Rosebushes Thoughts

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2007-12-11T16:38:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas

2007-12-07T10:45:00.000-05:00

Please enjoy this little holiday treat by clicking on the title, Merry Christmas...Enjoy!

Just a little music for ya down below...

2007-12-03T20:23:00.000-05:00

I am currently really liking this song and found the code to embed the video...hope you enjoy it too!

A couple of pics for ya!

2007-12-03T19:13:00.000-05:00

The backyard in it's winter white...

The drawer of my desk where my kitten LOVES to nap!

Just a few quickies....

2007-12-03T18:50:00.000-05:00

Well, our first measurable snowfall came today with enough wind to destroy our new thermometer on the back porch. Lying in bed about midnight last night when I heard glass breaking...I nudged the hubby who "mmpphed" and asked what I wanted. I told him I heard glass break and maybe we should check we weren't being burglarized or something. "I'm sure it's nothing" my big brave husband said and turned over. So, we didn't find out until this morning that it was the thermometer that bit the dust...

The other evening I was upstairs getting ready for work and the kids were finishing up their dinner dishes. We had the radio on to the local 80's station. I started to giggle when I heard my nearly 16 year old son singing gustily along with the radio..."Gloria, Gloria...." HAH! Another funny from Peaches. My mom called my cell phone and Peaches picked it up. His voice is really changing lately and he said in his deepest voice, "hello". It must have startled my mother because she said, "who is this?" and Peaches responded helpfully, "it's me". Well...I guess you had to be there, but it is really funny if you know Peaches at all. Then, last night Stu and I were in the basement watching our beloved Amazing Race with the dog of course down there with us. Anywhere I am, there the dog is, right? So, I guess she got tired of laying on the cold hard ground and went over to the cat bed, which we have placed in a box about 2 feet long by 2 feet wide. Daisy decided this looked like a pretty comfy bed for her and we watched in awe as she folded herself up and packed herself into this bed. The funny thing was, she fit! Now, for those of you who don't know, my dog is fairly large, about 60 pounds, with long legs. This was quite a feat I tell you. Even the kitten was impressed, who sat and watched the dog get comfy with a very odd look on her face.

Post-holiday blahs

2007-11-29T14:06:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's the post-holiday blahs....not feeling too excited about anything this year. Last year at this time we had our California trip to look forward to but this year? Nothing...blahhhhhh.

Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving. Ours was quiet and tasty...like it usually is. We ate at M.A.'s again this year, with me making my stuffing once again. Lulabell went over to help M.A. with preparations Wednesday night and then spent the night. We brought movies over to watch after dinner, where I promptly fell asleep as soon as the DVD hit the DVD player, as usual. The most disturbing thing that happened was my socially ungraceful son and his socially unacceptable comments. Let me explain. Last year, M.A. decided she had failed because her turkey was "dry". Now, this is patently untrue...the turkey, being turkey, was just fine. However, no amount of my assurances helped. So this year, M.A. had a plan...she would cook her turkey in a bag to insure the moistness. What turkey cooked in a bag could possibly come out too dry, right? Um...well when M.A. was carving the turkey, she whispered to me that the *#)$*#@ turkey was dry....NO! I tried it and really, it was fine, maybe a little dry. Well, right there, M.A. felt she had failed another Thanksgiving dinner....OMG! Not true. I tried to reassure her but my words fell on deaf ears I'm afraid. So, we continued getting all the fixings served up and on to the table where Stu, Lulabell and Peaches were waiting. We placed the platter with the turkey on it next to Peaches and continued serving the food. As we did this, Peaches decided to take a taste of the turkey. Before I could stop him....he blurted out "Oh, this turkey is dry!" I cringed and held my breath...maybe MA didn't hear him, but the silence coming from her confirmed that she did indeed hear him. My husband was shooting dagger looks at my son, who was blissfully unaware of the danger around him. My daughter had a panicked look in her eye, knowing that the shit was going to come down. However, MA held it together and finished what she was doing and came to sit down to eat. I felt absolutely horrible but really just wanted the moment to pass and decided to wait until later before berating my son about his manners. We said grace and commenced eating and really, dinner was just lovely. Kudos to another delicious Thanksgiving from MA.

As you can expect, this put a little damper of our festive feelings but MA sucked it up and was a gracious host. I spoke with my son who understood that he was in trouble, but really didn't understand what all the fuss was about. He was just being honest in his eyes. I have tried to tell people for years that he is socially unaware of the proper way to act sometimes...it just is not how his brain is wired. So, I apologize in advance if my son ever acts inappropriately...honest, he just doesn't get it sometimes, you know?

In other news, Peaches did see the doctor about his recent fainting spell and we had all the testing done. The CT scan does show an arachnoid cyst in the left frontal lobe of his brain, which is something the doctor feels he was born with. His EEG (which measures the brain's electrical activity) was abnormal, with electrical slowing in the left frontal lobe of the brain, consistent with the cyst there. What this means though, is really not known. The doctor doesn't feel it is anything to worry about, that it is not causing any symptoms and certainly did not contribute to his fainting episode, which he feels was due to very hot water in the shower. I know and trust this doctor very much and I understand logically what he is saying, but still, when you see the brain scan and see the spot on your son's brain, and then the abnormal brain waves corresponding to that spot in his brain, it is hard, as a mother, to just "forget about it". You know? In the back of my mind (and Stu feels this too), you are asking if this is what has caused Peaches to be "different". Again, logic says no but this will always nag me, I'm sure. Too much information can be a dangerous thing, can't it?

Bad kitty....

2007-11-28T18:45:00.001-05:00

This is a picture of our kitten, Cookie, after she was being bad. This is exactly what you DON'T want to see when you know you have very little toilet paper left in the house and you have to go REAL BAD.....thank God we still had napkins in the house!

Another year, another holiday parade.....

2007-11-19T13:23:00.000-05:00

Well, I know it’s been a couple of days since my last post but it has taken me that long to defrost my fingers after our bone-chilling evening in Hermitage on Saturday night. It was the city’s annual Light Up parade which has turned into quite the event. Over 80 floats in this sucker, along with all the other groups and bands and such….We were honored to be on the Lowes float this year and so gathered the usual crew (meaning our friends D&C). For many years we had been on the Scott’s Furniture float as my friend D’s husband owns Scott’s Furniture (his name is Scott, by the way). The difference is their float is quite small and the Lowes float was on the back of an 18 wheeler, so we had plenty of room, but the weather was probably the worst weather we have ever had for this parade. About 34 degrees with rain and snow (which I think equals sleet doesn’t it?). It was quite something to see how all the people watching the parade came up with ingenious ways to keep warm and dry, some people just sitting in their cars, others using tents and tarps and even recreational vehicles! Seriously, if I was not riding in the parade, I don’t think I would have attempted to go watch it….the weather was that bad. However, the people of the Shenango Valley LOVE a parade and they still turned out in droves…it was kind of heartwarming to see. The fireworks were a bit of a wash though because of the weather. The booms were nice but the clouds were so low, all you got to see were the muted colors flashing…kinda strange, although it did remind me of a Fourth of July show in San Francisco one year with the fog. So, for the hour and a half it took us to go about a mile we got absolutely soaked from the sleet and were just sitting in cold wetness. Our butts and feet and fingers were completely frozen! We finally got to the end of the parade and scrambled down off the truck and stomped and jumped around to warm up. The kids were hungry (of course!) and had been trying to get me to agree to take them to KFC instead of our usual Wendy’s post-parade dinner. So, Stu was the deciding yes vote and off we trekked to KFC. We got there in time to still enjoy the buffet and we fell upon it ravenously using our frozen fingers and teeth to tear at the chicken. We kept going up for more as we were warned the buffet would close in 15 minutes! YIKES! More chicken, more potatoes…oh no – they’re out of biscuits! Are they bringing more? Yes! They are! Finally, we sat back, exhausted but sated, our hands greasy but thawed, the stacks of empty plates in front of us a testament to our hunger and the satisfaction of that hunger…thank you KFC….we sure appreciate you! So, another holiday parade notched on our belt…I think in our 10 years of being here, we have actually watched the parade only 3-4 times and have ridden a float in the parade 6-7 times…a pretty good record, huh?

A bad week for Peaches...A lazy day off for me!

2007-11-13T09:56:00.000-05:00

Whew…so much to say, so little time. I haven’t even had time to call my own grandmother and let me tell you, that is a story in itself, but first, Peaches.
Peaches had a rough couple of weeks recently. About two weeks ago he was taking a shower before school when we heard a yell and then a thump. Now this in and of itself is not unusual for Peaches as he likes to play-act in the shower and yelling is a big part of that. However, this seemed kind of strange and Stu asked, "did he just fall down?" I said, "of course not", but if he had actually fallen, he would have been screaming bloody murder. So, I went in to investigate and what did I find? A naked Peaches slumped over in the shower with blood pouring out of his nose! Peaches! I asked him what happened and he had no idea. He literally had no idea how he had wound up in the bottom of the shower. He didn’t even know his nose was bleeding until I told him it was. He was very shaky as well. He couldn’t get up right away so I had his daddy come help. I was a little stunned at the events and told Peaches he didn’t have to go to school today. He gratefully went to bed and immediately fell into a deep sleep for 1 ½ hours! Now, I have to tell you this worried me a little bit. I called the pediatrician and he told us to go to the E/R for a check. So, off we went, Peaches and I, to the E/R where apparently it was the busiest Monday in all of Sharon Regional Hospital’s history. We sat in the waiting room for three hours. Just when I was about ready to give up and go home, they called us. They checked him out and all his blood tests were negative, including a drug screen (YAY!) However, the CT scan did show a "prominent fluid-filled area" in the left frontal lobe. This was not an acute finding, just something they noticed "incidentally". The E/R doctor told us we should probably get this checked out further with an MRI. Our pediatirician agreed and we scheduled the MRI for a week later. However, one week later, at the MRI Center, we found out that because of his braces, the MRI would not be helpful as the magnet in the MRI and Peaches’ braces did not combine to produce good results. I called the pediatrician back to report this and unfortunately, did not hear back from him for several days. This upset me a bit and I took matters into my own hands by scheduling an appointment with a neurologist. This is the neurologist I work for incidentally, who decided that Peaches needed an EEG which measures the brain’s electrical wave patterns. So, this is scheduled for Thursday. If this is abnormal, we will proceed with further testing, which would probably involve having Peaches’ braces removed so he can have the MRI. The pediatrician finally called me back yesterday and feels he needs an EKG done as well, which measures the electrical tracing of the heart. So, on top of all this…Peaches was pushed at school, fell into a locker and got a bloody nose last week. So, I totally over-reacted by racing up to the school as soon as it happened, where they could tell me nothing as they hadn’t had a chance to investigate the situation. Finally, we were told that the school’s decision was that it was rough-housing that got out of hand and Peaches got the bad end of it. The boy apologized to Peaches and apparently he was suspended for two days over the situation. Sigh…. Otherwise, Peaches is fine except for a sore nose and the worse case of chapped lips ever seen! He has also had a bad cold through this whole thing and in general has been pretty miserable, which means he acts like a rotten scoundrel to his family. He and his sister have just been at each other’s throats lately and I have about had it with both of them. Last night they had to write 100 sentences in both printing and cursive, (I will not disrespect my sister/brother) which took about an hour during which there was no screaming or insulting going on….an entire hour of bliss!

Let me tell you about my day off yesterday. First, it was cloudy and dark and rainy (with thunderstorms), which is exactly what I like for my day off. That way, when I am doing nothing but acting like a slug, I don’t feel guilty about it. So, here was my schedule: 7-8 get kids up and off to school. 8-10:30 watch TV, eat breakfast. 10:30 to 12:30 nap, 12:30 to 2:30 eat lunch and watch TV. 2:30 – 4:00 get kids from school, Wal-mart (got Lulabell’s glasses fixed), 4:00 to 6:00 watch TV, do one load of laundry, 6:00-6:30 dinner, 6:30 to 8:00 watch TV. 8:00 to 9:30 type a little, surf the ‘net, get kids to bed. 9:30 to 11:00 watch TV with hubby who is falling asleep on the couch with a beer in his hand. 11:00 go to bed! Now if this isn’t the dream day off, I don’t know what is. The bad news about yesterday? I only typed one tape (I had five to do, ugh), which means today, my second day off, will be no day off at all as I will be glued to the computer typing. The good news? I was able to watch all my taped TV shows since the previous Thursday and now I am all caught up! YAY!

Lazy Sunday and halloween dreams

2007-10-28T21:37:00.000-04:00

Well, it’s almost that very happy day around here, Halloween! We FINALLY got around to carving out pumpkins, the results of which you see above. Now, guess which one Lulabell carved after she got tired of doing the painstaking transferring of the pattern and then the delicate sawing of the design. Mommy was tired of cutting her pumpkin too, but she persevered and you see the excellent result on the left (the skull). Lulabell’s was supposed to be a scary witch in a tree. She did work on it for a good 45 minute before she gave up and started hacking away at the poor pumpkin with a big knife. When she saw how well mine turned out, she asked if she could purchase a new pumpkin and start all over, this time with a simpler pattern. Peaches had no desire whatsoever to carve pumpkins and is in fact quite grossed out by the pumpkin guts…but I made him clean out the pumpkin at least and grab several bare handfulls of pumpkin guts…it’s a tradition, right? Now, he is quite proud of "his" pumpkin.
We had a nice family day today…with everyone off work and school. We went off to Panera Bread for lunch with soup for everyone (sandwich for Peaches) and then off to Wal-Mart, which if you didn’t know, is Stu’s most favorite place in the whole word. We wandered around and I got a new pumpkin candle and then off we went to the pumpkin patch. The first pumpkin patch we went to was awesome several years ago and was really well done with a corn maze and games and food and such. We got there today and turned right around without even getting out of the car. There was what looked like a pile of manure on one side with about 25 pumpkins scattered around the muddy ground on the other side. That’s it. We decided to try another pumpkin place at a farm I had heard of and to our relief, this one was MUCH better. There were hay rides and animals including huge Clydesdale horses and even baby horses and ponies, plus a baby cow that was content sitting in its own poo, with a little black goat jumping up onto the cow’s back. The pumpkins were nice however and we got two and headed on home. The wind was blowing and it was cold! The trees right now are just a little past their prime, but still very nice and it was a lovely day for a ride. We got home and attended to the pumpkins. I got some work done and we had a nice dinner of hot turkey sandwiches and mashed potatoes. YUMMY! Happy Birthday to my nephew C in Florida who incredibly will be 6 on the first. Your card is in the mail honey! Another Happy Birthday to my niece C in California, who will be 4 on the 7th. Her mommy is pregnant and just found out they are having a boy!!!! After three girls. High five to my brother-in-law on that one!

You're the boss, applesauce.....

2007-10-21T19:23:00.001-04:00

This is Lulabell at our local park...beautiful, huh? The view is pretty nice too!

Once more at the park with the casino and lake in the background.

The view from the gazebo overlooking the soccer field...awesome day!

Hah! That ALWAYS makes me laugh! Lulabell came out with "you're the boss applesauce" quite unexpectedly one day when I asked her to do something for me. I immediately started laughing….it doesn’t take much to amuse me, you know. Feel free to adopt this as your own….we can start a new phrase craze I’ll bet!

We are in the glorious end of October and the weather has been stunning. I think it hit 80 degrees today….in late October no less! I remember once, on October 15th Stu and I and 7 month old Peaches traveled back to Pennsylvania for a visit and we were delighted to come home to a beautiful snowstorm. It only snowed about 2-3 inches or so, but it was wet and sticky and it made everything look glorious. It was Stu’s first real snow too, and Peaches obviously. Today Stu, Lulabell, Daisy and I went to the park to walk around and revel in the beauty of the fall colors and the warmth of the day. We then picked up Peaches who had been at a friend’s house and we went to dinner at the local Mexican place where we got to sit out on the patio. Very nice. We then stopped at the local video store where Stu told me about the "adult only" section. Lulabell mentioned that everytime she and her daddy go to the video store, he HAS to go in there too! I was shocked! I never even knew about their adult section. So, he and I went off to the secret room and really, it seemed very tame to me, just pretty girls on the covers of the video cases, with names like "Debbie does Dallas" and "Debbie does New Orleans", and "Sassy School Girls" and "Bad Mommies" etc. However, the REAL shocker is when you look on the back of the video cases….then you get quite an eyeful! Lulabell asked if we had rented one of those movies and I said "NO!" in a shocked voice. I told her that if I needed to look at a naked man all I had to do was ask Daddy….and vice versa! She seemed content with the answer and did not pursue it any further.

Our kittens are now almost 7 weeks old and are in the "crazy kitten" stage, running and tumbling and fighting and climbing and generally making huge nuisances of themselves. They are eating and using the litter box now and we are saddened that they will be leaving us soon. We have really enjoyed these babies and will miss them like crazy! It appears that we have lovely homes for them all and I am still trying to convince myself not to keep one (the gray spot). They all got baths tonight, which took the stuffing out of them, I can tell you…very nice, quiet, subdued kittens we have at the moment!

That’s all for now…lots of work to do tonight…more later!

I may be a louse and a bad mom, but boy, am I perky!

2007-10-08T20:08:00.000-04:00

This is Stu and four of the "kids"

This is "grayspot", the cutest of all

I’m feeling like a louse, like a heel, like a….I don’t know what. I have a problem that I must confess to. My sister called me last night and diplomatically pointed out that I had yet to call my cousin to congratulate her on the birth of her first baby who was born, IN JUNE!!!! OMG….what is wrong with me??? I am turning into the one thing I hate the most….somebody who gives the appearance of not caring. That is totally not me! I also don’t think it is me when I say terrible things to my kids because I get so frustrated with them about things like their eating or their homework. My son asked very nicely tonight if he could have a fig newton cookie after dinner. Why not? One or two cookies after dinner I don’t have a problem with. However, THE WHOLE PACKAGE of cookies, I have a problem with….which is exactly what my son ate for his dessert tonight --- 24 cookies. Where was I, you ask? Right in the dining room helping my daughter with her homework, which coincidentally, she forgot what math homework she had to do in her book. You see? I feel like I am out of control here….I yelled at my son (with good reason though, don’t you think?), asked him why he was such a pig (I know, I know, that was harsh) and took away his TV and computer privileges for the next few days. Then my son asks me, "jeez, why are you so mean?" I’m speechless. Prior to my suspending his computer privileges, he had to use the computer to look up his vocabulary words because….can you guess why? He forgot his history book. So, I sent him upstairs to start looking up his words and I stayed downstairs and helped my daughter with her homework for about 30 minutes. I then went up to check on my son, and guess what? He was watching TV!!!!!! I was again left speechless… I asked him if his homework was done and he said no, the computer was messed up. So I went to look at the computer and he had screwed it up so bad…it took me 10 minutes to get it back to normal. (why do I have the feeling that he had done this on purpose). I was able to get things under control but could not get on the Internet for some reason…it was stuck. I was so frustrated that I told him to take his shower now and then after the shower to come back and try the computer again. In the meantime, my daughter comes upstairs to say that she can’t possibly do her homework without me because it is too hard and it will take too long. You see? This is what happens when I let her go out to play right after school (I literally did not see this child from 3:30 to 6:00 PM). When you give them an inch , they take a mile, you know? So, she has just ruined her chance to play right after school for the rest of the week, and now she is crying and asking, "why are you so mean?" Sigh……because I love you and I am trying to be a good mom? Unfortunately, they don’t see the big picture, do they?

Anyway, getting back to why I am such a terrible person…my mother informed me several days ago that my aunt, her sister, was diagnosed with breast cancer and will be having a lumpectomy on Thursday. Of course, in my head, I needed to call my aunt right away, but before I knew it, it was four days later and I still had not called my aunt….my helpful sister decided to call me and give me a kick in the ass about it, which is just what I needed. So, I called my aunt and everything is fine, but I still feel so bad. My prayers are with my aunt DD and I am sure she will do just fine.

Now, my cousin, who just had her first baby, is still waiting to hear from me, but I will rectify that situation this evening….I really don’t want to be a bad relative (or a bad mom), but sometimes I feel that’s all I am. My life is crazy and out of control a little bit. The other day prior to leaving for work, I got such a case of the blues. Now, I am NOT a depressed person. I am probably the least depressed person I know, but wow, something like despair just kinda washed over me the other day and I just took off and had to be by myself for a little while before going into work. My husband was a little shocked I think…I did feel better later and really have no explanation for why I suddenly felt so bad. But don’t worry about me…I’m fine. In fact, I went out and bought myself some new boobs, so I am a happy girl! What? New boobs? Yes…a girlfriend of my showed me her little bra implants that make her a brand new woman, all perky. So, I decided I needed those too so I could feel perky. I told my mom about them and she decided SHE needed them too. We went to Sears but they didn’t have them and then yesterday my mom called me to tell me she "got perky" after finding the implants at Macys! Woohooo….so today I went to Macys and found my implants and couldn’t wait to get home to try them. I sat in my car in the parking lot and shoved my little squishy implants into my bra and felt instantly perky! What a difference they made! How nice they looked! When my daughter got home she noticed them instantly…. "wow! Why are your boobs so big and pointy?" Because I LIKE them that way, that’s why…

Our kittens are now four weeks old and just starting to explore. They are just the cutest things ever and I will post a picture here for you as soon a I can. We have them in huge cardboard boxes in the basement now and take them out to play as much as we can. They are really starting to respond to us now and are just so much fun! I don’t know how we are going to give them away…but we must! More soon….

More baby pics!

2007-09-21T13:08:00.000-04:00

This is "creamy" at 10 days old, just opening his eyes.

This is Tinker's kitten, "cookie" at 2 days old.

A trip to Niagara and another baby.....

2007-09-21T12:31:00.000-04:00

Well....I have so much to talk about. First, our relatives from California had a fantastic visit with us. I have to say I was really worried about how we were going to accomodate six house guests but in truth, it was rather easy! We had Peaches on the floor in our room, Stu's mother in Peaches' room, Lulabell and her cousin E in the living room and Stu's sister I and her husband L and their other two daughters, C and S on air mattresses in Lulabell's room. We had no major bathroom issues and we were able to keep everyone well fed and happy. It was decided to take a mini-trip to Niagara Falls on Friday, which, even with two cars, wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be (although of course it was double the gas $, but what the hell). The weather was very cooperative as we arrived in Niagara Falls at about 2 PM. It was brilliant sunshine although it was a bit windy, but warm (about 80 degrees). We wandered around the falls a bit on the American side and then Stu decided we absolutely needed to ride the Maid of the Mist, which really, you MUST do when you are there. So, about $100 later, we were racing for the boat and struggling into our blue ponchos. Unfortunately, we didn't make the boat, but we were first in line for the next one, which is rather cool as you get your pick of spots on the boat. The guard at the boat line told us to head for the bottom of the boat in the bow, which is what we did. We were giggly with excitement as the wind buffeted our ponchos. The boat pulled away from the dock on the incredible blue-green water towards the falls. As we got closer to the American Falls, the sunshine provided us with a striking rainbow. It really was rather overwhelming. Then the wind started to blow the spray from the water and that was the last time any bit of was was dry. As we moved past the Bridal Veil Falls and into the Horseshoe Falls, the sun disappeared in the mist and we were almost struck blind by the rushing water and the blowing spray. I quickly hid the camera in my pants...the only place that was even a little bit dry. We all screamed our excitement to each other as we were soaked to the skin, ponchos be damned. We were looking at each other and grinning our fool heads off as our we hair was plastered to our heads. In short, it was a blast! Finally, the boat's captain decided we had had enough and we turned back towards the dock. The whole trip took maybe 20 minutes but really, it is the most invigorating 20 minutes you will ever spend. We trooped off the boat and headed back to the tower but not before getting yelled at by a ranger becasue we were heading in the wrong direction! They had to close parts of the observation area because the wind was so strong and it wasn't safe. We got redirected and headed back up to the 80 foot observation deck where the wind was just having its way with us. We decided to head back and try to dry off. We wandered around the various gift shops for awhile and bought horribly overpriced souvenires. Then, it was decided that the relatives really wanted to go to the Canadian side of the falls. They all had passports with them, except my brother-in-law L. We asked at the information desk if he would have any trouble crossing with only his driver's license and were assured that he would not. (HAH!) So, my kids and I stayed on the American side while they took off across the Rainbow Bridge into Canada. We hung out at the visitor's center and meandered around the town until we found a Denny's where we decided to eat dinner. $39 later (hamburgers for the kids, an omelet for me) we decided to walk down to the falls again for a look around. However, it was rapidly getting dark as clouds from the winds gathered and it was looking rather stormy. Also, we were only in shorts and T-shirts and it was getting a bit chilly. We decided to head back to the car and wait. Meanwhile, while, the authorities at the Rainbow Bridge decided my brother-in-law would not enjoy unlimited access into Canada and so detained the entire group while they checked him out. Finally, after about an hour, they decided it would be okay for thim to go and off they went. They spent the next few hours walking around the Canadian side of the falls and were able to grab a little something to eat. By about 9 PM they decided to head back to meet us. We had been sitting in our car for the last two hours trying to cat nap but not getting anwhere. Oh yeah, it was by now pouring rain and the visitor's center closed at 8PM so we were kinda stuck in the car. As the group drove back towards America, the authorities again decided my brother-in-law should not be allowed back in America (he is an American citizen by the way). They again detained the entire party until they could confirm his benignity, which took about an hour. FINALLY, at about 9:45, Stu and the others drove up to use waiting in the car. The authorities had made everyone turn off their cell phones while they were detained, so I had absolutely no idea why they were so delayed. Finally, we were reunited and began the long trek back home. It takes about 3 1/2 to 4 hours back to Sharon. So, we headed back and only had to make 2 stops for my sister-in-law, who is about 5 months pregnant and needs a bathroom fairly frequently. We made it home at about 2 AM Saturday morning and literally fell into bed. We had to get up and drive to Pittsburgh as their flight was leaving Saturday afternoon. So, after about five hours of sleep, we got up, everyone got packed and we headed to Pittsburgh. We tearfully said goodbye at the airport as the four of use headed back home. It was very subdued on the ride home (except for the temper tantrum I threw by the side of the freeway. I had taken the wrong exit out of the airport because: 1) They are tearing up the exits from the airport and everything is a bit of a mess and 2) I can't see well enough to read the new directional signs. The exit I took was for a toll road and to be able to turn around, we had to pay a 50 cent per car toll, drive to the next exit and pay 50 cents per car to get off the toll road. I seriously was losing it on the side of the damn toll road because I was so frustrated and upset with myself. Stu remained calm and level-headed though). We FINALLY got back on the road home and arrived back at the very empty house. We really missed those guys already. It had been a terrific visit. We are hopeful that they will be transferring back east at some point and will relocate near us. We will see I guess...

The other excitement of the week was, of course, the birth of our kittens as mentioned. We have been enjoying them immensely, except for the morning that Belle decided to move her babies to the highest, scariest, most dangerous part of the basement. She was doing this by carrying her babies by their tummies, which caused the babies to literally scream their displeasure at this treatment. Lulabell and I were in tears over this. You see, Belle is a new mommy and is deaf, so she wasn't sure how to carry them and she also couldn't hear that she was hurting them. I literally had to pry her teeth out of one kitten. We finally got her calmed down and found a cat carrier for her to put her babies in, which she must like because they have been there ever since. We also decided that she needed to be left alone with her babies with no people and no other pets...so we closed her in the basement. This definitely seemed to work as she totally calmed down. We figured out there are 3 males and 1 female in the litter. I suggested naming them Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Moe, but I'm not sure this is going to stick. In fact, I have already renamed the little girl GiGi, after my grandmother. Lulabell named the tan one Creamy. The other excitement occurred on 9/18/07 when our other cat, Tinker, whom I suspected to be pregnant and not ready to deliver for another month, decided to have a baby at 9 PM at night. We frantically got her a birthing box and decided to put her in the front closet where she promptly had one dark-colored kitten. That's right, only one kitten. We stayed up until midnight waiting for her to birth more, but that's all there was. Five days later, there is still only one kitten. We spoke with the vet and although it is unusual, it is not unheard of a cat to have only one kitten. Initially, we were astonished at Tinker's lack of motherly instincts as she was constantly jumping out of the box and leaving her kitten unattended. We continually kept placing her back in her box, where she would lay down and nurse the kitten, but only while were sitting there with her. Finally, I brought her birthing box with the kitten up to our bedroom where Tinker was content to sit in the box with her baby as long as she could see me. Oh brother....as the days have passed however, Tinker's motherly instincts seem to be improving and her kitten is definitely eating becasue it is fat and sassy and very loud. So, we now have five kittens and my mother is desperately disgusted with me for being so "irresponsible" as to let my cats get pregnant. I must agree with her to a point, but I have never seen kittens being born and now I have. So I can check that off my list and as soon as the kittens are weaned, in about 7 weeks, we can safely have the cats spayed. In the meantime, we will keep them in the house as they can go back into heat at any time. So, that is the story of my very busy week. I will have some more photos to post of the kittens soon, so check back, okay? The kittens will be ready for adoption by the first week of November, so if you are thinking of adding to your family, let me know, okay?

Pics for you - Visit from the West!

2007-09-16T17:35:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures to hold you until I have a chance to blog on the visit from the west! Yes, that is Niagara Falls....

We have babies!

2007-09-10T22:21:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of our cat, Belle, and her babies, who arrived this morning. She had four babies, as far as we can tell there are 3 boys and 1 girl. She was an excellent first time mother and almost had her babies in our bedroom in a box of computer paper before Stu found her and transferred her to her "birthing box". She began labor at about 8:30 AM this morning with some very loud meowing and restlessness. Then she settled down and began her business. It was quite fascinating for us to watch with the gross part being when Belle ate the afterbirth (ewwww!). We actually went to get Lulabell out of school to watch the birth. This isn't as bad as it sounds as she was only going for half a day anyway because I had to take her to Cleveland for a doctor appointment. Also, we have houseguests at the moment, Stu's mom, sister, brother-in-law and three nieces arrived from California on Saturday and will be with us for a week. Imagine if you will, 10 people in a 3 bedroom 1 bath house! Actually, it is working out rather well and the toilet hasn't exploded yet, although I thought the bathtub was going to die last night! I will have more on everything in a day or two...as you can imagine, things are very busy here at the moment. Enjoy the pic!

Vacation 2007 - Day Three - the long walk home

2007-08-29T11:45:00.001-04:00

This is Stu with his leg cramp..at the start of the River trail!

This is Lulabell and Stu FINALLY making it to the river.

Wednesday morning dawned (finally!) clear and delightful. We knew this was our last chance to get out to see the area as we had planned to leave today. Breakfast consisted of cereal and then we jumped in the car and went exploring. Lulabell was hot to check out this deer park that we had passed previously and so that was our destination. We arrived and went inside to find this very weird little store filled to the brim with deer memorabilia including antlers upon antlers. I was a little disturbed before I found out that deer shed their antlers every year and grow new ones, which made me feel a little better. The kids were transfixed by a huge rattlesnake in a tank that kept rearing its head to strike. It was kinda freaky, you know? We determined that the fee for the deer park and museum were a little out of our price range, so with regret, we left and headed off to the fire tower. This was supposed to be quite something to see and the weather was warm and dry. We turned into the road leading to the tower and nearly ran over a large Amish family that were just kind of standing by the side of the road. We continued down the road for several miles and finally parked at the foot of the tower. Stu, D and Peaches and Lulabell ran for the tower as they intended to climb its entire 80 foot height. C and I hung back a little, as we are both a little squeamish about heights. We noticed a sign on the tower that stated only 10 people could be up it at any one time. This gave us a little pause as well. Then, just as we were gathering our courage to climb the rest of the way to the top, several Japanese tourists started clambering up, clearly not caring about the 10 people limit. Well, we were shocked and dismayed that we could not go up to the tower now as the limit was exceeded (damn), so we remained where we were and waited for the rest of our people to make it down. We explored a little bit around the foot of the tower and the boys discovered a trail marker. The name of the trail was River Trail. Doesn’t that sound nice? I thought so too. I was wrong. Stu came off the fire tower grabbing his leg as he was suffering severe thigh cramps (old man). He was frantically rubbing his thigh and I asked if I could help but I got "the look" and so backed off. The kids really wanted to walk the River Trail and I was up for it too. At that moment a man and his young daughter were coming up the trail towards us. As the man spied Stu rubbing his leg, he said cryptically, "if your leg is hurting you now, you better now try the trail….". I didn’t like the sound of his warning and felt maybe we shouldn’t try it if Stu wasn’t feeling well. Unfortunately, at that moment the cramp loosened and Stu yelled "let’s go!" and so, off we went, into the depths of hell. Well, I guess it wasn’t that bad and while the time stamp on my camera assures me that the entire walk down only took 50 minutes or so, I am quite sure it took twice that long. Remember, it had been raining for two straight days so the trail wasn’t exactly in the best shape. D&C scampered off down the trail with Stu right behind while my two kids and I were looking like we regretted getting ourselves into this. Peaches was quite vocal about his distaste for this latest adventure and complained loudly that it was "stupid" and he didn’t want to walk this far. Lulabell was surprisingly quiet and was doing her best to pick her way over the slimy rocks and tree stumps. The boys were wonderful and came back to encourage Peaches and Lulabell to keep going, for the river must surely not be far now. If I had stopped to think about it, I would have realized that the tower of course is at the top of a mountain and the river, of course is at the bottom. So, we literally had a whole mountain to descend. The entire time we climbed down, I was thinking quite darkly that the farther I kept going, the more I had to climb back up the mountain. I wisely kept this to myself. We continued down and got probably 75% of the way to the bottom when Peaches and Lulabell absolutely refused to go any further. D&C and Stu were absolutely determined to see the river at the end of the trail and I "volunteered" to stay with our kids while they finished their little adventure. About 5 minutes later we heard them yelling up to us that they were at the river, they could see it! Well, Peaches gathered his strength and decided to keep going. Lulabell, meanwhile, had to pee something awful and we took this moment of solitude to take care of business. Afterward, we felt that since we had gone this far, we should see the thing to the end and started walking. Well, I soon found out that "seeing" the river and actually being at the end of the trail were two different things. So, grumbling, I continued down and FINALLY, we were at the end of the trail and at the river. It was really quite beautiful and we took some pictures to celebrate. By this time I was quite hot and absolutely dying in my T-shirt. I felt bad for Lulabell, the only one of us in long pants (and sandals!). We rested for a few minutes and then gamely began our climb. Lulabell immediately began to complain and actually sobbed the entire way back up. This did not help our effort and most of my energy was consumed with encouraging Lulabell to keep going. The boys also did their best encouraging her and the rest of us. By this time, about halfway up, I was absolutely soaking wet and turned my T-shirt into a halter by bringing the bottom of my shirt up through my collar. By that time I was past any concerns for showing off my big white belly and plowed on. We took one or two short-cuts straight up the mountain and surprisingly, before we knew it, we were back at the start of the trail. I was astonished that it actually seemed to take a much shorter time to climb than it did to descend. I stood at the top of the trail dripping and breathing and felt very proud that we had made it. I did notice that neither D nor C were even sweating and I seriously wanted to knock them out. Peaches, who had complained the entire way down, kept his head down and walked his way up that mountain with nary a word. We praised the kids and started heading for the bathrooms near the tower in search of water. As we were almost to the top, we had to make way on the trail for a large Amish family as they traipsed down the trail, apparently the same Amish family we had seen on the road. I noticed with horror that most of the women/girls were in sandals of some type. The Amish father good-naturedly asked how the trail was and I felt I had to be honest about the horrors of it. He said "oh well" and kept going. Hah!. Then at the top, we met an older couple, maybe in their late sixties, she in her beautiful white capris and sandals. She took one look at my hot, red, sweat-soaked face and said "Oh Harold, maybe we shouldn’t do this!". I laughed good-naturedly and said, "I wouldn’t do it if I were you…it’s slippery and dangerous and very LONG". The husband laughed heartily and said "oh, I’ve been looking for a way to do away with her for years…this is just the ticket". They both twittered merrily and continued down the trail. You’ll get yours, I thought darkly. We scrambled up the rocks and ran toward the bathrooms with thoughts of drinking out of the taps in the sinks. We all ran into our respective bathrooms and came up short, as there were no sinks to be found. There were toilets and "hand sanitizer". That’s it. GROANNNNN. So, we finally made it back to the car and headed back to the main road. Several times along the narrow road I had to stop and pull over onto the side into the forest to allow another car coming towards us to pass. This pissed me off a little, but we kept going. As we came to the end, we suddenly realized that WE had been the ones that were going the wrong way down a one way road. Uhhhhhh, yeah. So, we headed back to the cabin and gratefully assuaged our thirst. We were sitting outside at the picnic table, in the glorious sun, when I suddenly said, "I don’t want to go home today". Everybody decided they didn’t want to go home either and Stu and I were deciding if we really could stay an extra day. We decided there really wasn’t anything that we desperately needed to get back for and we made phone calls to make sure we could stay. Everything clicked into place and so it was decided we would stay one final evening. The kids were thrilled as this meant we could have a large fire OUTSIDE that evening…which thrilled them. I decided that I really needed to wash my hair and heated up some water for this. Soon, everyone decided a good hairwashing was in order and I ended up washing everyone’s hair outside. Boy, did we look good with our clean, slicked back hair. We felt much better too. The rest of the day was spent hanging out outside, playing cards and cooking the rest of our hamburgers for dinner. D wanted to cook so I let him, with supervision. He did a very good job and got the kids to admit that they liked his hamburgers better than mine! By the time it was getting dark, Stu and the boys had gathered wood around the outdoor fire pit and were trying to get a fire going. I had forgotten my fire starter materials at home (next to the silverware probably) and so they had a little trouble getting it going. I finally took a good look at the wood they were using and realized it was from the big outdoor wood pile, that had just been rained on for two days! I quietly asked Stu if maybe we should actually use DRY wood to start the fire and after some consideration, he thought this was probably a good idea. So we got some wood and kindling from inside the house and had a little better luck getting a fire started. However, Stu, being the impatient man that he is, decided a little gasoline would get things moving a whole lot better. So, against my sane advice NOT TO DO IT, he dribbled a little gasoline onto the wood and SWWOOOOSH we finally had a respectable fire. The children, all of them little firebugs, were delighted at the suddenly roaring fire and kept encouraging Stu to "do it again!" So, Stu obliged them every so often and only once did we have a problem. C was holding a piece of kindling in his hand as he backed away while Stu "ignited" the fire. Somehow, his kindling caught on fire, although he didn’t realize it. I looked down and saw him holding a flaming piece of wood and screamed at him. He immediately jumped and saw what he was holding and threw it into the fire. Whew….that was a close one. No further incidents occurred, except for the attempted fart-lighting, which much to the boys’ disappointment, didn’t work. We cooked our S’mores and talked and laughed around the fire till late. Our last night (for sure) was delightful and we went in to watch our last scary movie (The Descent) of the trip. Lulabell was complaining about her legs being sore, but I felt surprisingly good. Our last night was fairly warm in the cabin and we turned on some fans to help move the air a bit. We were safe and comfortable and wishing we never had to leave. Our trip home tomorrow….

Vacation 2007 - Day Two - slow horses and fast cars...

2007-08-26T17:21:00.000-04:00

The first picture is Lulabell making friends with "Barry" the dead bear on the wall. Second picture is Peaches enjoying his "punishment food" a little too much. Third picture, if you can make us out, is Lulabell, Chance the horse and me. Fourth picture is "the crew" chillin in the cabin.

Monday night in the cabin was great. Lulabell decided she was a little freaked out by the movies we had been watching and felt that she could by no means sleep in a bed by herself. She asked her daddy if he would mind letting her sleep with her mom and he could sleep in a bunk bed. He surprisingly agreed and the next morning bragged about how refreshed he felt and how good he had slept (he has not been sleeping well in the past few weeks for some reason). Meanwhile, sleeping with Lulabell is like sleeping with a frisky little furnace, hot and fidgety, so I did not feel quite as refreshed as my husband did, but still, it felt good to be where we were. We slept late, until about 9:30 or 10:00 and had a good old-fashioned breakfast of pancakes and bacon. We noticed that although the skies were gray, there didn’t seem to be any rain at the present time and we decided to hurry up and see if we couldn’t accomplish some of our wishes, like go-kart racing and horseback riding. We drove into Cook’s Forest and noted many fun spots to stop, including checking on the availability of canoes. These cost $26 dollars for a 4 mile canoe trip, 3 people to a canoe, so $52 dollars on a cold, gray river. We decided "not this trip" and moved on. We finally came to a combination horseback riding/go-kart driving place and disembarked. Lulabell went right to the horses and starting rubbing them. We found out that a pony ride was $5.00, which was right in our price range. The only actual pony was taken and so Lulabell had to ride a real horse. I was to lead the horse and its rider on a path into the woods, about a 15-20 minute ride. I felt fine about this. The only thing was getting Lulabell up onto that horse (Chance, by name). The stirrup was up about my waist and Lulabell, being no lightweight, had to swing her leg up into the stirrup and then I had to manipulate and push her way up high into the saddle. With much grunting and straining, we got her up in the saddle, where she was a little scared, I think. The horse was prancing a bit and I managed to calm it down. I confidently grabbed the reins and started off on the trail, remembering not to get too close to the horse that was in front of us. The morning was pretty drippy and gray still, and the trail was a bit muddy, but we pressed onward, stopping every now and then to give the uncooperative pony in front of us time to get some way ahead. I felt confident in leading the horse and even spoke encouragingly to the horse and patting its neck. At one point, during a stoppage, the horse turned its nose to my hand and took my hand into its mouth! I was a little shocked by this and hurriedly pulled my hand out of his mouth. I don’t think it was really trying to bite me, but I wasn’t sure. I made sure I kept my hands away from his mouth from then on, I can tell you. With no further problems, I led the horse and Lulabell back to the stables where Stu took our picture. The boys were waiting over by the go-karts and were frantic with excitement, especially Peaches. The track was still a little wet from the rain and so we had a bit of a wait while the worker’s squeegeed the track and dried off the go-karts. The boys were excitedly picking out which car they wanted and Peaches ended up in a yellow one. I was in front, then D, then C, then Stu and Lulabell in a double car, then Peaches. We got the green flag and off we went. We were told strictly to avoid bumping into each other and for God’s sakes, don’t look back! (I’m not sure why this was). So, ZOOOOM, off we went. I stayed in the lead and threw my head back with laughter at the thrill of speeding out that track. I didn’t seen anybody else as I was in front and of course, I didn't look back!. I came around the first corner and nearly ran into Peaches, who was struggling along in his car, put-put-put-put-put, trying to get up a slight hill. He looked at me with frustration in his eyes and a little of the glee went out of my sails. I sped around him and continued on my way. At my next go-round I saw him still put-put-putting up the hill but thankfully I also saw one of the go-kart workers coming towards Peaches to rescue him, I hoped. Sure enough, they pushed him back to the car area and he got out of that car and into another. I was able to see him get going and thank God this car seemed like a winner!. I happily put Peaches out of my mind and got back to zooming around the course. On my next zoom, I again nearly ran into Peaches, now in a green car, who was put-put-putting up the hill again. OH NO…..I thought and I saw in his face how pissed off he was. What was happening? I thought. Maybe he wasn’t getting up enough momentum at the bottom of the hill or something. I did want to stop and help him and even thought about giving him a bit of a push with my car, but I again saw the go-kart guy coming towards Peaches with an exasperated look on his face. So, I broke off and zoomed around and got into a race with D, who had by now caught up to me and looking to overtake me. Zoom I came around the corner again, now neck and neck with D and we both had to swerve to miss the pissed off Peaches in his car. I felt really bad but had to turn my attention to my competitor. I floored it and took off, with D right beside me. After a total of about 10 minutes, it started to rain fairly hard and the go-kart guys were waving us in. We all zoomed into the stopping area and I struggled to get out of the go-kart, which had trapped my legs somehow. It was raining pretty good by now and I went to look for Peaches, whom I was sure was going to be pissed, which he was. The only thing we could figure out was that he was pushing the brake and the accelerator at the same time. Anyway, since it was raining pretty well by this time, we decided to head into town for supplies and to check what time the movie Superbad was playing at the local theater. We got to the mall and saw that the movie times were 2:20 and 4:40 (it was about 2:00) and we decided to go home for lunch (about 11 miles back to the cabin from town), then come back to town to catch the 4:40 movie. However, Stu decided, at the last minute, to grab a bite to eat at the Taco Bell and then catch the 2:20 movie. So, we raced to Taco Bell, got something small (we were planning on popcorn and pop at the movies) and then raced back to the theater where we caught the movie just as it was starting. It turned out to be a movie that I would rather not have had my 10 year old daughter watching (lots of talk of men’s sexual organs) and I cringed pretty much through the whole movie, berating myself at my poor parental skills. However, I was able to enjoy the movie for what it was and of course, the three teen boys and my husband thought it was a gas……it was definitely a boy’s movie, if you know what I mean. By the end of the movie, I wanted to walk out of there with my head in the popcorn bucket, but we all stopped at the restrooms and made sure we took care of business there, rather than in the outhouse. It is amazing how our bladder and bowel functions became the topic of everyone’s conversations (did you go?, No, did you? Yeah, it was gross…..). By that time, everyone had used the outhouse but D and Peaches. D was bound and determined to control his excretory functions to the best of his ability. (In fact, he managed to control his function so well, he didn’t have to go for the entire time we were there, 4 days!) He was extremely proud of himself, I must say. Peaches was worried about the possibility of his having to use the outhouse at some point and kept asking me if what he was eating would make him go. Sigh….we stopped at Wal-Mart, got some food supplies and things for dinner (spaghetti and garlic bread) and then headed back to the cabin, where it was raining once again. We settled down for a night of cards, movies and general silliness, and had a fabulous spaghetti dinner. We built a fire again in the fireplace and roasted S’mores and watched movies. Another terrific evening for everybody. Lulabell again asked her dad if he wouldn’t mind sleeping in the bunk bed and he agreed a little too quickly if you ask me. So, I was stuck with the fidgety furnace for another night and we all turned in once more. We had plans to go home on Wednesday, but everyone was feeling like we didn’t want to leave. It turns out, we didn’t have to….more tomorrow.

A truly scary movie...and a scary murder

2007-07-07T17:06:00.000-04:00

What's this? Twice in two days? A miracle I guess. Just wanted to mention the movie we all saw last night....1408. Peaches and his two friends D and C and Lulabell's friend M went, along with Stu and I. Of course, the girls didn't see 1408 as it was a little too intense so they went to see Evan Almighty, which they liked very much. We went to the late movie and so didn't get out until midnight or so, but that's what made it more fun. The movie is actually very good, with John Cusick doing a fantastic job....I caught Stu jumping to look over his shoulder once or twice when the sounds were particularly disturbing, although he denies this. Peaches watched most of the movie through his t-shirt and C used his fingers as protective devices over his eyes during the more intense parts. I was worried the boys wouldn't like it because it isn't the usual slasher flick they love so much and was gratified when they exited the movie exclaiming it was the scariest movie they had ever seen! It WAS very good though. This morning dawned sunny and hot and the boys had plans to see ANOTHER movie, Transformers, which made Peaches very happy. Lulabell was NOT invited to this one though as Peaches didn't want his little sister tagging along...which I can understand. Lulabell took it well though and wanted to be compensated for not going to the movie by going to McDonald's, which mom vetoed, unfortunately. So, we went home and she scampered off to a friend's house.

Something of note occurred here in the Valley yesterday. Two years ago a prominent urologist was murdered on the Ohio turnpike and talk immediately turned to his wife, who, it was discovered, had been having an affair with a drug addict. It turns out that she got him to kill the good doctor in the guise of a robbery (shooting him in the face) by promising him half of her inheritance. Immediately after it happened the entire valley was convinced she had something to do with it and yesterday the jury came back with a verdict of GUILTY! The entire valley is relieved and now this idiotic woman, who would have received over a million dollars in a divorce settlement, is facing the death penalty, which will be decided on 7/16/07. One of the doctors I type for was a very close friend of the murdered doctor and in fact was an executor of his estate. He testified at the trial and will testify during the sentencing phase. We all hope the greedy woman gets what is coming to her. At the very least, I believe she will spend the rest of her life in jail. Her murdering boyfriend, because he testified against her, was given a sentence of, I believe, 11 years. It's been quite something and I can tell you we are keeping our fingers crossed in the Shenango Valley that the death penalty is decided upon. So, that's what's happening around here...more soon.

Shocked and ashamed....

2007-07-06T16:17:00.000-04:00

Well, I am frankly quite shocked at my blatant abandonment of my blog and its many (not!) readers. I am sure everyone has given up on me by now. Please, hang in there and I will try to catch up on things for you.

Let's see, well, school let out the first week of June and both Peaches and Lulabell passed. Lulabell did exceptionally well making National Honor Society (finally!) her last semester. She also received the Music Award for her class, YAY! Peaches passed with a 79 average, which I guess isn't TOO bad, but he did fail two minor classes (automotive and design). I guess they don't make you go to summer school for those. Next September we will be entering the 10th and 5th grades YAHOO!

We have settled down into our summer routine with a new swimming pool which is getting quite the workout, I must say. We managed to get just a modest size, but it is just about right and easy to take care of. The kids have literally been in the pool everyday and Mom and Dad have been known to jump in on occasion! I will tell you that we also got some new fencing that heightens the privacy of the back yard so much that I daringly when skinny-dipping (no!) Yes!. In fact, I'm afraid that I kind of freaked out my daughter in the process. It was just the two of us at home, in the evening and we were in the pool together when I said conspiratorially to my daughter "hey, let's get naked!" She looked at my kind of strangely but I could see the idea would not immediately be shot down. So, after a few furtive looks around, we slipped off our suits and glided seamlessely through the water.....how serene and shockingly good it felt! However, after a bit, my daughter, I guess, began to get a little freaky-deaky about the situation and announced she was putting her suit back on THIS MINUTE! I don't know what happened....now when I suggest skinny-dipping she gets this look of horror in her eyes and quickly changes the subject (MOTHER!). Oh well, maybe Stu and I will try it some late evening.

My friend J and his mom recently took a cross-country trip to New York from SF recently but unfortunately had a few run-ins with the police! Once for alleged drunk-driving (the breathalyzer registered zero however and he was released without incident). Then in New York his precious dog, Sophie, relieved herself in the street and he received a $50 ticket! Yikes! Then, on their way home, he got a speeding ticket! A trip to remember, eh? Seriously though, they did have quite a grand time seeing the country and visiting friends and I am quite envious. Unfortunately, although he got close to us here in western PA, we didn't get a chance to connect, for which I am sorry, but that's the way things go, huh? Another time I hope.

Overall, my summer has sucked so far because I have been so busy....I have been typing my arse off the last few weeks as I am doing some extra typing for some surgeons who are between office transcriptionists. They did offer me the position full time, but I had to turn them down regretfully as I just can't commit myself to even more time at the computer. My wallet said yes, but my heart said, don't do it. However, I will still fill in as necessary when they need me. So you see, I have a good excuse for not posting, although some will feel that it isn't good enough I am sure.

Stu and I finally took the plunge and got new cell phones. We have been with Verizon for several years now and had not gotten new phones in over two years (well one year for Stu - remember the famous swimming telephone incident in Florida?). So, we had some credits built up, enough to get my phone almost completely free. I am in love with my new phone, which is a Chocolate. It is an MP3 player and is bright green in color. It is awesome! Stu got an LG8700 I think and it is slim and cool-looking. We decided to give my old phone to Lulabell (not to Peaches you ask?). Right, Peaches has a bad habit of losing cell phones and besides, he stays pretty close to home most of the time and I usually always know where he is. Lulabell, on the other hand, is a wanderer and is off at someone's house or another alot of the time, playing. This way, we can keep in touch and always have access to her. Peaches didn't seem too annoyed about this apparent lack of respect at his status as eldest child. If he can prove himself worthy, he will get Stu's old phone. However, now his main concern is about driving as he suddenly feels at 15 years, 3 months old, that he should begin to drive. Now, if you know Peaches, you might wonder at the wiseness of putting him behind the wheel, as I do. We are trying to break it to him gently that he MAY not drive right as he hits his 16th birthday in 9 months. I can't even begin to think about it as our insurance will probably double at that time, so putting it off sounds good to me. He starts his day camp next week through the end of July, which will be good for him.

Lulabell's eye troubles are apparently back. We saw the retinal specialist last week to make sure their disease isn't flaring up, it's not. However, you may recall that Lulabell has an issue with swelling of her optic nerves due to a disorder called pseudotumor cerebri. She previously had to undergo several spinal taps and was on medication for several years for this. About two years ago we were told that it had quieted down and were allowed to take her off the medication. However, the swelling is back and there is some hemorrhaging in her eyes now associated with it. So, on Monday, off we go to one of our often-visited places, the Cleveland Clinic! (At least it's not Pissburgh, is all I can say). We will see the eye specialist up there to make a decision on treating this. The danger of this is that optic nerve swelling can cause loss of vision, so we want to take care of this as soon as possible. One option is surgery on the eyes, called optic nerve fenestration. The procedure is, the surgeon cuts little holes in the sheath covering the optic nerves, like little windows. This way, the cerebrospinal fluid that is building up in the nerves, causing the swelling, can leak out harmlessly into the body, hopefully decreasing the swelling of the nerves and preserving the vision. That is what the spinal taps were for, first, to diagnose increased pressure, and also to remove some of the fluid to decrease the pressure. It is not known why the pressure is increased, at least in Lauren's case. It is a very frustrating disease but I have to say, we are grateful that she does not suffer from the hallmark symptom of this disease, headaches. Ever heard of a spinal headache? These are usually caused by low pressure such as when you receive an epidural and too much fluid leaks out (which I experienced during the birth of Peaches - very agonizing). Well, too much fluid causes headaches too, which is how this disease is usually diagnosed. But Lulabell, thankfully, has never had headaches and for this we are grateful. So, I will update you on her condition and treatment once we see the doc.

Well, I guess that about brings this blog up to date...I hope to return to it much more frequently that I have in the recent past. I hope I still have one or two readers out there....

No more teacher's dirty looks....

2007-05-30T11:26:00.000-04:00

Oh my goodness, where does the time go? My favorite TV shows are finally finished for the year and my goodness, I think I am actually relieved, you know? For the last two weeks I have been in a frenzy taping and watching the finales of all my shows and I am actually breathing a sigh of relief that I don’t have to worry about it anymore. Why do I do this to myself? Lost was by far the most awesome finale ever, although I did spoil it for myself a bit at the spoiler sites on the web. Still, I have found that I would prefer to know what is going to happen instead of being completely surprised. That’s kind of shitty, I guess, but as I review my life, I know that I don’t like surprises. I like to be able to depend on things and know ahead of time about things. I guess that’s why I like behind-the-scenes type of shows and reality shows, and reading a book before I see the movie.

The radio just said the high today will be 90, which is somewhat awesome as I have the day off. I took six days beginning last Friday and I must say how glad I am. The kids and I went to the lake with M.A. this weekend and had a glorious two days there, although the poopy pool wasn’t open yet. Still, we had fun and went fishing, but didn’t catch anything. They were dredging our favorite fishing spot, boo. We had a campfire and roasted marshmallows and enjoyed the beautiful warm night. Stu had to work, as he has been doing nonstop for two weeks, amassing all kinds of overtime, which is good I guess. The Home Depot just opened across the freeway from Lowe’s so they were working very hard to get things spic and span at Lowe’s. He has six days off now, which he deserves after working so hard. Last night we took the kids to the park for a picnic and then a walk, which was really pretty awesome. I think we are going to do it again tonight as Stu has four free subs from our favorite sub shop. He also has like 60 free cups of coffee from his favorite coffee shops about town. So, if you ever need a free cup of coffee, see Stu. Do you have any idea how many cups of coffee he had to drink to get 60 free cups? Well, every tenth cup is free, so you do the math.

Last night we were watching a movie in the basement and I saw a weird white shadow and a rustling of leaves outside the basement window. When I looked closely, I saw that it was our white kitty, Belle. You see, Daisy, our dog, lets herself out the backdoor when she needs to and Belle waits at the door for Daisy to go out, then she shoots out and enjoys a romp in the yard. Now, this is fine, but Belle is deaf and I really don’t want her outside unsupervised. So, Lulabell and I went out to corral her back into the house. Then this morning, I was typing and I heard the bluejays going crazy. So I looked outside the window and there was Belle sitting in the middle of the yard with two bluejays dive-bombing her and screeching to the high heavens. They obviously have a nest close by that they were protecting. Belle was so comical as she ducked to avoid the diving jays. I’m sure if she could have heard them, she would have dived back into the house. So, I guess it’s good that the bluejays will let me know when Belle is outside.

There is something like four more days of school for everybody and I must say, Thank God! We are all quite ready for school to be over. Lulabell has informed me that she WILL NOT return to her summer camp from last year, the one I thought she had fun at. We will have to find something else for her, I guess. Stu mentioned that he would like to have his mother come visit us this summer, which I wouldn’t mind except we would have to pay for her ticket and she would be coming during our vacation in August. Now, I do have a bit of a problem with this as my vacation time is sacred and I don’t particularly want to have a houseguest at that time. I hope you don’t think I’m rude about this as in fact, his mother is really a delight and I am extremely lucky to have her for my mother-in-law. I just can’t relax when there are guests in the house for extended periods of time, you know? I sound awful, I guess. I don’t even want to tell you what my December is going to be like, when Stu’s brother, sister-in-law and nephew are scheduled to spend a month with us!!!!! Again, I love these people very much, but a month??!?!?!?!? I’m stressing just thinking about it. Help me.

The story of Lulabell.....beautiful girl!

2007-05-16T20:53:00.000-04:00

Ten years ago tonight I was drugged up royally. That’s right, I was in the morphine zone and boy, was it nice. I was in labor with my daughter and it was about 10 PM. You may recall that with the birth of my son, I spent a rather restless labor trying to contact my husband to make it to the hospital. This time, I was smart and wouldn’t let him leave the room, much less the hospital. So, as he napped in the uncomfortable chair beside my bed, the nurses put into something wonderful called a "morphine sleep".

We had come to the hospital about 4 PM that afternoon. It was a hot, blistery day, rather unusual for Northern California in May. I had spent most of the day inside, trying to stay cool and trying to gauge whether the back pain I was having was signaling labor. I was about 36 weeks then, so it was a little early for the baby. However, I was SO ready to have this baby. This pregnancy had been rather hard on me from the beginning as I was diagnosed early on with gestational diabetes and had to take insulin the entire pregnancy. This actually was not too bad, and my sugars and levels were awesome throughout the pregnancy. My doctor was very proud and happy with me. However, I did manage to gain A LOT of weight, nearly 100 pounds, and he was not so happy about that. Neither was I. In fact, by the birth of Lulabell, I basically only had one dress I could wear, along with flip-flops, because my feet were so swollen. The one dress I had was this horrible jungle print that I burned after I gave birth. So, I was laying around the house, trying to stay cool when I began to notice that I was in fact having contractions pretty regularly. I summoned Stu who made arrangements for our friend O to watch little Peaches, who was five years old at that time. He was very excited about his new sister coming and happy to stay with O. So, off Stu and I went and we arrived at the hospital by about 4:30 PM. I was checked and found to be about 4 cm dilated, so they admitted me. Stu had strict instructions not to go roaming and I tried to relax. My father stopped by in the evening and we had a very nice talk. Then, about 10 PM I was put into the morphine zone and oh boy, was that nice! I slept until about 12:30 AM when I woke up to pee and found myself leaking all the way to the bathroom. This annoyed me to no end until I realized that it wasn’t pee I was leaking, that my water had broke! I called to Stu and he ran to get the nurse. I really was not having any major pain at that point, although I was very uncomfortable. Surprisingly, when the nurse checked me, I was close to 10 cm dilated! Wow, that morphine sleep is a miracle. There was no time for an epidural and I was instructed to begin pushing. Stu was by my side as I pushed and pushed. There was a little trouble getting Lulabell’s shoulders through, but a quick slice (see episiotomy - ouch!) took care of that and out she popped. The nurses rushed her to the warming table and I had yet to hear her cry. Of course, every mom yearns to hear the first cry and I was getting concerned because it seemed to be taking awhile. Stu was brought over to the baby where he took some pictures and was asked to cut the cord. The doctors were working on the baby, pounding and patting her, trying to get her to breathe. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I did hear my daughter cry and I began to cry with relief. The doctor was finishing up my stitches and I was finally allowed to see Lulabell. The first thing that struck me was that she had a lot of dark brown hair and it looked like it had just been combed. She also looked like a little Eskimo baby because her cheeks were so fat. In short, she was simply precious. Apparently (and I didn’t know this until later), they were concerned because she didn’t seem to be moving her left arm and were afraid she had nerve damage from being squeezed in the birth canal for so long. However, this soon cleared up and because she was a month premature and the product of a diabetic mother, they whisked her off to the nursery intensive care unit (NICU) for further care. I was cleaned up and sent back to my room with Stu and we were of course, very happy. I was able to go see her that day in the NICU and we were introduced to the hand-washing and gown wearing that was necessary. I was planning on breastfeeding and so was introduced to the pumping machine, which really is very strange. I was able to pump a little milk/colostrum for my baby and then headed back to my room. It was strange not having her available to me whenever I wanted to see her, but I must say I was a little relieved not to have the rooming-in that I had with my son. So, I got a good night’s sleep and Stu managed to alert the family that we had a beautiful little girl.

The next day much of the family came by to visit Lulabell. However, in the NICU visitors are not allowed and we were reduced to holding the baby up to a little window where everyone could peer in. Peaches was having none of this however, as he wanted to see his baby RIGHT NOW! It ended up to be very emotional as I watched my little boy agonizing over not being able to hold his own sister. However, Lulabell was still admitted to the NICU and we had to follow their rules. I stayed in the hospital for about two days and then was allowed to go home. However, it broke my heart to realize that Lulabell was not able to come home with me as she had jaundice (which is rather normal for preemies) and had to have phototherapy. She was placed in a special bassinet with lights and had to wear these teeny tiny sunglasses…what a hoot! Anyway, what this meant was that for the next several days while she was in the hospital, I had to come back about every two to three hours to breastfeed her. I can’t tell you how logistically difficult and exhausting this was. Finally, five days later, we got the good news that Lu could come home and we were ecstatic. We brought her home with us and thankfully, Stu’s mom was staying with us and she was a huge help to me with the baby and with Peaches. We finally settled down into a routine and enjoyed the heck out of our daughter.

We still do enjoy the heck out of our daughter, as she has brought us many smiles and laughs. She is a great kid, as I am sure you know if you have met her. We’ve had some health problems along the way but those do seem to be clearing up. My daughter is a bright, smart, beautiful 10 year old girl and I love her with all my heart. Happy birthday Lulabell!

Had a bad day....

2007-05-03T16:18:00.000-04:00

We've certainly had better days in our household. This morning I called in (as I do everyday) to make sure everyone is up and ready to go. Lulabell answered the phone and I could tell she was a little stressed out. Her brother in the background was also stressed. However, when I asked to speak to her brother, Lulabell cracked me up by saying in a light, singsong voice "CHRISTINAAAAAA" in a mocking way to her brother. This is her little jab, by feminizing his name. He gets her back with "shut up LOREENA", which never fails to enrage my daughter. Ahhh....the bliss of family life.

So anyway, getting to yesterday, Stu was off and was keeping himself busy by putting together a swing for our front porch. We have two hooks in the ceiling of the porch and I have been forever dreaming of having a swing out there. So, we got a good buy on a nice one and Stu managed to put it together yesterday, even without the help of his power tools, because he couldn't find them, which is obviously my fault because I must have put them somewhere, "all I want are some *#)*$)@! tools" cried my husband. Anyway, he heroically got the swing put together and we joyously hung it from the ceiling, where it looked fabulous. So, he victoriously sat down in it, then Lulabell sat in it, then he got up and I sat in it with Lulabell, then Lulabell got up and Stu sat in it with me...........CRACK!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!, He and I sprung off the swing and looked up to see that one of the hooks (the one on my side, alright?) had pulled partway out of the ceiling.....(don't say it!) Oh, man, all that work.....However, all is not lost, because we just have to go back and purchase the frame that holds the swing...which is actually better than hanging it from the ceiling, right? Right. Now, earlier in the day, right when I got home, I got a call from Peaches' teacher from his afterschool program. She was calling to tell me that she was sending my son home because of his behavior in the program that day. Now, this is a bit of a surprise to me because while Peaches is a lot of things, he has never been a behavior problem in school. She proceeded to explain that he had been asked repeatedly to stop talking and to do his homework. Finally, in desperation, she told him and his chatty friend to split up and move to separate tables, wherein they replied "no". I was speechless! "Are you saying that MY SON actually did this?" I asked incredulously. Yes, she assured me, he had. She then told me that my son was inquiring as to what time I would be picking him up? Having recovered my senses, I replied very calmly"you tell my son that since it is such a lovely day today he should have a lovely walk home". She paused a moment and said, "you know, that's just what the other boy's father said!" Ugh.... Then, not 10 minutes later, I got a phone call from Lulabell at HER afterschool program. "Mama?" (she only calls me mama when she wants something. "Mama, can you pick me up, I'm not feeling well". Sigh....okay. So I drove to her school and picked her up where she was looking properly grim as she waited outside the school with her teacher. She climbed into the car and amazingly, perked right up. Ahh, the power of mothers! So I decided, it was just about time for Peaches to be making his appearance up the street from walking home and I decided to spy on him, you know, to see if he would look both ways when crossing, that sort of thing. He just happened to be crossing the street in front of me (he did NOT look) and I pulled the car up behind him to scare him (that's just the kind of mother I am....never pass up an opportunity to scare you children). He was just trudging along with his head down. He got into the car and we drove home, where daddy was waiting (oh no!). We both spoke to Peaches about his behavior but didn't seem to be getting through to him and his responses to our questions, we felt, were very inadequate (along the lines of his usual, "I don't know"). So, daddy decided he would ferry Peaches BACK to school and speak with the teacher. This absolutely horrified Peaches and he put up quite a fuss, but ultimately, daddy won and off they went. We've only got six more weeks of school folks, but if Peaches doesn't shape up, he's going to experience the wonders of summer school. I also threaten him with making him repeat the 9th grade (this is something I would do, not the school, because his grades, I believe, are good enough at this point to pass him). I would do it just for the shock, because Peaches needs a reality check at this point. Just making the motions through school ain't going to cut it and he really only has three more years before he is 18 and has to get a job, you know? So, that was our day yesterday. Let's hope the rest of the week passes by a little more smoothly.

A day at the dance and happy dog.....

2007-05-01T19:20:00.000-04:00

Kool-Aid cash and the last dance....

2007-04-30T20:08:00.000-04:00

Kool-Aid 25 cents! This was the cry coming from in front of our house last night as Lulabell and a friend made some quick cash. Lulabell has a Kool-Aid stand that she hauls out every now and again and last evening in about two hours, she made a cool $12! She was quite excited about this, and I was impressed, although we went through about $3 worth of Crystal Light, but what the heck……Peaches didn’t want anything to do with it until he saw the buckets of cash Lulabell was making and then he was very helpful. So, if you’re ever in our neighborhood and feeling thirsty, listen for the cry, "Kool-Aid - 25 cents!" and stop on by!

The fabulous Spring Spree took place yesterday afternoon and it was bittersweet because it will be our last. Lulabell’s dancing career is over for the time being, by mutual agreement. You will recall how Lulabell hated her dance class so much that she played hooky from it for a month before we caught on to her. Her dance teacher however, was quite understanding and really wanted her to dance in the Spree, and so, we agreed. She looked quite fetching in her 20’s flapper outfit and I will post a picture of her in the next day or too. M.A. graciously attended with us and presented Lulabell with a bouquet of flowers after her dance. Her daddy also presented her with two roses and she was very pleased.

Spring has finally sprung around here and Stu was out last night cutting the grass, what a sweetie! I was slaving away at the computer all evening trying to get my typing done before the end of the month so the billing can go in. UGH! Work is going well, and Stu is back at work as well. He was recently presented with a special hat that is only given out to those employees who have proven their customer service worthiness. In fact, I think he is the only employee at his store with this particular hat. So kudos to Stu, the customer service whiz! He really is very good at his job and I am very proud of him.

The kids are starting to get antsy about school being over, and so am I! About six more weeks and then 4th and 9th grades will be done! I am signing everyone up for their respective summer camps. Peaches has a camp for most of the month of July, culminating with a sleepover in Cleveland for a night. Lulabell is still trying to decide which camp she will attend, but will most likely do what she did last year, with the day camp at the park. It’s pretty nice, from 9-2 everyday with swimming every other day and plenty of crafts and activities. We are planning our weekly vacation for the end of August, but I doubt if we will make any big trips or anything, given that we were quite blessed last year with two big trips. I’ll be content just to stay home from work for a week and mess around with the kids and Stu. Maybe a day trip here and there or up to the trailer (with M.A.’s permission of course!) for a couple of days. I would love to go to a zoo or something, so we’ll see I guess. I hear Erie has quite a nice zoo and with the lake and all, that doesn’t sound too shabby.

Well, keep your eyes open for some Lulabell pictures in the next day or two…..keep on truckin!

The ballad of Lulabell the Liar.....

2007-04-14T12:37:00.000-04:00

The ballad of Lulabell the liar has its beginnings many years ago. When Lulabell was just a baby my stepfather used to make a comment about her saying, "her mother says she lies". This was his favorite little quote about Lulabell, whom he enjoyed very much. So you see, there is a long history of my daughter's lying, but recent events have made me start to wonder if there isn’t a problem in the making. You be the judge.

Lulabell has been dancing since she was 5 years old. Every year she attends dance class for 8 months of the year, culminating in the Spring Spree, a dance held around Mother’s day every year. However, this past year, Lulabell has been letting me know that she is tired of dancing and would like nothing better than to stop. She had also complained that she didn’t like any of the girls in the class as none of her friends were in the same class. I gave her the same old story of trying to make new friends, but she wasn’t buying it. She stated "nobody likes me" and therefore, did not want to go anymore. I too was a bit tired of the week in and week out dance commitment, so her father and I decided that this would be her last year, if she so desired. However, we would not let her quit in mid "season" so to speak and wanted her to finish out her dancing with this year’s Spring Spree. Lulabell groaned and moaned every Tuesday when she had to go to practice, but her father and I remained firm with her and turned a deaf ear to her demands not to go to practice. So, every Tuesday she would get dropped off at the club for practice and then an hour later would be picked up when finished. Every Tuesday when she got back in the car I would ask her how class was and she would regale me with the latest steps they had learned. Everything seemed kosher. But, this past Tuesday, her FATHER took her to dance class and when he went to pick her up he realized he was a little early and decided to surprise her by coming up to the class early and waiting for her at the studio on the third floor. Well, surprise her he did, when he found her lying on the benches outside of the racquetball courts, listening to her MP3 player and having herself a good old time. Imagine the look on her face as she sees her father witnessing her indiscretion of ditching dance class. Can you hear the blubbering coming from my little daughter as she tries to explain to her father that this is the first time she has ditched dance class? He finally wore her down enough to get her to admit that she in fact has not attended dance class for the last month. She had decided that she would much rather play racquetball and listen to her music than attend the hated dance class. She, on her own, figured out how to rent a racquet and ball to spend the time she would otherwise spend dancing. In hindsight, now I understand why she was so freaked out a couple of weeks ago when, as we were getting ready to leave for class, she was furiously hunting for her MP3 player. I thought this was strange and couldn’t understand why she needed it to go to dance class, but she assured me that she liked to have something to do while she waited for me to pick her up. Now I understand that this was just a big old lie and that she really wanted it to have something to do while she ditched her class. When Stu first told me about this little scene, I was flabbergasted and a little in awe that she would so industriously go about disobeying me and lying to me every week, looking me straight in the eye while she did it. Of course I was mad and upset with her but a part of me said, wow, look at this child. She made it well known to me her feelings about dance class, that she DID NOT want to go anymore but I played the powerful parent card and insisted that she go. She in turn, did the only thing she felt she could do, self-preservation, and took the matter into her own hands. I have to applaud her a little bit (though not to her face, of course), for handling herself and standing up for herself in the only way she could. Now, the question is, does she get to dance in the Spring Spree this year. I for one, feel like she should not as she lost the right to dance because of her decision not to attend class anymore. Incredibly, the child still wants to dance in the recital so she can wear her costume ($50 worth, thank you very much). However, the dance teacher had a rule that if you missed three classes in a row, you were suspended from class until she decided what to do with you. It is very hard to get in contact with the dance teacher and she has not returned our calls. The recital is in two weeks. I guess we have to wait and see. In the meantime, mother and child have had very serious discussions over the past two days about trust and lying to parents and the like. I just hope this behavior at 9 years does not balloon to outrageous behavior in the coming teen years. Frankly, I am a little worried.

Moving on to more exciting news, Stu and I and a couple friends traveled to Cleveland last night to see Billy Joel in concert. Now, if you know me at all, you probably know that I have a long history of Billy Joel love that started about 25 years ago. I was absolutely nuts about this guy and even converted my sister to "the dark side" when we attended his concert for the first time, around 1984 or so. I have been to about 5 of his concerts and each one has been almost like a religious experience for me. His concerts are terrific and I was so excited when I heard he was coming to the area again. So, last night, the weather finally cleared and gave us a terrific evening to travel up to Cleveland. We parked on the top floor of an outdoor parking complex and, having arrived a little early, decided to start the party with the help of a little Grey Goose, if you know what I mean. We had our own little tailgate party right there on top of the world and got a nice little buzz going. Now, I am not a big alcohol drinker, so it only took me about two drinks to get my buzz started, but woohoo! We finally lurched our way to the arena and got in line for more alcohol and souvenirs. Finally, just as we got to our seats, which were kind of in the nosebleed section behind the stage, the lights went down and we went out of our minds (or at least I did). The people sitting behind us were obviously losing their minds too and so it was quite a fun night. I don’t think I sat down again after the fourth song. Finally, after about two and a half hours of pure joy, when even Stu got up and was dancing around, the show was over, just like that. We gathered up our stuff and noticed that we were absolutely drenched in beer. I don’t even remember getting wet, but somehow, everything I was wearing was soaking wet. No matter, we found our way out and decided we needed to get something to eat to sober up a bit before our drive home. We walked around town trying to find someplace to eat, but it was a little difficult as the Indians apparently finally had their season home opener the same night as the concert, with Jacob’s Field right next to the arena. So, there were approximately 50,000 people milling around looking for somewhere to eat. We tried the House of Blues but it was absolutely packed, and then we wandered off down the street. By this time it was 11:30 and the restaurants stopped serving at midnight, so we were a little desperate. We finally to a bar and grill and got our names down on the list, though we didn’t have much hope. As we waited outside the restaurant, we noticed this very tipsy lady standing next to us, who was obviously have trouble standing upright. All of a sudden, BOOM, she went down in a heap. Stu immediately went over to help her up, which he did, but he was loathe to leave her because she was not steady at all. Finally, she began to stagger towards the street and POW down she went, this time falling right out of her shoes! She really took a nose-dive and narrowly avoided hitting her head on a light pole. She just kind of laid there for a few minutes and we were kind of stunned and didn’t immediately go to her. I, for one, was a still a little buzzed myself and was trying to keep myself from going down. I also couldn’t quite believe what I had just seen and I found myself staring at this poor woman’s shoes, lying on the sidewalk about two feet away from her. My addled mind couldn’t quite grasp it, you k now? Finally, we went to her and spoke with her trying to ascertain if she was hurt. She wasn’t, and just needed to sit down for a few minutes to catch her breath. We sat with her, then Stu went to help her to her feet again. Finally, the police came over and were talking to her but since she had friends inside the bar (who, we couldn’t quite figure out why they weren’t outside helping her), they left her alone. We got her to her feet and kind of circled around her in a protective manner, looking inside for her friends. Finally, one of them came out, threw an arm around her and led her back into the bar! We were a little flabbergasted by this, but finally, a table was ready and we went inside to eat. The food definitely sobered us up and by 12:45 or so we were walking back to the car, which was a little scary because by now there was nobody on the streets except for some mean-looking locals. We did make it to the car and headed home. I was fine to drive, although apparently there was a moment when Stu felt he had to wake me up at 70 mph in the fast lane. But otherwise, everything was fine and we arrived home safely at about 2:30 in the morning. Well, it was quite an exhilarating night for me personally as 1) I got to see Billy Joel and 2) I got to have alcohol, which I never do. It was fun to be silly and totally out of my mind for awhile, to forget about everything for even just one night. Thanks to H and M for making it a really fun night….let’s do it again sometime!

Hi-ho, hi-ho, Stu's back to work at last!

2007-04-10T16:45:00.000-04:00

Well, Happy Easter! I know, I’m a little late, aren’t I. Hope YOUR Easter was nice a warm, but here, we had more snow and cold on Easter than we did on Christmas, and THAT JUST AIN’T RIGHT!. I think we may be over the hump weather wise now, today it’s actually almost 40 degrees (wow!). Stu’s vacation is just about over too, as he returns to work on Saturday (yay?). I will give you an example of how our kids’ minds work. Last weekend the kids were moaning that we haven’t gone out to eat in a while and REALLY wanted to go out on Sunday. Well, I hemmed and hawed about it and finally announced that we just couldn’t afford to go out to dinner. Well, Peaches got really steamed and worked himself up and finally burst out with, "we don’t have any money because Dad never goes to work anymore……….he’s here ALL THE TIME!". Well, that little outburst just tickled my funnybone and seemed to sum up a lot. I hastily reassured my son that even though things are tight moneywise right now, they WILL improve soon (I hope!). I can assure you that the following week we went out to dinner TWICE (that’s right) and things seemed right with the world for my son. Lulabell’s big dance is coming up at the end of the month and she has made it abundantly clear to her mother that her dance career is O-V-E-R! Actually, the kid has been dancing since she was 4 and Mom’s a little tired of it too. In addition, the teacher she has had since she was 4 is moving on to form her own dance school, which I am sure will cost a lot more than $75 a year, which is what her current dance course costs. So, maybe now IS a good time to stop and rest. Lulabell seems to think it is much more important to hang out with her little friends at this point. I’m sure there is much more to say, but I just can’t seem to think of it right at the moment. I will be back soon…..

The lost weekend....

2007-03-26T19:26:00.000-04:00

Well, I think I just spent THE most frustrating weekend of my life. M.A. has a new laptop computer that I set up for her the day she arrived home, so she could have wireless Internet access. It worked like a charm and she was a happy camper until Thursday, when it suddenly stopped working. She made a call to the company that makes her wireless router and they gave her some instructions and she got it workign again, but it quit working a few hours later. She called me in a state and I went over to fix it at about 4:30 Friday afternoon. Cut to 9:00 PM and I am still fussing with the goddamn computer. I spent (literally), 2 hours on the phone with the computer people, then an hour on the phone with the Verizon people, and still, we could not get the flipping Internet on her laptop. I cannot begin to tell you how upsetting this was for me. I do enjoy messing around with computers and I have learned a bit about how they work, but this problem was beyond me. M.A. graciously served me dinner and kept me company while I was on the phone. Stu felt like I had abandoned him and the kids but he got them dinner while I pressed. Finally, by 9:00 I was so disheartened and frustrated that I gave up and went home, nearly in tears about this damn thing. I told M.A. to take the computer to Office Depot on Saturday to see what they could figure out. On Saturday, feeling somewhat better, M.A. called to say that the guys at the computer store had gotten onto the Internet with "no problemo". ARGGHHHHH!! I decided I needed to go pick up the computer with her and find out just what they did to fix it. Nothing, as it turned out. They were able to get on their wireless network without a problems. GRRRRR. I was now determined to fix the damn thing once and for all. We took the computer home and I plugged in all the wires and ……..nope, no Internet. My blood was literally boiling by now and I got on the phone once more with the Linksys router people. I had determined last night that the computer was working, as was the Verizon modem, so it had to be the router, right? Well, after an hour on the phone with those people (who, by the way, are all from India or Pakistan or something), Samir told me that he was frankly puzzled and it was absolutely incredible that we could not get this thing to work. He finally directed me to take the router back to the store and demand a new one, which is just what we did. So, M.A., and I hop back into the car, back to the computer store and get a brand new router. My heart was lighter as I imagined how easy it would be to plug her in when we got home. However, my hopes were dashed as once again, she had no Internet access. Well, again, my spirits were in the toilet and I just gave up. I drove home dejectedly with M.A. doing her best to cheer me up. She later called a friend over who works with computers a lot and guess what? He couldn’t get it to work either! Now, I must say that made me feel the teensiest bit better about myself, but not much. The next morning, she called ANOTHER friend over, who fiddled and faddled and got the damn thing working. Apparently, there is an encryption issue with her desktop computer, something that has to be changed so it will allow the wireless signal. I was happy for M.A., but a little aghast that out of all the "experts" I spent hours with on the phone, not one of them figured it out about the encryption thing….So, my computer geekiness failed me this weekend and I was one dispirited girl. Ahhh, at least the weather on Sunday made up for my ill humor…it was warm and relatively sunny and absolutely gorgeous. I even got inspired and took down the Christmas wreaths from my windows! I’m sure my neighbors are thankful and I feel much better. Lulabell spent literally the entire day outside with her friends, while Peaches communed with the computer. Stu is still hobbling around like a stiff old man and will see the doctor tomorrow for word on his crotch. I think he is going to have a hard time going back to work just because he has been sitting most of the last two weeks and his job is all standing and walking. He better start working out or something because mama thinks it’s time he went back to work! It’s strange having him home ALL THE TIME….but overall it hasn’t been too bad. Our sink suddenly decided to spring a leak at 10 PM last night so we have a bucket under the drain and hopefully Stu the plumber will be able to do something with it relatively soon. Oh, we saw Blood Diamond which is a very good movie, although a little long. If you get a chance to see it, do. And how was YOUR weekend?

Lost in translation....

2007-03-22T20:21:00.000-04:00

The days just keep passing, don’t they? Wake up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, work some more, go to bed, and get up the next day to do it all over again. In between, try to have some fun and not worry too much about which bill you are going to pay this month (or which bill you can let slide for a month). You know the old game Bill Roulette don’t you? I dream of the day when I don’t have to play this rotten game anymore….
Stu has been holed up at home for over a week now and I think the strain is getting to him (us!). Yesterday after a stop at Wal-Mart, we got into the stupidest argument, which lasted for most of the afternoon. I’m not even going to tell you what it was about, because it is too embarrassing to go into. Suffice it to say that he thought he was right and I thought I was right, which is what most arguments are about after all, aren’t they? Then, last night in the middle of the night my hubby nudges me to wake up because he wasn’t feeling well. He grabbed my hand and told me to feel his healing scar, because it was hurting. I groggily reached my hand to his groin and felt around a little and did in fact feel a rather large lump under his incision, which alarmingly felt a lot like his hernia felt before his surgery. I mumbled something about having the doctor look at it tomorrow and drifted back to sleep. Today, Stu made an appointment and got driving instructions from me on how to get to the doctor, which is about 25 miles away. I must take a moment here to state that while my husband has many wonderful qualities, a sense of direction is not one of them. Now mind you, I had only been there once myself and while I knew the main roads to take, I was a little fuzzy on the side roads to take. But, I did my best and off he went. I bet my office mates that I would get a frantic call from Stu at some point, claiming that he was lost. Guess what? I won that bet! Stu called me in a panic five minutes before he was due at the doctors office, as he circled aimlessly around New Castle, to say he was inextricably lost and could not find the ##@!&*) doctor’s office and would I for God’s sakes figure out where it was? He was in the general area I knew, but the doctor’s office may as well have been on the other side of the moon. I hurriedly got onto Google maps and looked to see where he was and how far he was from the doctor’s office. It took me a few minutes and meanwhile, Stu is going ballistic because he is stressed out and hates to be lost (even though he finds himself in this position with distressing frequency). He was blustering and yelling, while I tried desperately to figure out how to guide him to the office. I even hung up with him, called the doctor’s office, told them he would be a few minutes late, and asked for directions based on his last transmission. I got the directions and called him back, but he couldn’t hear my instructions because he was to busy yelling that he was giving up and going home. I told him to give it one last try and he yelled some more expletives and hung up. After a few minutes I tried to call him back but he wouldn’t answer his phone!!!! I tried calling for the next fifteen minutes but the little stinker continued to refuse to take my call. Finally, in exasperation, I called the doctor’s office to see if he made it and they informed me he had just walked in. I hung up and breathed a sigh of relief, but was still a little sore that my husband didn’t answer his phone because he was having a little tantrum. Ah, married life…most of the time it’s just wonderful, but that 2% of the time where it isn’t really gets to you sometimes! The good news is that the doctor told Stu his lump was "normal" scar tissue, which is a little hard for me to believe as it has only been 8 days since his surgery and I really don’t think such a massive ridge of scar tissue could form in that time. However, I’m not a doctor and he told Stu not to worry. So, he will see him again in a week and we will just wait and see, I guess.

Stu's fine...where's spring?

2007-03-19T18:52:00.000-04:00

Well, it seems I’m a little late on the follow-up of Stu’s surgery. Suffice it to say that he survived and is healing well. He is still moving around like and old man and I just left him on the couch where he was nodding off (it’s 6:30 pm at the moment). He started driving again today, which is good. He sees the doc next Tuesday and we will find out then when he can return to work. He has a pretty good sized incision, I’d say about 3-4 inches, and when he sneezes or coughs he has to hold himself in, but otherwise, he is fine. I must say that when he was getting ready for the surgery he had to wear these support hose that were really odd, thigh high numbers that made his legs look sweet! He had to keep those on for a day or two and they were really sexy, man! We have been watching movies for days and about the only one we really liked was Casino Royale – the new James Bond movie. It’s really a good movie and you should see it if you can. Other movies we didn’t like so much, Talladega Nights, Stranger than Fiction – both Will Ferrell movies that were kinda dumb. Borat was dumb and extremely politically incorrect and Babel was fairly good but a little slow and I’m not sure exactly what it was about. The Prestige had promise but in the end, I found it too long and a little dull. I was home with him for two days because I had a strange little infection in my hand that I still have no idea what it was. It started as an itchy palm about a week ago and then I got this little red spot in the middle, which really kind of looked like an insect bite or something. It began to hurt the day before Stu’s surgery and the afternoon of Stu’s surgery I had red streaks going down my arm. Off to the doctor with that a course of antibiotics fixed me right up. HE had no idea what it was either, but I could barely move my hand so typing was out of the question for a few days. I finally popped the little bugger on Thursday with the release of some nasty looking liquid mush and then it REALLY started feeling better. I tend to get these little infections fairly often, probably something to do with my diabetes and NOT, like my husband suggested, because I don’t wash often enough (I can’t believe he really said that!). Anyway, Spring is due to arrive tomorrow, but you wouldn’t know it to look out the window. It snowed ALL day and this evening it turned to slushy rain/snow and is really pretty miserable. COME ON SPRING!
M.A. returned from her trip south right in the middle of the nasty weather to her warm and cozy home. I went there on Thursday to gather her mail for the last time and was disconcerted to find that someone had stolen her garage door opener from the mailbox, where we were keeping it. I really have no idea what the heck happened to it and I even caught up with the mailman to question him about it, but he had no idea it was even in there. Hmmmmm, I sure hope nobody gets any smart ideas about it. M.A. made a purchase in Florida, a new laptop computer, which she absolutely loves. So, she was keen on getting her wireless service hooked up in her house when she returned, which I was happy to do for her. It only took me about 2 hours to do, but it’s working now and she is a happy camper. Lulabell mistakenly thought she had brought the laptop to give to us, but M.A., quickly disabused her of THAT idea. Then M.A., took us all out for dinner that evening, which was nice for Stu as it was the first time he had been out of the house for days. He has had some visitors, which has been nice, but his social life has really been in the dumpster because of the surgery. Anyway, thanks to M.A., for dinner, and we’re glad you’re home! I apparently didn’t kill ALL of her houseplants, although I apparently tried my darndest to do it. Plus, I FINALLY got her sheer curtains washed and would you believe, those suckers are actually white? Yeppers, they are gorgeous and all of the bird poo came right out.
Well, not too much else to report…hope everyone out there is fine. If you get moment, call Stu and cheer him up, will ya?

Stu under the knife...Amazing Losers!

2007-03-12T20:30:00.000-04:00

Well, Spring is peeking it’s little head around the corner, with temps in the 70’s (squeeee!) tomorrow. However, the word is, just as someone is arriving back from Florida this weekend, the snow machine will start up again….perfect, huh? It ALWAYS snows on St. Patrick’s day around here…kind of a sick little joke Mother Nature likes to play on us around here.

It is the eve of Stu’s surgery, due on Tuesday. He popped out a hernia a couple weeks ago at work and we finally saw the surgeon last week and his repair is for tomorrow. Got to be at the hospital at 6 AM for GOD’S SAKES! Stu’s never had surgery before so this should be interesting. I wonder if he will act like Lulabell does when he is coming out of his anesthesia? She turns into a devil child and wants to fight anybody that comes near her. Hope Stu’s a little more calm. Think good thoughts for Stu…I’ll be back on tomorrow night with news of his recovery!

Hey, do you watch The Amazing Race? We do and last night we were floored when Rob and Amber got eliminated. It just seemed like karma to me, because the way they race with lying and such, they got theirs good tonight. One thing, Mirna and Charla are rapidly sliding down my list of favorite racers, especially the evil Mirna who announced that she has been having to carry their team this whole way. Shut up Mirna! YOU picked your partner, did you not? To tell your dwarf cousin that she had "shortcomings" was lower than low. You are despicable…..

The story of Peaches......A birthday tale!

2007-03-03T20:50:00.000-05:00

Peaches’ story began 15 years ago today, at 7:45 in the morning, after an exhausting night keeping his mother awake. Actually, things began the day before, when I checked into the hospital for induction of labor. My blood pressure had been inching upward and the doctor felt "it was time for induction". Nervous and excited, I think Stu and I thought we would have our baby right then, but oh no, not then. I got settled in the hospital bed with my expectant husband beside me and we began the long wait. I was given the induction medicine but….nothing…..happened. We waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, about 4 PM my doctor decided to increase my dose of medicine (thank GOD!) and the clock continued to turn infuriatingly slowly. Finally, I told poor Stu, who had done nothing all day but sit and stare at me, to go home and I would call him "when the good stuff started". He agreed (maybe a wee bit too eagerly) and set off for home. I felt secure about this as a) I was tired of looking at him and b) we only lived about 5 minutes away and I thought he would be able to make it back if anything exciting were to happen (which at this point, didn’t look like it was going to happen anytime soon). My body was NOT cooperating and I finally fell into a fitful sleep. I remember waking up about 1 AM with a VERY strong urge to go the bathroom. I waddled to the bathroom, sat down….and nothing happened. I was a little disconcerted because I REALLY HAD TO GO, but nothing seemed to come out. Finally, as I was about to give up, SPLASH, my water broke, gushing all over the bathroom floor. I looked stupidly at the little wad of toilet paper I had prepared and figured I really needed a tablecloth or something. I rang for the nurse who helped me back to bed and checked me. I was 4 cm dilated! Yippee! My glee was modified a bit by the terrible burning pressure I was beginning to feel in my back. Labor had finally begun in earnest. I began to make frantic telephone calls to my husband in between labor pains, but the dummy wasn’t answering the phone. I kept calling and calling, and then had the nurses start calling because I was definitely in stage II labor at that point. You know this part, it’s where you wish you had your husband’s testicles in a vice grip so that he could experience the labor along with you. But alas, I didn’t even have my husband in the same room with me, much less his testicles, so….I continued my labor and was getting more and more upset about not being able to reach him (I found out later that he had taken the phone out of the bedroom so that he could "get some sleep without interruptions" - I don’t even want to tell you what I wanted to do to him when I heard this). Anyway, it was about 4 AM by this time, I was getting ready to start pushing and my husband was "incommunicado". In desperation, I called our friend O in Oakland and begged him to get up and DRIVE to San Francisco to get my husband to WAKE UP!. Hearing the pain and anger in my voice, O did what any man did when faced with a woman in labor, he got up and drove to San Francisco, where it took him the better part of an hour of banging on the door and screaming to wake up my husband. Finally, Stu woke up refreshed from his beauty sleep (grrrr) and made it to the hospital just in time for the oogy part. I began pushing at about 5 AM and by 7 AM, I was a dead dog tired woman. My legs had been in the air for over two hours and Stu had already hit the floor when he got a glimpse of the blood and other bodily fluids in the birthing "region". I was so tired by then that I graciously allowed a team of medical students to "observe" the birth, not caring who looked at my crotch at that point. "Sure, sure, go ahead, take a look, I don’t care". The doctor decided it was time for the vacuum and they moved me from the labor room to the delivery room on this teeny tiny little cart that I was frantically trying not to fall off of as we zoomed along to the new room. I got settled onto the delivery table and looked up at the medical students who were trailing me like a gaggle of baby geese following their mother. Only this time, everyone was suited up like space men with these huge plastic face shields. I was a little bewildered at this, but my doctor was explaining the vacuum thingie to me and I needed to listen to him. Stu was still there, looking slightly green and shaky behind his mask. I then heard the Hoover start up and the suction was working on my baby’s head. Suddenly, the suction thingie lost its suction, slipped off the baby’s head and an arc of blood went up, frightening the bejeebers out of me. Again, the Hoover did it’s thing and I was pushing and pushing "all the way up to the sky" as one nurse was encouraging me, and finally, with a little cry, Peaches slipped out into the world. Stu and I were stunned as we listened to our baby cry and then they were encouraging Stu to cut the cord, which he did with aplomb. Peaches was born at 7:45 in the morning of March 3rd in San Francisco. Our perfect, sweet little boy, who has turned into a 15 year old mess of an adolscent with hair sprouting everywhere and attitude galore. It seems like just yesterday he was lying in my arms, me in the throes of an epidural headache that prevented me from standing up right and took 3 days to go away. I also managed to get the only insomniac roommate in the whole hospital, who also did not speak English and who entertained visitors 24 hours a day. Needless to say, I got NO REST in the hospital, which had a policy of the babies "rooming in" with the mommies, which I thought was a horrible idea. Look, I had just been up for something like 26 hours straight and I needed to rest, but nope, I had to take care of my baby. The nurses only took care of the babies if there was a problem. So, not knowing what to do, I took him in bed with me and we slept like that for his first 24 hours, which actually was kind of nice. He and I remained hospitalized for four days, owing to my prolonged epidural situation and the need to have a catheter (which I must say, screwed up my "works" until this day) and then Stu took his new little family home. It took me five years before I repeated the process with Ms. Lulabell, but that is a story that will be told in its own time. So, wish my son a very happy birthday if you happen to see him, he will be at the local pizza parlor with his friends tonight having dinner, and then off to the movies to see Ghostrider, all without parental supervision. I’m just the chauffeur you know…oh, and the ATM machine - yep, that’s me.

Memories come flooding out.....

2007-02-27T20:00:00.000-05:00

The slam of a door and the stomping of feet signal the return home of Lulabell after she had to make an emergency run to a friend’s house two doors down. She had forgotten her backpack at her friend’s house and now at the time of homework, just realized she didn’t have her books. Mean ol’ mommy made her go get it despite the whining and complaining going on. No, I would not accompany her and her pleas of "I’m afraid of the darkkkkkkkkk….." fell on deaf ears. If I had told her she could go over there to PLAY at 7 o’clock at night, she would have been out the door like a shot, damn the darkness. So, she found a flashlight and stomped to her friend’s house to retrieve the errant bookbag. The problem is, she shouldn’t have been to her friend’s house ANYWAY, as 1) She did not call me at work to let me know she was home from school and 2) She did not call me at work to ASK if she could go to her friend’s house. I have a very strict rule about them being home if mom or dad are not there (I was due home from work in an hour). The kids ARE NOT allowed to roam the neighborhood if Stu or I are not home. Simple rule, so UNFAIRRRRR. So different nowadays from when I was a child. Both my parents worked and we came home to an empty house everyday. We had to call mom at work to let her know we had survived school and the bus ride home. Then, once our chores were done (easy stuff, like emptying the dishwasher, which I HATE TO THIS DAY), we were free to play outside until dinner time. Then in the summer, man, we were just NEVER home. I distinctly remember leaving the house by 9 AM, playing outside ALL day, running back home for lunch, then back out again until dinner time. I basically could go anywhere my legs or bike took me, which was usually to the apartments behind our house where there were numbers of kids to play with, or behind the church where there was a creek to play in, with cool swings and neat hills to ride our bikes up and down. I spent many, many hours back there, building forts, playing in the creek, etc. We also had a baseball diamond right at the church and played baseball all summer long. I can’t imagine my kids doing this now, as times have changed, and I would probably be arrested for neglect if I let them do what I did my whole childhood. I remember being as young as 5 or 6 and having the run of the neighborhood with the other kids. Our neighborhood in Cleveland was awesome, backing right up to Lake Erie in neat little blocks. We had a dozens of houses to play at, plus a little park area with a fence and a huge cliff down to the water. We were NEVER allowed to climb that fence and if any mother saw a kid on the fence, it didn’t matter if it was her kid or not, WHACK on the bottom and sent home in tears. There was a little gang of us kids, with my sister and another little girl the youngest at about 3 or 4. I have a memory of us "big" kids (remember, 5 and 6 years old) leaving the "little kids" behind in the fenced in back yard as we made our way out into the world…of course teasing the little kids unmercifully as we waved goodbye. We used to have huge neighborhood hide-and-seek parties at night, with the adults too and we could hide anywhere we wanted, trying like heck to make it back to "home base" before the IT person caught you. I remember having parades through the neighborhood on the 4th of July with all us kids decorating our bikes like you wouldn’t believe in red, white and blue crepe paper and then riding them proudly through the streets. The night would end with a huge barbecue, with the adults drinking their beer and smoking cigarettes until late. We kids were allowed to stay up late too, which is usually when the hide-and-seek game started. Our dog Trudy, was such a good dog, when she would get tired, mom would say "Trudy, go home" and she would take her leash in her mouth and trot home. Trudy died in about 1981 or so at the right old age of 18 years, deaf and blind, feebly trying to fend off attacks from a new cat and a new puppy. She smelled SO bad at the end, I think it was old age but her ears were always the smelliest part of her. Mom was forever putting this smelly gook down her ears because of "ear mites", but I could never tell if it worked because her ears were sooooo goopy to begin with. When she had to go out, she went out the front door and if it was at night, the only way to get her back in the house was to turn the porch light off and on, because she was so deaf she couldn’t hear us yell and so blind all she could make out was the flickering of lights. This was a good system for her though and worked until she decided it was just easier to poop and pee on the carpet in front of the door. This worked for her until my sister stepped in dog poop with her bare foot and had a freak out that nearly brought down the house as she hopped about with her foot in the air and poop oozing between her toes. I don’t know if she has ever gotten over that one, seriously. Mom handled the poop thing well until I spied her picking up dog poop with the same spatula she used to flip hamburgers with. Then it was time for MY freak out. Sadly, Trudy was soon too old to move around and it just about killed my parents when they had to put her to sleep. It was hard on us kids too, but as I said, we had a new puppy and a new cat to turn our attention to. Trudy was always mom’s dog, and as much as I tried, she would NOT go for a walk on the leash with me. We would get to about halfway up the street before Trudy would stop dead in her tracks, realized mom was not with us and head for home like a shot, with me yelling tearfully at the "stupid dog". So, with the new puppy, I was determined to make her "my dog" and that she was. Her name was Lady and she and I spent many, many happy hours together. I’ll never forget when I was first starting to drive and I decided to take Lady for a spin around the neighborhood. The windows were down, the radio was blasting and me and my dog were enjoying the ride. She rode as she always did in the car, with her head joyfully out the window, her little paws balancing on the door rest. At one point as I took a left turn a little too fast, I looked over and found myself looking at an empty passenger seat. I gasped and was able to see my poor doggy limping in the road in the rearview mirror. OH MY GOD!!!! I was absolutely horrified and hurriedly got out of the car to get my doggy, apologizing all over myself. I was in tears by the time we got back into the car, but determined she was relatively unhurt, although she did limp for a while after that. Crazily enough, I would repeat this same scenario 20 years later with my dog Daisy. I had the kids and the dog in our van and there was a window in the sliding door of the van that opened enough for her to stick her head out of. Again, I MAY have been taking a turn just a little too fast when the kids yelled that Daisy fell out the window. OH MY GOD!!!! I stopped the car and glanced in the rearview mirror to see Daisy limping around by the side of the road, trying to figure out what just happened. Again, I was absolutely horrified and gathered my precious girl back into the car. Back to Lady, this dog was just the most perfect little dog in the world and I at last had a dog that would pay attention to me and not fret every time my mother left the room. Lady was my constant companion and she and I made up a game in the backyard. I would throw a ball onto the roof of the house and she would stand expectantly in the yard, waiting to see where the ball would come down next. We played this game for hours and hours and never tired of it. She was also great because I taught her to jump up into my arms (she was about a 20-25 pound dog) and I delighted in this so much that once my sister decided to give it a try. Well, it was a disaster, and she dropped the dog and boy, that dog NEVER jumped into her arms again. It gave me great pleasure to demonstrate this trick again and again for my sister who sneered at me every time. At that time we also had our one and only cat, Gidget. She was a very large multicolored, long-haired cat that excelled at hunting. I can still hear the baby rabbits screaming as she attacked, which is a very eerie sound by the way. Sometimes she wouldn’t kill them outright, sometimes she would stun them then bring them into the house to play (she had a hole in the screen door which she could come and go through). We usually didn’t know we had guests in the house until the god-awful screaming would come from the living room drapes, where the scared-to-death babies usually hid. Despite our reprimanding, Gidget continued her psychotic games with the baby animals in the neighborhood. She also played psychotic games with my sister, as for some reason, she found my sister’s ankles and feet irresistible play toys, which did not thrill my sister any. Gidget would hide under the couch in the living room and when my sister would walk through the room, she would attack her and bite her ankles. This caused my sister to leap about 10 feet in the everytime and scream like a banshee. It go so bad that my sister had to check under the couch before she would venture into the living room. Another time, and I swear to God this is true. Me, my sister and a friend or two of ours were sitting in the basement watching TV. Our wonderful cat Gidget sat at the top of the stairs in pouncing position, tail switching. I wasn’t sure what she was planning but decided to wait and see. In a flash, she was down the stairs, jumping over the couch and making a beeline for my sister, whom she stealthily bit on the wrist, before sailing back over the couch and flying back up the stairs. We all sat there quite stunned with this attack and I think it was at that point that my sister’s cat hatred sealed itself. Gidget was funny because when she wanted to be fed, she very helpfully would knock her food dish off the table, never mind that there usually were a few crumbs of catfood in it. The dog learned very quickly that when she heard the cat food dish scraping on the table a treat was usually in store for her in the form of cat food delectibles. Gidget also did her best to help feed the dog when she got up on the kitchen counter to sort through the little garbage bag we kept up there with food scraps. The dog would wait expectantly while the cat divied up the delights, usually slicing the bag open and spreading the coffee grounds that were invariably in there all over the counter. Now that I think about it, it was kind of gross that we kept a little open garbage bag of food on the counter at all times…what is that about? While I am going on about our pets, I must mention the odd pets we had here and there. We had two guinea pigs in our lives when I was young, the first one I was about 6 or 7 years old and his name was Herkimer. Herkimer actually lived quite a long life for a guinea pig, probably 6 or 7 years or so. By the end however, he was constantly constipated and his sphincter didn’t work anymore so every few days his read end would become so heavy with feces that he couldn’t walk any more. That was the signal for us to hold him over the toilet and squeeeeze his little tummy to get the big ball of poo out. After that, he would be fine for a few more days. I SWEAR this is true and he actually lived quite a long time this way. Our next guinea pig was Penelope, a beautiful little long-haired girl with quite a personality. She had her cage in the basement and absolutely LOVED lettuce. She would get so that when she heard the refrigerator door open and the fruit drawer being slid open, she would start to squeal in anticipation of the lovely lettuce we would bestow upon her. I also remember that my dad had apparently gotten a good deal on a huge CARTON of lettuce one year and this kept us in lettuce for a very long time, until it began to rot. I can remember picking through the slimy brown leaves of rotting lettuce looking for a good one for the poor guinea pig. I was SO relieved when that was finally thrown away. In the summers, we would let Penelope out of her cage wearing a little harness, where she would gleefully scamper under the bushes that surrounded our house. The cat NEVER bothered her, even though she was a big league hunter. In the evening, when it was time to go in, we only had to tell Lady to "find Penelope" and she would scamper into the bushes where in no time at all she would find her, signaling this by sticking her butt out of the bushes and wiggling her little stubby tail like mad. We all thought this was a fine arrangement for getting Penelope out of her cage. I also had a period time after Penelope where I raised Gerbils. I assured my mother at the time that the two Gerbils that I bought could not possibly have babies because I had been assured at the pet store that they were "brother and sister". I therefore assumed (wrongly as it turned out), that would never mate with each other. I was quickly disabused of this notion after about the 5th litter of disgusting pink baby gerbils. My mother’s response to all the baby making was to flush the babies down the toilet. I was sure she was kidding me until I witnessed the massacre personally. I do remember one instance particularly, which has stuck in my head all these years, of mother tossing the babies unceremoniously into the toilet and then flushing the lever where I watched in horrified fascination as they went around and around and then down the drain to the ocean. There was a moment when one of them didn’t quite make it to the ocean and it came back up, swimming gamely. Flush, went the toilet for a second time. There was another time when I knew babies had been born and I was eagerly rushing home to see them, only to find that mother gerbil had decided to eat her babies for dinner and had rudely interrupted her evening meal. I don’t remember much about the gerbils after this episode, probably because I was so disgusted by the cannibalism that I decided to stop the gerbil thing at that point. The other pets we had were tropical fish, a fascinating hobby led by my father. It was also a rather expensive and time consuming hobby I suspect. I do remember one fish we had in particular, which I think was a box fish. It was this little brown spiny fish, shaped like a box, but when frightened or stimulated, it would blow up into a little round ball. This fish was delightful because it ate from our fingers after a while. We also had some beautiful angel fish, but finally the upkeep and expense was too much and we had to let the fish tank go. I do remember the salt crusting at the top of the fish tank after awhile, which fascinated me and I was forever picking of the crust, making an unholy mess. Well, I certainly don’t know where all THIS came from…I guess it has been rattling around in me for awhile and decided to pop out. Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Tata for now…..

Snow of the century....bird trouble

2007-02-19T20:38:00.000-05:00

Woo-Hoo, did I ever get my wish for snow. We had the largest snowfall in many years here…over a foot if you can believe it! It was awesome! Of course, it wasn’t so awesome trying to drive in it. The kids got another day off school on Valentine’s Day because of the snow, but mom and dad had to slog to work through snowdrifts and all. We then ended up getting another 3-4 inches through this past weekend, so, there is a lot of snow here man! Today the temperature got up into the high 20’s and there was sun, so a lot of drip, drip, dripping of the icicles, which I must say, are rather spectacular on our neighbor’s house, reaching from the roof to the ground, which I’m pretty sure means they have some problems, doesn’t it? Gutter-wise or something? Any-hoo, we have been shoveling our butts off, most every day, which is good exercise, until I tried to get the mail at a house I am housesitting. The plows had come along and the snow drift at the end of the driveway was up to my knees….so I parked in the street and fought the snowdrifts to the door. As soon as I stumbled in, I noticed that things didn’t look the same as I left them two days earlier. There were drops of something all over the floor, the windows looked like someone had thrown mud on them, the dog’s water dish was filled with some nasty looking water and…….it slowly dawned on my pitiful little brain that all these signs added up to a freaking bird loose in the house (AGAIN!) You may remember this happened the last time I housesat for this particular person…..UGH!!!! However, I could not immediately put my eyes on the damn bird. I carefully walked around, waiting to get the bejeebers scared out of me when I heard a rustling from the front room curtains and ZOOOM……black bird flying straight at my head. I ducked and watched it slam itself into the windows again and again. GRRRRR…..I threw off my gloves and coat and got down to business. First, I chocked open the back door AND the front door, so I could chase the little bastard outside. Then I got a broom and went to work. I don’t know what I intended to use the broom for, but I thought I could somehow PUSH the bird out the door as it flew back and forth from the front of the house to the back of the house. I soon realized, this was not working, as it shat all over the place, probably scared to death of the crazy woman with the long stick. Zooom, it went, into the kitchen, then the dining room windows, then behind the desk, then into the living room windows (where it had REALLY done a number on the sheers), back into the dining room, with me swinging my broom like a crazed baseball player while obscenities laced the air. FINALLY, the damn thing flew into the heavy curtains in the living room and I took careful aim and WHAMMO! I stunned the pathetic little thing to the point where I could pick it up by its little neck and fling it out the front door in a cloud of black feathers. Triumphant, I closed the doors and then regarded the damage. Oh my….well, to make a long story short, I spent about an hour cleaning up bird doodie from the floors, windows, tables, chairs. I left the sheers for another day. Then, after all my exertions there, I still had to shovel the walk and make a path for the mailman….damn……I did call the yard man, who in the winter time is also the snow plow man, and he was kind enough to stop by and plow the driveway, which was a huge help to me. So, as much as I wanted the snow, it CAN be a pain in the you-know-what. I noticed today driving past the shopping plaza that the snow from the parking lot is piled so high that you can’t see the stores from the road because of the huge mountains of snow…kinda cool! Also, everything is dirty and yucky again, especially the cars.
We had a nice weekend at home, rented some movies including The Departed and Snakes on a Plane…which is kinda campy and fun. The Departed was good but the ending totally sucked, kind of ruining the whole thing for me. It was a big sleepover weekend for Lulabell who had TWO nights of sleepovers. On Sunday I felt bad because she wasn’t feeling so good and kept trying to crawl into my bed to sleep, leaving her friend alone downstairs (I think it might have something to do with the fact that the girls stayed up to some crazy hour). Anyway…that’s about it for now…P.S. I DID finally talk to my grandmother, which was lovely. See, I worry for nothing.

A hot date and hoping for snow.....

2007-02-12T19:14:00.000-05:00

Well, Stu and I finally got to have a date Saturday night….we treated ourselves to Chinese food, which the kids hate, and then saw Hannibal Rising at the movies…which was a pretty good movie, not at all gory or anything. After the movie I visited the restroom and found that all the stalls were occupied save for the one reserved for handicapped people. Now, I know it’s not illegal or anything for me to use the handicapped stall, but I avoid it, usually, as maybe most people do, except in emergencies. I decided it was probably safe to use it because come on, how many times do you EVER see a handicapped person in the public restroom? Hardly ever, right? So, I used it and when I came out, can you believe there was a handicapped person waiting for the stall? I kid you not! It was like I was in the Twilight Zone or something. The ONE TIME I use a handicapped stall, there was a handicapped person needing to use it. It kind of blew my mind, you know? I almost felt like I had to apologize to her for using HER toilet….she was very nice and all, smiled at me, but I felt weird….oh gosh!
We are expecting a bit of a snowstorm tonight…it will probably peter out and we’ll maybe get 2 inches or so…like it always does. I like weather extremes and a huge snowstorm with a foot of snow would go down pretty sweet right about now. But, I know I’ll be disappointed…..The weather has stayed pretty cold so all the old ugly snow is sticking around and the cars are dirty and everything is just kind of a dull grayish brown around here. Come on snow…let’s brighten things up a bit, huh?
Our TV in the living room isn’t working right now because the cable box died…they tried to "jump start" at the cable company but it didn’t work, so I am waiting for the cable guy to show up (since 3 PM today!). It is now about 7 PM and I’m still waiting…..
Made lasagna tonight, which was superb and then phoned my grandmother who couldn’t talk because she was fixing dinner. I haven’t talked to her in a couple of weeks but she has been on my mind almost constantly for some reason. I hesitate to call her sometimes because I don’t know what kind of reception I’ll get from her. Sometimes she seems happy to hear from me and other times it’s like she can’t get off the phone fast enough. Sigh…..just suck it up and call your grandmother!!!!! I will, I will……

Baby it's cold outside....

2007-02-07T19:51:00.000-05:00

Well…it seems like a while since I’ve been here…we are dwelling in the frozen zone at the moment. Temperatures have been hovering out 0 degrees, with daily highs of 8 degrees (woo hoo)! The kids had school canceled for two days because of the temperatures and were delayed two hours today. They didn’t mind all that much and fortunately, both Stu and I were off each day, so they weren’t alone. We have sad news as apparently our big kitty, Misty, is gone. We haven’t seen her for over a week now. We really have no idea what might have happened to her, but since she was quite a beautiful Russian Blue breed, we are hoping someone has her and is taking care of her. Of course, it is too painful to consider the alternatives. Fortunately, we have not found any dead cat carcasses around. Stu and I did hear a cat meowing in the yard today and raced up the stairs, hoping against hope that it was Misty, but alas, it was not. Just some strange black cat that has been living in our garage. Whenever I go out in the morning, I see 2 or 3 cats racing away, none of whom is Misty (sniff). We are heartbroken about this, as you can imagine.
Work has been busy, busy, busy, as has my work at home been. I hope you can forgive me for not posting sooner. We are down to two fish now as Jeffrey died last week, stuck to the intake valve on the filter. Now we have Freddy, a HUGE goldfish, about 4 inches long, and one little red rosie, which, if you will remember, was one of the feeder fishes we got for our frog about 9 months ago. It is the last survivor of 10 fishies. I’m kind of hoping to stop the whole fish experience soon, so was not too upset at the loss of Jeffrey. I’m tired of the fish tank now….let’s move on.
So, hope it’s not too cold where you are…my entire family is in Florida at the moment, which isn’t fair. Stu’s family is either in California or Guatemala….what are WE doing HERE? Are we nuts? I can’t even imagine how high our heating bill is going to be, ugh! We have been enjoying American Idol and ooooooh, I almost forgot! I recently made an executive decision and decided to get HBO and a DVR for our house. Stu was not convinced, but I have to tell you, how much we are enjoying both of these things right now. The DVR is AWESOME, as we tape our favorite shows and then watch them at our convenience WITHOUT COMMERCIALS! Love this….why did we wait so long for it? So, we canceled our $15 monthly VIP membership at the local video store, allowing us to afford the HBO and DVR. Pretty slick, eh? So, Lost is back tonight, which I am really looking forward to. Also, enjoying Grey’s Anatomy, looking forward to Survivor (now that I have a DVR), and the Amazing Race. I know it’s kinda pathetic, but what else is there to do in the dead of a frozen winter? Oh yeah….in April, Stu and I and some friends are traveling to Cleveland to see Billy Joel!!!!! Stu and I have seen him several times and really enjoy him. Of course, if you know me well, you know that my all time favorite crush was Billy Joel….he will always be my first and best love (sorry Stu). If you get the chance to see him in concert, GOOOOO! Well, that’s it for now….

Something's not quite right.....

2007-01-29T19:51:00.000-05:00

The following is an actual conversation between myself and my son:

Son: Oh, what’s that store over there?
Mom: Oh, that’s bookstore.
Son: Hey, maybe I’ll work there someday.
Mom: Oh no, honey, I don’t think you should. They sell dirty books there.
Son: Dirty? Now why would someone write a book about dirt?
Mom: (silence)

The scary part is that he was serious…..my almost 15 year old son has no idea what a dirty book is. Either I’ve done something very right, or something very wrong. To illustrate further, here is a conversation with my 9 year old daughter.

Mom: Do you know what I mean when I say "dirty books"?
Lulabell: Yeah, it means (whispers) "S-E-X" (spells).
Mom: Thank God!

So, you decide…I think things are kind of backwards in my house, don’t you?

To share or not to share, THAT is the question....

2007-01-22T17:15:00.000-05:00

Had a funny incident happen at work a few days ago. We had a student transcriptionist for about six weeks in our department and we all took turns training him. Friday was his last day and so we all got together and paid to get him a giant chocolate chip cookie that was decorated with "Good Luck" on it. Now, this cookie was HUGE, I’m sure you’ve seen them, it could easily serve 20 people. So, we all go to present it to him, anticipating eating the delicious treat. We even put on coffee to have with it, right? So we give it to him, say a few words and expectantly wait for him to say something like "where’s the knife….let’s cut this sucker up!" But…..he doesn’t say it….doesn’t say even anything remotely like he is expecting to share this cookie. We kind of wait around awkwardly before it dawns on us that he really isn’t going to share it, and then we dejectedly wander back to our desks. Now, the thing is, we are an office full of women, with him being the only male member and it never occurs to us that when you are presented with a treat, obviously big enough to share with the other people in the office, you don’t share it. When I asked several male acquaintances, including my husband, not one of them thought they should be expected to share it. So, this must be a male thing, right? When several women were asked, ALL felt like they would be expected to share it. I think this is SO funny….another example of the differences between men and women, and a lesson learned.
My sweet daughter and I were cuddling and watching TV the other night, just catching shows here and there and stumbled upon one about fashion models. Now, if you know me, you know I am definitely NOT the fashion model type, right? So, no big deal, but I decided to have some fun with Lulabell and told her that I used to be a fashion model, before I met her daddy. She looks up at me with big, surprised eyes and says in all innocence, "so…..what happened to you?" AAAACKKKKK! I must have squawked out loud because she immediately realized what she had said and gets all, "oh mommy, you’re STILL pretty….." blah, blah, blah. Sigh…..

The next story goes along with the first. Peaches sometimes gets dropped off at the hospital on mornings when Stu has to work early. I come down and have breakfast with him and then he walks to school from the hospital, which is only about two blocks or so away. Well, a woman whom I see from time to time in the hospital, you know, passing in the halls and such, stopped me one day with Peaches next to me and goes on and on about how thin I look, what am I doing to lose all that weight, I look great, and on and on. I don’t know if she thought I was someone else, or maybe my new hair do just makes me look taller or something. I graciously thanked her for her kind words and made up some story about my new diet (not) and before she gets 10 feet away, Peaches looks at me and says "when have YOU lost any weight? YOU haven’t lost weight….." in slightly bewildered tones. "You look the same to me"….yada, yada, yada. He is blissfully unaware that he has just cut his mother down to the quick. Well THANKS! I say sarcastically to him, which goes right over his head. Anyway, as you can see, in my children’s eyes, I am a slightly old, kinda pretty (but not sexy, as my son tells me over and over again), mom with no spark to her. Ugh. At least I’m nice……….

Decorative teeth, migraine hell and burrito madness...

2007-01-21T18:19:00.000-05:00

As I sit at my desk typing, I am looking at two teeth, which are in fact, my daughter’s, who has been losing teeth like you wouldn’t believe lately. Two more this week, and these are molars for God’s sakes. She is only 9!!!! I guess you could say she is precocious in that way. The dentist says it is a little early, but what the hey….I must say this child has never had a cavity, and her two little teeth sitting on my computer are absolutely pristine. I guess all that yelling about brushing teeth has paid off a little bit, hmmmm?

Yesterday was just a lost day for me. I got up about 9-ish and had breakfast, a little egg salad on toast. It went down pretty well, but after about an hour, I began to get the world’s worst headache. I crawled back upstairs to lay down but the pain just increased. I was nauseated too and noticed on my frequent trips to the bathroom to vomit that my headache greatly reduced itself when I was upright. As soon as my head hit that pillow, the pain intensified. For some reason, I had no aspirin, Tylenol or Motrin in the house. I had Lulabell paw through the first aid kit we keep for car trips to see if there was any in there but all she brought me was Imodium, cold pills, Benadryl and nausea pills. I decided to try a Nyquil capsule, hoping that I could sleep off this dreadful headache. So, at 11:30 AM I fell asleep sitting up because I still couldn’t lay down. Lulabell was quite attentive and kept asking me every twenty minutes if I was still sleeping. "Mmmfmmffffhfmfm" I would answer. She lay down beside me at some point, after I toppled over and the both of us slept until 5:30 that evening! Holy crap! Well, I must say, I DID feel better as the headache and nausea were gone, but the entire day was also gone. I HATE sleeping all day like that…where did my weekend go? Not that I had anything fantastic to do, but it seems like such a waste. So, I did get up and immediately went to the fridge to toss out that egg salad which I just knew gave me some weird sort of food poisoning that caused a hell of a migraine headache. That’ll be the last egg salad this house sees for awhile. Do you do that? After you have gotten sick eating something? Do you then stay away from that food for awhile? It took me YEARS to be able to eat kielbasa again after a particularly rough trip down the food poisoning lane. It was about 1985 and I was living with 4 roommates in San Francisco. I had made eggs and kielbasa for dinner for myself and not 3 hours later was having a relationship with the toilet like you wouldn’t believe. I was so sick that it was coming out both ends (I know, a little TMI, but I want to illustrate for you just HOW sick I was). This was the first time I had been this sick since leaving home and it was a little tough. I had to clean myself and the bathroom up each time and it was exhausting. Thank God we had two bathrooms in that apartment, because I was literally LIVING in the bathroom that night. Well, for approximately the next 10 years, I could not even THINK about eating kielbasa and although I do eat it now, it certainly is not with as much vigor as I used to enjoy it. So, I’m sorry to say that I will now associate eating egg salad with vicious migraine headaches and it will not pass my lips anytime soon, I can assure you. To make up for my lack of activity, Lulabell and I baked a cake Saturday night, which Stu promptly ate HALF of! See, he doesn’t like frosting, so I always leave the cake half unfrosted for him. Lulabell thinks her daddy is a P-I-G pig now, especially with his recent history of eating: 1) The rest of the pizza we had, approximately 7 pieces, ALL BY HIMSELF, and 2) The rest of my burrito from Jalisco that Lulabell had her eye on. The other day she came home from school, burst through the door, threw me a kiss as she streaked past me into the kitchen where she threw open the refrigerator door and began bellowing, "WHERE IS IT?????". I truly had no idea what she was looking for until she screamed, "THE BURRITOOOOO". Ahhhhh. "Um, I think daddy ate it for lunch", I explained. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" she groaned. "OH, I HATE HIM…WHY DOES HE HAVE TO EAT SO MUCH????" (this after the pizza incident). "WHY DOESN’T HE JUST EAT POOP?". Well, this got me giggling as I told her that she didn’t really mean that. Oh, yes she did….as she threw herself down onto the floor for a full-fledged tantrum over the missing burrito. I honestly thought she was kidding me, but I soon found out she wasn’t. She was literally devastated that she didn’t have that burrito to eat for dinner and was begging me to go buy another one RIGHT THIS INSTANT! I was laughing at her by now and declining to get into the car to buy another $8.00 burrito for her. Oh, this was not a happy girl. I do kind of know how she felt, you know, when you start thinking about something you would like to have, start psyching yourself up for how good it is going to taste, only to have it literally ripped out of your mouth. So, after Stu ate half a cake in about two days, she is convinced that her daddy is a big ole piggy. Anyway, that’s about all I’ve got for now. Best wishes to my dad in FL who had hernia surgery the other day, with good results. It was a little hairy there for awhile as some of his preop testing was borderline, but things are fine and he is healing well. I know my sister’s got something to say to him about his lifestyle…but that’s all I’m going to say right now. Good Luck dad! Feel better…..

Stinky kids, long-awaited refunds and no show cable guy...

2007-01-11T16:26:00.000-05:00

Well, 2007 has been clipping along pretty quickly, already almost the middle of the month, huh? Birthday greetings to my friend J in Guerneville! My birthday is coming up pretty soon too. Stu is taking us out for dinner…he’s already got it planned and paid for (good planning!) Last night he cooked dinner for us, and it was pretty darn good too. We then had to race to the library to finish Peaches’ school paper, which came out pretty good. He had to do a family tree and so Stu and I were calling our parents for names and dates and such. Speaking of Peaches, I got a call today to come pick him up from school, something to do with his shirt. The teacher who called wasn’t very clear and when Peaches got on the phone, he was so upset that all I got out of him was "locker….shirt…..milk". I STILL couldn’t figure out what was wrong, but the teacher and Peaches were adamant that I come get him IMMEDIATELY! I was quite puzzled, until Peaches got into the car and then I figured it out pretty quick. Oh, the STENCH! He smelled SO bad that I had to drive home with the windows open in 20 degree weather…whew! Apparently, Peaches had left a carton of chocolate milk in his locker since December and well, he decided to open it up or something, squeezed the container and apparently it exploded from the fermenting gases, spraying him from head to foot with rotten, curdled chocolate milk! No wonder they wanted him to go home. I don’t think I have smelled anything that bad since the time a pound of ground meat was left in my car for a week in high summer. It was funny, we were smelling this very bad smell in the car but couldn’t figure out what it was. Finally, I had had it and just started taking the car apart and finally found a pound of ground beef, swelled up like a football, wedged under one of the seats. THAT was about the nastiest thing I had ever seen (or smelled), until Peaches today. We got home and he immediate threw his stuff into the washer and then went to take a shower, after which he sprayed himself with about a quart of Axe deodorant spray…mmmmmm. I guess his friends at school teased him something awful because he has sworn never to return…..well, that’s life isn’t it? And you can be damn sure Peaches will be at school tomorrow as scheduled.
Well, my last post included my frustration about Hertz Rental Car company and their fraud with stealing my money. Last night we saw online that they had finally credited us the money they owed us. It only took three weeks for God’s sakes! Stu wants to try to get the rest of the money, but I told him he was on his own with that one. If he does though, I’ll give him a big kiss! Woohoo! Now, I am fighting with the cable company, who were supposed to come by Tuesday to install our digital cable, between 3 and 5 PM. My mom was supposed to have her cable installed during the same time and we had a bet to see whose house they would come to first. Well, guess who won? NOBODY! They didn’t make it to either of our houses!!! Finally, at about 7 PM that night, they called to say they would be late…no duh! We rescheduled for the next day from 10 AM to 12 noon. So, putting a huge crimp in Stu’s social schedule because he had to stay home for two whole hours, he waited, and waited, and waited. Nothing…no phone call, nothing. I finally got a hold of the company today and complained and they were nice and promised to deduct $20 from my bill for my frustration and we have a NEW appointment on Saturday from 3 PM to 5 PM. So, wish us luck, my friends! Hopefully, we will be in the land of digital cable by this weekend. So, that’s all for now…and how was YOUR week?

Madder than a hornet....

2007-01-05T18:01:00.000-05:00

Oooooh, I am so mad right now. Hertz rental cars has stolen my money! As most of you know who have been faithful readers, we traveled to California in December and rented a car. We did purchase an upgrade after being told that there were "no cars" for us. Rather than wait around and listen to the Hertz counter lady swear at the dispatcher for another hour, we upgraded to the tune of $25.00 a day(for seven days). Fast forward a couple of weeks (right around Christmas) when we are looking at our checking account and notice a $350 charge from Hertz!!! We are flabbergasted to say the least. We quickly phone Hertz who tell us that the extra $170 is for the gas charge because we returned the car to them empty?????!!!!!????? This is a flagrant lie, as I returned that damn car FILLLED and have my gas receipt from the night before to prove it. Now, I ask you....this is some kind of fraud, isn't it? For one thing, everything is automated so that the entire experience with Hertz, we did not speak to a real person, except for the lady at the counter. There was nobody there when we picked up our car and there was nobody there when he returned it. The instructions were to park the car in the marked spot, leave the car keys in it and go....which is what we and everybody who was returning a car at that time did. I wonder if this is something Hertz does all the time, hoping not everybody will check their credit card statements. We were told that they will "investigate this". They did tell us they would refund the money for the gas, but it is now 1/5/07 and it is still not refunded. Stu called today and was told our complaint was still being "investigated" and to call back on 1/12/07. Now I'm really mad! These people have basically stolen money from me and will not return it. At least have the decency to refund me this money while you investigate it. Now I am so mad that I want them to refund me the money I paid for the upgrade. After all, shouldn't they have upgraded me WITHOUT CHARGE when they didn't have the car I paid for??? This is fraud in my mind. What company is allowed to get away with stealing money from their customers?!?? Somebody told me to call Visa to report this, which I will do. I am also going to contact the Better Business Bureau to report them. Also, Priceline, to warn them about this company who steals money from their customers. Jeez....anyway, I'll let you know how it turns out. More later.....

Anniversaries and ringing in the New Year

2007-01-01T20:27:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to everyone! Can’t believe 2006 is over, can you? Really, as I look back over it, we had a pretty good year, a year in which we saw our family members both on the East Coast and on the West Coast. We were blessed this year, and I hope you and your families were blessed as well. I hope 2007 brings even more blessings, new adventures, a chance to make even more memories…..
Our New Year’s weekend started off with M.A. and I heading to dinner, just the two of us, which regrettably, we never get to do much of. It was a lovely dinner, while Stu took the kids to see a movie, Rocky Balboa, which was suprisingly good, I hear. We also saw the movie Descent, which is one I have been wanting to see. Don’t watch it if you don’t have a strong stomach, though….Fortunately (or unfortunately) I do have a strong stomach and I’m afraid my taste in movies runs to the macabre (or gruesome, if you prefer). I heard of a really gross movie, Black Christmas, but I don’t know if it is out yet…I also want to see Apacalypto, which I heard is rather gory. I really have no idea why I like this stuff, it’s kind of perplexing, kind of like the way I like hip hop/rap music…it boggles Stu’s mind, I’ll tell you.
Speaking of Stu, we just celebrated our 19th anniversary on the 28th….wow, huh? He had already given me my present at the beginning of the month, a beautiful diamond ring. I got him some pants and a new shirt, which he really doesn’t need as the man is a total clothes horse. We headed to K-mart the other night to use our Sears gift cards, because I was told by a friend that you could do this. It sounded plausible to me as K-Mart now owns Sears, so off we went! We split up and spent about an hour in the store gathering items we wanted and finally headed to the check-out. The cashier rang up our total, bagged up our items and I handed over the gift cards. Easy, right? Wrong…..K-Mart DOES NOT accept Sears gift cards apparently. GRRR I was about to lose it right in that damn store…. "we just spent a friggin hour in this friggin store!" I blustered. The kids and Stu were looking at me in horror….I continued, "K-Mart OWNS Sears, right?" I asked nobody in particular, but am glaring at the cashier. "Oh my God…..FORGET IT!" I yell and stomp out of the store, not even waiting for my stunned family. So what did we do? We headed right to Wal-Mart, where I knew we could spend our Wal-Mart gift cards. I will NEVER step foot in K-Mart again as it is a very STUPID store (the clothes are ugly anyway). The bad thing is, later that night, as I went to get something I knew I had just bought, I realized that I had bought it at K-Mart, and of course, didn’t have it….Man! Okay, enough ranting for now.
I worked Saturday and then had Sunday and Monday off. This was rather nice as I really didn’t go anywhere or do anything. In fact, Monday, I didn’t get out of my pajamas ALL DAY! I NEVER do this, but it was such a nice dreary day out, that I thought I would take advantage of it. The kids, however, were not in sync with my plan as they were B-O-R-E-D and Lulabell was actually saying she can’t wait to go back to school. She was even reduced to begging her brother to play with her, and when he wouldn’t, she took to torturing him and just bothering the bejesus out of him. Then, when he couldn’t take any more of her pestering, he would go after her and she would run screaming to find me to tell me her big, bad brother was attacking her! Well, as far as I was concerned, she deserved what she got…which really wasn’t anything too bad. So, the days were filled with screams and thumps and jumping elephants. We stayed home New Year’s Eve, which again, was very nice, and I cooked filet mignon for Stu and I, with taquitos from the freezer and chips and salsa for the kids. Everyone was very happy. We managed to stay awake for the ball drop and rang in the New Year holding hands and hugging (ahhhh!) So, I hope 2007 will be as wonderful as 2006 was, with plenty of good health, wealth (I hope!) and happiness!

Finally, the last day of our trip, plus AWESOME Christmas presents....

2006-12-27T20:14:00.000-05:00

First of all, I know I’m a little late with the tale of our last day in SF, but c’mon, it’s Christmas! Plus, I had to work like a dog everyday BUT Christmas day and I got a little burnt out. I’d like to say here that I hope everyone had a very nice holiday and that another reason for my lateness in posting is because I have been playing with my new toy…an actual IPOD! YES!!! My sister and brother-in-law came through in a big way this Christmas, getting the kids Nintendo DS players and an IPOD for Stu and I. Christmas day was very exciting around here, I’ll tell you. That excitement gave way to stress and disappointment when I couldn’t figure out how to get our music onto the IPOD though. M.A. also got an IPOD and was chomping on the bit to get HER music on it. Try as I might though, I absolutely could NOT download the program from Apple that would enable us to download music onto the IPOD. I cannot tell you how frustrating this was for me, as usually I’m pretty good at figuring out computer stuff. I sincerely tried off and on ALL DAY LONG to download the friggin program, but no go. I finally gave up at 10 PM Christmas night….but the next day after work tried it again and WALLAH! Success!!!! M.A. and I finally have working IPODs and we are thrilled! I was also able to download most of our pictures onto my IPOD and this is pretty cool, to have a picture slideshow on this thing….Stu is in love with it too…so I know we are going to have some battles over who gets the IPOD! So, let me say here, thanks to L and J….you guys ROCK!
Our last day in SF began at 5 AM after we finally went to bed at midnight, so starting out with only five hours of sleep didn’t bode well for our day. Fortunately, we were all packed the previous night and only basically had to shower and get dressed. Stu’s sister, mother and family, who were staying in the hotel with us, got up and went to the airport to say good bye to us. Again, this was rather difficult and there lots of hugs and tears. We finally got into the security line and got through there without a hitch, except I had forgotten about soft drinks which I had packed in my carry on and had to throw them out…booooo. I was worried about when we were going to eat because I knew there was no food on the planes, but figured we could get something at our first stop in Milwaukee. The plane was packed for our first leg but we managed nicely and arrived without a problem in Milwaukee at gate B19. We knew we only had about 45 minutes before we had to catch our next plane, so we hurriedly got off the plane and raced over to the departure TVs to see where our gate was to Detroit, our next stop. I kept looking at the information but it was not really registering I guess because it said that our flight to Detroit was leaving from gate B19….wait…I thought stupidly, how can that be the gate, didn’t we just come through there? The lack of food was fogging my brain and I asked Stu to confirm the gate number shown…yeppers, we raced off the very plane that we would be taking on to Detroit! In fact, we were sitting just ONE ROW up from where we sat previously….weird, huh? However, there was still no time to race to get food and we had to make due with pop and pretzels on the flight to Detroit. We re-planed and headed further East, finally arriving in Detroit. Again, we rushed to get off the plane because we only had an hour between our flights. This time we had a bit of a hike to the new gate and arrived barely 30 minutes before we had to board the flight. I took matters into my own hands, as by this time it was 5:00 PM and we STILL HAD NOT EATEN any real food. I paid the exorbitant price of $8.00 for a turkey sandwich and got three of them ($24!!!!) to split between us. Our flight was being called and we were relieved to find it only half full, so we split up a bit an each had our own row. We scarfed down our food and settled in for the hour and a half flight to Pittsburgh. It was nice and relaxing and we were finally starting our descent into Pittsburgh. It was sad coming home after such a wonderful trip. We hiked down to baggage claim where thankfully all of our luggage was waiting for us. We had a moment’s pause as we looked for our parking ticket and then had to figure out how we could find our parking lot’s bus…which we realized was down about 300 yards, so, for the last time, we fanned out in a long line, each pulling two luggages, and finally got on our the right bus to the parking area. Our car was none the worse for wear as we packed up and headed home. We decided to stop at our favorite diner once more for our first meal of the day, at about 9:30 PM for God’s sakes! Sooo, we ended our trip where we started it, at our favorite diner, which nice closure for us. Our kittens were a little shy when we got home, but soon warmed up to us and even ended up sleeping in bed with us, which was nice. So, we got home safe and sound, and have a lot of people to thank, including O in Oakland, J in Guerneville, Stu’s aunts and sister, mother, brother and families, my mother, who watched my dog Daisy for us plus came over to feed the cats, also my friends H, J and M/S who came in each day to check the kittens. Without you guys, our trip would never have happened…thank you! Now, it’s time to plan the next trip, huh? Just kidding…it will be a LONG time before we can go away again…but it’s nice to dream, isn’t it?

A day in the city...saying goodbye too soon

2006-12-23T20:07:00.000-05:00

Stu and his mom at Pier 39

The family at Ghiradelli Square

Lulabell getting her portrait done at Fisherman's Wharf

At the bottom of Lombard Street

We awoke on our last full day in San Francisco on Thursday, morning. It was so sad to realize this was our last full day in this beautiful place…(sniff…). The day looked only slightly better weather-wise, still gray but warm and not raining. Peaches was feeling much better but was very tired and again, elected to stay in the room to sleep rather than eat breakfast. I brought some cereal back for him, which he ate and then promptly fell back to sleep. We finally woke him up for good around 9 AM and got into the car for the trip back to aunt A’s house to pick up the family. They were glad to see us and we first headed across the street to aunt I’s house, where she had thoughtfully gotten some gifts for the kids. We visited with her for awhile and looked at her birds. They are parrots and such and they talk! Her husband’s name is Bob and some of the birds would say, "Bob?…..Bob?" "hello sweetie", and such, completely delighting Lulabell. We finally got into the car for the trip to Fisherman’s Wharf but took a detour to Lombard street, where we got stuck behind a cable car that had mechanical trouble. We finally made it down the "crookedest street in the world" and then stopped at the bottom for pictures. Then we headed straight for Ghiradelli Square, a famous shopping district, where we parked and got out. We headed for a fantastic souvenir shop where we zeroed in on the shirt section and then promptly lost our minds after we discovered these fantastic reversible raincoats with SF printed on them, only $20! "Coats for everyone!" I yelled, as we gleefully shed our own coats and tried on the raincoats. We looked pretty spiffy, I must say. Lulabell preferred a leopard print jacket and Peaches really wanted a T-shirt, so we accommodated them. We picked up a bunch of souvenirs there too, as the proprietress must have felt the gods were smiling on HER as we shamelessly spent money in her store. She even kicked in some free souvenirs! Finally, being well-outfitted, we proudly wore our new coats out of the store and headed on down to the wharves. We hit several more stores along the way, pretty much buying whatever struck our fancy (Stu was getting a panicked look in his eyes by about the fifth store), but, heck, we’re on vacation, right? We decided to stop for lunch at a place called In/Out Burger, which I guess is pretty famous…I always hear the movie stars in L.A. talking about this place. We got our orders in and sat down to eat. Suddenly, Stu springs up with a horrified look on his face. "Where’s my phone?" he screams. Ohhhhhh noooooooo….it’s Florida all over again when Stu went swimming with his NEW phone. He quickly recalls that he had taken his phone off and laid it on the counter when we were trying on our new coats, like 40 stores ago. In a flash he takes off, after getting some hurried directions from me. I begin to call his phone, hoping against hope that the store owner will find the phone and hold on to it for him. After about 20 phone calls and no answer, Stu finally answers out of breath… "I got it!" he cries. Thank God…… we wait for him to return and then we keep heading toward the wharf and Pier 39. On our way we stop at a Boudin Bakery where you can watch the bakers make the bread. The head baker took an instant liking to Lulabell for some reason and quickly came running outside to present her with a free loaf of bread! We stopped to see the sea lions at Pier 39, which long ago had moved in on the docks at the pier and now live there, providing a free sea lion exhibit for the tourists. On our way back to the car, we came across some street performers that I swear where here 20 years ago, especially one, which my mother told me to keep a look out for. He hides behind a bush and then springs out at unsuspecting people walking past, scaring the bejesus out of them. I swear, it is the funniest thing to watch, and people give him money! Another guy dresses up like a robot and paints his skin silver and then acts like a statue, until you get too close to him and he makes weird noises and scares you. Lulabell was FREAKED OUT by him…so we made her get close to give him some money (see the picture). We continued our walk back to the car and happened upon a street artist, who was doing portraits for $15. Lulabell was quite entranced and just HAD to have her portrait done, so we got one (see picture). It was really cute. We finally made it back to the car and headed to the hotel because we were expecting people to start arriving at the restaurant by 5:00 PM for our goodbye dinner. We made it to the restaurant at 5:05….can you believe it? We then waited for our guests to arrive, which they did. They kept coming and coming and coming and we had about 30 people come….can you believe that? It was quite a sight, all these people coming to say goodbye to us. I was near tears most of the night as I couldn’t believe how much love I felt from these people, you know? I had been accepted by these people without question 20 years ago when I married Stu and now, 20 years later, they are just as much family to me as my own family is….what a wonderful feeling that is. How lucky we are to be loved by so many people on both sides of our family….Dinner was good but the service was a little shaky as there was another large party on the other side of the restaurant. We finally got things figured out until it was time for the checks, which was quite a fiasco. Well, that too got straightened out and we finally just relaxed and visited with all our friends and family. However, the time was drawing near for us to start saying goodbye and this we did with many tears, not knowing just when we would be back to see these terrific people. It was after 9 PM when we finally all made it out of the restaurant. We lingered in the parking lot…not wanting to say the final goodbye. But, we had to and I was driving Stu’s brother and sister and their son back into the city. I dropped them off at aunt A’s house and we again stood in the driveway with tears streaming down our faces, not willing to say goodbye. We had just found each other and I must say I bonded instantly with them….they are truly wonderful people. Sobbing, I backed out and waved goodbye for the final time, with promises to write and call. Then, as I drove out of the city that last time, I made sure to look around and burn the sights into my memory, feeling almost homesick as I watched the city get smaller in my rearview mirror. Oh, I will be back San Francisco, you can count on that….. When I got back to the hotel, I found out that Stu had decided to get a hotel room for his sister and her family because her husband L had gotten up at 3 o’clock that morning to go to work, then after working 8 hours had driven the 2 hours from Sacramento to be with us for dinner. He was dead on his feet and Stu didn’t want him driving back to Sacramento that night (this is the same guy who somehow hit a cow with his van several months ago. Now I ask you, how do you hit a cow? It’s not like they come bounding out of nowhere, like deer do in Pennsylvania….it’s just weird you know?). So, luckily, the hotel had a room available just across the hall from us. The little girls were dreadfully excited to stay in a hotel and Stu’s sister was very appreciative. This way, they could accompany us to the airport in the morning to say goodbye, which felt like the right thing to do. So, our week was nearly over having gone much too fast. Fortunately, we were pretty much packed already, having done some laundry yesterday and today at the hotel, which I must tell you, is a wonderful thing, having a laundry room in a hotel. We finally fell into our beds by midnight, knowing we had to be up at 5 AM to get to the airport by 6 AM. Awwww…we miss you already San Francisco. Tomorrow – our travel day home.

New slide show!

2006-12-22T16:01:00.001-05:00

Be sure to see our second SF slide show by clicking on the link to the right #2SF picture show....

Puking and secret dinners

2006-12-22T15:26:00.000-05:00

Lulabell near the Hyatt Regency

Us inside the Hyatt

Stu and Lu at the Cliff House in SF

We awoke early Wednesday morning to the sound of Peaches retching….nice huh? He was quite sick to his stomach and I wondered if this was due to all the spaghetti he had eaten the night before, or perhaps to the stomach virus that had affected his cousins several days earlier. Well, vomiting is vomiting, no matter what causes it and he opted to skip breakfast and stay in bed. I did brink him back some yogurt, which he ate with little enthusiasm and promptly vomited back up. Uh-oh…how can we go running around SF with our son vomiting? Worse, how could we go to one of the finest restaurants in town with our son vomiting? After a bit, Peaches said he was feeling a little better, so we packed him up and hit the road, heading over to pick up the family. However, about 10 blocks from their house, Peaches announced he was going to be sick, so we hurriedly pulled over so he could jump out and vomit into the street. Oh my….it looked like our day was a wash-out (puke-out?) but we headed over to his aunt’s house to give them the bad news. They agreed that today would not be a great day to hit the sights, plus it was raining again. Therefore, we decided to try it again on Thursday, when hopefully Peaches’ tummy would be calmed down and the rain would stop. We said our goodbyes and headed to the nearest Walgreen’s where I picked up some anti-nausea tablets and force-fed them to Peaches, along with some ginger-ale. We then headed downtown. The traffic was quite something, even for mid-morning, but I was proud of myself as I maneuvered through downtown traffic, where we marveled at all the new buildings going up. We soon found ourselves not far from another favorite spot of ours, the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Drumm street. When we were first married, we would go on "dates" here to have drinks and such. The hotel has these really cool elevators that you can see go up and down right in the lobby. The lobby itself is quite something to see as well. We decided to stop and risk a little sight-seeing in the hotel. Parking, as you can imagine, was nonexistent, but we lucked out and found something a block away. However, the meter only had a 30 minute time limit, so we had to RUN!!! We did our best and made it to the hotel where we hurriedly explored the place and went up and down in the elevators, marveling at the fantastic views. Too soon however, we realized we had to high-tail it back to the car as our meter was nearly up. Stu and Lulabell ran on ahead as I stayed back with the ailing Peaches, who was in no mood to run ANYWHERE! Stu got to the car just as it clicked over, good timing! Stu expressed that he would like to visit his old job in Mill Valley, which is in Marin, just over the GG Bridge. Peaches said he felt good enough for this, and hadn’t vomited for two hours, so we felt safe doing this. So, I again amazed myself with my expert navigation through the streets of SF to get to the GG Bridge, where it is just a short drive to Goodman’s Building Supply, where Stu and my dad used to work. The place had been painted a sickly purple color, but otherwise, was relatively unchanged. We wandered through the cramped aisles looking for somebody familiar. We finally found people we knew and they were very happy to see us…it was really nice seeing them again and all of them kept saying how little Stu had changed (now I wanted to throw up…). It was lunch time by then and Stu wanted to eat at this little place he used to frequent, a deli that was right across the freeway from the store. So, we headed over and got in line for food, which by the way, was fantastic! Peaches didn’t really want to eat, so I got him another ginger ale and he sat with us while we devoured our food. To perk Peaches up, I told him that there was a little shopping center near here and would he like to go see if we could find some shoes? This had the desired effect and so off we went, shoe-hunting. We did have some luck, finding him some new shoes that were a little more than we wanted to pay, but he was willing to spend his money, which covered about half their cost. We kicked in the other half and Peaches was very happy. At least I didn’t have to hear about his shoes anymore! We explored the shopping center a little further and found a cool shop for souvenirs. We finally decided to head back to the hotel and decide what to do about our reservations. We were going to originally leave the kids at the hotel while we went to dinner, which was fine with them (as long as pizza was involved), but I still didn’t feel comfortable leaving Peaches there when he wasn’t feeling well. We debated back and forth, and then decided, that we could not come to SF and not eat at our most cherished restaurant, so, we decided to go, taking the kids with us. I felt bad, knowing we had invited Stu’s family, but kind of felt fate had stepped in, knowing how expensive it would be for us to bring everyone. So, we dressed and took off for the city once more, fighting the traffic, worrying we would miss our reservation time. However, I have to believe the gods of whomever were telling us we made the right decision because soon the traffic parted and we arrived at the restaurant with 5 minutes to spare! We left the car to the valets and walked into the restaurant where again, the gods were smiling on us as we were taken to our table immediately! I tell you….this NEVER happens at this restaurant…it is so busy we ALWAYS have to wait for a table, even with a reservation. However, we got right to the table where our waiter greeted us and brought us the fantastic bread that we remembered. We even ordered our favorite wine (Sutter Home – white zinfandel) and sat back to bask in the glow of our memories of this place. The kids were very impressed and Peaches even ate some of his salad, which is a miracle in itself! He pronounced it very good (am I in the Twilight Zone here?) and decided to try some of his prime rib, which is the best in the world, I believe. The kids are not big steak eaters, but here, they gobbled it up. Lulabell even ate her baked potato, another miracle. Our waiter told us confidentially that there was a star basketball player eating in the back room, Yao Ming, the big chinese guy….WOW! Plus, I SWEAR I saw Shirley Maclaine, or someone who looked an AWFUL lot like her. The kids ended their dinner with some ice cream and we lingered just a bit over dessert. The same guy who has been hosting at the restaurant ever since we have been coming was still working there and stopped by our table to see how we were doing..amazing! Finally, our big night was over and we regretfully left the restaurant. The valet brought our car without delay and we were off, zooming back towards the hotel. The day started out rough, but ended up being just about perfect, allowing us to have some time to ourselves to explore the city the way we wanted to. Stu’s cousin S had been trying to get us to visit her at her home in Walnut Creek and we had been playing phone tag and leaving voice messages to each other trying to work out a schedule for this. Unfortunately, as our time was really dwindling now…it didn’t seem that we were going to make it as it is about an hour’s ride out of the city, what with traffic and all. I just didn’t want to spend time traveling in the car for our last day, you know? I wanted to spend it close to the city as our time was short. Fortunately, S was very nice and decided she would come to us, for which I am profoundly thankful. We had planned a dinner at the restaurant next to our hotel for Thursday night, for everybody to come say goodbye to us…she promised that she and her family would attend. Yay! Tomorrow, it would be more of the same, but it would be fun to show the city to Stu’s brother too….more tomorrow.

Lunch with friends and a walk to remember...

2006-12-21T19:41:00.000-05:00

J and Lulabell exploring in his garden...

The family at the redwood grove.

Stu, looking swell in J's garden!

Tuesday morning finds us waking up at the more appropriate hour of 6:00 AM, as our bodies slowly adjust to the time change. We gather again for breakfast in the hotel and then repair back to our room to organize our luggage and clothes. Stu was a real stickler for this on our Florida trip, kind of driving me bonkers, but has thankfully slacked off on this trip. By about 10:00 AM we are up and staring out at some pretty gloomy weather, fog and mist but surprisingly rather warm. We head once more into the heart of the city for our friend S’s house, whom we used to work with at the Burt Center. Although it has been nearly 10 years since we have seen her, she unbelievably hasn’t changed at all! We sat and talked for a bit at her house and then loaded up the car for our drive north. I was a little disappointed that the fog didn’t allow us a better view of the bridge, but it was still the Golden Gate Bridge we were driving on, so who’s complaining? We wound our way through Marin county, which by the way, has seen quite an increase in its population apparently, as there were more stores and houses then I remember. We drove past San Quentin prison which I gleefully pointed out to the children by pointing my right arm, at which point S threw her hands up in front of her, apparently startled by my sudden interest in the prison (I think I may have swerved the car a little) - Oops, sorry S! The weather continued to be uncooperative, raining off and on (we found out later that San Francisco broke a 100 year old record that day for rainfall amounts – yippee!). However, as we approached northern Marin County and Southern Sonoma County, the rain did stop and we drove over some beautiful back roads with mountains on either side of us as we traveled to our friend J’s house. We finally arrived to J’s house where we were greeted with great enthusiasm by his dear little dog, Sophie. It took her a while to calm down and get used to us, but she did and we sat and visited in J’s beautiful home, walking around in his garden and exploring his yard, which looks out into a beautiful meadow, where the Korbel vineyards grew the grapes to make their champagne. Lunch consisted of pizza and salad, which was just right. We then decided a trip to a nearby redwood forest was in order, so off we went. I was delighted because I had despaired of having time to visit Muir Woods, probably the most well known redwood forest just north of the Golden Gait bridge. We set out on about a mile hike through the huge forest, staring in awe at the magnificent trees. J and Sophie bounded on ahead as we brought up the rear, stopping now and then to chat and take pictures. Unfortunately, my camera’s batteries were low and produced no flash, so all of our pictures here were rather dark. The peacefulness of the forest was overwhelming and we truly enjoyed our hike. We found our way back to the car and set out for J’s house once again. Unfortunately, it was rather late by that time and we had to get back to the city. So, saying goodbye to our friend J, we left his company and headed back home. The fog and rain just got worse the closer we got to the city and by the time we hit the bridge, the fog was so thick I could only see the car in front of me. S directed us through a short-cut that I had no idea existed, cutting through the Presidio and the Legion of Honor where Rodan’s The Thinker statue is, and bringing us to a rather fancy neighborhood called Sea Cliff. She then pointed out to us the house of Robin Williams! That was pretty cool…..she doesn’t live too far from there so we dropped her off with a heartfelt goodbye and decided to go exploring my old neighborhood for dinner. I used to live in the area called the Inner Sunset, on the south side of Golden Gate Park. This is where I lived when Stu and I started dating. The neighborhood is really great, with a fantastic little shopping and dining district. We parked and made our way to a favorite restaurant of mine, the Villa Romano, right on Irving street. We sat down and ordered, enjoying the ambiance of this little Italian eatery. I must say here that the prices for food in the city are startlingly high. Stu wasn’t feeling very well, queasy tummy and thus didn’t order dinner, he just shared from the rest of us. Still, I think the check was close to $100! As we walked back to our car, Lulabell was in front, I was second, then Peaches, then Stu. Suddenly, out of the corner of my left eye, I perceive Stu leaning very far forward, as if he is about to fall. And fall he did, as he tried to keep Peaches from hitting the pavement, who had stubbed his foot on a piece of raised pavement and was at that moment crashing to the ground. Stu tried, but couldn’t stop him and WHAM! Peaches hit the ground. I steeled myself for the wail I knew was about to issue forth from Peaches’ lips, but surprisingly, he only cried out a little. We struggled to get him to his feet and he limped the rest of the way to the car. Don’t worry, he’s fine. Whew….. Anyway, we made our way back to our hotel and enjoyed the rest of our evening hanging out and watching TV. Our plans for Wednesday included picking up Stu’s brother, his family and their mother for some tourist fun in the morning. We had also planned a romantic dinner at our favorite restaurant, The House of Prime Rib, for just the two of us Wednesday evening. I had made our reservations two weeks ago. Stu wanted to invite his family as well, which I agreed to and called to amend our reservation. I was a little worried about this as this is a very pricey restaurant, but decided not to stress about it and just go with the flow….fate would step in however…as you will see tomorrow!

Waking up in Sacramento...burrito heaven!

2006-12-20T09:30:00.000-05:00

The crew in Sacramento....

Jammed in the car once again...

Nice horsey....

Monday morning brought Lulabell into our bed at guess what time? Yep, 4:30 AM! We talked quietly, giggling about the rip-roaring snores coming from J.M.’s room. Lulabell mentioned that her cousin, C was also snoring quite loudly in the living room, prompting her escape to mom and dad’s room. We heard people up finally around 8 AM and got up to find uncle L busily making breakfast for 14 people. We jumped in to help cook and eat and by about 10 AM everyone was getting dressed, ready to make a day of it in Sacramento. We piled into the cars yet again and traveled into the part of town called Old Sacramento which is set up as it was in the late 1800’s. Lots of shops and things to browse through, which we did, culminating our visit with a horse and carriage ride through town. We stopped for lunch and then made our way back towards our car. We stopped first for an old fashion carousel ride for the girls, then began our trek to the car, which seemed to be taking quite a bit longer that it took for us to get there. It readily became apparent the our leader, uncle L, was a little turned around, but we trusted him and just kept blindly following him. Finally, after passing the same building three times, cousin C piped up with the information that he thought we had parked at a hotel, which he was sure was the other way. We decided we needed a new leader and let him lead us straight back to the car, which he did promptly. Yay! By now it was about 3:30 and we needed to head back to the city, first stopping by at our friend O’s house in Oakland. The trip back flew by and we ended at O’s house by 6 PM. We persuaded him to join us for dinner at our favorite taqueria in Oakland. We were nearly rapturous as we dived into our huge, authentic Mexican burritos and the kids couldn’t stop exclaiming about how wonderful they were. When we were sated, we headed back to O’s house for a little visiting before saying goodbye and heading back into the city. As we drove west on the upper deck of the Bay Bridge, the fog had lifted enough to give us a wonderful view of the city all lit up for the holidays…really a beautiful site. We headed for aunt A’s house to drop off Stu’s brother and his mother and then we headed for the hotel once more, to relax and revel in our comfy room. Yet another full day with friends and loved ones had passed….too quickly it seemed. Our plans for Tuesday included more friends and a trip to the Napa Valley…tune in tomorrow!

Quickie but a goodie...

2006-12-19T17:43:00.000-05:00

Just a quickie for you...today while I was parked at the bank I was rooting around in my purse for a pen to write a check. In this order, I pulled out the following:

Pencil
Crayon
Eyeliner pencil
Tampon

Am I a mom or what? :)

Day Three - picture mania

2006-12-19T16:51:00.000-05:00

This is where we used to live when Peaches was born...pretty nice, huh?
The family at the beach...
The whole crew...don't my children look happy?

Sunday finds us waking up in our hotel yet again at 4:30 in the morning, yikes! We all get showers and are at breakfast by 6:30 AM. Our hotel has a lovely free breakfast, and I’m not talking just muffins and coffee, I’m talking eggs, waffles, bagels, cereal – the works! We are expected at aunt A’s house by 10:00 and then will be off for our portraits at noon. When we arrive at A’s house we learn that our dear nieces have spent the entire night vomiting and Stu’s poor sister hasn’t slept a wink what with all the puking going on….Stu, Lulabell, Peaches and I decide to trek over to the ocean, just two blocks a way to check out the waves and manage to get our picture taken by a nice stranger. It is absolutely gorgeous at the beach and we linger until about 11:30. The portrait studio is at the local Sears store, about 20 minutes away. We finally get everyone into the cars and head to the mall, which is absolutely packed. We arrived at the studio with a minute to spare and are immediately whisked into the photography studio where our photographer, Juan immediately starts organizing us into our pictures. He is quite good and arranges us expertly. The whole thing takes about 20 minutes. We are told to return in half an hour to look at our pictures and decide on packages. We are thinking, WOW…this really went well, but the tough part is about to come. We return to look at the pictures and are very pleased with them, but then, must decide on which package to buy and how many pictures we want, what sizes to get, and of course, everyone wants something different. Plus, we absolutely need to get the pictures that day, for obvious reasons. This is possible but includes an extra fee, but we pay it. It took us about an hour to pick out our package and then we are told to come back in an hour for our pictures. We gratefully descend into the mall in search of lunch and land at the food court, where there must be 500 people gathered. There are many food choices and we kind of split off and plan to meet up in the middle to eat. Some of us head for pizza while others decide to search for tables. It is obvious we will not be able to all sit together and we frantically case the food court, looking for a free table. We zero in on people who appear to be finishing eating and then go stand by their table, ready to pounce on it when they leave. It’s a little threatening and territorial. We pass a Thai food place that is offering free tastes of their Thai chicken, which is surprisingly good. I decide I really want this instead of pizza and go wait in line. When I arrive back at the table with my lunch, everybody decides that what I have looks pretty good, so I ended up sharing. Peaches was desperate to go look at shoes so I finished up and took him out into the mall while we waited for everyone to finish eating. We finally got back to the studio and paid for our pictures and then headed back to aunt A’s house. By this time, incredibly, four hours have passed and we still have to drive 2 hours to Elk Grove, which is near Sacramento, to Stu’s sister’s house, where we will all be spending the night. Finally, by about 5:00 we pack ourselves into the cars. This takes some doing as we have 8 people in our car and five people in the other car. Peaches is chosen to sit in the back seat with his cousin of the same name. Peaches has not really mastered the act of actually getting into the back seat and for some reason, decides to back himself into the seat. This does not go well because he gets stuck and starts to yell, then he falls down and starts to yell louder. I am acutely embarrassed and am trying fruitlessly to pull him to his feet, all the while his cousin is sitting in the back seat, getting very familiar with Peaches’ butt crack. We finally get him turned around and calmed down. We start driving finally and a terrible smell begins to permeate the car…OMG! Peaches begins to giggle helplessly and I understand instantly where the smell is coming from. We all start to gag and laugh and I am fuming at my son, glaring at him in the rearview mirror as I hit the buttons to roll down all four windows at once. Sigh….. The air finally clears and we are off to Elk Grove. When we arrive, it is nearly 8 PM and we are famished and hit McDonald’s on the run. We finally got to Stu’s sister’s beautiful house and the kids finally start to settle down. We sat and talked and laughed for quite a while then start to make sleeping arrangements. Stu and I are in his sister’s room, Peaches and Lulabell are to share the sofa bed and cousin C will sleep on an air mattress in the living room. This is where Lulabell puts her foot down and absolutely REFUSES to share the sofa bed with her brother. This puts a bit of a crimp in the arrangements, but Stu’s sister produces another air mattress and Lulabell is happy. We finally hit the sheets after a long day…..looking forward to our third full day in Sacramento. Day three tomorrow….

Waking up in San Francisco.....

2006-12-18T20:59:00.000-05:00

The sun came up over the hills of the East Bay, giving way to a beautiful blue sky. I know this because I was up at 4:30 AM! Apparently my body had not adjusted to the time difference very well. It was funny because everybody else kind of woke up at the same time and we just sort of laid in bed and chatted about our first full day in San Francisco. We finally deemed it an acceptable to time to get up (7:00) and got dressed to head into the city for breakfast with the family. As we drove into the city past familiar and unfamiliar sights, I felt like I was home again. We excitedly drove into the heart of the city, the Western Addition, the area of the city where we lived and worked, and stopped at our former home on Baker Street. It was now for sale for $2 million!!! We also showed the kids where we used to work (the part of the city the kids called the "Full House park" and were astonished to discover that the beautiful old blue building had been painted an unappealing white…very un-San Francisco in my opinion…kind of a disappointment really. Oh well…off we drove west into Golden Gate Park and saw the buffalo still residing there. We drove all the way to the end of the park and ended up at Ocean Beach, where the waves were absolutely HUGE due to a Pacific storm system. They were really the biggest I had ever seen there, at least 15-20 feet. The sky was blue, the wind was warm (relatively – about 60 degrees) and we just let the sight of the ocean wash over us. Then, it was on to Stu’s aunt A’s house, where everybody was waiting for us to go to breakfast. We arrived and headed up stairs and warmly greeted our family. Then, it was time for me to finally meet my brother in law, J.M. I was a little nervous but his big smile and warm hug quickly put me at ease. The children also felt an instant connection with him and pretty soon we were just as comfortable with each other as if we had known each other all along. K, his wife and C his son were also warm and welcoming and we were so glad to meet them at last. We all got together for pictures and finally decided to go to the corner diner for breakfast. I think there were about 16 of us as we descended on the unsuspecting diner. They were able to accommodate us all rather easily and the food was delicious. We all excitedly jabbered back and forth, in Spanish and English and found we really could communicate with my limited Spanish and their very good English. Really, it was such a wonderful morning. We trooped back to A’s home and opened presents that JM and his family and Stu’s sister had brought us. It was really fun to see all the cousins getting along, especially "the girls"! The two boys smiled shyly at each other but communication was a bit of a struggle as neither knew the other’s language. Nevertheless, the atmosphere in the house was quite festive and warm. We soon had to leave as we had to see our dear friend O in Oakland for lunch, so with warm embraces and promises to see each other that evening for dinner, we swept off to Oakland. We were soon in our old neighborhood once again and knocking on the door of our dearest friend. We got to meet his foster kids too, of which we had heard quite a lot. They were really nice and Lulabell and Peaches instantly took a liking to them. We visited with O for a while and then all climbed into our car and headed to a Guatemalan restaurant for lunch. The food was a little different from the Mexican food we are used to, so I looked for the most benign thing on the menu to order for the kids, which was "chicken sandwich" (pollo con pan). That looked pretty innocuous and I told the kids they would "love it"…..well, the sandwich came and we opened it up to find two pieces of roll with some thing kind of slathered over the bread, not looking very much like chicken at all. We called to the waitress and she explained it as "chicken salad". Really, there was NOTHING on this bread, I tell you, but some kind of relish/mayonnaise mixture, a piece of lettuce and a piece of tomato. There was nothing resembling chicken whatsoever on this sandwich. I was a little upset and made Stu call the waitress over again. They were very kind and took away the sandwiches, promising to bring them back with some chicken. Ten minutes later, they returned with a hunk of what looked like boiled chicken on the same rolls. The kids were now giving me nervous looks (what are we going to eaaaatttt?), imploring me silently to FIND THEM SOME REAL FOOD. I used my "mother eyes" at them to silence them so they did not appear rude and gave them bits of my lunch (steak, rice and tortillas) to appease them. We soon ended lunch and headed back to O’s to visit some more. Then, we realized it was time to head back to the hotel to change for dinner. As we drove west across the Bay Bridge, the city twinkling in the twilight, I again wanted to cry because I had missed this city SO much. We changed at the hotel and headed back into the city to meet the family and head to dinner at the local Sizzler (a steak house). Again, there were like 17 of us and Stu’s aunt had called ahead to make sure they could accommodate us. When we arrived, there was a little misunderstanding and Stu’s aunt got a little upset and decided we were NOT going to eat there, leading us all back out of the restaurant. We pow-wowed a bit to figure out where we could eat and headed to a Marie Callender’s restaurant that ended up being a very nice place that accommodated us all very well. We had a lovely dinner and even had a surprise piece of birthday cake sent out for K, whose birthday was tomorrow. She was very surprised and we talked and ate well into the evening. We finally headed back to the hotel and fell exhausted into our beds once again….feeling happy and looking forward to the next day when we would be heading to Sears to get our portraits done….tune in tomorrow!

Planes, trains and automobiles...our SF experience begins!

2006-12-17T13:48:00.000-05:00

At the Airport in Pittsburgh
At the hotel in San Francisco - hey, this is what they do at home...stare at the TV!

HEY - BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE LINKS PERIODICALLY WHERE I WILL BE POSTING NEW PICTURE SLIDE SHOWS!

Our odyssey began in 19 degree weather and 3 inches of snow. We stopped to have breakfast on our way down to Pittsburgh airport at our favorite diner, about 8:30 in the morning. We got to the parking area with only a slight detour and left our car in the care of others. We then got on a bus to the airport with our 12 pieces of luggage (yes, 12 pieces!). We were slightly early for our flight and decided to eat lunch at the airport because we didn’t really know when we would eat next. Our flight finally boarded and the kids were very excited. I love the rush you get when you take off, don’t you? It’s like a roller coaster. The flight was uneventful and we read and talked. When did the airlines stop serving food? This was very disappointing. We did have drinks and snacks which brought us to Minneapolis where we deplaned and ran to our next gate. Finally, our second plane brought us to our beautiful city of San Francisco, where were we told it was about 50 degrees and rainy. No one mentioned that it was actually a monsoon, which we were to find out soon enough. We deplaned and made our way to the baggage area to collect our things. I looked around for the rental car kiosks but didn’t see anything. Finally, after asking, we were told we had to take the air train to the rental car, which sounded quite fun. It wasn’t. We grabbed our things and began the six mile trek (well, not literally) to the air train. We were each carrying our carry-on bags, plus pulling two large suitcases each. Why we didn’t rent a baggage carrier, I’ll never know. Anyway, off we went to find the air train, trailing along after each other. At one point, we had to ascend some stairs and I found this incredible, that people were expected to drag their suitcases up the stairs (I found out later there was a ramp off to the side, but we couldn’t see it because of the hurricane force wind and rain). Stu made about six trips up and down the stairs with the luggage. Finally, we made it to the air train platform, which incidentally, is open to the elements, namely, wind and rain. We stood there getting absolutely soaked and I couldn’t stop moaning about the poor planning of the people who designed this damn platform. The kids however, were great, not one complaint. The air train finally arrived and it took us about 10 minutes to get to the rental car place. We stood in line and when we finally got to the desk, were told that they didn’t have a car for us yet……what? We asked if we could upgrade to a larger vehicle to accommodate our luggage and were told sure, but there were no cars available, at all. What do you mean? I asked incredulously. The clerk kept trying to call down to the car guy who kept hanging up on her for some reason. She kept trying and after what seemed like an eternity, finally announced that they had an Explorer for us if we wanted to pay an extra $20 a day…by that time, we would have paid anything to get a car and gratefully handed over our money. We then trekked on down to the car and to our astonishment found ourselves in a virtual sea of cars….there must have been 1000 cars in that garage, so I had trouble understanding why we were told there were “no cars available’. Grumbling, we set out to find our car and gratefully stowed our luggage in our beautiful red Explorer. I had the driving instructions from the airport to our hotel, which was just one exit down the freeway. However, as I soon found out, there had been many changes made over the intervening 10 years and the instructions were worthless, especially in the darkness and rain. I just kind of drove aimlessly and all of a sudden, we found ourselves in front of our hotel! It was a miracle! We got to our room and unpacked our luggage. We were excited to once again be in “our city” and looked forward to a wonderful vacation with Stu’s family and our friends. We fell exhausted into our beds and dreamt of tomorrow…..our odyssey took us 15 hours all told, but it was worth it…we were in San Francisco once more! Check back tomorrow for day 1 of our trip!

Waiting is the hardest part....

2006-12-04T15:55:00.000-05:00

Selfishness is not becoming in a mother. However, I made a very selfish decision for my daughter the other night when she wanted to go to a skate-in at the local roller skating rink last Friday. The kids are locked in at 11 PM, skate all night, then are picked up at 7 AM the next morning. Lulabell wanted to go very badly, but, since Saturday was the only day I can sleep in this week, I vetoed it. She really didn’t seem THAT disappointed after I explained that they wouldn’t let her sleep at the skating rink…that she had to stay up all night, so I guess the repercussions won’t be that bad. I took her shopping the next day to make up for it though…went to Macy’s and got her some really cute tops for her to wear on our vacation. Speaking of which, we are getting excited about our trip now…in fact, the kids are starting to get very antsy and claim that can’t possibly wait and why can’t we go today? Keep your fingers crossed that the weather stays clear so we don’t have to deal with cancellations or anything. We will be kept very busy, by the looks of things, with Stu’s family out there, but we are looking forward to seeing our family and friends very much. I will finally be able to meet Stu’s brother, for the first time in 19 years! Strange, huh? I still haven’t met his father yet but from the way Stu talks, I’m probably not missing much. I made reservations at our favorite restaurant for just Stu and I, The House of Prime Rib! We are also hoping to maybe see the ballet as the Nutcracker Suite will premiere there during our stay. We’ll have to see though because I’m sure his family will want to go too, and I’m pretty sure we would be treating them to tickets. I’m still worried about our kittens, but I am lining up friends and family to look in on them while we are gone. They will have to stay in the basement but they of course will have food and water and TWO litterboxes. Our big cat will stay outside but has access to the garage where I have set up a bed and food and water for her. M.A. will be checking on her which just thrills her to death, I’ll tell you. So, probably won’t have much time this week to post, but I’ll definitely try. Keep checking back, okay?

Thanksgiving delights and a Christmas lighting miracle...

2006-11-25T11:01:00.000-05:00

A LOVELY FAMILY DINNER

Well, hope this finds you full of turkey and good cheer! Our Thanksgiving was very nice, enjoying the feast at M.A.'s house this year (we switch every year)in the beautiful November sunshine. Really, the weather has been fantastic around here, with this weekend in the 60's and plenty of sun. Wonderful yard work weather, which I am sure my kids are REALLY looking forward to (not!) Our turkey day went off without a hitch, but the stress of the turkey popper not popping put M.A. in a bit of a mire. We had the 20 pounder in the oven for about six hours, which should be plenty of time, but the temperature popper would not pop. We checked with a regular old meat thermometer and it was very nearly there, but we didn't trust that either. M.A.'s years of turkey cooking told her this turkey was ready, dammit, turkey popper be damned. We determined that the thing was faulty and relied on our instincts. The turkey looked beautiful as we took it out of the oven and my stuffing was fantastic, I'll tell you. Now, everything was just delicious, as always, but M.A. was in a funk about the turkey, claiming it was dry (it was not). So, to cheer her up, we helped her set up her Christmas lights outside. This is another one of those yearly traditions that we observe, helping mom with her lights. She and I used to do it alone with a long pole and would usually end up laughing so hard at our attempts to hang her window lights that I would end up with a headache, and so have forever after associated hanging lights with massive headaches. But, for the last few years we have had Stu help us and he is eager and spry enough to balance himself along the window ledges and he can just hang the wreaths by hand. Now, the real hard part comes when we plug the lights in, because invariably, half of them don't work. It doesn't matter if they are new, right out of the box, the law is, half of the lights will not work the first time we plug them in. Thus, the foul language part of the process begins. M.A. swears up and down about how she checked the lights, and THEY ALL WORKED BEFORE, but now, for some reason, as they hang on the house, they don't work. We trace the problem back to the outlet, which I must tell you, is a marvel of a thing. If you have ever seen the movie The Christmas Story about Ralphie and his family, and seen the part where they plug in the Christmas lights, you will have an idea of what I am talking about. There is one plug on the porch that must accomodate all the Christmas lights, plus the outdoor light in the yard. M.A. has masterfully combined all the plugs into one monster spider of an electrical disaster waiting to happen. If I look closely, I may even see some duct tape in there.

BEFORE - DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN...

AFTER - A BRIGHT IDEA!

Now, watch M.A. plug this mess into the outlet, then watch it fall back out of the outlet because it is much too heavy. Cover your ears as M.A. swears like a sailor (you kids....get out of here!)and jams the plug back into the outlet, knowing that if she pushes it in JUST SO, it will magically stay put. It doesn't. The lights twinkle on tantalizingly for a moment as the merest trickle of electricity surges through the plugs, only to peter out once more as the contact is once again broken by the weight of the plugs. More swearing ensues as I begin to get the giggles. Finally, I ask M.A. if she doesn't have an electrical strip outlet somewhere and it's like the lightbulb switches on over M.A.'s head. "Yes!" she sais excitedly, "in the basement!" I hurriedly run down to get the thing and dismantle the plug monster and plug the lights into the strip in a most gentle way. We plug the strip into the outlet and WALLAH! (cue the angels singing) WE HAVE LIGHT!. Please don't ask me why we didn't think of this many years ago, it is a mystery. So, on with the light stringing, which Stu continues to help with. M.A. has strung an extension cord across the ground in front of the garage (it is NOT an outdoor extension cord) so that the lights on the bushes on the other side of the garage can be lit as well. She seems content to just let this cord lay on the ground, where her car will drive over it all winter. This seems a little unsafe to me so I ask for the duct tape and proceed to tape that sucker to the ground, prompting Stu to make an uncalled for comment that it "looks kinda trashy". Well, how can duct tape look trashy? M.A. is happy, her lights are on and in the dark you can't see it, right? Besides, once it snows, you won't be able to see it at all. There, our duty is done and M.A.'s house looks festive once again. We are so worn out by things that we head for home to allow M.A. to rest after a long day of cooking and festooning. Thanks for a great Thanksgiving once again mom! And no, the turkey was NOT dry...it was delicious (got any more gravy?)ahhhhh, just kidding!

Visit from the south, California dreamin'

2006-11-20T16:05:00.000-05:00

Whew…it’s been TOO long, hasn’t it? In fact, it has been so long that I forgot my password to this blog...how about that? Well, let’s see, the big new is that my sister L arrived safe and sound to the delight of her niece and nephew (and sister!). She was properly astonished at the new kitchen at M.A.’s house and the fact that it hadn’t been filled up with junk (well, not junk really, but you know, pens, papers, mail, etc.), stuff that has a tendency to pile up on kitchen tables at most people’s homes. Lulabell had her singing lesson Thursday evening and L surprised Lulabell by showing up for the lesson to hear her sing! Lulabell was so excited that I’m afraid it wreaked havoc on her ability to pay attention to the teacher or sing her best…. The next day, L and M.A. hit Volant, which is nice little town in Amish country where there are tons of shops and things and where L bought some gifts and things. That evening she just had to go to Kraynak’s and convinced M.A. and the kids to go, but I slyly opted out (typing, you know). We hit a local restaurant Friday night (Danny’s) and then Saturday she and I made our trek to Canton to see our grandmother, E. It was a rainy, gray, overcast day and my brother-in-law (BIL) called to harass L about missing papers and managed to cause me to take a wrong turn….grrrr! Now, I have been driving to Canton all my life so it’s pretty hard for me to take a wrong turn, but we did! We go back on track and ended up at E’s place in no time. We had to stand in the rain outside E’s door for about 10 minutes as she wasn’t quite dressed yet, but what the hay…. Finally we got in and sat and chatted for a good 2 ½ hours, even getting to meet the very nice lady who has been helping E. We thanked her gratefully for all her help. She is really a terrific person and I would hope that every older person had a neighbor like her. We finally said our goodbyes and went to have lunch before we made the drive back home. L’s sister-in-law (SIL) from Erie happened to be in town following a trip to Kraynak’s and she stopped in for a few minutes. Meanwhile, I had to rush home to make cheesy potatoes for our dinner that night which included baked ham, corn, rolls, pineapple sauce (yum!) and pumpkin pie….quite delicious! L’s trip ended way too soon and we said our goodbyes after dinner and a movie on Saturday as she was flying out early the next morning…so early that M.A. was home and back in bed by 7:30 AM after driving her down to Pittsburgh airport (now that’s early!) So, back to our dull life, eh? Miss ya sis!

Lulabell and I had a brief argument recently over dance class. She felt she did not have to attend and I felt she did. Guess who won? You betcha! It reminded me of the time when, at about age 18 or so, I decided I would rather sleep than go to work one morning. This apparently was not a good idea according to my mother, who argued and yelled at me and then physically grabbed my foot and dragged me out of bed! Well, I never…..However, I did go to work that day, and every day thereafter, I have to say. I even went to work in a raging blizzard once when I was working midnights, when my mother and sister had to push me in my car for several blocks through the snow…ahhhh, what memories!

Well, we are getting quite excited about the trip coming up…making visiting arrangements with Stu’s family and such, and trying to arrange to see many of our friends too. I went online and noted that the SF Ballet is premiering the Nutcracker Suite while we are there and balcony seats are only $18! It is for our last night in town and I am campaigning heavily to go….Stu says, “we’ll see”…. We are also getting a family portrait done as this will be the first time ALL of Stu’s family will be together..which is quite something really. His mother, his sister and her family and his brother and his family will all be in town at the same time. We also just got our luggage out of lay-a-way, so things are getting exciting.

I got my hair cut today and I colored it myself, a warm golden brown, as I was tired of the reds. I think it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself! California, here I come!

Peahes and cream... with crack

2006-11-04T17:59:00.000-05:00

Life with my son is always interesting, that much is for sure. I can tell you also that I am truly tired of seeing my son’s rear end. I have seen my son’s rear end far more than the average teenage boy’s mother, that’s for sure. His grandmother, I am certain, has also seen her fill of her grandson’s rear end. My mother graciously rescued me today by driving me to Stu’s work as he had both the garage key AND the garage door opener, so I was stranded….Well, she picked us up and drove around through the alley where Peaches chimes in with “Oh f—k!” Astonished, I whipped my head around, not quite believing my ears, to see him covering his mouth with a look of terror on his face. “WHAT did you say?????” I asked menacingly. He pointed to the garbage can next to the garage with its lid open, “I forgot to close the lid!” he says, all innocent. I looked at my mother incredulously…. “and that deserves the F word?” I asked. I have to say I was still a little bit in shock because this morning, while on the phone with my mother, I heard my sweet little flower of a daughter yell “sh*t” while she was cleaning her room. What the heck? Are my kids spiraling down the potty mouth drain? What is going on here? When Lulabell said it, she immediately burst out of her room apologizing profusely for her slip….grrrrr. Anyway, back to my son…he leapt out of the van and hustled over to close the lid. “Don’t forget the pizza box” I yell, pointing to a stray container from last night’s dinner. I suddenly get an awful crack premonition as it is best to look the other way when Peaches is about to bend over. I am unable to warn my mother of the impending moonage and can only cringe in my seat and wait for the show. In slow motion I watch my son as he bends over, his shirt riding up his back, the pants sliding slowly over his hips (at this point I am hoping against hope that at least his underwear will provide some type of coverage) My hope vanishes as butt crack rears its ugly head…. THERE IT IS! My mother and I both yell “NO!!!” at the same time (she knows just as well as I do what we are about to witness) as Peaches bends down to pick up the box. OMG!!! “Peaches, pull up your pants!!!” I yell out the window as my mother sputters in the seat next to me. “I didn’t need to see that!” she yells. Lulabell is laughing her fool head off and I am groaning and sliding down into my seat. Incredibly, Peaches is indignant that we were “looking” at him. I told him I was going to take away those pants if he didn't wear them correctly.…I must tell you that I live in mortal fear that he does this kind of thing at school and honestly, I can’t believe how this child is able to function socially in high school, but he certainly seems to be. This is why I still pick out his clothes for him as I insist he wear LONG shirts that cover his posterior. The reason I was a little overwhelmed at the crack display is because just a little while earlier, I had witnessed something truly bizarre. Bizarre is the only word I can think of to describe the scene. I had sent Peaches out to take the trash to the bin. I wanted him to hurry because I needed his help in his room and was waiting at the back door for him to come in. As he came into view, my mind was trying to grasp what I was seeing…..Peaches was running from the back gate towards the house, holding his arms up in the air, with his pants down around his knees……??????????? I was absolutely speechless with horror, then my voice returned. “PEACHES” I screamed, “what in the HELL are you doing” (I can probably see where the kids get their potty mouths). Well, I must have startled him because he screamed right back at me, “MOM!”. I am still trying to wrap my mind around what possible reason he could have had for this little display. He was of no help as the only explanation he had was “I don’t know….” Incredulously I said, “no seriously, what were you doing?”. He was unable to provide an answer. My mind is still reeling with questions, I can tell you. So, if you take one thing away from this little column today, it is “crack kills!”

Hello....Jesus?

2006-10-30T20:27:00.000-05:00

I forgot to tell you one thing that struck my funny bone the other day…just a quickie. If you are anything like me, you have been besieged by political phone calls, and have to erase many messages every day. Now, to give you a little background, there is another family in town with our same last name, which is kinda strange (they also have a son whose name is the same as Peaches, which is even stranger). Anyway, the dad’s name is Jesse, from his given name of Jesus. Now, I’m sure you know the spanish pronunciation of Jesus is “hay-zeus”, right? Okay, well, I listened to my messages and sure enough, there were several touting one senatorial candidate or another. The message that got me was this: “Hello Jesus (as in Christ), I am calling to tell you about a wonderful candidate…” yada, yada, yada. Hello Jesus? are you there? Anyway…this just struck me as hilarious….if you could have heard the earnest young lady leaving this message. It didn’t occur to her that Jesus probably isn’t registered I’m sure. Ahhhh, it was probably funnier in real life, huh? Just wanted to share that with you (Jesus? are you there?)

Hanging kitty

2006-10-30T16:22:00.000-05:00

Just imagine this kitten as pure white and you will have an idea of how Belle looked!

Escaping kittens and halloween hijinks

2006-10-30T16:15:00.000-05:00

The other night I was getting ready for bed and heard someone at the back door. Figuring it was just Stu, I went about my business. A few minutes later, it sounded as though somebody was trying to unlock the door, but having a difficult time of it. I stood at the top of the stairs ready to greet Stu as he came in and was questioning why he was having so much trouble. For another two minutes I stood there and listened as he struggled with the door. I couldn’t fathom why he would be having so much trouble with it, thinking, among other things, maybe he was drunk and couldn’t get the key in the door (he was a little late coming home from work and sometimes he stops somewhere for a drink or two). I started to giggle as I listened for another minute or so. Then, I decided to go down and help the fool open the door. To my surprise, there was no Stu. Nobody was at the back door. I was quite puzzled and about to go back up stairs when I got the fright of my life…..our kitten Belle suddenly jumped into view and was hanging on the door looking rather desperate - from the outside! Apparently, in one of her neverending quests to reach the out-of-doors, when I had let the dog out earlier she had snuck into the gap between the wooden door and the screen door and was trapped! After I recovered from the shock I watched her for a minute as she repeatedly leapt up to hang on the wooden sill, scrabbling desperately to get into the house. I finally opened the door for her and unhung her from the door. She was a little perturbed as she ran for the safety of the house and I was still giggling at her predicament! I also silently apologized to Stu for thinking of him as a drunken fool….

This weekend was cold and wet and windy with thunderstorms, which was weird. I had to work this weekend so I can be off when my sister comes to town in a few weeks. Lulabell got invited to a Halloween party Saturday and had a terrific time in her cheetah girl outfit. Peaches’ friend D ended up spending the weekend with us and they got invited to a friend’s house as well for a few hours. We managed to get our pumpkins decorated earlier in the week and they were looking pretty good on the front porch. As I went out to pick up the boys from their friend’s house, I noted the pumpkins were safe and sound. Literally 10 minutes later as I returned, I found our pumpkins all smashed to pieces on the front walk…how mean! It was like THEY were just waiting for me to leave or something. It was kind of creepy. Lulabell was sad because this year I let her carve her own pumpkin (under supervision). Now, we don’t have any pumpkins for Halloween….how stupid to smash pumpkins, which is something I certainly never did in my reckless youth…it really is just mean, I think. Idiots….

Lulabell finally got her new winter coat, thanks to M.A.. She saw an ad for 50% off at JC Penney and was able to pick it up for us. It is a lovely coat and a dark pink (NOT light pink, I tell you). It is light but warm and fits Lulabell very well. The kids are at a corn maze today for their after school program, which is nice. They were supposed to go Friday but it rained all day and would have been a mess. Today has been gorgeous with temps in the 60’s and lots of sun, a perfect day to go. We went to a very large corn maze about four years ago, and went at night during a full moon, which was a beautiful time to go. However, we spent almost three hours in the damn thing, even with a map. The kids, as you can expect, started complaining about an hour into it and Stu had to, ahem, relieve himself, making the last two hours quite uncomfortable for him. Peaches ended up taking a leak in the corn finally, but Stu thought that was a little beneath him, and plus, they don’t have any toilet paper out there now do they? (heheheh) We FINALLY found the exit and all in all it was quite fun, especially doing it at night with no light but that from the full moon. I do think it is telling however, that we haven’t managed to go to another one in four years! Anyway, Halloween is actually tomorrow and Peaches has decided to go trick-or-treating, which I think he is too old for now. However, all his buddies are going and I told him he doesn’t have to go with me and his sister and our friends…he can go off by himself with his friends, so he thinks that’s all right. The weather should hold for it, which is a good thing. So Happy Halloween to all you blog friends. I wonder if my San Francisco friends are going to be out and about, as this is one of the biggest holidays in that city. The celebration in the Castro district is really quite something to see…I sure do miss it! Have a safe, happy holiday out there!

A good website for information on FEVR - just click this title!

2006-10-23T20:21:00.000-04:00

The good vision fairy has missed us....again

2006-10-23T20:18:00.000-04:00

Well, old age marches on. I have been having some vision difficulties lately and finally saw the eye doctor. The news is that I have cataracts (a complication of diabetes) and they are getting worse. I apparently will have to undergo surgery in the next few years to remove them. Mannnnnnn…not what I wanted to hear. I apparently am not aging well, but I feel good and will soldier on.

Meanwhile, in California, Stu’s sister found out she has a detached retina and underwent surgery this morning. This is significant because of the disease Stu’s family has, FEVR (familial exudative vitreoretinopathy). As you probably know, both Lulabell and Peaches have this disease (as does Stu), and it has cost Peaches his eye. We have been trying to get Stu’s sister to understand the severity of the disease, because we are fearful she or her daughters may also have it. Unfortunately, she hasn’t had the opportunity to get her family examined and now may be paying the ultimate price. I did forward information to her about the study Stu and the kids participated in (genetic testing) with the University of Utah. They were able to determine the disease is autosomal dominant, meaning, that only one parent is necessary to pass on the disease, and that children have a 25% chance of inheriting the disease (to have both kids have the disease is extremely rare…oh yay). Our children also have a 25% chance of passing the disease onto THEIR children as well. I can only pray that genetic screening will advance far enough so that this can be avoided by the time my kids have kids. I am hoping that Stu’s sister passes on the information I gave her to her doctor and that her kids will be checked. Your thoughts and prayers would be appreciated for Stu’s sister and her family, who are having a tough time of it in other ways as well. Thanks!

Also meanwhile, my Mother of the Year award slipped through my fingers again as I sent my daughter to school in a spring jacket in the middle of show showers this morning as she walked to school. She actually DOES have a winter jacket but it is so filthy I couldn’t bear to let her wear it. You see, it is light pink (note to self: DO NOT BUY LULABELL A LIGHT PINK JACKET) and made from this strange material that doesn’t clean very well. We have had it cleaned and dry-cleaned over and over again but nothing helps. I even went at it with those Mr. Clean pads that usually work like a charm, but nothing works. I swear, the arms of that jacket look like she has been playing in charcoal! Ugh…it is unfortunately kinda hard to find a jacket that fits Lulabell because she is in between kids and misses sizes right now. So, I am starting my JACKET SEARCH now and will let you know how successful I am. Meanwhile, Lulabell will just have to hide the arms of her jacket as best as she can (sigh…) Kudos to Stu who has cleaned and organized the basement….it looks AWESOME! Everything we own is in those clear plastic boxes with lids and stacked up 6 high in the basement…very nice. Thanks a bunch honey…you ROCK!

Horse racing, stinky dogs and demon cats

2006-10-22T10:28:00.000-04:00

The family was off to the races last night! Our credit union had its annual dinner and they have this fun thing called Night At The Races. When you arrive, you pick the name of a horse for each race (there are five). Then, they pull ping pong balls out one at a time with a horse’s number on them. Each time your horse is picked, it moves ahead one furlong ( I guess). The first horse to reach the finish line, wins. If your horse wins, you get $15! It’s very exciting and the kids were super-excited at the prospect of winning actual money (so were Stu and I). We sat with D&D and D’s mom and dad and had a very enjoyable dinner. Then, it was off to the races. Lulabell and D’s dad one the first race and Lulabell was grinning from ear to ear as she went to collect her winnings. There was low grumbling coming from Peaches’ side of the table. The second race winner was……Lulabell again! Woo hoo! off she went for another $15.00. The grumbling from Peaches is at a low roar. Third race…… no winners at our table. Fourth race and the winner is…..yep, you guessed it…Lulabell! Wow! She couldn’t quite contain her smile as she ran up to the money table. Now Peaches is getting a little pissed, as you might imagine and becoming a bit loud in his complaints. Mother tried her best to cheer him up with the prospect of “one last chance”. Fifth race starts and all of our horses are running neck and neck. It came down to my horse and Lulabell’s horse at the finish line, with Lulabell…..winning again! Oh, the groans of disappointment coming from Peaches are heartbreaking, and the screaming from Lulabell quite contagious. She was a gracious winner and selflessly gave her brother one of her winnings, which cheered him up considerably. Sooooo, Lulabell walked out of there with $60! It was a big night for her and we were all kidding her about all of us going out to breakfast tomorrow…on her of course! Actually, she is going to put half in savings for our trip. All in all, a very enjoyable evening!

Stu and I are both off this weekend, which has been nice. He has been working very hard on the basement lately, organizing and throwing stuff out. It was our heavy trash pick-up weekend so he and I worked at clearing out the basement and the garage and had a big ole pile of stuff out back. Now, the weird thing was, usually, when there is a heavy trash pick up day, the whole neighborhood has piles of stuff out, but this time…I was a little disconcerted because NOBODY but us had trash out. Did I read the date wrong in the paper? Noooo, I don’t think so. Stu was getting a little frantic about it, but what could we do? I certainly wasn’t going to bring all that stuff back in!?!?!? Saturday morning dawned gray and cool and I lay awake listening for sounds of the garbage truck….nothing. As I went out later I glanced around the garage and wallah! All the garbage was gone, YIPPEE!!!! All’s right with the world once again. Except, for my dog rolling in some fantastically smelly organic pile of ?!?<#<$$# somewhere in the back yard. I had let her out this morning and was feeding her breakfast when a wave of the most god-awful disgusting smell hit my olfactory areas and I about went down from lack of oxygen. OHHHHH, what smells!!!! I gasped. I picked up each of the kittens and smelled them, nope, not them. I picked up our big kitty Misty…nope not here…I bent down to my dog who was wolfing down her breakfast, and almost broke my neck snapping it back at the smell. Her whole left side was plastered with some wet, icky something…..OMG!!! I grabbed her and shoved her back out the door as she looked back at me with this bewildered look on her face, still chewing her food. I felt bad so I grabbed her half-finished food bowl and her water dish and put it outside for her. About the last thing I wanted to do this morning was give the dog a bath, but what choice did I have? So, I did end up bathing her with the smelliest shampoo I own and she came out sweet-smelling once again. She got a good brushing too and now is the fluffiest doggy in town. I did notice that her cat food diet is really starting to fill her out as well (translation: fat doggy). I still can’t figure out how to feed the cats while at the same time not supplementing the dog’s diet with cat food…..hmmmm, any ideas? Speaking of doggy diets…M.A. has had a dastardly time of it with her dog, Lilly, who seems to have had the runs for the past several days (and the whoopsies), and apparently she considers M.A.’s bathroom to be the doggy bathroom of first resort. EWWWWW! M.A. actually got up at 2 AM this morning to force a syringe of Pepto Bismol down the dog’s gullet and I believe, crushed up some Imodium and gave it to her for good measure. Hope that plugs things up for ya mom! Anyway, mom tells a funny story about our cat Misty, whom she fed while we were in Florida this summer. I had left Misty outside with her little house and large food and water bowls and all M.A. had to do was stop by every other day or so and make sure she had food and water. Well, one day M.A. stopped by and called for Misty. From somewhere in the yard (she couldn’t tell WHERE it was coming from), came the most horrifying noise she had ever heard. (I heard the meow when we got back and can attest to the unholiness of it). Well, the little hairs on the back of M.A.’s neck went straight up as this noise chilled her to her bones. She knew it must be Misty, but didn’t see her and actually, did not even want to go up to the food and water bowls as she was completely freaked out by this noise. She must have envisioned some crazed, demonized feline skulking along, ready to attack her and completed her food duties with all haste, before scurrying back to the safety of her van. Since then, she has been calling my dear, sweet, beloved cat “Cujo” and still gets chills as she recalls the sound of that “meow”. Betcha can’t wait until we go to California, huh mom? Like I said, I did hear Misty make this noise when we returned from our trip and it sound like she might have had a cold or something…it was really a growly, ugly, scratchy sound….a little other-wordly, if you will. She hasn’t made that sound since, not even when she is growling at the kittens, which she does with astonishing regularity whenever she is inside. You would think that by now ( we have had the kittens for 3 months), she would realize that they are here and they are staying, but every time she sees them, it’s like she is seeing them for the first time and must defend her territory at all costs. Tinker stays away from her because she can hear the spitting and hissing, but Belle doesn’t hear it and gets much too close, usually getting a swat for her troubles. I’m told that eventually things will calm down…I sure hope it’s soon!

Just some observations....

2006-10-16T20:26:00.000-04:00

I had a lovely weekend as I FINALLY cleaned up our linen closet. This thing was so messed up. ALL of our towels were clean, but were downstairs, folded, waiting to be brought upstairs. So, I dug in and completely cleared out the linen closet and we donated two HUGE bags of towels and sheets to Goodwill. Then we replaced all the clean towels and sheets and I feel great! It’s funny how the smallest things will brighten my day, you know? Then, there are other things that DARKEN my day, like folding clothes that I THOUGHT were clean, but were actually dirty?!?!?!? You know, you’re going along, folding the clothes in the basket you THINK are clean, but you start getting whiffs of not so good odors that have no place in a basket of clean clothes. Then you pick up a pair of underpants, that (ahem) have OBVIOUSLY been worn. UGH! I HATE folding dirty clothes…it is such a waste of time, ARGHHH.

Peaches got his progress report (actually, he had it two weeks ago, but “forgot” to tell me. He has two F’s, one in Design (art) and one in History. Otherwise, he has a B average. Not too bad. He also forgot to tell me that he got his pictures back. Now remember, these are the first school pictures I have had of him since like the 4th grade, because he would never tell me in time when he was getting them taken. Actually, the pics came out pretty well, so I’m glad. Lulabell didn’t even get hers taken yet (this Friday). She got her hair cut real cute last week, so I’m hoping it will be a good one.

I must say that I have been sorely disappointed in the TV season so far…my favorite shows from last year, Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, Survivor, The Amazing Race, Boston Public and Desperate Housewives have all basically sucked so far. I get excited about watching, then become very disappointed in them. They are just not holding my attention and imagination like they did last year. The one new show I’m watching, Brothers & Sisters, is very good (on Sunday night). Otherwise, the TV season is rather ho-hum this year. Please bring back MEDIUM! I love this how and miss it terribly. It was on Mondays at 10 and I loved getting into bed to watch the show, because it seemed that most of the show has the main characters in bed too….it was just comfortable to watch. Caught the trailer for the new Russell Crowe movie, A Good Year, which looks like a comedy. I love Russell in comedies and can’t wait to see this one. Just saw on the tabloids that Farrah Fawcett has anal cancer…good God…that must be a bad one. Of all places….well, never mind. Best wishes going out to her in her fight against the big C.

Bits and pieces...

2006-10-14T11:58:00.000-04:00

Just some bits and pieces to report: My sister is FINALLY coming up north to see us in early November for a quickie weekend visit. My mother has been hot to have her come up because after all, she spent all that money to have her kitchen redone and my sister has never EVEN SEEN IT for God's sake...so she is coming up mainly for a look-see at the new kitchen (not really). We will also trek to Canton to see our grandmother...just the two of us this time. Edie has been getting a little squirrely over the years (she's entitled being nearly 90)and the less visitors she has, the better she likes it. So glad you're coming L! The kids can't wait, that's for sure.

Well, Peaches struck out on the homecoming dance...he kept procrastinating about asking this girl he likes until it was 3 days before the dance and I finally told him he should probably forget out it for this year. He actually seemed relieved....there's always next year, right? I was proud of him though about him asking someone...none of his friends were even CLOSE to asking anybody. They are all still working on their social graces, I believe.

We had Lulabell's school open house on Thursday and I can't tell you how nice it was in a smaller school. In her old school, where there were probably 1000 students, open house was a nightmare. In her new school with probably only 500 students, it was so much nicer to stroll around and speak to her teachers without being rushed. Everyone had wonderful things to say about Lulabell...which is nice. She DOES have her good side!

Saw the movie Click on DVD last night, though it was really cute. It was so sad at the end that Lulabell and I were bawling like babies. The boys were able to reign in their emotions in a little better than the girls. We had a lovely dinner at Danny's last night. We have learned to split our dinners between the four of us because they give you SO MUCH FOOD! Anyway, it's a good way to cut the bill too. Just a tip if you are ever in the neighborhood.

Looking forward to a quiet weekend here. The weather turned cold Thursday and those little white things called snowflakes decided to make their first appearance (arrggh). The trees and colors are nearly at their zenith now, although the wind we suffered through yesterday has pretty much ripped them all down.

Our California trip is looming and we are getting more and more excited about it. It looks like we will try to get some portraits done while we are there as all three families have never been together before (us, Stu's sister and family and Stu's brother and family, plus Stu's mom). That should be fun! Anyway....got to go..more later.

Just some memories for your entertainment....

2006-10-08T20:26:00.000-04:00

I was reminded today of a funny story about when I was working for an orthopedic surgeon in San Francisco. I was six months pregnant with my first baby. The doctor I worked for was really a very nice man but he was a little nervous. He was an independent worker’s comp examiner for the city of San Francisco and so would see a lot of very strange people, a lot of whom were seeing him for the final opinion on whether they could continue to receive worker’s comp benefits for their “injuries”. As you might imagine, there were a lot of fakers, along with some very legitimate people. The fakers were just too much to believe sometimes. I remember one guy who was brought into the office on a stretcher for God’s sake, claiming his back was so injured he couldn’t stand or sit or any length of time. Another guy was so threatening to the doctor, the doctor was convinced he had a gun and wanted me to stay in the office on my lunch hour as he examined him, because he didn’t want to be alone with the guy (yikes!). I often had to sit in on his examinations of the women, to take notes and such and to observe that there was no hanky-panky going on. It was quite a show sometimes, watching these women moan and groan and play up their injuries for all their worth. The doctor’s wife fortunately made very few visits into the office. She was a lawyer and I found her a little scary…she very much wore the pants in the family, if you know what I mean. So it was no surprise when one morning the doctor arrived for work in his house slippers, carrying his shoes and socks. He had hurt his back the evening before and was in such agony he couldn’t even bend down to put on his shoes! I’m not sure why his wife didn’t help him out and I never asked. He was very nice about asking me to help him put on his shoes and socks. So, there I was, six months pregnant, bending down to put on my boss’s socks and shoes. I tell you, it was a little surreal and VERY uncomfortable. However, he was very thankful so what could I do? Another time, after I started transcribing for him, I had an incident where I accidentally erased a tape before I transcribed it….the worst offense a transcriptionist could commit basically. I frantically called the office manager (who was a real BITCH!) and explained what happened. She said quite frostily, “I believe I’ll let YOU tell him that….” and put him on the phone. The bad part was, this patient, whose long history and exam I had just annihilated, was flown to SF for this appointment. He didn’t just live down the road, he was from Southern California!!!! I was absolutely sick about it. After I tearfully described to the doctor what happened, I blurted out, “and it’s my birthday too…..” in the most disconsolate voice I every heard. Actually, he was very nice about it and was able to reconstruct the patient’s history and exam from his notes. I’m sure another doctor, who wasn’t as nice as he was, would have fired me on the spot (gulp). I really enjoyed working there. There were 3-4 girls in the office and every holiday he would take us out to dinner at a REALLY expensive restaurant. He would often treat us to lunch too…he was the doctor who started me on my transcription experience. I had originally started working for him as a temp worker from an agency as a fill-in. He liked me and thought I did a good job and so hired me away from the temp agency, having to pay them quite a bit of money to get me. I was very flattered! Then, after I had my baby, HE suggested that I try to do his transcription as I was loathe to leave my new baby to return to work. As it turned out, I had a flair for it and he dropped his own transcriptionist, who had been working for him for about 10 years. Now that I think about it, it was kind of a horrible thing to do. I would be devastated if my docs now dropped me like a hot potato. But, I guess it was fate and I have been a transcriptionist now for about 15 years, and still love it! Well, that’s just a little SF story for ya. Stu had mentioned that I hadn’t written for a few days and was quite disappointed about it, so I came up with a little something just for him.

2006-10-05T15:51:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of what I must have looked like outside the hospital today as I walked to my car. I was walking along, just minding my own business, when my ankle twisted and down I went, arms outstretched, legs straight out, phoomph, right onto my stomach. I lay there stunned for a moment, then quickly (for a middle-aged woman) got to my feet and assessed the damage. Both knees were stinging, both elbows, both palms and my stomach felt strangely flattened. A kind woman came over and asked if I was hurt, and I laughed shakily, "just my pride I think!". Ugh...as I walked to my car, I began to get the giggles every time I pictured what I must have looked like as I went down in some weird pseudosuperman pose. But wait, the funniest part? On my way down, I believe I may have farted (toot), just to add to my loss of dignity. Oh brother....just another day in my life!

Yesterday Lulabell and I went to see her ear doctor for a checkup and arrived promptly 15 minutes before the appointment. Then we waited, and waited, and waited, until it was 45 minutes AFTER our scheduled appointment. I had my MP3 player with me (of course) and when one of my favorite hip hop songs came on, I proceeded to do my "sexy mamma" dance, right there in the waiting room (we were the only ones in there, so I thought, what the heck?" However, this proved to be too much for my daughter and she began to scream "motherrrrrr!!!" and begged me to stop dancing. I refused and kept on doing my booty dance, just for the deliciousness of embarrassing my daughter! It was wonderful! We finally ended up rescheduling and I be-bopped my way out of the office, to my daughter's dying shame. My motto? Never turn down an opportunity to embarrass your children, as my own mother taught me long ago. And how was YOUR day?

Awesome hints....

2006-10-03T20:29:00.000-04:00

Got these in an e-mail and thought they were just awesome and so wanted to share with you:

Reheat Pizza Heat up leftover pizza in a non-stick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

Easy Deviled Eggs Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting: When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store,whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar/calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread: To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper/weeds away: Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet the newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go, cover with mulch, and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic; they will not get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass: Use a dry cotton ball to pick up little broken glass pieces of glass, the fibers catch ones you can't see.

No More Mosquitoes: Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away: To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Easier thank you's: When you throw a bridal/baby shower, buy a pack of thank you cards for the guest of honor. During the party, pass out the envelopes and have everyone put their address on one. When the bride/new mom sends the than you's, they're all addressed!

MINE!!!!! If you purchase a new bike for your child, place their picture inside the handle bar before placing the grips on. If the bike is stolen and later recovered, remove the grip and there is your proof of who owns the bike.

Flexible vacuum: To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge, add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Reducing Static Cling: Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and - voila - static is gone.

Measuring Cups: Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill it with hot water.Dump out the hot water, but don't dry the cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter,and watch how easily it comes rightout.

Foggy Windshield? Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth! >

Reopening envelopes: If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Voila! It unseals easily.

Conditioner Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

Goodbye Fruit Flies: To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid; mix well.You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants:Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home,"& can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

Take baby powder to the beach. Keep a small bottle of baby powder in your beach bag.When you're ready to leave the beach, sprinkle yourself and kids with the powder and the sand will slide right off your skin.

It's hard being a mother....

2006-10-03T19:57:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was the world’s worst mother, at least according to my son. You see, I had PROMISED to tape his TV show for him but totally forgot to and I’m sure for a split second he wanted to kill me. I know how he feels….Stu PROMISED to help me remember today but, he fell asleep during Oprah. I actually DID remember today (at the last minute) and taped the show for him. So today, I was crowned “best mother in the world” by my grateful son…and given many hugs and kisses. I felt wonderful! I’m sure tomorrow or the next day I will forget again and will be vilified once more (sigh). Where the hell is TIVO when you need it?

My daughter has been having a little trouble with a boy in her after school program. He is apparently not very nice to anyone, especially poor Lulabell, who has been bearing the brunt of his bullying. She has told me about it and we discussed how it should be handled (she needs to go to the teachers of the program because there is a zero-tolerance for bullying in this program. I THOUGHT it was handled. Noooooo, I guess not, because yesterday I got a call from the program administrator who wanted to inform me that they had read Lulabell’s journal, which all the kids keep, and found Lulabell had written in HER journal:

I HATE J- I want to KILL HIM
KILL HIM
KILL HIM
KILL HIM
KILL HIM

Ummmmmm….okay. I realize that in today’s day and age of Columbine and recent school shootings, you really have to jump on this kind of thing, but I REALLY don’t think my 4th grade daughter is a threat to this older boy. However, I do respect that the administrator needed to inform me of this, which I appreciated, and told her so. However, I wanted to know what is being done to stop this boy from bullying people. She told me she would handle it just as soon as the kid shows up for the program again, as he has been absent for a couple of days. Lulabell was given a stern lecture about writing this kind of thing but she said two things that I think were very valid. ONE – the kids are encouraged to WRITE DOWN their feelings, instead of acting on them…which she did, which she got in trouble for doing (mixed message anyone ?!?!?). TWO – she apparently was under the impression that these journals were PRIVATE, which, they obviously are not. Lulabell and I had a very good discussion about everything, and in fact, I intend to go to the school tomorrow to talk to this administrator and to make sure this boy will not be bothering my daughter anymore. You know, I am usually a very mild-mannered person but I turn into a mother bear where my kids are involved, you know? Plus, I endured my share of bullying in school and while I did survive it, if I can prevent even one iota of that pain from affecting my children…I WILL!

Blinded by the light....

2006-09-25T19:55:00.001-04:00

"And a little early birdy came by in his curley-whirley and asked me if I needed a ride".

This is the name of a song that some of you may remember, and that is one of the lines in the song...it's one of my new favorites at the moment, number one with a bullet on my MP3 player. I got into Manfred Mann in a big way in my brief single and free years before I met The Man (Stu you guys!). I lived on Fourth Avenue in San Francisco with 3 roommates and pretty much disappeared into my music for awhile. I was also smoking pot pretty regularly (NO!), which will probably surprise a lot of people. One of my roommates was a pot head and pretty much whenever I wanted some, I just asked. Pretty convenient, huh? I'm sure everybody has gone through their rebellious stage. My years in San Francisco were very special to me for many reasons. So, don't be shocked or think less of me...I certainly am not smoking pot these days! I actually have a pretty funny story to tell about the last time I smoked pot. I can tell you the exact date...but I won't. A bunch of us were having one of our little Friday night parties that we had quite often (every Friday night, I believe)and somebody brought out some pot. Well, it had been quite a while since I had partaken, and as I was already a little drunkie-poo, I thought, what the heck? So, we all indulged, and it must have been pretty good, but I really don't remember anything else that occurred that night, except that I am pretty sure my husband and I conceived our daughter that night. When I realized the date after finding out I was really pregnant, I can't tell you how paranoid and upset I was to have to face my OB-GYN the day he confirmed my pregnancy, especially when he asked if I took drugs...YIKES! "Uh, no,um,well,you see, not really, but...I think I may have smoked a little pot the night this baby was conceived...will it hurt the baby?" I asked tremulously. Dead silence from the doctor, then "Well, are you planning on doing that anymore?" he asked in a very nice, fatherly way...NO!!!!! and that was the last time I smoked pot...I swear! Anyway...getting back to my music...at the time I got into Manfred Mann, my uncle had just died of AIDS and I had inherited all of his albums...one of which was the Roaring Silence by Manfred Mann...a totally awesome album to listen to, even when you're not stoned. So, I guess I am reliving some of my carefree days when I listen to this song. I am seriously thinking of buying the album on CD because there are a couple of songs on there that I can't find to download. I'm also listening to Prince (Purple Rain, of course), Queen and The Fray a lot right now....having just dumped most of my Blackeyed Peas off my player...on to new things!

So, back to my middle-aged mom thing...Friday night we had D&C over so the boys could attend yet another Yu-Gi-Oh tournament on Saturday....oh boy. Another $10, but this time they got pop and pizza! Unfortunately, the three of them lost...but don't worry, there'll be another tournament next month, in case I have $10 I don't know what to do with...sigh.

Satuday Lulabell and I accompanied M.A. up to the lake to close up the trailer...always a sad way to really signify the end of another summer. How fast they go! We had to hurry back to town as we had a wedding to attend that evening. The daughter of a friend of ours, who used to babysit my kids. Unbelievably she is 20 years old now which is a little freaky. Anyway, we arrived at the church and were a little surprised to see the entire wedding party standing outside....smoking. It was quite a sight with everybody in their formals, the girls in pink and lavendar and the guys in white tuxes, pink cumberbuns (sp?) and white shoes...whew! So, after a bit of a late start, the bride and groom finally did the deed and off we went to the reception. I was not surprised to see the entire wedding party outside the reception hall lighting up once again. This seemed to be a theme. We went inside and looked around to see where to leave our gift (a beautiful silver wedding frame that was engraved)and finally had to ask the bride's mother, because I couldn't see any presents. Finally, she directed us to an empty table in the corner where I deposited our lonely gift. It was a little sad to see that our gift remained alone throughout the reception and I could only hope that people were depositing envelopes into the gift box on the table..but I only saw one person do that. The kids wanted to know what we were having for dinner and I called it exactly (parslied potatoes, some kind of chicken, rigatoni with meatballs, salad with italian dressing already on it, some kind of vegetable) I was right on the money my friends! There was an open bar, which we knew would close when dinner was served, so we and everybody else, stocked up on our drinks. Everybody of drinking age had 3 or 4 drinks in front of them...to stave off thirst after dinner I guess! The bride and groom cut the cake and pretty predictably smashed it in each other's faces. We waited for the first dance and then went to say our thanks...it was really a very sweet and down home wedding. Good Luck to C and N! We decided to make our way downtown to listen to some music at a coffee shop. We knew a friend of ours was playing guitar that night and we wanted to hear her sing. It was actually kind of nice, with a lot of local musicians just getting together and jamming to whatever came to mind. It was a lot of 60's music, you know, kinda folk music and stuff. It was relaxing to sit there and a nice way to end the busy day. We'll probably be back the next time they play.

Sunday dawned a little rainy, which is just fine with me, especially when I get to sleep in. I got some work done and a lot of housework too, which I needed to do. So, a new week begins and with it more running around and craziness. Still looking forward to our trip in about two months....can't wait!

Random thoughts and goodbye to Steve Irwin

2006-09-20T21:41:00.000-04:00

A good man gone too soon....
Today’s a big day in our house…Stu’s 41st birthday….HAPPY B-DAY HONEY! You still look pretty good, but I cheer each white hair you get…which is a lot lately! We took Stu out to dinner at this little Italian place he loves in Sharpsville. I was happy because they finally got Alfredo sauce, which as some of you know, I am addicted to. We stopped at McD’s for some $1 ice cream sundaes…which is quite a bargain I must tell you. Stu had his birthday off today and made his usual rounds. If you see him, tell him he’s “still got it”!

The phone was merciless in our house last night….with little tiny voices asking for “Lulabell?”. I try not to get too involved in little girl politics, but I tell you…it’s brutal man. I was half listening to Lulabell on the phone with someone when she asked breathlessly, “but I thought you said we didn’t like her?” WHAT???? Apparently, there are fractions within the group of girls she walks to school with, because one girl doesn’t like another and refuses to walk to school with that one….but another girl will ONLY walk to school with so-and-so, blah, blah, blah, blah. I tell you, it’s vicious. I finally told Lulabell to like whoever she wants and to heck with what the others think. She was so mad at one friend she wanted to call her up then and there and give her a piece of her mind. I asked her what she hoped to accomplish with that…..to think about things before she says them. I refused to let her use the phone anymore and she stomped off to her bedroom, huffing and puffing. Sadly, this behavior in women doesn’t ever really go away…I have plenty of stories to tell about the politics of women friends, but this is neither the time nor place (for the moment!).

Heard through the grapevine that Wal-Mart is doing away with lay-away…which I think is a shame. In my opinion, their business really caters to the middle to lower class…which is the class that really uses lay-away, especially for the holidays. I have used it on occasion myself…it’s handy when you don’t have the cash right away. Apparently, they would rather have their customers use their Wal-Mart charge cards to buy their products…thereby delivering a nice penny in interest. That sucks Wal-Mart…..you are cutting off the hand that feeds you in my opinion, and is a direct slap in the face of the working poor and middle class. Everybody!!! Off to K-Mart where lay-away is still in fashion.

I watched the memorial for Steve Irwin on TV last night…and sobbed through the whole thing. It was very well done, and I hope that if you didn’t see it, that you keep checking TV listings for Animal Planet as I am sure they will broadcast it again. Please try to catch it if you can.

I’m also watching the outcome of the story on Dog Chapman, the bounty hunter whose TV show I watch on A&E. He, his son and his brother have been arrested and charged by the Mexican government because of an arrest they made in Mexico THREE FRICKIN YEARS AGO. They happened to track down and catch the nastiest serial rapist in years. I think it is a shame they have to go through this and after watching their show, I feel sad as I watch their family go through this too.

M.A. and I will be heading up to the trailer on Saturday to close it up for the season…man that was so fast! Where DID the summer go? It’s already getting brisk up here and the days are definitely getting shorter and darker. We also have a wedding to go to on Saturday, one of the young girls who used to babysit for us…Amazing! Ooops, my kitten just jumped on my keyboard and is purring like a motorboat. Stu thinks it’s time to get the kitty litter out of the bathroom, and I must agree. These kittens have free range of the house now and spend a lot of time in the basement where they have lots of room to play and run and jump. The only member of our family that DOESN’T like the kittens is our cat Misty, who still prefers to live outside….we’ll see how long that lasts once the weather turns. Well, it’s getting late and I must retire soon….Oh…don’t forget to watch, Grey’s Anatomy on Thursday, The Amazing Race on Sunday and Lost on Wednesday….my favorite shows. I also like Desperate Housewives and Medium. These are my must watch TV shows…what are yours? Later….

Just putting up a couple of pics.....

2006-09-19T21:04:00.000-04:00

The gang on the boat!
Sisters....
Just the two of us....

New Vacation slide show....take a look!

2006-09-18T15:47:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone - my sister sent me her photos and I have uploaded them into a new slideshow....take a minute when you can to see it----named #2 Florida Pictures on the right under Links!

Music, music, everywhere

2006-09-16T11:32:00.000-04:00

My delightful little MP3 player...the light of my life!
Music has always been very important to me. I can recall whole sections of my life just by thinking about the music I was listening to at the time. Music REALLY came into my life when I "discovered" Billy Joel at the age of 18. He became my obsession after seeing his concert on HBO around 1982. I don't know what triggers my obsessions, but BOOM, when they hit, I am a goner. I proceeded to purchase every single album of his that I could find, search MTV desperately hoping to catch a video and when his Innocent Man album came out in 1983, I was ready. I devoured every article I could find and went to the Library to search back issues of magazines. My room became my sanctuary in which I prayed before the altar of Billy Joel. I'm telling you, as I look back on it now, I think I was temporarily insane. My mother and sister suffered through my off-key singing, as loud as I could, as I sang duets with my love. I even wrote a poem to him, that really wasn't half-bad. The single most exciting moment of my life came when my sister and I and some friends drove up to Cleveland to see the great man in concert. My sister enjoyed him but not to the extent I did. However, after that concert, she and her friends became "believers". I continued my obsession with him after leaving home and moving to California. My roommates were just as perplexed as my mother had been about my obsession, but I slowly pulled them in too. Then, I met Stu and he enthusiastically supported my obsession and put up with my little eccentricities. I knew then that this was the man I should marry. What other boyfriend would put up with posters and constant blubbering over another man? He has continued his benign indifference to my obsessions, putting up with my Russell Crowe obsession later in our marriage (but is thankful that this one has cooled off). So...music has been a release for me and I have reveled in it. Over the years I have saved albums and cassettes and CDs, all of which have suffered to some degree because of environment or aggressive over-use. I literally played my Billy Joel albums until they disintegrated, play my cassettes until they self-destructed and played my CD's until they became nothing more than skipping, blubbering discs of nothingness. However, technology has afforded me a ray of light in the darkness....the MP3 player. This little gizmo is one of my most prized possessions. I'm not talking about some $300 IPOD here...I'm talking about a $60 Creative Muvo 256 megabyte little player. I have about 130 songs on this thing and it is never very far away from me. It is impervious to my jumping around and dancing like a crazy person, being shoved down into my bra so that it doesn't swing around as I am dancing. I absolutely love this little thing. The ease with which I can delete songs or add new songs is remarkable. I literally had a heart attack the other day when I couldn't find the little thing. I was having palpitations and ranting like a mad woman at my children (where's my MP3 player....did you take it?....you better find it.....) I thought I was losing my mind. Thankfully, I DID find it and have been a happy girl ever since. Well, I decided to give my children the gift at last. I found an MP3 player for $20 at a local music store....128 mB but it will hold 60 songs, which is just about right for them. They got to pick their songs from my extensive collection on my computer and then I "plugged" them in. Their faces lit up and off they went, singing their songs in their own little worlds. I was so happy I could give them this gift of music and I hope it means as much to them as it does to me.

Speaking of music, Lulabell started her voice lessons this week. The teacher is young and pretty and Lulabell was relieved and happy. Actually, the teacher complimented Lulabell to us, saying her pitch is excellent for her age. When she plays a note on the piano, Lulabell is able to match the note instantly with her voice. The teacher noted that most children her age take a while to find the note, but she was able to do it without much difficulty. So there M.A., who seemed to poo-poo the voice lesson thing...maybe she has a chance at her dream afterall...being a singer, songwriter and artist. I will help her along whatever path she wants....as I believe a parent should.

Peaches, meanwhile, is contemplating his future. You may recall that a few months ago I asked Peaches what he wanted to do when he grows up and he stated, "a secret agent or a race car driver". ????? Now, this was a little stunning to me but I took it in stride. However, now I am on the lookout for jobs that I think he could do. One of them is "cartboy" at the local supermarket. He seems to think he could do this pretty well. A new job I just thought up for him is "ticket-taker" at the local movie theater. Now, please don't misunderstand or feel that I am aiming too low for my son's future occupation. I will help him achieve his dreams, whatever they may be, just as I pledge to do with his sister. I do have to be realistic however, and in my heart, I just don't see him getting a college degree. My hopes are centered around a high school diploma at this point...I really feel he needs to go to a trade or technical school for training, which I think is more practical for him than a college degree. I love my son very, very much. I do joke a bit about things now and then, but do not ever get the impression from my sometimes ill-timed joking that I don't want the best for him. As our son, his father and I will see that he gets the very best.

So glad that everyone enjoyed the picture shows...I've had a lot of great feedback from them. Technology is just wonderful, isn't it? I'm having a hell of a time....

Check out my picture show!

2006-09-11T17:41:00.000-04:00

Ooohhh, I'm so excited! I created a slideshow complete with music out of some of our vacation pictures. Click on the FLORIDA PICTURE SHOW under the Links section on the right....in case you are curious, the music is Beautiful Child by Rufus Wainwright Enjoy!

Ho hum...we're home again.....

2006-09-10T20:27:00.000-04:00

That's right...after the excitement of our trip, it's kinda blah to be back home again...back to work (yech), back to school (yech), yada, yada, yada. The kittens are growing so big! They are all legs now and racing through the house, up and down the stairs. Our older cat, Misty, still hisses and spits when she sees them, so she is spending a lot of time outside, which is okay because she has a nice little house with food and water and it's still quite warm here. We dogsat my mom's dog Lilly, which wasn't too bad really, although she is kinda needy and must be in sight of me at all times. She was really funny at first with the kittens. She pretended they weren't there. They would be hopping all over the place but she would turn her head, as if she could pretend they weren't there if she didn't look at them! Soon though she became quite interested in them and even began to play with them. However, when she tried to eat her dinner, the kittens thought it was THEIR dinner too and pushed her right out of the way. The only way she would eat would be if I was standing right there and the kittens were locked in the basement. She and Daisy really get along well and were playing up a storm, usually right behind me as I tried to type! She only had one bad accident, which Lulabell managed to step in with her bare feet one morning (ugh.... MOTTTHHHHERRRRR!)Otherwise the week went pretty fast and she was sure glad to see M.A. on Saturday when she arrived back home. She and her friends had a terrific trip to Myrtle Beach, with lots of laughs and good times, just as they do every year. One of these times, I'm coming! We saw the moving World Trade Center this past Friday with the kids, and I am glad they saw it too. It was really good, very sad but happy in the end. I had to reassure Lulabell several times that the men who are trapped make it out alive as she was quite upset through several parts of it. Lulabell had a sleepover Saturday night, and I can tell you, it's her last one for awhile. I don't know why, but there always seems to be a fight between her and her friend at least once a sleepover. While it is not always Lulabell's fault, I did witness enough nastiness to know that perhaps she needs to grow up a little more before we can have her friend over again. I think these two, in particular, just kind of feed off the nastiness of the other...it's very strange. One minute they're best buds, then next they are coming to blows. I certainly don't remember behaving this way when I was a little girl...what's changed since then? I am a bit late signing her up for dance this year...gotta get that done soon. Also, she wants to quit piano lessons in favor of singing lessons, because she is going to be a famous singer someday dontcha know? If I can get her the lessons, I will. If anybody knows where she can take her lessons, will you get in touch with me? Thanks.

Well, I mentioned that we are taking another trip soon, didn't I? Well....I guess I can tell you that we will be traveling to California after Thanksgiving!!! WOOHOO! Stu's brother will be visiting their sister at that time too and we want to see him so, we are going! Lulabell is super excited as she has never been on a plane before. I can't wait to see our friends and family. We got a super deal at one of the travel sites on the Internet, flight, hotel and rental car....it's all very exciting. Two major trips in one year is a little much, I guess.. but I will pay penance all next year if I have to. We do work hard though and didn't take a trip last year, so it's okay....(like I have to reassure myself!) Anyway, it's time for my shower...the whole family pitched in tonight to get all the yard work done, which I really appreciate. Lulabell cut the grass for the first time tonight (under strict supervision) and was really proud of herself! I am STILL waiting for the rest of my vacation pics...in the meantime, I am boycotting ShopNSave because their photo shop is idiotic. I am making a note that I sent my pictures in for processing 8/27/06 and still do not have all of them back....GRRRRRR. When I do, I will post them, and I guess my sister is sending me some she took of us too....keep on checking back for them!

A terrifying ride home....

2006-09-06T21:06:00.001-04:00

Ah….the last morning in Florida was very bittersweet. I had mixed feelings about leaving as I was anxious to get on the road but really did not want to leave. My sister had to hurry and leave for a hair appointment at 8:30, which is just as well because I just knew I would cry if we prolonged the goodbyes. In fact, I did end up snuffling on my brother-in-law’s shirt once or twice but I sucked it up and gave my little nephews long hugs and kisses. We were packed and on the road by 9 AM Saturday morning. The kids settled in with their movies and snacks and I decided to try to drink some coffee to keep myself alert. This SOUNDS like a good idea, but after we hit the fourth rest stop in 200 miles, Stu was a little miffed with me. I guess I will stick with the caffeine pills, although I think I overdosed on them coming down to Florida (I was very nauseated when I took them previously….although I think I exceeded the recommended dosage) Anyway, my bladder calmed down after a while and we stopped for a picnic lunch at a rest stop just over the Georgia border on I 95 around 1:30. Stu did most of the driving this leg because he does better driving in the daytime rather than at night. I relieved him for several hours here and there and we finally hit North Carolina about 7 PM and decided to stop for dinner in Charlotte. We had a really nice family dinner there and reminisced about our trip and all the fun we had. By 9 PM I was in the driver’s seat and we were off on the final leg. I had made a decision to cut over to I 79 in West Virginia, reasoning that it made more sense to wind up just south of Pittsburgh, rather than all the way over to Akron in Ohio. I would later regret this decision very much. The kids started to drop off and even Stu managed an hour or two of shut-eye. I was doing well, listening to my MP3 player, which was a lifesaver, I can tell you. By the time we hit Beckley West Virginia I hesitated a moment about just staying on I 77 to Akron but at the last minute, decided to head for I 79, which involved an unknown highway through West Virginia. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!!!! First of all, it was about 2 AM in the morning, I was driving on an unfamiliar road which was DESERTED, and there were NO LIGHTS AT ALL. No houses, no other cars, nothing. And oh yeah….it was foggy! So, there I am, with a van full of sleeping people and having a panic attack down the middle of a deserted highway in the mountains of West Virginia. I had to drive with my brights on for 3 hours, which as you may know, is a pain in the butt because you have to hold the brights switch with your finger. I got a bad cramp about halfway into the drive. I kept thinking I was going to run into some weird West Virginia creeps around every turn, who would kidnap up us (don’t ask me how they were going to do this when I am going 70 MPH), but I was seriously FREAKED OUT. Also, there were BEWARE OF DEER SIGNS every 30 yards or so and I was certain I would hit a deer and kill us all. I just drove down the center of the highway because there was seriously NOT ONE OTHER CAR for hundreds of miles. I was so thankful when I finally saw signs for Pittsburgh that I almost began to cry. I have never been so happy to see Pissburgh in my life! However, as happens every time I go to Pittsburgh…I got lost because the signs MAKE NO SENSE! I just kind of followed my instincts and ended up on the right road. I was so tired by this point, it being about 6 AM and I had been driving for 9 hours straight. I finally had to wake Stu up about 40 minutes from home because I simply could not keep my eyes open one minute longer. So, we switched and he started driving home and I gratefully closed my eyes for a blissful 9 seconds. However, at that point, it began to rain so hard and blow so much (do they have hurricanes in Pennsylvania?) that Stu absolutely could not see 10 feet down the road. We slowed to a crawl and put on our flashers, but he was completely panicking and I wearily told him to pull the car over so I could drive (ugghhh). Anyway, so our trip ended in a deluge and we had to drive the final 20 miles home at 25 mph with our flashers on. We ended up at our favorite diner for our last meal “on the road” but I was so tired, I couldn’t enjoy my meal (perhaps the fact that my cheese omelet was made with CheezWhiz also had something to do with my lack of appetite). We finally got home about 7:30 AM and fell into bed. And so ends our wonderful trip to Florida….may the memories last for a lifetime. It was truly an unforgettable trip and we thoroughly enjoyed our adventure. We (unbelievably)are looking forward to another trip coming up in December (this one involves an airplane!). I am very excited about it and will let you know more about that in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

2006-09-05T21:23:00.000-04:00

A picture of the Lady Lucille whose port is in Ft. Lauderdale

Day SEVEN - Our last (sniff) full day in Florida

2006-09-05T20:13:00.000-04:00

Our seventh day finds us waking up in lovely comfort at my sisters house, with the smell of fresh-brewed coffee permeating the air. After breakfast we are excited to be going to the beach once again, this time at beautiful Deerfield Beach, just 10 minutes or so from L’s house. The morning is warm and breezy with a few clouds around, but that doesn’t deter our enthusiasm about getting into the beautiful ocean for the last time (sigh). We find, to our delight, that the seaweed is at a minimum and the ocean is once again crystal clear and warm. We also find, much to C’s chagrin, that there are hundreds of tiny fish darting through out legs. C hangs back a bit after seeing what he thinks is a jelly fish, but we think he is whacked and continue our swim. We find dozens of beautiful shells once again and rejoice in the balmy morning swim. Soon, though, we must end our swim and begin to pack up. We decide to hit L’s father-in-law’s house once again for a swim in the pool and lunch and stop at the grocery store for provisions. I, meanwhile, realize that I have forgotten to bring my insulin along with me and a frantic search back at the house by J ensues. Finally, he finds it and will meet up with us at his dad’s house for lunch. The pool is just as lovely as the day before and the kids enjoy the heck out of themselves. Sandwiches and chips for lunch (have you tried Cape Cod chips by the way? They are awesome!). We decide to head back to L’s house to change clothes and get ready for our evening in Fort Lauderdale. We are planning on stopping by to see J’s father’s boat, the Lady Lucille where it is docked in Ft. Lauderdale. It is a huge boat and is used for cruising up and down the waterways around Ft. Lauderdale for parties and such. It is really quite something (I will post some pics as soon as I can). The rain started just as we were leaving the boat but we went on to our destination of the Ft. Lauderdale beach and shops, where the boys are looking forward to our dinner at Hooters that evening. Yes, Hooters, where all the waitresses are about a size 1. I did notice though, that the boobs weren’t that big…L explained that all boobs have to au natural for them to work there…which explained the disappointingly small chests. However, the backsides more than made up for the lack of boobage in the boys’ minds, I’d say. We couldn’t all fit at one table (10 of us), so the men (Stu and J) graciously gave up their seats to sit at the bar for dinner, leaving L and I with all the kids. Wasn’t that thoughtful of them? So we dined al fresco at a table and watched the storm clouds pass over the turquoise water. I bought the boys Hooter’s T-shirts with an admonishment that they WERE NOT to wear them to school (yeah, right). We walked along the beach and went into some shops where we bought some last minute souvenirs. We then bought ice cream cones and went to sit on the wall overlooking the beautiful beach as it got dark. All in all, it was one fabulous day and I was glad we weren’t heading for home that evening. We so enjoyed our trip….the kids were constantly thanking us for bringing them here. BIG thanks to my sister and her husband and kids for opening their home to us Pennsylvania hillbilly’s….I hope we didn’t do TOO much damage to your beautiful home! Also, to my dad and Maddy, who also opened their homes and hearts to us.…you guys are incredible and helped to make our dream trip come true. Tomorrow, the trip home and my HUGE mistake in navigation.

Day SIX - Coconut Creek and Boca.....

2006-09-04T20:16:00.000-04:00

Wake up Thursday morning in Coconut Creek at my sister’s house. Stu spent most of last night reorganizing our bags and I spent it washing clothes (thanks sis!) My nephew J most kindly allowed us to use his bed while the boys were ensconced on the family room couch and floor. Lulabell slept with her cousin C in his room. It was all very comfortable and L made us a delicious breakfast. Our plans for the day included some school shopping so we headed out to TJ Maxx. We found a few bargains, the best of which were $15 for US Polo tennis shoes, which all the boys got. Lulabell found a delightful little skirt and top and each boy got some shirts. We stopped at the grocery store and got some lunch items, then headed to L’s father-in-law’s house where we had a very enjoyable afternoon swimming in his gorgeous pool and barbecuing hamburgers. The kids had a blast and we then headed for home for showers and some down time. Later that evening we headed to Wilt Chamberlain’s restaurant, which the kids loved because it also had tons of games and even a basketball court! Very cool. On our way in to the restaurant, Lulabell broke her flip flop and so she and I ran into a shoe store right next door for a new pair. Well, I just had to get these cute little Skechers too, don’t you know (and some new socks!). We headed home and spent a very enjoyable evening. The boys all got along super and my sister’s new kitchen and bathrooms are AWESOME! She was keen to make coffee in her new coffeemaker which grinds the beans and everything in one shot. My sister and I confirmed that we had married two men that were very similar, in terms of obsessive-compulsiveness. Stu again spent his time arranging our bags while I washed more clothes. L’s house is absolutely gorgeous and Stu remarked to me that they didn’t have any “stuff” laying around anywhere. Everything was very neat and tidy. Our house, while usually fairly tidy, has “stuff” everywhere. I just don’t get it! We finally fell into bed about 11 PM, a little sad to think that Friday would be our last full day in Florida. We originally were going to head for home Friday evening, but decided to leave Saturday morning instead, which would get us home by Sunday morning. Stu had to be at work Monday morning, me Tuesday. It was terrible to have to think of returning to our dull lives in just a few days, so we hoped Friday would be a day to remember….which it was! Tune in tomorrow for details.

2006-09-03T21:47:00.000-04:00

I saw this picture on the 'net and wanted to post it because I STILL do not have my picture CDs back...but this is exactly the color of the ocean when we were there....

Day FIVE - Miami Beach and points north

2006-09-03T21:21:00.000-04:00

I spent a restless night in the hotel room Tuesday night due to the pain from my sunburn. I woke up before everyone else and decided to get showered and dressed and then walk to the beach so I could watch the sun come up over the water. I whispered to Stu what I was doing and then headed out. The magic of that morning will stay with me forever. How beautiful the sky was, how peaceful I felt. Traveling with five other people can be stressful but all in all, it was really a great trip so far. I enjoyed the solitude and greetings from people as they rode their bikes to work. I headed back to the hotel room to wake everyone up so we could get moving. The kids were psyched about the Waffle House and were itching to get to breakfast. Stu and I allowed them to go ahead of us with instructions to get a table and figure out what they wanted to eat. We straightened up the hotel a bit and then followed them over. As we sat down at a table next to the kids, they were already ordering. Stu and I ordered and then watched in awe as the waitress started serving the kids. Plate after plate of food came, eggs, toast, hash browns, and a HUGE waffle for each kid. We sat in stunned silence as the kids began to dig in. We apparently made a big mistake allowing the kids to order for themselves. Each of their breakfasts cost $9.00!!!!! We sternly lectured them about ordering responsibly and then sat there after we made each kid eat EVERY SINGLE BITE! You see, traveling with four kids, we had been careful about getting them to order from the children's menus..even though technically, 3 out of 4 of them aren't really children...but they took it good naturedly, except for Peaches, who was incensed every time we told him to order from the kid's menu, like it was a personal affront or something. Sooooo, breakfast at the Waffle House cost about $50!, more than our dinner last night at the Hard Rock Cafe....grrrr.

The kids wanted to swim in the pool again, which allowed Stu and I to pack up the hotel room. We checked out by 11 and were headed north...feeling like my heart was being wrenched out of my chest at the thought of leaving this gorgeous place. We WILL be back....I promise. We crossed all the beautiful bridges again and stopped at several souvenir shops on our way. We were heading to Miami Beach! We got there after a picnic lunch along the way and the sky opened up on us several times by the time we drove there. We found highway A1A and followed it into South Beach. It was absolutely gorgeous, with the white sand beach and all the funky shops beckoning to us. It took a couple of passes up and down the street before we found a parking space, which Stu had to back into, but he did it on only the second try. We paid our $1 to park for an hour and then headed to the beach. As we crested the path, the most beautiful site spread out before us. The beach and water were like the postcards we saw. I have never seen such turquoise water before lapping at the pristine white beach. The kids and I were in awe....and we were absolutely desperate to go into the water. However, nobody really wanted to trek all the way back to the car to put on our (wet) bathing suits so I made a spontaneous decision to just swim in my clothes...and everyone else thought that was a fantastic idea! Stu stayed back, to watch our stuff and the kids and I plunged into that warm water. It was absolutely crystal clear and quite shallow. We must have swam out about 100 yards from the beach and we could still touch the floor of the ocean. It was just about the most perfect thing I have ever done. After a while, we knew our hour was just about up so we headed back in. We trudged back to the car, soaking wet and tried to decide what to do about our wet clothes. Suddenly, like we were of one mind, D, Peaches, Lulabell and I stripped out of our wet clothes, wrapped our towels around us and decided to ride to L's house stitch stark nakers (luckily, I was wearing my really nice red bra that kind of looked like a bathing suit top anyways). So, we wrapped our towels around us and piled back into the van. C was the only one still sitting in his wet shorts, but after awhile, he "joined the club" and sat naked in his towel the final hour up to L's house. I called her to "warn" her about her hillbilly Pennsylvania relatives arriving at her house naked. I was surprised to find my dad at their house too. We took quick showers and threw our wet clothes into the washing machine and headed out to dinner at a pizza buffet place. It was REALLY good and the kids really enjoyed it. We said goodbye to Dad and Maddy for the last time and then we headed back to L's house for the night. It had been a terrific day again and we only have two more days (sniff) to go.....tune in tomorrow for our SIXTH day of vacation.

2006-09-02T17:10:00.000-04:00

Here is the 00 mile marker noting the southernmost point in the U.S. It was quite a feeling to have finally reached this....

DAY FOUR - KEY WEST...FINALLY!

2006-09-02T16:35:00.000-04:00

Tuesday morning we are up early for our free continental breakfast. We chow down on bagels and cereal and decide to pack up and keep heading south. It is about 100 miles to Key West on some of the most beautiful land we will see. All the Key West islands are linked with bridges, the longest one 7 miles over the bluest-greenest water I have ever seen. It is simply breathtaking and I am overwhelmed. We pass through a section where we are urged to slow down because of the Key deer. Key deer? Well, they are a tiny breed of deer that make it a habit to cross back and forth over the roadway and the speed is held to about 25 mph in this section. We did not see any deer however, dead or otherwise. We pull into Key West and begin searching for the hotel before one of the kids sees it and we have to do a U-turn to get to it. The hotel is not as plush as our hotel last night, but our room overlooks the pool, which in fact, is bigger than at the hotel in Key Largo, plus, there is a Waffle House in the hotel, which cheers the kids. The kids want to unpack everything but Stu and I pull rank and decide to go exploring a bit. So, we pile back into the van and hit the main road through town. We head down to the 00 mile marker at the foot of Key West, which is the Southernmost point in the U.S. We dutifully wait in line to get our pictures taken with this monument and feel a sense of accomplishment that we actually made it here. We wander through town a little, passing through the palm-tree lined road with the water just on the other side, looking gorgeous. I had asked the front desk lady where the best beach would be and she directed us to Zachary Taylor state park on the Atlantic Ocean side of town. We paid our $8 to get in and find ourselves driving into paradise. The beach beckons through palm trees, as does the beautiful water. There is a snorkle shop for renting equipment and a snack house. Lulabell immediately makes a pest out of herself by begging for food from the snack shop. I refuse, noting we have a cooler full of picnic food and drinks. She takes this moment, in this beautiful place, to throw a full-fledged tantrum. I am forced to walk her over to a palm tree for a time out where she huffs and puffs and sulks for 15 minutes. I am furious with her for doing this. We lug our suits and towels and food to a picnic table and I ask Lu to join us if she is able to control herself. She does and we begin to eat and enjoy the view. The boys are just itching to get into the water and we realize we will need more snorkeling equipment as we only have two full sets. Stu is sent to the rental place and rents two more sets as they are quite expensive. We will just have to take turns! I say brightly. The beach is beautiful but we soon find out (painfully) that it is full of rocks and shells and is quite difficult to walk on. D puts on the flippers and immediately gets everyone mad at him as he is kicking up sand whereever he walks. We struggle out to the water and I eventually give up walking and just fall into the water ungracefully where I float out on my back. I put on my snorkle equipment and immediately am faced with fish swimming all around me. I gleefully yell out my surprise about the fish when C suddenly panics and refuses to enter the water. He is a little skittish about fish swimming around him. The other kids jump into the water and swim out to some rocks that are about 20 yards from shore. I implore C to get into the water, that I will help him and keep him safe and finally he gives in, hanging on to me for dear life. We kicked our way over to the rocks and I plop him down to sit on them as he scrambles his way up out of the water. Meanwhile, we are simply astonished at the sea life all around us and can't believe all the fish we see, exactly like the fish you see in the pet store, swimming just below the surface and all around the rocks. There are big fish and tiny colorful fish and it is amazing. Now, Stu is not a big swimmer, but he is standing on the beach, trying to get my attention because he too wants to snorkle. I swim over to him and then tow him back to the rocks. He is handling it well and sits on the rocks waiting for one of the kids to hand him their snorkle gear. I made a bad decision then as both Stu and Chris wanted to snorkle and I THOUGHT I could handle both of them holding onto me. Well, I found out fast enough that two panicked people and 1 calm person equals DISASTER! C started floundering and began to climb onto Stu for help, which was not helpful as Stu sank like a stone. I can see the panic in Stu's eyes behind his mask as he struggles to get back to the rocks. I flung C over to the rocks and then grabbed Stu and pulled him up onto the rocks where he indignantly flings off his mask and starts yelling. Finally, everyone calms down and Stu decides he has had enough of snorkling and wants to go back to the beach. So, I tow him back, and then head back to the rocks where the kids and I swim all the way around the rocks enjoying the views. In all, we spent about 3 hours in the water and I finally decided I had had enough becasue my lips were starting to pucker from all the salt water. Now, I didn't give a thought to the sun as it was a bit overcast but I sure regretted that later on as I received one of the worst sunburns I have ever had, I just didn't know it yet. While we were swimming, Stu was waving at us madly and pointing to his right. I looked to where he was pointing and was stunned to see the largest ship I have ever seen about 200 yards off as it was leaving its port to head out to sea. I cannot tell you what a jolt it was to see this huge cruise ship so close...it was amazing. Finally, we head in and I swim on my back with Lulabell holding onto my foot, with my rented snorkle gear laying on top of my stomach. Bad move, because a wave came and swept the snorkle gear off my tummy and sent it sinking to the ocean floor. I frantically made a grab for it as Lulabell is dumped unceremoniously off my foot. I had no idea how much it would be to replace this stuff and didn't want to find out. I called out to the kids and they swam back to help me look for it. Now I ask you...don't you think it would be a good idea to make this equipment so that it doesn't SINK????? Come onnnnnnn. I searched for a good 15 minutes and had lots of strangers helping me when finally somebody signalled that they had found it....THANK GOD! The rental guy said later he would have charged us 40 flipping dollars if we had lost the equipment. Whew.... So, we say goodbye to our beautiful little beach and head back to the hotel, exploring some of the town and seeing Ernest Hemingway's house. We pass a sick little hotel called El Rancho which in my honest opinion is a dump. (When we got home, I looked this hotel up on the Internet to see what it would say about it and was shocked to find they charged $150 a night. I'm telling you, this place is a real dump!) We shower and change at the hotel and then head to Duval Street, which is the main street where all the fun shops and bars and things are. We paid $5 to park, which I thought was reasonable and then start walking around and taking in all the Key West atmosphere. There are people on bikes everywhere, some very fancy bikes too. Also, there are chickes and roosters just walking around the street. It was kind of surreal. We stopped into a famous bar, Sloppy Joe's but it is a little expensive. We buy some souvenirs and then decide to try to find Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville bar, hoping to have dinner there. We begin walking and then get directions and make several wrong turns before we finally find it. It is about 6:30 by now and I am starting to worry that if we don't eat RIGHT NOW, we will miss the sunset at Mallory Square, which we MUST NOT MISS! We walk gratefully into the air conditioned Margaritaville, get a table, sit down and glance at the menus. We are shocked to find the cheapest item on there is about $25!!!! We immediately get up and walk out....but do stop at the little store attached to it to buy some souvenirs. We start walking back and finally find the Hard Rock Cafe that has an outdoor eating area and order up some hamburgers. We have about 7 blocks to walk to get to Mallory Square and start out at about 7:30. We made to Mallory Square in time for the beautiful sunset and then stop to watch the street artists and performers. It was beautiful and everything I hoped it would be. We headed back to the hotel by 9:30 and got there in time for the kids to have a night time swim in the pool. We dropped into our beds absolutely exhausted. C and I got the worst of the sunburn though, as we are the whitest out of all of us, but everybody got too much sun. Our day in Key West was a beaut. Day Five Tomorrow...Miami Beach and my sister's house!

2006-09-01T17:35:00.000-04:00

Stu says, "I'm king of the world!" while C and Lulabell look for lizards...

Day THREE - The Keys!

2006-09-01T17:16:00.000-04:00

We wake up on our third day have breakfast (pigs in a blanket..yummm) and we are off to the Palm Beach Zoo. They have an exhibit there that is all about the Mayan Indians. I was so excited! I kept telling the zoo guide that my hubby is Mayan (Guatemalan) but he didn't seem as excited about that as I was. Stu kept giving me the eye to shut it, so I let it go. The kids really enjoyed the zoo...can you believe this was Lulabell's first trip to a zoo? What kind of mother am I????? We got some fun pics which I will post when the blasted CD with my pictures on it comes in (can someone say DIGITAL CAMERA??!?!?!!?). ANYWAY..my dad treated us to lunch at McD's and then we were off! Our trip to the Keys took us about three hours, but the scenes passing us were just beautiful and the time passed in no time, with a little help from the DVD player. We got to Key Largo about 3 PM but couldn't find our hotel. I finally called up On Star and they gave me all this baloney about my having already used up my one FREE road trip thingie and wouldn't help me....grrrr. HOwever, if I wanted to add this feature, it would only cost me another $18 a month...no thanks! Anyway, we finally found our hotel and it turned out to be very nice....we had a lovely balcony overlooking the boats and the kids were psyched about the pool. I had a moment's pause about hiding all the kids from the front desk and we went back and forth in shifts so as not to arouse suspicion that we had four kids, not two. We decided to try to get into John Pennekamp state park but alas, the park closed at 4 PM and we were too late. We decided to explore around our hotel and went swimming in the pool when the BAD THING happened. It was really the only BAD THING that happened on our trip, but it was really a BAD THING. We all changed into our suits and the kids headed down to the pool. Stu and I got down there a little later, after discussing whether he should bring his new cell phone with him. Now this cell phone was a beautiful thing....and quite a bargain too, but I will tell of that another time. The point is, Stu has about 200 phone numbers in that thing and he never is far from it. So, he put it in his bathing suit pocket, along with the room card and off we went swimming. About a half hour later, after we had been swimming enthusiastically and playing in the beautiful water, Stu got out and announced that he still had his phone in his pocket!!!! NO!!!!!!!! This was the BAD THING. He was absolutely devastated. We hurriedly went back to the room and drained as much water out of it as we could and then turned the hair dryer on it in a desperate attempt to resuscitate the darn phone, but, alas, it was deader than a dead fish. Stu was nearly inconsolable (he didn't really take to my idea that he could have the kids' Tracfone) I felt really bad about it. We decided to walk aound the boats and find a nice place to eat. We found out that the boat used in the movie African Queen with Humphrey Bogart was moored just outside our hotel and this was kind of neat. We kept on walking and ended up at a nice bar/restaurant on the water called Coconuts. We had a lovely dinner there in the warm evening, with the tropical breeze and the water...just perfect. We got back to the hotel and just mellowed out, although the kids were acting like flying little monkeys back at the hotel room. Stu was in his OCD zone and was packing and repacking everyone's bags. I was chillin on the balcony. All in all, a beautiful day in a beautiful place. The views driving down were just incredible and I just know that the views on the way down to Key West the next day will be even more beautiful. Tune in for day FOUR tomorrow....

2006-08-31T22:10:00.000-04:00

C, Peaches and Lulabell in the pool in Boca...having a great time!

2006-08-31T22:09:00.000-04:00

Captain D on the Lady Lucille - Fort Lauderdale

2006-08-31T21:13:00.000-04:00

D bet the other two that he could fit in the doggy cage....guess who won?

Day TWO - Boynton Beach

2006-08-31T20:59:00.000-04:00

We woke up early after a lovely night on our backs (rather than sitting up in a car). After breakfast, my sister L and the boys joined us at the Loxahatchie Wilderness Preserve in the Everglades. We took a tour outside through the swamp, hoping for a glimpse of an alligator, but alas, to no avail. The ubiquitous lizards abounded though, which held slightly less regard than they did the night before. It was blazingly hot and sticky but Lulabell insisted on seeing the movie inside the blessedly cool museum there, so we did and it was quite interesting. We then took a drive around the everglades park a bit, still yearning to see an alligator. As the boys were straining their eyes looking for a gator, one of them spied a wee little man..."Look!" cried D, "a midget!" We all cheered the midget (little person) and were happy to at least see something out of the ordinary..... L and the boys took off for football pictures and we headed to the beach (YAY!) It was slightly overcast but still very warm and nothing could dampen our enthusiasm for swimming in the ocean. We had lunch on the beach at the snack shack ($2.50 for a hot dog!!!!). We finally changed into our suits and hit the water. Man...it was AWESOME! The water was clear and very warm, with some nice little waves to swim with. The seaweed was a little thick, but we overlooked that. We searched for shells and had a wonderful time.....it was getting late and we headed back for showers and a change of clothes. We were going to my dad's favorite restaurant for dinner, Tony Roma's, a famous ribs place. L and her hubby and kids were joining us. It was 12 for dinner (we had our own room!) and we enjoyed each other's company very much. We headed for home several hours later for some delicous brownies and more talking and laughing. Off to bed by 11 PM as we were getting up tomorrow to head to THE KEYS!!!! More tomorrow.

Day ONE of our trip to Florida......

2006-08-30T17:22:00.000-04:00

Well, I have two words for our trip south…OH MY!!!!! What a fantastic time we had. I cried when I saw the first green water out over the Keys. I have been waiting my whole life to see water like that, with palm trees and white sand. I will give a day-by-day rundown each day because I am quite busy and that’s all I can manage for the moment….so, without further ado…..day one:

FRIDAY 8/18/06: Worked till 2:30 and STILL had not packed….hot and steamy, very muggy. Stu had been home since noon, but did he do anything???? NOOOOOOOO. So, the boys had arrived and were sitting and waiting to get in the car…which was still like hours away. We had hoped to leave by 6 PM (I can laugh about this now…hahahahaha). Stu and I get our SH*T together and decide to get the car carrier and the rails attached to the car. The dealer guy said, “oh, about 20 minutes” when asked how long this would take….Two hours later of sweating, swearing, grunting, yelling, finally saw us have the damn thing attached. So I run back into the house and pack (remember, I have to pack for the kids plus myself), plus get all the animal stuff together so they can go to their respective foster homes. I take off with the animals and supplies and drop them off and race back home. It is now 7 PM, the kids are already complaining and we seem to have an audience in the alley as we pack our car. Stu is grumbling because now EVERYBODY in the neighborhood will know we are about to leave and fully expects our house to be ransacked as a result. Finally, by 8 PM we are packed and ready to gas up and hit the road. We decide to stop at McDonald’s and eat and by 9 PM we are FINALLY ON THE ROAD! The kids are comfortably ensconced in the van with their movies and backpacks and pillows. Mom is driving and dad is navigating. We head west to Akron which is about an hour away and then head south on 77, which is what we will take all the way to South Carolina. Actually, the ride down is wonderful. Passing through Charleston, West Virginia is absolutely breathtaking with the capitol building all lit up against the black sky. Stu and I take turns driving and sleeping and the kids are on their first movie, The Master of Disguise with Dana Carvey. This movie will be played 12 times during our car trip and we will all be quoting lines from it all trip. It is by far the kids’ favorite movie we brought. ANYWAY, we hit South Carolina by morning and stop at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast where we ravenously chow down on good old home cooking! The kids are blown away by the pancakes and syrup and each takes their own syrup bottle for a trip memento. Onward! We catch highway 26 in S. Carolina for about 100 miles and then finally hit highway 95 which will take us all the way to my father’s house in Boynton Beach, FL. We cheer each state line we cross and finally hit Florida at about 1:00 PM. We stop for a picnic lunch just south of Jacksonville and eat in front of a sign warning of poisonous snakes in the area. Our final leg of the first part of the journey will take us 5 hours and we are gleeful and point out each palm tree we see. Finally, we pulled in front of my dad’s house and they welcomed us with a wonderful dinner, already to eat. We sat down to eat and my sister and her family came over to see us and spend some time with us. The kids were entranced with all the little lizards that were running all over the place and actually caught a couple. Finally, about 9 PM I began to get VERY tired, almost drunk with my tiredness and we all showered and hit the sheets. So, that ended our first 24 hours of our trip…..day 2 tomorrow!

Countdown to Florida....

2006-08-13T21:38:00.000-04:00

Countdown to Florida! We are coming up on our trip…getting very excited and making final arrangements for everything. M.A. is taking Daisy and my friend K is taking the kittens. Our cat Misty will be fine outside with food and shelter. M.A., hopefully will stop by and check on her. We are still waiting for our rails to come in which should be in the next day or two. This week will be insane. Peaches has 3 doctor’s appointments, Daisy has to get her staples out. I have been cleaning and doing laundry like a madwoman this weekend. Got the kids a Tracfone this weekend as well, which Peaches seems to think is all his (growling sounds from Lulabell). Peaches and his friend D entered a Yugioh tournament this weekend at our local Wal-Mart. Now Yugioh, for the uninitiated, is a very complex card game. I have always thought of it as a kid’s game, but I was surprised that all the people entered in the tournament, with the exception of D and Peaches and one other 10 year old, were all in their late teens/early 20’s. There were about 8 participants. Well, when we got there, we found out there was a $10.00 entrance fee (which was not mentioned on the sign, by the way). So, I got out my wallet and coughed up the $20 for both boys. Then I noticed that all the participants had brought with them BOXES of cards, while both my boys only had about 50 cards each. So, of course, I wanted my boys to have a shot at things, so I went and bought them more cards. Then, I noticed that all the participants had each card in a plastic sleeve, to protect them, and Peaches didn’t, so I bought him plastic sleeves. THEN I noticed that each person had a calculator, for which to calculate their points, my boys didn’t, so I bought them each a calculator (only $1.00 each). Then, I realized, neither boy had a watch, and I didn’t really want to hang out at Wal-Mart for 3-4 hours, so I bought Peaches a watch (Lulabell got one too). THEN, I realized that if I wasn’t here, he needed to have a way to call me to come get them, so, I bought a Tracfone for him. GEESH…..I think I spent about $70 on this stupid tournament! But, we are all ready for next time, let me tell you! Unfortunately, Peaches lost in double elimination and D won once but ultimately they lost. Oh well….maybe next time.

Don't scream in elevators...this made me laugh right out loud!

2006-08-12T13:04:00.000-04:00

Pink eye raises its ugly head again...the insanity of kitties!

2006-08-09T19:31:00.000-04:00

Pink eye is striking again folks….Peaches can’t seem to get rid of this and we are now on our second prescription….his eye really looks icky and feels even worse. Keep your fingers crossed!

We are really getting excited about our upcoming trip. D&C are definitely coming and we are thrilled! Dad and my sister have been wonderful about the “extra baggage” and I really appreciate it. We are getting things squared away here and have our hotel reservations in the Keys! I’ve never been there and am really looking forward to sitting on a beach and swimming in the ocean. We bought two coolers at Wal-Mart to take with us in the car for drinks and food. We figure to bring food with us to eat along the way at rest stops and what not, instead of the expense of eating out all the way down. We ordered the damn cross-rails for the van and then will use a car top carrier for our baggage. More on this later.

Daisy, our dog, had her surgery on Monday and did very well. The vet took the lump off her leg and then took another one off her chest. Pathology reports aren’t back yet, but I’m afraid that it won’t be good. We will keep her comfortable as long as we can. She is sporting about a 10 inch long scar on her left back leg and a 4 inch scar over her chest. She was moving pretty gingerly the first day or two but now seems back to her old self. I had to use the “collar” for her last night because she is licking her scars. The poor dog didn’t know what to do with herself. It was actually pretty funny watching her walking around and bumping into things with the collar. Finally, she just stood and looked at me with the most pathetic face I have ever seen. I didn’t have the heart to leave it on her so I just dressed her in a t-shirt to keep her scars covered. We went out and bought her a new bed, a huge sheepskin thing that I think frightened her at first, but she is starting to use it now and I think appreciates the comfort. The kitties think it is a splendid thing to jump on. They also apparently like my bras quite a bit as they have been dragging them into the hall to play with! They are officially into the “insane” stage right now, as if they have just discovered that they have legs and can jump and run. Their favorite game is to race from one end of the upstairs to the other, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, ad nauseum. They really liven up the place!

So…Peaches saw his therapist for the first time and I think they really got along. He was quite open and lighthearted after their first session so I think this will be good for him. He is due to get the final set of braces on just before we leave for vacation, which he is NOT happy about, but we only have a year to go. I bought a Waterpik for him last night (on sale $21!) which I think will help with his dental hygiene. This drives me crazy because he always seems to have something stuck in his braces and I am constantly telling him to brush his teeth…ugh! Anyway…that’s it for now!

2006-08-04T17:19:00.000-04:00

Here is our new grill...actually, I was trying something new to see if it would work. 42,000 BTUs baby!

Show me your grill daddy....

2006-08-04T17:15:00.000-04:00

OOOOHHHHH What a summer it’s been so far. I just can’t seem to find time anymore to sit down at the computer (not to work). I found myself with a few minutes and decided to update the old blog. A lot has been happening, so here we go.

Lulabell’s surgery is a great success and she can swim in a few weeks….which is a good thing because we are getting ready for our big summer trip….to Florida! We are SO excited….L and her family were supposed to visit us up here but couldn’t make it so we were bound and determined to go see them. My dad is also there and it’s been five years since we have seen him. We plan to drive there and stay a week or so, then drive back. The kids are so excited they are ready to burst. I’m excited too but a little disappointed over the fact that we won’t be able to have D&C with us. Since we will be staying at people’s houses, I just can’t impose FOUR kids on people and then, even if we stay in a hotel…we would have to get an extra room as they only allow two kids per room. I wonder, what do people with large families do? So, with a heavy heart I am looking forward to the trip, but wish we could bring the boys with us.

Our two babies are doing exceptionally well. They are seven weeks old now and starting in on the “kitty crazies”. Racing everywhere, rolling around and tumbling into trouble. We have them confined mostly to the upstairs and have a gate over the stairs. I’m sure the time will come when they decide to climb the gate, but for now we are safe, I think. Took everybody to the vet yesterday, including Daisy and walked out $200 poorer. But everyone got checked and they are fine. However, our dear Daisy will have to have surgery on Monday to remove a large mass on her left back leg. It’s been there about a month or so and I have been very worried about it as it is hard, attached to the muscle and not moveable. The vet thinks it needs to come off right away. I pray to God it’s not cancer….so, think good thoughts for our dear Daisy for Monday, will you?

I was also worrying about what to do with the kitties while we are away, but my friend K came through for me and will keep them while we are gone. Her son, G, an animal lover, is ecstatic about the prospect. I’m sure her mother is NOT as excited, but I sure do appreciate them….this was a big worry for me. M.A. will take care of Daisy and come over to check on Misty, our older cat for us. Then we get to pay her back by watching HER dog, Lilly when she goes away. It all works out….

The weather here is very hot, 90’s for the last few days with a thunderstorm most evenings. Last night we had a boomer. One crack of thunder I swear was directly over the house…it scared the poopie out of me! But you know me…I LOVE thunderstorms and this was a good one.

We managed to get a good buy on a new grill a week ago…40% off thanks to Stu and Lowe’s! Our old grill was very nice too, but the insides were all burned up…we grill at least twice a week right through winter. It was 2-3 years old and so there was no shame. Our new grill is lovely, with a nice thermometer to let you know the inside temperature…we grilled filet mignon the other day…yummy! We put the grill out by the trash and someone snatched it up in about an hour…whew…good luck with that!

Ooohhh, I am SO proud of myself…We recently switched our Internet to DSL from cable (less expensive). I needed a wireless router (I thought) for our two computers, but for some reason, could not get the damn thing to work. So last night I was fiddling around and decided I would just go “wired” and used the same cable I used for the cable modem. Well last night I was very discouraged because it was NOT working, but when I turned on the computer today, WALLAH! Internet on both computers…YAY!, and as a bonus, I can take back the thingamajingy I bought for $40 because I guess I don’t need it. Woohoo! Also, since our monitor finally died (again)…we bought a new flat panel monitor…which is REALLY nice. Of course, I HAD to put it on MY computer and gave my old monitor to the family computer…heeheeheee. Now we don’t have to hit the old monitor every 2 minutes because it would turn itself off, what a relief! I guess that’s it for now…back later.

2006-07-28T16:21:00.000-04:00

Stu and Tink with Lulabell in the background doing the rabbit ears...from my new digital camera $20.00, and about the size of a 50 cent piece...not bad, eh?

2006-07-28T16:14:00.000-04:00

Testing

Fire in the hole....eye freak-out

2006-07-24T21:03:00.000-04:00

Lulabell had a rough day at camp apparently. She got into the car and announced, “well I certainly made a complete fool of myself at camp today”. I asked what happened and she explained that today at camp they were playing baseball and she managed to get a hit and started running to first base, but was so determined to make it first base, did not notice an outfielder catching the ball. She rounded first and was chugging for second and then third before the other kid’s yelling managed to break through her fierce determination where she dejectedly walked off the field. Oh honey….at least you got a hit! I said brightly….then I got the “motherrrrrr” look. A few minutes later, with the mood lightened up, she yelled gaily “fire in the hole!” and tooted merrily. Fire in the hole??!?!?!? A camp euphemism, I’m sure (haha, I gotta remember that one!)

Well, Peaches’ pink eye seems to be clearing up… he wants me to put his eye back in now, which is a good sign. Apparently all the kids at camp were wondering about his eye and asking what was wrong. He apparently said, “I took it out” and promptly freaked out a couple of them. Well, what good is a fake eye if you can’t freak somebody out now and then?

Our babies, Tinker and Belle are blending right in with the family…they are a stitch! Their favorite game is Jump On the Other Guy When They’re Not Looking…which I have to admit SEEMS like a bunch of fun. They are using the litter box like pros and eating and gaining weight. We are treating them for ear mites and bathe them fairly often. Lulabell’s room smells a little icky at the moment and I am not sure why as we are very diligent about keeping their box clean….I hope to have some pictures you can actually SEE up here soon…

2006-07-22T12:37:00.000-04:00

Belle is the white one, Tinker is in back

2006-07-22T12:35:00.000-04:00

I know its a little fuzzy...trust, she's gorgeous! This is Tinker