1-25 facts

My 100th post is in 4 days! Yippee! To honor that, I thought I would do the blog thing and write 100 things about me. Doing it all in one post was a little daunting and hey, do you really have the time to read 100 things in one sitting? I figure 25 a day will keep you coming back for more. To be my friend, you need to know this stuff, in case you are ever quizzed about me or something. So, these are in no particular order, just the way they came to me.

TADA....100 THINGS ABOUT ME, 1-25

1. I have blue eyes with brown specks.
2. Until age 13 some people thought I was a boy. (I guess Tom-boy wasn't so in, in the 70's)
3. Spent summers growing up in Ogunquit, ME.
4. My first boyfriend in Ogunquit, was a friend of mine. He wore tube socks with short athletic shorts. (There's another plus for the 70's)
5. Had posters of Shawn Cassidy and the Bay City Rollers on my bedroom wall.
6. I've had my oldest friend since first grade (Merriam School, Acton MA) Hi Melis!
7. Melissa moved to Maine in 4th grade and we would trade vacation weeks at each other's house.
8. 8. I am 5 years older than my sister, and 6 years older than my brother.
9. My first stitches were in my chin when I was 2. I drove a Fisher Price giraffe down a neighbors very steep driveway.
10. I had surgery and had to stay in the hospital when I was 4. My memory of that is dipping yellow lollipops in ginger-ale.
    
11. I have had 9 dermoid cysts on my ovaries. This in turn has equalled many surgeries.
12. I have had a hysterectomy. Yay!
13. I broke my knee cap the day before college graduation, but didn't realize it until 2 weeks later.
14. My aunt sent a Chippendale man holding balloons to my college graduation.
15. I can speak french.
16. I've been to France twice, but want to go about 10 more times.
17. I love tulips.
18. I love the smell of hyacinth and lilacs.
    
19. I don't drink caffeine.
20. I was a competitive ski racer for 15 years.
21. Because of that, I like to drive fast.
22. I went to my first overnight camp in Mt. Hood, Oregon. It was a ski camp in July and we skied on the glaciers on Mt. Hood.
23. I love to swim.
24. Ogunquit Beach is my favorite beach. Great waves for body surfing, no seaweed, soft sand and the tide goes out forever!
25. I am afraid of the dark.

Did I make you want to come back for more? Let's hope I think of more-ha,ha,ha.

Braces

BEFORE:
AFTER:
This is going to take some getting use to. K was so brave and now she is so stylish with pink and green braces!

Buck Tooth Betty (Not Nice!)

Just when I thought I had nothing to blog about tonight.....
DH took K and B to their hip hop class this afternoon. I went to a meeting on regionalization with another town. Since I am running for school comm., I need to be up on these things. I am even going to have to answer questions on TV (well, the local channel) on Wed night. UGH/ACK/BLEH. Yes, I am already wondering what to wear. Do they give you a clothing budget once you get on the school comm?

Anyway, K comes running in the door with "that" face on. I knew something was up the minute I saw her. "B called me Bucktooth Betty." Mind you, I am not sitting on the couch wrapped up in a silk shawl drinking martinis. I am in full, re-heat leftovers, cook a pizza, chug a glass of wine so I can get dinner on the table the minute they get home, mode. She bursts into tears, B comes up trying to explain how it just slipped out. Now this is the one thing that K can't handle. Her front teeth are protruding and she is getting braces tomorrow (oh, yeah, that will be a story and a 1/2). B knows I have no tolerance for teasing at this level (talk about going for the jugular). So B bursts into tears too and heads for her room and slams the door so hard, a picture falls off the wall. Since K has told me of her pain, she is automatically better.

B, after I get DH's and K's dinner on the table, tries to explain on how it is K's fault that her teeth are sticking out there and she just had to comment on it. I tried to say that this is K's main concern. I didn't want to come out and say if someone called B chubby she would have had the same reaction. She said that she wrote in her journal that K was "stupid". I had to explain to her that writing in her journal was actually a good way to release feelings and that I am sure I had written not so nice things about my sister when I was younger. (I take them all back now Karen, you are my best friend and I wouldn't trade you for a puppy anymore!) Anyway B was mad at K for telling me in the first place especially when it "just slipped out". I had to put it straight to B and tell her that she was actually in the wrong here.Trust me, she did not want to hear that!

So, now I am exhausted (even moreso now that I just typed this all out). Let me copy John Lennon and ask, "Can't we just all get along?" OY!

Road trippin'

I know you are breathlessly awaiting the pictures from our 2 off Cape road trips. It's probably a wonder how you have been sleeping for the past few days. Well, it's time and here are a few. Didn't think you would need (or want) to see all 91 of them. We'll start with our amazing day in Duxbury, MA. The temp at the house was in the 80's and at the beach (that you can drive your car onto!) it was in the 70's. Just right for 2 moms to relax and chat while 5 kids wrote stories, put toes in the water, played pickle and sculptured mermaids.
One day back at home and then we were off again, this time to Westford to a college friend who married a college friend's home. There we met up with another college friend, are you getting this? Anyway, the hot tub was the hot spot. We told J that he would love this picture one day. Him in the hot tub with 5 chicks and only one being his sister! I don't think he believed us.
We were really surprised when Spiderman showed up. I mean nobody was in need of any help per say. We just needed to refill our glasses for Pete's sake.
I think he just wanted some ice-cream.
Yes, Kimball Farm has the best ice-cream of anywhere I know and trust me, I know! We had some Friday night and had to go again on Saturday (for lunch of course!). My girl's and my college roommate's girl's puffy heart each other. See...
Their smiles turned to frowns when we said it was time to go our separate ways.
Until July, when we meet again.....
I (dragged) took my girls through Concord center and onto the Old North Bridge. This is where the Revolutionary War began. B is reading about Paul Revere, so I thought I would give her some touchable history.
One thing about Cape Cod, is our trees are on the shortish side. I have heard that it is from all the wind. The wind stunts their growth. Concord does not have this problem and the girls couldn't have been happier!
Today was a tough day because all of us were anticipating school tomorrow. They don't want to go and I can't blame them. We have had a taste of summer all week which is more than unusual for April school vacation. So it's back to the annoying alarm clock rousting us out of bed. Thankfully we are on the downward slide toward summer vacation and the next 7 or 8 weeks should fly by!

Friends....

I will post about friends tonight and post about the last few days, complete with pictures, tomorrow. A message to my friends that live here on the Cape, I love you and cherish every moment spent with you, to my bloggy friends... you have opened up a whole new world for me, one which I am loving and learning new things every day...

This week, I was able to spend time with "old" friends. One friend from Grad school and 3 friends from college. It is so unbelievably great to get together with friends that you have had for (oh, God, ) almost 20 years----how can that be????. You have history with them and things are easy. You pick up where you left off. The winter is not a great time to see or keep in touch with people, but come spring, we always try to get together. It's so easy to walk around Karen's kitchen and make lunch for our 5 kids, or to chat with Becky like we had spoken the day before or see Jen's kids and have them remember me from last summer. Becky's girls, when asked what their relationship with my girls is, say, "Um, they are more than friends, kinda like cousins, but not blood relatives...." We talk, drink wine, help each other out, catch up and of course, tell a few stories. For instance, there was Quisinnaire's Rod from Grad school. We were taking a class on math for early childhood education and were talking about Quisinnaire Rods. They are a measuring device that help kids with 1's,10's, 100's ect.. Well, one day in class,(with Matt Damon's mom as our teacher) our friend Elizabeth said something about Quisinnaire's Rod which sent us into a fit of giggles. Of course, we were in grad school and you would have thought we were a bit more mature, but evidently not. And we still laugh about it today.

We talk about our kids and what is going right or wrong and we can say anything and be assured that we will not be judged from one another. We can eat mucho ice-cream like it has no calories because it didn't when we were in college. Or maybe because we were athletes then, it didn't stick to the thighs like it does today. Either way, we just don't care.

Our kids get along together like long lost cousins. If we had to live on a commune together, we would all manage and get along swimmingly. There would be plenty of laughter, too. We definitely wouldn't be wearing dresses from the 1900's like in some other sects, but we would work as a team. Anyway, being home and finishing up a fabulous vacation week visiting "old" friends, makes me a little sad that my "old" friends are an hour to 3 1/2 hours away. Luckily, the Cape is a big draw for people in the summer and I am assured that they will all be down once school gets out!

Happy Birthday, MOM!

Happy Birthday, Mom!!!!! I love you!!!!!

"It's a Beautiful Day"

It was a beautiful, sunny Cape Cod day today. The best thing about it was that the girls didn't have school (and don't all week). When I was little, we had a house in Ogunquit, Maine. One of my favorite places in the world. Anyway, we would open up our cottage during April vacation. It seemed every April vacation was cold and rainy and sometimes snowy. One time we made snowbunies because it was near Easter and it snowed! My mom would usually lose patience with us by mid-week and we would go home. Must be the global warming thing or something, but this week has been fabulous!

This morning, we went and checked up on DH who was working on boats before he went fishing tonight.
These are our 2 boats.

This is K with Gretel on the boat. Yes, they have the same curly hair. Later in the day, Gretel tried to jump into the water.

We also collected a bunch of stuff on the beach for B because she went to a Fairy house building afternoon at the library. Of course I had to take a few pictures because there are now colors in the world other than gray, brown and gray.

B and K, too cool for school!

We dropped B at the library where she made a fabulous fairy house! Maybe a fairy will come live in it tonight and leave her a present. She has a pool, bed, bathroom and swing at her pad. And with all the flowers, it smells delicious! What fairy wouldn't want to spend a night or 2 here?



Tomorrow we are headed off Cape to visit my dear friend and her kiddos. We are considering going to the beach because it is going to be 80!? Do I dare even dream that it could get to 80 tomorrow? The thing about Cape Cod, is that this weather could all be a big tease and we could be back in the 50's for weeks on end in May and even June. Better enjoy it while it is here! Hope the weather where you are is nice!