Great Googa-Mooga!

EGAD...well, we have finally made it back to Pittsburgh, both with numb butts I might add, from sitting in a car for such a long time! Let's see, we started out Xmas morning driving from the 'burgh to Michigan...8 hours. Then we stayed 2 days, and drove back, 8 more hours home. The next morning, we took off to Allentown NJ...5 hours...then from there, we drove to Rochester NY, which was ANOTHER 5.5 hours...(with my dog and I squished like sardines in the backseat amongst a huge box of presents). Yeahhh, THAT was fun...then, 2 days later, we were back on the road to Pittsburgh again, 5 more hours. CRIKEY!!

Ya know how, when you take off your rollerskates, or get off the treadmill, you still feel like you're moving?! Yeah, that's kinda how I feel today...so Pete and I decided that next year ya'll gotta buy yerselves a plane ticket and come visit US!!

But it was nice seeing everyone again, I'll post some photos this weekend here for you too.

Yesterday was Pete's birthday! YAYY! He had a nice breakfast out with his daughter, and while he was gone I scrambled like a mad dog to bake him an angel-food cake with cherry filling on top---but as you all know, a "domestic goddess" I am NOT...so it looked PERFECT in the oven, but it fell flat when I took it out, and was hard as a brick...dammit to hell. Oh well, he still managed to choke down a piece and chuckled about it anyway. Can't blame me for trying though! (He took the car, I had no way to get to a bakery to buy a pre-made cake and that's all his mom had in her pantry). SIGH. He did, however, like the gifts I gave him...so now his bathroom will be completely decorated with a BATMAN motif. (He's 51 now, but he still loves comic book heroes. Go figure). We're planning to move to a bigger & better place here in Pittsburgh sometime in the spring, so we may wait and decorate his new bathroom with it all then. (My bathroom decoration theme is all about black & white old movies, which I LOVE).

There were several funny moments during our Xmas travels, like when Pete's 3 year old grandson balled himself up on the floor and sniffed his feet, declaring loudly that his feet smelled like "tuna booty." Ahhhh yes, ya gotta love it when little kids say something that would, from a teen-ager's mouth, sound rather naughty! (I wonder what a tuna's booty REALLY smells like)?! But ummm, I think I'll pass on finding that crucial information out for myself, thanks.

I also had to laugh when my best friend Laurie's son Noah opened his gifts---the boy is only 11 but he loves Journey even MORE than me, (believe it or not), and he squealed like a girl when he opened all the goodies I gave him...he got the new MP3 player with Revelation on it, and then a downloadable card for "The Essential Journey" songs that he can add to it, and THEN I realized (as I rummaged through my huge bin of Journey junk), that I had 2 copies of the DVD concert videos, so he got one of those too...he was absolutely GIDDY! He also plays the baritone in the school band, so I printed him some free music off the internet and put it all in a binder too, he loved that a lot. His photo is priceless...I'll add it soon. (I gave him one of my old Journey t-shirts in November for his birthday too, he practically jumped through the ceiling).

Ya gotta love it when you immerse a kid from birth in the music you love, and succesfully have them brainwashed and addicted to it later in life! MMMMUUUUHAHAHAHAHA!! My work here is DONE!!

Anyway, Pete and I had a fun time wearing our silly Xmas hats, and spending time with you all.

Bye for now! Have a Happy New Year and be safe!

Love, Becky & Pete