A few questions...

#1 Good Samaritan or Creepy?
I have a brake light out on my car - which I have known for almost 3 months now and am too lazy to fix it or too broke to have it fixed. Either way... I should probably change it. My mom told me about it in Jan. A cop told me in Feb. An old man told me in March. Now, this old man wasn't just walking by my car and noticed. He wasn't next to me at a stop light. He actually followed me two miles to my destination... waited for me to park my car and pulled up behind my car to inform me of my brake light being out. At first I thought he was going to my previous place of employment (a nursing home) to visit a relative/friend of his, but no, he just took some time out of his journey to follow me and let me know of my broken brake light and then went on his merry way.

How nice of him? How creepy of him?

#2 Why do girls go to the bathroom in pairs or triples?
My roommate Rich, had this question while at a bar on St. Patrick's day. He actually timed the singles/pairs/triplets going into the bathroom and the more that went in at a time, the longer it took. This would make sense, but divided by the number of people, it took a whole lot longer. So, he took this time to actually ask one of the "triplets" to find out why they "go" two + at a time.
The answer: "It saves time and we can talk about people that we're out with and guys."

LIES! Okay, yeah, they probably talk about other people, but saves time? I think NOT! I personally do not enjoy spending my bathroom time with other people, nor do I appreciate the "time saving" gestures that other girls insist on doing. Thank you very much.

#3 Why do my dogs eat their own poop? Ginny will be right up in Waton's butt while he's doing #2 and sniff it while it's coming out. Once he's done, they examine it together and then take a little taste. I prevent it when I can - but seriously, WHY?!

The Villages

My folks live in a 55+ active-adult community in Leesburg, Florida. There are a lot of happenings in their Royal Highlands development such as a private golf course, community chorus, state clubs, shuffleboard competitions, etc … But they like trying new things and frequent The Villages, another 55+ community.

On my trip down to Florida over the weekend I was introduced to a new lifestyle. A lifestyle in which I hope to never actually live, but maybe visit every once in a while. While driving to The Villages, about an hour North of Royal Highlands, my parents pointed out different communities they had first looked at when deciding to move to Florida.

I ask, “What didn't you like about The Villages?”
Their response, “It's too big for what we're looking for.”
“The houses are too big, or the community?” I ask.
“Mainly the community.”

I had no idea what I was about to encounter.

We first pull into The Villages and I'm expecting another replica of Royal Highlands, only with a different specialization.

This is going to be very hard to explain, it is more of an experience – but try to picture Pleasantville, only with golf carts for vehicles and an older generation. They have the housing developments, just like Royal Highlands, but then on top of that they have their own grocery store, hospital, movie theater, strip malls, gazebos for live entertainment and dancing, historic looking town squares, all within a gated community.

Our reasoning for going to The Villages on Friday was to attend Happy Hour. They have live music and Happy Hour every single day from 5-6pm. I wish I had my camera with me Friday night. I missed so many great picture opportunities. There were line dancers galore, friendly faces EVERYWHERE, older people getting drunk on 2 glasses of wine within 40 minutes, oh wait, that was my Gram... I have never seen so many active AARP members in one space. This is completely different from my usual setting at work.

During Happy Hour I turn to my dad and ask if we can come back again tomorrow so I can get some pictures. He pretty much just laughed, but we did. And Gram came along again because the wine was really good.

I got some pretty great shots of:

Souped-up golf carts.

Golf cart parking.

Couples in love and dancing.

Even mom and I boogied a bit.

My parents enjoying some wine.

Kids (a RARE scene) contemplating jumping.

I also learned that you can pretty much get away with anything...

Eating foot long hot dogs with everything on it.

Wearing pink jump suits.

Pushing your husband/wife around the dance floor.

Dance like nobodies watching

The only picture I really wish I had was the numerous geri-couples out there, holding hands.

Both nights, all I could hear in my head when we were leaving was Adam Sandler singing, “I wanna grow old with you.”

I can't wait to grow old with Ben...

Engaged! and random points of interest.

I'm engaged! And it happened shortly after my last blog entry, which was almost 3 months ago.
Wedding planning in full gear - we have lots accomplished but plenty more on our plates. Thank you to everyone who has helped keep our lives a bit more sane.

Holidays came and went. Brian, Loni and Niall made it up and out to Ithaca. We had a lovely time!

Ben had a birthday. He got lots of knives.




Jon had a birthday last weekend, which was celebrated by a visit to NYC. I am never driving to the city again... Oh and The Mugs totally rock.

Ginny and Watson turned 6 months on the 17th.
Picture perfect Ginny

Barely holding Watson. This is my "take-it-quick-Ben,-I'm-going-to-drop-him" face.

Today marks the birth of Paige and Brian's newest - Susanna Campbell Johns - Welcome to the world little one!

I have been exposed to the wonderful world of Cornell Hockey. Boy is that an adventure in itself. They play Yale tomorrow night and we have third row seats.

I am going dress shopping, round two, with my cousin Rebecca this Saturday. I'm still waiting to find "the one" for real -but I may have a good hunch.

I'm up to 9 private lessons (including guitar, violin and piano) so I am keeping quite busy when I'm not planning or taking care of the pups.

How are you?

Root, root, root for the spiiiiiiiider - Play by play

I am sitting in an office adjacent from my own since Jamie is on the computer critiquing my recent work.
I came into this office to work on the next purchase order for Phoenix. This office isn't used very often - as the lady who used to "own it" decided to quite her job after having a heart attack (brought on by her job).

I sit down at the computer and hear a fly at the window, on the inside. Bzzz bzzz - I'm not surprised, as this office is pretty dingy. But then the buzzing doesn't stop - so I look over to find the location of the sound. Whoa, it's stuck in a spider web!!!
So, apparently I have never seen this sight before. Usually the fly is already dead and the spider about to munch down.

I put my glasses on for a better look and open the blinds. The spider is inches away, just waiting for the fly the stop struggling. One wing stuck to the web, the other frantically trying to free itself. Yeah little dude, that's just going to make it worse. Stop struggling and become comfortably numb.

The spider take a few stops closer once the fly settles down. Bzzz, back he goes again. It's almost like the spider is tickling the fly. This is so amusing to me! The spider waits for the fly to quiet down again and takes a few steps closer. Bzzz bzzz bzzz...
"Forget it" - (I'm pretending to be inside the spider's head). "I'll just go about my business and finish working on my web."

Fly (now a proper noun) is about twice the size of Spider. The web, about as long as my finger tips to elbow, using a dead parade rose plant to help secure the ends (and I'm sure to draw the attraction of unsuspecting flies).

25 minutes have now passed of bzzzing and non-bzzzing. One wing going strong. Spider tickling Fly, back and forth, back and forth.

I'm being quite productive with my purchase order. One item located on the internet (instant snow - yeah, I'm testing to see what we can get away with). I don't feel bad, taking the time to watch nature. I'm staying late today, since my first piano lesson doesn't start until 5... just saying, for those wondering how I can get away with such nonsense.

Ahhh, silence. I take a peek between writing sentences. Fly is motionless, Spider on his head. Maybe sucking some bloo-bzzzzzzzz. Nope, still alive and kicking. Spider braces himself on his web.

35 minutes passed and Fly is getting tuckered out. He's only moving his legs as he's probably given up the wing technique. Bzzz. Oh but has he? He's doing the bzzz-wiggle-wiggle now. A lil bzzz a lil wiggle wiggle. Spider just chillin' on Fly's head. Fly starts to buzz again while Spider is holding his hand. We'll call this the Bzzwaltz.

45 minutes.
Hmmm, spider looks a little plump. Fly is no longer moving.
I think we can all guess where it goes from here.

Yes, that's right. Leslie gets back to work and leaves Spider and Fly to privacy.

I think I should publish children's books.

Feel the Music - Readers be warned: The content below may BLOW YOUR MIND!

Okay, I'm a strict believer of music motivating, healing, soothing, inspiring the mind, body and soul. Heck, I'm a Music Therapist.
What does "feel the music" mean to you?


I saw an ad for the following in an Oprah magazine while chatting it up with some ladies in my Phoenix group. Awkward? Yes.

OhMiBod = Oh My Goodness - is this really necessary? Especially the video???

What really kinda disgusts me (amongst the spelling of accessories) is that OhMiBod's abbreviation is OMB - which to me means my always awesome One Minute Bible bible study.

One Minute Bible - The first socially acceptable vibrator.

I think not.

My favorite tiny things

Niall at 6 months. I love his bright blue eyes and his already receding hairline (he inherited from Brian) He is doing extremely well and down to only 1 breathing treatment a day.

Meet Watson and Ginny - 5 weeks old

It appears that Watson, too, has blue eyes. They match his chewy bone

Ginny's first steps at her new home

The bat came back...

Saturday night I retreated from the attic, ready for bed, to find Ben standing in the stairwell moving his head as if watching a tennis match.

"What are you doing" - I ask?

"There's a ba - WATCH OUT! - bat in Erik's room." Ben replies.

"Ewww, really? I wanna see!" - I exclaim, excitedly! But then I realize, I'm only excited to see a bat up close, but not necessarily living in our house.

I knock on Rich's door to inform him of our new house guest. He proceeds out, in his undies, to take a gander. Rich and I stand in the hallway watching the bat fly around Erik's room, ducking every so often as the bat changes course towards our faces. Ben is in the bathroom removing the window for easy escaping.

Finally, Rich leads the bat into the bathroom and we shut the door. In the morning, no more bat.


Last night, I was startled awake to a scratching. I think to myself, "Ohh the mice are back... " and drift back to off to sleep.

A few moments later I wake up again to feel a breeze not coming from the window fan and hear a "ting" of wing against metal (the lamp above my head).

ACK!!!! The bat came back! And it's in MY room!!!

Frozen in my bed, I pull the blankets up over my head. After my heart settles down, I turn on the light so that I may pin point the location of the creeper.

Stupid.

Bats fly - it's EVERYWHERE! It does a couple laps around the room, then lands on my window treatment. I get a good look at the bugger and shimmy down even more into bed. He takes off again and I position myself under the blankets, but still able to see him in the mirror, flying around my bedroom.

Think. Think. I don't want to get out of bed. Think. What if he has rabies? Think. What if he poops on me? Think. Think.

I feel comforted by seeing him fly around through the mirror. It's when he lands out of sight that I get more freaked out. After a few more laps I decide to make a move the next time he lands.

Finally, the sound of flapping wings stops. I slowly gather my comforter up off my bed, still keeping it above my head. I tip toe out of bed - keeping my arms up and protecting - whole body completely draped in my comforter. I find the location of the bat - on my quilt hanging. I move to the door, open it and back away.

The bat takes flight, making several more laps before landing again. Damn! Get out get out get out!!! This time he's on my dresser, scurrying about blindly. Stupid animal. I hope you get a good meal with all those daddy longlegs up there.

Another flight and out he goes. Woo! I shut the door, shake my nerves and hop into bed. I'll let Rich and Erik handle the bat now.

I take one last look around the room and turned out the light.


So... we have bat problems. Anyone wanna stop by around sunset time and keep a watch for bats flying about?