Coloring Eggs

A long established childhood pastime took place in our house last night: Coloring eggs for Easter. The kit, as always, sucked. The crayons, as always, were broken. But the spirit of the activity was as high as it always is. There were the traditional dirty eggs included, as well as the pretty ones, the ones with names on, and the Easter-themed ones.

So I'd just like to say that I wish everyone a happy Easter!

P.S. I was informed that I forgot to mention what the free gift in the previous entry was, and it apparently is causing anticipation in the minds of my constant readers. All it was, was a large bag of samples. Alas, the effort was not worth it in my mind...

Free Gift Syndrome

Today I woke up at 9:30 am by my mom who said, "Want to go to Sam's?" Little did I know that the real reason for the trip was not the fact that we were preparing for Easter. It was a little yellow piece of paper stating that Muhlenberg School Employees would get a free gift if they were among the first fifty people in line. We were there at approximately 10:18, and the paper said 10:30, but of course all the other people who had said yellow paper in hand, were there early as well.

Unfortunately, my mom, who is the Muhlenberg Employee, neglected to read the part that said you were required to register ahead of time. But no, this did not stop us. As we approached the front of the line, we heard that the person behind us failed to register as well. So my mom, with all her Gill whit, got to the front of the line and told them that she "tried to call, but it kept ringing and ringing, and when someone finally answered, they said we didn't need to register." Well then the people behind us told the same story, and instead of not believing us, the people from the store said, "They did the same thing to them!"

So we got our free gift in the end. Then we proceeded to walk all around Sam's collecting various free samples (and, I should add, buying almost ALL of them-- Everything in excess!!) along with the things we needed for Easter, all adding up to a mere 200 something dollars.

But, we left our beloved Sammy's with all the things on our list, full tummies, and yes, our free gift.

Pagoda Express

Ahh the Pagoda... What can be said about Reading's famous monument? In general the Pagoda causes a feeling of dread for me every time someone mentions trekking up Mount Penn to see the landmark, as the road is very steep, meaning it has to twist and turn so you don't lose control of your car when there is a sheet of ice on it during the winter. Meaning there have been many moments of carsickness associated with the Pagoda.

If you don't know, the Pagoda is a building that sits on top of Mount Penn in Reading PA, and its general look is reminiscent of Japanese / Asian structures of the same name. Generally, they are towers which have multiple tiers sticking out and were used for religious purposes (for the record, Wikipedia has an entry with similar wording...) When it was built here in Reading, it was meant to be a hotel with a restaurant, but that didn't last long. So now it is recognizable as our city's landmark, and from most places in Reading and the surrounding areas, you can see its red lights shining in the nighttime, but other than that pretty much nothing happens there.

The most prominent memory that sticks in my mind about the pagoda is that every time we would go there, my dad mentioned the fact that my great grandmother was always up there as a child and as she grew up. It served as a place of socializing and meditation for her. So much so that her dying wish was that she be cremated and have her ashes thrown over the sides of the Pagoda.

Today when I picked up the newspaper, the front cover stated that a movie is going to be shot at the Pagoda in the next few weeks, which is what brought on this little entry of mine. I got pretty excited when I heard about it, so I thought I would share.
If you click here you can read the article yourself. :)

Stretchin the Kooza

I've never been one to enjoy exercising, but recently my outlook on the whole thing has changed drastically. I was beginning to see the light when I was at Penn State Main Campus and had to walk everywhere, but that was out of pure necessity. For a while, I was going to the gym regularly, because I could go with friends which made it a little more motivating, but I didn't keep up with it. Basically the physically fit made me feel awkward.

The past few weekends have been more active for me now that it's starting to get nicer out. We are adding onto our house, and there was a tree that created a mess all summer that we decided to cut down, next to the house. So my dad cut the tree down and then I had to help him carry the logs and sticks to various locations in the yard, and found that when we were finished I felt this rush of exhilaration. I felt really good, both physically and mentally and I thought, "I should do some exercising more often."

Then the parents decided the front of the house had too many leaves along the sidewalk so I raked all those up and again felt really good. (I should add that it was really fun to make a gigantic pile and then jump into it... with the dog... except that when you do that, you wind up with poison ivy despite the fact that no vegetation has grown there in months.)

So I have decided to begin taking daily walks with my fat dog so that we will both get some exercise.

Now that brings me to the other significant recent event. For Christmas, my sister got me and my mom tickets to a Cirque du Soleil show that was playing in Baltimore this past weekend, called "Kooza". It was really cool because it combined the amazing physical acts they do, and it also included a clown side, which made it more like a circus than any of the other ones I saw or heard about.

My little goal to start exercising got a whole new spin when I saw the things they could do: In the beginning, there were contortionists, who I have to admit were slightly creepy even though what they did was very cool (Just because the stretched their bodies in ways I would think would break them- makes your skin tingle). Then there was an act called "The Wheel of Death" where these two guys did jumps and stuff in these two wheels- and then one of them started doing things on the outside of the wheel. It was pretty scary, not to mention it reminded me exactly of when I had a hamster and it would go in its little wheel to exercise. Those were the two I thought were coolest, although there was a lot more in the show that was very cool.

So despite my never being able to astound people with my phsical activities, I will give exercise my best shot, and keep you posted on the progress.

Mind Over Matter

It has been a rough past few weeks for me, as most who know me are aware. So I thought I would sit here and think about the happy things going on in my life as a sort of therapeutic little blog entry. This was to be the original name for my blog, to go with my favorite quote:

"Be who you are
And say what you feel
Because those who mind don't matter
And those who matter don't mind."
- Dr. Seuss

However "Mind over Matter" was taken already. So here's my list. My "Happy List", as fellow blogger Nicki calls it. (Note to Nicki: you should teach me how to link your page to your name):

1. I have a wonderful loving family, who would do anything for me.

2. I have a job, which is fortunate given the economic circumstances.

3. I kind of like that job, except for the whole "working" part.

4. I have great friends to talk to about those things I can't talk to my family about.

5. There is a new baby in the family, Evangeleen, who I hear is doing well. I am grateful for the fact that she was brought into a good family.

6. My boyfriend, Andrew, and I are doing well. He is in a wedding on Valentine's Day that I will be going to with him.

7. I finally had a day off today to catch up on some cleaning and have a little time for myself. I am excited for dinner with Amber.

8. Despite my issues with money, I am getting back on track and am pretty proud of my success so far.

9. My family members who are no longer here are watching over me at all times, and I often feel their presence when I think about them.

10. The Steeler's won the Super Bowl!!

God Bless America, and Happy Belated Birthday, Uncle Denny!

Shoveling Snow (and ice)

Well it is now almost February and my last blog post was on November 3, 2008. As I was falling asleep last night, I realized that I forgot all about my blog. Then I began thinking about all the things I COULD have written about, and decided I would write mini blog entries to catch myself up.
So, since November 3rd, a few things have happened, such as:

1. Christmas. I was going to write a blog entitled "The Twelve Pains of Redner's",which was going to focus on the annoyingness of customers and the whole Christmas shopping experience. Then I decided that if that came up in a search on Redner's, I could be fired, so I decided not to write that one.

2. Baby Evangeleen. My cousin Lynnly had her baby on New Year's Eve. Congratulations to the whole family!

3. New Year's. I have a new boyfriend, Andrew, who I spent New Year's Eve Night with. We went to dinner and then watched the New Year's show in New York City on TV. My blog post was going to talk about kisses and how everyone wants someone to kiss on New Year's, but then decided that may not be appropriate given the fact that family members read this. :)

4. The Penn State Bowl Game. I was going to write about it after we won but....

5. Girl Scout Cookies. I heart girl scout cookies. I thought about when Tiff had her 21st birthday and dressed up as drinks and Laura borrowed my girl scout uniform. I didn't really experience that night though (not really sure I would want to either heehee). So I was going to talk about my girl scout experiences which may be pretty boring.

And of course, the massive amounts of snow that have fallen. Which is a topic that is still available since we had snow yesterday. Mom and Tiff had off work. Luckily I did not receive any calls, ("Snow Day!") because I still had to go into work. :( As my siblings may remember, snow means shoveling. For hours. And unfortunately I am the only able-bodied "teenager" left at home, so that burden is left to me. Despite past memories, it is not as bad as I remember. It would have been more fun had we gotten the toboggan out, but that's beside the point. It's a lot easier now that the driveway actually becomes clean at some point, and now that we have a working snowblower and nifty little salting contraption, which is actually quite fun to use. But when it comes to the actual shoveling, not so fun. Nor is the bringing in of the wood for the wood stove, or the chopping of the trees for the wood stove. (Note to siblings: I miss you terribly)

And no, Moxie does not count as an able-bodied shoveler.

Greener Seaweed

On Saturday, me and my parents and brother went to New York City. As we approached the "tkts" booth, we weren't really sure what we would be able to see, however, the night before I looked up the tickets that were on sale the day before, and at the bottom of the list was the Little Mermaid. So I got myself all excited and was only able to sleep for two hours that night. Despite being tired, I got out of bed at 5:30 in the morning and we made our way to the big city.

When we got to the half-price tkts booth, sure enough, the Little Mermaid was on the list. We got tickets in the orchestra section, seven rows away from the stage. Now, anyone who knows me knows of my love for all things Little Mermaid. So this was pretty much a dream come true for me. I remember having seen the little flyer in the mail last November, and saying "we HAVE to go see that." So I never expected to actually get tickets so soon, and without having purchased them ahead of time even.

Anyway, I can't even put the spectacularity of this show into words. It was amazing. The actors all played their parts perfectly, and were really into it. It put the movie to shame, that's how good it was. I truly felt like I was a "part of their world", pun completely intended. Rambling aside, it was a great day, filled with fun and exercise.

We went to a flea market entitled "Hell's Kitchen", which turned out to be less fun than expected, since it was pretty much all junk they were selling, and barely any kitchen accessories. Next, we headed over to an Irish bar where we watched football and had lunch. Although quite tasty, my Shepherd's Pie was way over-priced, and something I would not recommend ordering in New York City, as it costs pretty much nothing to make. We then walked through the famous Macy's which was seven floors vertical and like two buildings wide. In other words, it was big. And, we did not actually shop for anything because we spent the whole time we were in it riding the escalators up and down. It sounds funny I'm sure, however it was rather dizzy-ing. I'm surprised Mom escaped without motion sickness. Not to mention, the wooden escalators were slightly scary... they made creaky noises as they moved.

After Macy's we went to the show. In case I didn't make it clear, it was wonderful. I cried several times, it was so wonderful. Next, we headed over to the Virgin records megastore, where my dad was able to fuel his fetish: vinyl albums. After about an hour in there, we got on the subway to go to a bookstore that had relocated to Times Square, where we had just been. But the subway trip wasn't a complete waste; we went down to the South Street Seaport to look around and have a beer. A festively flavored one apparently. (I hate beer, so it just tasted like beer to me, however it supposedly tasted like pumpkin pie.) Finally, we got back on the subway and wet back to the car to go back to Brandon's, pick up Moxie, and eat some dinner. I don't even remember the ride home, since I was asleep as soon as I sat down in the car. But it was still a wonderful day.