The Grish-man is too cute for words… his smile will melt your heart.

L-Rex has been walking for about a month.  And she most definitely LOVES her aunt shoe….  I’ll take it!

The Sam-ster… half Sam…half hamster… has finally taken his first Franken-sam steps.   And although he has a lot of secret girlfiend and although I promised not to screw him up too badly…. I’m pretty sure he likes me the most… but lets be honest that boy is all about ‘love the one you’re with.’

And lastly onto Ria— though she seems to have some “jerry in her junk” thing happening these days, I could honestly eat her up.  Part too smart for her own good…. Part too stubborn for her mom’s good…. when she pays even the slightest attention to you… you feel way special.

My list would not be complete without mention of Alexis and Kyle…. at 15 and 12, they are the oldest of my ‘babies’…but let me assure you that they are the coolest people I know. 

What teenagers want to hang out with ther old aunts and uncles?  Alexis and Kyle.

What middle and high schoolers have such a way with babies and seem to actually enjoy spending time with infants?  Alexis and Kyle.

Seriously I only wish I was a awesome at 35 as they are at 12 and 15.

So eat your heart out world… I am the luckiest aunt alive… 

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I had high hopes for 2008.  Really, I did.  And in many ways this year was, in fact, a success.

But… when it comes to my resolutions… I’d have to say I that there was room for improvement.

Lets recap, shall we…

#1)  Stop eating proccessed foods:  I was really on track with this one until about September.  A busy semester working on my Administrative Certificate found me eating Hot Pockets and Progresso Soup many Tuesday and Thursday nights.  Who really wants to cook dinner at 9:00 at night?!

#2) Win the Rochester Marathon:  Perhaps my biggest disappointment of the year… I had this one locked up if Marathons (like MHG thought) were not always 26.2 miles.  Twenty-two miles would have been just fine with me.

#3) Take back the government: Happy to say that we made this one possible!  My faith in the America people has been restored… Pew, Pew!!

#4) Take back the gym:  Check. 

A fantastic side effect of this one…. I realized that I don’t need them.

#5) Redo my powder room: It took about six months, but its done.  And it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.  Now if I could just remember to use it now that its fully functional again.

#4) Earn $10,000:   I chickened out of the one phone call that would have made this possible. 

So as we wrap up 2008, I can’t be too upset-

My family is healthy and growing! 

I have a job…

…for now. 

And gas is under $2.00 a gallon!

I guess for everything else I’d like to change….

….there’s always next year.

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Umm.. seriously… don’t be jealous…. but these two are definitely the cutest babies born in 2008!  Maybe ever…

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You see, my dad’s birthday is October 31st.  And this year, he and my mom spent the preceeding week helping my sister with the twins while Michael conferenced it up in California.

So the plan was to invite the Western New York contingent of my family over to JAY’s to celebrate his Birthday and All Hallow’s Eve.  JAY always does a great job as hostess.  With food from Simply Crepes  …

[Despite her experience last time, SKS enjoyed the sandwich crepes…  I wonder if she’s willing to change her opinion of was Simply Food Poisoning?]

…There were 4 types of Woodchuck Cider and bucketloads of candy!

And then it happened….

The Monkey JAY invited showed up…

Clearly not your ordinary monkey, this one was interested in “hummus” and playing “conkers.”  And she wasn’t the least bit scared by Sam’s BOO hat. 

She entertained us with her version of “LMNOP” and we all learned that when you count you aboslutely say ” 1, 2, 3, 5, 7.”

And though she did not seem pleased with DJY’s desire to be helpful during twinsy diaper duty, screaming “That’s my dad!”, she was totally into the Reese’s Stick that she found in the candy stash.

Sadly the evening had to come to and end and as the Little Monkey headed out the door, we all wondered….

…Does Lilly have any idea that there was even a Monkey in her house??

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present:

 Lillian McKenna Gauss

#1 Snuggler

 and

Samuel Hardin Gauss

#1 Screech Monkey, Bobcat fighter.

PERFECT!

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On one day, we decided to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  If I remember correctly, she had never been.  And it had been years since I had visited Lady Liberty.

Now mind you, we live in a post-9/11 world.  A world of long security lines and taking off your boots to reveal the hole in the toe of your sock before you board the boat to Ellis Island.

Inspired by our visit, we decided to see if we could locate the documents on-line that showed when our great-grandfather John Y.  came to America from Poland with his property (his wife–my great-grandmother). This led us to search for the meaning of our last name…which in Polish means.. “lover of millet.” 

At first I was extremely diasappointed.   It didn’t sound like we were very improtant or exciting.  We weren’t the town blacksmith, or town banker.  We weren’t even the town baker.  We just loved a grain that we had barely heard of. 

But guess what suckers… the jokes on you.  Millet– the grain my people loved so much that they were named after it— its the number 1 food that keeps you skinny.  Top weight loss foods

Read it and weep people….. what my people have known (or stumbled on by accident), your people are just hopping on board with.

Now if only McKenna meant something cool, like “winner of a million dollars that she gives half of to her favorite aunt …and by favorite aunt I mean the one that massaged her mother’s ass” 

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I’ll post pictures soon. But here’s the article  in the Democrat & Chronicle.

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It was never my intent to buy a house that had a pool.  It just so happens that the perfect house had one– 26′  in diameter and 4′6″ deep at the center (i think).

The first summer I lived there I could not have been more excited to try my hand at pool maintenance and enjoyment.  I spent hours upon hours lounging in my outdoor bath–  it was heated by one large solar cover and really warmed up by the end of July.

Each year has brought a new lesson in pool care-

Year one-  how to repair a hole

Actually come to think of it, year one was about learning how to do everything:  connecting all the tubing, vacuuming and backwashing, the right (or wrong) amount of algaecide to include. I personally do not recommend pouring a whole bottle in.

Year two– How not to try to open the pool yourself

After dumping a large quantity of rotten leaves into the bottom, it took me quite sometime to clean out the very center of the pool where they all seemed to congregate.

Year three–  How to purchase an appropriately sized winter cover so that closing the pool isn’t a total nightmare.

Honestly, as long as you let MHG be the engineer of the whole process it’ll actually be a somewhat painless process.

So here we are in year four– 

And while in past years I have jokingly stated that I wanted to knock the pool down….this year I came SO close to actually doing it. 

This summer was a green pool disaster.  It turned green almost immediately.  And round-after-round of visits to my dear friends at Clover, it stayed green.  

Jesus loves me this I know… because it did clear up briefly.. long enough for the guest at my sister’s baby shower to not think that I was white-trash.  But not in time for Princess Ria’s first visit to a big-girl pool on July 4th.  She went in anyway….

(JAY will you add that cute picture of RIA here)

….really as long as there are plenty of cherry tomatoes to be had– Ria is happy.

After a brief respite– it was back to green and this time, it seemed, to stay…

I had reached such a level of frustration that I called an “expert.”  A nice man who ran a pool service visited and spent some time explaining the chemical process, informing me that my peeps at Clover had sold me a terrible product , and diagnosing and “fixing” my pool.  A day later, it seemed be on the mend.

HA HA HA!

Quickly the nation of algae revolted against my chemical weapons attack and reclaimed the territory.

I tried to contact the ‘very nice’ man that had come to my house only days before.  And he ignored me! (so if you’re in need of pool care in the Rochester area I would not recommend Clear Choice Pool Services)

I then decided to take drastic measures.  As if I hadn’t already!  I was going to drain the entire pool, scrub it down and start over.  I was just about to start the draining process when my neighbor Dave intervened.  He asked me to give him 3 days to see if he could de-greenify my pool.

AND HE DID IT!

Now it never achieved the crystal clear appearance that his own pool had..but I could actually swim in it!  So for the last month or so, I have obsessively worked my little behind off trying not to destroy his beautiful work. With few exceptions, I think I’ve made him proud.

Determined to get a reasonable amount of use out of it, I kept my pool open past Labor Day this year. [Really, I was worried that Labor day would take on a whole new meaning if JAY tried to help in the process–so I’ve waited until this weekend when I can enlist some other family members to assist in the closing] I’ve forced myself and my sister to get in that pool and to enjoy its lack of green-ness. 

Sadly, this week has turned out to be rainy, cool and very busy so there have been no dips in the pool.  BUT, as I prepare to drain it tomorrow, I have good news….

….my pool is now crystal clear and ready for swimming.

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So when I stared down the summer concert schedule getting more and more excited about all of the shows I wanted to see– I was worried I’d have no one to go with.   From what they tell me, pregnancy is pretty exhausting-sometimes requiring bed-rest. 

(What exactly defines ‘bed rest?’  Are you actually expected to stay in bed??  How terrible?  Who would actuallywant to be put on bed-rest to think day in and day out about the impending pain of childbirth?  And if it doesn’t literallymean laying in bed, what activities are permitted?  Is shopping? Is making dinner?  Where is the line crossed from acceptable bed-rest behavior to unacceptable activity?  And wouldn’t some jobs fall within the acceptable behavior range?)

The good news– my sister is no “bed-rester!”

So it seemed my “summer of concerts” was a go.  MGH was particularly excited to see how the babies would respond during the different performances.  And since each show was at at different venue, I made it my goal to rate each based on the availability and variety of alcohol…

So our ‘Summer Concert Series’ began way before summer with…

Show number one— THE POLICE

1)  HSBC Arena- Buffalo, NY:    Let just say as far as availability is concerned, HSBC might have taken the cake.  However, it is presentation that really defines this venue.  At this stop we (MGH, SKS, N(I can’t beleive I don’t know her middle initial)Y, DJY) took advantage of the bars.  Bars– multiple Bars in the arena.  Genious! We found ourselves abandoning our “seats” and hanging  at a bar with a much better view of these rock legends.  I might have even been close enough to douse Sting with the chocolate sauce JAY wanted the opportunity to lick off. 

A+ for the concert–duh its The Police.  But A+  for the alcohol too, HSBC Arena.

Show number two–    The Foo Fighters

2)  Blue Cross Arena- Rochester, NY:    The most safety conscious location on our summer tour, gender-specific BCA security guards gave each of us a pat-down.  (well–except the pregnant lady– note to self– sneak the illegal paraphernalia in with the mom-to-be)  As expected, over-sized watered down drafts was the beer-du-jour.  Don’t worry I drank it and I enjoyed it– c’mon its BEER! Nothing spectacular to report on this front– the fried dough sans powdered sugar might have been the gastronomical highlight.  It certainly was not the dude standing next to me that kept trying to talk to me while the Fighters of Foo were performing.  HONESTLY!

As far as the show goes– opening band Year-Long Disaster– to me– was just that!

But the all-mighty Foo’s played almost all my favs– a live version of  ‘But Honestly’ would have erased earlier traumas– but I can’t and won’t complain about this Rock show.

A for the Foos.  C+ for the beers.  F for rest (including the pregnant girl we saw smoking outside before the show began).

Show number three-  Sheryl Crow w/ James Blunt

3) CMAC (Constellation Brand Something or other)- Canandaigua, NY:  This place gets my A-number one vote for best all-around eating and drinking experience.  With vendors like the Dinosaur BBQ how can you not be happy.  There was a large variety of wine choices–each sold in its very own “juice-box” like container.  We, however, bypassed the wine and opted instead for BLUE MOON!  You heard me– BLUE freakin’ MOON– a real beer.  I think maybe that’s why MGH kept “going to the bathroom” and returning with more beer.  Truly, JAY was not pleased that she had to drive home and while I think I enjoyed the concert,  i know i enjoyed the beer! 

A++ for the beer.  ??? for the show.

 Show number four–  Sara Bareilles, Maroon 5 and the Counting Crows

4) Darien Lake Performing Arts Center- Darien Center, NY:

I have to start with the following disclaimer– I love Adam Duritz and I wouldn’t say a bad thing about this show if you paid me.  And aside from the unfortunate older man (who was getting both his trophy bride, and 16 yr old son drunk) who decided to “take” the empty seat in front of us– the 9th row seats we had were killer! 

Much to JAY’s dismay, I did not want the $14 yard of margarita.  Unfortunately, my decision to opt for the “mojito” in a can was not a wise choice either. 

An important security note– as concert-goers we are not allowed to have the tops to any of the plastic water-bottles sold.  They can be used as projectiles to injure people.   The plastic water-bottle itself and the aluminum can my Mojito came in were okay–not at risk of being used as a projectile– or at least not as dangerous a projectile as a plastic bottle-cap.  Hmm…

Thank god for the wine vendor!  Did you know they will take an entire bottle of wine and put it is a huge paper cup and send you off to enjoy the show.  BRILLIANT!!

A++++ for the show, D for the Mojito, A for the wine

Show number five:   John Mayer

5) Darien Lake Performing Arts Center- Darien Center, NY:  Having learned my lesson about the Mojito, SKS and I immediately headed for the winos.  We did not however, much to our dismay later, choose to buy an entire bottle.  BIG MISTAKE.  What was not a mistake was the nachos w/cheese sauce and chili– not runny gross chili but good stuff.  And although the seats in front of us seemed to have a rotating collection of inhabitants, this was my favorite John Mayer concert.  Sands rocked it out to the post-college angsty songs– and I carried the entire 401 section during the parts where JM asked us to sing along.  All-in-all a great way to round out our summer of concerts.

Show–A   Wine– A    Nachos–A+

So now as I look back on my music-filled summer, I think 2 things:

1) I may be way too preoccupied with alcohol

2) My unborn niece and nephew, who have seen more rock shows before birth than I did before my 18th birthday, are already cooler than I’ll ever be!

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