Photo Phriday-The Cat Edition

When one has four cats (crazy cat lady?), a few are bound to make you smile.




Our Eddie Boy.

What did you see?

Designer babies...

I know most doctors have a God Complex to begin with, but the latest article on "designer babies" is taking it a bit too far.



Now we could (for a hefty price tag I suppose) choose the gender, eye color, skin color and hair color of our next child. This is really going a bit too far if you ask me. Why is hoping for a healthy child, with 10 fingers and 10 toes so unheard of these days? Are we that vein a society, a master race in the making possibly?

In the immortal words of my 6 year old: "You get what you get and you don't get upset!"

That is all I have to say about that.

New Moon and Eclipse, My reviews are in...

I know, its like a train wreck, you know its bad but you need to keep looking.
I needed to continue after "Twilight".

"Twilight" ended with a cliffhanger and I thought for sure I knew what was coming next, but was I wrong!



My Edward was hardly in the book at all and I got even more frustrated with Ms. Meyers renditions of what and how werewolves came about.

The story opens with Bella celebrating her birthday with the Cullens, a family of vampires. While Bella longs to be one, Edward refuses to change her as he believes it would rob her of her soul.
Isn't that the point?
How else can they be together, forever?
So what does he do? Leave! Typical man, vampire or not.
Bella is destroyed. She sinks into a deep depression and is only able to rise from it with the help of of Jacob Black, whom Bella terms a good friend. Jacob on the other hand is falling in love with her (ut oh).

I was skipping a few pages here and there because, quite frankly, I was tired of Bella's whining about Edward leaving her.

Can Bella pick um or what?

Just when you think Bella is back to normal, she decides to be a bit reckless because she misses Edward and the only way to feel close to him is to take risks to hear his beautiful voice of reason (at least that is what she thinks she is hearing) , so she jumps off a cliff (diving of course and alone, to impatient to wait for her darling of a dog, Jacob).

But the book takes a sharp turn when Edward reappears toward the latter quarter of the book. The ending suspense plot seemed rushed and tacked on. It was really as if there were two books, or two stories, included in New Moon and neither of them were quite finished.

For all my disappointment, New Moon zips by and leaves me wanting more.




So I had to read "Eclipse".

Again, I didn't hate it, but alas was a bit disappointed again. Why am I doing this to myself? I started something and gosh darn it, I am finishing it!

The series that is.

Eclipse carries on not long after New Moon left off. Bella’s high school graduation is approaching and she will soon be leaving Forks forever, supposedly to go to college - but in reality she is planning to join her boyfriend in his vampire existence and will therefore be unable to return home, due to being dead and possessed by a terrible blood lust for the first few years.

We make it through graduation but then dangerous vampires from Seattle come to Forks and dealing with them dominates the rest of the story.

This is only one part of the story though. Eclipse is primarily a romantic saga, so Bella and Edward’s relationship is the primary focus of the novel. Or as I should say Bella, Edward and Jacob’s relationship - because there is a love triangle in the plot of this book.

Jacob is in love with Bella, who is in love with Edward so this is going to make things awkward between them.
Can you say Soap Opera?

The book didn’t feel like it was over 600 pages long, I literally flew through the pages and before I knew it, I was starting ...



"Breaking Dawn" the fourth installment of the series.

I am still reading this and am not too happy with how slow going the book is.
I mean, those crazy kids (Jacob and Bella admitting their love for each other, but Edward is HER true love). I am kind of feeling bad for Puppy Jacob. He seems to be getting the short end of the stick here and even after she marries Edward, Jacob is still an intricate part of her life/death...I am only in the 200's and this is as far as I can comment so far!

Enjoy the reading if you do decide to pick up the books.

They are not a Must Read but if you are feeling like some teen angst, love, and "monsters" this is the series for you!

More to come when I finish the book and series!

Keep an eye out for my new blog installments...Donna's List, a new blog I will be writing about what Donna recommends for me to read next.

Two years and counting...

Two years ago today, for all apparnt reasons, I quit smoking.



I cannot tell you all how proud I am of myself and wishes that all her friends and family who still continue to pay for their poison (literally) will seriously think about quitting themselves.

I haven't felt better and feel as if I earned a few years back on my life.
Let's face it, you only live once, why waste so much time of it smoking outside and missing out on the fun and conversations when you had to walk outside to have that smoke.

The average price of a carton of smokes in NY is now...$79.56. That is a lot of money gone up in smoke a week! Just think of what I am saving in a month...$238.68 (for 3 cartons of 10 packs a carton for 30 days a month). Yearly this is a savings of $2,864.16! Wow!
Think about it!

The FINAL final

Well, this is it.

This is the Article and you all get to see it first! Even before it is published.

I am sure there will be more changes made to it once it leaves me, but so is the life of a reporter.

Just the facts ma'am, just the facts.

This whole experience has been so wonderful, I am hoping that I can take it even further, maybe get my own column! I will have to put my brother on the payroll or at the very least take a reporting class of some sort.

Enjoy the final and I promise, it won't be the last time you see this article!

Children Teaching Children
By Cristina Cerone & Vinnie Costa

From Left to right: Vinny and Cindy Allard, Brook and Cristina Cerone, Kimberly and Bob Dawson, Marco and Mary Miceli, Lily and Donna Young, Zoe Pena and Aurora Perez

February 25, 2009: Barnard School’s Pre-K Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) program invited six of Jefferson Elementary School’s finest. The six students, all taking part in the Italian CILA Kindergarten program, were on hand to be part of RIF’s second book distribution of the year. This year’s RIF theme is Reach for the Stars.
In November of 2008, the Jefferson Italian CILA students were introduced to Dr. Simona Rodano, (an experienced edutainment artist singer, actress and songwriter has appeared on RAI Television and Theatre in Italy, Europe and the United States, for more information on Dr. Simona Rodano visit her website wwwfataitaliana.com/If you are interested to know something more about the word EDUTAINMENT:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edutainment), Taught the eager children, “Su Nel Cielo, Up in the Sky” her own original Italian song. Within a matter of minutes, the infectious song had solidly ” …planted itself in our heads and heart” and is what sparked the idea in organizer/RIF Alumna & CILA parent Cristina Cerone to get the two programs together especially since the theme of Barnard and CILA’s Italian’s song worked hand in hand. Cerone’s hope, one great big payoff: Awareness of the Italian CILA and how important it is to continue with it. Cerone spoke with Vicki Rashbaum, NYS RIF Ambassador 2008-09/Barnard Pre-K Social Worker, about her ‘out-there’ idea and with Rashbaum’s blessing, the RIF’s parent volunteers got busy in the classrooms preparing! Within weeks the event had been organized; three of Barnard Pre-K classes were chosen to view and participate in the performance, Mrs. Block/Carew’s, Mrs. Coronious’ and Mrs. Ceja's classes were all involved with the singing and dancing. “It amazed me how quickly and easily it all came together.” Cerone later commented.

The event was a huge success. The children, when asked if they had fun, responded unanimously, “YES!”
Here’s what others in attendance had to say:
"This gives the kids another perspective, that there’s a big world out there after Pre-K. It’s wonderful to see the older kids as role models for the younger ones."- Vicki Rashbaum
"What a wonderful way to bring New Rochelle schools together to collaborate, programs like RIF and Italian CILA! This could be the start of something big."- Patricia Lambert, Principal, Barnard School
"Children teaching children models good education and good partnerships, collaborations between schools foster positive learning experiences."- Kim Block, Barnard Pre-K teacher
Parents in attendance were doubly impressed, Donna Young, CILA parent, "New Rochelle is such a culturally diverse city, and it’s nice to see how our children are interacting with each other in a positive way.” Aurora Perez, CILA Grandmother, "I love this! A nice opportunity to expose this wonderful program to Barnard Schools Pre-K parents who may be looking for a program just like this.” This marriage of programs was an educational way of bringing children and culture together and it couldn't have been more fun. “I think it’s wonderful we can get two fabulous programs together, they can only benefit from each other." Mentioned Cathy Merigliano, Barnard Parent and RIF Volunteer and I think every one involved agreed with the Miceli Family sentiment, it was indeed, “A special day.”



Rashbaum & the Jefferson CILA Italian Kindergarten children

*Special thanks to Vinnie Costa (www.vinniecosta.com) for his brilliant editing, to Donna Young, Dr. Simona Rodano and Julie Pena for all their input.

Comedian: Linda Lampanelli

The female Don Rickles fires missiles so far north of In-Your-Face, they're basically being shoved up your ... well, you get the picture.

Editited and finished

Children Teaching Children
By Cristina Cerone & Vinnie Costa




From Left to right: Vinny & Cynthia Allard, Brook & Cristina Cerone, Kimberly & Bob Dawson, Marco & Mary Miceli, Lily & Donna Young , Zoe Pena& her Grandmother Aurora Perez.

February 25, 2009: Barnard School’s Pre-K Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) program was invaded by six of Jefferson Elementary School’s finest. The six students, all taking part in the Italian CILA Kindergarten program, were on hand to be part of RIF’s second book distribution of the year. This year’s RIF theme is Reach for the Stars.

In November of 2008, the Jefferson Italian CILA students were introduced to Dr. Simona Rodano, an experienced singer, actress and songwriter, she has appeared on RAI Television and Theatre in Italy, Europe and the United States (for more information on Dr. Simona Rodano visit her website wwwfataitaliana.com), who taught the eager children, “Su Nel Cielo, Up In The Sky” an original Italian song. Within a matter of minutes, the infectious song had solidly ” …planted itself in our heads and heart” and is what sparked the idea in organizer Cristina Cerone, to get the two programs together. Cerone’s hope, one great big payoff: Awareness of the Italian CILA and how important it is to continue with it.
Cerone spoke with Vicki Rashbaum, NYS RIF Ambassador 2008-09/Barnard Pre-K Social Worker, about her ‘out-there’ idea and with Rashbaum’s blessing, the RIF parent volunteers got busy in the classrooms preparing! Within weeks the event had been organized; three of Barnard Pre-K classes were chosen to view and participate in the performance, Mrs. Block/Carew’s, Mrs. Coronious’ and Mrs. Ceja's classes were all involved with the singing and dancing. “It amazed me how quickly and easily it all came together.” Cerone later commented.
The event was a huge success. The children, when asked if they had fun, responded unanimously, “YES!”

Here’s what others in attendance had to say:

"This gives the kids another perspective, that there’s a big world out there after Pre-K. It’s wonderful to see the older kids as role models for the younger ones."- Vicki Rashbaum

"What a wonderful way to bring New Rochelle schools together to collaborate, programs like RIF and Italian CILA! This could be the start of something big."- Patricia Lambert, Principal, Barnard School

"Children teaching children models good education and good partnerships, collaborations between schools fosters positive learning experiences."- Kim Block, Barnard Pre-K teacher

Parents in attendance were doubly impressed, Donna Young, CILA parent, "New Rochelle is such a culturally diverse city, it’s nice to see how our children are interacting with each other in a positive way.” Aurora Perez, CILA Grandmother, "I love this! A nice opportunity to expose this wonderful program to Barnard Schools Pre-K parents who may be looking for a program just like this.” This marriage of programs was an educational way of bringing children and culture together and it couldn't have been more fun. “I think it’s wonderful we can get two fabulous programs together, they can only benefit from each other." Mentioned Cathy Merigliano, Barnard Parent and RIF Volunteer and I think every one involved agreed with the Miceli Family sentiment, it was indeed, “A special day.”



Rashbaum & the Jefferson CILA Italian Kindergarten children

*Special thanks to Vinnie Costa for his brilliant editing www.vinniecosta.com.