Happy Conception Day to me!!!!

April 30, 1966, my mother and father married. Nine months, to the day, January 30, 1967, I was born. My mother always told me that I was conceived on their wedding night. Right............ Anywho, I've always made a joke out of it. I was on a cruise once during that date and my friends had the waiters sing "Happy Conception Day" to me. It was a welcome change from the constant Happy Birthday, Happy Wedding Day, Happy Anniversary songs that they had been singing every night at dinner. I tell you, the place went silent when they started singing. People were like "What are they singing?!"

I have a couple of good friends that share this day with me as their birthday, Kara and Steph. Another special lady was born this day as well. Happy Birthday Nancy, I miss you!

Take Your Child to Work Day!

Hi everyone! It's Riley, guest blogging today. I got to do something today, I've never done before, something that Mom has been talking about doing for years! I got to go to work with her today! See, today was Take Your Child to Work Day. Since Mom doesn't have two legged kids, and since the newspaper made a big deal about her having four legged kids, she decided she should take me to work with her instead!

She was real sneaky about it too. I was in my normal position, laying in the bathroom doorway, pouting, while she was getting ready for work. When it was time for Travis and I to go potty for the last time before she left for work, I noticed that I smelled peanut butter when I came back in. I was a little miffed when I realized that Travis was getting a Kong with peanut butter in it. I was about to pout some more, when Mom opened the door, leading to the basement. Oh boy! I was getting to go in the car without Travis!

Mom gave me an official tour of the salon when we arrived. I then went to work being the official greeter for the day. Boy, word got around fast that I was at the salon. Ford City is a small town and in no time, people were coming in with treats for me! Mom said that those are tips! One nice lady was early and actually took me outside for my break. I only got in trouble once when I was barking at the tractor trailer trucks going down the road.

All in all, salon work is tiring. I am now qualified to become a WalMart greeter. I think I will stick to being a dog, though. I hope that next year Travis is still a douchebag so that he has to stay home and I get to go to work again!

XOXO Riley

Planet of the Skate

Saturday night, was my second bout with the B-Unit. We played the Queen City Rollers from Buffalo, NY. It was a hard-hitting, nail biter until the end. It came down to the last jam in which we lost by 2 points. This team, however, was their All-Star team. They are not a WFTDA team, so The Steel Hurtin' should have played them, but it wouldn't have counted for rankings. So, in essence, we played an "A" team and pretty much kicked ass! Way to go B-Unit!

This was my first time playing with former teammate Maida Steel, as well as Helen Fire and Lollipop. I just love Maida's game face.









Cameo Steph has provides us with awesome photos at almost every bout. Sometimes, it kills me to see photos of myself. My form sucks. I "think" I am getting low and wide, but look at my legs, they are so close together. I guess it's all those years of catholic school and being told to keep your legs together.

Goal for this month, get low, get wide and make sure I am actually doing it.

Easter Egg Hunt!

In 1972, I attended the Easter Egg Hunt in the Ford City Park. I was the first child to find at least a dozen of eggs, so I got my picture on the front page of The Leader Times. We always think that it's funny, when looking at this newspaper clipping that not only do they list my entire name, they give my address as well. This would never happen today.

Yesterday, I drove past the park and saw that they were set up for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. I was appalled! There were roped in areas and eggs just laying everywhere. Where is the fun in that? In 1972, you actually had to HUNT for eggs. They were in bushes, trees, behind benches, etc. They weren't just scattered around for everyone to step on.

My most vivid memory of that spring day in 1972 was when I "thought" I found a malted milk egg. I figured that they hid those as well as hard-boiled. I thought I would sneak and eat it. Well, imagine my surprise when I realized it was a Robin's egg. At that age, I didn't realize that robins have blue eggs. I saw a little egg and it was colored, so it had to be candy right? Wrong!

Bunny Cake!

From the time I started dating Mr. Bruises 21 years ago, his mom always had a bunny cake at Easter. A local bakery made them. They stopped making them the last two Easter's that we had with her. Last year, was our first Easter without her. I found a similar cake at WalMart. This year, I decided to try to make one.

One box cake mix will make two cakes. I am going to Sue With the Big Boob's house today and I thought her boys and the rest of the Girls Night Out gals might enjoy the other one!

It's really easy. Make a cake mix as directed and bake in either 8 or 9 inch round pans. Cool, invert and ice in the middle, making a double layer cake.

Cut the cake in half, place one half of the cake, on the cut end, on your plate or platter. Cut a small triangle about two inches up and four inches in. Use that small triangle to make the tail.

I took one can of frosting per bunny cake and mixed in three ounces of softened cream cheese. I then iced the entire bunny.
I then pressed coconut into the icing. Leftover coconut was placed in a plastic bag with two drops of food coloring and shook. The green coconut was put around the cake to look like grass.

I then cut out ears from cardstock and shaded the middles pink and put them on the bunny. Eyes and nose were made from jelly beans and more jelly beans were scattered on the grass.

So, after I had both cakes finished last night, Travis licked the face off of one of the bunnies. I had to cut half of it's head off and guess what? Mr. Bruises is getting that piece because he sat there and watched him do it!

You still have plenty of time to make a Bunny Cake for Easter! This didn't take long at all!

Negative Nellies and Jackasses

Okay, I finally figured out what is going on lately. I guess it's the full moon again. The Jackasses and Negative Nellies are out in force. So lets clear some things up and make them known.....

If you ask for help, be open to suggestions. Don't shoot down every suggestion that someone gives you, this makes you a Jackass. If you think you know it all, why did you even ask for suggestions?

If you have a stong opinion on something, please make sure that your opinion actually makes sense. Making claims about things that are just plain false or are caused by your own stupid errors makes you a look like a Jackass.

When you tell stories about experiences and you focus only on the bad things, or perhaps you feel that only bad things happen to you and you insist on sharing them, this makes you a Negative Nelly. No one wants to be around you you bring us down.

If you are constantly cutting people up, putting down ideas or just being negative all the time, this not only makes you a Negative Nelly, but a Jackass as well.

Now that we have cleared this all up, please stop being so negative and acting like a jackass. Spring is coming! It's time to be happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

John B. Ford has been found!

When Jill and I were in Lawrenceville this past weekend, it was such a beautiful day that we decided to go to Allegheny Cemetery to take pictures of the newly blooming trees and flowers. We also were told that there were many notables like the Carnegies and Mellons buried there.

We stopped at the front office to obtain a map and other items, one of which was a tour guide brochure. Jill and I, seriously, nearly peed our pants when we saw that John B. Ford was buried there. After confirming that it was "our" John B. Ford, that was our first stop.

Captain John B. Ford is the founder of Pittsburgh Plate and Glass (PPG) and Ford City's founder. We have a statue of him in our park. The high school kids take part in Founder's Day activities each year. We Ford City people LOVE John B. Ford. So, how in the hell did neither of us know where he was buried? I guess I just assumed that he was buried where he originally came from and I must admit, I don't know that either!

The brochure stated that Ford is entombed in one of the very first private mausoleums in the cemetery. It is gorgeous and looks very church like. Two beautiful statues sit in front as well as granite planter pots that sit at the very end.
Stained-glass windows, in the most gorgeous combination of periwinkle and blue are in the bell tower. Some of them are missing.

The view through the window shows the tomb.

We were on the lookout for "The Angel". We were told that there was this giant angel statue that had patina'd. We found her. She was at least six to seven feet tall. It was noted by Todd, on Facebook that she is doing something with her fingers and he wondered if it was something symbolic.












This private mausoleum had a fresh bunch of flowers placed on it. I just loved the starkness of the granite, against the patina of the door, which makes the colors of the flowers totally pop out.















Inside, was a very beautiful stained glass window.



















There were some unusual ones as well. This one had a gold or bronze door, which was really taken care of.

Two sphinxes were guarding the outside.

The cemetery is filled with wildlife. It also houses two ponds that are totally inhabited by Canadian geese. Jill and I snapped some photos and then sat on one of the benches. All of a sudden, one of the geese got all pissed off and one that was near us and literally charged it. I had my camera all ready, while Jill is getting ready to jump on my back to save herself.
All ended well, the picked on goose went to the other pond.

While visiting this cemetery, we noticed a lot of walkers and runners. This is a wonderful place to get some exercise. The view is awesome and the artwork can keep you busy for hours. While driving through, I couldn't help but wonder how many of the monuments there I had lettered while working many weekends at Carlini Brothers. Some days I miss that craft. It's been said that it gets in your blood. I guess that is why I am always drawn to cemeteries.

How Derby Girls Get Clean!

Well, I can't speak for all derby girls, but I can speak for THIS derby girl. When I get home from practice, I stink! My wrists and elbow (and probably my knees) smell like really bad potato salad. Anyhoo, I shower as soon as I get home. Last night, I tried a new indulgence and OMG. Heaven!

You will recall, a couple of weeks ago, Jill and I were in Lawrenceville and we happened upon a wonderful soap store with an awesome display in their window. We didn't stop in that day and I didn't even get the name of the business. We did, however, stop in on Saturday!

When we walked into Jay Design We were immediately greeted by Silvie the cat. Her counterpart, Larry was manning the cash register. I personally feel that all businesses should have a shop animal. I am going to have a tag for all those I encounter kind of like I do the Bathroom Tour.

I ended up choosing three bars of soap: Tutti Fruiti, Limone and Pear Lavender. I used the Limone last night and OMG I was totally in heaven. I smell like a girl again!

I was sent home with this great package that just happens to be my favorite colors. If you are in the area, be sure to stop this little slice of heaven and tell Larry I said "Hi!"

Ooooops!

So, I've been suffering with lower back and abdominal pain. I went to the doctor on Tuesday morning and the conclusion was that I had a possible kidney stone. Turns out, it isn't a kidney stone after all. I'm pregnant.

Yes, you read that right. I am still letting it sink in. I don't know how I feel. Mr. Bruises and I never said we didn't want children, just that we would never sit down and plan to have them. We never felt that we were ready. We always said if it happened, it would be fine, though.

Well, I really don't know. I am scared shitless. Mainly scared because I am 42, kind of past prime-time baby, popping age. I'm scared because our lives are going to change drastically. I'm scared that I am going to totally suck at being a mom.

If you are feeling my fear and anguish right now, good, because today is April first and you are officially a FOOL!

Oh, and the part about the kidney stone is true. I have to have a CT scan to confirm it, but it's pretty certain.