Christmas Cookie Decorating 2008

Brittanie, her friend, Maria, and I went to Beth's house for our annual cookie decorating. It had been 2 years since we last did it as we both were so busy. Last year, I was working at Younkers alot of hours. Anyway, I will always remember Gracie's cookies she decorated when she was a kid. She would put on gobs of frosting and sprinkles and make a double decker cookie. Bekky is 10 and Gracie will be 9. Brittanie is now 12. It is amazing how fast kids grow up.

Maggie came along, too. She enjoyed playing with the girls.
She was tired out, though, when she got home.

Christmas Story Movie - 25th Anniversary Convention in Cleveland

 

Christmas Story 25th Anniversary Convention: Cleveland, Ohio

We left for Cleveland, Ohio on Friday, November 28, 2008. We stayed at George and Marianne’s Thursday night and picked up my mom’s college friend, Maryann Poczik, in Ann Arbor and left for Cleveland.

We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel right in the Public Square in downtown Cleveland. The first event we went to was to meet the stars of the movie, “A Christmas Story”. They had a long table up with each star sitting behind it. We got to meet “Miss Shields”, “Randy”, the two bullies, the guy who delivered the lamp, “Flick”, and the two elves at Higbee’s Department store. I only bought 1 photo which was of Ian Petrello, who played “Randy” in the movie. It was $20 so I only picked one photo.

We took the trolley over to the Christmas Story House, as well as the museum. It was a cold day and there was a long line at the house, so we decided to do that on Saturday. But, we did go through the museum where they have several photos from the movie, Ralphie’s jacket, Randy’s snowsuit, as well as some of their toys they received on Christmas.

The museum gift shop was crowded. We took a look at everything but thought we might wait to buy anything until later.

We took the trolley back to the hotel. Then, we went to a viewing of the movie. I love that movie. I watch it every Christmas. It continues on TNT for 24 hrs on Christmas Day.

We had dinner at the Hard Rock Café which was in the Tower City mall that was attached to our hotel. We all enjoyed our cheeseburgers, which were really good. I haven’t had that good of a cheeseburger at the Hard Rock Café.

From 9-11, we went to the cocktail gala at the hotel and got to have our photo taken with each of the actors from the movie. We learned a lot from the guy who delivered the lamp in the movie. He lives down the street from the Christmas Story house. He helped out on the set with watching the boys, as well as being the gopher.

This was a great opportunity to talk with the actors/actresses from the movie.

Saturday, November 29th:

We got up early in the morning so we could be at the Christmas Story house around 10 a.m. We got on the 2nd trolley ride there. It was neat to be able to go in the house. They guy who bought the house, bought the house over the internet. It was selling for $90,000. He put a bid in for $150,000 and asked for the bidding to stop. He spent about $250,000 getting the house to look like the house in the movie. When he bought it, it had been remodeled with grey siding and new windows. So, began to change that. Before buying the house, he made some of the leg lamps and sold about 1,800.

The house was officially opened in 2006. The actors from the movie came out for the grand opening. The owner has a little apartment on the 3rd floor that he stays in when he comes to town. He lives in San Diego, CA.

We found out that the school teacher in the movie was 8 months pregnant in real life when she filmed that movie.

We found out from the lady elf that they haven’t received residuals from the movie in the past 15 years.

The shorter bully is now a hair stylist and has a son who was there.

We drove out to the Chinese restaurant, Pearl of the Orient, in one of the suburbs. When we got to the door, it said it wasn’t open at lunch on Saturdays and Sundays. We couldn’t believe that the official Chinese restaurant of the Christmas Story would be closed on the weekends, especially this weekend.

The actual restaurant is located in Toronto, which is also the city where much of the movie was filmed.

They had a costume contest at the festival

Mom, MaryAnn, and I went shopping at Jones New York and each got matching blazers. So, we had our picture taken together with our matching jackets. It was so funny.

There was a beautiful Christmas parade in front of the hotel. They lit up a big Christmas tree and shot off fireworks.

The public square was all decorated beautifully.

Then, we went to the screening of Bob Clark’s world. They want to get it into the movie theater, as a tribute to Bob Clark. He was the writer and producer of “A Christmas Story”.

Overall, the trip has been quite fascinating and I have learned quite a bit.

Madonna Concert

With a crowd of approximately 30,000 people at the Ford Field, Madonna came out with burst of energy. It is amazing the energy she portrays during the full 2 hour concert she performed. This is the first time in 7 years that she has performed in her hometown of Detroit. She grew up in Rochester Hills. Her father now owns a vinyard up near Traverse City, which she purchased for him.

Although we had to wait 2 hours for her to come out, the show was well worth it. It is one of the best concerts I have been to. The graphics, lights, and sound were fantastic.

We stayed at the Milner Hotel across the street. It was only $88. It wasn't the greatest hotel, but it was close to where we were going. The door knob on the bathroom door fell out when you tried to close the door. I guess they forgot this room when they remodeled. lol But, we did have good heat which is important for this time of the year. They did have a decent continental breakfast in the morning. Most of the other hotels in the area were closer to $150/night.

Overall, the concert was well worth it. We only paid $40 a ticket which is pretty cheap for Madonna.

Thanksgiving Blessings

Pastor Jerry Depoy Sr. gave me something to think about today. He said we should be thinking about our blessings during the Thanksgiving holiday. So often, I complain about what I don't have such as a husband, children, siblings, etc.

So, I am going to jot down some of my blessings as a reminder of what God has given me.

1. Good health
2. Full-time job
3. Wonderful mother
4. Good family and friends
5. Hearing and vision
6. Health insurance
7. Dog, Maggie
8. Been able to travel the world
9. College degree
10. Home with electricity and heat, and of course internet access. :o)

So, instead of dwelling on what I don't have, I am going to start thinking about what I do have.

Beulah Justian

My mother called me at work this afternoon to tell me that Beulah Justian passed away Tuesday night in her sleep. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer back in May. I knew she was sick, but had no idea how fast she would go.

I am so glad we were able to go to McAllen, Texas this past winter to see her. She took us everywhere while we were there. She was a super friend to us, whom we considered as a family member, too. She made you feel a part of her family.

She took wonderful care of my grandpa Thomas when they were down in Texas. I thought of her as a grandmother.

She was a wonderful artist and gave my mom an oil painting of pumpkins that she just made in the past month in a class she was taking. She was really good at China painting, too. There were some of her paintings on the wall at the trailer in Texas, which I took pictures of this past winter.

I am going to miss her very much! I know she is in heaven now! God Bless her always!

Election Day 2008

Jim, Melanie, and Jasmine stopped by for pizza and to watch the election results. Barack Obama and John McCain were running for President. Obama is from Chicago. We found his house in Hyde Park back in August and got some nice pictures of his home.

Around 11 p.m., I found out that Obama became our new President. They had a big celebration in Grand Park in Chicago with over 100,000 spectators. I heard on the news that he cancelled the fireworks as he didn't think it was right to do that when the economy is not going well. I thought that was a great thing he did.

I was very happy last night to see him win! Way to go Obama!

Halloween 2008

This year, I dressed up like Hillary Clinton. I got the mask at Party City. I wore one of my suits to make it look more authentic. Rita McKenzie's son dressed up like Barack Obama. It was very cute.

After work, I went to Julie Henley's house in North Muskegon. Her husband decorated the front yard like a grave yard. Scott and Scotty enjoyed scaring the kids as they came to get candy. Julie dressed up like the weird scientist.

They had a coffin in one of their rooms with a headless body in it.

They had a wonderful spread of food. They had candy bones, tombstone shaped cake, ribs, subs, jello that looked like worms (done through a curly straw), and a bunch of other neat Halloween treats. Kathryn and Kenny stopped by after they went trick or treating. Jeanne and her husband stopped by around 9:30 p.m.

Julie and I laughed so hard at the kids getting scared by her husband. Julie's father is pretty funny, too. He has a deep voice and was inside saying scary things through the window. He is quite the jokester.

Halloween was sure alot of fun.