Throwback Thursday

Going through the archives, I found a post I had written on a little adventure that the girls and I took one day. I was (and still am) always up for a road trip with them because we have a lot of fun together (especially if a mall is involved). I am not sure why I did not video the girls practicing their routine at home for the Bernie and Phyl''s audition. It was hysterical and although they might not be able to pull it off anymore, I bet that they could explain exactly how it went. Enjoy!

click here to read on :)

Oh, January: Thank Goodness for JB

January.

Plain, boring January.

On Cape Cod, this is the month most people have limited resources. (Of course there is February and March too, but let's just focus on January right now.) It's snowy. It's cold. And truly there is not a lot to do (Just ask any teenager, you will get an ear full).

So, this month of January leaves even an optimistic person fighting for air.  It's not easy. I know. I am that optimistic person.

What  do I reach for? Celebrity news. What could be more entertaining?

Justin Bieber has been in the news twice in the last week. Or maybe I should call him the male version of Lindsay Lohan. What a baggy pants train wreck. However, this is not about him per say, it is about things related to him.





His house gets searched by police who are looking for evidence to an egg related crime in his neighborhood. Yes, one of his neighbors accused him of egging his house. What exactly were the police looking for? An empty egg carton in the trash? A few eggs missing from the dozen in his fridge? Egg stained clothing? A diagram on his computer mapping out where and when to throw the eggs?

And what would make JB think, "My neighbor is an old fogy. I don't like the way he ignores me when my people go pick up my mail or my newspaper. I think I will egg his house." Really, egging seems to be more accepted on October 31st than the middle of January. Maybe he was trying to fry an egg on the sidewalk and got carried away?

Then, in this same week, he rents a Lamborghini in Miami. Here's how I imagine the conversation goes with Justin's people and Budget Rent a Car.

Justin's peeps, "Hey, we need to rent a Lamborghini for Justin Bieber on Monday."

Budget, "Great. We have one Lamborghini in stock."

Justin's peeps, "Great, we will take it if it is black."

Budget, "Oh no, guys. This is Miami. We believe in color!! Our Lamborghini only come in yellow. You want to flaunt your stuff when driving a rented Lamborghini!"

Justin's peeps, "Oh, right. Of course. We'll take it."

Budget, "Assuming that Mr. Bieber has a current license and no history of driving infractions....."

Justin's peeps, "Don't worry about him. He is very responsible. (choking)

So, Justin gets pulled over for drag racing said Lamborghini while under the influence of prescription pills, alcohol and weed. Perfect. I am pretty sure my 3 year old niece is smarter than he is.

Thank goodness JB was able to relax in Panama for the weekend and recover from his recent embarrassments. Although, dude, could you please wear shorts/pants that actually fit you? Perhaps some day soon we will find out the baggy shorts/pants are a cover for his shoplifting circuit. I am going to to hope this happens in February or March. Those are pretty long months, too.

Throwback Thursday (on Friday)

In the spirit of "throwback Thursday", I thought I would take you on a trip through the years. There might be a few posts that some of you missed (accidentally, of course) over the past 6 years.

This is one of my most favorite stories about B and church. Don't be fooled by the title. Click here to check it out!!

2nd Blizzard of 2014

Nothing like the second blizzard in weeks to throw your common sense to the wind (and yes, there is plenty of it) and go drive around town taking pictures. Not as much snow as the last blizzard, but the wind is strong. As you can see in these pictures, drifting snow is the problem. I think much of the snow on our street landed in our driveway.

These are the top of the steps to Lighthouse Beach. I don't think too many people will venture down there today...

This is one of my favorite little "garages" in town. It's even cuter when it snows.

Shoveled, went sledding down the street and had my hot chocolate. Who says blizzards can't be fun?

Sundae, Sundae

My grandmother has been gone for more than 20 years this month. I still think of her almost every day. I have this picture of her on my dresser.

The woman loved hot fudge sundaes. I lived with her for a few springs in Ogunquit, after college got out and before summer began. At night, we would sit together and eat hot fudge sundaes. Sometimes we would have company, sometimes it was just the 2 of us.

She brought my dad and my uncle up with the saying, "Nothing is so bad that a hot fudge sundae can't help".

I am a strong believer in ice cream helping all sorts of problems.

It is also a great celebration tool.

But, yesterday, I decided to expand the magic of ice-cream healing.

Yesterday, Bobby and I had to discuss finances. (Big ick)


I thought, why not discuss an uncomfortable topic at the SAME TIME as having ice-cream?! It turned out to be a fantastic idea (I know, you are welcome). We enjoyed creating our ice-cream smorgasbord and while we were eating, we pulled out the bill page and actually discussed things in a calm manner.

Crazy, but true. Thanks Grandma for your infinite wisdom!! xoxo

Warning, ice-cream nor ice-cream sundaes actually bring in money or allow you to find money, but they make talking about the money you don't have in January on Cape Cod a lot more tolerable. 

Zeus' Playland

This morning was rushed. As in, rushed more than usual.

Last night B finished her (epic) project for history. She had to build a coliseum so that it would cover the top of a desk and be fairly accurate to history. 34 ten inch tubes hot glued onto Styrofoam and a cardboard roof with a Styrofoam peak. She glued some sand onto the ground to make it look more accurate (I don't think that they had artificial turf back then). The final project turned out pretty cool, even though there were times while she was building it that I had my doubts.

So, she finishes around 11:30 last night and crawls into bed only to wake up at 5:30 this morning for morning swim practice. She wakes me up with 5 minutes to spare because I have slept through my alarm. Carefully put epic structure in way back of minivan and secure it. She throws in all her bags in middle row. Drive 25 minutes, drop her off, turn around and go home to shower because I slept through my alarm(duh).


Get back in car. Know that I am picking up girls from swimming to get them to school. Start to clear the middle row of stuff from the inside of the car because it is freezing outside and huck (yes, that is an accurate description) a half-full water bottle to the back of the van.

My brain caught up with this action as the water bottle was spinning toward the back of the van. It was like it happened in slow motion.

Me (in slow motion), "Nnnnnnoooooooooooooooooo".

Thunk.

Me (in regular time), "OhshitOhnoOhshitOhno".

Bobby, being the voice of reason, "OhShit".

We jumped out of the car and slunk to the back and opened the trunk to survey the damage. We sort of resembled people watching a scary movie with our hands over our eyes, but with our fingers spread apart.

Direct hit, but just dented the Styrofoam roof peak. Nothing as disastrous as I was imagining, but still knew that B was going to be annoyed (OK, highly annoyed).

We went up to swimming, picked up B and 2 girls. Gave them their donuts and hot chocolate before we told the story. I think that cushioned the blow a little bit, but she was upset a tad bit when we got to school. She carried it into school as I emailed her teacher.

B texted me later that she was sorry she was so mad about the dent in the roof and that her teacher thought the whole things was hysterical.

Phew. Another parenting total fail avoided!!

6 Years

I have been writing this blog since January 2008.

Really.

834 posts (well this will be the 835th).

6 years.

I guess I have had a lot to say. What has happened in those 6 years? If I was talented like Billy Joel, I would write a song like "We Didn't Start The Fire", but I'm not, so you will get some random musings.

*I started married, currently pending divorce.

*I started knowing no bloggers, now friends with a bunch of people all over the country that I would never have met otherwise.

*My girls were 10 and 9 when I started. I'll do the math for you, they are now 16 and 15.

*I started writing this one night when I had heartburn. I still get heartburn. All. The. Time.

*My favorite posts are the ones where the girls have done something hysterical or said something funny.

*I definitely look at life with a skewed view.

*I still love taking photos and have taken thousands in the past 6 years.

*I have had so many opportunities through my blog like going to Chicago, NYC, San Diego, Stonewall Kitchen in York, ME, conferences, store openings, giving away things, doing product reviews and I have loved ALL OF IT!!!

*My girls and I have been recognized at the mall because of the blog. Weird, right?

*I believe that I have become a better writer.

*I had to take down some posts on weddings that I photographed because one person complained to my boss (the head photographer) that I was mean. We still laugh about this.

*I still eat M&Ms every single day.

I think over the next month or so, I will review some of my favorite posts that you may have never read or forgotten. Selfishly, this gives me an excuse to reread my older posts.

It's A New Year

A new year.

Just when I could say the date without pausing to think of what year it was...

Everybody is about resolutions today. It will be all over the news. Teachers will ask their students. Parents will ask their kids. 'What are you going to do to improve this year?'  'What are you going to commit to doing?' Most people will say the usual, "lose weight, exercise more, be healthier".


I was trying to think of some out of the box resolutions even though I should probably concentrate on the "typical" ones.

I came up with:

*Try not to eat a handful of M&Ms when I get up or for that matter, before 10 am.

*Do something about the single sock problem we have in our house.

*Teach the kids how to wait on me and do chores.

I am pretty sure these are not going to hold much more water than the exercise or lose weight resolutions. That's ok. Because I think the most important resolution that I could keep is to be kinder to myself this year. So if things don't turn out perfectly, I won't be sweating it. I will just tell myself to have a seat on the couch, grab a good book, a glass of wine and some M&Ms and just relax.

I wish that resolution for the rest of you too: Be Kinder to Yourself.

Happy 2014!!