Saturday, April 29, 2006

Fives on Tuesday.

For Cady, who tagged me...

My list. Two days late. Ergh, I cannot get my blog act together.

five movies you can watch over and over again:

1. red sox world series DVD
2. moulin rouge
3. kill bill (1 and 2)
4. love actually
5. jaws

five embarrassing songs you know all the words to:
1. the devil went down to georgia - charlie daniels band
2. jessie's girl - rick springfield
3. hot for teacher - van halen
4. i can't go for that - hall and oates
5. big shot - billy joel

sadly, as I went through iTunes, I wasn't as embarrassed as maybe I should be.

five memorable halloween costumes:
1. tinkerbell.
2. a hobo
3. a fisherman
4. dracula

I'm not remembering any more than 4.

five celebrities you believe may secretly be aliens:
1. tom cruise
2. oprah
3. sarah jessica parker
4. tom cruise
5. katie couric

five occupations you could never hold:
1. doctor/nurse - anything with blood and guts.
2. copy machine repairman - ugh, I hate toner.
3. policeman/firefighter - too chicken.
4. singer - I cannot, for the life of me, sing.
5. high school teacher.

five books you've recently read outside of school:
1. the tie that binds - kent haruf
2. the blind assassin - margaret atwood
3. surviving grady
4. the birth of venus (halfway done, but I'll finish it up soon) - sarah dunant
5. you remind me of me by dan chaon

five ways to perfectly spend an afternoon:
1. at the pond jumping off the raft with the kids
2. the beach, listening to the redsox and watching the kids hunt for crabs
3. watching movies while the kids are NOT at home
4. reading
5. on a road trip

5 foods I'm most likely eating:
1. kettle corn
2. grilled whole chicken (well, not the WHOLE chicken myself people, but I cook this alot for the family)
3. steamed peas
4. peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch
5. nutrigrain blueberry waffles

five lines you blatantly stole from a movie, tv, a commercial, or song:
I have absolutely no memory for quoting a movie or a tv show.

five people who must immediately respond:
no one, I'm not a tagger, but play along if you'd like

Friday, April 28, 2006

I saw this over in Tuvalu and thought hey, a list...I love lists...and easy posting opportunities. Happy Friday.

I could never be a 40 hour a week or sixty hour a week employee. Well, of course I could if I had to but I'm easily bored and hate the whole 'obligation' part of it. Be here at blank a.m., do this by Tuesday, you can't leave until blank p.m., work closely with the same people for hours and hours and hours and come to hate them.

Petulant child? Is that what I sound like? Sorry. But I do work, and I like what I do it's just that it's part time and that's the key to my success.

Here are some are jobs I might like:

Book Store Owner: Free Books. Oh, wait. I should say SUCCESSFUL Book Store Owner. I wouldn't want to be working in the store 150 hours a week.

Movie critic: Watch movies and then talk about them. I think that's pretty much perfection.

Red Sox Ball Girl: Unless I was hired for this.

Meteorologist: Love the weather. Don't want to be the actual TV weather person but would want to work for the National Weather Service or something.

Professional Blogger: Yeah, I know I'd have to post more than twice a week and maybe learn to actually write but Dooce's husband is now HOME thanks to what? People clicking on ads? Craziness.

Hunting/Fishing Lodge Owner: I have it all pictured in my head - post and beam construction, large stone fireplace, big tables that hold many eaters. I could make big hearty breakfasts and pack lunches and the husband could keep the place in good repair and chat the guests up about their day. Lakefront, in the woods. *sigh*

What do you want to be when you grow up?

And for those of you who wanted to know what a rotary is:

click this.

Five roads all meet up with a circley road and you drive around the circle until you hook up witht the route you need to take. If it sounds dangerous, it is. People are rude and no one uses blinkers and some drivers try to make an extra lane for themselves, but somehow, it all works.
And note that Artist appears nowhere on my list of dream jobs.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Show and Tell & Thursday Thirteen - done and DONE!

And the award for negligent eye care goes to....

One wild guess.

The girlie wore her eye patch religiously for two hours a day for three months last year. We were weaned down to an hour a day three months ago. Guess what she hasn't worn ONCE in the last three months?

Socks? No.

Barrettes? Um, no.

For whatever reason it continually slipped my mind. The opthamologist still wanted to see her, to check her vision and alignment - making sure the stronger eye doesn't just take over for the weaker eye which would make her ineligible for fighter pilot training.


Thirteen Things about Jenny



1. This is just what you don't want to see when you're heading over the Bourne Bridge to the Cape. Especially because when you left the house ten minutes early you were too busy congratulating yourself to remember that A. You needed gas and therefore needed extra time to sell that pesky kidney of yours and B. The new health insurance cards were sitting on the kitchen counter. And so instead of ten minutes early you ended up ten minutes late. Did I mention how even though there are few places I love more than Cape Cod the bridge situation is a nightmare. Unless you like very narrow, very high bridges. And cannot imagine yourself just tumbling off the edge every damn time you go over it. Because then it's fun!


2. Don't buy slip on, no back sneakers for your child unless you like watching her try to run and keep those damn shoes on in some awkward duck footed shuffle. Oh, and a note to Skechers (which these are not) - those Z straps are not some new fangled skecher idea...the girlie has been wearing them for over a year now. And no, she cannot tie her shoes yet. Z straps a good idea? Um, a lazy mommy idea maybe but not sure if that qualifies it as good.





3. I love the anticipation of knowing the beach is right over the dunes and not being able to see it. Had lunch at the beach today...and now am counting the days until summer.






4. The Cape Cod Canal is right next to this particular beach...this is the entrance from the bay side of the canal...notice the beautiful expanse of ocean?






5. And this is what you see when you turn and look behind you. Hello, nuclear power plant. Way to wreck the seasidey vibe.







6. I love rotaries. Seriously, I do. It makes driving in Massachusetts, well, driving in Massachusetts. Most people hate them. I'm not most people.







7. And for Show and Tell this week, my road. Oh... wait...this isn't my road. It's the driveway of the fish hatchery from picture # 2. I just want it to be my road. Does that count?






8. This is my actual road, looking left from my front gate. Yes, it's dirt. We don't actually access our driveway from this road but the front of my house faces this way so unofficially, it's our road. I say unofficially because our deed is a disaster and we found out this is actually what street address should reflect. oops.







9. This is my road, from my gate looking right. Notice that it pretty much leads into a patch of woods? That's where it ends. But through this little patch is my girlie's secret (or not) path to her best friends house.









10. This is the road that leads to the main road, it's a regular freeway isn't it?










11. I'm out of pictures and cannot get this to stop underlining. WTF.

12. My boy want to audition for one of those PBS Frontier House type of shows. He asks me a few times a week how we'd take part in something like that. He loves camping, no electricity, no running water - really roughing it (at least in my opinion). And yet he balked at going TV free for a week.

13. I have to look into getting that automatic linky thing for the bottom of this post...it's the linking that kills me.


Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)



Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!



Thursday, April 20, 2006

Double Digits. Minus One

I've got a NINE year old son. Apparently I've blinked and *whoosh* nine years has flown on by.

I reread his birthday post from last year and found that not alot has changed. Sadly, though his too big grown up teeth no longer seem as big, Lemony Snicket has been replaced with Harry Potter and Fred the Beagle is a fond memory. But being "The Meanest Mom in the World" (a quote direct from the birthday boy when told that A - Drake and Josh is an obnoxious show not to be watched in this house; B - Your sister is NOT to be ordained 'Permanent Goalie' for you and your friends - this is soccer NOT target practice; C- No you cannot have chat capabilities while playing Runescape) has paid off. I highly recommend it. He's a great, great kid and a great brother.

Birth Story Anyone?

I only remember snippets. (Another reason I love this blog - I can look back and say "Aw, wow. I forgot all about that ('that' being anything that's happened more than two weeks ago))

It was my due date. I spent the day raking and resigning myself to another week or so of pregnancy. I remember eating Chinese Food (was told this would spur things on) and finally in the afternoon feeling that slight crampy feeling. We played some yahtzee (I keep the score card in his baby book) and I packed my bag while the husband went to put gas in the car. (Side note to my friend LeeMarie - make sure the car's not on E on your due date, who wants to stop for gas???) We called the midwife she recommended staying at home as long as possible, we agreed. I lasted until two a.m. or so - details are sketchy, I remember lying in bed and thinking damn, this kind of hurts...little did I know.

We get to the hospital, the husband goes to park the car and I walk waddle in. The triage nurse? volunteer? greeter? she takes my name and tells me to sit. Like a mindless sheep - I sit. Thinking "This is kind of fucked up - I'm sitting in the WAITING AREA???" I notice that despite, or because of the early A.M. hours that there aren't two seats together so my husband won't be able to sit with me. I see the real nurse now, she lets the volunteer know that *newsflash* pregnant ladies in labor don't wait.

I go up to the labor and delivery room and the memories are fuzzy here but I remember the heartbeat being all over the place so I was on some sort of monitor. The only time I raised my voice was when a nurse tried numerous times to stick me with the I.V. - yeouch. The midwife asked what was wrong and laughed out loud when I asked her to stop the nurse from poking my hand because it was hurting worse than the contractions.

More fuzziness. More Pain. Something about a vacuum to get his head out. I do remember the doctor coming in (which wasn't a planned thing as he was only called in because the vacuumy thing is something the midwife doesn't do) whistling. "Please stop whistling" was what I said, and he noted my good manners with a quip about using the word please while having a baby about an inch from being born.

A boy. At 7:36 on April 21st, a 7 pound 2 ounce boy. Love at first sight. Such an intense feelings those first few minutes, it cannot be duplicated.

I had brought a James Taylor CD into the L & D room, some book I read said that it might be soothing to have music playing. I don't remember hearing the music until right after the boy was born. The nurses had changed shifts at 7:00 and were just starting their day. The room was sunny and bright and the nurses and doctor were singing along. It's silly but I really love that memory.

There was an almost evening news worthy part of our hospital stay which I'll post tomorrow, I want to go smooch on the son for a minute.


Things I'm liking.

My son will love this show.

I am addicted to these.

The boy and I? Cannot stop playing this.

My T.V. viewing IQ dropped many points when I realized I was glad this show was back from a short hiatus.

Don't go here on the most beautiful day of school vacation week unless you're partial to huge crowds and traffic. And animals trapped in cages. Me no likee.

But they serve this and, well, it's yummy.

Funniest website? This one. And quite frankly, I can't get enough of those Sox.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Weekends like these leave me exhausted. In a good way, but exhausted nonetheless.

The boy had his birthday party on Saturday. TWENTY boys. Playing street hockey at the Y. Oh, wait 28 boys if you count the dads. Which you must because there were two teams, with three lines. Two for kids, one for dads. Oh, and in case you're wondering...it was crazy. The hockey game was fine but afterwards, in the cake and present room? Madness. Well, they were actually all pretty good but seeing as it was the Y there were those exercise balls all stored on racks in there and well, twenty boys + giant blue exer-balls is a little crazymaking.

The hockey families came home with us (see how much we love them?) and we cooked out, laughed, had some cocktails and laughed some more. I had forgotten just how nice warm weather can be. Sunny and seventy six degrees during the day and we were still outside at 10 p.m. while the kids ran around the yard with flashlights playing manhunt. Life is good. Oh, and life is even better because the only room that needed cleaning afterward was the kitchen. Ahhh, outdoor parties.

I was back outside with a flashlight at 5:00 a.m. hiding eggs and baskets. The things you do for love. Last week the kids made homemade chocolates with my mother in law, tons and tons of homemade chocolates. They brought them home and with willpower unknown to humans, they put the chocolate away and vowed to hand it out on Easter Sunday. Super, I thought.

Until today.

The boy takes out his bag of chocolate to bring to my mother's. One giant brick that says happy easter, which was the size of 4-6 hershey bars plus 3 large chocolate bunnies, 4 small chocolate bunnies, two solid easter egg sized easter eggs, 12 half eggs, 3 chocolate chicks and some reese's cups thrown in for good measure. He's sitting on the couch with the candy in a big bag. We go to my mom's and what do we realize? We've forgotten the extra table and chairs. The husband goes back home (no mean feat, it's at least 30 minutes each way). And when he gets home?

There are shredded ziploc bags everywhere. And tiny bits of blue all over the carpet. Because if you'll notice A.) The boy is sitting on the couch with the candy and B.)We go to my mom's. Nowhere do I mention the boy taking the candy with us.

It was left on the couch. And the dog ate every damn bit of it. The husband gets back to my mom's and tells me this fantastic piece of news. But not in an oh my god way, more like a who gives a rat's ass way. Which for the life of me, I can't figure out but that's his issue - I'm beside myself, convinced the dog will go into convulsions while we're eating our ham but we stay a short time and come home to find him in relatively good shape.

We stay a few minutes, refresh the water dish and pet him and head to my in laws for awhile. The kids egg hunted, the adults egg hunted (which was surprisingly competitive - my mother in law was flat out running to beat her boys to the eggs), the kids egg hunted again.

I came home, and this might sound a wee bit pathetic, but I was GLAD that my dog had thrown up all over the carpet. WHOOP FUCKING PEE. Puke. But seriously, it does seem like a sad state of affairs when you think dog puke is really a blessing (hey, he didn't keep it down, good boyeee *scratch scratch*). But no convulsions. And no emergency vet hospital. A dog with a pulse. All good things.

Happy Easter.

Monday, April 10, 2006

And just like that....it's gone.

t.v. repair = couple a' hundred bucks.

check engine light that turned on again Saturday Morning = original estimate $650.00

new tires that should 've been replaced last fall = What, like $500 ?

already booked trip to vermont with the family = a couple a' more hundred.

coffee maker replacement so husband stops with the pouting = $50.00

birthday party and lacrosse gear for son = more than I would've thought.

Now, divide by the sizable pay cut my husband has taken due to pending criminal/legal troubles with his work. Not really a pay cut, just a court ordered ban on prevailing wage work for his company. Still, a healthy 20% off the top of last year's salary.

See, see how fun math can be. This is why I hate it. Seems like there is too much with the subtraction, at least this spring, in this checkbook.

Which leads me to the sad realization that the meetup, with the hotel, gas for the guzzling SUV, meals & extras is just not in the cards for me this time. A completely crappy decision to have to make, but the right and grownup one.

Oh, wait I almost forgot.

new toothbrush: $3.00

why?




and of course. It's MY toothbrush.

Friday, April 07, 2006

So Kate was kind enough to justify my lack of posting with her topic today. Which is precisely why I love her.
Just not alot going on. Or rather, there's stuff going on but I'm having trouble translating it into interesting posts.

And here it is: My first knitting project:


It took me awhile to get the nose and mouth right, but you can't even see the seams can you?? Oh, wait. It's not the girl silly but her pink rolltop hat. A little too small but I'm not complaining. I had some other angles too but they are lost in the quagmire known as "My Pictures". All in all a fairly successful start.



Project Number Two: A tiny chapstick bag for the girlie in the pink hat. It fits a little more than just a chapstick but that's pretty much all the girlie makeup type items she's allowed to bring in public.




I'm finishing up a scarf for the girlie and then I'm moving on to a project for moi. The poor girlie is the recipient of all things beginner and with questionable seaming. But she doesn't know and ignorance really is bliss.

Remember the baby shower we threw about a month ago? Yeah, well let's just say the woman is on her way to becoming my EX sister in law. Not because I'm disowning her but because two weeks ago while my brother in law was at a Bruins game she packed all of her stuff up and moved right the heck out. Holy mackerel. Poor little babe.

Book club tonight. The book, which I have previously referred to as a coaster, has not been read. It's called Self Made Man by Norah Vincent and I wasn't intrigued when the hostess chose it and guess what....Still Not Intrigued. She dresses up as a man....blah blah....and tries to assimilate herself....blah blah. Do I want some greater insight into men? No. Do I really and truly care how they act or what they say when it's just men? No. Do I care how she sees women as a newly mustached man? No. But I'm in luck. Reading the book is not a prerequisite to attending. Well, it might be if you NEVER read the books but this one just wasn't happenin' for me. So I'll put a snack together, wait anxiously for my friend C. and sit quietly (or not) for awhile until the talk turns to other things...



Hockey is OVER! Or as the local paper called it....The Other Spring Break. But it's not really over. Only the games are. We've got ice time thru the end of the month and then the Father/Son game. And then it's over.

I think. And then we start lacrosse.

And today:


Can't read it? It says Kindergarten Screening. Waaaahhhhh. The girlie went today. She's set to go for September. I'm not at all happy about this growing up nonsense.