Ride Like the Wind

Thank God I don't have to type with my thighs tonight! Yeah, 27 miles on my bike with the 5th graders today has done me in. "The ole body ain't like it used to be". However, I did it and did it respectably. I think I went up a few notches in K's eyes. I know she impressed me! I knew she could ride a horse for 27 miles, no problem, but I was a little worried about the bike. Not only did she do the ride, she made it to Hip Hop dress rehearsal even! Here is our day in a nutshell, minus the 50 other kids and 30 or so "helper "teacher/parents.
The bikes, fresh and waiting for their riders!
Riders, start your motors! I mean legs!
My kooky aunt sent this helmet cover to K. I decided to wear it. It provided people with much humor!
You would think she was the only one on the ride. Not true. And hey, yay me, I took this while riding and holding the camera!

13.5 miles and we made it to lunch!

K, cousin C and Newfie Lily at the lunch stop.
K and me, getting psyched for the ride back!
And we're off! I cracked up at what some of the kids were wearing. Some of the girls were wearing jean shorts or jean capris. Some kids had on fleece. It was a beautiful 65-70 degree day. Some real bikers wore "the shorts" ( I wish I had me a pair of those!). We wore PMC ride shirts donated by Stop and Shop. The PMC is the Pan Mass Challenge, a Mass fundraiser for cancer. And here is K's trick she picked up along the way from one of the parents (thanks Jeff!).
It is called highway riding. She was real swervy while trying this which made me oh so nervous. I did learn that when K is angry or frustrated, she rides real hard. She wasn't mad at me, but one of her friends kept riding ahead of her. No wonder her legs are tired tonight! I have 2 more years to practice before B gets to do this! I don't think I will start tomorrow, though!

Boston

There is nothing like a ride on a yellow school bus to get your adrenaline pumping for the day! Yes, the 3rd grade and I went on a field trip to Boston today. And yes, it took a good 1 1/2 hours to get there. On a yellow school bus. More fun couldn't be had anywhere else!

We went on the Duck Tours. These car/boats are amphibious mobiles that were used in WWII (I think). You get a tour around Boston and then you get a tour on the Charles River. It is very cool actually. We couldn't have planned a nicer day for this.
An example of a duck boat in the water.
The Boston sky line.
The Zakim Memorial Bridge.

Then we went to the Boston Common, had lunch and then went for a ride on the swan boats.


After the swan boats, we stopped by and visited Mrs. Mallard with her duckies from Make Way for Ducklings. This is a great book by the way if you haven't already read it yourself or to your kids.

Then it was the ride home, rest for 1 hour and head to soccer practice. You'll have to excuse me if there are more pictures than words tonight, but I am tired!

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend 08

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I am trying out a new slideshow site, so if you click the picture of "Ms. Marples" and B above, hopefully you will see it! Ms. M and Uncle Lickey came in from Michigan for the weekend and spent a day with us! We squeezed in putting together a storage thingy on my parents new deck, horseback riding, the beach and DH brought home some big lobsters! Yes, you get the royal treatment when you visit us!

4 Years and Counting!

I went with my mom to her annual check up with her breast cancer Dr. yesterday. 4 years and she is (knock on wood) cancer free! I had not been to Dana Farber with her before yesterday. My Dad was getting 20 yards of loam, a man on a bobcat and my brother yesterday, so he passed the torch to me. Let me just say that Dana Farber knows how to treat a patient. Other Dr.s out there, especially my GYN Dr, whom I love to pieces, but could take a few pointers on waiting rooms, listen up!
She had a 10:00 mamo and an 11:00 meeting with her Dr. The hallway to the mamo office was all Red Sox. (Hey, we like the Red Sox, ok, worship the Red Sox, here in Boston.) Very cool. There was also this cool cow in the lobby of the parking garage.
For some reason, I am not able to download the cool pictures of the Red Sox walls. Must be a Yankee's fan putting a curse on my phone. So the women in the mamo office, couldn't have been nicer or quicker! She was in and out in 30 minutes total and was told she was tumor free right away! I am thinking of my mamo office where, yes the people are nice, but I am there for 2 hours!! Plus, I sit in a crowded room with lots of ladies in various stages of dress, mostly paper johnnies. UGH.
So then up to the Dr's office we go. We check in and sit in the waiting room. Hello!.....but what do I see, SNACKS! Yup, chips, popcorn, granola bars, water, coffee and on the counter a big bowl of Jolly Ranchers. We didn't have time to finish our shared bag of popcorn before she was called in by the nurse. Weight, blood pressure, off to Dr's room. 2 mins later, nurse comes in and asks some questions and tells my mom to put on gown. OK, here was our longest wait of the day.... maybe 7 minutes before the DR came bouncing in! She weighs about 95 lbs soaking wet and is so cute and talked the entire time!
We were checking out of the parking garage at 11:30. Totally unbelievable. So we celebrated with a trip to Crate and Barrel and a delicious lunch at the Rustic Kitchen. I did take a pic of my mom's avacado and crab salad because it was so fancy and cute, but once again my phone is hogging it and won't share with me.
So a great day, not just because I got to share it with my mom, but the good news that went along with it! Hope you all have a fabulous Memorial Day weekend! I will try to catch up on visiting your blogs, it has been a very busy week!

The Donkey

This is an email that my mom forwarded to me. Hope you like it!



One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up.

Pret ty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each
of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the
deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.
2. Free your mind from worries - Most never happen.
3. Live simply and appreciate what you have.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.

Tears on My Pillow

Ask anyone and they would tell you I am a pretty together person. I use humor to diffuse situations and am very laid back whether in crisis mode or not. That all changed today by a few Littlest Pet Shop animals.

My house needs to be cleaned out for the rental season that is quickly approaching. I do not think at the end of the summer we will move back in to this house as usual, because we just cannot afford both houses. So I am really trying to clean out closets etc... because our other house is smaller. So under the eaves today, I pulled out bins of Groovy Girls, Baby Dolls (and clothing), blocks and the Littlest Pet Shop animals. Oh yeah, and lots of stuffed animals! I have a really hard time throwing away stuffed animals. They look up at you with those cute furry faces, UGH. So I put them in a box, hoping to find a shelter or something that needs them. The bin of Groovies smelled horrible, so I threw them away. (If they hadn't smelled, I would have had a problem throwing them away too). I boxed up tons of Littlest Pet paraphenalia, but saved the animals. I figured the girls could pick 15 each or so to save.

So sorting was fine. The thing that brought tears to my eyes is that the girls don't play with these things anymore. They used to play for hours upon hours making up little stories, having weddings, babies, etc..., but now, not so much. I used to bring them home LPS animals as little gifts if I had been to Target. I searched high and low for certain animals. The whole thing of them growing up started to get to me. My poor mom was the one to call while I was feeling so sad, so she got the melt down of tears.

I knew this day was coming. In Toys R Us about a month ago, they couldn't find anything that they really wanted. I was floored! OK, they found things for over $50, but nothing in the under $20 category. When I was talking about adding on to our other house, my husband said, "Why, the girls will be going to college and living on their own in about 8 years." Talk about a punch in the gut.

So, if anyone sees me out in my sunglasses for the next week or so, please understand. I still have to go through the Barbies, Polly Pockets and Fisher Price doll house stuff.

Jess Riley

DO YOU KNOW WHAT TUESDAY MEANS?!?



It is the first day that you can buy Jess Riley's first published book, Driving Sideways! It will be a wonder if you can even fight the crowds to get into the bookstores! This book will be flying off the shelves. If you don't dare to tackle the crowds, order it on Amazon. If you want to really be impressed and can possibly wait until June, go to Target. It will be the FEATURE book there, yes, at Target, my favorite store! If Jess' book is anything like her blog,
then it is sure to be a huge hit! She is very funny, very real and she lives all the way in Wisconsin! How many writers do you know that come from Wisconsin?!

Here is part of the first chapter:

CHAPTER ONE

I am alone no longer.

It’s strange how much you can change in just one year. Twelve months ago, I’d have laughed in your face if you told me I’d be packing for a road trip this morning. Not rudely, of course, but because traveling anywhere remote was a remote possibility for me at that point. I’d have sooner believed you if you’d said, “One year from now, you will become a Scientologist, learn the pan flute, and join a Bay City Rollers tribute band.”

But I’ve had a change of heart. Well, kidney, really. I’m leaving for Los Angeles this morning, about to do some things long overdue. My Saturn is idling in the driveway, stuffed with suitcases I’ve never taken anywhere but to hospitals. I feel as if I’ve just discovered that the cure for cancer is dark chocolate followed by two orgasms. I think I’ve forgotten to pack my toothbrush, but I don’t care. I can buy one on the way. The thought thrills me.

“So you’re really doing this,” my brother, James, says from behind me, sending me out of my skin.

I jump, making a hair ballish–noise like aak, and spin around to face him. He crosses his arms and fixes me with his practiced stare: one part condescension, two parts disbelief. It’s the same look James gives the paperboy when the Fond du Lac Reporter misses the welcome mat on the front porch by an inch or more. I lean back into my car, pretending to check my cooler of snacks and bottled water while trying to regain my pretrip composure. As my surrogate parent for the last sixteen years, James has always been able to sneak up on me—catching me in an innocuous act like reading and still making me feel as if I’d been caught stealing from a quadriplegic. “Yes, I’m really going.”

“Does Kate know?” he snipes.

“She will,” I reply. I shut the cooler and turn to face James.

“Leigh, why do you even care? She’s such an asshole. She’s a footnote.”

“I just do, is all.” Kate is our mother, who developed the curious conviction when James and I were younger that she would one day become a great actress. The morning she left us for Hollywood, she crouched next to me and whispered absently, “Never settle. Take big risks.” Then she stepped into her Ford Pinto and lurched away from the curb, her silver bumper glinting in the sunlight, the scent of Charlie cologne mingling with exhaust in the air. I was five years old. I sat on the curb waiting for her until Sesame Street came on, after which I returned to the curb to wait for her return. Twenty-three years later, I’m still waiting.

“You’ve got to be kidding.” James walks around my car and stands directly in front of me. He looks spooky without having had his first cup of coffee, a little like a B-list actor with an emerging heroin addiction. Not that James has ever done heroin. James actually times his alcoholic beverages—one per hour—to ensure he never “loses control.” Eighty percent of my friends have had a crush on him at one point or another. Even the guys. They all want to be him, until they spend more than an hour in his presence. “When’s the last time you even talked to her?” he continues.

I ignore him and pretend to examine my kayak, which I’ve secured with bungee cords to the roof of my car. Exhaust forms a foggy pool around my ankles. I don’t think it’s a good idea to tell him Kate has no idea I’m dropping by. Or that the last time I talked to her was about seven years ago.

“And how well did that conversation go?”

I ignore him some more. If I ignore him long enough, James usually gives up.

“Leigh, be reasonable. You’re in no shape for some . . . road trip . . . that will just disappoint you.”

His tone makes my stomach contract into a fist. “I’m in fine shape. Dr. Jensen said so last week.” I adjust my kayak one last time. Why couldn’t I have just gotten up ten minutes earlier? I suddenly hate the snooze bar. I wish I could think of something clever to say, but the best I can do is, “Besides. I’ve been reasonable my whole life. That’s the problem.” James rolls his eyes: Give me a break. Even now, he knows exactly how to make me feel like a twelve-year-old who still can’t read a clock.

“People wait for years on kidney transplant lists. . . . You’re lucky enough to get one, and all of a sudden you’re Peter Fonda in Easy Rider?” He shakes his head, almost knocking me down with a sonic boom of disappointment. I think he’s more upset by the fact that I’m growing as a person—his little sister is changing from un- assuming, vanilla Leigh, with a spine like a warm Twizzler stick, to independent, empowered LEIGH, with a firm handshake and excellent posture. I once was lost, but now am found, thanks to a kind stranger named Larry Resnick.

Makes you want to read more, doesn't it?! Well, then be the early bird and go get it!

Tagged Twice

Thanks to Scargosun, I have been tagged twice! I have doubled up on them here which I will regret when I have writer's block later in the week and need something to write about. Of course, any of you can do these, but I will specifically tag Kathy, Melisa and Laski. To make it easier, you girls can pick one of these to amuse us with....

Number 1:
Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things. Nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl.

What is your name: Susan
4 letter word: shit
Vehicle: schwinn
City: San Francisco
Boy's Name: Sig (Yeah, that one's for you Scargosun!)
Girl's Name: Samantha
Drink: Soda
Occupation: Salesman
Something you wear: Socks
Celebrity: Spears as in Britney (she is still considered a celebrity, right?)
Food: Steak
Something found in a bathroom: Soap
Reason for Being Late: Slow
Cartoon Character: Scooby Do
Something you shout: Shit, Shoot, Sugar!
Animal: Snake (yuck)
Body part: Shins (oooh, so sexy!)
Word to describe you: Sarcastic


Number 2:
Write six random things about yourself. Tag six people at the end of your post linking to their blog. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

So, six things about me:
1. One of my motto's is Tan fat is thin fat. Hence, I spend a lot of time at the beach.
2. My first car was a bright yellow Chevy Citation. Yup, sweet!
3. I HATE chocolate and fruit together. (Had to copy you on that Scargosun. So, so true!)
4. I do not have a green thumb. I guess that is why I like cut flowers instead of plants.
5 .I have no problem mowing a lawn, shoveling a driveway or using tools.
6. I have peed in a sink before. (Sorry Mom and Pat for that one, but it was college and I had to GO!)

Wedding #1

Rising Costs = Lack of Morals

We all know that the gas prices are skyrocketing, we are close to hitting $4 here. Price of milk, bread, food in general is going up. Here are 2 stories of people on the Cape that have taken matters into their own hands.

One is Jeffrey Windle. A Harwich man that has been arrested for embezzling 12 million dollars from the off-Cape company he worked for. I feel ok about mentioning his name, because he has been arrested by the Feds and it's all over the papers here. He and his wife and kids once lived in a little house in Dennis, then "came into some money" and moved into my favorite house in Harwich. It has a beautiful view of the water, a tennis court, a pool and a farmer's porch. He also purchased a few yachts, nice cars and a condo in Florida. He was also the treasurer for his small church in Dennis. Yes, he hit them up for about $400,000, too. The big joke in the papers is that his name rhymes with Swindle. Coincidence? I feel really badly for his kids. I can't believe that his wife didn't know about where the money came from. She thought it was bonuses he was getting from work.

The second story, unfortunately, comes from my high school. We have a very small high school. Everybody knows everybody and probably their parents and grandparents. In Massachusetts there is a thing called School Choice, where if the enrollment in our town is lacking in certain grades, kids from other towns can enroll. Our small size makes our school like a private school, therefore, we have quite a few school choice kids. Recently, there has been money stolen from wallets and lockers. There has also been missing Ipods. Evidently this kid is smart enough to only take the unengraved ipods. (Let that be a lesson to you, engrave your kids' ipods.) There was a party at some kid's house a few weeks ago, where $65,000 was stolen from a family (mattress) safe. Yeah, I don't know what they were doing with that money in a safe in their house. OK, so all these robberies led the police (who's idea of excitement in this town is jaywalkers) to one kid. Evidently he is on the baseball team. The police took a cruiser 1 1/2 hours away to the ball game and arrested the kid. This is a school choice kid. He is from one of the Cape towns, who's high school has police in the school all day because it's one of those "tough" towns. I had been enjoying my election for 12 hours when my sister in law says to me that we should ban school choice students. Never mind the 100 other choice kids who are great.

I just hope that with the economy struggling (ha struggling, read tanking) that this is not going to be the norm now.

The Votes are Tallied

I think I will have to have you all start calling me Madame School Committee Member. I spent a good part of the day standing outside waving to voters as they entered the parking lot of the Community Center. My posse took turns standing with me, they included my mom, my MIL, my almost MIL, my dad, and a few of my friends. Even the girls got into waving at cars and waving signs and hitting each other with signs.... I digress. The polls closed at 8 and they had the results up in the window by 8:15. I felt like I did in tryouts for a school sport. You would wait at the gym locker room board for the posting and it felt so great to see your name on the team roster. Well, it was just as good tonight to see my name with so many votes next to it! Obviously, I owe brownies to lots of people! So, now I am on the school committee for the next 3 years anyway. I hope to serve the town well and make some good decisions for the kids in town (and the ones that come from out of town). Just wanted to let you all know before my head hits the pillow. I am not sure what is more sore, my arm from waving, my neck from sunburn or my cheeks from smiling. Either way, it is a good kind of sore!

Parlez vous francais?

First, tomorrow is the big school committee election! I will be holding my sign (with my posse), waving at people and smiling all day tomorrow in front of the polling place. I will admit, I am a little nervous!

Anyway, tonight I went to a friend's house to meet with 2 lovely people from France about having some french children stay at our houses during the summer. I sent out an email to some friends to test the water to see if anyone wanted to come to this informational meeting. One of my good friends who reads my blog religiously, but only comments via email wrote, "I would be afraid to bring anyone into my home with a moody husband, a teen who has mood swings like a woman and a nine year old with a mouth like a truck driver and a psycho for a mother". Hmmm, not a good enough excuse Corinna! I could kind of relate to what she wrote. My fear is that a kid from France would find Cape Cod rather boring. Not much city life here, no drinking at the age of 12, we pretty much go to the beach and read in the summer.... Why would anyone want to come here?

I wonder if the family I stayed with in France had these same doubts. I stayed with the Nougier's in Avignon when I was a sophmore in college for 3 weeks. They were the loveliest family with 3 kids. 2 of their kids eventually came over to the states and stayed with us for a bit of time. We stayed in touch for many years after and then sadly enough, lost touch. It was definitely one of the best experiences of my life! So yes, I will open up my home to another child, whether this summer or next, because I believe that living in another culture is one of the best learning experiences one can have. It is not only great for the child from abroad, but opens up your own childrens' eyes to what is beyond our state. So, the laundry may be all over the kitchen table and the dishes piled in the sink, but that child will feel all the love an American family has to give and remember the experience for a lifetime.

Church Pictures

Today was the day that the girls and I went to have our pictures taken for the directory at church. DH isn't a big fan of church, so we go and he doesn't, thus the 3 of us in the picture. 5 years ago when this was done, B was crying and the picture was crazy. They offer you an 8x10 of the picture you pick for the directory for free, then they take "extra" pictures to try to get you to buy.
I picked the girls up from school and took them straight to church. When I made the appointment time, I thought this time would be a lot better than 7 at night or so. Here is the exchange...

We go into the bathroom, B heads for the mirror and starts making her hair go straight down by the sides of her face.
"I look hot with my hair like this." My mom's voice flew into my head, "Push your hair back so I can see your beautiful face." (She said this to me 1000 times at least when I was younger.) So I wet my hands (with spit) in the sink to unstatic-cling it. I went with the hair by her face, whatever, I thought.
I (spit on my hands again) wet my hands and turned toward Kelsie to try to control the curls. A little water puts the random curls in their place. She threw a fit like I was coming after her hair with syrup.She hissed, "My hair looks FINE!" Ok, I thought, pick your battles.

We get called into the "studio", where the very nice lady is trying to crack jokes. Nothing is going to crack the steely gaze of K. The lady sets us up, my kids are trained that when a camera is in your face you smile, everything is fine...Then the lady says, "Honey, let me fix your hair" to K. K is a great kid, but she can be very stubborn at times. She GLARES at the nice lady (who ran away, just kidding) and I sweetly tell the lady, "It is what it is, don't go there with her". As a photographer, I felt her pain. She looked very uncomfortable knowing that in these pictures one curl was out of control.

Make it through the pictures and head to the "portrait" room. The (stressed out) guy starts with pulling up all of our pictures and narrows it down to the best of the bunch. (Not an easy task.) Then he tries to sell us a $635 package!
I almost
gagged,
laughed at him,
ran out of the room screaming.
These were not the pictures I wanted to spend that much on. Throw us outside and take some pictures (with DH) and then we'll talk.

I took the girls outside after the picture debacle and had them climb a beautiful pink tree and shot this....
Much better than the inside ones.

Later in the evening, I was back there for a Christian Ed meeting. We were talking about the pictures. One lady said that the guy tried to sell her her portrait on canvas in a frame, "for her children when she passed on". Nothing makes you feel better than making you think about your demise. Another woman said, she looked horrible, her husband looked horrible, but her 16 year old daughter looked great. Then our minister walked in and we asked him how his pictures were and he announced that he looked like a "goat" in them. He definitely has a good sense of humor. At least we won't have to go through this again for another 5 years!

Maritime Festival

The Women of Fishing Families (WOFF) put on a kicker of a maritime festival on Saturday. We had been planning this since October! The one thing we didn't have control over was the weather which reared it's ugly head with chilly temps, rain and strong winds. But, we prevailed and our town prevailed by coming to our festival anyway. We had over a 100 people at the blessing of the fleet in the morning in the rain. By 1, the rain had stopped, the wind kicked up another notch, but we still had our fisherman Olympics and a rocking band! And food....lots of food, fish, shellfish, scallops, a roasted pig, burgers and naturally, beer. It was a great day!

But the most impressive, jaw dropping thing of all, was my sister. She is the leader of our band of ladies(WOFF). She is also 5 years younger than me. Now, those of you with younger siblings, as the oldest you are kind of the boss. For years, I have looked out for her, protected her, teased her, worried about her and helped her. However, in the past 2 years since starting this group from nothing but a solid desire to form a cohesive bond around all things maritime, she has blossomed. Since I was thick in the planning of the festival with her, I did not notice as clearly, her dedication. It was in church yesterday when it hit me like a ton of bricks. My little sister is really a woman with a mission. My minister kept with the maritime theme yesterday and talked a lot about sharing the gifts we have with others. He had asked my sister to speak about WOFF and where we were headed and what we were trying to accomplish. The giggly little girl with the long blond hair and the ability to make friends with anyone, stood up there as an assured 37 year old telling her hopes and dreams for WOFF, her baby. Our group raises money to give back to the fishing community . We are going to be giving 2 scholarships to seniors on the Cape this year and eventually we will have money to give to fishing families who might need some financial help. Yes, there are about 15 hard working, kick ass women in our group, but my little sister is the heart and soul of it. I felt so proud of her as she told the church our mission and about how we are giving our gifts essentially, but also how thrilled we were by the excitement the town has over our little group.

You have come a long way, Karen, and I couldn't be more proud of you!

Happy Mother's Day

Evidently, my lovely children and my husband don't really understand the meaning of Mother's Day. Is it so hard to take the controls for a day, just one day, and not complain about it? Ok, granted, I do like to be in control and do things myself. Why? Because I actually get them done. How hard would it have been for my husband to actually sit down, look at me and ask me what I wanted to do with my day? How hard would it have been for my kids not to have whined once today. The answer to that is VERY HARD. Well, one was at a sleepover last night and the other was at the Maritime Festival (more on that later) until 10 with me and dad. So sleep was hard to come by last night, but really, could you suck it up for one day?

I am sure this post is very different from the other mother's day posts out there. I am imagining them lovely and poetic. I am not complaining about being a mother. I would never trade being a mother for anything. I love my kids till the end of the numbers. I just feel that Mother's Day gives a mom expectations that are too far fetched to come true. Maybe I am too nice and do not demand things from my DH and kids. But, since I am always thinking of everyone else and what would please them, why can't they do that for me? My DH spent 4 hours riding horses today. My dream man would have asked me, "what can I do around the house today, honey?" My DH managed to squeeze in a trip to the dump. Since the odor from the garbage was permeating the walls into the house, I feel I was completely justified in putting my foot down with that request. We have to move out of our house in 3 weeks because it is rented out for the summer tourist season. This entails packing up A LOT of our stuff, moving some stuff to other house, hiding stuff in basement and cleaning and organizing stuff left behind.

This seems like a very whiny, ungrateful post. Not one I enjoy or am use to writing. Maybe I am just exhausted. Maybe Hallmark should back off on the stress for the one day that Mom's can call their own. Maybe next year instead of expecting my dream day to appear, I will do what I do best and plan it myself. Either that or start whispering hints into the horses' ears to give to DH. I think they have a secret language between them anyway.

Hair do

Why do we put ourselves through this for the sake of beauty?!?!

Catching news on the go

Running from thing to thing to do today, I heard 3 interesting news tidbits.

The first and most exciting one (for me anyway) is that some fine people have done a study on the color dies used in some candies. M&Ms were specifically mentioned. I think we all know of my love affair with the colorful little circles of chocolatey goodness. The blue and red dyes used in candies may combat cancer causing genes! WTF you scream?! Yes, that gives us all free reign to eat our colorful circle candies until we burst! I'm celebrating with a big handful of M&Ms right now!


Secondly, a man from Utah, vacationing in Sedona, Arizona decided to go for a hike in one of their beautiful public parks. For whatever reason, he didn't believe clothing was required. There he was hiking up the trail with his boots on and nothing else, enjoying nature at it's fullest. He even walked up to 2 women who were taking a picture and offered to take one of the 2 of them. Does Utah allow nude hiking and did this guy just assume Arizona did too? Hmmmm.


Thirdly, some Senator in Washington, thinks that "men's" magazines should be banned from the troops in Iraq. We are not talking Men's Health or GQ here. We are talking Playboy, Penthouse, etc... Can we cut these guys some slack and worry about bigger issues in the Senate? Hey, how about figuring out how to get these guys (and gals) home?


What else have I been missing this week by not watching a full hour of news and just catching bits and pieces here and there? At least I haven't heard about shootings, drugs, kidnappings etc.. Now that I think about it, these stories kept me amused all day. Everyday news doesn't usually do that for me. I think I will go have some more cancer fighting M&Ms and ponder this some more.

Blog Work (IE catching up)

Blog work as in house work. I have been neglecting a few things lately and this is where I clean up a few things. Carrie tagged me for a meme
"In the tag, you write your memoir in six words or a title or something like that."
Mine would be, HUMOR MUST ALWAYS, ALWAYS BE FOUND.
If you chose to accept this mission, I will tag Jules, Scargosun and Kathy. 3 of my fine bloggy friends that always seem to be up for anything.

Kathy also gave me an award, yes, bloggy bling!
Perfect for the little beach bum that I am! Scargosun, I have to pass that on to you, since I know your heart is at the beach.

Jules gave me an award too, but I am not sure how to get it on to my blog. I will work on it Jules, thank you!

Finally, Scargosun did this fun meme and challenged anyone to do it, so here goes. (And it's fun, so I encourage you to do it).

1.Your rock star name (first pet, current car): Gerbil Toyota (can't you just hear my first hit single?)
2.Gangsta name (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite type of shoe): Chocolate Chip Flip Flop
3.Your Native American name (favorite color, favorite animal): Pink Cow (I think Native Americans might be embarrassed by this name)
4.Star Wars name (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 of your first name): Lin Su (Perfect for Star Wars or Japan)
5.Your Superhero name (2nd favorite color, favorite drink): Blue Chardonnay (coming to save Mommy's on the edge everywhere!)
6.NASCAR name (the first names of your grandfathers): William Kenneth Thomas (All cool NASCAR guys have 3 names you know!)
7.TV weather anchor name (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Osmond Oklahoma City
8.Spy name (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Christmas Tulip (I think that sounds more like a porn star than a spy name)
9.Cartoon name: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now): Grape Sweats (Is this how Grape Ape came up with his name?)
10.Hippie name (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Frosted Flake Cherry Blossom (Oh yeah, that screams hippie!)

So there you have it, homework done for the week. Other than that, things here are CRAZY! Will fill you in some time in the near future. Too tired now.......zzzzzzzz

Happy Birthday, K!

Happy Birthday, K! Where did the last 11 years go? You are an amazing girl! You surprise me daily with new ideas, new strengths in school and your riding ability. Keep up your strong attitude, you are one super kid! I love you, Mommy

Weekend News

So the spa party was a blast. Thanks to my Mom and sister for being technicians in the "salon". Straight hair was made curly, curly hair made straight, fingers and toes were painted and massaged and faces were masked. We had plenty of munchies and then of course cake and ice-cream. There were balloons, dancing, singing and stuffing balloons up their pajama tops. I tell you, it was a crazy night! Examples:

Straight hair gone curly. Yes, above is B and below is me. I am holding the spa flowers with my beautifully done purple sparkly nails!K and cousin C took their very curly hair to the flat iron. Oh, yeah, that's always a little scary, but good ammo for their senior yearbook.
We had a big family feast last night. Chicken enchiladas, my picky eater's favorite. Go figure. Tomorrow is the big day. Thankfully, she had a shower, so she will wake up her normal curly self!

76-100

The moment you have all been waiting for....76-100. Let me say this last 25 have been harder to come up with. There are only so many interesting things about me. I have quieted 6 crazy 11 year olds down to watch a movie. If they aren't asleep after that, then they are getting benedryl. Of course I am just kidding! You'll have to wait for the synopsis of the Ooh La La Spa party till tomorrow. On to more important things...
76. When we go somewhere as a family, I drive.
77. I went to a leadership camp the summer before college and it was the best thing I could have done for myself. I went from shy quiet girl, to much more confident girl.
78. In my girls' eyes, I am cool because I have a blue chocolate phone.

79. Paradise By the Dashboard Light is my favorite song to sing very, very loud!
80. Did I mention I don't sing very well?
81. I like strawberry jelly with no seeds.
82. I am funny.
83. I asked DH if I had any annoying habits I could list and he said (while laughing), "Where should I begin?" I can't imagine what he was thinking about, but I guess I have some.
84. My grandfather used to work for Hoods and sometimes would drive the ice cream truck at fairs. Yup, guess who liked to hang out in the ice-cream truck.

85. This same grandfather(and grandmother) had a house on Lake Winnepesauke in NH. That's where I learned to water ski.
86. This is also where I gained my love of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches. My grandmother would give them to us with chips and mountain dew. How wired were we after those lunches?
87. I got a D in chemistry in HS.
88. I was a size 9 in shoes until I had my girls, now I am a 10. (Helloooo, flippers!)
89. I am a little bit of a control freak. (Just a wee bit, ok, maybe a little more than wee, but hey, I am working on it!)
90. I am more often than not, 5 minutes late for everything.
91. Christmas is my favorite holiday.

92. I use to sleep on the right side of the bed until my husband ousted me from it because he decided he liked it. We play musical beds in my house anyway, so as long as I have a bunch of pillows and a down comforter, I am happy.
93. Cancer runs in my family. This scares me.
94. Once upon a time, I collected a lot of cow stuff.
95. I have my own tool box and I am not afraid to use it.
96. My first job was in the snack bar on Ogunquit Beach. Icky.
97. That's probably why I went into retail soon after that.
98. I love the show The Deadliest Catch. Phil on the Cornelia Marie is my favorite captain.

99. I have more fake plants than live plants in my house. My brother got the green thumb in the family.
100. I like myself.

OK, that was tough, but now you know a little bit more about me. From some comments, I am seeing we are a lot more alike than different. And yay, my 100th post! On to the 200th!

51-75 things

Very interesting comments ladies! OK, the funny thing about yesterday's post was that I really wanted the 16 Candles clip to be in my list, but I couldn't figure out how to do it and gave up on youtube. I was actually SURPRISED when it popped up on my blog! Glad that you all liked it! "Married, sgheesh!"

Um, this is getting harder, but I will persevere!

51. My favorite talk show is "Ellen".

52. I love to read.
52. Yeah, and write too!
53. I like doing laundry, which is a good thing because I do A LOT of it!
54. I'd rather be outside than inside.
55. My sophomore year at Bates, I ran a balloon business out of my dorm room.

56. 9.5 times out of 10, if I am ordering hard served ice-cream, it will be chocolate-chip.
57. I am addicted to M&M's and would probably be a size 8 if I didn't eat so many a day.
58. I am sarcastic. yeah, surprising.
59. I love Sundays in the summer, because we take a boat to an outer beach with a bunch of friends and have a cookout.
60. Cocktail hours on a deck during the warmer months are pretty great, too.

61. I like to bake chocolate desserts and am pretty good at it.
62. Matt Damon's Mom was my professor in grad. school.
63. I have a ton of allergies and have been getting shots since Aug. The other day, they made me my own unique vial of serum for my shots.
64. Even though we own a herd of horses, horses are one major thing I am allergic to and the main reason I am getting shots.
65. I am not allergic to Bermuda grass and cockroaches. Maybe I should get an appart. in the city and grow Bermuda grass on my patio.
66. I wear reading glasses in lots of different colors.
67. I have a cheap sunglass addiction.
68. I am pretty crafty, especially with fleece.
69. I once was a Kindergarten teacher.
70. My marriage is like a roller coaster ride and sometimes I just want to get off. (Not this week, though)
71. I would like to write a book, someday.
72. I would like to meet Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20.
Yeah, I thought he was hotter with longer hair.
73. I am looking forward to Wii Fit coming out mid-May.
74. I have a labradoodle named Gretel. This is my first dog ever and she is hypo-allergenic.
75. I wish I had started a blog years ago, because I love it so much!

Busy day tomorrow, but I will try to come up with the last 25 and then actually post them inbetween B's soccer game and K's spa birthday party at the Oooolala XXXXXX spa. Yeah, that would be our living room. Happy Weekend!!

Yes, Married

26-50 facts

3 thing to take care of first before I amaze you with the next 25 things about me. Number 1!
HAPPY MAY DAY!!!

Second, Carrie at Gremlin Wranglers is having a drawing to win one of her beautiful sketches! You have to sign up on her post(dated April 30th) and the drawing is May 7th.

Third, Michelle at My Semblance of Sanity is selling some beautiful namesakes and cards that she has created. 1/2 of her proceeds are going to pediatric cancer. This is a cause she is quite passionate about!

Now, more about me.....

26. I am really afraid of snakes.
27. I had a perm in 6th grade and wore a hooded sweatshirt to school (with hood on!)
28. In 8th grade, I forgot to wear a bra to school. My mom had to bring me one in a brown paper bag.
29. I do NOT throw like a girl.
30. I don't like pants tight on my stomach.
31. love fleece anything.
32. My 1st kiss was on Melissa's street in Gorham, ME with a boy named Allan. He said kissing me was like kissing a vice. Tell me I didn't have self esteem issues after that!

33. I love going to Disney World! It truly is the happiest place on earth!

34. I would love to swim with dolphins.


35. I got my first Nikon with changeable lenses from my parents for graduation from college.
36. My favorite color is pink.
37. I like to see/find the positive in everything.
38. I love the smell of babies.
39. When I was younger, I kissed a Boston Red Sox player's mailbox. He lived in my town.
40. I love watching old SNL skits with Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and Martin Short.
41. Grapes are my favorite fruit.
42. I could never be a vegetarian.
43. I worry more about my family and friends than I do myself.
44. 16 Candles, Better Off Dead, National Lampoon's Vacation series, Caddyshack and Dirty Dancing are movies that I have seen so much, I can quote most of the lines.


45. I love photographing flowers (OK, second to my kids)
46. I love birthdays!
47. I am an Aries.
48. I have never done drugs, smoked pot or cigarettes. (Scout's honor)
49. My heart breaks when my girls are in pain.
50. My parents, my sister and brother in law, my in laws, my brother in law and sister in law(and my 3 nephews) all live within 10 miles of me.

1/2 way through! Stay tuned for more interesting, unbelievable, incredible facts about ME!