Pearls of Wisdom

I have been trying to make an office, a bedroom for the summer rental season. This is requiring me to clean out thousands of pictures, random stuff for craft projects, pictures the girls have painted, lots of fleece, my gift closet and a few folders. In one of my folders I found a small page I tore out of Family Circle on 11/20/01. It was titled Patti's Pearls of Wisdom. I have no idea who Patti is, but she had some good advice so I thought I would share....

*The only time you run out of chances is when you stop taking them.
*Every exit is an entrance to someplace else.
*Your self-worth is more important than your net worth.
*Anger is like the blade of a butcher knife--very difficult to hold on to for long without harming yourself.
*You can't smooth out the surf, but you can learn to ride the wave.
*Look at life through the windshield, not the rearview mirror.
*Don't try to change the wind_change the sails.

Do you have a favorite?

Paris, part trois (3)

Yesterday, funny, today more of the landmarks. By the way, the ice cream I had in Paris was white chocolate and my mom had mango something or other. I always go for some sort of chocolate!
The Eiffel Tower encased in smog. Nice, huh? Because it was so warm there, the skies were not clear most of the time in the city.

This is Sacre Couer. I had the best cardio workout there for 5 euros. First I had to climb a bunch of stairs to get to the church. Then, I thought I would check out the crypt. Yeah, so I was willing to scare myself. They weren't open though, but the towers were. I paid about $8 to hike (and I mean HIKE) up hundreds of stairs in narrow turrets with no windows. Where was my traveling partner you ask? Bellied up to a cafe having a beer, I mean expresso. The view from the top was pretty cool though.

This is one of the beautiful windows in Notre Dame. Yes, as in hunchback, Quasimodo, Notre Dame. It is truly a beautiful church. The detail is amazing! Of course when we were outside the church, I had to tell my mom about how when I stayed in a nearby hostel 20 years before, my friends and I went to a liquor store and bought beer. Of course, we weren't smart enough to buy twist off caps, so spent some time trying to pry the tops off using the gates around Notre Dame. She was impressed.(Um, not really).

The most beautiful place we went to was a town called Giverny (pronounced gee-ver-knee). This is the view looking out of Claude Monet's upstair's bedroom at his gardens. They were breathtakingly beautiful! The garden had some beautiful Wisteria, too.
But my Mom's all time favorite picture is this one I took in the garden of the Rodin museum. She thinks this will be she and my Dad in another 50 years or so....
So that concludes your tour of Paris. Please feel free to send me some money so I can go again and you can live vicariously through my trip! I'll even send you a postcard! Or if you want to go in 9 years when I turn 50, we can rent a big house in the south of France and explore that end of the country!

Paris, France part deux (2)

The following are some pictures from Paris from last April. These are the funnier ones of the bunch. If you want to see many, many pictures from Paris, read yesterday's blog.

Statues were a big source of amusement for us and thankfully, Paris had one around every block. I have many a picture of naked male statues, but I will only grace you with the 3 funniest statue "situations".
"Oh, woah as me. Get this damn bird off my head!"

Then at the Rodin museum, we saw them taking away some statues that had seen their
time. Were they going to statue heaven? I don't know, but they seemed pretty tied up about it.

Then, there was the French man standing next to a little pond where kids were floating boats. He's got his requisite scarf on (it was about 75 degrees) and he's holding a balloon for his kid (I hope).
One day we went to the BEST ICE-CREAM place in all of Paris according to guide books and actual people. Who knew we were only to get a teaspoon full on top of a regular cone? I am actually holding mine and my mom's in this picture, but if she had turned around, I probably would have scoffed hers down as well.

My mom and I have the same (twisted, warped) sense of humor. At many of the parks in Paris, you are not allowed to sit on the grass! Yes, unbelievable. So, we are at these ponds and the park is packed. There are chairs around, but you have to search for them and grab them when you can. I (swear) I was searching for 2 chairs for us, but my mom found her own, which I found hysterical. Could have been the beers we sucked back at a cafe, who knows?
We think we are the funniest people we know. That's probably why we made such good traveling partners. Tomorrow, I will try to show the more beautiful pictures.

Paris, but a memory...

While having Sunday night supper tonight with my parents, sister and brother in law, my mom and I realized at this time last year we were in Paris. As in Paris, France, not as in Paris, Maine. It was what I really, really wanted for my 40th birthday. I had been in France for 5 weeks my sophomore year in college and so badly wanted to go back! I tried to get a group of friends to go, but everyone said, "Great idea, but no can do". So I persuaded (begged) my mom into going with me. We found a great deal on Travelocity that included air fare and hotel. We had the absolute greatest time!!!! My mom and I are very compatible and had the same goals for our trip. We are not the type of people that have to see every painting in every museum. We are more of the sit at a cafe and drink wine, eat brie and bread and people watch. We did plenty of that since the weather was beautiful and in the 70's the whole week (very rare for Paris). We read books, talked, laughed and took about 1000 pictures. My french came back fairly quick considering I hadn't been speaking it in quite a few years. If you want to look at some of my pictures from the trip, go here and use the password: paris. I will write some more specifics from our trip tomorrow.

Catching Up!

I haven't disappeared. This searching for a new principal is big stuff. Actually 2 days of interviews and then a "hash it all out" session, fried me for the week. Oh, what I could write about if they didn't make me sign my rights away in blood before I left the Superintendent's office. News from other blogs is that Manic, Dawn, Michelle, and Mimi are going to meet for the first time in Chicago this weekend and Dawn, Michelle and Mimi will see Oprah on Monday. This show will be live on Monday, so we get instant gratification if we want to scan the audience for these wonderful 3 women. Buford Betty reports that there are Lilly Pulitzer dresses in Cotsco this week. I also saw some in TJMaxx. 

K is turning 11 on May 6th and having a spa party (complete with sleep over). Have any of you held a spa party before? We are looking for ideas on what worked, what didn't. I think there will be about 6 or 7 of them. 

OK, going to sit with K and B while they watch RV with Robin Williams. It is very funny if you like potty humor. They are cracking up, I am surprised you can't hear them!

Names Have Been Changed to Protect the Not-So-Innocent

So I am sitting with my glass of Chardonnay at my computer trying to comprehend the last 2 days. Our elementary school is looking for a new principal and I am the token parent on the search committee. There are 9 of us on this comm. We have interviewed 11 people over the past 2 days (6 yesterday, 5 today). I am a little fried, to say the least. I can't even discuss the candidates or the sordid details of our lunch time talk. Too bad, because all I could think of was "oohh this would be great for the blog!".

My parents had the girls this afternoon. When I got out at 5, I raced to pick the dog/lamb up from my sister's house and then the girls from my parents and then drove (ok, raced) to the next town for B's soccer practice. We then drove back to parent's house where Mom had made us dinner. Thanks Mom! Then the girls and I jumped in the car to get home for showers and bedtime. On the way home, I almost drove into a cemetery. Not because I wanted to visit anyone or join anyone residing there, but because of what K innocently blurted out from the back seat.

" I got asked out by Nathan Little today. I told him I would rather die first than date him."

Yes, my innocent 11 (almost 12)yr old tells me this as I was driving. Thankfully, I was only going about 30, because I literally slammed on the brakes and choked. After breathing into a paper bag for a few minutes, I was able to carry on a mom/daughter conversation.

me, "He really asked you out?"
K, "He was desperate. He asked every girl out in the 5th grade!"
me, "I don't think you would be my definition of someone to ask out if someone were desperate. You are a very smart, caring, beautiful girl." (Teachable moment, people!)
K, "Yeah, but he asked out everyone!"
me, "Did you say to his face that you would rather die first than date him?" (Me, feeling a wee bit of sympathy for the poor boy along with a lot of dislike.)
K, "No, Sam came around and asked all the girls one at a time, if we liked Nathan. We all told him 'no!'. Sarah even went as far as saying, "I would kick him and then spit on him if he asked me out." (My thought was these girls are a little dramatic {and violent!}).

I can't wait to find out what is going to happen at the 5/6th grade skate night on Saturday. Maybe the father will be in charge of pick up and drop off that night. UGH!

Spring is Coming?

After many, many days of clouds, rain, chilliness.... the sun was out today. I was happy about this and so was Gretel. I don't suggest trying this at home, but while I was driving I snapped this picture of her with her head out the sunroof. Ah, the life of a dog.