The Ants Go Marching One by One....

It's one of those weeks for the record books. No, not the heat, that was last week. This week, I must put on my new birthday sneaks and get moving. Here is the schedule for the week that I actually had to write out last night.

I know it looks like code, but I didn't have room to spell it all out. Basically it includes tennis, softball, swimming, 6 performances for K, 1 performance for B, 1 major fundraiser and yes, let's not even try to include dinner. It's crazy and it all begins at 2:00 every afternoon.

Thank goodness, I have time for wine and naps in the morning.

Happy Spring? Summer? Winter?

There is a funny thing about New Englanders, they always think that the other shoe is about to fall. Like with this weather we have been having lately (well, OK, all winter long).  Today is the first day of spring, but that doesn't mean that a large snow storm couldn't hit any time between now and mid April. I have seen it happen (a few times).

But just look at these pictures of Skaket Beach from this morning. I even put my pasty white, non-pedicured feet in the water. (Yes, it was really cold.)

I don't see any signs of winter in these pictures. Just in case though, I am working on my base tan this week. I did grow up in New England and full well know that we could get snowed in for the month of April. At least I will look healthy and be full of vitamin D.

The Weekend Liz Came Up

Even though there had not been any snow, Liz had had a long winter in NJ. She needed a break and luckily I was the recipient of her 'vacation time'. She wanted to come to Cape Cod and hang out with me. I believe she said, "I am up for anything. I want to see what it would be like to live in the same town as you and what we would do if our kids grew up together." Ok, that meant a swim meet and Sunday dinner on Saturday, but she was game.

She arrived at my house and instead of letting her relax after her 6 1/2 hour drive, I let her use the bathroom and then whisked her to the beach.

It was beautiful out and the water was very calm. I explained to her that this would be the beach we would go to in the summer if she lived here.
In this picture she is trying to get that seagull to give her the starfish that it had in it's mouth. No, it did not work out.

I took her to my favorite bar where she got to experience a filthy Girlscout. Get your mind out of the gutter people, it's a tasty minty drink.

The next morning she was up early and raided the local Dunkin Donuts for her required caffeine fill. That is one of the problems of staying at my house, no caffeine other than chocolate.

One minute the sun was out , the next minute it was a blizzard. It crazy snowed for a few hours and of course I had to take her to the beach because she was taking a billion pictures of my backyard in the snow. Believe it or not, there is a beach and big ocean in this picture....

Later, I dragged her to B's swim meet where she got to meet my swim friends and watch hundreds of kids swim.....

When we got back from swimming, it was straight to my parents' house for Sunday Suppah, the Saturday version in honor of Liz. My niece and Liz fell into deep love.

Sunday we were up early having breakfast and then headed to Dennis, her family's stomping grounds when they come to the Cape. This is a picture of her favorite beach, but brrrrrr, it was freezing!!

All in all, Liz would make a great neighbor! Luckily I sent her home with the real estate section of a few papers.....

Friends Warm the Soul

Source: christytomlinson.typepad.com via Pauline on Pinterest

Friends come in all shapes in sizes. They also come at all times in your life.

My oldest friends, as in my friends from childhood, have mostly reappeared on Facebook. Some I lost touch with along the way, others like my friend Melissa I consider more of a sister.

I have my college friends, my grad school friends, my friends from Maine, my friends from the Cape, friends that I met through my girls; I am lucky to have so many friends.

After a certain point in your life, it is hard to make new friends. You get involved with your children's lives and live vicariously through them. You may have "couple friends" that you go out to dinner with, but when you get divorced you become a hanging chad. The couple has to pick one side or the other. You may get lucky like I did and become great friends with 2 couples that rented your house for 3 years and even though you only see them once  a year, you would drop anything for them if they needed you.

Thankfully, very thankfully, blogging has brought me a whole new group of friends. When I went to my first blogging conference in 2009 in Chicago, I went without personally meeting any of the women I was staying with. However, because I had been reading their blogs, I felt like I knew them better than some of my friends that live in the same town as me!

This past weekend, I was able to bring one of my "blog" friends into my "real" world. When my swim team friends heard I was bringing a blogger to  B's swim meet, they were very excited! They already felt like they knew Liz through reading her comments on my posts or Facebook! (You can read about Liz's rendition of our weekend here and here.) I'll have to write my own rebuttal to her posts tomorrow.

But first, to all my friends near and far, thank you.

Source: media.photobucket.com via Sue on Pinterest

Sundays in My City

The weather here over 24 hours this weekend went from sunny and calm, to snowy and windy to warm and windy. Got to love New England.....

*Happy Sunday :)

Frag'n Friday!

Come unload your thoughts before the weekend starts! Join Mrs. 4444s and crew...



*Here is a really cool picture of Cape Cod from space...

*I heard a song yesterday that made me think of a conversation from college. (yes, go ahead, it must have been an oldies station I was listening to)

Me: Ooh I like that song! Who is it?
Jamie: Guess Who.
Me: Who? That is the point, I don't know who it is.
Jamie: Guess Who.
Me: No, it's not The Who. I know that.
Jamie: Sue, it is The Guess Who. That is the name of the band.
Me: Ohhhhhhhhh, right.

Funny the things you remember from college.....

*Liz from This Full House is coming to visit me for the weekend! Yes, she is one of my "internet" friends. She wrote about her trip here. I love how blogging has introduced me to some of the best people that I can now call friends. Without blogging, I would never have met these fabulous people!

*Last weekend, we were at Bridgewater State College for a huge YMCA swim meet. I took videos of B (who swam extremely well, thanks for asking), but I also found myself loving this coach from another team. He kept many of us entertained when our swimmers were not in the pool. So, I took a video of him and added a little music....



*Yesterday, my mom and I decided to get cultured and went to a local art center. It was very nice and we saw some beautiful works. On our way there, we passed this yard. It was covered with purple crocuses. So pretty and just the burst of spring we needed!

*Hope spring is showing where you are! Happy Weekend!

Dear Diary,

Tired of hearing"You don't understand ANYTHING", I thought really hard about how to rectify this problem. I mean I have degrees  (yes, multiple!) for Pete's Sake, I must have known something at some point in my life. How to find out what happened in my early teens other than my sporadic recalling of something that I would have rather forgotten?

I ventured to my friend Faith's house to dig through my boxes in her basement. Yes, one corner of her basement is my storage bay (so to speak). I was in a rush, so I grabbed the first 4 journals that I could find. That's right, my blogging didn't start out of the blue. I was always a journal-er. It was just done the old fashion way with a notebook and a pen or pencil. Thankfully, I saved these nuggets of my past and can now use them to my advantage. (or disadvantage, like when your daughter grabs one and starts reading something inappropriate that I did in college, oops)

I had a lot to say when I was 11. My friend, Melissa, gave me this diary for my birthday. It once had a key, but thankfully I lost it and left it unlocked.

My first entry was very profound and spoke about getting this particular diary and having MacDonald's for dinner.

The next day was a little more juicy.
"Today I made some boats out of wood. Then we went down to Dennie's cause that was the only dock with water by it. I did something horrible. I was looking for Karen (my sister) cause we were playing hide and go seek and I found some Easter stuff. There was a couple of stuffed animals. I feel horrible now I know what I am getting. I wish the Easter Bunny was real then I wouldn't find the stuff. Boo Hoo Boo Hoo."

Some other interesting things I wrote about included getting yelled at by my 5th grade teacher, having to sleep on a lawn chair when my grandparents came to visit, Stephen G telling the whole school that Bobby R and I "did it" (seriously, I was 11. Did I know what that even meant?), roller skating and some weird boy wiggling his butt in front of me and Melissa, and the fact that "we sold our house to Indians". Actually they were from India.

When B read through it, she said, "Wow! You went to the movie theater to see Return From Witch Mountain? The ORIGINAL ONE?" Fresh kid. I didn't give her dessert that night.

So, as I pour through my past to see if I did at one time know stuff, I will share interesting finds with you. But, rest assure, you will not read about the details of the "inappropriate stuff from college". Sorry, we are a PG rated site here.

Frag'n Friday

Lot's of frags to get to today..... (If mine aren't enough for you, then go visit Mrs. 4444s on the button above)

*There is an ATM being introduced in California that does not dispense money. It dispenses something almost as good and at times I might think better......

CUPCAKES

That's right, a 24 hour cupcake ATM. You can also get tshirts, cupcake mix and doggie treats.  You never know when you might have a need to take your dog for a walk at 1am and wear a cupcake t-shirt while eating a cupcake.

*I am not typically a person who puts cute little animal videos on her blog, but I like sloths and this little one was too cute in his/her little jammies.


*There is no relaxing when you have teenagers. You never know when a simple conversation is going to turn on you.

*I survived looking at every one's warm vacation photos from February vacation.

*It's March and only a little more than a week away from turning the clocks ahead.
 More sunlight = happy me.

*There is a girl who is suing her college for not getting her out of her roommate situation. Her roommate allegedly had sex with men while she was sleeping in the same room. Why wasn't I smart enough freshman year to complain about my roommate who succeeded in having sex with most of the football team many times while I was sleeping in the same room? Thankfully she moved on after 1st semester to "tackle" another school's football team.

*I am not sure if I am allowed to mention it yet, but a blogger friend is coming to stay with me next weekend! Yippee! I am so excited!

*If you would love to donate or win some fantastic prizes go here to my bloggy friend Hallie's Organ donation fundraising page in honor of her son CJ.

Hope you have a great weekend!

To Taxi or Not To Taxi?

I took a few taxis in NYC last week. Yes, I probably could have figured out the subway more than the one time I used it, but taxis are as big of an adventure for people that don't have them in their hamlet. There is nothing like your daughter clutching your hand with fear in her eyes while slalom racing in a taxi at 40 mph.

Not that I have been in many taxis in my life, but they now have little T.V.'s in them with "taxi news" and little SNL skits. They also have a little machine where you can swipe your credit card and pay in seconds. No more rifling through your purse for change and dollar bills. There was a sign in the taxi that said, "Make sure you ask for your receipt". Because the man did not hand it to me after I paid and I was in a hurry to get out of the missile like death trap, I did not ask for it.

Yesterday,  I went to the ATM at my bank to take out some cash. My card was denied, but not, surprisingly enough, for lack of funds. I toyed with going home to check  my account on line, but instead went in. The lovely lady at the desk said that my card was "warm" and called somebody to figure out why. Then she asked me if I had bought something online for $635 at some shop I had never heard of.* My response was sort of a choke, laugh, no noise. You can imagine that, right? Anyhoo, the nice lady cut up my card into a million bits in front of me and ordered me a new one.

Now, I don't know if the taxi thing had anything to do with how my number got into the wrong hands. I am guessing maybe, but I certainly am not knocking all taxi drivers. I am just suggesting that you be very careful with your cards and receipts and be a client of a bank that looks after you!

*Cindy, I apologize for ending 2 sentences with prepositions. Forgive me.