First Meme

I really don't have any idea what a meme is, but the word is thrown around the blogosphere like a hot potato. In french it means "the same". I'm guessing it means do the same thing I do, only in your words. Someone, feel free to tell me if I am anywhere close to solving this mystery. Anyway, I have jumped on to Laskigals meme she offered up to anyone today. By the way, there are some hot pictures of her husband's hair on her blog......Here are the rules:

• Pick up the nearest book of at least 123 pages.


• Open the book to page 123.


• Find the 5th sentence.


• Post the next 3 sentences.


• Tag 5 people.

OK, #1, I am not one for tagging people, so if you would like to indulge in this meme, let me know and knock yourself out. #2 The last book I read was Sleeping with Ward Cleaver, which I have already sung praises about. Since then, too much relocating my parents, so I have read nothing longer than a 5 page article and even that took a few days. So I just meandered over to the bookcase and grabbed, How to Say It to Girls: Communicating with Your Growing Daughter
This is what I found.....(Topic is Spirituality)
"*Let's say 3 things we're each thankful for before I tuck you into bed.
*I'm praying to God for help to figure out what to do.
*I believe that there's a strong energy for good in the world.
Encourage her questions about religion and spirituality."

Nothing juicy there, just some good wholesome advice. Now you know I will be going to page 123 of the next book I read to check things out. I am planning on having time to read another book around Mother's Day.

Streaking or not....

I blew my own streak. I wanted to post every day in March and my damn friends took me out to dinner Friday night, allowed my to drink too much and stayed at my house until 11:30 at which point I crawled up to bed. Can one have better friends?

Let me back up to say that Friday morning, I was on my way to Sturbridge Village (2 1/2 hours away) following a bus full of 5th graders with my sister in law(sil). My sil had her son's cell phone. He forgot to take it on the bus with him. A 1/2 hour or so into the trip, his cell phone gets a text message. Of course, she looks at it and reads it. That's when we became 11 again. She starts answering the text messages like she is him. Then I have to say, "Ask her if she likes, so and so", so she does and gets the answer "No WAy!" We amuse ourselves for 1 HOUR unbeknownst to the girls that it was not C they are talking to, but his mom and aunt! We cracked ourselves up. C was not too happy when we told him what we had been up to, but he forgave us. (Phew)

It rained most of the way there and all morning long. S.V. is mostly outside. The rain didn't seem to bother the oxen, the roosters, the lambs, the people who work there or especially the kids.

I guess it didn't bother me too much either although I was asked what I was harboring under my jacket a few times due to my camera that stayed warmer and drier than I did.
K at the old school house.

The car ride back was less eventful probably because we had rescued K and C from the bus and took them home with us. The ride started off fine, SIL slept, K and C played magnetic checkers, I daydreamed about a beach in Aruba, I mean I paid very close attention to the road. With 1/2 hour left, all talk turned to poop. Kids think poop is hysterical. C had to go, but didn't want to make me stop until it was almost too late! We pulled off the highway and drove to a nice hotel where he relieved himself, jumped into the car and said, "Quick, we have to leave, I just dropped a foot long in there and the place will never be the same!" K and C laughed about this the whole way home.

I thought I could write yesterday, but wound up cleaning the house in the AM for the ant exterminator. Yes, I am sure he appreciated my clean counters. The big carpenter ants appreciated my clean hallways. I don't think they appreciated the poisonous spray into their nests. My mom, dad and brother decided that Sat. afternoon would be a fabulous time to go to IKEA. All 3 were not comfortable in the front of my bro's truck, so my mom was going to drive herself. Being the oldest kid, makes you the most responsible kid. (Funny, I can be 41 and still a kid!) My mom has had trouble with her sciatica and I didn't want her driving that far herself, so B and I went with her. We arrived at IKEA at 2:30 on Sat. afternoon. Not a time I would recommend to anyone. The entire United Nations was there. Didn't stop me from getting a bunch of stuff, though. My (anal) brother measured this and that (everything), used the calculator and went through a few pencils figuring out what was needed for parent's new house. We got home at 8:15!

Guess what we all will be doing today? You guessed it, putting together $500 worth of IKEA furniture. Better go get some batteries for my electric screwdriver since it's too chilly to go streaking.

The Day After

Thank you eveyone for my birthday wishes! I even got a blog entry dedicated to me by my friend Rebecca over at Seaside Designs. She is the most creative person I know. She sells her beautiful ocean-y (new word!) jewelry, soaps, candles, lotions, sea glass creations, and more all over the country! Actually, you can see and buy some of her delightful creations here.

My day was busy and ordinary albeit for enjoying a lovely lunch with my mom and my dear friend, Faith and people shouting Happy Birthday every once and awhile, oh and dare I forget the presents! Had a maritime meeting, hip hop class, picked up girls from school, moved furniture around my parents house and took B to soccer practice. I was most eager to get B's card because of what she said the other night(scroll a few posts down).

This is what she wrote, "Dear Mommy, I love you so so so much and I've spent 9 years with you and hopefully there will be so many more to come! Happy Birthday! Love, B".

Yes, B, with any luck, there will be about another 60 or so(knock on wood). That's what I am working toward! Of course I did get rollerblades from my dear family, so I may be a little bruised!

World's Greatest Story (about me, of course!)

4 score and 7 years ago.....OK, maybe not quite that long ago.....a beautiful (smart, kind, lovely, darling) little girl was born. Her wonderful mother was in the hospital knocked out (yes, it was that long ago), while her dashing father was at her grandparents' house washing the car. (Can you imagine? Not wiping the brow of his laboring (but asleep) bride, but home washing the car!) He had the phone out the window waiting for the good word from the Dr.. Finally the phone rang around 1 that beautiful Easter Sunday afternoon, he hopped in his clean car and flew to the hospital.

There was his snoring, I mean, lovely wife and his stunningly gorgeous baby girl (hey, it's my story, I can embellish). They named this dreamy little girl Susan (which means Lily, which is appropriate for Easter, don't you think?). The handsome father wanted to name her Judy after an old girlfriend, but thankfully the mother woke from her drug induced slumber and straightened him out!

There it is, the story of my birth. I love birthdays and plan on making a big deal out of mine for the next 60 or so years. What better way to celebrate another year well lived with all the highs and lows that come with life in general? No time to lament getting older, or adding another gray hair, or another wrinkle....it's time to celebrate the present. I mean the here and now, but if you have presents, bring'em on!

What to write.....

Pondering things to write about tonight..... I thought I was going to write about how I got interviewed for the newspaper since I am running for school committee, then I thought about writing how B watched many episodes of America's Next Top Model (UGH), or I could have told you about how my dog and my sister's dog took off today for a 1/2 hour jaunt to who knows where while I frantically looked for them. But no, none of those will compare to what B just told me. (My birthday is tomorrow). "Mommy, I tried to make your card not like a death notice." HUH? "Yeah, I tried to make it not sound like something I would write on your grave stone."
me, "That's great, honey. Sweet dreams!"

MCAS, blah

Egg salad for lunch, number 1. This will probably be followed by days 2 -7 as well.

My girls had a great Easter weekend and had to go back to school today for MCAS. These are the Massachusetts standardized testing units they use for graduation. Granted, you have to pass your sophomore year to graduate, but they start the stress in the 3rd grade. Sent B to school today with her wrist in an ace bandage. OK, so the story behind this is that I walked the dog while she rollerbladed Friday and she fell on her wrist. This is my daughter who is dying to have a cast, dying to get an xray and one day wanting to become a Dr. (a rich Dr. who can play golf when she wants, but a Dr. nonetheless). Sorry kid, no swelling, no black and blue and plenty of movement. Instead of the xray she got lots of frozen peas (hey, they form around the wrist better than ice) and an ace bandage. Very disappointing to her, but she got sympathy today with the ace bandage. She also had a slight cold, so I sent her with kleenex and a pencil sharpener and a few cough drops and a large bottle of water. One must be in traction to miss the MCAS. Also, once they start, there is no getting up until you are done.

As I was waiting in a Dr's office with my mom, who has had severe ciatic nerve problems since she and my dad started moving a month ago, the elementary school nurse called. Seems B's teacher did not appreciate the way she was trying to cough up a lung and the minute she was done with the test, he decided she should come home until test 2 which is Wed morning. OK, fine. When do I get my masters in medicine anyway. Doesn't experience count for anything?

Happy Easter!

We had a very nice sunny and chilly day here on Cape Cod. I am stuffed to the gills with ham and a brownie sundae. Hope you all had a nice day, too!
Don't be fooled by the temp in this picture! I made them stand outside for 60 seconds withouth their jackets on so I could see their cute outfits! Chalk up another point in the best mom award category!

Easter Eve

Today is Easter Eve! We celebrated by going on an Easter egg hunt. A very smart real estate company in town combined 2 open houses with an egg hunt in their new development. Everyone from the egg hunt went thru the 2 houses. Now this could be genius or just stupidity. One of the houses was unfurnished and had soft yellow walls. Hopefully, because it was chilly, there were not too many chocolate hand prints on those nice yellow walls. The other house was staged with rental furniture (I am guessing). Lots of white in that house. Hopefully not too many jelly beans were smeared across the floor, couch, etc... Anyway, it was one way to get a bunch of people looking at your houses and land for sale!
There were a ton of kids and parents at this egg hunt. I have never seen anything look like a swarm of locust as these kids did. They were given the green light and they picked up everything in their path. Look at the haul these 2 cuties made!



Daddy went fishing tonight and will miss Easter. The girls were a little concerned that Daddy wasn't getting a holiday or candy. We took their 60 or so eggs from the egg hunt, filled them with daddy favorites like black jelly beans and then snuck down to his boat and hid all the eggs!
This is what he will see when he goes to drive the boat....

That is unless all the crab legs eat them first!

Happy Easter!

On the Farm

And here I thought I had nothing of interest to write about tonight! K and DH were at our barn today when K noticed her horse, Clint, lying down. Millie is our goat that wanders around the barn. Millie decided that she would climb up on Clint and give him a hickey or something. Thankfully, K took a picture with daddy's cell phone. You never know what's going to happen with those kooky animals!

Playin' Hooky

Unfortunately, I taught my girls at a young age that mental health days are crucial to their schooling. You have got to have a fun day off every once and awhile. Today was the day. DH and I took the girls skiing at Wachusett Mt. We met my sister,KK, up there and her bff from, forever, Missy, and her 3 yr old, Joey. The 4 of us have not been in a car alone for a long time. We have not been anywhere together in a long time. DH does horse stuff with K and I do everything else with B. It took us all awhile to let down our guards and relax with each other. After the first ride up the lift, things were back to normal and we were all laughing and having fun together. K is the only snowboarder. She is usually oppositional to everything. We like the Red Sox, she likes the Yankees. We like the Patriots, she likes the Colts. We like skiing, she likes snowboarding. I know nothing about snowboarding, but she did pretty well today.

My family had won a silent auction bid on a "deluxe room" at the mountain. This is like having your own living room with a waitress at a ski lodge. There is no sitting with the riff-raff. We have a private room with a deck, private bath and lift tickets. There are couches and a tv and a long table in our room. It's pretty much "the cat's ass". Because it is the end of March and it was overcast and a little rainy and a Thursday.... there were like 50 people on the mountain. This equaled lots of fun for us (and some very sore muscles for us tomorrow!). Here are some photos from our day....
K on the quad...
B on the quad....
B fell and K went to "save" her...
KK and B making a train...
The fam on our cushy couch...
K and B at the end of the day, still smiling!

Bloggy Friends

It's getting late and I need (really need) my beauty sleep. Just wanted to alert you to my new list of bloggy friends. Yes, it is over there on the right. Scroll down, you'll see it. It's about time I got one up, I know. It's a work in progress, but at the moment these are the women who keep me motivated, amused and on the edge of my seat! Keep up the good work, girls!

When did they grow up?

There once was a time when Toys R Us was the Holy Grail to my kids. They ate, slept and dreamed of toys. Every occasion for them(OK, maybe not all...) was marked with a toy. Dr's appt.... let's go to Toys R Us, grew 2 inches....let's go to Toys R Us, good report card......let's go to Toys R Us....you get the picture. Today they both had dentist cleaning appointments. I won't get into the disaster that was my kids dentist history. Let me sum it up with lots of tears (mine and theirs), big bills(no dental insurance) and lots of cavities. Every trip that we survived, equaled a trip to Toys R Us. In the past 2 years, it turned to every cleaning without a cavity equaled a trip to Toys R Us. Yes, they have improved at the dentist. Today neither had a cavity. K had her last trip from the tooth fairy last night, B has one more trip from the TF. This in itself is bittersweet.

So, naturally, we head to Toys R Us. We walked around TRU for 20 minutes. The girls pointed to a few things. I walked through the baby car seat and swing aisle just for kicks. Actually I was checking things out for when my sister gets pregnant. I do not want to be the "old mom" that didn't know some swings go side to side now with mobiles over them instead of the 'old' back and forth plastic edition. We went through the Little People section of Fisher Price and wished that we still had them strewn over the family room because they have some cute new animals and things. We walked through Barbies, Polly Pocket, Hannah Montana, Dolls, Littlest Pet Shop, and the Bratz section. There was NOTHING that they wanted so badly that they HAD TO HAVE IT..... N-O-W!!!!! They actually didn't see anything that they really wanted. WTF?! This has never happened to them. We went into the bike section and K suggested a Pocket Mode Scooter for $179 for her birthday. B wanted Mario Party 8 for the Wii. (Hmm, not willing to spend $50 on no cavities). So we left Toys R Us with nothing. Did you hear me? WE LEFT TOYS R US WITH NOTHING!!!!!!

We then went to Cold Stone Creamery where I proceeded to drown my sorrows in a waffle bowl with chocolate ice-cream and white choc. chips. How did this happen? Are clothes going to be the reward of choice now? Maybe a trip to Borders. I don't know, but this is going to take some getting use to. Even K was upset by the fact that she didn't really want anything. She was practically apologizing for not seeing anything she really wanted. Bottom line: My babies are out growing "toys" and I am really not sure I am ready for the next stage.

St. Patrick's Day

I feel a little like a green Spongebob about now! I have eaten Corned Beef and Cabbage (well not exactly the cabbage because that is just gross) for 2 nights, made green brownies for a party Sat night, green brownies for B's class today and green cupcakes (and green frosting) for K's class today. We have worn as much green as was physically possible today and B looked a little green coming out of Hip Hop class due to shaking up all the green food she had eaten. K's class spent the day eating green food including Mountain Dew. Who sends in M.D. to a classroom of 10 year olds? K said kids were bouncing off the walls. She is not 'allowed' to drink caffeine because she gets so happy and crazy and then crashes like there's no tomorrow. The crash lasts 4 times as long as the happy and let me tell you, it isn't pretty! I shudder to think what a few beers will do to her. So I am going to do a little Irish Jig while I brush my teeth, find some green pjs (who are we kidding, a green tshirt will do) and have sweet dreams of green pastures and green beer! Happy St. Paddy's Day everyone!

Bernie and Phyl's: Take 1

I tried, I really tried.

My girls saw the casting call on tv a few weeks ago for Bernie and Phyl's furniture store. It said, be there between 10 and 2 at their Braintree, MA store and the first 75 kids/groups of kids would be chosen. "Can we Mommy?" they begged with those big idyllic smiles on their faces. "Sure, no problem" I said wanting to please them and help them toward their ultimate goal of being 'famous'.

OK, so the alarm went off at 6:45 Saturday morning. We got up, showered and jumped in the car. Knowing that it would be 1 1/2 hours to get there and thinking we should probably be there an hour early (just in case) we flew up the highway. I mean I drove 55mph like I should have with my hands at 10 and 2. Stopped long enough at the drive thru at Burger King to grab some french toast sticks. (Not so tasty) Drove through a down pour until we were 20 minutes from our goal....then it started to snow. Why I hadn't listened closely to the forecast was beyond me. The girls were in cute matching black capris and purple fleece sweatshirts. Capris are not a good call in snowstorm. Especially when one is wearing furry crocs with them.

Hmmm, was it the sea of umbrellas I noticed first or the lack of parking situation? Being a well organized, I mean prepared, I mean just basically unorganized mom that I am, I luckily had plenty of hats, mittens and scarves in the car. I even found a fleece blanket in the trunk and an umbrella. We made our way into the line. First I thought maybe the store didn't open until 10 and then they would let us in. Wrong. They were taking a kid every 4 minutes from the blizzard that was ensuing outside. I am not a very good estimator, but looking at the sea of umbrellas ahead of me and doing the 4 minute calculation and the fact that they were taking the first 75, I thought,"We don't have a chance in hell at making this audition."

I did not utter this aloud, but stood there patiently holding the umbrella over my 2 chilled kiddies. After about 1/2 hour and before the frostbite started in earnest, the girls decided that this was ridiculous and that we should bail out. I had to agree, we were about # 150 in line.


Surprisingly enough there were no tears. Maybe because their tear ducts had frozen. I felt really bad because they had practiced this great routine all week long with the B&P jingle and they were beyond psyched to be on tv! What's a mom to do in a situation like this, but take them to the nearest mall for some shop-therapy. We were even at the Mall before the Easter Bunny woke up, so we stole his seat for a photo-op.

Build a Bear Workshop was the first stop, where they got a bunny and chick. Macy's for spring outfits, naturally. Enough with the stupid snow. K picked this outfit out herself. Honestly, not many people could pull this outfit off, but she looked great. And she loved it and she wants to wear it to school tomorrow in 35 degree weather. Maybe next week, honey, when it is officially spring.
Then we made our way to Target and wandered around for an hour. Boy, do I love Target. We got home at 4:30. It was a long, and at times disappointing day, but us girls have to stick together and find fun wherever we can and that's what we did! Bernie and Phyl don't know what they missed!

Photo Contest

There is a contest going on at My Semblance of Sanity that goes like this:

Contest Rules:

1. Post a photo with a hysterical caption on your blog.

2. Link back to My Semblance so your readers can join in on the fun and enter the contest, too!

3. Leave a comment in this post (THIS ONE!) with a link to your entry so we can all enjoy (and giggle, of course!).

4. Stay tuned for next Thursday's video announcement of our 5 (?) finalists.

Anyone is welcome to join in the fun! Here is my shot.....
"Pardon me, ma'am. Which way to the rodeo?"

Cutesy names....

My brother(34) has come down to the Cape for the weekend with his girlfriend(24). As we were waiting for him (and her) to get here, we were dining at a local bar with my parents and sister. (My alternative motive for going to the bar was to finish getting my 50 names signed onto my school committee sheet so I can be on the ballot in May. Everyone in town goes to the bar on a Friday night.)B says, "I think Tommy and Jenn are going to make it". "Make it?" we ask, "Why do you think that?" "Well, they call each other cutesy names." Well, yes, they do call each other cute names and are always holding hands or touching each other, but does that make them perfect for each other? I am wondering what she thinks about her father and me? We rarely hold hands and are not often in the same hemisphere as each other. He is running a boat or riding a horse, I am doing mom things and, lately, helping my parents move. It's interesting what a 9 year old picks up on. My parents are living with us for a few weeks until their house is finished (ie gets running water). They don't hold hands and certainly have a few choice words for each other while they are re-doing a house and living with us. Yet, they have been married for 43 years. Do cute names and hand holding rank higher than the every day battle of married life in the eyes of a starry eyed kid? Evidently yes. But will it last?

Entitled Politicians

Scroll down for blogger party, look for the disco ball and platform shoes! Can't have a party without them!

What is up with the power and entitlement that elected officials feel they possess? I just don't get it. If my husband spent $80,000 on call girls, I think I would kill him, not stand next to him, while he resigned from being govenor. I think I would notice the money missing, too. Hard to cover that up with a few Budweisers and scratch cards. I suppose in New York, that analogy would be martinis and horse races. Whatever, I feel bad for the man's wife and daughters. Now the funny/odd/ironic thing is that I took papers out today to run for School Committee in my little town. Now this is an elected position. Will all this power go to my head? Do I have a spare $80,000 to spend on boy toys? Do I even have a spare $80 to spend on boy toys or a cute skirt for that matter? Hopefully my blogging friends will keep me grounded, ...if not ......I can't even go there!

Living Museum

'Ashes' from Disney

Please scroll down for my blogging party debut! The party is going all week long! Just look for the disco ball and the platform shoes!

The big project in 3rd grade is the living museum. The kids get to pick a "famous" person in history, read a book or 2 about him/her and then dress up like the person. Tomorrow is the living museum part. All 60 3rd graders will line up in the gym according to the age of their person. They will be 'frozen', but when someone walks up to them, they will come alive and speak in the first person about him/herself. B picked Gwen Stefani. Not quite as famous in history as her bff ,Betsy Ross, but famous, yes. Tomorrow I will post a picture of the fashionable Gwen.

Today, the 3rd graders practiced by going to some classrooms. B was a wreck this morning and practiced her 30 sec speech many times. "Hi, I am Gwendolyn Renee Stefani! I was born in Anaheim, California. I lived so close to Disney World that asses from the fireworks would float into my backyard." OK, so she meant "ashes". Once she realized what she said, we both started cracking up. Then she expounded on the thought with, "Hey watch out, there is an ass from Disney flying into our backyard."
Well, that laugh fest made her a whole lot less nervous and me more so. All I could imagine was her going to a 1st grade room and repeating that story. Ugh. Thankfully there was no talk of asses at school, although I did warn her teacher that ash can be a very tricky word.

Blogger Party 2008!

There's that feeling in the air......it's party time! Thanks to 2 moms , I am a participant of the Blogger 2008 party. This is my first blog party, so I thought I should have a disco ball
and some sweet platform shoes.....

Pretend you are hearing Prince's "Party Like it's 1999" (I haven't figured out the music thing yet).

For those of you that don't know me, I am new to blogging (Jan 08). I am absolutely loving it! I love writing about my day or something that made me think during the day or something that my kids did during the day. Really anything I find amusing, I will write about it. Of course, this has my friends on their best behavior lest they get written up in my blog for the world to see. My daughter K is 10 and my daughter B is 9. They are best friends with completely different personalities! My DH is a commercial fisherman and we live on Cape Cod, MA.(I put the state in just for you manic) I volunteer at the schools, at church, am a photographer, was a teacher, and I love living on the Cape. I never get tired of looking at the ocean and beaches. OK, so it would be nicer to walk out on them from my front door, but that is a pipe dream for another time. No matter where you live on Cape Cod, you are not far from the water.

I have a strong addiction to M&Ms. Until they make a rehab place for that, I guess I will have to suffer (HAHA). I think it is a genetic trait that has been carried through on my mom's side of the family. I am truly blessed that my sister and her husband, my mom and dad, my in-laws and DH's brother, his wife and their 3 boys live in the same town as us. Someday I will succeed in getting my brother to live down here, too. Maybe a summer house, Tom?

As for pets, I am very allergic to all things furry, so we have a labradoodle named Gretel and fish. (I know, ironic, a fisherman having fish for decoration not for dinner.....) Of course, we also have 7 horses, a goat and 4 bunnies. No, I can't go to the barn too often. I need a weeks worth of allergy medicine for an hour visit.

I love people visiting my little world and comments make me giddy. Enjoy the week of partying and come again!

Baby talk

Oooooh boy. B was on fire today with her comments. I have referred to her as my walking comedy show.....today didn't disappoint. We started moving my parents into their new home and B put herself in charge of "car duty". This was the person who slid the boxes to the edge of the truck, so the workerbees (yeah, me) could carry the stuff into the house. That was all fine and good and after, my Mom, sister, B and I went to DQ (Dairy Queen- it even has a drive-through!). B has been hitting my sister up pretty hard about having a baby (she would prefer her to have 4 right away). She said she had better hurry up or people would think she was a Grandma when her kids were in pre-school. She wasn't worried about my brother having kids because his girlfriend was only 24 "even though Tommy is pushing 35". We were all laughing about the "pushing" part and then she proceeded to tell my mom, "Well, you know Nana, you are pushing 68!"

My sister and her husband and (for the past 2 years) my mom and dad live in the same town as me. My sister started Sunday Night Suppah so we could hang out and begin the week on a fun note. You never know what the dinner table conversation will be. Tonight, we were stuck on the baby theme. "KK and Squishy need to have a baby soon." This, then turned to talks of uteruses. No, 'please pass the salt and pepper' for this family. B said that Nana's oven (uterus) was too old, mine was broken (as in not there), but KK's was just right. Poor Squishy gets a little red in the face when baby talk comes up. B had it all under control though. She figured if they had 4 kids, one could live with Squishy's parents, two could live with us (then K and B wouldn't have to fight over who was going to hold the baby) and one could live with my parents. KK and Squishy could visit the kids, but this way they could still ski, go out on the boat in the summer and hang out. Think of how easy problems would be solved if 9 year olds ran the world.

Of course, everyone has gone home now, my tribe is in bed, but I think Squishy is still quivering under the dining room table.

Hoppin' Saturday Night!

What do you get when you combine 5 episodes of My Big Redneck Wedding, eating shepherd's pie on the couch with plastic forks (to keep with the theme), a daughter with a stomach ache that wants to go in an ambulance to the hospital with a side trip to Dairy Queen, a husband that is trimming and grooming the dog (for the 100th time this week), a daughter that is roller blading back in forth saying that she is a 'witch bunny' and a mom that has dipped into the chardonnay?

Yup, you got it..... a rainy Saturday night in March on Cape Cod. Yeeeee-haaaaa!

Music

I love music. Music is the one thing that can trigger memories and/or pop me out of a bad mood. Listening to AC/DC or Boston in my bedroom with the door closed got me through my Junior High years. Yesterday, I was crabby and driving in my car. Did I commit road rage? No, I just cruised the dial for a good song. Melissa Etheridge "Come to My Window" came on. What a relief! I cranked it up and sang it at the top of my lungs cruising down the highway. So I had 4 other people in my car.... no just kidding... I only sing at the top of my lungs when I am alone or just to annoy K and B. Then the next song was vintage Billy Joel. What a pick me up.

Yesterday, while I was at my parent's house, packing some boxes (by myself, they said they were picking out tile for their new house, but I think they were at a bar). I tuned into the station my mom had on the radio. Hello memory burst! There were songs from Manfred Mann, Tommy James and the Shondells, Carol King, The Carpenters, Donna Summer, Stevie Wonder.... just to name a few. Each song brought me to a specific scene from my youth. We spent every summer in Ogunquit, Maine. Some songs I could picture us at our house, some songs at the beach. We were also big skiers and every Thursday afternoon our elementary school got out early and we had ski lessons. I specifically remember eating peanut butter and Saltines sitting on a bench outside the lodge listening to some of these atists on the PA system that broadcast around the mountain. (OK, looking at it now, it was a hill, but I was little then!)

Today, B and her chorus from the elem. school sang at a nursing home in town. The elderly people rolled, shuffled, were pushed and walked into the packed room. The 20 or so kids serenaded songs from the 20's and 30's to them. It was so great to look out at the audience and see the older folks singing along with the kids. Moon River was one of my favorites and obviously one of theirs.

I cannot play an instrument or even read music, however, the melodies, words and memories make me an expert in the field.

Dinner

I went to my friend Amy's house for dinner tonight. She is the photographer I assist during wedding season. It was such a lovely time. Her table was set like you would see in a Martha Stewart magazine. Which is funny because she is so not Martha. (Thank God!) There were 7 of us, 2 women I met for the first time. It was a completely different group than I more regularly hang out with and it was great. We talked about all the usual things Moms talk about....kids, kids' teachers (as in who is strict, who is sweet and who has no social skills when it comes to talking to parents, but the kids love'em), cats and their various issues (one Mom's cat had died earlier in the day as she was booking her son's birthday party. Can't you just hear that conversation, "Um, great, save that date, but I will have to get back to you after I give my cat mouth to mouth."), how great dinner was! and if there were otters on Cape Cod (evidently, yes). The sweetest thing was that she had little gifts wrapped at our seats and some random paper cubes with letters on them. We had to shuffle the letters to make a word. The word eventually meant what our names meant. Susan means "lily" if you were wondering. My mom watched the girls because Matt was out fishing. I am so fortunate for my mom, but that will have to be a whole'nother post because the wine and chocolate are making my eyelids droopy.

Dancing Divas

The following post, Dancing Divas, is dedicated to Patrick Swayze (not that he is a diva, but dancer). Evidently he has pancreatic cancer. I am so sad because he is one of my favorite male dancers (hellooooo, Dirty Dancing) and he ain't too bad to look at either. Yummy!

Today was the first day of the Mom's Hip Hop class! It was very amusing and I may not be able to roll myself out of bed tomorrow. I used some muscles I didn't think I had. At least that means I still have some muscles. Sorry, no pictures to share.

So, the dancing bug is in the house tonight. At the talent show 2 girls did this cute act where one laid down and the other kneeled over her. So one was using arms, the other legs. It was very cute. K and B must have too much sugar today because they just tried to recreated it.



There were a few costume changes in the 20 minutes they spent doing this. Now, they are doing the waltz or something that K learned in music today. B is taller and stronger than K, so she usually gets the male role. K decided male dancers must wear all black.



I love my 2 hams. I hope they always have this much fun together!

Chuck E. Cheese

First, I just wanted to tell everyone that I finished the book, Sleeping with Ward Cleaver and loved it! Yay to Jenny Gardiner, first time author!

OK, back to real news. I have never been to a Chuck E Cheese restaurant. Yes, believe it. There is not one within an hour of me, so therefore, have escaped the big mouse trap. LOL, I am cracking myself up with that one. 2 moms and their sons evidently were having dinner there last night. One mom had her 9 year old's birthday party there and the other mom's 13 year old son was "hogging" a basketball game. The 2 boys got into some words and the 13 year old "allegedly" pushed the 9 year old. The mothers came to protect their cubs with words. They were very loud words, but words, nonetheless. That's what we teach our kids to do, right? Use your words. Evidently words did not do the trick and the mothers started pushing, scratching and punching... yes, your basic cat fight. In a mouse hole. The police were called in and broke up the melee.

What kind of lesson did these moms teach their kids last night? What kind of lesson were all the kids at C.E.Cheese taught last night? I strongly believe in sticking up for my kids, but prefer to avoid huge confrontations. B plays spring soccer in a strict Cape league. Last year one of her games was a mandated "silent" game. The board decided that parents get a little too involved in their kids' games. There was no cheering on the sideline. It was extremely weird for the parents, but the kids actually liked it. A few years ago, in a suburb of Boston, 2 men were at their kids' hockey game. The father's didn't like something that happened out on the ice and the larger father wound up killing the smaller father with punches. In front of all the kids!

I don't really have a point to this, just some things to ponder. How can we teach our kids to be better people when shit like this is happening all around them?

Tom Cruise vs. Ward Cleaver

During times when I am not eavesdropping at Hip Hop class, I like (love) to read. This past summer I read Andrew Morton's book on Princess Diana. It was supposedly authorized by her before she died. It was extremely interesting and the guy sounded like he really knew his facts. Fast forward to this year when Andrew Morton published Tom Cruise's unauthorized biography. I thought, here is a guy I use to l-o-v-e in Top Gun, the Firm, the lawyer navy one with Jack Nicholson and Risky Business. Plus my all time favorite, "All The Right Moves". That goes back a ways. Anyway, I wanted to read the Morton dirt on him. Wanted to see where he was coming from because now I think he's a little bit of a freak show. Cute, but a freak show nonetheless. The book was down right disturbing. The whole Scientology thing is similar to a cult. OK, it is a cult, I just don't want to piss any of you readers off. It's not like I get 150 comments a day and have readers to spare. So it also seems, Tommy boy has been a control freak from the get go and kind of hard to tell fact from fiction when it is coming out of his mouth. I thought Katie had been sucked into his world without much of a chance and I guess I was right. Free Katie.

I knew I needed to change genres to get my mood from deep depression, so I grabbed Jenny Gardiner's first published book titled, Sleeping With Ward Cleaver. This reading suggestion came from my blog friend Manic. OK, so maybe we don't know each other, but I read her blog everyday (yeah kind of like stalking) and I know a lot about her, so therefore, she is my friend. Anyway the book is fabulous and I am giving it a 2 thumbs up and I am only half way through it! Parts are a little too close for comfort in the similarity dept. to my real life. I don't think my husband is Ward Cleaver, but I think he wishes he were. I think he wishes he were married to a more June Cleavery type girl too. You know the type, always looking put together (me, I really like comfy pants and tshirts), the house is neat as a pin (sorry, see a few posts ago), the kids are polite and say "sir" and all (OK, so they clear their dishes to the sink after dinner, but they have never uttered the word "sir") and June never asks for anything, but always seems great (2 words, mood swings). Anyhow, Jenny's writing really sucks you in and makes me want to ignore all chores and requests and just sit down and read. Of course, when I finish it, I will expect her to write another one immediately!

In conclusion, the younger, naive me would have to say Tom Cruise is way better than Ward Cleaver, but the blogging, more mature me, says Ward Cleaver, hands down!

ghost ship

Guess what? I went to the beach today and got some color in my cheeks! OK, so it was wind burn and about 30 degrees out, but, dammit, the sun was shining!

B, my Dad and I went up to Wellfleet today to check out a hull of a boat that was probably made in the 1800s. The storms of this winter have eroded the beach so much that it unearthed this wooden hull. Think about that. People have been enjoying this beach for 200 or so years and all that time, underneath it, was a hull of a boat that sank at sea. Pretty cool.
I have never been to Stonehenge, but it was a pilgrimage of sorts. People trekking in thick sand and a strong breeze to witness history.



There was this sign posted warning us not to take any part of this history.

My Dad and B standing near the hull. What's that? You think B is wearing a wooly mammoth on her head? Well ,yeah she is, but hey, it keeps her warm!
Here is the hull, up close and personal. It was low tide, but I guess at high tide it is covered and the sand around it keeps disappearing. It was pretty cool because instead of nails they used rounded wood. Also, they were able to bend the wood so it curved on the bottom of the boat.

And finally a picture of B and me. I knew you were waiting to see me bundled up like the Eskimo I felt like. At least I had on my cool shades.


Finally, on our trek back to the year 2008, we had a little fun with our shadows.

See? Half on the beach, half in the water. So the water was a chilly 36 degrees. Our shadows didn't seem to mind.

Talent Show

Phew, it's over and I'm back in blog-world. What's over? The elem. school talent show that my friend and I direct. We had 2 very successful shows yesterday! This is our 4th year doing the talent show together in our K-4 elem. school. I LOVE doing it. This year there were 45 acts with about 100 kids. It always amazes me to see the kids get up on stage and perform. Each act is about a minute long and for that minute they are superstars. We hit the night off last night with a Kindergartener. singing God Bless America. He was amazing and brought more than one person to tears. We also had 2 dog acts, lots of dancing, piano solos, Irish step dancing, breakdancing, jumproping, singing and a glow in the dark act. The music ranged from Elvis to Hannah Montana. I do the music, so for the night I feel like a DJ. B was in the show (K is in middle school). She and her 2 bffs were in their matching pjs, had bears in strollers, did yoga, karate, gymnastics and formed a pyramid-yup all in 1:10. The elem school kids and teachers packed the house in the morning and parents, grandparents, etc packed the house for the evening show.

So today I can just rest on the adulation from last night and relax, right? Unfortunately, the down side of running the talent show is that your house is neglected. This is my kitchen table..

At least it's folded ! And here is my counter. UGH!
Yeah, being sick the week of the Talent Show was not good planning. So I am off to check my favorite blogs and see what I've missed this week. I will have to list them sometime for the rest of you. Maybe after I find out what color my counter is.