A suggestion to our School Department: The school year should run from Labor Day to Memorial Day. No making up snow days, flood days or whathaveyou. We'll give up February vacation, no problem, and shorten the newly seemingly longer Christmas break. But I. AM. DONE. with school. done. Except that the boy actually isn't. And now it's all kind of a drag. A busy drag with these last few weeks being filled with a book report and the big mural picture he's still working on.

Two problems: He picked the 12th Lemony Snicket book for his book report and while that's all well and good the weather is finally NICE and does he want to be sitting around reading? No. It's alotta pages too.

The picture my son has to draw for this mural has a theme. Trustworthiness. He knew exactly what he wanted to draw, sketched it out and started working on the final copy. Well, being gifted with his mother's affliction of unrealistic looking people drawing he brought his picture into the art teacher for help. He WAS drawing a boy returning a book to the librarian. His idea, which he explained to me... being able to take out and return books shows your trustworthy.
This is a correct definition of trustworthy right? It's not like irony which I still don't get, right? right? Okay, well the teacher NIXED his idea and all of his hard work and now he's had to start over. On HER idea of trustworthiness because his picture was too much like responsibilityness or whatever. Nice.

See how done I am with school?

Plus the librarian is a cranky 'ole biddy and laid a nice line of sarcasm on the boy a few weeks ago. And she pissed me off but good.



Do y'all have caterpillars? Like 48 gagillion of them? Crawling on everything, making the lawn look as though it's moving and making it impossible to sit outside for any length of time or walk barefoot?

The frickin' catepillars...Major Infestation! Severe Deforestation! Biblical Proportions! All of those and hey! They give me a nasty ass itchy rash! Woot for catepillar allergies!

Hot fun in the Summertime. *UPDATED*

If you tried to click the video in my 13 and it didn't work, here's a direct link:



For Loretta, Summer.

1. Kool-aid
2. corn on the cob
3. grilled whole chicken
4. *noting the need for a summery cocktail in my life* (graciously accepting suggestions)
5. realizing you haven't used the oven for two weeks
6. my potato salad
7. iced tea, iced tea, iced tea
8. peanut butter & jelly sandwiches eaten pondside on the rickety table


and

1. letting bedtime slide the month before school gets out
2. going barefoot
3. first swim in the lake, although the girlie went for a dip in APRIL and that is most certainly not summer in New England.
4. strawberry picking
5. shorts with too white legs
6. Dinner outside
7. Citronella torches and candles signaling to neighbors that the kids are locked away sound asleep and drinks are being served.
8. mosquito swatting

Show and Tell

How is it that out of all the people I know in real life, none of them admit to a love for rocks? And then I come here to the internet, visit the show and tell in Tuvalu and *blam* rock lovahs.



found last summer on our Super Secret Seaglass Beach in Newport. I think that was probably THE best day of our summer last year. Or, at the very least, tied for first.





Garnets, found in Harvard Mine up in Maine. And this day was pretty good too.








Found by the boy.










And sadly, or maybe not sadly if you happen to be a rockophile, but I actually had to DECIDE what rocks to choose for this show and tell. There are more, scattered throughout the house, that I kept finding as I was looking for that funny shaped one.

Must go tuck the girlie in, g'nite.

Thurteen on Thirsday. And later...Rocks.

Okay. I'm relatively embarassed to even be typing this but dudes, this here is my space. Well, not myspace, but MY space and I'm throwing this out there:

I watched American Idol. And here is my Thursday Thirteen:




Thirteen Things about YOUR NAME 1. As a disclaimer I'd like to note that I watched two of the audition shows and then the two part season finale. That's it. And I'd like to tell you...that's all you even NEED to watch. Cripes, every week it's on the news, Remy gives updates during the Sox games even. 2. Another tip: Tape them. Or for those of you living in this century....tivo. There's alotta crap thrown in there for filler. Fast forward is my friend. 3. What was with the bad duets? Meatloaf? That bald guy Chris and his favorite band? uck. Clay with the Claywannabe? Again with the fast forward. 4. That Ace guy is creepy looking. Don't know if it's the eyes, the hair, the size of his face...something just doesn't sit right. 5. Liked watching Randy swaying to Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head. 6. Was I the only one offended by the fake-o awards? I mean, giving that 'most compassionate moment' fake award to that guys mom, who looks like she might be battling cancer. Nice. 7. Dionne Warwick looks just like she did when she was on Solid Gold. A plastic surgery success story. Take note, Kenny Rogers. 8. Prince. Love him. 9. 63.4 million votes. In four hours. That's alotta votes. 10. I thought for sure Katherine would win. 11. She didn't! Woot! 12. The pyrotechnics, during the last song? A little much - no, ALOT much. They were blinding. And maybe it's just the fact that the Station Nightclub fire is still getting news coverage up here that makes me a little more aware, but next time, tone it down. 13. The next American Idol: 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!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants



So, no posts since last Thursday and that was, maybe, a little Red Sox oriented.

Jennifer was kind enough to monkey with a little photo for my birthday, if you haven't seen it...


Now THAT is awesome. Thanks Jen, you totally made my day.

So the boy is going on a field trip later this week. A THREE DAY LONG field trip. I'm having mini-strokes over the whole thing, but privately. Outwardly I'm showing a calm, relaxed front. Except for one thing. He needs rain boots. And did I think to look for rain boots when I found out about them two months ago? Um, no.

So tomorrow is a mad scramble all over my little corner of Red Sox Nation to find a pair of rain boots. They're on the Target website alright and if it had even crossed my mind last week this whole mess would've been avoided. But no.

So between the whole totallystressedoutabouttheboybeingawaybutpretendingit'sallgood and the lack of wellies, I'm feeling edgy.

And for a short time this weekend we played host to a wild baby painted turtle. Until we realized it would A.) cost over $100.00 to house him correctly and B.) still be alive long after the boy leaves for college. He's in the pond.

We had this fish, it was the girlie's. An orangy little murdering bastard thing. It killed every single fish we put in the tank with it. Like 6 or 7 different fish, dead. I know they're kindof disposapets and the gas to and from Petco costs more than they do, but still. Well, ding dong the fish is dead! Woot! My husband asked the kids if they'd be willing to give up the fish to keep Max (the turtle). They were all "yeah, yeah, yeah!" my lovely boy suggested flushing them. I spoke up..."um, you'd actually KILL them to keep the turtle?" Anyway, we didn't have to kill them. He must've heard us voice our true feelings and pffft. Dead.

So tomorrow it's boots and fish and defacing everything in the duffle bag with my son's name in permanent marker. Do they really NEED six pairs of underwear? I'm hoping not.

Red Sox Fever

Thirteen Things about crazy obsessed Sox Fan Jenny 1. Willie Harris you are NO Dave Roberts. 2. Coco Crisp. Are you coming back? Evah? What're we doing with Pena? 3. I'm not sure how to get a ~ over the N in Pena. Sorry Willy Mo. 4. And David Wells, heal and pitch my man. Can't wait to see you play. 5. Kevin Millar could make googly eyes at Mirabelli all night and now *sniff* I miss him. 6. Last year, when playing for the PawSox we saw Youkilis in a game or two. Instantly coined "Puke-a-liss" by my son and his friend we now have rousing cheers of PUUUUUUKE! everytime he's at bat. 7. Have I mentioned just how much I love Pukealiss? 8. And Papelbon? 9. No? Well, yeah, I do. And not because of Puke's giant head or that goofy fauxhawk that Papelbon had. Those boys can play. 10. Who is this Mike Lowell and why was he considered an anchor in the Beckett dealio? 11. Can we still love a catcher who bats .156? Why, yes we can. 12. I love that Manny & Ortiz can go O-fer and still this team comes out on top. 13. Tonight I can go to bed early, to recover from these late night 'watch Lost after the sox Post Game show' nights. Thank god for the off day. 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!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Is it crazy to assume that every time you kill a spider his brethren will come looking for you? No? Well good. Because every time I kill one of those eight legged disgustacreatures I can't relax for the next few hours. A piece of lint hits me the wrong way and I jump a mile, convinced that his brother is out looking for revenge. See? So totally NOT crazy.

Blue skies, birds chirping, calm breezes, pond rippling...so this is what Spring is all about? No wonder people love it.

Hey, we're having some people over for my birthday this weekend? Wanna come?

So polite of me to extend an invitation knowing you all live too far away to accept...ahahahaha.

I spoke to my son's teacher last night, he wanted early approval on a book report book so I sighed loudly and told him that just this once I'd pull some strings and call her at home. I know her outside of school and we're friendly so I prayed she wouldn't mind. Of course, one of the reasons I like her is that she SO didn't mind and laughed loudly when I told her that "I might be overstepping my bounds here, but can he read the 12th Lemony Snicket?" She told me yes and then promptly said that she too would overstep her bounds. My first thought was "oh-oh. what's he done?" but before I could do much more than laugh in response she told me that my son was her favorite. FAY VORE IT. And then proceeded to tell me just what a great kid this boy is (in school obviously, because she didn't hear him telling his sister to go fall in a ditch about five minutes prior) excited to learn, always respectful, great friend to his classmates, awesome vocabulary...and there was more. MORE! I mean, I know he's good in school...really good. But to hear just HOW good, well it blew me away. Yes I know, braggy brag brag. But HOLY CRAP! I've done something - and it's a big something- right! I must be permitted to gloat.

I let him stay up extra late last night to read his book, and I will give him extra kisses today before school (won't he be thrilled :) ) and inside my head I will be doing a little endzone dance all the while.

blink and you might miss it

Pardon the screen in the photo but that, my friends, is authentic blue sky.

I am in no danger of floating away, we've gotten plenty of rain but nothing like the folks north of the city. Over a foot of rain in some spots. Which would equal, what, like 10 feet of snow. Now THAT would've been fun. Not to make light of what must be complete misery for some people but man, I love a blizzard.


Vermont:


Many things to ooh and ahh over.














Many things to throw down in frustration.














Giant stepping.













Pencil Diving.




















Covered bridge driving.












Three trips each morning to the hotel's surprisingly good breakfast buffet. And yes, this is the same boy whose ribs are showing in the pool picture.












And a heat camera (infared???)family portrait.








The end.

If you ever find yourself in central Vermont with your kids I highly recommend the Montshire Museum of Science. It was voted best museum EVAH by my esteemed panel of judges.
Tons to do, lots of hands on things that aren't too little kiddish, beautiful trails, we stayed for a loooong time even though it certainly isn't the largest place. I think museums in cities like Boston are too crowded, too big and way overused and underupdated. There's no way they could've had displays like what they have here...pieces would be missing, lines would be too long and it would cost a small fortune. Honestly, I'd drive back to Vermont just to go here again.

We planned the whole trip around visiting this place but with the rain it wasn't happening. We ended up at a working family farm that makes their own cheeses and syrup. The lady cutting blocks of cheddar in the workshop and giving us sample after sample of their wares was the actual owner of the farm, her parents had bought the land 60 years ago. Five hundred and fifty acres of maple sugarland heaven. The camera was in the car, so just imagine a hilltop location, acres of farm meadow with horses and cows and tons of woods bordering the whole site. See, nice innit?


Oh, did you blink? Because we're back to grey skies & drizzle again.

Who'll stop the rain?

You know the weather has reached an all time low when the sun comes out for 45 seconds and your squinting like crazy at that miraculous bright blob up in the sky and planning a list of 1005 things you can do outside because the rain has ended. Or not, as it's already raining again.

There has most assuredly been a lack of posting here lately. I'm trying to get back in the groove but as soon as I hit 'Create Post' my mind is like a blank slate. Why can't this be the case as I'm lying in bed tossing and turning for forty five minutes?

We spent the weekend in the lovely state of Vermont. And by lovely I mean beautifully rainy and green mountainy. I'll post some pictures tomorrow I suppose but it was mostly just swim, laugh, chatter, swim, eat, drive, swim, goof off.

Two things I noticed:

There are many, many personalized license plates in New Hampshire. I saw more of these in two hours than I'd see in two years in Massachusetts. A big shout out to 5Murbas and Chkadee, the only two I can remember.

Seeing soccer fields flooded with so much water that only the top eight inches of the nets are showing is indeed A LOT of water.

So, in order to stay somewhat alert during the four hour town meeting I drank a diet mountain dew.

It's one a.m. and I'm nowhere near tired.

Wunnnnderful.

Blog redesign? Check. Way too long messing with the title photo? Check. Looks crappy? Check. But I had to post the pic in honor of the Sox vs. Yankees series...

The bylaw that was presented tonight, the one I was going to vote against? Well, I read it and reread it and thought about how it would impact me (which it would) and how it would help to regulate development in my little town (which it would) and then I voted FOR it. No matter, it didn't pass. The committee did a crappy job of presenting it and barely spoke up in response to people's concerns...if I didn't know what I was reading and only had the opinions of a very outspoken few, I would've voted against it too.

The husband & I are in the awkward position of untangling ourselves from a hockey parent friendship...maybe not untangling...just trying to keep a safe distance.

Their son was on our team this year and he's one of only a small number of hockey kids in town, especially my son's age. The boys've become pretty good friends and the parents are part of our bigger group of families we hang around with. But now, lacrosse has started and it's down to just us and them. Not that it's all uncomfortable because it isn't but you know when you realize that your idea of parenting and their idea of parenting is so totally different that you want to, now, sort of discourage the boy's friendship? yeah. fun. They pay him, PAY HIM, to not yell at the umpire during his baseball games if he thinks the ump has missed a call. Two dollars a game. That's just one example, but it's a perfect one.

In other news, it's supposed to rain for the next SEVEN days. That would be because the husband started building a deck shed this weekend. grrr.

Well, I'm off to watch Lost (from last week) and maybe do some laundry. And maybe, if I'm lucky, fall asleep...

Miscellany and List Friday

There is a glut of illness in our little home. It started two weeks ago with the girlie, who's still fighting it off (puking in Target this morning...much to my delight), then my husband and now me. Stuffy head and a killer headache. I'm hoping it passes quickly. I can't decide if Zicam really works and makes the cold much less severe or if it drags it out for a long, long time. Instead I will submit myself to the whole nasal spray addiction and *breathe*.

It's so worth the withdrawal.

Last night I went to a cocktail party for a friend who's getting married. Let me just state here that pomegranate martinis are absolutely delicious.

And another thing? If Terry wins this season of Survivor I will personally...um, I don't know but I will be totally disgusted. Sure he's winning everything and maybe has a right to the cocky jackassy attitude but ugh. Oh, and while snooping around on Shane's website I came across a link to a Survivor spoiler article. It was about gambling online and how they had to take the Survivor contest down because information had been leaked. And did I read it? You bet. Wanna know?

And now, speaking of pomegranates it's my list for Loretta's List Friday...

High School Wardrobe.

1. Pegged jeans. The trouble we would go through to get those jeans folded and cuffed. If only I spent half as much time on actual school work.

2. LLBean Blucher Mocs - The coolest shoes and you had to have them. They went perfect with #1 and #3. Oh, and Tretorn sneakers too.

3. Scrunchy Socks - Thick, thick socks all scrunched down. Must be the perfect shade to match your shirt.

4. Banana Clips - ew.

5. Champion Sweatshirts - a must have.

6. Jams shorts - They didn't have to be Jams, any reasonable copycat would do. I tell ya, when they changed the dress code to allow shorts it was like the biggest news. I loved having teachers stop me in the hall to measure the distance from hem to knee while the girl in the miniskirt went by without a second glance.

7. V Neck Sweaters - worn too big, half off the shoulder.

Aye-yi-yi.

The Key

Here it is, for Show and Tell, in all its understated glory, my key.

And my little beeper, grocery store card and Maine key ring.

The key may be small, but it is mighty. Without it I am a.) stuck at work after a long, long evening meeting or b.) stuck at home on a day when nothing seems sweeter than escape. The kids know the power of the key, they too love escape. And my son rather enjoys sports and without a key...blammo...no practices. You would think, as important as it is I would hold it in high regard, finding a safe place for it to rest its worn out self. But no. Thrown in a jumble in my purse, under receipts and packs of gum. Or left in the console of my car, baking in the sun.

Poor guy.

Thursday Thirteen now - Show & Tell later

Thirteen Things about Jenny 1. For whatever reason, my mother in law bought that DigiDraw thing for my girl awhile back. Piece O' Crap is more like it. 2. I am totally addicted to the Red Sox. Oh, sure, every year I'm loving the baseball - but this year is different. I cannot. STOP. watching. 3. It's only May. If this obsession continues I will be a bleary eyed mess by October. 4. We're going away for three days next week for a much needed break. I had a booked a weekend in Vermont at a hotel with a pool and made no concrete plans. I just need a mini getaway. Badly. 5. I forgot to find someone to take care of the dog. Cue the stress. 6. I stopped reading some one's blog because she complained and complained that strangers would tell her how young she looks. She was genuinely put out because people assumed her children were her younger siblings. Oh those heartless jerks. *clicked the red x* 7. Trying to make small talk is like a damn minefield these days. Too many people get insulted by what a lady in the grocery store line says to them to fill a minute or two of time. 8. When a lady follows you around the store screaming at you for not having your baby dressed warmly enough and then threatens to follow you out to your car and call DSS, well then, that might be considered a real problem with the whole conversing with strangers thing. 9. My son was one of twelve chosen to draw a picture for the school mural. He's never had an easy time in art class - all that nasty creativity stuff. But this year is different. He's excelling and the teacher has noticed. The mural pictures will be projected onto the wall and will be painted there permanently. 10. The theme for his picture? Trustworthiness. Huh? 11. I was stumped. He, on the other hand, was stumped for all of ten minutes and then started drawing. 12. The committee I work for is proposing a bylaw at town meeting on Tuesday. It's really, really important to them - It's taken much hard work and many many hours to get it to this point. They're a dedicated bunch and this is like their little itty bitty baby. 13. And then will come the awkward moment when I raise my hand to vote against it. P.S. Number 8 totally happened to my husband and I when the boy was 3 months old. Crazy lady. 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!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

I don't talk sports on here as much as I'd like for fear of alienating you all but a Sox post is better than no post at all

And so it was, on Monday night, a great way for the Sox to meet the Yankees.

C-c-c-c-old. And Windy.

Doug Mirabelli the man of the hour. A second string catcher, flown in by private plane and helicopter, who changes into his uniform in the backseat of a state troopers SUV - he is our saving grace. The man who can catch Wakefield. There is no other.

And the boos. No, not the booze, but the boos. For Damon. And cash, thrown onto the warning track out in centerfield. Well, done Fenway fans...well done.

No one is able to hit it out of the park. Not the steroid ridden Giambi or the smug Rodriguez & Jeter. Oh, I meant no one except David Ortiz.

And Papelbon? Perfect again.

And tonight...rain out. Bah, mother nature...have you no respect?