Flashy Donna

by Donna on October 31st, 2006

Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween without my obligatory “Anything Can Happen On Halloween” post.

Here it is:

[spoken] It’s great to be here, with you young witches, on this fabulous night! Remember Gills, show the world, let them know it’s Halloween. Hit it!

[singing]
I wouldn’t change places
With anyone tonight
We’ll carve pumpkin faces
And watch the witches flight
Every human heart will shudder
Every soul will shake with fear
Tonight, the creepiest
Tonight, the scariest
Tonight, the most wonderful night
ahhhhhhhhf the year
Anything can happen on Halloween
Your dog could turn into a cat
There may be a toad in your bass guitar
Or your sister could turn into a bat
Christmas time brings the snow
Summer time brings the sun
But on Halloween your blood begins to run
Something’s funky going down now*

Anything can happen on Halloween
It’s better than a video
Gremlins gonna mess up every cassette
From London to Idaho
April first can be fun
New Year’s Eve is a ball
But on Halloween your flesh begins to crawl
Oh, I’m losing control*
Anything can happen on Halloween
Your toenails grow long and your hair turns green
Your teacher could become a sardine
Your dentist could turn into a queen.
Has anybody seen my tambourine*
I may start playing
Begin the begin
The craziest night you’ve ever seen
This hairy, scary, creepy, crawly,
Halloween.

*My favorite parts

An idea!

by Donna on October 30th, 2006

I have an idea that will either brand me a genius or ridiculously anal retentive. Elevators should be equipped with a carpet that is emblazoned with circles showing where riders should stand. The circles can even have numbers in the middle of them showing where the first person should stand and the second, third, and so forth. This will make it easier for everyone because there will be no question as to where riders should stand AND it will stop all the Japanese people from crowding into the elevator even after it has been sufficiently filled to capacity. All one would need to do is look down at the carpet. They will see that there aren’t anymore circles left to stand in and they will wait for the next elevator.

Home at 7

by Donna on October 30th, 2006

Dinner tonight was All Bran cereal stirred into a cup of Activia Yogurt and a bottle of Heineken beer to wash it down.

Yesterday Rob and I were surfing the Web and we saw an online music review that stated that the best rock album of the year is by a new band called My Chemical Romance. We immediately queued them up and discovered they were terrible. Rob was extremely upset by their sound and he said, “I pity the youth of today! This music sucks!” He then did something that he does rather often. He queued up Rainbow’s Since You’ve Been Gone on Youtube and he struck a pose in which he stretched his one arm up over his head and his other hand he placed on his hip. “NOW THIS IS MUSIC!” He yelled as he nodded his head to the music.

Doesn’t Graham Bonnet look like Jim Carrey?

YO!

by Donna on October 27th, 2006

Last night I joined my parents for pizza. It was so good! Rick got an order for 27 pizzas! They were for Garth Brooks who was performing in Trenton. How exciting is that? And I thought I had a big appetite!

I took a slightly earlier train home today. Walked in the door just a little after 6. Felt almost like a 1/2 day! I ate a couple handfuls of chips and then I started to motivate myself. It worked because I started cleaning the kitchen and then my bathroom and then I put in a load of laundry and now I am taking a break before I start on my bedroom.

lililililililililili

by Donna on October 25th, 2006

Lisa and I have been passing strangers the last few months. We live together but we rarely see each other. How long could that last? The last two nights, we spent the evening out and about and had a great time. I had almost forgotten how much fun we have together! Sunday night we went to Newtown. We walked around and had a little to eat and then had ice cream. Last night, she met me in the city after work and we went to Ludwig’s for dinner. I ate too much and I drank too much. It was great fun! At one point we had an exchange of words that just sent us into a fit of giggles! Neither one of us could stop laughing. I wish I could relate the story to you but it doesn’t make much sense in retrospect and I really try hard not to use that type of language in the company of other people.

Bah!

by Donna on October 23rd, 2006

I took my car to the mechanic and he said it’s the water pump. Gotta get a new one. He estimates it should cost around 400.00. This means that I must stop putting it off and start looking at new cars. I can’t keep throwing 500.00 every couple of months to keep this old car running.

I worked from home today. I actually haven’t stopped working. Starting late and not doing any work over the weekend has left me with a crap load of work still left to do. UGH! I am tired. I ate like a cow today, grazing every few minutes on the leftovers and cookies in the kitchen. I am not proud of myself.

Tomorrow I have 2 or maybe 3 meetings in Philly. That third meeting I still need to confirm. It will be good to get out of the office and away from the computer screen. I am so tired of looking at Siebel.

Lost

by Donna on October 23rd, 2006

Everything that could go wrong yesterday, went horribly wrong. First it was finding that the security tag wasn’t removed from Rob’s shirt that we bought a week ago. He removed the tag and ink splattered everywhere. Walking out to my car, we found it sitting in a pool of antifreeze. Driving to the church in Rob’s car, we missed our first exit by MILES and had to turn around. We were late but it seemed like maybe we were finally on track. We turned onto the final road and we kept a close lookout for the church. Next thing I know we are on the wrong road. We attempt to turn around but we found ourselves driving on a series of one way roads and before I know it, I am completely confused as to which way we had even come from. We found a street that seemed similar to the one we were supposed to be on but it led us into a royally bad section of town. We asked a couple people for directions but they said, “No comprendo!” We drove to two different gas stations but they were locked tight. My father and Aunt Helen and Cousin David tried to direct us by cell phone but we were less than helpful since we had ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE WHERE WE WERE EVEN LOCATED. The baptism was over and the food at my cousin’s house had been served. Rob saw a sign for the Garden State Parkway and I said, “Let’s just go home!” And home we went completely missing Preston’s Christening. The entire experience was overwhelmingly frustrating. I was angry and sad and I felt so completely helpless. My father said this teaches me the lesson to always be prepared. If we only had a map none of this would have occurred.

Don’t put Clearasil on your Baked Ziti

by Donna on October 22nd, 2006

Friday night, Rob and I went to a fancy Italian restaurant where we had the most incredible meal. The salad was served warm with grilled eggplants sitting happily on top. Rob ordered Pumpkin gnocchi that just melted in the mouth. I ordered candy-shaped ravioli filled with bits of lobster and other shellfish. It was so yummy! I told Rob that we should try our hands at making dinner and he agreed. So last night, I made Baked Ziti. I didn’t follow my mother’s recipe. Instead I googled BAKED ZITI, hoping to find a recipe that contained both meat and ricotta. You’d think that would be pretty easy but it wasn’t. I must have been 5 or 6 pages into the search before I found this recipe. It was very easy and pretty quick. I have made an edit on the sauce and mozzarella amounts and because I changed the recipe a bit, I gave it a new, kick ass name. HOO HA!

Warm and Comforting Baked Ziti

1 lb Ziti, cooked
1 lb Hamburger, cooked
1 15 oz pk ricotta cheese
¼ c Parsley
½ c Parmesan cheese
1 Egg
1 c Shredded mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 - 2 jars Tomato Sauce of your choice

Mix ricotta cheese, egg, parsley and Parmesan cheese together. Carefully mix hamburger with this mixture. Add ziti. Mix in 3/4 of the sauce of your choice. Spread in a pan. Put the rest of the sauce on top. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top. Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes. Yield: 6 servings

As I made the made the main course, Rob grilled eggplants so we could try to duplicate the Eggplant Salad. He found that the eggplants really soaked up a lot of the Olive Oil which turns out wasn’t a good thing. Regardless, once they were cut into little squares and placed on the salad, I thought it was delicious and just as fabulous as the salad at the fancy schmancy Italian restaurant near Rob’s farm.

Dessert was Lemon Squares that I made from a mix. I think it was Betty Crocker. It was so easy and didn’t take more than a 1/2 hour to mix up. After our fabulous dinner we put Thunderbolt and Lightfoot into the DVD player. Our running commentary seemed to focus on whether the Jeff Bridges character was supposed to really be as gay as he seemed. Sadly, something was wrong with the DVD. It just froze and no matter what I tried I couldn’t get it to budge so we just turned it off and went to bed.

Today is my cousin Preston’s Christening. I am looking forward to seeing my cousins. Rob is coming along so he gets to meet the rest of my dad’s side. Should be interesting.

I think I can

by Donna on October 21st, 2006

I am back home at the Donnavilla. My first hour here, I spent drinking tea, eating store bought gingersnap cardboard cookies and playing with Bo. Once that was finished I cleaned the house, omitting my bedroom. That will take a little more work. I then took off for the grocery store where I bought the fixings for baked ziti. Now I am trying to motivate myself to get my bedroom cleaned. It’s not horrendous. It shouldn’t take more than a 1/2 hour to get everything righted. I can do it. I can do it.

TMIBTWIMHO

by Donna on October 18th, 2006

What a day I had yesterday. The rain didn’t help matters. The ride in was uneventful. At work, I let the new guy sit with me as I made cold calls. My boss let me leave early so I could catch the earlier train. I would have too had I not bumped into a old Elementary School pal on the street in front of Penn Station. We didn’t say much but the interaction caused me to miss my train. The next train that arrived was a local so I got home at pretty much the same time had I taken the later express. I went to the old decrepit Mobil station right next to the train station for gas. The price was actually 1.99! The old turbaned guy greeted me with a gruff, “Cash or Credit?”
“Credit”
“NO CREDIT, GO AWAY!”
“Wait, I need gas– let me see what I have in cash.”
As he stood there and I rummaged through my wallet I was surprised to hear myself say, “Gosh darn bastards!” I handed him a 20 and I got more than a half tank of gas! I also realized that I was going to pee myself if I didn’t get to a bathroom. The thought of the toilet at the Mobil scared me. Plus, I doubted they would even give me a key. Never a good idea cussing in front of a person. My best option was to head back to the train station. I drove to the front where there are 15 minute parking spaces. I couldn’t find anything but I did find an empty spot marked, RESERVED FOR COMMISSIONER. I parked there and tore into the train station. I emerged feeling much relieved. It was only heading back that I realized that I had parked in pretty much a construction area and I was getting soaked from the torrential downpour. Luckily my car was not towed in those few minutes I left it in the commissioner’s parking space. I drove home soaking wet and muddy. Lisa callled and asked me to pick up dinner. I wasn’t too happy since all I wanted was to go home but I obliged. I was home by 7:00. At 10:00 I went to bed.

Today, I am gone the entire day and evening. Tonight there is a User Group I am going to with the hope I might make some inroads and networking connections with the community who uses the software I sell. We shall see.