I need 6 pennies & 7 more nickels!

I am 6 pennies and 7 nickels short of two more rolled coins. We had an overflowing coin dish collecting pocket change, and change found at the bottom of my purse. Then there is also the change given at a drive thru and we just throw it in the ashtray of the car. I am sure you all have a similar dish or jar of spare change, so go gather up all your change from under your sofa cushions and in the dish and out side in the ashtray of your car, and start rolling. I am sure you will be amazed as I was when I decided to take ten minutes out of my day to sort through it and roll the coins up! (The bank will give you the paper rolls for free; get some the next time you are at the bank)



I ended up with $53.50 just sitting there in the “spare change” pile! If I had 6 pennies and 7 nickels more, then I could complete two more rolls. I will then have $56. We could use a little more moola, who doesn’t?

With the 56 dollars, we can go out to dinner twice, or go to the movies 3 or 4 times, go skiing and rent our skies with the $56, or even order 15 Carmel Lattes from Starbucks! Of course the $56 should go towards paying bills…but what fun is that?

From A - Z My Favorite Things!

A-Z favorite things:

1.) A: Andrew (there is a no brainer!)
2.) B: Butterfly
3.) C: Camera (digital)
4.) D: Dragonfly
5.) E: Eclipse (it's a rare moment)
6.) F: Family
7.) G: Giggles
8.) H: Hot Dogs at a ball game
9.) I: Iridescent things
10.) J: Jamocka flavored ice cream
11.) K: Kayaking
12.) L: Licorice (the red kind in the giant tub, or at the movies)
13.) M: Mazda
14.) N: Nachos
15.) O: Old fashion car shows
16.) P: Purple People Bridge (it is a good ½ mile walk and fun to say)
17.) Q: Queen Marry-has been closed for a while, but was fun to go to.
18.) R: Roses, but not red roses
19.) S: Snow
20.) T: Turkey
21.) U: uniqueness
22.) V: Violin music by candle light
23.) W: Wishing on a penny or a shooting star
24.) X: X-Mas! (Creative huh? Thought I couldn’t think of an “x”)
25.) Y: Yellow Sunflowers
26.) Z: Zany times with friends

Need a Holiday Cookie Recipe?

I got this recipe from a fellow Blogger, and want to pass it along to you. Merry Christmas!

Recipe for Jack Daniels Christmas Cookies

1 cup of water

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup of sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup lemon juice

4 large eggs

1 cup nuts

2 cups of dried fruit

1 bottle Jack Daniels Whiskey

Sample the whiskey (very important) to check quality. Take a large bowl; check the whiskey again, to be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink.

Turn on the electric mixer...Beat one cup of butter in alarge fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar...Beat again. At this pointit's best to make sure the whiskey is still OK; try another cup ...justin case. Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break 2 leggs and add to the bowland chuck in the cup of dried fruit, Pick the frigging fruit offfloor... Mix on the turner.

If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with adrewscriver. Sample the whiskey to check for tonsisticity.Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Who giveshz a sheet. Check the Jack Daniels. Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Addone table. Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find.Greash the oven.

Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over.Don't forget to beat off the turner. Finally, throw the bowl through thewindow, finish the Jack Daniels and make sure to put the stove in thedishwasher.

CHERRY MISTMAS !!

Seasons change

I took some photos of the seasonal progression. Here is the same pond in three different times...



First is the summer with frogs all around.

Then the frozen pond after it snowed four inches.








Now the pond is thawing out in the last photo. The snow is now melting away and there is a perfect circle where the pond has the fountain part, the snow on one side is completely gone as the sun shines down on it to reveal the grass.

Hide and Seek...

I am sitting on my sofa and looking out my window across the pond and there is a guy (20 something) hiding around the corner, which from my view point is in plane sight, and peeking around to see when the other person comes out of the apt. I notice him holding something...what is that? Then conclude that the door he keeps looking at doesn't have a door mat, and what is in his hands is a door mat. What is he doing? He is snickering to himself hidden behind the corner of where the front door is, waiting there about a minute till the door opens, is the other person going to come out and notice the mat is gone? Is the guy, hiding, going to jump out and surprise the other person with a welcome mat? NO>>>It is a Woman, walking out of the apt. turns to lock the door and starts to leave. The guy hops out from around the corner and catches up with the girl, drops the mat by the door and walks off with her to go some where. The girl is not fazed by any of this, and he didn't startle her? Peculiar in deed and to much time on my end to be amused by any of this and even more silly to blog my watching of this cute little form of cat and mouse. It was so entertaining to watch this guy hide around the corner and peek around waiting for the girl to come out of the apt.

Good Times, Good Friends

This was the day after Thanks Giving (2005) catching up on old times at my moms house. I loved spending the afternoon reminissing of our childhood. The photo is of Beth, Me, & Genoa. The three of us were all in Blue Birds together back in 1st grade through 3rd grade; in this photo we are all now 27, & married.

Another best friend of mine is Emily, who was there with us, whom I have also known for 23 years. It is so special to have good friends like them years later, a golden moment I will continue to hold on to, making new memories like this day at my moms.

Beth had moved away in grade school, and we lost touch. A couple of years ago Genoa and I were at Ross shopping and ran into Beth, out of the blue. It was great seeing her for that brief moment in Ross. Then earlier this year I looked her up again and we all meet up at my moms while we were all in town visiting family for Thanks Giving. So Emily, Genoa, Rodrigo, Andrew, Beth, Mom, Dad, and I were sitting around the table having some Thanks Giving leftovers for lunch. My mom made some turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce, and dished up the rest of the Waldorf salad. We sipped Chardonnay, as we gossiped and giggled. We brought up names of old school kids we had not heard of in a while, and lost touch on. You know the typical, "What ever happened to so-n-so?" One of us would answer and the other add to it with what they knew about so-n-so. Some S0-n-sos were married and had 3 kids, while other so-n-sos were still living at their parents house, surfing.

I had fun with us all there at my parent’s home in good old MB. I hope to look back on this day all together again, 20 years from now also. Of course my Parents will be in their late 70's but we can still meet up there, at their house the day after Thanks Giving.

I survived my first 4 inches of snow!

My work was let out at 3:30 today instead of 5pm to get home while the snow was just starting, rather than 2 hours later. So I drove with caution, and got home in an hour and have front wheel drive. Andrew, on the other hand, takes the bus to work from downtown and stood up in the bus like a sardine the whole way for THREE hours! Then to drive home from the Park N Ride, he said it was so hard to do, having a sports car, it is not really snow steady, with rear wheel drive. He drove in 2nd gear the whole way and was fish tailing at 15 mph. He was so happy to finally get home. He got on the bus at 6pm and got home about 9:40! Wild! A 3 hr ride on the bus; at least it is free to ride through his work, and the bus driver does all of the driving.


I have been at home, like a nerd that I am, running around with my ruler in hand sticking it in the snow, and each time getting 4 inches. I had a fun time here, taking photos, while Andrew was a sardine on the bus.

The pond here is frozen over accept where the fountain part is. I took a photo of the pond, the 4 inch snow, and my car blanketed by snow, for you to see. I say "you" in a general term mostly addressing this to Californians back home, who have not been in snow much. And to YOU, local Ohio natives, can enjoy my "rookie snow humor" also as I blog about it and post photos.

It is official snow season!

December 6th it is officially snow season; according my calculations...Let's see, I have used the ice scraper for three mornings so far, had ice cycles on my car, have seen the snow fall but only to melt away as it landed on surfaces... Then today I was driving in a light snow where it actually lingers behind a bit, leaving about a centimeter of snow dusted lightly on the ground and the pond by the apartment entrance is snowed over. The pond looks frozen, but it was sort of hard to see it tonight coming home in the darkness. I will check it out again tomorrow to take a photo to post later.

I am excited being that this is my first winter. To the Ohio locals living through many years of winter and snow seasons, it is a drag it seems. No body seems as excited as I am. People tell me to just wait about a month later in January and I will be complaining about “when will the snow go away?”, or BRRR! It is SOOO COLD! Some say I will be running back to California.

I say welcome to winter; it can't be as bad as the humid summers? I like hot chocolate with mini marshmallows, wearing sweaters, making snow angels, and sitting by a fire next to my hubby. Winter is a beautiful time of year I have only experienced here and there over the 27 years I have been around. It is not a common season for me, so I don't mind (yet) scraping my windshields in the morning, if I equal it out with the beauty snow brings. Happy Winter everyone. Last year, on Christmas day I was on the beach looking at tide pools and picking up shells. I even found an Abalone shell. This year, I will be out side making a snow man, the moment there is enough snow on the ground to play in.

Our First Winter Here in Ohio or Anywhere Actually

It "Flurried" earlier this week! I didn't know of the term Flurry until last Wednesday. Andrew was driving home from work and he called to say it was sort of snowing. It was a fluffy – light snow condition...like sprinkling for rain.

Before this, the only Flurry I knew of was a guy in Jr. High named Josh Flury, so his last name is a snow condition. Then there is also the McDonalds McFlurry dessert. Come to think of it, McFlurries are probably based on a Snow Flurry?

Anyways, yesterday morning, I go to my car and it is the first morning with my windshield frosted over! Solid sheet of ice, crystallized on my window! I did not get one of those Ice Scrapers yet so I was unprepared. I was defrosting the windows, and using the edge of a CD case to scrape off the ice. Tough stuff! It took a while to get it all cleared off and my legs were getting chilled wearing slacks, a thin material, and standing out there for 20 minutes.

Oh and a comic relief out of this frustration I was having… I grab the water bottle I had left in my car overnight to splash it on the windshield, and nothing came out! The water was frozen inside the bottle. LOL it was hilarious. Last month if I had left a water bottle in the car it would be warm water about room temp, usually to warm to drink the next day and defiantly not frozen water!

This whole start of my morning caught me by surprise and I just started laughing, and thought instantly of a three stooge’s moment, only it was just me entertaining my self trying to get the ice off my windshield with a CD case, and never dealing with winter before it was funny.

So today I went to Lowe’s Hardware store and bought two ice scrapers one for each car. It looks pretty handy, one end has a brush, and the other end has a two sided scraper on it. They were only $3.97 for an ice scraper.

Now I stand tall, ready to scrape what ever ice or snow that comes my way, with my scraper in hand. Bring it on snow man!

Take the White Trash Quiz!

I took a questionnaire asking an odd assortment of questions, to answer yes or no to; I scored 14% !? How about you? Just how white trash are you? LOL take the W.T. quiz and comment back on this one, telling me your results!

http://www.fuali.com/test.aspx?id=35205d9c-5462-4324-926d-bc2d7ca95e98

My result:
You, my friend, have class. You are so not white trash. You are more than likely Democrat, and your place is neat, and there is a good chance you may never drink wine from a box.

Is It Soda or Pop?

Depending on the state I am in and referring to what the "locals" call a carbonated soft drink is either Soda and/or Pop. I think it’s funny. I grew up calling it Soda (in California); here in Ohio (or the majority of the mid-west) it is called Pop. The funny thing I hear is my best friend, Genoa, has always called her dad "Pop" but then she calls her drink a Soda, living out in California. So for her, it’s no big deal. But if people in Ohio were to call their dad-Pop, they would be calling him a soda!? I find this to be an interesting play on words. I will stick to calling my Dad - "dad" and my drink “Soda”. It just comes natural for me to say soda, even if everyone else here says pop. Also, what about the words Carbonated SOFT drink? It isn't really soft...it is kind of ruff, tickling my tongue with the carbonated part of a soda. So let's call it a "carbonated ruff drink" or a "carbonated tickle drink." :)

Trees VS. Humans

I have noticed some contrasts to Humans verses Trees. As we go through the seasons, we are quite the opposite as people verses trees. Follow me here, and keep up…

SUMMER ~ Humans bare all, down to their bikini, to stay cool during the hot, humid summer. Trees are in the rich color of greens and full of leaves. The trees look so warm and are all covered up in leaves during the hot, summer. (Take it off trees, it’s too hot!)

AUTUMN ~ Humans are starting to cover up with warmer clothing, wearing long sleeve, and show less skin. The Trees’ leaves are changing their outfits also. The trees went from the full, green to unique form. They are changing to warm colors of Yellows, Orange, and Fire Red.

FALL ~ Humans are now in sweaters, coats, hats, and are covered head to toe to stay warm. Trees – now some are more modest than other trees, and keep their leaves on but most trees show all. They shed their leaves and become naked, exposing their branches!!! Gasp! Quite opposite from the Humans all covered up to stay warm; Trees are naked, out in the cold.

Tree photos taken by Martiel Hay
("human photos" are from http://www.victoriassecret.com/)

Trick or Treat!

It is 7:55, and I have had only one Princess, and one Power Ranger knock on our door. I have a big bowl of candy and no Trick-or-Treaters! Please come to my place and trick or treat, I am on the 3rd floor and I think this is why no one is coming here? I bought 4 bags of yummy candy, (they were on sale 2 for $4) so I spent $8 just to have no one Trick-or-Treat here! I carved some mini pumkins which look so cute by my door.

Breath Taking Fall Beauty Ohio 2005

Photos by: Martiel Hay, my first Fall Season here in Ohio, so beautiful! From Lipstick Red to Pumpkin Orange.

I can cook really I can!

I took a photo of my stove, to help explain my blond moment if you want to call it that...
This stove is modern, electric, with all of the knobs in the back and a digital timer to set on it. The oven dial is also used to switch to the Broiler part.
Tonight for dinner I made some ribs from Montgomery INN, The Rib King. The directions say to place the ribs in the broiler for 4 minutes and flip over for another 3 minutes. OK simple, I can do this.

I placed the ribs in the broiler drawer at the bottom of this stove as I would with older stoves. Four minutes pass, the electric timer on the stove is beeping, and the broiler is cold, then notice the oven part is all warm. ???Apparently this modern stove is a broiler/oven in the middle part and what I thought was the broiler is JUST a drawer. On my moms stove her drawer is actually a broiler, and the stove we had in Burbank was a broiler...So why would I think differently with this one? So I put the ribs on the oven rack to start over with 4 more minutes to cook, then flipped them over for 3 minutes till done.

We just moved in over the summer and I have not used the broiler part to this stove yet until tonight, so cut me some slack, for those who are laughing at my blond moment.

The ribs came out great, the meat was perfect, falling right off the bone. YUMMY!

What's Your Middle Name?

Interesting tid bit of information. I have meet a couple of people over the years who use their middle name as their first name, and some people would never guess it was their middle name unless they mentioned it or you checked their ID. I could think of a few off the top of my head that I know of.
An old friend of mine named Courtney Maren, goes by Maren
My friends boyfriend named ? Kenneth, goes by Ken
My supervisor is named Van Brian, goes by Brian
We have a friend named ? Aaron, goes by Aaron
My Hubby is named Andrew Stephen, use to go by Steve

Then a gal who is pregnant is thinking of a middle name to use as the first name and the baby is not born yet. (?) Why not have the middle name be the first name? I don't understand?

Then there is my brother who has 2 middle names, both family names to keep in the name, and he could have used either one as his first name if he wanted to. Instead of Robert we could call him Luis! I wont tell you his other middle name, because I want to use the name for a Boys name, if I ever have a boy some day. It is a cool name and unique at the same time, so I don't want to advertise it and have it become popular. You will have to ask Robert what his other middle name is. :P

Another old tradition is referring to people by their last name. My brother has gone by the nic-name of Hesse, referring to him by last name. My Grandma had a best friend named Tomi, but this was actually her last name short for Thompson. Her first name was actually Ramona. I just know her as Tomi. To get even more complex, her last name currently was Brown, so in my address book I have entered her in as Tomi Brown, BUT! those are two last names! If we all used our first, middle, and last names in the proper order, it would be less complicated. My Grandma's friend would be Ramona Brown...I would not even know who that is? A whole different person! She has been Tomi for so long!
Back when I was dating Andrew, he went by Steve (his middle name) and my friends meet him as Steve. A couple years later we were getting married and the invitation comes in the mail to my friend Janets house, and she read the name Andrew on it. She called to congratulate me and then asked, "What ever happened to the other guy you were dating?...Steve was so nice." I cracked up once I realized the confusion and told her, "Oh no, he is the one I am getting married to, Steve was just his middle name that he used as a "first name" and now he goes by Andrew his original first name! She then told me, "Good because I liked Steve, I mean Andrew, and you two will be happy together." That is about as complicated as it gets!

I will stick to my first name, Martiel, to keep simple. Well not too simple, most people have a hard time catching my name right being a unique name. It is pronounced Mar-T-L (Martiel).

winter waredrobe

Two Californians living in Ohio, the West coast meets the Midwest. There are seasons here, with the fresh, crisp, cool, air in October. No more flip-flops or short sleeved shirts to wear because it is getting cold. I go to the closet and I am looking at my shoes, they are all open toe, or exposed heal, one pair of white sneakers, I need shoes that are warm and covering my whole foot! I don't like my sneakers anymore, because the shoelaces don't stay tied together. Let's see what I have in long sleeve? Oh three tees and two sweatshirts, one that says Wavelengths on it, a surf sweater. It screams California. I need winter clothes and Andrew needs a jacket warmer than his Adidas Windbreaker, and some more slacks. I hear an excuse to go shopping! Fun times, I love shopping...

…I hate shopping! I don't know what size I am any more? Come to think of it I have always been in an awkward size my whole life. As a kid I was smaller in size with not equaling up to quite the right size in clothes, it seemed I was always between a sizes. Say # size was too big but the next size down was too small and I would look for something in-between. Or in High School I was the average size for so long where my size 5 clothes were the first to go out of stock and I couldn't buy the cute top, with my size sold out. This happened to me again today, with trying on these cute plum colored cords. I wanted to get these but one size that fits well in the hips but is too short in length and the next size up is looser but is in the right pants length. UGH!

I am still not a set size, and I am 27, it is not like I am that scrawny little kid I use to be, who use to be awkward in sizes. Apparently I still am. :) Maybe I can set my self at a set size and not be in-between any more? Heck I will even settle for the cute size 5 again and deal with items being sold out; at least they will fit right when I do buy them. I didn't end up buying the cute, plum colored, cords, but I did find a cute, cozy, blue sweater and some long sleeve shirts. Andrew found two winter jackets, both on sale. Thank You Kohl’s Store for the great sales, aside from the cute cords not coming in my size!

I have been watching a reality show, called The Girls Next Door, on E! It is all about Hugh Hefner and his three girlfriends. I started watching it back in August, when I was taking a Mythology class. I did a paper on Hugh Hefner tying him into the myth of Pan, a God of Romance, and half man half goat. Pan frolicked with the goddesses, and played on his merry flute, and chased them around and the goddesses adored him as well. So in a way Hefner is like Pan, chasing after young beauties, and a modern day God of Romance. He lives out his fantasies, enjoys his life there at the mansion and entertains who ever is in his company. Living life the fun way and seems to have no worries. Apparently he is 79 now, wow! I wonder who would ever replace him to keep the play boy mansion alive and kicking. He has lived such a lavish bachelor lifestyle.

So I watch this show every Sunday night after the show Charmed, and a couple of episodes back they did on the girls doing a photo shoot for Playboy, and I thought it would be neat to buy the issue when it comes out. Last Sunday’s episode they mention the magazine shoot again and that it is out in the November issue, meaning it is on news stands now in October! Hmm do I really want to buy a Playboy? Sure why not? It is not like I am a teenage boy getting a playboy to "whack off" too. LOL I am a mature, 27 year old, gal, wanting to buy my very first Playboy...and yes I will read the articles!

Thursday after work I go to the gas station and remember to look for the Nov. issue, I was at UDF gas and they don't even sell the LOTTO there so of course not Playboy Magazine! so I hope in the car down the road to a different gas station and there aren't any magazines sold there either (not even People or Readers Digest type), OK let's go to the Food- Mart near my house, and I see a gal behind the counter and I ask (Quietly) "Do you sell any magazines here, I am looking for a Playboy?" She said, "Sorry babe, we don't sell them but check the one down the road, somebody must sell them?" and she had a confused look on her face like it never occurred to her that they had not sold Playboy.

I felt so out of place already buying this Playboy, and to have to go to four different places and not find one was getting frustrating. Later I was chatting on IM with a friend asking where to buy one and she said to check the local Boarders Book store! I would have never thought to look there! I just know that back home I always saw them near the counter of convenience stores, like 7-11 or at gas stations. When I am not looking for something it is in my face, and when I want it I can't find it. Go figure. I finally bought it at Borders Book store; I had it on hold by the cash registers, because I had called before hand to see that they had it. So Andrew comes along (just to laugh at me) and I tell the clerk, "I have a magazine on hold under Hay." (Not mentioning the title of the mag.) lol Paid for it and left the store got to the car and did a sigh of relief.

I went through so much effort for this issue. I am a little disappointed though because they show in the issue only group photos of the 3 girlfriends, and in the photo shoot that was on the reality show the girls were taking single shots also to have photographed, and the magazine is more about the articles than photos. There are not as many photos in a Playboy as I had thought there would be. Who would of guessed, me buying a Playboy, laugh out loud!

OH. Weather in CA.

It is now October, where it should be getting colder, and maybe even snow towards the end of the month as some Ohio locals tell me? But I don't see it. I grew up on the central coast of California, and have not lived with snow yet, nor had much of the seasons to live in yet. So last week I was noticing the leaves changing colors on the trees for fall, and became all excited about the seasons changing, and how different this will be living in Ohio at this time of year compared to a California fall. In California maybe there will be some trees turning color, but not like the trees here. Ohio is beautiful with an abundance of trees, all changing slowly from green, to light yellow, to orange, and to lipstick red on some. There is a batch of trees by my home I keep wanting to take a series of pics to track the color changing, then I will post them on a later blog.

OK, so visibly I see fall coming, and maybe it has dropped in temperature to about 65 from the humid summers here, but this is not very noticeable. This morning I was driving to work in the FOG! This fog was thick like a cloud had lost its air and sank to ground level. Not like Morro Bay Fog, a lighter form of it. Occasionally there is a dense fog in Morro Bay (CA), but usually light fog. (Listen to me, I sound like a weather girl!)

Anyways I went to MSN.com where I checked the weather in Morro Bay, and the weather here in Ohio, and it is about the same right now. Back home in California it is 58 degrees, and here in Ohio it is 61 degrees, with some fog. Right now we share the same weather at this time of year (so far), and I feel a tad bit closer to home some how with the same weather.

California is not all sunshine and warmth as people believe...and for the palm trees, most of those are put in by landscapers. California has a lot of hype, to the ideal it presents to the rest of the world, but as for today, it is cloudy and colder than Ohio, "So there" Not so sunny in California after all. :^P

Your age by chocolate math

> >DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST! >It takes less than a minute .. >
Work this out as you read ... >Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!


1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10)



2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)


3. Add 5



4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator


5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1755 .... If you haven't, add 1754.


6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number. > > > >The first digit of this was your original number (i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week). The next two numbers are ... YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)

You can't lie about your age when it comes to chocolate math! cool huh? Mine was 327.

You can leave comments to my BLOGS now.

I reset my settings to allow people to leave comments. I was wondering why no one could do so. You may click on the word comments at the end of each Blog saying what you want to say and not have to be a BLOG member.

I have to split, off to work now. Will blog later alligator!

Good Morning Sunshine!

I took this beautiful morning photo a few days after hurricane Katrina, here in Mason, Ohio. With the hurricane down south, it brought us rain up in Ohio; the sky had some puffy storm clouds, with the morning sun peaking through. This was about 8 am heading to my car to go to work. I stopped and looked out to the beautiful heavens shining through the grey clouds. It took my breath away, so beautiful. It was literally a "ray of hope" =)

Hope anyone who was effected by the hurricane Katrina and Rita and all the hurricanes in between are ok and recovering. I share this photo with you as a ray of hope.

This blog is for Dad. I have been looking into real estate around here in Ohio for my mom and dad to buy a vacation home to stay in when they feel like visiting us out here, from California. So last month, I came across this prime real estate for mom and dad to have as their vacation home in Ohio. This is also just 3 hours away from us, so Andrew and I will stay in the red guest house in back when they visit.

An ongoing joke from childhood, passing by an old fallen down barn he would point out to my brother saying, "there is your future house." My brother would always respond back saying, "NO! that is Martiel's house when she moves out!" Well now I say that old fallen down barn is Dads vacation house in Ohio. =)

Steak N Shake

SteakNShake is a diner, in the Midwest; similar to Margi's Diner or Johnny Rockets. Steak N Shake is a fun place to order a Milk shake with your tuna melt or burger. Their French fries are skinny, called shoe strings fries. I went there for the first time with Jenette, Aaron and their little boy. While we were there, some people from the local high school were all dolled up for Homecoming to have dinner. Fun to see them on a group date dressed up in their new threads. One guy was wearing a black velvet suit jacket with plain black slacks; I thought was very stylish, from the normal monkey suit guys wear to dances. Earlier today I saw a couple dressed up for homecoming in coordinating attire. The guy had on a pink tie to match the pink piping on her black dress. So cute and matchy-matchy.

So we are eating at Steak N Shake, and our server there was horrible! She was rude and forgetful. We ordered what we all wanted, and for their little boy Jenette asked for some crackers for him to have while we waited on the food, we were all hungry, but adults can hang on a little longer for food than a kid. The crackers would help, but she didn't bring the crackers until the third time they asked for some, and our server didn't bring our drinks until the food was brought out later. She only brought us 2 table settings seeing that there were two of us at the table while Jenette and her son were in the restroom. ? strange gal, she saw that we were a table of four before hand and later knew she only gave us the two sets when she made the realization that there were four of us, you would think she comes back with two more sets of silverware, but no she did not. She came back to our table with Aaron's coke and a kids cup of milk. UMMM? We would like some water please? It was not like she couldn't carry the four drinks together in her hands, she used a serving tray that she could have put all four drinks on to serve all at once.

The night went on with her making multiple trips to our table, making more work for her. It was very frustrating; to the point we decided not to leave a tip. Now I usually leave a tip, maybe some tips less than others and accordingly to how well we were served and the tip is to be an added extra to the bill, as a "thank you waitress/waiter for you time, and hospitality." Tips are not required, and should not be given lightly; our waitress tonight should not be expecting a tip from us the way she was rude and forgetful on so many items. This is once in a blue moon that I don't tip. Rare indeed. But why reward frustration? To top off the night, she only apologized at the very end as she gave the bill to us, I guess because she realized the tip is hanging on a thin thread. While we were there not once did she say sorry for the mix up or excuse me for being rude, she just seemed careless the whole time.

I will not let one waitress give my first impression of Steak n Shakes a bad rap. I liked the food, the fun diner atmosphere, and seeing the high schoolers there on a group date was cute. I would eat there again, just with a different server or at a different Steak N Shakes location.

OK so it is my fault! Sigh, my car is smashed in a little bit on the hood and I made a small dent on the SUVs plastic bumper. What happened was I was coming to a stop on Mullhouser road, sort of congested traffic, being 5pm after work, I didn't stop soon enough and hit the SUV in front of me bumper to bumper. Big Oops! When it happened I found myself in this slow motion act, I could see my car hitting her SUV and not being able to do anything, tried putting more of my breaks on but hit her still. The hood of my car was slowly approaching her big, plastic, grey bumper, and I then heard a bonk sound. It was now a car accident and I was at fault. Take the cell phones out of our purses, call the insurance people, and deal with it. She called for a cop to come to make the accident report while I was on my phone with the insurance.

SIDE NOTE: In California if I am the cause of an accident I don't receive a ticket. In Ohio I am the cause of a car accident I get a ticket! Cry...I have never had a ticket before, in the ten years that I have been driving. So now I was rewarded my very first ticket, by the cute officer of West Chester. UGH! 85 bucks later!

So of course the SUV is just a small dent in the plastic, my car is smashed in the hood area. Just turned in my car yesterday to the body shop, and today picked up a rental car. Oh and her bumper has a toe hitch on the bottom which left a small hole in my front bumper.

physically the other gal in the Suv and me are ok. I was coming to a stop in the first place so i was only going about 5 -10 mph. Why did this even happen? I drive this rought often and know that the stop is sudden on this road! Arrrrrrg!

Blog later, I am off to a friends house to a basket party. To be for warned...I have birthdays and anniversaries in mind, so you might get a basket from me. =)

Reds Game!

Twice in one week, Andrew and I went to a Reds Game. Saturdays' game was with our new friends, Jenette, Aaron and their cute son, Ethan. Again the tickets were F-R-E-E! Free is always a good thing. Thank you Jenette and Aaron for taking us along. Saturday was the second to the last home game for the season. Reds played against the Phillis, Reds won! Woo hoo! Go team.
The Reds had a home run; the fire works went off and made a bunch of loud noise, frightened little Ethan, but he enjoyed the rest of the game.

At the game, we were eating peanuts, and I showed Ethan the man in the peanut! Only to find out he thought this was the coolest thing, and would eat each peanut after that one showing us the man in the peanut. Twenty peanuts later, I said sorry to Jenette for showing him, not knowing there would be a repetion later. hahaha... For those who don't know about the man in the peanut, go get a peanut, crack open the shell, split apart the peanut in half...see the man with a neck tie on? "He" is at the top of one of the peanut halves. Little Ethan was too cute showing us each peanut and saying "look a man in the peanut!" What have I started? Lol.

Back to the Reds, they almost had a second home run, BUT a catcher caught the ball out on the field and the home run became voided. The Reds team were running around the bases and got to third base, almost to home base, the fans were standing up cheering and clapping, then the ball was caught and became invalid! Oh well, the Reds still won the game though.

HOOTERS is a hoot & Corn-holing is corney!

from September 06, 2005
Ohio is treating us well. The people we have met are great and getting around everywhere through Yahoo Maps is helpful, until we get more familuare with out surroundings. We have hung out in Newport, KY on many occasions. Newport is just across the Ohio River crossing over the bridge. There is a Purple-People-Bridge that we can walk on from the Cincinnati side to the Newport side; it is a nice, 1/2 mile stroll. By car is the 71/75 interstate that is a two level bridge to drive across; one level going north & the top level going south over the river.

In Newport, KY we have been to the aquarium, movies, the Irish pub on the levy, oh and Hooters on the levy. We can’t leave out Hooters! The Hooters Restaraunt is interesting. I have been there a few times before back in Burbank, CA when it opened up there across from IKEA. But out here in Ohio, there seems to be just as many Hooters as there are Burger Kings. They market themselves as a "family restaurant" but it is really guys going there with their buddy checking out the waitresses in their orange hot-shorts. Then I gathered that while all the guys are there, I am on the flip side, eating my meal checking out all the hot guys who are checking out all the "hot hooters." While Andrew and I was there, the table next to us was a little league team eating there with the parents. The funny part was the parents all ordered a 'Hooter Shooter', basically an Oyster shooter but with out the quail egg. Andrew then ordered one, and he gets to keep the shot glass that has the Hooters logo on it.

After dinner at Hooters there was a live Blues Band playing outside, so we stayed for that and were served cocktails by servers in bikinis…a fun night for Andrew (wipe the drool off your chin). I had fun also. The band was great and we were sitting outside right on the Ohio River watching the boats pass by. I finally saw what Corn holing was also! People were playing it as the band played. It's a popular game to pass time out here in the Mid West; people take turns tossing a beanbag about 5 feet away to a hole in a board set up on the ground, similar to Horseshoes. It is called Corn-hole because the bean bags are filled with corn and you aim for the hole. LOL There is very simple pleasures in life, and Corn-hole is one of them!

I will blog later, and keep you posted on how we are doing in Ohio. Email us as well to tell us how you are doing. OR! If you have a blog for us to keep up with let us know also.

October Fest/Reds game Cincinnati, OH 2005

Cincinnati Fun. Living the Ohio life, drinking beer in the streets...The streets of October Fest! All the German beer and other beer you want, for $4 a cup. The picture is William, April, Diane, Clyde, Andrew, and Martiel.

Andrew, Clyde, Diane, and April all work together at the IRS. Good to have connections right? They are a fun group of people to hang out with. This was on Sunday for Oct. Fest.

Today on Tuesday, William was given 4 tickets to the Reds game from his Boss, and April asked Andrew and I to come along! Fun time at the Cincinnati Reds game, playing the Cardinals. Reds won! Woo hoo! The stadium is right off the Ohio River, so we can watch river boats go by during the game. When the Reds hit a home run fireworks go off. In the beginning of the game it happened where the Reds got a home run, it was exciting. Then another home run happened later on in the game and the fireworks did not go off...I had a blond moment and asked why they didn't do the fireworks....LOL it was because the Cardinals hit the home run. Only have fireworks for the Reds home runs. It was a valid question. At the end of the game when the Reds won, more fireworks went off, pretty cool.

Pop Quiz: why is the team called the Reds? Well they were originally the Red legs, and then another team named themselves Red Sox, which was to similar and shortened their name to Reds. and still today the baseball players are wearing long red socks, looking like red legs. This is what we told by a fan sitting infront of us. Correct me if I am wrong.

Another tid-bit for you: The Stadium is called The Great American Ballpark. This is because Great American Insurance Company is funding the stadium, they have a building right across the street from the stadium. I could just picture the coworkers crossing the street heading to the game after a long day at the office...They probably get a discount on tickets or maybe even free?
who knows? Just a random thought.

I will BLOG to you later!

Our friend, Clyde and me enjoyed a strudel. Clyde was savoring the moment to when he could get his hands on a strudel. There were many vendors selling strudels and cream puffs, but only two particular vendors made them just right. Clyde wasn't picky when it came to the cream puff and settled for the common kind, which is made with whipped cream, and two vendors down from there, was the authentic cream puff which I bought, made with a creamy custard and no chocolate frosting, just lightly dusted with powder sugar. The Strudel we found later in the day, at the other end from where we bought the cream puffs. The Strudels were just as good. Mine was Apricot Almond flavor and his was cherry flavored. So rich in flavor. YUM!

October Fest Cincinnati, OH 2005

This is the oh so famous Naked Cowboy who has walked the streets of NY and now appeared in Cincinnati, for the October Fest. It was great. Andrew and I were enjoying October Fest (in September) with friends from his work, we were nibbling on Authentic Cream Puff pastries, and walking by us was the NY Naked Cowboy. Andrew was grabbing my camera to take a picture. Someone I did not expect to see here in Ohio. Aside from the naked cowboy, we had fun listening to the German band playing, and eating Guetta burgers, and guetta balls. Also drinking $4 a cup, German beer. "Ziggy salky, Ziggy salky oy oy oy..."