Frag'n Friday!

I should have something to write about today since I have been on hiatus all week. I would love to say I have been in the Bahamas all week and just been too busy doing beachy things to possible sit at my computer and type, but alas that is not true. It has been February vacation here and while I have thought of things to blog, I just didn't have the time or energy to.

*Because it is raining today (and I mean RAINING), we are spending the day inside catching up on homework and such. During some of the gusts, it looks like the neighbor's flagpole is going to snap.

*I made a very quick trip to the grocery store this morning and bought an already cooked chicken so I could make some chicken soup.

*The chicken soup will also hopefully stop my cold that is coming on minute by minute....

*Heart burn in the middle of the night sucks.

*We saw Just Go With It this week. It was really funny and Jennifer Aniston is so beautiful (not in a gay way, not that there's anything wrong with it).

*I am jealous looking at other people's pictures of their vacations in warm sunny places on Facebook. I am happy that they were able to go somewhere, but green with envy at the same time. Green is not such a good color on me.

*Oh, I also read The Glass Castle last week. Such an amazing book! I am going to have my girls read it this summer. It will give them something to think about the next time they want something and can't have it.

*March begins on Tuesday. Thank Goodness!

*Next week, I should have a few good stories surrounding a box of pictures and things we are going to go through over the weekend!

*Here's your taste of summer for the day....

*Happy Weekend!

Sundays in My City

Cheers to Unknown Mami who runs Sundays in My City for giving birth to a beautiful baby girl!




Yesterday I spent my day watching this.....

And today I spent some time watching this.....

Such talented girls!
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, Valentine's Day was a big deal. I remember picking out my box of cards for my schoolmates and filling them all out. Remember giving the best one to the boy you liked in your class? My dad would always give us each a rose. We always got a card from my parents and my mom would make the day special by adding something to our lunch or making a nice dinner.

During prime dating years, I made it known that I LOVED Valentine's day (so you better do something for me, or else). Often times going out to dinner wasn't an option and I would cook a nice meal and we would eat by candle light.

I even, once upon a time, got engaged on Valentine's Day.

When the girls were born, I started taking an annual Valentine's picture. I would go to Old Navy and buy them matching pink Valentine shirts and do a photo shoot. These are some of my favorite pictures of them.  Because I am crafty (dare I admit it), I always had the girls make their cards for their classmates. We marble painted hearts, added stickers to hearts and one year I took each of their top 10 favorite songs and made CDs for each of their classmates. We had fun doing this together. Given the option of buying cards for her friends or making them this year, B chose making them.

On Monday, I made the girls cinnamon rolls with pink icing, put  Valentine's cookies in their lunch, got them each a bracelet, cards and their own Whoopie Pies with their names on them. They were very appreciative!

I am not sure if Valentine's Day has gotten a bad rap about being a greeting card holiday or what, but I was very disappointed to see the answers to my brother's Monday blog he puts out. He sends a question to like 200 people and posts their answers on Tuesday. He's been doing this for maybe 7 years. He went on about how he is not a fan of Valentine's and how he and his fiance were IGNORING the holiday. He asked what his friends did..... many of them said the same thing. They sat around and watched TV, went to bed, worked late, blah blah blah. The thing that got me most was that he didn't even send my mom a card! He actually used to send my mom, sister and I flowers on Valentine's Day. How did he turn into the Grinch of Valentine's Day?

I believe that many people say that Valentine's Day should be celebrated every day, not just one February day out of the year. What I wonder is how many people DO celebrate it every day? Do you tell the people in your life how much you love them every day? Do you do random acts of kindness every day? Do you leave chocolates on the pillows of your kids every night? I think it is nice to have a holiday in the middle of winter (when we are all about at our wits end) to remind us who and what we are grateful for and that love exists in many ways.

That Certain Golfer...

Golf was a major part of my growing up. Not me playing it, but my dad playing it and my parents watching it. Put a few appetizers in front of me and golf on TV on a weekend and I am right back to being 12 in my family's living room.

Watching it was not very exciting until a certain golfer came on the scene and shook things up with his fist pump and youthful energy. He was fun to watch and seemed like a total family guy, first with his parents and then with his hot wife.

Fame takes a toll (I am guessing here) and he made some very bad, very stupid mistakes in the real world. One might think he would have packed himself up  and made himself virtually invisible.

Not so much.

People magazine had a spread of his new home in Florida just this week. My girls were drooling over it (OK, so was I). You haven't seen it? Here you go. We loved the lap pool, the 50 yd dash, the views of the water, yeah pretty much everything. B and I actually brainstormed on how I could get to date him because we wanted to live there. Yeah, nevermind about a leopard not changing his spots. Girls can dream, right?

Low and behold this famous golfer was in the news yesterday as well. He spit on a golf course at the 12th hole.

Seriously, this is news.

Golf is a gentleman's sport in a way that football, baseball and hockey (to name a few) are not. The most reaction you generally get out of a golfer is a smile and a fist pump. Sometimes they jump in the air. Evidently they are not allowed to spit. In one article I read, someone was intensely disgusted that their ball could ROLL THROUGH ANOTHER GOLFER'S SPIT. I wonder what the golf pros do when a bird flies over the course and relieves himself. Do they have sharp shooters waiting in the trees?

So even though this particular golfer is suppose to make $300,000 at this golf tournament, he could be subjected to pay $16,000 for spitting.

I think I have just solved the financial crisis in America. Fine every baseball player $16,000 each time he spits and have the money go to families who's houses are foreclosing, or who have lost jobs or who are just trying to get by.

Sometimes my genious amazes me.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is a busy day here in the Diva Den. The girls have already gotten cards, bracelets and pink frosting on their cinnamon buns. Then they humored me and let me take a few pictures before school. Some of you may know that I take pictures of them EVERY Valentine's Day. To see some from previous years you can go here, here or here.

They grow up fast, but they are still my Valentines!

Hope you all have a fantastic day, I puffy heart you all!

No Wanna

How are teenagers and 3 year olds similar.....

Little Dude, let's go to playgroup! NO
But little Dude, your friends will be there. NO
There's the kitchen you like to make things in and the trucks. NO
And donuts, you love donuts. OK

Little Dude, it's time for lunch. NO, I can't like lunch.
Of course you like lunch. How about a bagel? NO
Maybe an apple with your bagel? NO
And a cookie after your bagel and apple? OK

Little Dude, it's time for your nap.  NO, I can't like naps.
It's after lunch, time for your nap. NO, I had one already.
That was yesterday, now it's time for today's nap. NO wanna.
How about I get your 2 binkies and blankets? OK.

K it's time to do your homework. Not yet.
Don't you have a report due? In like 2 days.
Have you finished the book? NO.
Would you like me to read with you? OK, fine.

K do you want to come with me to the store? Yeah, NO.
You can pick out your favorite foods. OK, fine.

K could you please get me your dirty clothes? Not right now.
You will have no clean clothes. OK fine.

Maybe I have to figure out a way to reward myself after every little chore I get done. They seem to be onto something here.....

Sundays in My City

A quick walk on the beach today. (B needed a new FB profile pic.) So I took some silly pictures and some serious pictures and then played with picnik. I puffy heart picnik!

Now onto watching the Super Bowl commercials and eating lots of snacks! Enjoy! :)

Frag'n Friday

Another edition of Friday Fragments sponsored by the ever lovable and buried up to her eye balls in snow; Mrs. 4444s!

*Cape Cod must have been one of the only places in the path of the big storm this week to get as much rain as others got snow. That's right, while many of you are looking at piles of the white stuff, I am looking at green grass. This would be fine if the temperature wasn't about 20 degrees!

*K has befriended the step daughter of  B's jump rope coach. He was also the girls gym teacher in elementary school. K is sleeping over his house tonight. That led to many shrieks from the van full of jump rope kids yesterday. Some of the comments: "Oh God, you have to eat dinner with him!", "Take pictures of his house!", "You'll see him in his pjs!", "Oh, that's just weird!" Bets are she and friend will be in friend's bedroom with the door closed the whole time.

*Matt booked a flight for he and the girls to go to Florida during April vacation. Any ideas on what I should do?

*I don't know why Dunkin Donuts is pushing for another 3 days in the month of February. I would have picked March for chocolate month because there are already 31 days in the month. Why would anyone want February to go longer than it already does?

*The Superbowl is Sunday. Without my beloved Pats, it is not going to be as exciting, however, I will still concentrate on the snacks, the commercials and the score (I am in a pool).

*Thought we could all use a pretty picture of summer today :)

*Happy 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, my parents went out to dinner and left my friend Melissa and me in charge of my brother and sister. It was summer in Ogunquit and our neighborhood was a hotbed of kid activity. Being around 14, the rule was no kids in the house that didn't live there. We all played outside until dark and then we went inside and just happened to bring in 2 boys with us. We figured we would just watch tv and then send the boys home.

My parents drove into the driveway and we panicked! We sent the boys out the back door thinking my parents would not be the wiser. Well, these teenage boys just happened to be about 6 feet tall and could easily be seen through the window.

We didn't get the wrath of my parents. We got the silent treatment and sent to our room. What felt like hours later, my dad came in and told us how disappointed he was in us. The ultimate punishment: disappointing my dad. That's all it took: "the look" and "the tone". Needless to say, nothing like this ever happened again and I can still see the look on his face and hear the tone of disappointment.

I got home from a meeting tonight and the car lights shown into the family room where I could see 2 girls on the couch. It made me think of that night long ago and it scared me to think that my girls are almost the same age as I was. I guess I have to start practicing "the look" and "the tone" and hope that I never have to use it.