HUG AN ITALIAN DAY

Yes, folks, I just noticed on my Facebook site a minute ago that tomorrow is Hug An Italian Day. Everyone's invited to show up. At around 2:30 this morning we got quite a scare from my father who got sick for a while but he feels much better now so far. Mary Anne, Sam & Bridget came in yesterday but Steve & Michael weren't available. So far our plans for the birthday party & tomorrow's big game have been running rather smoothly. The weather is much nicer today than we'd expected. Yesterday it snowed quite violently for a while. I've just noticed that KrissyKrissyKrissy has joined our Facebook crowd.

WEEKEND PARTYING

Everybody's supposed to start showing up later today for the big parties for both my mother's birthday & the Super Bowl. It should turn out to be quite a really nice time. Today so far the snow has tapered down to only flurries but there's still entirely too much ice. A good Friday dance, quite literally, could even end up getting a guy killed these days. Fortunately Michelle & her sister weren't forced to miss out on their big trip to New York City yesterday. Happy birthday to cousin Anthony. I accidentally left him off the list. Last night I really wanted to be able to stay up to watch "Burn Notice". I accidentally fell asleep, though, & ended up not waking up again until around 2:30 a.m. Unfortunately that happens quite frequently. Rose called my mother yesterday because of both their birthdays.

BIG BLIZZARD

Unfortunately, my mother's seventy sixth birthday, yesterday was turned into a total disaster. The weather, starting on Tuesday night, was nothing short of an absolute nightmare. There was a blizzard of snow combined with sleet. Among other roads, Rte. 81, as always was an absolute nightmare. Entire exits were closed. Schools & the library were closed too. Late in the day when I tried to move my car from the curb to the driveway I couldn't even cross the ice on the driveway so I didn't even bother. Uncle Frankie came over with pizza. Conveniently, he has four wheel drive. A belated happy birthday to cousin Frankie(Lanfranco). Mary Anne, as well as Nunziata, called yesterday to wish my mother a happy birthday. There were only six people, besides Fr. Walsh, at Mass yesterday. Howard was forced to spend a lot of time plowing the driveway. Let's just hope it's all calmed down by the weekend in time for the birthday/Super Bowl parties. Yesterday I finished "Pride & Prejudice" & began rereading yet another Jane Austen book, "Nothanger Abbey".

YET ANOTHER RAGING BLIZZARD

I've been reading more of "Pride & Prejudice". It's a relatively short book so I'm already close to the end. Lately all the news among the kin has been about Java & Katey's baby Colin, & Java & Jennifer's pregnancy. I have been quite active on my Facebook account lately. It's how I get to keep track of people. A while ago I found out that our local Waldenbooks will be closing very soon. That's really bad news because it's a result of our sluggish economy. The good news, though, is that I won't really miss it. That's one book store I've never been even the least bit impressed by. Their selection absolutely stunk. Even though they're a subsidiary of Borders, they're nowhere near as good. According to the weatherman, we're supposed to have yet another snowstorm starting tonight. We can expect about six to ten more inches of the stuff. This morning, at St. Joseph's, I made sure I got a pocket calendar. There was no official set price. Fr. Walsh just asked for a donation to help defray the price.

SNOWED AGAIN LAST NIGHT

By now the winter's been getting more than a bit on the annoying side. There was yest another snowfall last night. This morning the temperature was only two degrees. I lectored at 5:00 Mass on Saturday again. Everyone was signing post cards to send to our senators & congressmen protesting FOCA. Uncle Frankie came over yesterday & hung around for supper. As always the conversation leaned quite heavily on blasts from the far away past. He went to the doctor today. I was going to go to a blood drive today over in Wilkes_Barre but it's kind of far away in an obscure area compared to the ones I usually end up at. It's at the Geisinger Center on Church Street. I can wait a while until a closer one shows up. Oddly, no one bothered to call me about making a specific appointment for this one.