"Ooo Ooo That Smell....

...Cant you smell that smell?" just my little Lynyrd Skynyrd interjection here.

The Lilac bush is in full bloom. I sit on the porch and the scent is incredible.

And the color....just lovely

It's Do Or Die Time....Again

Let's Go Buffalo *clap clap clapclapclap*
Let's Go Buffalo *clap clap clapclapclap*
Let's Go Buffalo *clap clap clapclapclap*
*tosses blue and gold glitter everywhere*

Ooooooooohhh, Ahhhhhhhhh...

Now That My Computer And My Modem Are Communicating Again, Here's Some Dyngus Day Pictures.

These were taken from the parade staging ground. Thats the Central Terminal in the backround. Pretty much the epicenter of the Dyngus Day Festivities. Let me tell you....it is more fun to be IN a parade, than to watch one.

Rosie, Mark, Justin, Emily, Diane

Me, Emily, Justin, Rosie, Mary and Diane on the float.

The group in front of us were handing out these stickers. Well, mostly they were slapping them on the butts of people.

We had a bunch of candy that we threw, the tshirts you see above, and.....best part, Wardynski's gave, yes GAVE us a couple boxes of individual wrapped Polish Sausage to throw. And of course we all had our squirt guns. I wish I'd had pictures from along the parade route, but it was no time for snapping shots. We had time to take shots of Krupnik, a honey liquor, not real tasty, don't judge, it was Dyngus Day but not pictures.

We headed off to the Adam Mickiewicz Library & Dramatic Circle after the parade and we had our usual good time. No pictures from in there either, what with all the squirt gun squirting and water everywhere stuff. Plus, I just didnt want to be bothered with lugging around the camera. And then remembering to bring it home.

We're already decorating next years float.

It Seems Like Only Yesterday....

...that we had problems with the computer.

Well...here we go again. *sigh*.

The Only Difference Between Men And Boys Is the Price Of Their Toys

In a couple of weeks, me and my Chrysler 300 will be displaced from occupancy of the garage. The Spouse's new toy will be taking over.

note...this is a pic of 2010..the pics for 11's arent out yet. Well, I havent found one anyway.

Thaaaaaats right, he bought a 2011 Mustang. 412 horsepower, 5-litre V8, 6 speed, In the words of Tim The Tool Man Taylor, ARRRRH ARRRRRRH ARRRG

On a positive note, when thats paid for, I get a new kitchen.

Confession Time

Confession is good for the soul, so I'm going to come out with something. I'm just going to spit it out, a verbal 'ripping off the of the band-aid' if you will.

Here goes.....

Last night we left the Sabres game early.


That's right!!!!....we broke a cardinal rule. We left with 4 minutes left and the minute we got in the car and travelled 20 feet in the parking ramp, the couple that was with us, The Spouse and I had a discussion. It went like this.....

• Watch, they'll score now.
• Watch, they'll tie it up now
• Watch, it'll go to a shootout
• Watch, Miller will be awesome.
• Watch, they'll win.

Son of a Bee Sting don't all those things happen.

In our defense, it was a pretty crappy first 58 out of 60 minutes of hockey, the couple we were with had an hour + ride home, we all had to work in the morning the game stared late, and ended late....after 10:00 we didn't want to be stuck in the upper yeah, we shoulda been there earlier, but hey, we were having ribs at Al-E-Oops parking ramp for an additional hour, so we left.

That kinda sucked, but it all worked out.

The Search Is Over

Remember my post about shopping for a sideboard?

Well, I went a little beyond the whole sideboard thing and just purchased this from Pottery Barn.



I love Pottery Barn. If I could, I'd buy everything they had. I need to win the lottery or something. Its not available for delivery till April 11, so I have to put on my patience pants till then. Well, technically I have to keep them on because I've been wearing them since I ordered Pirate Radio from Borders a couple weeks ago. That movie gets released and shipped tomorrow. AND my new sneakers should be here by Thursday. Man, the Fed-Ex/UPS truck never stops here. Till now :-)

Two Things That Practically Just Dropped In My Lap Today.

Thing One...

I found THE most comfortable sneaker! I have a hard time finding sneakers that dont hurt my feet. This is why I wear Crocs to work. Yes, I realize that they are hideous not exactly the fashion statement I wish to project, but they saved my feet. and for that reason they are gorgeous. So, anyway...I needed new kicks to wear to the gym and I needed new sheets, but thats a different story so I went to Kohls and found these. Skecher's D'Lites Extreme.

I can tell within 5 seconds after trying on a pair of shoes if they're comfy enough to buy. This was one of those times. I've been wearing them for 3 hours and my feet don't hurt. At all. Brand new shoes. 3 hours. No ouchie. SOLD! I liked them so much, I went to skecher.com and bought another pair.

Thing Two...

Got an email from ChaCha today and it offered a link to this....quite possibly the funniest thing I have ever seen on the internet. And I've seen a lot of funny things....

Powder Keggin'

My Festival Buddy and me headed down to The Powder Keg Festival this afternoon. It was a gorgeous day. A little too gorgeous, tho, the Labatt Pond Hockey had to be cancelled today. They got yesterdays games in but there was a little too much snow yesterday and it was a little too warm and the ice just wasn't safe enough to play today.

Downtown was bustling. Lots of people. We had lunch at The Pearl Street Grill (pictured here, the hub of the activity) then hit the streets. *as always, click on the pic to make it bigger*

Lots of characters....the Abominable Snowman even showed up.

The tubing down the Seneca St. exit ramp of the Skyway was a big attraction. But, that too was a little mushy and slushy because of the warmness. But it didnt stop people from giving it a go. Not the best vantage point for a picture here, but its as close as I could get. The line was pretty long.

Broom Ball Tournament going full swing

Here's the incredible Ice Maze. Official dubbed by the Guinness World Book as the largest ice maze in the world. Yeah, I totally stole this picture from The PowderKeg website.

This is as close to the maze as we could get....the line started here...

wrapped around to here

then ended up waaaaaayyyy down there. No way were we waiting 90 minutes in line.

So we headed over to the beer tent. Good plan.


I think this is going to turn into quite a nice festival. Maybe a little earlier in the month might help with the snow and temperature conditions and maybe spread it out a little, but it was really cool to see all those people out and about downtown in the middle of winter. Good job Powder Keg People!

Things to make note of for next year. Different boots for me. I wasnt sure how dry my feet were going to be in the "Ugg" type boots I have (they havent really been tested in wet conditions), so I pulled a page from when we were kids and did the 'pair of socks, plastic bag, another pair of socks' thing just to be safe. Good thing I did. And draft beer still gives me a headache.

When The Cat Is Away, The Mouse Turns Into A Slug

The Spouse left for his annual two week "Mikey Does Florida Golf Tour" this morning. I woke him up at 12:30 am. He was gone by 1:00. Since that time, I've.....

• slept in, (till about 8)
• had a cup of tea
• took a nap
• watched a movie....Splendor In The Grass
• emptied the dishwasher
• posted this

I think I'll take another nap, it's been a busy day.

It Doesnt Happen Very Often....

.... when we as Western New Yorkers get to say it, but, this time, I really mean this with all my heart yes, this time....

It really sucks to be youse guys!!!!!

Here in The Buff, The B-Lo, The Queen City of the Lakes, The City With No Pity, There's a paltry 3 inches of snow on the ground, there's snowmobile events being cancelled left and right because the conditions are not good enough. In February. In Western New York. In February.

It's a tad bit cold but we don't care cuz the sun is shining. Did I mention its February?

We've got other States, yes I said STATES! asking for advice on how to rid themselves of this white scourge that has plagued them. In the spirit of sharing, here's some advice on how to muddle thru...

• It's snow. It's going to melt.
• If you don't have to go out, don't. Simple, so far
• In the words of our esteemed former mayor, the late Jimmy Griffin "Stay inside, grab a six-pack and watch a good football game.” yes, its February. The fridge in the garage should have beer. What? you don't have a fridge in the garage just for beverages? You'll never survive here, man.
• Drive slower. And by slower, I mean "Don't Be A Dick!!!" ask The Spouse, that's my motto. for real!
• Don't clear out the driveway till the plow comes down the road. or you'll be doing it again later. while you're waiting for it refer to the Jimmy quote above.
• Help out your neighbor. Snowblow their sidewalk and driveway. Oh, right, you guys don't really have snowblowers just hanging around, huh? In that case just wave to your neighbors out the window.

Here in Buffalo, we need the snow. They started prepping the ice on Lake Erie for the Labatt Blue Pond Hockey Tournament. Started building the 8 rinks today. This event coincides with The Powder Keg Festival. which sounds like one awesome way to spend a weekend. Offspring #3, my festival buddy, and I will be going downtown to participate. In one way or another. There are, like a million things going on. An ice maze. broom ball, bubble hockey, pancake breakfasts...read the link, there's too much to post here. If you're in the area, I'll be the one waiting at the end of the Seneca St. exit ramp off The Skyway keep in mind there's a good reason this road is called The Skyway. think about it when #3 comes tubing down. TUBING DOWN THE EXIT RAMP OF THE SKYWAY! On a TUBE! how cool is that? If you click on this picture, you'll be able to see the top half of the ramp. Then it bears to the right and goes down and around. It's harrowing in a car, I can't imagine a tire tube!

I sure hope we have enough snow for that. Maybe we should send a couple of plows and trucks to DC under the guise of helping out and steal their snow.

Halftime Update

Won $$$ after the 0-0 for the first quarter. Would have won the second if the Saints had scored on that one drive.

Stay tuned!!!

Shocking!!!!

So, I go down into the dungeon in the basement to get my clothes out of the dryer.

I reach for the string for the light, and at THE VERY SECOND I touch the string, the dryer goes BUZZZZZZZZZZZ



Scared the crap out of me.

I think that qualifies for my cardio for the day.

Why is it......

... When a group of women are are having a get together like a craft/jewelry/Tupperware party, maybe having a beverage, all of them talking at once, it's a hen party.

And when a bunch of guys do the same thing it's called a poker game?

On This Date In History.....

... 1990.... Offspring #4 made her way into the world. Happy 20th Kerry!!!

... 33 years ago the big one, aptly named The Blizzard Of 77, hit. MotherNature celebrated by dumping 8 inches of snow on us last night. Party on MN, party on.

Here We Go, Sportsfans!

It's Superbowl time.
WooHoo.
Yay.
RahRah-Sis-BoomBah.

I should probably root for the Saints. We lived there for a couple of years. OffSpring #1 was born there. But I really have no feeling one way or the other. Whom ever wins, wins.

I do however have an interest in the score. And by interest I mean a bunch of money on more than a few pools. So, lets all put on our positive thinking caps and channel all our energy into these numbers...

(AFC first number - NFC second number)
8-2 (not feeling good about this one)
4-0 (not a bad number)
6-2 (really?)
0-0 (this one could be worth something, huh?)
5-2 (almost as likely at 6-2)

You can stop worrying.

I fixed my iPod.

Seriously?????

I spent a good part of the other night cleaning up my iTunes. I got rid of some stuff, I added some stuff. Nothing major. Sync up my iPhone and everything is dandy.

Today, I decided to sync up my iPod, cuz y'know, I got rid of some stuff, I added some stuff. Nothing major. I plug the iPod into the computer, it tells me its synching, when its ok to disconnect after the sync is complete and I unplug the iPod.

So far, so good.

Wait a minute....this thing is completely empty. Void of any melody. My computer just ERASED EVERYTHING!!!!

Ok, deep breaths....don't panic. Unplug it and resync. No big deal, breathe.... in and out....there you go.

Again nothing!!!

And yet again!!!

Resetting it didn't help. Twice. All the music is still on my computer, so why will nothing sync and download over???? Will it erase everything off my phone if I plug in to sync??? Just what the hell kind of conspiracy is going on here? Do I have gremlins in my iPod? Will Modern Family continue to be the funniest show on tv for a long time? I have questions, people...give me answers!!!!

Looks like I'll be going over to the Apple store. This could be a sign that I should invest in a new iPod. Hey, while I'm there I'll go over to Pottery Barn and check out the sideboards.

I can turn anything into a shopping trip.

I'm Shopping Right Now....

....For a sideboard

I need a place to keep all my Grandmother's China. Currently some of it is down in the basement collecting dust and the rest of it is in the cupboard above my stove. Along with all kinds of other crap that I keep jamming in there. Its a real adventure when you open this particular cupboard. You never know whats going to fall out. I'd really like to make that useable storage space for stuff I actually use instead of stuff I don't.

Two years ago I went to Buffalo China's big spring clearance. They sell off all the imperfect, but perfectly usable, stuff. I went nuts, considering that I'd never actually had a whole collection that matched. And this is all restaurant quality. I left with 12 each of bowls, plates, and BIG plates. I contemplated whether the BIG plates were going to fit in my dishwasher. I decided that they would and when I got home, I discovered that they DIDN'T FIT IN MY CUPBOARDS!!! Yeah...like I said....BIG plates 12" in diamater. They've been stored under an end table in my living room since I got them.

I found one at Ashley Furiture the other day. Picture this without the top hutch. I like it and all but I'm torn about the glass doors. I just dont know about those.



I really like this one from Ballard. I don't know who Ballard is or where they're located. I just found it online. And I dont really want to buy without seeing it first. But I really like it.



But this one here from Pottery Barn is by far my favorite...



I may take a run over to Pottery Barn tomorrow afternoon.

Update on the Titanium Twins

Both the girls are doing great! They're both back to driving and pretty much, with the exception of having to use a cane, resuming normal activity.

My cousin Julie had the most incredible gifts made for them. Really nice zip jackets, black with a red lining.....



And the most AWESOME tag embroidered on to them....



BEST.
GIFT.
EVER!!!!!

We need to get a picture of them in their finery together.

I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas

Well...we finally got some snow. Boy DID we!!! That storm thats been gripping the country got to our neck of the woods today.

I found this picture whilst perusing The Buffalo News. I thought it was pretty cool so I lifted it. Hey, don't judge, I gave full credit and admitted my plagarism. It was taken from the top of the Liberty Bank Building.



It took me 50 minutes to do my normal 10-15 minute commute home today, what with the white-outs and piling up snow and idiot drivers. I debated getting on the I-190 for about 2 seconds. Good choice on my part not to get on....it was a parking lot.

I finally made it to my street, when to my surprise, only half of it was plowed. And guess what, the unplowed part was my part. I had to park around the block and walk home because I couldnt get up the street. Brrrrr. Actually I was better off doing that anyway because, with the drifts in the driveway, I would have never made it into the garage.

This pic here shows the depth of the drifts. Thats The Spouse getting ready to plow them out of here.



I'm spending the evening getting a start on my Christmas cookie baking. I cant think of a better way to spend a snow night.

Doe, A Deer, A Female Deer....

at least I think it was a female deer that just WALKED INTO THE SIDE OF MY CAR!!!!

I was minding my own business driving down Borden Road when I spotted a couple of our white tailed friends crossing the road. Naturally I slowed way down because if there's one deer in the road chances are there's another. Who knew it would be a whole herd of them!!! I was going less than 20 mph. I had my eye on the one directly in front of my car (and by directly I mean 3 feet in front of me) when another just rammed into the side of my car by the front wheel. It's an awful sound....vehicle meeting furry animal. In my passenger side mirror I saw the thing on the ground on the side if the road. Shit. I thought about getting out of the car for about a nano second and continued home. While I was assessing the damage (which really isn't that bad) The Spouse pulled in the driveway. We hopped in his car to go back to the scene, (cuz we're morbid like that) and when we got to the spot the deer was gone. So, I'm not a Bambi killer...I just maim.

In my defense, those deer were NOT crossing at the DeerCrossing sign.

Happy Thanksgiving

I vow to not have a repeat of last year when, because my brother caused the hours long dinner delay by not having the turkey fryer in working order, never really ate anything all day and just consumed Cosmos and proceeded to get hammered..(run on sentence much Peg?) Going to work the next day was so not fun!!!

I shall limit my martini consumption to 2.

Before dinner.

Maybe one after.

Good thing....

.....it's been so unseasonably mild temperature wise. If it was cold, all this rain we're having today would be snow and we'd be neck deep in it right now !!!!!!

Extremes

Thursday we had snow showers.

Yesterday was sooooo damp and chilly you felt it in your bones.

Today and tomorrow????? Temps in the high 50's and low 60's.

Welcome to the B-lo. Don't like the weather? Wait a couple minutes.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition will be in town this weekend so I guess cooperation from Mother Nature will help dispel the old "all it ever does here is snow" myth.

The Titanuim Twins And The Case Of The Fractured Femurs

The words on the voice mail were the ones you never want to hear. "I'm at the hospital with mom. She fell. Pretty sure her leg is broken. Call me when you get this".

Tuesday, The Maternal Unit had been on a walking tour downtown with a group of retirees that she used to work with. She recounted that she was talking and walking and then the next thing she knew she was on the pavement. She didn't remember tripping or stumbling...just landing. Being the good daughter that I am, I questioned if she had been chewing gum at the same time. My brother came up with a few good zingers during our wait in the ER too. Good thing we know how to act in these kinds of situations. Laughter is the best medicine, after all.

There was lots of texting going on....sharing info with family members, especially with my cousin Julie in Atlanta, who happens to be the Offspring of The Maternal One's twin sister.

When she went up to surgery to have the rod and screws inserted into the femur *you just cringed reading that didn't you* I made a phone call to my Aunt Twin, who coincidentally fractured her femur 3 years previous. Of course she told me to tell mom to "quit copying her" and other good natured barbs. You can see where us cousins get our sense of humor now, don't you? Anyway, when the surgeon came down to talk to my brother and I after the surgery, he stated that the sharpness of the break indicated a stress fracture and that the bone probably broke and then she went down. "we've been seeing this a lot in patients who have been taking Fosimax for more than 5 years"

WHAT???? You mean this drug that's supposed to prevent osteoporosis actually does the opposite??? how does that happen?

Fast forward to Friday morning..... I get this text from the aforementione cousin Julie...

Not a joke|
My mother just broke her leg (the right femur this time) can u fucking believe that?? Patti just called they r on the way to the hosp in ambulance

WHAT??????

UnFREAKing believable!!!!!! The Aunt Twin falls on the kitchen floor and breaks her OTHER femur. And guess what her surgeon says. "she looks like the pictures in the medical journals of Fosimax issues and the bone probably broke and then she fell.

So now they are both laid up in rehab facilities. And Julie and I are calling the two of them The Titanium Twins.

Crazy week

On This Date In History.....

1985......Offspring #2 was born. Almost had her in the van under a bridge on the way to the hospital. Happy birthday Michelle.

And happy birthday to your spouse on tuesday too!

----------

on another note, I've got quite a story to tell about my Maternal Unit and her Twin (who, from now on will be referred to as The Titanium Twins) Upcoming as soon as I have the time to compose.

Another Installment of......On This Date In History

26 years ago, Offspring #1 made her debut into the world. Man...she's getting up there! Happy Birthday Melissa.

3 years ago today, The TreeStorm started. We went to bed knowing that there would probably be a snow day on the 13th. It was snowing pretty hard. Little did we know there would be a week of snow days.

And when we woke up....this is what we saw.....



We didn't think this tree would survive...



But here she is two days later....I love the color of those leaves.


And here she stands today, 3 years later. Stronger than ever I think. A little weird that her leaves are just starting to change color now, isnt it?

Pointless Stuff

Have you seen the new show Modern Family yet?

No?

Well, you're missing out on some funny stuff.

I suggest you watch.

It's probably the best new show of the new tv season.

------------------------

A couple of weeks ago I got a blast from the past. A girl I used to work with when The Spouse and I lived in New Orleans called. They had just retired, bought a motor home *and by motor home I mean a house disguised as a bus* and would be up in our neck of the woods. So we met up with them Tuesday night for a couple beers and food. Blew me away when I heard that deep southern accent on the phone.

-------------
The leaves are changing and there's a bit of a nip in the air. And there's Christmas stuff in stores already. It's not even Halloween yet!!!

--------------

that's all for now

Oinktoberfest

Offspring #3 and I were out and about yesterday. We'd planned on going to a big barn sale out in West Falls and when that turned out to be a dud of a sale we headed over to Clarence...thinking that the Flea Market would be in full swing....it being a decent day and all. Turns out that there was no flea market. Apparently its only on Sunday. BUT! The Great Pumpkin Farm was open and it was Oinktoberfest! Big BBQ cookoff, a band playing some really good tunes, pie eating contests, rides, petting zoos, all kinds of stuff going on, so we decided to roam around there for a while. And with all the fantastic scents coming from the competition tents we decided we were hungry. Got some ribs, some pulled pork, some mac and cheese and THE best jalapeno cheddar cornbread ever.

Offspring #3 in front of the tent for the bbq competitor with the best name.... "Bobby Q and The Butt Rubbers. "
They even had a Zoltar Machine!!!! Just like in the movie "Big"! No sign of Tom Hanks tho.
Ok, then, at one point I had to relieve myself and just my luck...Porta-Potties. Yeah...we all love using them, right? So I open the door and whats in there? The newspaper. Someone made themselves at home.

Ok, Now We're In Business!

My computer has been really stupid lately and I haven't been using it too much. And it's in the house and I spend all my time out here in The Snug cuz I love it out here. I've been doing just about every thing on my phone except blogging and I hadn't been doing that cuz I couldn't get anything of a textual nature to appear on a blog post. I could only get text to appear in the title. And I didn't like that so I did a little homework and got my phone linked up to my blog. Those folks at Blogger.com are up on all the techno stuff. I do like that.

So you'll be hearing alot more from me more often now.

Now I just have to figure out how to post pictures from the phone.

This is only a test

Testing one two three. Chhhhhh chhhhhh chachacha. (can you tell I've been to a couple sound checks before?

Posting this from the phone. I think I figured out how to do it.

Here goes. *Hitting publish*

Some Random Wedding Stuff....

You can view a short slideshow of the few pictures I had time to take here .

A couple of things....

Lots and LOTS of beer mixed with 20-ish testosterone is not a good combination. The after party almost got out of control. I spent a good hour trying to get a jump on the clean up....3 big bags of garbage and a couple bags of beer cans. I went upstairs about 10:30, just to get 10 minutes of quiet time because I was starting to get annoyed with the young bucks. Woke up at 4:30 am. My 10 minutes turned into 6 hours. The Spouse and The Offspring cleaned up the rest of the mess.

Nineteen 30 pack of beer were consumed at the house. UnFREAKIN'believable.

I want to thank the following people......

• Judge Tim Walker. Anyone who quotes Dr. Seuss and Green Eggs and Ham during an exchanage of vows is alright in my book.
• Annette Szcymanski at Shelly's Flowers. The floral arrangements were stunningly perfect.
• Jim Weldy of "The Boys of Summer" for the perfect music
• Donna Ilecki for the culinary masterpiece that was The Cake
• Dave Wozniak, our brilliant photographer and friend.
• Joseph's Country Manor for their wonderful venue.
• Lee Nowicki who made the bride's dress and then delivered it as a wedding present.
• And last but certainly not least....Mother Nature herself for probably the nicest day of the year.

The Wedding

Here's just a few shots from the wedding. And, I might add...it was the best wedding EVER!!! And its not just me, mother of the bride, saying that. It was so relaxed and unstructured. Fantastic time was had by all.....at least thats what I heard all day.

I love this candid shot of Michelle and the sisters, Melissa, Emily and Kerry...and the flower girl, Maggie

My dryer broke this morning!!!!!!! The wedding is on Saturday. Timing is everything

Sunday In The Park

The past couple weeks at work have been brutal. Events every night after lunch is over and back to backs on the weekends. 21 days straight. No breaks. But we're just that good and we can pull it off.

We got to blow off a little steam this weekend at The South Park Italian Festival. Good Times Good Times.

It was held on the greenspace in front of The Botanical Gardens this year. Way nicer than where it's been held on Redding Street previously.

It was HOT and the sun was glaring but all the vendor tents were set up under a stand of trees, which made it quite nice. This is the one event that we bring our own beverages to. This year, the bev of choice was Three Olives Cherry Vodka and Lemondade or Limeade. Yum Yum .... perfect drink for the day. Needless to say, we killed the bottle. We also ran out of food!!!! We had lines all day long for our Grilled Chicken w/ Cheese and Roasted Red Pepper Sandwich and the Italian Sausage Patty w/ peppers and onions and cheese sandwich, and the Stuffed Hot Peppers Sandwich. We rock! Pretty sure the other vendors were jealous at our brisk business. We ended up donating the proceeds of $500.00 to Cradle Beach Camp. We're awesome.

Justin won a prize in the Chinese Auction. The umbrella he models for us here, along with a two seater chair. I probably dont have to say that this picture was taken after the bottle of vodka was gone

Here, Justin tests out the umbrella, Mary Poppins Style by jumping off the back of the truck.

We really wanted to take this little guy for a ride. The BPD probably would have had a problem with that since its was theirs.

Here's the Master of Ceremonies for the event...Assemblyman Mark Schroeder. Those yellow shirts the DiTondo's people were wearing had a picture of him when he was a little kid. We do a different one every year. He loves it *evil grin*

At one point I found myself having a conversation with Mark and Mayor Brown. Later on, I mentioned to Offspring #4 that she should have taken a picture with me and Byron and after that, #4 and Justin started and all on "Who Can We Get A Picture With" challenge. #4 got a couple of the Buffalo Jills for Justin, they got me with the mayor and a state senator.