WELCOME TO MY NEW LAYOUT! Many, many thanks to jak1983 (Julie) for making this template up for me. You rock!

Boy, was today a long day. Stayed up last night to watch the �subdued� (hah) Red Sox celebration of clinching a playoff berth. I honestly feel the departure of Garciaparra and the arrival of, most notably, Mientkiewicz and Cabrera, has done wonders for the club. If the Sox weren�t ending their season against Baltimore, I�d have hope that they could clinch the AL East. At the start of the season, I really thought Baltimore �coulda been a contendah�. They�ve got a great team. Don�t know what happened. They sure show their stuff against the Sox, though. As for the Evil Empire, I know they�re playing the Twins, but that�s all. So long as they get their butts handed to them, the way they did on Saturday and Sunday, that�s all that matters at this point. And surprisingly I had a voice yesterday, though it wavered from time to time, and my throat is still a little sore today. Reminds me of the first major league game I ever went to. My parents took me to Shea Stadium for a Mets game for my 18th birthday. My mother still can�t believe the Jekyll/Hyde transformation I went through that day. She said I was not her daughter while we were at the stadium. haha. Heck, I still go through that transformation to this day. *grinning maniacally* What can I say, I love baseball. And I love the Red Sox. I still love the Mets, too, and must admit I�ve felt some guilt over the �86 World Series since pledging my allegiance to the Red Sox Nation. And you know something? It�s been 86 years since the Sox last won the World Series. And the last time they played in the World Series was �86. And when they were in the Series in �86, it�d been 68 years since their last Championship.

Yes, I realize I�m reaching, but I still think it�s at least mildly interesting. :-)

Every time D sees my Mets �86 World Series Champs mug he growls.

My sister called last night to give me an update on her husband. He wasn�t scheduled to see the doctor until the end of the week, but my sister called and got him in yesterday. The doctor he saw scheduled another MRI for him this Friday morning and gave him permission to go to work afterwards, but with very strict limitations as to what he can do. This doctor actually listened to my sister when she told her that my brother in law had been kicked by one of their horses over Labor Day weekend and questioned if there could have been a clot from that that could have caused the stroke. This doctor said it�s a possibility. All the other doctors didn�t even acknowledge that my sister told them about it. Also, there�s something going on with his heart that may have had a hand in this as well. There�s a lump that may need patching. Don�t really know the specifics on that, but expect my sister will give me the nitty-gritty on everything come Friday. She�s still running on adrenaline. Even though he�s home now, she�s still not sleeping well because she�s worried about so many things. I told her last night to take some B-complex � it always helps me when I feel stressed � and she said, �Yes, MOM!� lol

My cousin is heading out here Friday night to visit for the weekend. Yay! I never got a chance to visit her when I was out that way in July. It�ll be good to see her. We�re going to the Museum of Science to check out the Lord of the Rings exhibit. I�ve been dying to see that since it opened. Can�t wait! D and I try to get to the Museum at least once, sometimes twice a year. It�s so much fun! We haven�t been to an IMAX film in a while, though. We�ll have to see if anything good is playing while we�re there, and if we�ll have time to see it. Not sure what else we�re doing, though I�m sure we�re going to have to make a trip to one of the Christmas Tree Shoppes. And have lunch/dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. And/or Joe's. Going to make a chicken divan for dinner Friday, and an apple crisp for dessert. Hmmm� may have to pick up some vanilla ice cream to go along with the crisp.

I haven�t stopped in to my favorite coffee place since mid-July. Until yesterday, that is. Been trying to stay away from caffeine and such since the lump scare and, more recently, the acid reflux thing. However, I saw a commercial over the weekend that their Pumpkin Spice coffee is back and I just had to stop in to get a cup yesterday. And I had to get a french toast bagel to go along with it, too. And it was just so good that I stopped in and ordered it all again this morning. Scary thing is, I can see myself stopping in again tomorrow, and Thursday, and then come Friday, well, heck, it�s the end of the week, what�s one more stop in? Need to start the weekend off right, you know! So, this must stop now! Once a week � tops. If I stop every morning, I spend $60 a month just on coffee and bagels. That�s a bit much. I can�t make this a daily thing again. If only their coffee and edibles weren�t so good. Damn them!

Okay, here�s a smattering of pics we took at Fenway on Sunday:

THE MAN...

Manny...

Sox taking the field...

The 3 Stooges (Matsui, Lofton and Sheffield (sorry, Julie!))...

A bench clearing, but without the brawl. Hmph...

The final score!...

And a fun time was had by all!

And I love my new template! :-)