Monday, December 24, 2007

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

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'Tis the season to be jolly. I may not be jolly all of the time but I am lately. I have lost 20 lbs and feel great! I have health, a wondeful family and many good friends to count on. And my cats love me.
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Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!
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Saturday, November 10, 2007

UHHHH......

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Just for the record, I am NOT older than Kenny Rogers whose birthday is today!!!!! Sheesh! Who does these birthday things?
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Whose birthday is Today?
Today's Birthdays
1977 - Brittany Murphy
1968 - Sammy Sosa
1964 - Kenny Rogers
1935 - Roy Scheider
1889 - Claude Rains
All Birthdays on November 10
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Sunday, November 04, 2007

One more time...

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Karl and Teagan
Oviedo Homecoming 2007
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Today was Oviedo's Homecoming dance. The kids went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner and then to the dance. I wasn't able to be there for pictures but Teagan's mom sent me some pictures so this is hot off the presses!
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Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Famous Halloween... Famous Banks Boys

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Life Is Good...

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KJ always keeps an eye out for the newest Famous Stars & Straps on-line store clothing* and when he saw these tees being offered for a limited time, he showed me the day they came out and had to have it. He also wanted his brother and dad to share in the excitement. They obliged! Karl's tee is called "Fangs", KJ's tee is called "Bandages" and Kent's tee is called "Bolts". How apropos for Halloween.

* Being voted best dressed, you have an image to keep up with!
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Sunday, October 21, 2007

Fall Dance (not to be confused with homecoming...)

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KJ and Emily
Hagerty Fall Dance
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KJ went to the Fall Dance at Hagerty High School with Emily. It is called a fall dance because the school is only 3 years old and has up to grade 11 which means that there won't be any "alumni" until this junior class returns after they graduate AKA "homecoming", at that point. KJ enjoyed the dance very much even though they were an hour late due to band competition conflicts.

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Time flies....

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Card that I made for my niece...I "cased" it from Splitcoaststampers.com with a couple of changes.
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Card for my niece's fiance. Also cased from SCS. I'm baaaaaaaad!!!
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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Look to the Right

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If you look at the birthday's below, I was aghast when I saw that James Gandolfini is younger than me!!! AGH!!! I expect one of these days that I will see some date with the year after mine that says "Dirt"!!! Shees!!!
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Blog of the Day

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I haven't had time to upload my stuff so I'm taking you to someone else's stuff. Beautiful glass beads. But, that's not why I was interested in it. Take a look at the kitty monorail down on the lefthand side!!! LOL
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Monorail Cat

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Sunday, September 09, 2007

I can't drive 55

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Click here... Scroll through the pics and comments...
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More pics to follow...
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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

A WONDERFUL BREAKTHROUGH!!!

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I have just been googling a report I heard yesterday on the local noon news WESH-TV Orlando about an UCF scientist who may have found a CURE, yes, you are reading correctly, a CURE for diabetes. It boggles my mind that this is so close to happening! Read these articles and spread the news. A $2 million was awarded to UCF from the National Institutes of Health to fund this study.


Here are several articles I found when googling this topic...

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/78273.php

http://www.uwire.com/content//topnews082407003.html (GO Oviedo, FL!)

http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5016

http://www.palmcoast.biz/portal/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13078

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070730111638.htm

Being a skeptic, I am always looking for "the other side of the story" but so far, I haven't found anything negative (except that drug companies may lose lots of $ on insulin and oral anti-diabetic medications).


Here is an excerpt about this professor's partial credentials...


"Daniell, who is the first
UCF Trustee Chair in Life Sciences,
began teaching at UCF in 1998. His
research led to the formation of UCF's first
biotechnology company, called
Chlorogen, for the commercial development of
patented chloroplast genetic
engineering technology. In 2004, he won UCF's
Pegasus Professor Award, the
top honor given to a faculty member who excels in
teaching, research and
service. Daniell also became only the 14th American in
the last 222 years to
be elected to the Italian National Academy of Sciences."

I am psyched!!!

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Let's back up a few days...

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HAPPY 1st Anniversary Karl and Teagan!!!
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It was actually the 19th and they did spend it together at Seaworld (their favorite place to visit in California). I apologize for placing it on the blog post haste.
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They were at Seaworld all day on Sunday after Teagan spent the day at the beach on Friday and was burned pretty badly. I was worried all day about her shoulders but she seemed to be resilient and had a wonderful time despite it.
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Karl had fun planning the day and had a special surprise for dinner...
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He made reservations for the Shamu Rocks Dinner Buffet. They sat right at the tank and watched the whales around them as they ate. A special evening to cap off their anniversary! The Shamu Rocks show finished off the night (with priority seating as part of the buffet!)

The picture below has a special story. Karl came home after dropping off Teagan at her house (making sure that her car door was left unlocked) and uploaded his pictures to the computer. Then he picked out two pictures and photoshopped them. He printed both out. One for the frame you see below and the other for the inside of Teagan's anniversary card. Let's just say that it's of Teagan in a "priceless" pose! So, Karl finished making the card around 2 am and drove over to Teagan's house to place the two items in her car before she got up for her first day of school. Forever the romantic!!!

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BTW, the Shamu sticker, punch and cardstock are compliments of mom's scrapbooking stash!!! LOL
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Monday, August 27, 2007

The joy of bringing joy....

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I love a happy ending!
A friend has adopted three little girls and we tried to find a gift for them. Tickets to Wet and Wild sounded good but they went the week they came home to live here in FL! So, I scrambled with ways to make their gift a special, memorable one, while having to hurry before they went and did it first. Somehow, I thought of the Build-A-Bear idea and it became a hit! I ordered them on-line and each girl received her own envelope with gift card attached in a cute "Cub Condo" card. The attached message read, "We come "bear"-ing gift cards!!! Oh Happy Day!!! Congratulations!!! From The Banks". When the parents explained what they had gotten, the girls drove mom and dad nuts to go right away. So, they went on Saturday (received on Friday night) and stayed for 3 hours deciding on everything including accessories! They take them to bed at night and want to carry them all day long, too!!! That makes me smile. So cute!!!
Here are their choices. Mom's is the mouse on the left, dad's is the triceratops in the middle and the girls chose the two kitties and the bear.
How wonderful!!!
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Some new additions...

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I have added a few things to the side bar for your enjoyment.
I may have to add...grab a cuppa joe or a spot of tea and read away...
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Sunday, August 26, 2007

QOTD

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I have added a QOTD on the side bar for your entertainment. I send one out nightly to a group of friends and saw this feed. I like it!
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Random pictures of interest...

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This wine didn't make it to the tast test but I rate it a "5" for original name!!!
(And it would have been tied for the most expensive bottle!!! LOL)
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A picture hanging above the bed in my mother-in-law's bedroom. I love to look at it every time I go there.
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This was a weed in the backyard rose garden area but I thought it looked so symmetrical! And green!
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Saturday, August 25, 2007

Ambiance for a Wine Tasting...

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I love Yankee Candles. These three pictures just scream wine tasting!!!
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As you enter the front door.
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A close-up of the cheeses and fruit tray.

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I had sunflowers decorated around the house to compliment the hors d'oeuvres table and serving ware.

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The Wine Tasting...

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Using my rabbit ears cork opener, I was able to quickly open the first bottle to prepare for the tasting of our first mystery bottle of wine.
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Here, I explained the wine rating cards. We used these simple wine rating cards to describe each wine (total of 6 wines) and rated each one on a scale from 1 to 5.
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After we tasted the first 4 wines, we had some appetizers. There were several kinds of cheeses that go well with the wines and we sampled each one...Brie, Fontina, Butterkase, cheddar (mild, medium, sharp and extra sharp).

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Just friends around the table enjoying each other's company, sipping wine and sampling the hors d'oeuvres.

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Here's to a very successful wine tasting!

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CHEERS!!!

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Friday, August 24, 2007

The White and Blush wines...

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This was the first of our tastings. This Sauvignon Blanc was very dry for my liking but I thought it might go well with seafood, esp crab cakes! At $8.99 a bottle for 750 ml, we thought it to be a good white wine. Most everyone rated this one a "4". *Note: When traveling to Napa Valley, we passed by the Beaulieu Vineyards but didn't have enough time to stop in for a wine tasting!

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I have had about 3 Pinot Grigios and this one by Turning Leaf (a Gallo Family Vineyards owned company) was dryer than the others I have had. It was quite smooth but bland. I gave it a "3". At $6.23 for a 750 ml bottle, this was a good priced wine.
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The third bottle was the most expensive of the six bottles we tasted. $10.99 for a 750 ml bottle. This Robert Mondavi Riesling was again, not as sweet as I have had before (Schmitt and Sohne), but it was fruity and I liked it so much that I gave it a "4 1/2"!

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Bottle #4.....Ahhhh, what can be said about this rosy colored beauty?!!! Kent and I first tried the Sutter Home White Merlot in Napa Valley, CA on the encouragement of the Sommelier in the wine tasting room. I was glad I made the decision to try it. It has become my new favorite!!! And it was also chosen as the favorite of 6 out of seven taste testers at my wine tasting. This one was Beringer (the other winery we visited in Napa Valley) and usually more expensive than Sutter Home when you order a glass of White Zinfandel at restaurants. But, I bought a 750 ml bottle for $4.00!!! The 1.5L bottles were $8.00, as well. Either the Sutter Home or Beringer would make a great selection as your #1 blush wine. And both being reasonably priced under $5.00 per bottle!

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The Red Wines...

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After having a few appetizers to absorb some of the wines, we moved onto the red wines.

#5 was a Shiraz (pronounced Shirah-rhymes with hurrah) by Fat Bastard. This bottle was $8.99 for a 750 ml size. One of the seven chose this as her favorite wine of the evening and took the rest of the bottle home to enjoy with her husband!
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This was the last bottle we tasted. This wasn't a favorite amongst the ladies but I liked it better than the Shiraz. It went well with the bacon wrapped filet mignon bites that we had after the tasting was over! For a 1.5L bottle, this Inglenook varietal was the least expensive of all the wines I chose for the wine tasting at $6.49.

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Thursday, August 23, 2007

My First Wine Tasting event...

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The invitation...
(I also followed up with an e-mail to let the ladies know not to wear perfume/cologne or lipstick as it can affect the taste/smell for them or others around them.)
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The front walk up. KJ decorated the doors with grape clusters hanging for a grand entrance!
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A view of the island with the places set for tasting and rating.

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Another view. The tealight centerpiece was designed by KJ. He even thought of coloring the water to look like wine! How divine!!!

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The hors d'oeuvres table was set up with Yankee Candle hanging tart burners. The colors of the sunflowers blended well with the burgundy, green and gold serving platters. There were plenty of cheeses and crackers along with fruits and vegetables to have after tasting the white and blush wines. KJ was the chef and made sure the food was prepared hot and ready.

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Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Karl had a first day, too!!!

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Karl's first day as a Freshman at UCF. He started with 20 credits from his AP exams so he is technically in his second semester but still a freshman. And what a Fresh Man he is!!!
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His drive to school is much shorter than the time it takes to park once he is on campus!!! We live a mile from the school campus! Nice!!!
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KJ home from first day of school

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KJ came home from school very slowly. I think he was worn out. Back to the ole' grind!
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A quick pause for a picture! Wanting to just go inside and relax!
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Almost asleep just inside the front door!

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No, that's not MacCauley Caulkin in the pictures behind KJ!!! That's how KJ looked when he was in preschool so many years ago!!!

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Monday, August 20, 2007

First day of school for KJ...

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The first day at Hagerty High School for this freshman! He is now a Huskie!

He woke up at 6:30...a new start time! But, he likes getting home at 2:30 much better!
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His friend Jordan was dropped off at 6:45 so they could leave together for their first day. See how excited they are about school?!!!
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The proverbial first day of school picture.

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A new adventure, more independence, more responsibility! KJ's ready!!!

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Oh, what a night!

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Below is the evening Karl and Teagan had on August 13, 2007 to celebrate his 18th birthday. A gift compliments of mom and dad!
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Dinner before the show...malto bene!!!

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Okay, I gave Karl $ for dinner before the show, too. It had to be a complete night, right?!!! They ate at the restaurant where they had their first date almost one year ago. Mama Della's at the Portofino Bay Hotel across from City Walk Universal Studios. When they had their first date, it poured. So, if you look closely in Karl's right hand, you will see an umbrella!!!
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Just another captured moment!
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After dinner, a wonderful dessert came over along with singing of the Italian version of "Happy Birthday".

GRAZIE Mama Della!!!

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Okay, doesn't she look like everyone's grandma? They said she was just as nice as could be!

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One last picture taken just for me!!! Karl knows what I like!!! Grazie Karl!!!

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BLUE MAN GROUP

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For Karl's birthday, we gave him two tickets to see the BLUE MAN GROUP on August 13, 2007.
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They took a self-photo before the show started. (The bandana was made out of crepe paper and everyone wore one during the show.)
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After the show, you were able to get pictures with the BLUE MEN and they "autographed " your ticket by kissing it with their blue lips! (If you look closely, you can see Teagan's blue eye shadow and blue bracelet worn just for the occasion!)

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These guys did the percussion and guitars. They were flourescent so you could see them moving in the dark. Karl said he wants to be one now!!!

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