline Haiku

The food in my bowl
Is old, and, more to the point,
Contains no tuna.

So you want to play.
Will I claw at dancing string?
Your ankle's closer.

There's no dignity
In being sick, which is why
I don't tell you where.

Seeking solitude
I am locked in the closet.
For once I need you.

Tiny can, dumped in
Plastic bowl. Presentation,
One star; service: none.

Am I in your way?
You seem to have it backwards:
This pillow's taken.

Your mouth is moving;
Up and down, emitting noise.
I've lost interest.

The dog wags his tail,
Seeking approval. See mine?
Different message.

My brain: walnut-sized.
Yours: largest among primates.
Yet, who leaves for work?

Most problems can be
Ignored. The more difficult
Ones can be slept through.

My affection is conditional.
Don't stand up,
It's your lap I love.

Cats can't steal the breath
Of children. But if my tail's
Pulled again, I'll learn.

I don't mind being
Teased, any more than you mind
A skin graft or two.

So you call this thing
Your "cat carrier." I call
These my "blades of death."

Toy mice, dancing yarn
Meowing sounds. I'm convinced:
You're an idiot.

Pixie's New Year's Resolutions

MeLissa posted these originally on Meankitty's blog, but she thought some of you who don't visit that site might also enjoy reading what Pixie plans for 2006:

Pixie here -

Banshee has went off on an adventure so I will speculate on her New Year's Resolutions. I actually think she only had one...to escape in an attempt, if she manages to return (since we imagine she used her favorite method of disappearing and took a little "ride" with someone on their way to work to another location in the Bay Area), to weasel her way back into *my* house and back into the lap of *my* TFS (Typing and Food Slave for those of you not familiar with Meankitty lingo). I hate her.

As for my resolutions:

1. To make Banshee disappear...permanently. I got lucky on this one...she's missing, but I worry (as I mentioned above), that it's just a ploy to convince my TFS that her habit of peeing on the rug as often as possible is well worth not having to worry if she'll run off again. I've got my fingers (paws?) crossed that she's gone for good.

2. I am perfecting my ability to meow until my slaves are annoyed. They think I'm doing it because I want to be petted - something I do have to admit I'm really enjoying since that stupid black cat is gone and I get all the attention - but I really just do it because I'm practicing for my new band: Princess Pixie and the Pussy Cats.

3. My final resolution? I plan to learn how to turn door knobs so that I can, very early in the morning, go into my parents room to play. I like to play with the dresser and the door stops and anything else that creates little noises that wake my TFS up so that she'll feed me sooner!

Quilting Accomplishments...

MeLissa gave up on the E-V-I-L Triangles for a while...at least until she receives further instruction in her quilting class. As you can see from the pictures attached, she successfully completed not one, but two blocks. She effectively doubled, in one day, the number of blocks she's completed. Sewing machines are gifts from heaven above. Perhaps, they will even be effective tools in defeating triangles (or not...only time will tell).

The two blocks you see are called the "honey bee" which is, currently, unfinished. Sooner or later, it should have some wings appliqued on, but since that hasn't been covered yet, MeLissa wasn't responsible for that part of the block. MeLissa isn't sure whether she really wants to mess with such a cute block anyhow! The center of the block is a nine patch in mini form. It showcases the various birds found in the lovely Christmas material MeLissa chose. The "white" provide ambiance with their romantic trees and snow drifts...

The "honey bee" was the second block MeLissa completed. The first was a basic nine patch. Unlike her first two nine patches which each took several hours to sew, this nine patch took all of about 10 minutes! Putting up the sewing machine was definitely a good post-Christmas activity!

Instead of making a basic checkerboard design, MeLissa decided to get crazy and created this design with a diagonal row of Christmas trees highlighted by more of the snowy background fabric and two fun Christmas plaid pieces. She's really happy with how this turned out!

Hashing Out...

The final verdict is in - potatoes are out. MeLissa tried some hashed browns this morning and much to her dismay, the old familiar scratchiness at the back of the throat (the tell-tale sign that she's allergic to something) reared its evil head. C'est la vie. (Do you think the "Dark Side" potato pictures jinxed her?)

Mark decided to give one of the techniques he has learned in school, Applied Kinesiology, to make sure. It is pretty "voodoo," but it seemed to work pretty well. First, he had MeLissa hold a lemon (something she's not allergic to) in one hand while holding her opposite arm up. Then he asked her if she's allergic to lemons (she wasn't actually supposed to respond which is good since she didn't). Then he tried to push the arm that she was holding up down. End result - the arm stayed up...no problem. He did the same with an apple - a little wobbly, maybe, but basically okay. Then, he had her hold some of the hashbrowns she'd made. When he tried to push her arm down, it went pretty quick! It was pretty strange.

Of course, this led to MeLissa being extraordinarily curious and so she kept pulling out foods she was allergic to (and some she's not supposed to be) and having him perform tests. If the test doesn't lie, pineapple and carrots will be added back to her diet soon. Garlic, peanut butter and soy sauce are definitely not. It should be interesting to see how things go in the next few weeks!

In other news, MeLissa took the final for her wedding course today. She did very well - she missed only two! So now, she is a bonafide Certified Wedding Planner who can plan any wedding - large or small. She now moves onto the Event Planning course (the course she was most interested in originally)! If all goes well, she'll finish this course up by the end of March and then will be assigned a wedding or event to plan. She's really looking forward to that experience, too! For the rest of this weekend, though, MeLissa will probably be doing errands, housework and some quilting. Her goal is to finish two blocks - neither of which will be the triangle block. She's thinking she'll save that for another day!

Mark, on the other hand is busily studying. He has a lot of info to refresh himself on over the next couple of months so that he can be a "one-timer" on his first Chiropractic Board Exam and that doesn't even include all the studying for his regular classes! Expect to hear from him again after March 21...

Pixie's Mememe Tag

Pixie has accepted a tag from Meankitty and has asked MeLissa to post her answers. We hope you'll find them as amusing as we do!

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago I was doing nothing. My mother wasn't even born yet so I can't even say I was hangin' in her ovaries. My slaves, however, were quite busy, I hear, with college which apparently has enabled them to pay for my food, toys and litter which is a good thing.

2. What were you doing one year ago?
One year ago I was hating life and being grumpy and pouty. That stupid black cat, Banhsee, was stealing all *my* attention from my TFS (Typing and Food Slave - Meankitty Jargon). Speaking of her, she's still missing and I say good riddens to feral rubbish.

3. Five snacks you enjoy
As far as snacks go, I like anything I can get (and I don't get nearly as many as I should) so long as I don't have to work to eat it. Small pieces please. Oh, and one other qualification - if it didn't have eyes at some point, you can just keep it to yourself.

4. Five songs to which you know all the lyrics
a) The Siamese Cat Song from Lady and the Tramp. No, I'm not Siamese, but it's one of my favorite songs.
b) Anything from the Jingle Cats as long as there are no Jingle Dogs mixed in.
c) Nah, Nah, Hey, Hey, Goodbye (my favorite song, currently).
d) What's New Pixie Cat? (a la my TFS) .
e) Anything my mom sings at a high pitch because then I can join in!

5. Five things you would do if you were a millionaire
a) Rid the world of toothbrushes, leashes, harnesses and vacuums.
b) Sue the manufacturers of a number of brands of litter that say they clump but do not.
c) Populate our house with scratching posts and toys.
d) Buy an aviary, stock it with birds and then torment them.
e) Pay Banshee to go away (assuming she returns) forever.

6. Five bad habits
Bad Habits? I am an angel. I have none that I know of. My slaves, however, believe that the following qualify:
a) Crying for attention. If they'd give me attention non-stop, this wouldn't be a problem.
b) Beating on Banshee - she totally deserves it, but I won't as long as she stays gone.
c) Terrorizing. Perhaps they missed the SOHC memo stating that everything in a cat's house in someway belongs to said cat and may be treated in whichever way said cat chooses. Get over the chewed massage table cords already - you got exercise out of it by chasing me afterwards.
d) Playing with anything that makes an "annoying" noise at the crack of dawn. Um, yeah, I'm a cat. We do that. Get over it. Either modify your sleep schedule to match mine or get used to the noises.
e) Clawing the couch - completely necessary in case Banshee or another interloper appears in my home. The "Talons of Death" must be ready at all times.

7. Five things you like doing
a) Running at break-neck speed around the house. Running into walls that shift while I'm doing it - not so much.
b) Napping and Eating.
c) Being pet especially by the Petting Slave - hands trained in massage therapy are heavenly.
d) Chasing the laser pointer.
e) Playing ball "Great Escape Style" with the TFS.

8. Five things you would never buy or wear again
a) A harness and a leash.
b) A Santa hat no matter how cute I look in it .
c) Countless brands of organic cat litter .
d) A Toothbrush - give me tartar control treats, thank you very much.
e) A vaccuum (which I especially refuse to wear).

9. Five favorite toys
a) Laser Pointer.
b) Pom pom balls and bell balls.
c) Pin cushions (which I never see anymore).
d) Massage table cords (I'm running low on these).
e) The dangly mouse thing.

10. Five people I'm tagging
Although I may coerce my slaves into posting on their blog this weekend, I just don't feel like expending anymore energy on this task. If anyone else wants to answer the challenge, they can do so via email or in this posts' comments section. Time for a much deserved nap.

So Far So Good for Our Resident Domestic Diva!

Happy, though perhaps boring, news - potatoes seem to be okay! Can you hear the State of Idaho's thunderous applause? No? We don't either, but nevertheless, it looks like we have one more food to consider in our weekly planning ritual. And that, as one of MeLissa's favorite celebrities likes to say is a "very good thing."

Another very good thing - Overnight Oatmeal. We caught a glimpse of this recipe on Good Eats with Alton Brown the other night and decided we should give it a try. Let's just say that for somebody who doesn't like oatmeal (unless of course it's in a cookie or some other baked good), MeLissa had no problem finishing up a nice bowl this morning - she didn't even dump it on the floor which we're sure would please her mother who has traumatic memories of digging oatmeal out of shag carpet from when MeLissa was a toddler! If you're intrigued and want to know how to make this yummy breakfast treat, the recipe group is the place to be. Hope to see you there!

Want more good things? Have a look at the post link above. Martha Stewart is back and has a fun live show with celebrities, recipes, crafts and all things domestic. She's assembled a nice little "book" of 30 things everyone should know how to do and there's some great tips and tricks per our very quick glance. A quick tour around the rest of her site will lead you to many more good things for all things domestic -let your inner Domestic Diva shine!

Pats on the Back

Isn't it nice when your efforts pay off and someone compliments you for hard work and dedication? MeLissa is enjoying some "I did good euphoria" right now! She just received feedback on her paper that she turned in for her wedding course from her mentor:

In regards to your paper, you did a great job! I gave you an A because I thought you had put much thought and research into your paper. Your paper was not just well written but well thought out. It shows a true understanding of marketing and advertising for oneself. There is no doubt that you will be very successful in your new venture as a certified event planner.

Getting A's never becomes old, don't you agree? So, what's next, you ask? A little studying the next few nights and then a final exam either this weekend or next. Then it is onto the event planning course! Then it is onto real world training!

She still needs a graphic artist for her logo, though. Anyone know a good company in the Bay Area?

How Loose is Your Grammar Goose?

For anyone who knows MeLissa well, you know where this post is going - have a look at the link above - a grammar refresher is never a bad thing. For those of you who do not, pull up a chair. :)

MeLissa is and probably always will be a grammar nut. Whether due to her training by some of the toughest English teachers in the world, (Thank you Mrs. Fink and Mrs. Jackson!) or due to her stint grading senior highschoolers' English theses for a little spending money during Christmas break while in college, MeLissa is pretty focused on using appropriate grammar. Now, we're not saying that she doesn't ever make grammatical errors, but we're guessing if someone were to really scour the posts on this site, there wouldn't be too many grammatical garbles partially because MeLissa keeps the grammar gods appeased by rereading posts periodically to ensure that there are no errors!

That said, the link above goes to a great article on proper grammar usage. It's reminiscent of MeLissa's lesson to her three marketing class sections back in college. Ah, good times....for MeLissa. The students probably just wanted to leave early (especially the ones in the 8 a.m. classes), but what fun would that have been? A discussion on the difference between two, too, and to starts the day off right! We wouldn't want you to feel too angry that you received two marks off for the improper use of apostrophes after all.

Along this line of thinking and in relation to the number of grammatical errors that can be found in the text here, one thing we're guessing you can find is a number of names ending in -s that only have an apostrophe after them. The reason? After years and years of waging an uphill battle, MeLissa finally succumbed to pressure due to the sheer number of people who argued that names ending in "s" are made possessive by adding only an apostrophe. Never again! MeLissa will never more falter in asserting that other than the names Jesus and Moses "'s" is the way to go!

One Potato, Two Potato....

Today is a special day! The beginning of the end is in sight. The beginning of what end, you say? The potato famine, of course.

One potato, two potato, three potato...four. Five potato, six potato, seven potato...more. This was just a counting rhyme, wasn't it? Well, whatever it was for, we're going to live it in our house tonight. Yes, that's right, we *are* going to eat *real* mashed potatoes!!! After 6 months of none due to MeLissa's wretched allergy test, we are now ready to start re-introducing foods and potatoes won the first slot.

Why potatoes when there were choices such as pineapple, cranberries, avocado and green peppers, you ask? Well, it happened this way - MeLissa had originally picked tomatoes to go first for the simple reason that a big ol' plate of spaghetti (or some sort of Italian fare, at least) sounded mighty fine. However, when she really started thinking about it, she decided to play better odds. Sure tomatoes are in lots of foods, but typically, most of the foods she likes them in also have garlic and onions and such (salsa, anyone?). It dawned on her, too, that if the allergic reaction to tomatoes is still alive and well, she would have "wasted" a choice on eating a food outside of its tried and true form and would have to wait another 2 weeks before trying something else.

Then her Irish self (a little known fact about MeLissa - she was born a Murphy which just happens to be a nickname for potatoes!) broke through and said "Hello!! Anybody in there? Erhem...how about potatoes?" MeLissa decided to chuck the tomato further down the line and bring in the potato. So, tonight, we will be having a roast and mashed potatoes for dinner with our fingers crossed. If we make it past that, there will be hashbrowns, baked potatoes, french fries and tater tots (oh, come on Mark, you know you want 'em!!) to look forward to. The only drawback, no ketchup....but there's always cheese sauce, my friends!

The next challenge? Figuring out what food will be next. Pineapple sounds good, but we're thinking we'll leave that for when we go to Maui in March...after all, just in case she has to put it back on the shelf, we might as well make sure that the pineapple she does her reintroduction test with is a superior one! :0 )

And, don't you just love these pictures of Darth Tater and his Mash Trooper? Too funny...and perfect for this post!

Standard Weekend Fare & Banshee Watch Day 5

We had a pretty uneventful weekend. No kitties turned up to give us a reason to celebrate. We did take Pixie outside on a leash for a little bit, but she wasn't too thrilled about it so we brought her back in. We think it's good to have a kitty who doesn't want to be outside...especially given the whole Banshee situation.

We went to the grocery store and spent more than we had hoped as usual. Mark has found, however, that the grocery store's bags make excellent head wear. Since his eye is still pretty sensitive to light, he's considering trying to create a new fashion trend. You never know with the stuff people wear these days...he may be on to something! Next thing you know, Calvin Klein will be sending models down the runway with bags over their heads...

MeLissa also took a stab at quilting, but gave it up when she realized that she had just finished sewing...the wrong side. It's a conspiracy - the triangles are working against her - we're sure of it! It's hard to accomplish much when you're trying to learn how to use a sewing machine again (it's been a loooong time, kids!). At least she can stand with her head high since she did finally finish her paper for her wedding planning course...all is not lost (just our kitty still).

Banshee Watch - Day 3

Still no sign of Banshee. It has occurred to MeLissa, however, that given the little tyke's love of adventure, she could be anywhere in the San Francisco Bay Area by now.

The series of events that we assume led to Banshee's current escapade include that MeLissa went out onto our neighbors' deck to fetch her and neglected to suggest to the neighbors that they remain in hiding. Banshee is a terribly skittish kitty and pretty much only tolerates MeLissa holding or petting her. Because it wasn't just "mommy" coming out to see her, Banshee made a run for it. Had MeLissa been thinking, she would have went to where she figures Banshee probably went, but she was sleepy and figured that Banshee would simply return home as she had on other occasions apparently (MeLissa had learned from the neighbor that Banshee had been down to visit on other occasions as well which was news to MeLissa!).

In a tragic twist to the story, it rained that night. We surmise that Banshee was in no mood to make whatever trek it required to return to her kitty dwelling on our deck with it raining and chose, instead, to find shelter in her favorite place from her days as a kitten...for those of you who haven't clicked on the "adventures" link in this post, that would be "various car motors." Arguably, this is not a good place for a kitty, but Banshee is one of a kind.

We are not sure whether the car of her choice was MeLissa's or another individual's. We tend to believe it is probably another since when MeLissa went out Wednesday morning and called for her, Banshee didn't materialize as she has on the other occasions that she's sought refuge in MeLissa's vehicle. Thus, we don't know who sheltered our kitty and we are unable to narrow down where she may have ventured off to - San Francisco, Fremont, Pleasanton - they're all possibilities. We are still hopeful that Banshee will turn up, but MeLissa, at least, is a wee bit scared that her baby is not having the "time of her life."

Please continue to keep the little darling in your prayers.

And, just in case anyone else happens to lose a kitty in the near future, you can link to a helpful site for recovering them that was sent to me by someone who saw our "missing kitty" ad on Craigslist.

Missing Kitty

Hopefully this is a "false alarm" and our little Banshee will turn up, but she's been incognito since Tuesday night when MeLissa caught a glimpse of her on the neighbor's porch. Please keep Banshee in your prayers...we miss her and want her home safe!

Dr. Laura is Awesome!

Wow! MeLissa had a very cool experience this evening. She met the one and only Dr. Laura Schlessinger and has a signed book to prove it. MeLissa learned about Dr. Laura's appearance while driving to San Francisco for doctor appointments and knew she just had to go - especially since she had her copy of Bad Childhood, Good Life, Dr. Laura's latest book, in her car.

We should mention, given the title of the book, that although there are some "less-than-optimal" childhood moments in her past, she feels, in general, that it was filled with more happiness than sadness. Nevertheless, the book is a great read and is providing MeLissa with many insights into why she does some of the things she does and should, hopefully, help her to abstain from some of her less beneficial tendencies in the future.

That aside, the book signing experience was quite an amusing one. It was a wee bit chilly waiting outside in a reasonable line to see Dr. Laura. Once MeLissa finally made it up to see her, Dr. Laura noticed just how many sticky notes MeLissa had in the book (marking pages that she felt were of special significance to situations both in her childhood and, in some cases, more recent "issues" that she's been dealing with!). Her comment was "Wow. You're more compulsive than me - that says a lot!" What it says, we'll never know, but it did make MeLissa smile. She enjoyed her brief moment with Dr. Laura and will cherish her book for years to come.

For two other fabulous books by Dr. Laura that MeLissa enjoyed and believes are worth reading, please check out The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands and The Ten Commandments: The Significance of God's Laws in Everyday Life."

Much-a-Do About Decorating...

Christmas was officially over Saturday. Yes, Saturday. Epiphany which takes place on January 6 every year is the finale to Christmas and marks the earliest time that MeLissa will ever be found removing Christmas decorations (the current record for keeping decorations up goes to 1998 when MeLissa left them up so they'd still be around when she returned from France on March 20).

All this aside, Saturday was the big day when all the Christmas decorations came down and all the "every day" decorations were brought back out. 2006 promises to be a big year for MeLissa and in the spirit of the new beginnings it promises, she decided to do a little "sprucing" up of the house by moving "little things" around a bit. And, if we may say so, she did a fabulous job (and there's even just a touch of Christmas for us to enjoy all year round)!

Pictures will be forthcoming, but until that time, here's a little description of the changes she made:

The Kitchen: MeLissa decided things needed to be brightened up in the kitchen. The perfect means of doing so - the kitchen Snoopy collection! For the past couple of years, it has been showcased in our double bookcase in the front room. It is now gaily displayed on our kitchen bookcase and pantry. The red and white really are a nice happy addition to the room. As an added bonus, we were able to move all of MeLissa's entertaining books to a shelf in the living room book case and so she has room to add more cookbooks (Amazon and Borders are rejoicing!).

The Living Room: We mentioned the subtraction of Snoopy kitchen stuff (there's many other Snoopy knick knacks still there!) and the addition of the entertaining library to the bookcase, but we didn't mention that Mark's oversize Martini glass was added to the top of the structure as an on high centerpiece. We placed a red and green martini glass inside and flanked it by red and green striped glasses for just a touch of festiveness all year round. This would make a great centerpiece idea for your next cocktail party...add a few colored beads and voila!

The fireplace mantle also got a face lift. MeLissa loves the look of crystal and mirrors and so she built upon love by decorating her mantle with various crystal candle holders, knick knacks, etc. A glass heart bowl by Waterford is the central focal point with it's colorful potpouri. The two ends also are focal points with a cheery bouquet made of flowers from the very first floral arrangement Mark gave her (they were silk) and a lovely poinsettia which adds a little Christmas cheer.

The most important change that was made, though, was the addition of a sewing area for MeLissa. Yes, she hasn't given up on quilting - she's just decided to make things a little easier by setting up her sewing machine! She plans to attempt to finish the evil triangle block soon (which just for the record will require 2 more mini blocks since she had to rip one out the other night because it was not up to par!). Maybe she'll even post a final picture once she's finally won the war...

In other news, today (January 9) is Mark's first day back to school. This promises to be a challenging quarter with a board exam to act as the finale. Mark's quickly approaching the light at the end of the tunnel (which we've determined is 90% likely not to be an oncoming train!) - he's right on track to finish up his studies in June 2007.

Pixie and Banshee's New Mission

Learn how to dial 911. Check out the article by clicking the link above.

Blown Away by New Year's

Happy New Year! We hope you're all being safe and enjoying a fun holiday.

As for those of us in Northern California, we're experiencing high winds and, in some parts (not ours, thankfully!), flooding. We have had some precipitation, but nothing too extreme. And, thankfully, the lemon tree (at last glance, at least) has not had all of its blossoms blown away so we're still hoping to get a lemon or two off it!

We rang in the New Year with a game of checker shots. We bought a pretty fun set with a glass checkerboard and two different styles of shot glasses which act as pieces. You play the game as you normally would, but when a piece of yours is jumped, you have to drink a shot. To ensure that we would still be somewhat in control of our faculties, we had "mini" shots. Mark enjoyed chocolate liqueur while MeLissa decided to try a bunch of different things - butterscotch schnapps, chocolate liqueur, as well as sour apple and watermelon (her favorite) shots! In the end, MeLissa's practice sessions with her Grandpa Moss when she was very young paid off again - she won the game by triple jumping Mark! Either way, though, with all the yummy liqueurs, they both won!

We stayed up until the year was new and gave each other a kiss for luck! Given the fact that MeLissa was already a bit tipsy, we saved the champagne for lunch today!

Speaking of lunch, we had a nice spread of ham, grape salad, green beans with bacon and mushrooms & spinach and artichoke dip. If you're curious, the grape salad and spinach and artichoke dips can be found in our recipe group on yahoo. For dessert, we made another attempt at a frozen pie substituting blackberries for the strawberries in the recipe. We can't wait to see how it turned out!

Oh, and, by the way, we never mentioned it, but the cookie caper was a success! MeLissa successfully baked, without the use of eggs, both gumdrop and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies! Both the allergy-free and regular cookie recipes are, of course, also available on our recipe website!