I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year and let's all hope that Obama knows what the hell he's doing - for all our sake's.

Oh and we may be adopting a new family member!  I'll post pics when & if we do.

The reason for my tardiness here is actually a good one.  We were tagged to puppysit an 8 week old puppy that my brother & sister-in-law had gotten for their daughters and he needed a home for a couple of days before Christmas.  I had no idea puppies were nocturnal!!

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and I hope you have a wonderful, blessed New Year.

Again, the Fox News Channel can only be accessed via cable or satellite.  It is NOT the channel you watch the Simpsons or your local news on.  It is the channel that carries, Shepherd Smith, Neil Cavuto, Bill O'Reilly, etc.

On a different note, congratulations to my youngest niece on losing her first tooth.  She was extremely excited tonight and very concerned about how much money she's going to get.  She's just like her father.

I hope everyone has the time to sit back and really enjoy the holidays.  I think we sometimes get too caught up in the insanity of it all and it loses its meaning.

So have a Happy or a Merry and talk to you again soon.

We survived the house tour again this year, but the weather really hit us hard and I don't think we came close to making what we made last year.  It may be time to find something different to do next year.

I hope everyone is surviving the season so far.  Doug has a ridiculous number of Christmas parties.  He had 8 parties in 11 days and just told me he has 3 more next week.  I would have loved to have gone with him, but in an effort to prevent my body from exploding, I've been opting to stay home and only went to 3 so far.  Last night while he was out eating & drinking, I was home addressing Christmas cards and watching "Happy Feet".  Now it wasn't all that bad, but I'm glad I didn't pay $10 to see it in the movies.  But I didn't lose interest & turn it off in favor of Celebrity Rehab or Top Chef, so that's a good sign.

What really shocked me though was the blatant political overtone to the movie.  If I had kids, I would be ticked off!  If you have an impressionable kid, they would never eat fish again!  Does EVERY movie coming out of Hollyweird have to have some liberal slant to it?!  No wonder nobody goes to the movies anymore! 

I'm still struggling with posting pictures on this blog.  It isn't the easiest thing in the world and it's frustrating the heck out of me.  That's why there are only 2 up so far, and I can't get the caption on one to show up!

Construction is at a standstill (yet again!).  Now we're waiting for our architect to get updated drawings done because the town won't let us proceed until they have updated plans.  The work is fine and will pass, but the inspector is being hard-nosed and withholding our "Pass" sticker until he has the plans.  On the upside, we've finalized the floors and are meeting with the cabinet maker next week to finalize the new down-sized cabinet plan.  We had to cut back on some of the extras, but that's okay.  My kitchen has been on the porch for over 2 years now and I think anything other than Tupperware would be thrilling for me.

I'll be posting my upcoming schedule as soon as it's finalized.  Hope you're enjoying the holidays!!

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and don't forget to say a prayer for our soldiers who won't be spending the day with their families and also for those who either have no one to spend the day with or have no reason to celebrate.  Our wonderful neighors, The Biondis, have invited us once again to share in their dinner, so we are blessed.

I'll be posting again soon!

But mostly the time was spent caring for Sophie.  She kept us jumping and this morning she used the last of her nine lives.  She would rally, begin eating like a truck driver and we would see glimpses of the old Sophie, but yesterday she just suddenly stopped eating and drinking and we knew that was it.  We had agreed that we wouldn't attempt to feed her via the syringe anymore when she stopped drinking. 

We both prayed constantly that God would take her quickly and that it would be painless and I know I prayed my heart out in Mass last night that He would just take her in her sleep and our prayers were answered.  She has been sleeping with us on the air mattress the last couple of nights and I would wake up every time she moved.  I woke up just before 4am and noticed she had started to breathe quickly.  I woke up Doug and within minutes, her breathing changed and she was gone.

So my fear of her dying by herself blessedly didn't come to pass and I have no doubt she's in Heaven running around again chasing her tail.

On a happier note, this Tuesday, Veteran's Day, I have the honor of presenting the Monmouth Beach School with a flag flown in Iraq.  They've been a huge help to ARMS and I'm thrilled to be able to do it.

Wednesday the 12th, I'll be in for Spencer on Fox Across America.  The show airs from 2p - 3p, eastern time.  You can listen over the internet by going to:  http://www.foxnews.com/radio/index.html and clicking on "Listen Live".  Of course if you have Sirius or XM, you can listen on Channel 145 (Sirius) or 168 (XM).

Again, I apologize for my absence and now that things will be somewhat calmer, I hope to be updating this blog on a more regular basis.  

Then I will be joining Alan Colmes on Fox News Talk from 11p - 1a (eastern time) for his Friday Night Free For All.  I've had the pleasure of doing this before and it's a lot of fun.  I'm the "wild card" this time.  I really lean Libertarian, so it's hard for me to argue the Conservative side against Alan when I agree with him on several social issues.  If you're around, you should try to catch it.  They usually book some pretty funny characters and it's always entertaining.

You can listen over the internet by going to:  http://www.foxnews.com/radio/index.html and clicking on "Listen Live".  Of course if you have Sirius or XM, you can listen on Channel 145 (Sirius) or 168 (XM).  Alan's show is also carried on AM stations around the country.  If you'd like to check and see if there's one near you, click here:  http://affiliates.foxnewsradio.com/Station_Finder.php

Have a safe Halloween and enjoy your weekend! 

Oh and one more thing.  If Obama thinks your rich and you don't, check this out: http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/24/magazines/fortune/tully_henrys.fortune/index.htm

I'm really excited and looking forward to it.

Enjoy your week!

Got a call today that Fox is cancelling their weekend "special" segments to devote more coverage to the shenanigans in Ohio. Sooooooo, I will NOT be on the Fox News Channel tomorrow. I know, I know. You were planning your entire day around it and now you have nothing to do. Don't blame me - blame ACORN! <LOL>

My next project is to figure out LinkedIn.  Who has this kind of time??

I went in to the City with our designer Susan on Tuesday.  We went to Chelsea Arts Tile & Stone to pick out the floors for the renovation.  Our architect, the Wizard, had recommended them and I thought that it would be stupid expensive, but the selection is fabulous, the customer service is unbelieveable and tile is REALLY reasonable!  I highly recommend them, especially if you're looking for something other than Travertine, Carerra, etc.  They do have a wonderful selection of that as well, but I want something that looks old and doesn't look like it belongs in Manalapan with a big fountain in the entry.  (you know what I'm talkin' about!)  Oh and ask for David.

Here's a picture of what we've selected so far.  The middle stone is a marble and we're going to use it in the kitchen.  The other 2 patterns are going to be used in the 2 new entries as an inlaid pattern with the plain marble being used as an edge.  Then again, we haven't ordered it yet, so it is subject to change.  <LOL>

  Sophie is doing much better.  We're learning that she cycles and around Friday, her stomach starts to act up and she eventually vomits out the poison that her kidneys can't filter out.  The diet that our neighbor Cathy (the Cat Whisperer) recommended has really made a difference.  I wish I had spoken with her earlier and not listened to our vet.  There's a lot to be said for adjusting the diet and getting rid of all the pills.  I don't know how much she weighs, but she looks like she put a little on.  She's also walking much better & is negotiating the stairs again.

I didn't get a chance to update this in time to let you know that I filled in for Spencer yesterday - sorry.  I can tell you that I'll be back on America's Voices on Sunday on the Fox News Channel.  Again, that's not your local TV affiliate.  You get it via cable or satellite.  It's the station that airs Hannity & Colmes, Shepherd Smith, Greta van Sustern, Bill O'Reilly, etc.  The segment airs at approx. 4:20pm eastern time and runs anywhere from 4 to 7 minutes.

Lastly HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Gerard - Doug's cousin and a fellow Scorpion.  Doug is treating me to dinner at the Little Kraut in Red Bank tomorrow for my birthday.  So early HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me.  :)

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

Bush Derangement Syndrome is so out of control, that the Obama Kool-Aid drinkers can't see his role in this whole mess nor can they give McCain credit where credit is due.  To be fair, it's not all their fault, the mainstream media is doing everything in its power to keep painting McCain as the one out of touch and to keep covering up Obama's deep ties to Fannie & Freddie.  So unless a member of the Obamanation actually seeks out the truth, they will continue to operate under the delusion that he is God-like and sent from the heavens to solve all their problems.

I know it sounds like I'm in love with McCain, but I'm really not.  His position and failure to seize this opportunity is maddening to me, but the hypocrisy of the Democrats and the media is forcing me to up my meds!  Personally I'm  happy that the bill didn't pass.  When you're talking about spending $700 billion, I'd prefer that Congress take its time and not just ram it through.  Thank Goodness they're taking the time to actually THINK about this one!  On the other hand, watching Pelosi get bitch-slapped like that was most satisfaction I've gotten in at least a week.

Along those lines, I'm posting links to some articles (both long & short) that give some pretty good explanations of this mess.  I'm also posting a link to a video for those of you who either can't read or can't be bothered reading.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0917/p09s01-coop.html?page=1

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMouthPeace  I don't know how long this link is going to be up; there seems to be an issue about copyright infringement with the music.

Lastly, I don't know how many of you bothered to watch any of our representatives pontificate about this, but God bless Ron Paul.  I know he's a little extreme, but he's one of the few that actually said anything that made any sense!  Probably why he'll never be President.

On the Sophie front, we got her labs back and her kidneys are failing.  From what I understand it's pretty common, so she's going to have good days and bad days and eventually the bad days are going to be more frequent than the good days.  I've become an expert at administering sub-cutaneous fluid injections in cats and managing to get all the pills down her throat that are required.  I've also learned to manage to get by on little to no sleep and finding where cats go to perform various bodily functions when they're too tired to get to their litter box. 

So some days I'm optimistic and others I'm convinced she's not going to wake up.   The emotional and physical roller coaster is taking its toll, but I look at every day with her as a blessing, so I'm not complaining.  Thank you for all your kind emails and comments.  I sometimes feel somewhat stupid for being in such emotional upheaval over a 4 1/2 pound cat, but it's nice to hear from those of you who know exactly what we're going through.  So thank you for that.

Okay, I'm done venting.  See ya on the radio tomorrow!