Alex is a jerk :( He just called from Walt Disney World. What a mean mean man!

OMG! Stuart Scott was just discussing if Bill Parcells wants Meredith and McDreamy to get together. I know he is happy with a win, but he isn't that happy!

Poor Taylor...he loves Drew. Me--I just love Tiki. How could you not like a guy named Tiki?

Happy Birthday Miss Jeniffer!
Happy Anniversary Alex and Emilie!

Part one of the Mission MacFarlane is complete Ensign Guida!
Be proud! Hope to move on Part two before you are home.
Don't hold your breathe for Part three.
We miss you!

We lost Peter yesterday. Please keep Kriselyn, Ashley, and the whole Barnes family in your thoughts and prayers. Live Strong.

Hi Readers--

Sorry I've been away lately. I haven't been home before 7:30 or so any evening in the last week or so. Getting ready for this dinner is out of control. Imagine planning your wedding, for over 500 people, who aren't really your friends or family, and you have to appease. Actually, it is pretty fun a lot of the time, and in the moment it feels incredible, but it means a lot of long nights. I will admit to being pretty low stress given the circumstances this year, which I'm pretty proud of, but I'm tired and I'm excited for Sunday to come and a good night sleep.

There is a debate on TV right now of the candidates of souvenir. They are talking about taking the tolls off of the Mass Pike. Taylor and I pay about a grand each year for tolls. We are all for the removal of the tolls. Let's hope it works...But now I'm not sure I'm willing to vote for my guy anymore...Crap!

Don't tell Taylor, but I've become obsessed with Dunkin Donuts coffee. I have to have one every single morning. I know it is bad, and expensive, but it is so good!

Oh gosh-stupid Christy M (and that is a man named Christy) just compared his campaign to the Boston Red Sox--basically not having a prayer. This guy is an idiot! I hate stupid people. You can't appeal to the people's sports fandom and hope they will give you your vote. The people who are that dumb aren't watching a debate on television on a Thursday night!

I missed my pilates class today. I'm bummed. I couldn't get away from my desk. My instructor is so adorable that just seeing her makes you feel better. It would have been great to articulate and roll like a ball, but I'll just have to wait until next week.

I got my hair cut again last night. It is really short now!

So, I'm already getting excited for Thanksgiving. See, I think Thanksgiving is the world's perfect holiday. The day is designed around cooking, watching a parade, taking a shower at noon, watching three football games, eating to excess, taking a nap, and going to bed by 9:00. I'm a MacFarlane, that is by far my perfect day! The food at Thanksgiving is really the best. Turkey, gravy, stuffing and cranberries are all you need in life. I really could eat that every week and get so excited to have Thanksgiving dinner. The last few days, when I've eaten little more than ice cream and coffee, the thought that Thanksgiving is under a month away has been keeping me going!

One of the vendors I am dealing with for the PC Dinner is named Marj Simpson. If you go back and pay attention to the actual pronunciation of that name--it is Marge Simpson! I almost laughed outl loud when I got a voicemail from her. Who doens't want to talk to Marge Simpson! Cracked me up.

Okay-all for now. I'll probably be gone for a few more days. Wish me luck unfulling!

The MacFarlane family would like to publicly acknowledge the Chicago Bears and thank them for both weekend fantasy football victories. Taylor took out Jeniffer and team Altitude because Sexy Rexy Grossman scored her negative 10 points, solidifying his 2 point win. The Chi-town defense scored 18 points, allowing team Moon Pies to sneak a win over the boss and team Rockers. First and Second places are now proudly owned by MacFarlane's, and of course, you will notice it is Heather is in first!

Welcome to new reader Jessica! For those who don't know Jessica, she and Chad are some of Jen and Brian's best friends. They all met playing Army out in good old Colorado Spring. Jess and Chad have since moved back to Alaska (yes-that says Alaska) with their two kids Alyson and Baby Ryan. I fell in love with the Jessica/Chad family in my two visits to Colorado. I demanded Alyson be my flower girl in Jeniffer's wedding, and Baby Ryan was the best date I had that night (Kriselyn and Taylor went together to JJ's wedding). Hope all is going well in Alaska Jess!

So, I worked again yesterday. I did a 30 minute presentation at my meeting. I did a pretty good job, especially considering I got to the meeting 15 minutes early to write up my notes on what I was going to say. I don't believe I took a ton away from Graduate School, but the one skill I gained was winging it. I didn't have to do a ton of public speaking at Wheaton, but in grad school it was a semi-weekly occurrence. I haven't been afraid of public speaking in years, because I have to do it so much at work (I'm much more afraid to ask a single person for money than a group of people to do almost anything), but I still like to prepare. After the first year of school, I realized that my undergrad degree, in Bullshitting (read: psychology) actually would help me in the real world. Planning is overrated. My masters should really be in speaking on the fly, because it is now one of my greatest skills. Now I just have to figure out how to word that on a resume...

After work yesterday Taylor and I went shopping for a new suit. Now many of you have been shopping with Taylor through the years and know it isn't fun. Some of you have even been clothes shopping with him and know that it can be hell on earth. When I told Kriselyn what I was doing this weekend she audibly gasped and offered to send me some painkillers. To his credit, Taylor was very very good. We got him a great grey striped suit. Men's suits are far different than those for the ladies, so I doubt I was much help except I kept the weird salesman busy. We all serve a purpose in life and today that was mine.

I think Grace has OCD. She gives herself a bath about every 23 minutes. Now Grace does have long hair and she wants to keep it shiny, but her cleaning is really out of control. This morning around 6:30, she was laying on my back while I was sleeping, and decided she absoulty had to have a bath. So, while sitting between my shoulder blades, she commenced with the licking. I thought I was having the strangest dream until I woke up and realized it wasn't a dream, it was just my cat being a Wack-job. Lizzie was wrapped around my head, refusing to yield my pillow, and Grace was worried about her shiny coat. Thus went my morning of sleeping late-ruined again by my feline friends.

I think we are going gourd shopping today! Nothing says fall in new england like a shiny new gourd! This post is orange in honor of October.

Happy Birthday to my brother. Boy are you old.

I can't open my blog correctly right now...I wonder if I'm having technical issues at work, or if the world is just conspiring against me.

bad week at work. Been here every night until like 6 or 7. Tempers are high right now. I walked out of a meeting yesterday because I was getting picked on...And today my assistant offered to throw some punches if anyone yelled at her for hogging the copier. We need to raise half a million dollars by this time next week. I swear to you that we aren't all going to be standing come next Sunday.

is everyone out there okay? My mom is going to the doctor. For those of you who know Carol-that kind of thing just doesn't happen. It looks like she might need a double knee replacement. Ouch! That being said, today she is out working in her garden. No one in my life can ever call me stubborn-I'm simply my mother's daughter.

have to work tomorrow. Patriots have a bye this week. Sunday I'm sleeping late and then considering drinking heavily. Anyone interested in joining me?

am I the only person on the planet who is off Lost? Something big needs to happen and soon, or I'm totally off the show.

I worked a lot today. I've spent no less than 15 hours in the last few work days on finding banners to unfurl--after my FOUR HOUR MEETING this afternoon, it was determined that I need to start again. Oh I love my job some days!

My husband collects mini-football helmets. Does anyone else think that is strange?

Amy heard Ernie's heartbeat today. How cool is that!

Going to make some hot chocolate with milk. Calcium is our friend!

Pray for Grammie...

Happy Birthday Bradley Whitford. I love you!

my joint custody christmas cactus is about to bloom!
yeah!!!!!!!!!

For the record, I would have been able to pay attention to my spell-checking if my husband had been around to drive my to pick up my car yesterday. Instead, I had to beg, borrow, and steal to find someone to drive me and I couldn't keep RJ waiting for a silly spell check. I simply clicked okay to everything that came up and slammed the laptop shut. I'll take a few misspelled words for a car that no longer pumps out blue smoke! Mean husband...I'll think of a way to pay you back...

I'm in first place this week in fantasy football! I won my game against Jenny (who is having altitude issues today) and then Julie pulled through in the clutch to win the boss-bowl, knocking Jim out of first place. It was a good morning for me!

Work is so nutty busy. My office looks like a storage cabinet right now. I have a cute office, a great window that overlooks a rose garden (kind of), but it have 14 decent size boxes in it right now. I can't wait until the 22nd!

All caught up on Grey's! Let the discussions commence! It is super good! Dr. Burke in jeans the other day...yummy! And if Meredith doesn't pick McDreamy, I'm going to quit watching. It's like the Josh and Donna thing-sometimes there are just people who belong together!

please ignore my last post--this is what happens when you don't pay attention while spell checking. Patience is my lesson, not petitions!

Pam believes we all have lessons in life to learn. We have to learn them to survive and grow and until we learn these lessons, the universe is going to keep smacking us in the face with them. For me, the lessons I need to learn are petitions and that independence isn't awash the way to go. It is okay to ask for help, that friends are there for you, there to help you when you need a hand, just like we help each other. Heather--learn the lesson!

so...my weekend...not going quite as planned...

first, Taylor has been sick. he has a stomach bug of some sort, so Friday night he was in bed very early and yesterday he was on the couch all day resting. he is feeling much better today, so that is good.

so, I went to get my oil changed yesterday, then to pop over to the mall to look for a (second) dress for PC Dinner. It took two hours for them to change my oil, which was especially annoying because I made an appointment. Plus, it is the most gorgeous fall weekend here and I wanted to get outside to enjoy it. I made friends with some folks in the waiting room, so it wasn't terrible, but come on, two hours is a little ridiculous.

I get my car, go have a very fruitful shopping trip at the mall, and head home. I wanted to get Taylor some ginerale to help his stomach, so I stopped at the store, about 2 miles from our house. On the ride home, my car started puffing a bluish smoke and lost power. I topped out at 30 MPH and the smoke got worse as I continued to drive. I called my dad, the mechanic, who gave me the very bad news that my car was likely in some tough shape. I called Firestone, and forced them to tow my car back to the shop for them to look at it. Needless to say, they are claiming they did nothing to it and it has nothing to do with the oil change. I'm no mechanic, but I did grow up around cars, so I feel pretty confident in my knowledge that blue smoke is in fact bad news, and that usually cars don't start puffing for no reason. When poor Oprah was towed back, Taylor and I went back too and I got into a nice fight with the guy. As it stands, they have my car and are doing some complementary diagnostic tests on her tomorrow. I'm sure they will find nothing wrong, but they aren't giving her back to me without some kind of explanation/compensation. Stupid car people! I'm off tomorrow and will be trapped at my house with no car while Taylor goes to work. Not my idea of fun! Please wish Opie positive thoughts to get well soon!

Big week in fantasy football. It is the boss bowl! My former boss is playing my current boss. It is also a girl-on-girl week, where I'm planning on beating Jeniffer into submission. I was pulling for Guida to have a win of Taylor, but not so much after his mass email announcing how great TAYLOR is for getting him into his fantasy league. IT IS MY LEAGUE! While I would want Taylor to get the loss under normal circumstances (because winning is important in this league and Taylor and Jim are real competition this year), I'm pulling for the Dr. Pepper's now that the Bombers started publicly mouthing off. Bad move Guida...bad move...

Grey's update. I finished season two and watched the first episode of season three. Holy good batman! Holy good!

in case anyone was wondering...day 12 of 12 straight it the worst. i'm wearing my glasses, and those of you who know me well know I wear my glasses out of my house no more than 3 times a year!

in case anyone was wondering...day 12 of 12 straight it the worst. i'm wearing my glasses, and those of you who know me well know I wear my glasses out of my house no more than 3 times a year!

Jenny's comments about the word perchance are both funny and well timed, as when I was working the phonathon the other night, I thought I saw a young phonathon romance blooming here at Assumption. The phonathon is a place for love! Everyone here thought that was a strange statement, but as we know Mason and Hayden proved that wrong! Sadly they didn't work out, though that shouldn't have been a surprise after the great Eiffel Tower incident. One of my biggest crushes at Wheaton was a phonathon boy. I stand my the fact that we would have had the most beautiful babies...

Just had a great pilates class at lunch. If you have never taken a class, you should give it a try. After a few classes (read:once you know what you are doing), it is highly effective. Tomorrow my abs and my buns will be in tough shape! Maybe it will help me get the 10 lbs I picked up this summer off!

Looking forward to the long weekend that is coming up. I wish Taylor had Monday off, then we could go visit my parents, but alas, he has to work. I'm committed to getting some good stuff done this weekend around the house. I want to cut down all the flowers for the year and hang the new blinds we bought for the bedroom. Don't forget to watch the divisional game on Sunday at 1:00! Go Lawrence Maroney (Elbow Macoroni!).

Boy--I have a boring life. I was just trying to think about what to post about, but I honestly have nothing new going on today. I'm exhausted! It was super fun to work with the phonathon kids. They did a really good job on their first night of calling. I got home in time to see a few innings of the Yankees game, read one chapter of my book and crash. It was not what I would call an eventful night!

I'm swamped at work right now. That being said, I feel like I'm not getting much done today. I'm moving items off my desk, but more things keep taking there place! This is also my least productive time of day, so that makes the work seem even more pronounced. Oh well-plug through a bit more today.

I'm making shepherd's pie for dinner. I'm trying it with ground turkey tonight, so we will have to see how that turns out. It is really warm here today, almost 80, and I'm turning on my oven! Oh well!

See-it really is a boring day in my world. Hope you all have something more exciting happening!

I have this cat calendar in my office that I just love...Most months. October is a black cat, which is fitting for Halloween, but this cat is terrifying! His head is huge! I swear he looks like he is going to jump off the page and scratch my eyes out! I might need to go back to September...

Speaking of being a pet person, I really think that non-pet people think we are weird. The other morning I was talking to Krissy as I was leaving the house. I was getting my coat, packing a lunch, the usual morning activities. As I gathered my things, I turned to Grace and Liz, told them I love them, and let them know what my plans for the day were and when I would be home. Krissy patiently listened, then asked me what the heck I was doing. It was then I realized that something that I do daily seemed really weird to other people. The pet people in the world understand talking to you pets-they are part of the family (Tiller is the most expensive MacFarlane I know :>) ). My girls are the little loves of my life-of course they deserve to know what time I'm coming home! I would offer any roommate the same courtesy, and these little peanuts mean more than just a stranger sharing an address, the are like my kids! Pet people are born with a little extra love to share with their four legged friends! I'll post some pictures of my little bugs for you all to gush over soon!

I'm going black tie dress shopping on Thursday for my work party. I'm guessing, like every single year, I will end up in something black. My goal is to get a dress in either red or blue, the Centennial Campaign colors, but if I were placing bets, it would be black! This year, I'm committed to comfortable shoes. I'm on my feet for well over eight hours, and in spiky heels, that is painful! After having bleeding blisters last year, this year I'm all about a real cute, low shoe. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm working late tonight because my coworker has a test, so I'm covering the student phonathon. I run the program here at Assumption for the first three years I was here, and was a student caller for four years at Wheaton. I love the phonathon, so I'm really looking forward to a night with the student callers. I hope they do well, it will be the very first night ever for some of these kids.

So, I've temporarily walked away from my Grey's obsession. Just like a book that I'm enjoying, I have to walk away for a little bit right before the good part. Once I finish the season, I won't have another to pop into the dvd player, so it will be a huge letdown. With books, it breaks my heart to not know what is happening next, so I have to stop reading for awhile, ponder what is happening and how things will end. I might watch one of my three episodes left tonight, depending on what time I get home. I'm dying to know what happens, but I know I'll be sad when it is over. Either way, I'm committed to being caught up by the end of the long weekend on all things television, and starting my new book for bookshelf!

I was really grumpy when I woke up this morning. I didn't want to wear any of my clothes, couldn't find shoes I liked, didn't feel like drying my hair...Just one of those grumpy mornings. I stopped for a coffee on the way in, which is usually a treat, but even that didn't perk me up. So, I grabbed my friend Amy at lunch and we did some speed retail therapy! I got a baby gift for my friend's little boy, and bought two pair of cute shoes in under 40 minutes. Everything was on sale, so two pair of shoes for me, booties and overalls for Arlo all came to less than $60! What a deal and a great mood buster. Even Amy felt better, and she only bought herself some lunch! Retail therapy is sometimes the best! Wearing my new black sandals now!

Jeniffer my dear, you bring up a good point. Are you watching Studio 60 Folks? You should be watching Studio 60! Tommy and Aaron are genesis! Yeah and Thing are two words that really cover everything in life if used properly. I imagine at some point they will test the wrath of the thing on high. God I miss the West Wing--just this Sunday, after football, I was so sad because it was a few minutes before 8:00, I was folding laundry, and started humming the "West Wing Night" song I always used to sing. I was devastated when I remembered that there was no TWW and I would have to settle for watching...The Amazing Race? More football? I don't remember because it just wasn't special.

I have a confession to make--I've been taping Studio 60. I'm two episodes behind in an effort to have a little mini-marathon guaranteed to suck me into the show and have my hooked at the end of two hours. 10:00 on a Monday is a little too late, especially after a weekend of work, so I think I'll always tape the show and watch it later. I'm fearful that our VCR is going to give in on me soon. She has been a little temperamental in the last few weeks. I think it is because she knows that I want TiVo more than life itself, and she knows that with no TWW, she doesn't have a guaranteed use every week. As the TV season has started, she has become a little better, as she now knows that I watch Prison Break and tape How I Met Your Mother and then watch it right after. The use is making her feel needed, so we might just make it through another year. When the VCR goes (and no Alex, she doesn't have a name, but is definitely a girl) I will mourn, but I won't complain. I received this VCR as a gift for Christmas when I was still living in NJ, so I'm guessing I was about 12 years old. She survived the soap opera years in high school, the RA movie nights in College, and seven seasons of TWW. She is a member of the family, but she is old and when she decides it is time to rest, I'll give her a proper sendoff!

WATCH STUDIO 60!

I posted from the office earlier this week, but it didn't stick--I'm guessing it was Karma telling me not to do fun from work. I worked both days this weekend and I'm pretty pooped. I did mulitple presentations and more schuzing that I really wanted to, but I would guess that I secured about $3,000-$4,000, so that is a pretty profitable weekend.

I got home today in time to watch football, so that was a big win. Taylor is a bad fan, he didn't wear his jersey. I guess that is why Troy Brown had to play defense too. I'm a very traditional girl when it comes to sports-I find something that is lucjy and have to stick to it. I say you should stick to things that work!

I watched only my second live college football game yesterday. It was very good. Assumption beat Bentley for the first time in 24 years. The team got to shave the coaches head-fun times all around.

We watched the Lake House this weekend. This was one of the worst movies I've ever scene. Curious George, however, was awesome! Taylor, in an effort to be cute, bought me the soundtrack. It is so great-Jack Johnson was one of my summer loves.

I found my yearbook quote (see previous post for context), "Someone once said courage means holding on, but sometimes it means letting go". It doesn't really represent my life strategy like Jodi's does, but is still mostly relevent. Going to the world's tinyest school, we each got to list about 5-6 things with out picture. I don't remember all of my most memorably moments, and my weakness is ridiculous (Tall blonds who kiss my hands and call me princess--yeah, my high school sweetheart was so not the one), but I think my favorite saying would still be relevant "Dad, I didn't hit the rock, besides, the dent gives my car character". I'll never own a nice car-I'm too likely to ding the poor thing! The best I can aspire to drive is a Honda Accord. I know my place!

Notice the use of the letter D tonight. Our friend from Dell finally came and replaced the keyboard. This post is brought to you by the letter D!

time for apple crisp!!!!!!!!!!!