The Finest Hours Movie Set

In February of 1952, a tanker called the Pendleton split in half in bad weather off of Chatham, MA. 32 of 33 people were rescued during this huge storm. There is a new film coming out in April of 2016 called The Finest Hours staring Casey Afleck.

I cannot say that I have seen any of the movie stars, but the town has been buzzing with movie production for the past couple weeks. Bobby and I finally went down to Stage Harbor today to see some of the "props". Various parts of town have been "snowed on". I touched the snow on the cars today. It was like a thick cottony foam. Very realistic looking! There was a lot of ice on the ground for the ground snow. This is an 85 million dollar Disney film. It is amazing that Disney could pay for the crappy weather we have had for the last week. Haha, I actually bet they saved money by not having to make it rain since Mother Nature took care of that herself. They could not have asked for a more stormy week to film!

I cannot wait to see my town on the big screen and pick out the extras/townies who were cast in it!!

2 Years

Two years ago, one of B's best friends died from cancer. Brad was an awesome kid. Smart, funny and athletic. His favorite color was orange.

I cannot tell you all the orange I noticed today.

It started with the sunrise while driving B to swim practice.

Then it was an orange Ernie shirt on a Kindergartner. An orange scarf on a teacher. An orange headband on a 2nd grader. And so on...

Maybe it was a coincidence, but I like to think it was Brad sending a message. Like, "I know you are thinking of me. I'm still near you. I look out for you, I just thought I would send you some orange today so you would know I am close by."

xoxo Brad

B is 16!

Dear B,

16! WTF? Seriously, how did this happen? One minute you were my adorable baby taking all the cans out of the bottom cupboard and now you are getting ready to get your license!

However, it happened.... I am grateful for the fun we have together, the rides to swim practices and meets, our shopping trips and just hanging out in general. You are the most perceptive 16 year old I know. Actually your are more perceptive that many people 10 years older than you.

Surprisingly enough, you remind me a lot of me at your age. If I could tell my 16 year old self one thing it would be to relax a little. I was stressed all the time. It's much easier to enjoy things when you are not worrying about the next day, week or month. Take things one day or a few days at a time. Breathe. And don't ever forget that "you can do it", you are one amazing young lady. And yes, I said "young lady". I could have said, "young broad", but I think you need to be 18 before I call you a broad :)

I love you millions xoxo

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!

30 Days of NaBloPoMo

WOW!

30 DAYS OF POSTING!

I am so proud of myself! Seriously! If I can't be proud of myself, who will? I am not saying everything I posted was Pulitzer Prize material, but I posted every day in November! Yay ME :)

Will I post every day in December? Um, no. But I will post, I have the writing bug again. It feels good to have to put words into sentences that make sense and tell somewhat of a story.

For the next few days, I will cart out Christmas decorations and put them up. I already feel that I am behind because tomorrow is December 1st!!! It's like a race to Christmas! And tomorrow begins HS winter sports season which means swimming and hockey start up. I can feel my blood pressure going up..... I also have to put the Christmas letter together. I usually make a poem or refurbish a song with our year and that doesn't come by snapping my fingers!

So, I may miss a few days this week posting, but I am thinking of you all and hope that you will just enjoy when I can get stuff into cohesive thoughts!

Thank you so much for reading and commenting and cheering me on this month. It is exactly what I needed!! Cheers to these lovely women and you! Yes, YOU!!

Dreaming

A few years ago, B would dream about going on a Disney Cruise ship vacation. She would scour the website and plan our vacation. She would pick our dinners, our excursions and our rooms. We obviously had the best virtual vacations one could possibly have. This past April she finally had her dream come true and got to go on a Disney Cruise. She loved it! She especially loved the food and the stop at Castaway Cay.

I decided to make my dream vacation tonight. Because I was feeling generous, I included Bobby, the 4 kids and myself. I figured we may as well all have a great time in my fantasy. So with direct air fare from Boston and 2 rooms with all of our meals for one week, it will only cost us $26,377. AND 2 cents. One would figure if they charged you more than $26 THOUSAND DOLLARS, they would round down? You would probably wind up spending that extra $377.02 in tips!

I know that there are people in this world that have that kind of money and do not think twice about planning a vacation like this. I, however, (and pretty much all of my friends) do not have this kind of money. I do hope that if I do have some extra money like this some day, I would share.

Would you share?

Day After Thanksgiving

Since I have been unconsciously wishing people Merry Christmas since yesterday instead of Happy Thanksgiving (what is wrong with me?), today was the day to organize before the Christmas decorations go up. Seriously, I clean and put things away to make room for Christmas. Do other people do this?

I have decided to take a break and check out what my friends are doing via my computer all while watching Frosty the Snowman. Yes, I am home alone and I am choosing to watch Frosty. Normal, right?

I love the "old" Christmas shows. Rudolph is my favorite. When I was little, I would draw all the characters while watching the show.

Charlie Brown Christmas comes in as a strong second. And the Christmas music that goes with it is my number one Christmas music.

I love the original Grinch much more than the new Grinch. I love Max the dog/reindeer.

Frosty is a good one. I always have thought that the girl Karen looks like my sister and I think I was a little jealous that she was Frosty's best friend.

So, I kicked off the season today by buying my first Christmas decoration instead of going Black Friday shopping. Yes, believe it or not: I DID NOT GO BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING TODAY. It still hurts a little to see it in print, but I am actually pretty ok with it.

Here's to adding some more decorations around this one!!

Turkey Trotting

To start our Thanksgiving Day off on the right foot, various members of my family do the Turkey Trot in Chatham. We have been doing this for years! It is a great fundraiser for Lower Cape Outreach. You bring a bag of groceries and $15 and you are good to walk, run or race the 3 mile loop. Only 3 of us hit the pavement this morning, but we had fun! And we had worked off our dinner before we even had it!

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving!

A Grateful Story

Once upon a time(many years ago), there was a woman who left her husband due to his infractions. She lived happily with her girls (for many years). They even had a sign in their home that said, "diva den". Their house was virtually pinks and purples and pastels. They had shells and rocks as decorations and pictures of family and fun times graced the walls. The girls were getting older and more independent and the woman thought it might be nice to date someone, but was scared to put herself out there.

Then one day it happened.

The girls were away and the woman went out with a friend. They went to dinner and then a bar. The bartender was an old friend who was  separated from his wife. She had always thought he was a nice guy, good dad, but then it hit her that this might be a comfortable person to go on a date with. Well, they went on many a date and eventually moved in together.

Their house now is not as pink and not as neat, but it still is decorated with rocks and shells and happy pictures on the walls. The house is louder, sometimes chaotic and don't ever discuss bathrooms with any of them. However, this new blended home works because of the love of the particular man and woman. There is respect and caring and sometimes mistakes, but love is the constant.

The woman was surprised that there was room in her heart for more, but anyone who has seen The Grinch knows that hearts can grow.

Being thankful and grateful for the ones you love is the most important Thanksgiving lesson of all.

And trust me when I say, "I am thankful!!"!

If I Had a Hammer...

I was at the YMCA one morning last week at 5:30 AM. (B swims that early some mornings. Just so you know, I will be that mom in the P&G ads where the athlete is thanking the mom for all that they do to help the kid succeed.)

So, I had to workout, otherwise, I would have fallen asleep in my car. I did the treadmill, the bike and then got on the floor to stretch and attempt a few crunches. As I was laying there staring at the ceiling, I noticed the nails.

What?

There were many nails sticking through the ceiling. This, of course, got me to thinking. What exactly were the builders thinking? I have hammered many a nail into a wall and when I hit "nothing" I knew it.  Were the builders hammering on the roofing tiles and knowing that they were hitting "nothing", just not caring? Did they think they were hitting insulation? I can see this happening once and a while, but there were a LOT of nails showing in the ceiling.

It's suppose to blow tomorrow up to 80mph. I hope someone in Hyannis does not get a bunch of roofing tiles in their yard for a Thanksgiving present.

Do You Smuggle Food Into the Movie Theater?

We had an interesting conversation at lunch today which led to a friend putting up a question on her facebook status to get other "opinions". I am writing about it to get more opinions. We might be able to get some sort of prize for our research some day. (#nobelpeaceprize)

One of my best friends was mentioning that she brought a foot long sub with onions into the movie theater the other night. She was happily eating it when someone a few seats away said, "ooh, it smells like soup in here". My bff, because she is so nice, offered the other half to this woman. It was declined, but that started a full conversation about sneaking food into the movie theater.

My bff, has brought subs, Chinese, burrito bowls and burgers into the movie theater. She also brings a Bota box of wine. This led to fits of laughter while we were eating lunch. Everyone in the room claimed that they had smuggled in soda or water, candy and sometimes popcorn. Bff insisted that it was completely normal to bring dinner into the movie theater. Others said, "no way".

I admitted to wearing my pjs and smuggling in wine and m&ms, but I always buy popcorn there because I love movie theater (very unhealthy) popcorn. And in my defense, Cape Cod in the winter is not a hot spot for movie goers. Those nights that a group of girls would go in pjs, we often had the theater to ourselves.

So, one of my other friends, put the question on Facebook:

Has anyone ever brought dinner into a movie theater? For example:Chinese, Burger King, or Subway.

So I ask you the same question. From her scientific polling,  the majority of people said, no to bringing dinners, but yes to smuggling candy and drinks. Although one person admitted to bringing in chicken wings. Ick, messy. From someone who used to CLEAN a movie theater (yes me), I would NOT like to be picking up chicken bones from the floor or seats! 

What do you think? Why do movie theaters charge $8 for a box of candy?  Are you a smuggler? 

6AM Wake Up Call

Picture this: Me sleeping like a baby.

6am: Noise in hallway

Bobby: "Someone is up."

Me: "Probably K." I text her and find out that she was up getting water. Roll over to go back to sleep.

Bobby: "Who's Michael Jenkins?"

Me: "What?"

Bobby: "Who's Michael Jenkins? He wrote you a love letter."

Me: "What the hell are you talking about?"

Bobby: "Michael Jenkins wrote you a love letter and left it on our bed."

Me: "Are you sleep talking? I have no idea what you are talking about."

Bobby: "No, I had a dream that a guy named Michael Jenkins left you a mooshy love letter on our bed."

Me: "Oh, a dream. Glad we solved that mystery."

Bobby: "So, who is he?"

Me: "Good Lord."

BLISKA Scavenger Hunt

Tomorrow is the Brad Liska 2nd Annual Scavenger Hunt sponsored by the Women of Fishing Families. If you are in or near Chatham tomorrow, come to the bandstand downtown and sign up! Need more information? Go here! All the monies raised will go to college scholarships for children of fishing families!!

Brad was an AWESOME kid who passed away two years ago to brain cancer. He was one of B's best friends. He loved Apple products, skiing, soccer, jumprope and Modern Family. He could light up a room with his smile. Come have some fun and see some of Brad's favorite sites in Chatham!!

Happy Birthday Dad!

It's my dad's birthday today.

He does not like to make a big deal of his birthday anymore, but we do :)

When we were little, my dad would make a date with us and take us out to dinner, just one of us and him. That was a pretty cool tradition, I think.

Because my  parent's 50th wedding anniversary was last month, I looked at a bunch of old pictures.

Who knew that my parents were actually wild and crazy at one point in their lives?

If I could pick anything in the world to get my dad, it would be a sunny day for him to "tan" in.
He loves the sun and his 1980 Ban de Soleil whether on a beach, in a driveway or on the slopes.

Happy Birthday to the dad I am so lucky to have. To the dad I wish everyone could have. Love you so much!

xoxo

Florida or Bust

#TBT to a healthy time in Florida

Life is not fair.

BUT, no one promised it would be.

BUT it is very hard to explain to a 17 year old who has had mono for about a month now that her trip to Florida is hanging on how she feels by Saturday.

Yes, K does have Mono and instead of getting better, she is getting worse.

The most frustrating thing about being a mom, is not being able to help your child feel better. I mean, I get her cold drinks, I bring her saltines, Kleenex, italian ice, Advil, but not one of those things is making her feel better for the long term. Tonight she asked if we had any frozen pizza, this is the first real thing she has asked for all week. I jumped in the car, drove to the store, bought a pizza, didn't even put it in a grocery bag, drove home and put it in the oven.

She is also my child that does not like affection shown toward her. Laying next to her drives her crazy. Petting her head gets you a grimace of "what the hell are you doing?". All I want to do is wrap her up in my arms and take her pain away and I cannot. I cannot even attempt it and that makes me feel less of a mom. So instead we text, we sit near each other on the couch and I worry. Worry that I am not doing enough to make her feel better and wondering all the time why this kid can't catch a break. The poor thing has had one disappointment after another. Now granted, I always see the glass as half full and she prefers to see it as half empty, but seriously, the girl needs something good to happen.

So, I will throw it out to the blogosphere to say a prayer or think a good thought and send it in her direction.

Thank-you!!
xoxo

Some Days Are Crap-o

Today was a particularly "crap-o" day.

"Crap-o" is usually how my mom describes inclement weather.

Beautiful and sunny today, but the word fits all that happened.

So, to try not to dwell on the negative. I will share some things that make me happy.

My happy Danskos:

The brownies I made last night:

The heart rock I found on York Beach 2 summers ago:

And the Christmas tree that I keep out all year just because I love it:

There you have it! Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. However, if it's not, I know I can come up with a new list of things that make me happy.

Chatham Bars Inn Thanksgiving Lunch

Day 18 of NaBloPoMO....

Today was the day our very LUCKY elementary school was invited to a pre-Thanksgiving dinner (lunch) at Chatham Bars Inn. It's always so very, very nice. Today was a beautiful day, albeit chilly! I wrote about CBI's dinner last year at this time too, here. It truly is a magical day!


We all arrive on school buses and have to walk up a large staircase where parents are waiting and trying to get pictures of their kids all dressed up.

This was the view from my seat. Not a bad place to spend lunchtime.

And we got ice-cream with sprinkles for dessert! Winning all around!!!

Grandstanding

Grandstanding:  to behave or speak in a way that is 

intended to impress people and to get public 

approval.


Grandstanding is often what football players do after they make a great play or score a touchdown. A little bit of grandstanding is fun to watch, especially if the game is really close. Grandstanding becomes obnoxious when the score is 52-6 and the team who has 52 is still dancing in the end zone after yet another touchdown.

We got to thinking last night about grandstanding in other venues.

Ice-cream shop: "Yes! I got a $5 tip! That's right, I rock. Bring it baby," while waving around the ice-cream scoop.

A bar: "OMG that is the BEST martini I have ever had! Those olives are UNBELIEVABLE!" Of course the person is standing on the bar while shouting this.

Teaching: The teacher walking down the hall with a quiet line of Kindergartners (I am sure it could be possible.) "That's right principal! This is the best line ever! You know it !"(chest bumps principal and then runs down the line high fiving all the students)

Grocery Store: Saving $50 on a $200 bill. Grabbing the store microphone, doing a moon walk and repeating "I am a SUPER SAVER!!!"

I wonder if football players, when they are showing film to their grandchildren, look back on their grandstanding as cool or embarrassing?

Confirmation

I feel very lucky to belong to the church that I have belonged to for more than 15 years. The congregation is a family, not just a group of people that hang out together for an hour or so every week. I especially feel lucky to have them as extended family because it takes a village to raise kids and they have helped me raise my two.

Today, B and 3 other teens became confirmed; as in they became members of the church. They had to go through a journey together to become confirmed. They went on a retreat together and each had an adult mentor to guide them on their path. They each had to write and read a faith statement out loud to the church congregation.

The poise, confidence and whit these 4 young people displayed today brought tears to my eyes. I am not sure at 14/15 if I could have spoken to my church. Then again, church was different back then (way back then). We had a congregation and we were friends with lots of people, but other than being in the children's choir, I do not remember being apart of services. In our church now, we have inter-generational services once a month which I love. It's great to see all ages contributing to one service. I also love watching the children grow up. Yes, it makes me feel old, but if is very cool to see the kids I knew as babies, as young adults.

So, a big thank you to Joe and Amy for today. Thank-you for your unfaltering work. Thank-you for making our church as important as our home. Thank-you for giving B a firm foundation in faith.

Rhode Island or Bust

It was a beautiful, frosty day today!

A great day to drive to Rhode Island for a swim meet!

B and I went with our friends Jen and J. 2+ hour rides are much more fun with friends. We got the kids there just in time for warm-ups and then we hit the Narragansett Beach area. So pretty and a lot like Maine! My next mission is to bring Jen to Maine because she has never seen the Maine coast.

What?!

Anyway, RI is beautiful, too!

After climbing rocks for 15 minutes, we went back to the pool and watched things like this

for the next 4 hours. All in all a great day!

Sunrise, NO sunset!

The sunsets this week have been fantastic! Not being a weather person, I could not tell you why. Let's just go with it, shall we?

Totally breathtaking. Happy Weekend!!

Wishes

My blog friend Momo wrote about wishes on 11/11. Here, go check her out, I'll wait!

I had forgotten how I used to make wishes at 11:11 on the clock. And I never had thought of a day full of wishes on 11/11. The funny thing is a day or two before I read Momo's post, I had a dream where I was looking through my camera lens or a telescope and saw thousands of shooting stars. I panicked in my sleep and was trying to come up with a bunch of wishes. I knew I had to make it count because how many wishes are you really allowed to make? I don't recall what I wished for in that dream.

Remember the genie in Aladdin played by Robin Williams? Remember I dream of Jeannie? What would you do if you had a genie on hand to make wishes come true? What if you could only have 3 wishes? I remember when I was little and friends and I would have this conversation. Would you use your first wish to wish for an infinite amount of wishes? Was that fair? Would you use your wish for a million dollars a day? Could you spend a million dollars a day? I would certainly try... Perhaps you would wish to live forever? Would you want that? To live forever, if your family and friends could not live forever?

Maybe you would wish for a super power. I have always wanted to fly, that would be a cool wish. Maybe being invisible would be fun? I have always wanted to be a fly on the wall in many situations.

I believe, as I have gotten older, my wishes have turned to prayer. I know I cannot pray to win a billion dollars, but I know that I can pray to have enough. And enough is good enough right now.

At least until 11:11pm....

Fall Colors

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny fall day in Provincetown yesterday.

The colors in the fall are gorgeous!!

Bravery Comes In Many Forms

Thank you veterans for giving us a day to remember all the effort, blood, sweat and tears you put into our country.

I will not compare myself to the bravery of veterans and their hard work because they do things I would never be able to do. However, my day consisted of effort, blood, sweat and tears.

K came home from school yesterday with a fever. I know that my girls are really sick when they actually have a fever. K has been sickish for what seems like months, but has been weeks. Actually a lot of crap has waded through the house for the past few weeks; America should buy stock in tissues solely based on our house. Still a fever and coughing up a lung this morning landed us in the Doctor's office. I am not sure if I have written about K and Dr's offices before, but let me just say they mix as well as oil and water.

Basically everything was going along pretty well until the Dr. felt her neck lymph nodes. "Hmmm, has she been around anyone with mono, recently?" Ugh, not the question I want to hear. We decided that anything was possible, so we got the green light for a blood test(TEARS). Let me just tell you that the last blood test required 2 hulking men and me holding K down. This BLOOD test required a special cream that you apply an hour before the blood test to numb your skin. That plus, music through ear buds, sunglasses and every ounce of bravery the girl could muster(SWEAT).

We survived the blood test (EFFORT), then she came home and slept for 3 hours.

She was laying in her bed off the living room because something was on on the TV that she did not want to watch. The toys I have for my niece, R, are also in her room. So, B and I hear this little voice coming out of her room... "Hey guys! Want to come hang out in my room?" A little louder, we hear, "I've got Barbies. I've got horses. I've got a barn." A little louder than that,  "Guys? Hey guys? Don't you want to come and hang in my cool room with me?"

Let's hope the mono test is negative because this girl needs to be entertained when she is sick. She does not take the route of B or myself which is just let us curl up in our rooms and bring us the occasional bowl of soup. We will have to pull out all the stops, crayons, coloring books and poker chips.

And maybe even Barbies.

Who Invented Scales

I had my annual physical this afternoon.

I was hoping that something hysterical would happen in the waiting room to spur on a blog post, but no such luck. During NaBloPoMo, I tend to look for things to write about and seriously, what is better than a waiting room?

Actually, I was in the waiting room for about 21/2 minutes, so no luck there. Then it was off to the evil scale. I have learned that knowing how much I weigh as a number is not a good thing for my mental state. If I am down a few pounds then I think, "ooh, what can I eat". If I am up a few pounds then I still eat, but feel really bad about it and myself. I am really good at obsessive thinking so I try to avoid scales like the plague. I have found a new trick that works and probably makes me look silly, but I do not care.

I close my eyes.

I wonder what the nurse thinks when I do this? Maybe more people than I think do something like this when they get on a scale. All I know is that it works for me. And at the Doctor's office, it's survival of the fittest (or at least being able to walk out with your dignity in tact).

Senior Year Pictures

K is a senior this year.

As in, HS senior.

I have taken 100s of pictures of her as a hope to nail her "senior picture".

I have taken many of her friends' senior pictures, but somehow my expertise in pictures has not been "good enough" for her.

Today, B went off with K and shot 400 or so pictures.

This is the result...

Seriously? I think my little girl should get a professional camera for Christmas.

PS. extra points if you recognize the green boat behind her.....

I Am Lucky To Live Here

I really am thankful and grateful to live in such a beautiful place.

Enjoy your weekend :)

The Book of Frank

My blog friend Debbie (aka Vodkamom) has published a BOOK!!!!  I could not be more happier for her than if I were eating the world's biggest sundae with chocolate chip ice-cream. No one deserves a book deal more than Debbie. She is HYSTERICAL. I am hoping this book is hysterical because I only ordered it today, the first day it hit the Amazon "shelves". This is not even a book review of the book, it is a pre-book review of a woman I have known for 5 or so years. Her blog is fantastic, she is a Kindergarten teacher and has 3 children. Lots (and I mean LOTS) of material to draw from. You can pick up a copy of her book here.

Congratulations Debbie!!!!

We Like Kindergarten (then smile)

I was walking down the hall at school today and passed this....

Yikes!

That little girl does not exactly look very happy to be in Kindergarten or to be anywhere for that matter. She sort of looks like a possessed girl from those scary movies that I refuse to watch. I never went to Kindergarten myself. I must have really excelled in nursery school and preschool. Somehow, I launched straight to 1st grade. And thank goodness, if this is what the Kindergarten kids looked like.

On further inspection of this "book", aka scary nightmare, it was published in 1966. Phew, before I was born! Maybe kids straightened out and cheered up by the time I got to first grade. I could blame it solely on the illustrator (Eloise Wilkin), but then I read the book and decided it was a freaky conspiracy between the author (Clara Cassidy) and the illustrator.

"We sit quietly". Huh. That is not something that any of the Kindergarten classes that I have been in in the past 3 years would EVER say!!!! Or do on a consistent basis.

I think this needs to go on the "banned book list" of the elementary school.


Rest in peace Ms. Wilkin, who was evidently a cherished Little Golden Book illustrator.
And, I only found that Ms. Cassidy wrote this one book.