TV Exhausts Me!

Between Sunday and Monday nights, by the time 10:00pm on Monday night comes along, I'm exhausted.

We watch The Sopranos on Sunday nights. What the hell is going on? Argggggh...Tony's my favorite character and he's laying there on a vent with a crater in his abdomen. He's not supposed to survive. I'm on AJ's side. Ain't no gunshot wound gonna take away our Tony, dammit! Damn, Junior. You're lucky it's a bit hard to get to you, or you'd be lying feet up somewhere.

...and 24. Dayum. I can't believe Tony's really dead, but that's the magic of this show - it certainly keeps things interesting. The previews drive me crazy. It's so hard to wait a whole week between episodes. Was the terrorist chick lying about Audrey Rains? I can't help but wonder because she'd have had to play it up to dear old dad when they were being held captive! But if she was, I put her right up there with Nina. If she is innocent, it's definitely a part of something beyond my comprehension. Oh well, it's meant to entertain, right. I guess I'll just have to wait until next week, dammit.

In the mean time, it's time to put on the fuzzy slippers and sleep pants while staring at the inches of snowfall outside. Nebraska welcomes spring. Yay, spring!

Oh Holy Night!

Oh holy night!

The stars are brightly shining

It is the night of the dear Savior's birth!

Long lay the world in sin and error pining

Till he appear'd and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

Fall on your knees

Oh hear the angel voices

Oh night divine

Oh night when Christ was born

Oh night divine

Oh night divine

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand

So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming

Here come the wise men from Orient land

The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger

In all our trials born to be our friend.

Truly He taught us to love one another

His law is love and His gospel is peace

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother

And in His name all oppression shall cease

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

May God bless each and every one of you and may the true spirit of Christmas be in your hearts.  May God's hand reach down and rest upon those who are away from family this Christmas, whether it be in service or in hardship.  May all of you find peace in God's gift to us - Christ!

Christmas Musings....Again!

To my regular readers (heck, to anyone who will read this...hehehehe),

It's the week of Christmas.  I don't have the gifts wrapped yet and haven't bought a number of them as of yet.  I still have Christmas cards to send out (beats last year - I didn't send one out!).  Work is crazy with year-end stuff, including a change in bosses and management styles (gotta train another one, darn it!).  There have been parties, school is out and things are generally crazy.  I still have 2 batches of cookies to bake, grocery shopping to do and all that jazz. 

Which leads me to my little corner of the web.  I'm probably not going to be around too much this week (at least through Christmas).  There are few things to me as important as Real Life, this blog included.  But when I see how excited the kids get about Christmas, writing posts about idiots, thugs and recipes doesn't quite hold a candle.  BUT, I will definitely stop by a couple of times.  One big piece of news, I'm celebrating my 1 year blogiversary on Friday!  I can't believe it's been a year!  So much has happened, and I'm amazed I've lasted this long.  It's all because I have people reading my random thoughts and posts.  If they weren't, I'd have closed the doors a long time ago!

Take care, and everyone have a joyous, Merry Christmas!  See you around!

Christmas Musings

Tonight we put up the Christmas tree and hubby and I shared in our annual tradition of listening to Christmas music with no lights, except for those on the Christmas tree.  Add some champagne, and a few recognitions of a French Horn or a piccolo, and viola - it's the Eric/Merri Christmas hour....hehehehe!  Actually, it's much more than that....it is many fond memories of Christmas traditions....in particular the years that the bubbly cost less than $10 (a.k.a. the "saving for a house years" or the "living paycheck to paycheck years" or the "I can't believe babies cost so much years.") and when we could have the best and most favorite bubbly without worry.

Christmas this year is somewhat frightening to me, but good at the same time.  I have two amazing children, and the best husband I could ever dream of having.  I have my health, we have a roof over our head and we aren't hurting for anything, truly.  I feel so incredibly blessed.

At the same time, I'm constantly reminded that I lost my mom last January.  She had been in the hospital last December.  I clearly remember hubby and I having to put full garb on in the hospital in the event she was contagious.  I remember them ruling that out and allowing us to bring her home on Christmas Eve.  Mom had been released from the hospital on Christmas Eve two separate times.  Once when she had a lobe removed from her cancer-ridden lung.  Last Christmas, we were just thrilled to have her with us - the cancer had taken its toll on her.  She was bound and determined that she would NEVER spend Christmas in the hospital, and she never did, either!

She chose hospice care not long into January, but just had to have one more Christmas with her family before she said goodbye.  I am so grateful that she allowed us that, even though we knew she was suffering we relished our time with her - every moment.

As we unpacked the ornaments tonight, everything reminded me of her.  She was the "queen of Christmas" as far as I'm concerned.  At her memorial, we even displayed a Christmas tree with all of the homemade ornaments she made in years past.  We didn't have enough room to display all of them.  I knew this Christmas was going to be hard, but I didn't know how raw the emotions would still be. 

But Christmas, just like every other time, goes on.  We will forge new traditions and will transition the old ones.  Mom will never be forgotten - every Christmas will contain her legacy.  Beautiful Christmas angels and reindeer and santas on my tree...and in particular a beautiful angel ornament made especially for me...brown hair and a red rose, my favorite color.  I feel like I will shed tears each year for her, but will always be grateful and blessed for the time I had with her and for the gift she has given me - the love of the Christmas season...no matter what.   

I'm Back...for Now!

I arrived safe and sound back home on Saturday, only to be welcomed by a slight ear injury from the flight (pressure trauma, according to the urgent care doc), darn it, as well as a number of crazy things in REAL LIFE.  I just wanted to let you know that I'm alive, and indeed will probably post some things this week before hubby and I go on our trip to Vegas (my first time!).  I'm looking forward to it!

Many thanks to my partner in crime, Raven, for doing a TREMENDOUS job filling in for me in my absence.  I can only hope she got some good traffic from it!

Thank You for a Great Birthday!

So, I had a great birthday weekend!

Even though my crazy hubby left a crazy post on my crazy site, I simply cannot trade him in.  He treated me to a couple of nights of dinner on the town, a nice round of linky-dinky-love, and my favorite Rachael Ray saute pan and one of her signature knives from Sur La Table.  I'm pumped and ready to cook and cut things (muhahahah!)!

Thanks to my friends in the 'sphere who left me great birthday wishes....and for those of you who linked my site on yours!  Beth - you're right, it was a rather interesting birthday post, wasn't it?  Heh!  Dan, thank you for thinking of me, but why did you link him (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)?  Heheheheh  Speaking of him - thank you for the Jawalanche, Honey!! 

Oh, Yeah....Uh Huh!

Me and the hubby had the day off today and we went shopping.  As much as I loved my truck, it didn't love us back.  Between thermostats and radiators, it was getting a bit expensive and unreliable.  SOOOOOOO......I can hardly believe it's ours, but we got this beautiful ride:

It's a day-um nice ride and loaded with all kinds of stuff I'll take a year figuring out.  But leather seats (mmmmm....leather!), seats 8, and has a hitch for the water rides and lots of room for "stuff."  Also has heated and cooled seats...oh, and did I say leather?  Heh!

Oh, and the dealership threw in a tank of gas.  Hey, greenies....this bad boy will get us about 14 to the gallon.  w00t! 

When we were waiting for all the paperwork to be done, I asked the salesman about those hybrid vehicles as I saw one on the showroom floor.

Me:  So, are those things selling for you?

Salesperson:  Um, no.  Because they run on electricity up to 40 MPH and then gas after that, about the only thing an owner of a hybrid will get in this part of the country is less gas mileage because they have to haul that great big battery around in the back.

Me:  Hmmmm.  So they don't save them much on gas then, huh?

Salesperson:  Um, no.  They might be big in a place like California, but here, no way - a waste of money in a state like ours.

Lesson Learned:  SOOOOOOOO....I'll stick with this b-eeeeee-U-tiful ride. 

What I Did on Summer Vacation

We are back from vacation - and what a GREAT vacation it was!  It was great spending a week with family and kids, a boat, a jet ski, a huge body of water and a cooler full of summer, um, refreshments!

We left last Saturday and, of course, had car trouble.  We made it to our destination and the Dodge dealer - in the middle of nowhere I might add - replaced our radiator and thermostat.  Oh, did I mention we had the thermostat, etc., checked out the day before we left and were told "there's no problem - it's just hot in Nebraska today."  I think I owe that garage a call.  Hmmmmm...oh hell, that's another story entirely.  Back to vacation...ahhhhhh!

We brought our boat and our jet ski with us and had the opportunity to keep them in the water all week, which made for fun.  We took both day and night cruises in the boat and couldn't help but seek out the largest wake with the jet ski.  Some of the boats were 40-50 feet and flew across the lake.  See, in Nebraska, our boat is "normal" to other boats out on the lakes here.  At this lake, we looked like we were in a toy boat compared to some of the monsters out there.  That's okay.  We also found a great, calm cove and had a chance to tube as well.  I really loved being able to boat up to a restaurant or bar  to get a drink or dinner.  We really liked the boat that could go 160 mph and had two 150 gallon gas tanks.  Eric told the owner he'd love to tube behind *that* to which the owner replied "sure, go get a tube - I'd tow you."  Eric eloquently turned down the offer.

Eric and I also got a chance to para-sail.  It was fun, but given all the apprehension people had when I told them we were going para-sailing, I was expecting "roller coaster" thrills but got more of a "Ferris wheel" thrill.  It was amazing seeing the lake from so high in the air and it was very calming.  They even dipped our feet in the water coming back in.  I suppose if something had gone wrong, I may have been telling a different story, but it was worth the experience.  Says Eric to neighbor:  "Yeah, they give you a life jacket to wear - I mean, if you fall and hit the water from that high up you'd probably be dead.  I guess the life jacket is on so they can recover your body easier?"  I never even thought about falling.  Heheheh.

We stayed at a little resort that had cabins right on the lake.  We had a bar right across the cove that we floated our boat over to a couple of times.  They had these amazing drinks called Rum Runners.  Let's just say I am a cheap date while drinking those things.  At least 5 different types of alcohol.  We got "to go" cups one night and brought them back across the lake.  Yum!

The kids had a really good time.  We had ducks that frequented our cabin because our daughter, Emily, was always feeding them.  If anyone else walked toward them they would scatter.  When Emily walked toward them they would come running.  Our son, Bradley, got a chance to fish and caught some.  We saw some pretty monster sized fish, too.  I saw a couple  jump in the air right in front of me when I was jet skiing.  We never did snag a large one - I think they got large for a reason - they avoid the hooks.

I don't think we came anywhere near seeing all that we could see.  I would say if I could find a job and/or could afford some of the lake front property they had out there, we'd move there in a heart beat.  We're already talking about going back next year.

***

A huge thank you to those of you who guest blogged for me while I was out:

Beth from MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

Carol from An American Housewife

Janette from Common Sense Runs Wild

Jody from Steal the Bandwagon

Jane from Armies of Liberation

I had no worries while I was gone as I knew my blog was in capable hands!  And a special thanks to Beth, who even kept up on some, ahem, Rachael Ray blogging as well.  I owe you all big and couldn't have asked for anything more! 

Ah....Vacation: Add Water, Sun and Fun!

I can smell it - vacation!  My last day of work was today - we leave Saturday for a week of fun involving a jet ski, a boat, some water tubes and tons of sunscreen!

I can hardly wait!  I can already feel the sunburn, the windburn and a tall cool one in my hand!

So far, I have the housewife from An American Housewife guest blogging (she has already put up a GREAT post - and a must read).  I also have Beth from MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy signed up as well.  She promised to only post about virtuous things (yeah, right!). 

Update:  I've got a few new guest bloggers I've invited, and who have accepted!  Jane from Armies of Liberation,  Janette from Common Sense Runs Wild, E.M. Zanotti from The American Princess, Jody from Steal the Bandwagon and the ever wise, ever funny Preston Taylor Holmes from Six Meat Buffet, who has to hold his own amidst all of these fine women.  Good luck, Preston - watch out for the estrogen!

Thanks to everyone!  Knowing you all are here in da house I have no worries!  On to the fun and the sun!

Helping A Neighbor

I thought I would share a personal story that had a happy ending - it personally touched me and wanted to share.

Last Saturday, I was leaving our house around lunchtime.  I had my small children with me and we were going to go get some lunch and visit my dad.  As I was locking up the house, there was a rather loud crash.  Once I saw that nothing had harmed the kids, my eyes locked on a red car that had plowed into the electrical pole outside our home.

I ran to the car, and a woman I would later know to be named Carol was extremely shaken up, but there was no blood.  She had been wearing her seat belt, thank God.  It took me a good minute to get her to focus on me so I could ensure she was okay and didn't have any life threatening injuries.  We found her glasses - miraculously not broken - and I got her to put it in 'park' and turn off the car.  We then called 911.

Carol's immediate response to me was that she was okay, but slightly shaken up, so we didn't initially ask for an ambulance.  She did, however, seek out her cigarettes.  Can't say that I blame her - the car was a mess.  She was driving a compact car, and it was even more compact following its encounter with the pole.  This lady had been through so much.  She recently moved here following what sounds to be a bad divorce situation.  She had an open heart surgery scar.  She said she was diabetic.  I was pretty certain she may have blacked out or fainted because she doesn't remember how she hit the pole.  She worried that her ex-husband paid for the insurance on the car.  I kept thinking that I had no reason to think my day was going bad at all as I heard her story unfold.  A neighbor walking his dog stopped and kept the kids busy while we waited for the police.  I also called Carol's sister on my cellphone, who arrived at the scene fairly quickly (actually before the police).

Once her sister had arrived, and once the police arrived, it was clear that the adrenaline was wearing off.  Carol sat down and the police were worried enough that they called a rescue squad. 

I have to say that prior to the police arriving on the scene - other than the neighbor walking his dog - we only had one person slow down and ask if we needed any help.  Everyone else just drove by and rubber-necked.  In the back of my mind I was incredulous.  I thought it was natural to want to help people who needed it but it seemed as though no one had the time or the desire to want to help.  Perhaps I was overreacting at this point?

Once the ambulance and fire truck arrived at the scene, everything became a melee.  The street was now blocked off, so everyone had to take detours to get to their destinations.  I guess the siren prompted all of the people in the neighborhood to flock the scene.  There had to be 20 people who ran to our block.  Out of all of these people, one woman approached and offered assistance - she was a trauma nurse.  I thanked her, but by that time the EMTs were assisting Carol.

I double-checked with the police officer to see if he needed me for anything further and he said he had all the information he needed.  I was worried my kids were starving by this time and thought I should dismiss myself and get them to the restaurant.  Then I realized they had loaded Carol onto a stretcher and were taking her to the hospital.  I asked Carol's sister if everything was okay and she said they were concerned about her with all of her health conditions and she was going to ride to the hospital with her.  She took the time to tell me she really appreciated me helping her sister and that she was certain that I helped Carol get through a tough situation.  I replied that I was happy to help and also hoped that had I been in the same situation someone would have helped me.

So the ambulance took off and I loaded the kids in the truck and off we went.  My mind processed the whole situation and after a call to my husband to share what happened, I started to worry about Carol.  I hoped with all my heart that she was okay.

The week progressed and work and all things work and summer filled the hours of each day.  Last night, when things calmed down I realized we had a voice mail.  It was Carol!  She shared that she had searched out my phone number and wanted to call to thank me for helping her.  She had spent four days in ICU with severe headaches and dizziness, but was now home and okay.  She said she really appreciated me helping her and said she didn't know what she would have done if I hadn't have been there.  She actually wanted to bring me some flowers to thank me!  I called her back and left her a message, letting her know that flowers weren't necessary and that I was thrilled to know that she was okay.

I was truly touched that she went out of her way to find my phone number and give me a call - something truly unnecessary, but greatly appreciated.  Would I help someone again?  Absolutely.  I can't imagine not helping someone in need.  I'm just happy that I was there and could help.  And happy that she's okay.          

Scenes from a Rainy, Dreary Day at Home

Ahhhhh.....this was the life - a rainy, dreary day and snuggly children and animals...makes me dread going back to work tomorrow!

Welcome to My Blog

I wanted to extend a welcome to you!  Many of you know me for my alter ego Rachael Ray Redux, but I realized that in that venue I've limited my scope and hope to be able to rant and muse about everyting (and I'll still talk about Rachael Ray and recipes here).  So here I am!

Musings, you might ask?  Why musings?  When I looked it up, here's what came up: 

A product of contemplation; a thought. “an elegant tapestry of quotations, musings, aphorisms, and autobiographical reflectionsâ€� 

So, I got to thinking about tapestry and thought of the Renaissance/Medieval time frames.  Hence the theme of the site.  Well, and "musings" goes so well with "Merri." 

More to come - and I'm certain much construction.  Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to any insight or suggestions you may have to continually improve this site!

All About Merri and Her Musings

I'm not the best at talking about myself, but readers have asked the all important question "who the hell *are* you and why do you have a blog, anyway?!?!?" While this entry will likely keep morphing, here's some fast facts about me and my musings.

1. I'm 37. I was, and still am, a child of the 80s. Chances are, I can tell you who sang a song in the 80s, sing you most of the words, and tell you what fashion item was in style when that song was in the top 40.

2. I was born and raised in a small town outside of Omaha, Nebraska and have never left this part of the country, although moved to the "big city" of Omaha some time ago. How did we get here? My dad was in the Air Force 21 years and had been stationed here a number of times. They decided to retire here as it was half way between Mom's roots in New Mexico and Dad's in Michigan.

3. I'm happily married for 10 years to Vinnie at Vince Aut Morire. We met on America Online, but ours is a story purely of fate. Through our happenstance meeting on AOL, we discovered we lived in the same city, same apartment complex, two doors down from one another. He's the guy I had also flipped off because he almost creamed my car in the parking lot. ...and yes, he remembered!

4. We have two wonderful children...a son who will be nine in September and a daughter who will be 5 on May Day. Our lives have never been the same, thank God! Our first-born was a preemie, but we were extraordinarily blessed to bring him home after only 11 days in the NICU. Our daughter was quite timely, born exactly on her due date! Both of them are amazing - I can't get over how smart our son is and how entertaining our daughter is. I predict, however, if there are broken bones to be had, our daugher will be at the finish line first. They are the center of my life!

5. We also have a house full of pets. Three dogs, two African Grey Parrots and two ball python snakes. Well, the snakes really belong to "the boys." Although they don't scare me. It's kind of like the Discovery Channel around here.

6. We like to go boating, tubing, jetskiing, etc. We have a boat, several tubes, but are missing our jetski, which was stolen in December. The great debate - just keep the boat or turn it in for a jetski or two? Hmmmmm....

7. We also like to take yearly vacations. We've recently (in the past few summers) been to Orlando, Vegas (hubby and I for our delayed honeymoon) and Lake of the Ozarks (in Missouri). This year we are shooting for a trip to Washington DC. We'll see how it goes!

8. I lost my mom to lung cancer a little over a year ago. She had been sick a very long time between cancer and heart disease. I miss Mom terribly. Dad, while he still misses Mom, is doing great and has even found some companionship! A lot of lives changed the day she left us for Heaven!

9. I work for a major internet company as a manager. I've been there quite a while. I love what I do and love the company! It will be interesting to see what the next 5-10 years bring. The internet is an amazing thing!

10. The internet. Why do I blog? Interesting story! I worked an alternate shift for quite a while so my kids could stay home versus daycare while they were very young. When I got a day shift, I missed my hubby as he was always reading, typing, and laughing in front of his computer. He was blogging and had met some interesting folks out in the 'sphere. In order to see what this was all about, thought I'd give it a try. I didn't think I had much to say, but really liked Rachael Ray and thought it would be fun to have a website about Rachael Ray and then I could post recipies of my own or hers with my own spin on them as needed. My first site was called Rachael Ray Redux.

11. Why the change to Merri Musings? Well, let's just say I found out that I had more to say than I thought. While I continue to talk about Rachael Ray, I continue to post recipes on occasion, there are other topics of interest that just didn't fit with a Rachael Ray themed site. Merri Musings was inspired from that. A little play on my name, Merri, and musings to represent all of the things I wanted to say.

12. What, exactly, am I passionate about? Let's see....

13. I'm Republican, although I first registered as an Independent (one step away from my Democratic parents. Heh.

14. I'm pro-life, whether you speak about abortion or right-to-life cases that we've seen within the last year. I also think the father of a child should have a say in what happens to his child. I don't think it is only a woman who should choose whether they should get an abortion or not - she wasn't the only one involved in creating life.

15. Except if you kill someone. Then I'm pro-death. While I believe in due process and a fair trial, I do think it's a waste of space to house someone who will 1) never come back into society again 2) caused another person or people to die and was found guilty (and/or admitted guilt) and 3) should be an example in an effort to deter such crimes in others.

16. I cannot stand the ACLU. The founding priciple was sound, but anyone who supports NAMbLA, hates the Boy Scouts, hates Christians and comes to the defense of sex offenders and other similar heathens has lost all credibility to me.

17. Sex offenders...rapists, child molesters. Those who end up back in society should be no where near our kids. In most cases they end up back in prison because they've harmed another person or another child. I agree with the registries, but more needs to be done. Or the penalties for the crimes should be stiffened. These people shouldn't be walking the streets.

18. Child murderers, especially those who murder their own children, should all be put to death immediately and in a fashion similar to their victims if I had my way. They do not deserve to breathe the air they chose to take from innocent kids. I personally do not care if the words "mental illness" come up. They are still dangerous and should not be given a break. You cannot tell me that a person who chooses to murder another human being is completely sane, anyway.

19. People. I'm passionate about people. I love people and at the same time many drive me crazy. Us human beings can do amazing things (cures for disease, medications to slow down cancer, take care of hurricane victims or victims of other disasters such as 9/11) but at the same time some do stupid stuff (Cindy Sheehan, Hillary Clinton, Michael Moore, Paris Hilton) and earn lots of money doing it. This all fascinates me.

20. I'm proud to be American. I stand behind our troops during war and think the war on terror is the one choice we were forced to make in order to keep our country free ultimately. Is it an easy choice? Hell no. But neither was any other war. 9/11 will be burned into my mind forever. When you have a 4-year-old wondering who Osama Bin Laden is and whether he was going to send a bomb to kill us, it makes you solid in your resolve to purge such filth from existence.

21. Yes, I'm passionate about Rachael Ray, and cooking in general. I found her when I worked nights. I didn't have a lot of time to watch TV during the day, and there really wasn't much on, so I got hooked on the Food Network. I really like Alton Brown and Tyler Florence as well, but there were a lot of concepts I learned from Rachael Ray in order to speed up my cooking. I've cooked all of my life and she just "fit in." I also admire her as a person. Yes, there was a lot of luck and fate involved in her being discovered. But look what she has accomplished! I know some hate her, but I find it hard to understand why other than sheer jealousy. I own her knives (although her original Wusthofs are my favorite), I subscribe to her magazine, I still TIVO her shows, I own almost all of her cookbooks (a few recent ones haven't yet made it to my shelf yet) and I use EVOO, a garbage bowl *and* own her large pan. I get the most hits on my site by men looking for her photo spread in FHM. I think it's funny that some think *I'M* Rachael Ray. Boy - if only for a day...how fun would *that* be?

Anyway...that's enough for now. I may add more later. If there's anything you want to know about me, don't be afraid to ask. I may just add it here!