A Multitude of Mom Hats

This past weekend, I was regular mom, baking mom, cheering mom, loser mom, tired mom, rock star mom, patient mom, homework checker mom and proud mom.

Crazy how many hats a mom can wear over 2 days.

B had a swim meet in Southern Rhode Island on Saturday. We left at 9:30 and got home at 8. Yes, it was a long day! The proud mom role was obvious because I am always proud of my girls when they are doing something they love and are so happy doing it. The loser mom role wasn't too far behind because I missed her 100 free. They had all the kids and parents in a gym (headache? check) and would call them into the pool area in groups. I went into the pool area 5 minutes after her and watched her hit the wall as she was finishing the 100. Oh yeah, I paid for that one. She was MAD. I have no idea what her time was, but hopefully it was really fast. If that is the case, then I will make sure I piss her off more often before a race.




K had a concert for the music studio she sings at on Sunday. She's been getting up on stage in school talent shows since she was in 2nd grade and she sings solos in church, so I didn't think that she would be too nervous for this. Wrong. She was nervous. The great thing about K is is that as nervous as she was, the minute she opened her mouth to sing, all the nerves disappeared. She was so confident. I think even Bruno Mars would have been proud of the way she sung his song. Her instructor, Tony, learned the song right along with her so he could play the guitar for her. It was very cool.



So, the mom hats continue switching around, sometimes every minute. Some, like the proud mom hat, are always there, but I hope loser mom hat doesn't show up too often. Time to put on babysitting mom hat and head to work!

Frag'n Friday

*Who couldn't use a little spring right now? Well... I suppose anyone living in Australia wouldn't think that right now, but in New England, that is all we are thinking about! Cape Cod hasn't gotten the extreme amounts of snow that many places outside of Boston has, but still, it has been gray and cold for far too long. What happened to the January thaw?

*To "spring" ahead, the girls and I went to Michael's Craft Store yesterday. We were actually looking for Valentine stuff, but found these great flower clips. God Bless K for her unique sense of style and confidence in herself. She wore this one in her hair today. Love it!

*I love love love Gerbera daisies! These were a dollar each and the butterflies were 4 for $3.  Look how I just brightened up my bedroom! Take that, chilly winter!

*B has been swimming like a fool this month. This weekend is her 3rd weekend of competitions. She is loving swim team! I always thought she was part fish. Here she is in her first butterfly comp. I knew those broad shoulders would come in handy!

*Seriously? Mary Kay Letourno has a grandchild (from her first set of kids). Her second set of kids with the student she hooked up with (who she is now married to)? They are 12 and 13! Dang time flies.

*What about the kids who put the piano out on a sandbar in Miami? Talk about a piano bar. Hahaha, couldn't let that one go.

*How are you liking the new American Idol crew? I think Randy is turning into the new Simon. Ouch!

*Stay warm and have a great weekend!

Once Upon a Time Wednesday

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once upon a time.... when my brother, sister and I were little, we were welcome into our parents' bed any night.

Well, it wasn't that easy.

My parents somehow lived their whole married life (except for the past 5 years or so) in a "king" sized bed.
What that really meant was 2 twin beds tied together. Yes, they slept together for 35 or so years with a crack down the middle of their bed. Remarkable that they have 3 children, right?

If I woke up from a nightmare, I would go into my parent's room. I would get to my mom's side first and she would move over an inch and let me hang off the edge of the bed. Not very comfortable, so I wouldn't last long. I would then crawl into the middle and sleep in the crack. Seriously not very comfortable, but better than the monsters that were waiting under my bed.

With my own girls, we called it "musical beds". One girl would come in, one adult (OK, me) would leave and head to empty bed, other girl would find me in empty bed and I would have to head toward other empty bed. Get the idea? Basically it was a mystery where you would wake up. If I was too tired to get up and move beds, I would often wake up with a foot in my face and no covers.

Would I do this again? Especially when I got some flack from my mom over this issue?

Of course.

I wouldn't change a thing. Well maybe.... I would have added more pillows and blankets on my bed and ordered a California King.

G six, Cheese Stick, Cheese Head: It's All Good

For the record, I am a huge Patriots fan and having their season end too soon was very, very sad. I will say I was glad to see the Jets lose yesterday just because they are the Jets (sorry Patty).

However, I may have to root for the Packers in the Superbowl because I love this song. The funny thing is that when I first heard the song "G six", I thought they were singing "cheese stick". Yeah, I know, nothing like singing a song at the top of your lungs in the shower only to be told by embarrassed teenagers that you are singing the wrong words.

The kids in this video seem to have gotten something right! (Thanks Mrs. 4444s for bringing this to my attention!)

Sundays in My City

Brrr, it was a chilly ride for K and her horse Prince on the beach today!

Happy Sunday!

Dream a Little Blog?

Blogging is a funny thing.

Profound, right?

I have lots to say, but it is of things I cannot talk about without making people angry or embarrassed. Take the whole teenager/tween thing. I have lots of things to say about that, but won't because my girls and my nephews would be horrified knowing that "private things" are out in cyberspace.

I could talk about my ex and his girlfriend, but that wouldn't be taking the "higher road".

I could talk about my family, but they know where I live.

So what does that leave my to talk/write about? My dreams.

Last night I had a dream where B brought me an ice cream cake into my bed and we ate it with our fingers and got chocolate sprinkles all over the place. As I was dreaming this I was thinking, now this is something I can blog about!

My dreams have always been very vivid to the point where I have written them down for 2 weeks at a time and shown them to my therapist and got the raised eyebrow. Once in college, I was taking a psychology course on something that had to do with dreams and earliest memories. The prof asked if we remembered our dreams past the waking up stage. I said, "Oh sure, I can remember the for weeks or sometimes forever depending on the dream." Another raised eyebrow. I guess you are suppose to forget your dreams immediately.

Maybe I will pretend to have a dream and talk about things I am not "allowed" to talk about just to get some of these stories out. Some are pretty amusing. Damn morals.

Perhaps I will just go back to bed to see what I can dream up.

BTW: The winners of Lisa Genova's audio book Left Neglected are Dysfunctional Mom and Five Tomatoes! Thanks to all who entered!

Sundays in My City

A cold windy day on Nauset Beach!
Happy Sunday!

Once Upon a Time Wednesday

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once Upon a Time.... when I was almost 11, we had a major snowstorm in the Northeast called the Blizzard of '78. School was cancelled for days. We got close to 4 feet of snow in the suburbs of Boston. It was a kids paradise and probably a parent's nightmare.

The 2 best memories I have of that storm are the beer bread and my trek across the street.

My mom was an avid listener of WBZ and Dave Maynard. He gave out his tried and true recipe for Beer Bread that was a must have for a snowy day in New England. My mom had to try it! I just remember my dad picking it up and relating it to a brick. I don't know what happened, but it did not turn out to be the best bread for a snowy day. She claims it had something to do with the yeast, I think she may have drank the beer instead of putting it into the batter. I would have with 3 little kids and a blizzard.

When the snow finally stopped,  it was almost over my head. My best friend lived across the street up a big hill. I put on all my snow gear and swam over to her house. That's right: swam. I couldn't walk in it, so I swam/crawled across the street and up the big hill to her house. I swam over their car that was stuck at the bottom of the driveway. You could only see the antenna.

I seem to recall my dad's snowblower laughing at him, too, when he attempted to attack the driveway.

I don't remember it ever snowing that much since then. When the girls were little it snowed a few feet one winter. We would throw them up in the air and let them land in snowbanks cracking up. Their favorite things to do in the snow were to slide off the roof of my minivan or jump off the railing of the deck.

The girls and I are a little jealous of the snow that suburban Boston is getting today. The Cape is getting lots of rain while my brother is getting a ton of snow. Sadly enough, we don't think he is going to make snow angels or snow forts, therefore not taking full advantage of the snow like we would have. We are treating it like any snow day though with snuggling on the couch, watching tv and baking.

Hey Mom, do you still have the beer bread recipe?

Heart of Haiti

A year ago tomorrow, tragedy struck Haiti with a 7.0 earthquake 16 miles from the Capital. There were multiple aftershocks for weeks.  It was devastating to watch the news of the suffering. I wanted to personally adopt every child that I saw on TV. Even now a year later, with the cholera outbreak and people still living in tent cities, it is hard to comprehend.

Willa Shalit, daughter of Gene Shalit, has started a company called Fairwinds Trading to help 3rd world countries make money by selling wares that are unique to each country. Haiti is one of the countries she is helping. Through Heart of Haiti and  Macy's, she is creating an outlet for the artisans of Haiti to sell their beautiful wares. You can find the details here. Items include $225 canvas prints to $35 pieces of pottery to $10 necklaces. The artisans receive 22% of all the sales of these items which in turn help their families and their community.

Love the bright, beautiful colors!

Here is an example of one man working on his craft of colorful pottery.

The Heart of Haiti has about 350 employed artists and in turn a financial benefit for about 4-5000 people. The objective of the project is "trade, not aid". If your Macy's does not have these products in the store, you can order them right from Macy's website!

Like Heart of Haiti on FB and  follow on Twitter.

I was selected for this very special “CleverHaiti” opportunity by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity. All opinions are my own.

Sundays in My City

Giveaway going on here for Lisa Genova's audio book Left Neglected!






It snowed about 3 wet inches last night. It was so pretty and quiet this morning (at least until the plows went by).

I don't normally notice my neighbors flag, but it stuck right out this morning. Maybe because I was thinking of all the people in Arizona...

Happy Sunday

My Friend Lisa

I have a friend named Lisa.

She is "wicked smaht" (that's how we say it in Boston) and is a Dr. of neuroscience.

She is also very down to earth and is just like many of us multi-tasking moms.

I also nanny for this friend Lisa's children.

This friend Lisa, happens to be a famous author. She has been launched into mega stardom in the past 2 years from her first book, Still Alice.

Lisa's second book, Left Neglected was released on Tuesday. It has already created so much buzz that it should hit the NYTimes best seller list by next week. Lisa's website for the book and her calendar of events is located here and she has started a blog to write about her book tour that will bring her around the country and to Australia (in May!).

The book is phenomenal! What was really cool, was watching her craft it along the way and having her print me out a chapter as she finished one. We were whooping and hollering when these two quotes came in one day this fall.....

"The journey Lisa Genova takes us on in LEFT NEGLECTED is a personal one, for any woman who's ever had to make a business call while driving to day care, or who finishes a full day's work at a high-powered job only to start the second shift as a mom: sometimes, we literally need a shock to the system to remember what matters the most in life. Remember how you couldn't put down STILL ALICE? Well, clear your schedule - because you're going to feel the same way."

--Jodi Picoult, NYT bestselling author of HOUSE RULES and SING YOU HOME

“Lisa Genova is the Michael Crichton of brain science. What she proved with STILL ALICE, she proves again with LEFT NEGLECTED. This is huge, powerful human drama at its elegant best."

--Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean

Right? Who gets quotes from Jodi Picoult and compared to Michael Crichton?! Yup, my friend Lisa, that's who.

She has graciously given me two audio books to give away. I'll even have her sign them for you. All you have to do to enter is comment here by the end of the day Thursday, January 13th. You can get an extra entry if you "follow" her book tour blog, just leave me another comment saying that you did! 

For you Boston followers, Lisa will be at Barnes and Noble in Framingham tonight at 7 and at Borders (Boyalston ST) tomorrow at 2. Oh, did I tell you that if you walk into any Borders for the month of January, you will bump right into Lisa's book because it is the BOOK OF THE MONTH! 

Ole!

Bella Cucina has created the best Christmas present (OK, maybe the 3rd best. The ipod touch and the trampoline are hard to beat.) we got for our kids. The Bella Cucina Quesadilla maker is fantastic! We have made at least 20 quesadillas since Christmas; nothing fancy, just basic chicken and cheese. The girls can make them by themselves and only sometimes forget to put on the top quesadilla shell.

Here is how to make a quesadilla in pictures:

The cute little cooker....(heats up in about 4 minutes)

Open it up and add the bottom shell, chicken and cheese....

Don't forget to put on the top shell!

3 minutes later, VOILA, a tasty quesadilla!

The quesadilla maker sells for up to $40, but I got this one on sale at Macy's before Christmas for $20! It comes with a bunch of recipes too, but we seem to be stuck on chicken and cheese. It is easy to clean as well.

Bella Cucina did not ask me to write this, nor do they even know who I am. This is just something that was too good not to share with you all!

Sundays in My City

The girls got a trampoline for Christmas and yesterday was the first warmish day we could put it together. It is loads of fun and quite a workout!

Happy Sunday and Happy 2011!