Thursday, August 06, 2009

*dusts off the keyboard*

Which might actually be true if I wasn't fritting my time away on that dastardly Facebook. Which, while I love it has some serious downfalls.

If I read one more Hooray it's Friday! or Boo Mondays! I may weep. Save that shit for Twitter.

  • The dog weighs almost sixty pounds. I don't know, but that seems big. I'm sure the growing will slow down a bit now. Maybe?
  • Was just told that my hours at work will be a joke once a big development project finishes up. From a local engineer: "this town is going to EXPLODE when that tower is done".
  • Shit. Love my small town.
  • Sixty pound dogs make excellent foot warmers.
  • Loving black cherry kool-aid.
  • And frozen margaritas
  • Two weeks until vacation!
And with that, I'm disappearing again. Not for long though...

Friday, July 03, 2009

Well, now. My retinas are officially burned right out of my eyes.

There is this giant glowy thing in the sky today and I just stared in wonder...

FINALLY.

Bedtimes have officially flown out the window this week - I ordered from Amazon for the first time since Christmas (which, just so you know, is a record hold out for me) and we're all staying up too late, tucked into bed with book lights and fans and a warm snuggly puppy.

Well, only my boy has the puppy because the OFFICIAL word is that the dog is not allowed on the beds (so sayeth my husband) but the boy's room is upstairs and the dog quietly goes in there and my son is all too happy to have him jump up on the bed. Next thing I know, I can't find the dog and I'm going up the stairs to make sure he's with the boy and not gorging himself on his 40lb. bag of dog food in the cellar - and then I have to make a show of pretending to mind that the dog is curled up with my son. When really, I could honestly care less. And they both know it.

My husband took the kids and two of their friends on a six mile bike ride today on the Canal. He and my daughter just got new bikes - so it was their maiden voyage. The girlie is eight but we're hoping to keep the bike for a few years and we thought she'd be outgrowing the foot brake option before too long. So we opted for handbrakes and gears. Now, I remember my first ten speed - it was the official coming of age bike. You were no longer a 'little kid'. I also distinctly remember riding it for the first time, backpedaling furiously while trying to stop - totally forgetting the handbrakes - and riding directly into a very prickly fir tree. Also, I used each and every gear but probably didn't really understand how to use them for like, two years.

So I tell the girl my story and envision her trying in vain to use her footbrakes, and the bandaids, the crying....Well, my daughter? Had it all figured out within the first hundred feet. Brakes, gears - the whole nine yards. I was suitably impressed.


Thursday, June 25, 2009

Today officially starts Summer Vacation for the kids...now if someone would just tell Mother Nature that as of June 21st she's supposed to turn the knob on the weather machine to 'sunshine'...

I'm on vacation as of two p.m. today. Naturally, we've got a few things planned and seeing as it's supposed to be Summer at this point...everything involves the outdoors.

*Loud Sigh*

There are slugs on the deck. And the pile of sand that has to be wheelbarrowed down to the beach? Waterlogged and really, really HEAVY. I now have a special pair of always wet sneakers to take the dog out because the lawn is long (can't be mowed until it's at least a little bit dry) and yes, always wet sneakers are every bit as gross as they sound but I figure better to have one pair of wet sneakers than 5 pairs.

*Looks out window*

I suppose light grey skies are better than dark grey, right? Right?

And the gloves and scarf I have stashed in the car for hockey...at least I don't need them outside the rink. So that's something...

I haven't had to wash the car for a month.

Ummm...

Ladies, I'm grasping here, to find the positive... can you tell? Hard to find the silver lining in a bunch of clouds that are all the same damned color.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Oink freaking oink

So, have you all been hearing much about the Swine/H1N1 virus thing? No? Yeah, well why is that? Think it's gone?

It so isn't.

Dudes, there are over 100 sick kids in my girl's school. They've let us know about 11 confirmed cases. But there were 400 kids absent today. FOUR HUNDRED. Out of about 580ish. Most of these were for precautionary reasons - or simply because it was grey and raining and who doesn't just want to roll over and play a little hooky on a day like this? Or on days like these since it's been raining for about 822 days now. But I digress.

Was my girl there? You bet. They had the school professionally cleaned over the weekend, she has NO symptoms and so she went.

Apparently there were tears - students and teachers alike, there are huge budget issues, layoffs are imminent and the feeling of having the school year cut short - even by two measly days - has left everyone feeling out of sorts and all unfinishedlike. My girl is heartbroken that she didn't get a chance to say good-bye to a special needs aide that is assigned to one of her best friends. Heartbroken.

I was planning on making cookies for end of the year presents...but I can't imagine wanting homemade treats during Germfest 2009. So tomorrow, while my babe accompanies me to work she is going to make some pictures and we'll scan them and email them off. Kind of blase but I know it'll make her feel better.

Only two more days of rain in the forecast...so I'm holding off on finishing the ark. At this point the only reason the pigs would be invited is to ensure a lifetime supply of bacon and ham, the virus ridden bastards.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Enjoyable

1. Sims 3. Waste of time? Quite possibly. Are there better ways to kill an hour while my husband watches Ax Men? I think not.
2. The new (to him) boat is in heavy rotation these days. This was the first time he rowed by himself to the other side of the pond. They were hunting for minnows, which they found. They also grabbed a glop of frog eggs, which turned out to be toad eggs. We now have two minnows and 35 tadpoles in our aquarium. 3. Love this gum. And no, I don't eat the wrapper.4. I was so sure that I wouldn't really like this series. A western? In space? Yes and yes. What this guy did for vampires? He does even better for space cowboy types.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

May 21st

See now in real life...my birthday is long gone. But on the blog? It was only three short posts ago. I sometimes like how that works.

My requests were simple. It was to be the four of us, clam strips and ocean. The weather was beautiful and I hit the trifecta - I got all three.

We headed here for dinner. Based on years of driving by on my way to and from the beach and the hugely long lines I've seen - I thought we'd give it a try. It's not much of a website, but I suppose I'd rather have them perfecting the fried clam than learning html and java.

Our view:No vibrating, flashing beeper thingy here. Just a number. On a rock.

The girlie and I? Thought it was delish - the clam cakes (fritters, really) were to die for. The menfolk, however? Not as impressed with their choices. My husband kept looking longingly at the plates of all you can eat crab legs that kept passing by our table. Ah, well - live and learn.

Now, it was downright hot at home but in Newport? Um, TWENTY degrees cooler. Actually not cooler....COLDER. Still though, I thought we'd hit up the sea glass beach before heading home. It was high tide and we pretty much struck out but there were jetties to climb and periwinkles to rescue. "You want me to go again? Because I can go again. Did you cut my head off? Are my feet in the picture? Because I can jump again, y'know. If you need me too. Do you need me to? Just get one more jump. Just in case."Not a problem, kiddo. I'll take a thousand more of these if you want me to.

In summary? Fantastic way to spend my evening.

And as a bonus? We got to come home my other birthday present:

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

This soccer position has a name

It's called Butt to the Gut.

It's one of her specialties. Which is better than her positioning when she started dome soccer with names the other team's parents would yell out like "Hey, wasn't that a hip check?" and "ELBOW!" Mama didn't take photos of those.

Really, this kid oughta be on the ice but soccer's only a few hundred bucks while hockey is much, MUCH more. Plus she's not much of a skater and frankly, the money for two to play? Yikes.

She's also learned that if she puts her forearm out and braces it and runs through people without shoving her arm forward? That's perfectly fine. In fact, it's called a forearm shiver. And her coaches LOVE it.


Now, obviously she's not knocking everyone flat on their collective asses but she gets the ball up the boards like nobody's business.

This next move though? I don't have a name for this one...

Monday, June 08, 2009

Fore!


I know it's no secret that I totally love where I live. I mean, the exact location of where I live - on the pond. It also happens to be in a fairly small town - two stoplights, very sketchy cell phone coverage and no grocery store. The usual things, I suppose. It's not a bad little town but all the new houses going in are McMansionish and change is in the wind...

Anyway.

There's this driving range, seemingly out in the middle of nowhere (suppposedly it's totally close to a main road - but I've never driven that way so I can't be sure). No golf course nearby, surrounded by woods and a few houses...really, it's kind of nice as driving ranges go. I guess - because one thing I don't do is golf. Unless, of course, it involves dinosaurs or fake pirate ships and the only club in use is a worn out putter - then I'm in.

But the boy? Wants to golf. He got an inexpensive set of clubs for Christmas so I taken him to the range a few times. This past time we grabbed one of his friends on the way and we ended up getting there fifteen minutes after it closed. But, and I'm guessing this doesn't happen in all that many places, we walked up to the little ball shed and there were ten buckets of balls and a cash slot in the door. And a can of bug spray.

Now, the cash slot? Big enough to stick your hand in and remove all the other latecomers payments. If there were any other late comers, which there weren't. We paid for three buckets of balls - they wanted more, so I let them collect another bucket themselves (stealing from the honor system - nice, eh?) so they could shoot for another ten minutes until it was too dark to play. They practiced their Happy Gilmore shot, burned some worms (fast moving ball that never really leaves the ground) and made general fools of themselves...definitely not following any golf etiquette that I've ever seen.


This, apparently, is the look on your face after a ball you hit goes whizzing by your mom's head.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Almost two a.m.

Okay, so I should totally be in bed but I've got better things to do.

1. One episode left to watch of Entourage, season three.

2. Contemplate dinner plans for tonight. It's my birthday and the weather is supposed to be positively summer like...I'm thinking seafood + picnic table + ocean.

3. Totally got sidetracked by Jen. First I'm strolling down memory lane - remembering our old Kool-Aid pitcher, then I'm wondering about letting my kids drink the stuff, then I'm thinking that Kool-Aid is the least of my problems, then I'm cursing at the thought that my mom threw the pitcher out, then I remember these cups I used to have...what kind of drink was that again? Then I'm googling 1980's drink mixes. Lo and behold...Funny Face cups.
See? Sleep is so overrated.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Well then.

The dog has a rock obsession. Well, maybe not an obsession but he eats an alarming amount of them...and now he's learned to swallow the smaller ones quickly - like as soon as he sees my hand go towards his mouth.

Dudes. Combine this with a week of dog poop induced worrying and let's just say I'm about done boiling hamburger and rice for his meals.

And y'all know I love Boston Sports and apparently there's this baseball team in town you may have heard of.

But right now it's a baseball team of which I know nothing about because my house is topsy turvy with Bruins love. That would have been fine by me had they not lost three games in a row, giving me a hockey induced stomach ache (maybe the dog's issues aren't rock related after all) and keeping me glued to Twitter and whatever other Bruins stuff I can find. Which, apparently, isn't even HALF of what's out there.

I'm a blip on the Bruins obsession radar, honestly. I checked the ticket prices for the playoffs and had to laugh. One ticket for a decent seat? On the verge of being out of my price range. For a family of four? Bankruptcy.

NESN HD, homemade popcorn and the couch with the kiddos begging to stay up for the third period. Not so bad.

Except for the fact that I'll be at work and watching it later, by myself, in my computer chairand on my 15" computer monitor in NON HD.

Ergh.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Truman Fix



My daughter's been training him with the usual commands. Sit, come, ROLL YOUR EYES AT MOM.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Good Friday? You bet.

Daughter: Good Friday? Why's it called Good Friday?

Me: Because you don't have any school.

*climbs inside handbasket to await journey to the underworld*


I'm hostessing an Easter Brunch this year. Which, while it's not my first choice or even my 61st choice of things I want to be doing...my mother in law scheduled her Easter dinner at a time that leaves me no choice. Well, no choice if I want to see my family.

Other reasons for it being a Good Friday?

Sunshine, kids making Easter chocolates with my mother in law, husband golfing, dog running around a fenced in yard, going grocery shopping alone, sunshine. dinner with friends, husband got his CDL license, thumb is healing nicely, the Bruins beat the Habs last night and oh...did I mention SUNSHINE?

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Remember last year...my son had an accident, splitting his knee wide open? The whole incident the result of a flailing dive after a football thrown by my husband.
The injury left him unable to play in his hockey playoff game, unable to attend tryouts for next season, going to class with a footstool and limping for weeks? (Ed. note: His legs = toothpicks, with knees)

Fast forward to this past Sunday.

A friendly game of basketball between my husband and son. The boy goes to make a move with the basketball and my husband, doing some defensive mojo - slams into my son's hand, jamming his thumb knuckle to the point where blood spurted out from his nail bed. Immediate swelling. No tears, but lots of pain. Lots.

Twelve hours later it's bruised and swollen. He can move it, a little. A nurse friend of ours says, "It's not broken but WOW that looks baaaad". Thanks, nurse friend.

And guess what...once again, it happens the day before hockey tryouts.

The silver lining? My boy and I are giving my husband so much grief, nothing like a good guilt trip to keep your spirits up...

Our fictional versions of the story include:

  1. My husband slamming the ball out of my son's hand with a whallop and yelling "DENIED" as my son falls down holding his hand and crying.
2. My son reaching for the ball and my husband, knocks him down and steps on his fingers while yelling "Too Slow!"

3. The fact that it's all just a psychological thing my husband's doing unconsciously because my son is better at hockey than he was and now my husband is green with envy.

Now, obviously none of these things happened but, hey, we're easily amused.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Contrary to popular belief there is no Easter Bunny. At least not at my house.

Just a grouchy mom going outside at the crack of dawn to hide eggs around the perimeter of the yard where the dog couldn't go because the underground fence would shock him.

Why outside? Because the dog would follow me around trying to eat the eggs moments after I hid them? Same reason why they were mostly hidden around the very edges of the yard. Color me bitter. Not that the whole dog thing made me bitter it's just that old Easter non-spirit I have.

There may be a glimmer of hope on the horizon though:

Scene: Tuesday morning in the bathroom.

My girl was brushing her hair and I was brushing my teeth and she says "I really want Mentos and deodorant in my Easter Basket."

My response, besides an internal raised eyebrow at her request? "Really? Well, why are you telling me, maybe you should be telling the Easter bunny..."

Her: "I just did."


So, what do you think? Am I off the secretive hook? Can I just get up at, say, six a.m. and hide the eggs and baskets with their knowledge or must I still trip around in the dark with a flashlight hoping that egg eating raccoons aren't living under my shed.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Grateful For

1. Empty water bottles recycled to be the most favorite dog toy.

2. Sunny spring days. They will not be taken for granted.

3. Tim Thomas, goalie extraordinaire

4. Opening Day at Fenway.

5. The Easter Bunny charade? Done.

Monday, April 06, 2009

If I hear one more person call him Marley....

Truman, the eleven week old dog? Twenty two and a half pounds. I can't remember what Baxter weighed but this is seeming large to me. Something else I don't remember...the whole blank slate thing.

He had to be taught to walk up stairs. One at a time, me putting one paw on a stair and then moving the rest of them in order while he stood half frozen in terror. On the same idea? He's not going down them. Not no how. Not with treats, not with the same step by step teaching. I'm sure he'll get over it but for now, I'm scooping him up and carrying him downstairs every morning and praying he can hold it for just a few minutes longer.

He didn't drink for most of the first day he was home. We showed him his water dish but it wasn't until my husband splashed it around did he figure out what it was.

His collar? The bane of his existence.

There were some loud squawky birds outside today and his ears perked up and he RAN for the door. Somehow I foresee eighty pounds of quivering terror...hopefully he outgrows this.


Last time, with Baxter? We went for the super happy puppy. The one that licked us and wanted to play. Six YEARS later, he was an enjoyable dog to have around. Years one through five? He was hell-on-wheels. Or paws, as the case may be. This time we walked into the dog run and when four of the puppies ran over to jump and play with us my eyes went straight to the dog hanging back, half asleep in the corner.

I'm half convinced he has narcolepsy. And I'm thanking my lucky stars every day.

So far my responses to the ultra annoying Marley thing have been:
  • "Who's Marley?" which, when combined with a confused expression has people thinking I live in another dimension.
  • "Um, no this isn't Marley...wasn't that a movie or something?"
  • "Nope, not Marley...I'm pretty sure he died, didn't he?"
I only used the last one on a wack job lady at the tennis courts but seeing as she screamed it across the courts as we walked by and then let her dog follow us halfway home? She totally had it coming.









Sunday, April 05, 2009

Today

  • I am cautiously optimistic that maybe, god willing...I will not need the umbrella at all today.
  • I was writing down a list of meals we might have this week and my girl looked over my shoulder and says: Chicken POT pie?!?!? All this time I thought it was Chicken POP pie.
  • Wondering if a nine pound chicken will defrost in seven hours.
  • Debating between staying home and doing whatever needs doing or going to see a play at my son's school.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Echo....echo, echo, echo. Anyone? Anyone?

Yikes, TWO MONTHS without a post?

Let's see how things stand around here....

1. Husband, still out of work. He's going back in a matter of weeks, though. A local channel did one of their 'investigative reports' on his company and the whole owner in prison thing. What it added up to was them trying to drum up a story and the people they interviewed saying they have no problem working with this company, they've totally restructured and blah, blah, blah. In your face channel five.

2. The boy? Is well. There's one more hockey game, a tournament final and we are DONE. For a month, anyway. School is going spectularly this year. He's trying to negotiate for a cell phone...Fail. It took him until about a month ago to start checking people in hockey, nothing like seeing your seventy pound kid rub a 150 lb giant into the boards. Love it!

3. The girlie? One minute she's the death of me and the next she's quite literally the kindest person I know. She's also trying to negotiate for a cell phone and this FAIL needs to be in caps. She's playing dome soccer and now Spring Travel is about to start. She's the little enforcer on the team and when she was told to choose her number for her uniform? She picked 17, after her favorite Boston Bruin - Milan Lucic.



Going on record here as saying that the announcer, Jack Edwards is THE best. "They have beaten them. And tonight they have beaten them up." Love that guy.

4. Truman. Welcome home.

Monday, February 09, 2009

Grocery Shopping

Dear Market Basket,

Just last week I was cursing DHL as a horrible, terrible company to do business with. But, stunningly, you have far surpassed them. Quite possibly far surpassed EVERY SINGLE COMPANY I HAVE EVER DONE BUSINESS WITH, actually.

I have friends who swear by you and your low prices and so, with a spirit of adventure and a touch of cabin fever I took my daughter food shopping with me. It was probably not the wisest time to go...four thirty on a Saturday afternoon...but I thought, how bad could it possibly be?

I was forgetting two things. One, I hate crowds. Two, I hate crowds of stupid people.

The collective IQ of the shoppers in your store on Saturday? Couldn't be much above, oh I don't know, 36? 42? And there was no freaking shortage of people. Literally, we walked in and my daughter and I just pulled off to the side (1. to grab some bread - which BTW had a hole in the bag and was stale good thing I had to put it back; 2. to gasp at the amount of people vying for space in your dairy section; 3. try to navigate around the bins that are so conventiently placed in front of the doors). Did I see the customer service window at this time? No, I did not. I was, instead, focused on the serpentine route to the cheese.

So, with a spirit of resolve, we set out. My girl? She couldn't walk next to me and chat...there was no room for that. She had to walk in front of me (not behind me and out of sight...far too many people, many of them unwashed.) so there wasn't any chatting just "honey, stop...I've got to get yogurt". Plus, apparently this was PRIME FREAKING TIME for your employees to be restocking the shelves. They clogged the aisles with carts chock full of boxes. You couldn't see around them and couldn't reach around them to get what you needed. Waffles? Fail.

Also, deli? Fail. I will not wait for twenty people to order before I can buy some cheese and a half pound of lunch meat. Do you have the cutesy little pre-order thing like Stop n Shop? Where I can order on the computer in the store and then stop by on my way out? Oh, rest assured...you do not.

Some of the middle aisles? Not too bad. I could actually see the low prices that my friends rave about and accordingly, I filled my cart. Again, though, we reach the other end of the store and it's FULL. We could barely navigate the cart in and out of the fruits and vegetables. But we persevered! And I only had to wait 2 and a half minutes for someone to get out of my way so that I could buy hamburger. Which, I would've loved to have gone home without - but the prices, so low, like a siren song....and so I waited.

Did I mention the free cookies? Well, in the little bakery section they put up a tin of cookies...for your munching pleasure. I spy them, let the girlie know and we try to make it over there. Now, I'll tell you...this was a HELLACIOUS trip for an eight year old. Tons of people, most of them mannerless...I thought, hurray - you've been vindicated with free cookies.

But that wasn't to be. A fiftyish lady, decides that she can move her cart faster and she literally cuts us off at the cookie counter taking the Last Freaking Cookie. Last one. She hears my daughter cry foul and she looks at us and takes a bite. Eye contact and everything. I may have made a snide remark in her direction...something along the lines of "oh, NICE" but I was thinking "You freaking lunatic, you make me stop my cart short because you zoom in front of me and then you look at my daughter as you hear her say "There's no more??" and you take a BITE? BITCH!"

The only good decision I made while at Market Basket? Not heading straight to the checkout line but instead locating the customer service window (tucked helpfully in a corner behind bins of food) to see if I needed a check cashing card before writing a check.

And pray tell, I DID need a check cashing card. And guess when I'll get it? 4-6 weeks. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I was told that I could indeed write a check...for $75.00 worth of groceries. Which, I had probably triple that amount in my cart.

My first reaction was to laugh, kindly because he must be kidding. Seriously, $75.00? At other stores you can just write a check -no cards necessary. Seriously? $75.00?

Then your helpful employee asks if I do 'telephone banking' to which I reply "WHAT? On the phone?" But what I'm thinking is more like "Is it 1995 back behind that customer service desk? Telephone banking?"

He proceeds to half ass explain to me about calling my bank to get a larger check approved. Which I completly misunderstand because five minutes later he's asking me, again about telephone banking and telling me that he tried to access my account but he needed the PIN number and would I just give that to him? To which I laughed at him and told him to just approve the $75.00 check. My girl, gamely goes and gets me a spare cart and I proceed to unload everything but $66.00 worth of groceries into it. Including the stale bread.

Your helpful employee tells me that my card will arrive in 4-6 weeks (speedy! Some stores give them out that day! Is it 1990 back there?) and that next time I come I should just stop by the service desk first.

My response? "Kind of presumptious to think there WILL be a next time"

I spent far too much time in that store. Comparing prices and finding groceries that I needed. Well, actually, that I still NEED as I couldn't really buy them. My husband told me that I should've just left everything and walked out. Which, I guess I could've but 1. Our dinner was in that cart; 2. The next day's dinner was in that cart (scheduled to be in the crockpot by 8 a.m.; 3. Those freaking prices...they are low. Asparagus? $1.69!


And so, with that...I still hate you, Market Basket. Are you busy next Sunday at 7 a.m.?

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Dudes, I am on a tear

Pissing me off today....in no particular order:

1. DHL. Dear DHL, you suck. And FedEx is cheaper. Love, Jenny P.S. Srsly. SUCK.

2. This show, Lie to Me* *the truth is written all over our faces.

Okay this is one show that I will NEVER see. Why? Because of the stupid asterisk. Lie to Me? A fine title. Add the asterisk and little subtitle and I'm not watching.

3. Our superintendent. Hey, four inches of ice coating every driveway in town? Too bad, get to the bus stop. The mere THREAT of a snow storm? He closed school at four p.m. The day before.

4. Radio commercials with sirens in them. There's a few of them that I hear when I'm driving causing me to check my mirrors for oncoming fire trucks or police cars. Which, of course, are never there.

5. Animal shelters that charge $425.00 for a mixed breed/mutt puppy. And require a two hundred dollar obedience school commitment on top of that. WTF, I'll just go to a breeder then.

6. These freaky people at the library book sale I'm going to tonight. They wait in line all wrapped up in giant sheets or some shit with bags and scanners and then they RUN to the books and just pile them up and cover them with their sheets. There are quite a few of them and once they're done piling up books (think hundreds and hundreds of books) they get these scanner gizmos out and scan each and every book...for what? We don't know. BUT I HATE IT. It adds an element of stress to the night that just pisses me off.

7. Oh, wonderful...at the bottom of the screen it says..."Could not contact Blogger.com. Saving and publishing may fail. Retrying...."

Making me happy?
#7 is no longer an issue.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

I'm late to the party with this one...I didn't realize today was actually THE day. Ah, well - such is life.

I'm fairly sure I don't have many if ANY lurkers. But maybe there's one of you out there that I haven't heard from yet. And if you're out there, you lurker you, leave a comment. Show me some love on this cold January day.

Monday, January 12, 2009

winning scrabble on facebook
and then
watching True Beauty on the computer between turns -

A total brain usage balance, no?

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Not wanting to be left out of any possible concussion action we had going on last weekend my daughter clonked her head while sledding.

Never mind the fact that, when asked both she and the neighbor girl said that they would be right next to the neighbor girl's house and would under NO circumstances be sledding down the slope to the pond.

Lies, all lies.

What my daughter clonked her head on turned out to be a different neighbor's dock. As in, on the shore of the pond. At an entirely different house.

There was bleeding and tears and ice packs but within a few minutes they had invited her back over to watch a movie. I sent her, in her pajamas, with popcorn and drinks. And a giant lump on her head.

We were fortunate that it was the side of her head, that she didn't hit harder, that she didn't go far enough out onto the Pond as to fall in. There were a few conversations this week about honesty and keeping yourself out of dangerous situations. Not at all sure how much of it sunk in, apparently she's got a pretty thick skull.





Saturday, January 10, 2009


Last year, there were two days of skateable ice. I use the term skateable loosely as it was bumpy and cracked and while it was safe it wasn't fun. We've been monitoring the situation very closely for the past few days. Trips down to the pond before school. Reports from Dad after getting off the bus...."Is it safe yet?" Finally, today...it was. They skate until it's dark and the pucks are disappearing into the shadows. Until we look around and realize the temperature has dropped a bunch and damn, it's REALLY cold now and holy crap, it's kind of dark out here.

But tonight, as we're watching the weather the meteorologist starts talking about the full wolf moon that's going to be out tonight. And that it's going to be clear, cold and bright. 'Like mother nature has turned on a night light for us', he says. I give my husband, B. a look. He knows what I mean. So, at eight fifteen we get tell the kids to grab their stuff and we took them to skate under the light of the full moon. Truly awesome.

Friday, January 09, 2009

16 Random Items....

Dawn posted this a week or so ago and instead of being original and coming up with my own 16 Random Items I just, um, stole hers.

Not really stole, I mean I just used her topics as my starting point. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Right?


1. I have never made my own pie crust. I've made tons of pies but never, ever have taken the time to make the crust from scratch. Someday, I'm sure I will - but honestly, I don't even care to learn how.

2. I'm always afraid that my shoelaces will come undone and my foot will be sucked into the escalator. I double and triple check the shoes of anyone that's with me too.

3. I sort of like bologna.

4. The winged monkeys from the Wizard of Oz totally scared the hell out of me when I was little. Same with the crows from Dumbo.

5. I use Firefox.

6. I used to eat canned fruit cocktail when I was a kid and the cherries were the best. Oh, to have a can with an extra cherry!

7. I have only just learned to spell definitely.

8. I didn't start eating mushrooms until after I had my son - and then I fell in love with them. And then I had an allergic reaction to something with cremini mushrooms, which I heard were just baby portabella mushrooms and now I only eat the white ones.

9. I could use a cut and color. My hair is now wavy, apparently - after being straight for the entire rest of my life. Weird.

10. Am moderately excited for baseball season, hating the Yankees, at this point, even more than I thought possible. The MLB network is just superfluous to me...we've got NESN and pretty much that's a Red Sox channel come April. I say moderately because April will mean that hockey is just about done and it's the Bruins that I'm really loving right now.

11. My life is totally different than I would've ever imagined. I sometimes think I took the path of least resistance but honestly? I'm so glad that I did.

12. I go to both aquariums and zoos but I'm not really crazy about either one. The kids love going, happy kids = happy mom, so I don't particularly mind.

13. I could be doing a lot better on the whole Green Living thing.

14. Now I'm wanting to make Shepard's Pie.

15. I have posts. In drafts.

16. My favorite TV character on Veronica Mars was her dad.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Snow. And Christmas. And a Show.


The Mice Before Christmas from Jenny on Vimeo.

Here she is. My elf. I am still willing myself to forget how much the whole affair cost us but damn, she shore is cute.





Snow! Here's the girlie getting pelted by her brother.





And here he is getting his payback.


And you get this one just because I love it.


We're supposed to be trying to get the Christmas Card shot but they have to get some of this out of their system first. See that yellowish/fake front tooth of his? Well, that week he bit into a pretzel and broke it right off. So now he's got a new shiny white tooth in there. Until the next time.
Here's the shot I would've probably used.
If I ever got around to getting them printed for the cards.Here's a semi-blurry shot of the tree. I have a clear one but when I just uploaded I picked the wrong picture. Sorry, no do-overs tonight. The Christmas decoration pictures were supposed to be part of Jen's Open House. Jenny=Fail.
Christmas Morning. They're eleven and eight and still not even one complaint about the matching pajamas. I had to take the waist on my son's pajamas in at ten p.m. on Christmas Eve but other than that? Success!

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

A Food Meme

1. Favorite milk? Well, I buy 1% and like it. Would I rather have 2% or whole or skim? No, not really - I could buy them. But I don't, so I guess it's 1%.

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook this season? In the winter we definitely lean more towards comfort foods/oven use. I make a lot of pork roasts, roasted chickens (with mashed potatoes, gravy and a veg) and there's the weekly pasta dish.

3. Topping of choice for popcorn? Real butter and salt. Lotsa both..

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure? A few weeks ago I was grilling chicken and within five minutes the grill caught on fire and burned the chicken thighs to a size and color similar to hockey pucks. They tasted only slightly better than pucks and went straight into the trash. Was that my most disasterous? I can't even think, really - it was certainly my most recent.

5. Favorite pickled item? Not a fan of pickled items. I can occasionally stomach a spicy dill pickle and I do liked chopped ham and pickle sandwiches. My girl loves pickled stuff and I got her to try one of those totally gross pickled eggs that they have on the counters of convenience stores all over Maine. She hated it but she totally tried it, and for that, I will be forever impressed.

6. How do you organize your recipes? Um, I don't. Maybe this will fall under the theme of New Year's Resolutions...

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal? We do a mix of the first two. We have a septic system and not town sewer so garbage disposals are a HUGE no-no.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods...what would they be (don't worry about how you'll cook them)? popcorn, blueberries and Rapid Ray's steamed hotdogs. Protein course, y'know.

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood? Picking fresh veggies from my parent's garden and making salad from whatever I came up with. Looking back, our yard was a postage stamp and still my dad carved out a little piece for veggies and fruit, trying something new every year. Potatoes = Fail. I'll never forget that.

10. Favorite ice cream? chocolate peanut butter cup

11. Most loved kitchen appliance? Not an appliance but it's my cast-iron pan, seasoned to near perfection.

12. Spice/herb you would die without? kosher salt.

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time? Funny, I've read a few of these memes and the Betty Crocker cookbook is on all of them. Mine too. I love the banana bread recipe.

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly? Raspberry. Hands down. Although there IS this little place in Maine that makes wild blueberry jam. Delish.

15. Favorite recipe to serve to a friend? I generally make a soup or chili during the winter when we have other families over. In the summer it could be anything from grilled chicken to some sort of shrimp or steaks but whatever I make won't require oven use.

16. Do you eat tofu? I cannot, for the life of me, get past the look and texture.

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)? Definitely dinner. Breakfast is okay but I hate cleaning up the kitchen like that at the start of the day and lunch? Nah.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator? A basket with our sunglasses, walkie talkies and my old camera. Plus a little jar for milk money and an envelope for Box Tops for Education.

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking. Ice Cream Sandwich ice cream, a lasagna and a bucket of margaritas.

20. What's on your grocery list? A smoked shoulder. My family loves a good boiled dinner.

21. Favorite grocery store? Shaws, I guess. Although I do go to Trucci's for meats. Market Basket is to scuzzy and Stop -n-Shop is too expensive. Roche Brothers is nice to shop in but I couldn't afford it weekly. The nearest Whole Foods is forty five minutes away - I've never even been.

22. Name a recipe you'd love to try, but haven't yet. Prime rib. I was a little afraid to ruin one, they're not cheap. But after this past weekend...they're SO easy. What was I afraid of?

23. Food blog you read the most. She's not a food blog, per se, but I get a decent amount of recipes from The Pioneer Woman.

24. Favorite chocolate? Dark.

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately? Meat. I'm kidding. Things aren't quite that dire. But, extravagant? Nothing.

26. What vegetables do you enjoy most? Corn on the cob and steamed carrots.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Trying it again. Halfheartedly.

In keeping with Amy's theme...

Facebook:

Where you browse through your high school friend's contacts and realize "god, I'm so glad THAT'S over."
You'd think I'd be over the whole dog missing thing. It's been six months now.

This was the first year we've been able to put candy canes on the tree.
He'd eat them off the tree, once knocking it over to get at those pepperminty treats. All the salt dough ornaments disappeared mysteriously a few years ago too.

The first year we could put presents under the tree before Christmas Eve if we had decided on that course.
He'd open them while we were gone and leave them unwrapped on the floor for the kids to see.

The first year our tree hasn't died within a few short weeks.
He'd get thirsty and drink all the tree water leaving it bone dry after we had just filled it.

On Easter I'll be able to hide the eggs the night before instead of outisde at the asscrack of dawn without worrying that he'd eat a dozen eggs before the kids have a chance to find them. Generally I spent Easter morning following the dog around the yard calling him, trying to distract him while the kids and HE searched for that one last egg.

But I missed filling his stocking this year.

I still wait to hear his bark when someone pulls into the driveway.

A quick movement, an out of place shadow...I still think I see him sometimes out of the corner of my eye sometimes.

Monday, January 05, 2009

99 Things

The 99 Things Meme!

Things you've already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven't done and don't want to: leave in plain font

1. Started your own blog. Um, yeah.

2. Slept under the stars. I did, whenI was a camp counselor. Our every other week overnight was just us, in sleeping bags under the stars. I caught bronchitis and slept so close to the fire that my pillow case burned. Did I mention we were left in charge of 10 8-year old kids? The powers that be paired girl and boy counselors together, not sure about the thought process there. My partner in crime was named Mike and he was a shaved head skateboarder dude. And by the end of the summer? He was also my boyfriend.

3. Played in a band. ahahahahaha! No.

4. Visited Hawaii. Nope. And I'm pretty sure I never will.

5. Watched a meteor shower. Once.

6. Given more than you can afford to charity. More than I can afford? No. But we do give.

7. Been to Disneyland/World. Disney World. Once, in sixth grade. Another place I've got zero interest in. Sorry kids!

8. Climbed a mountain. I've climbed Blue Hill. You can ski somewhere nearby, maybe even there. But it's just a hill.

9. Held a praying mantis. I've seen plenty of them. But I have no inclination to HOLD one.

10. Sang a solo. Have you heard me sing? No? There's a good reason for that.

11. Bungee jumped. Nope. I would do one of those crazy long zip lines though...

12. Visited Paris. I'd like to. Someday.

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea. Just last summer.

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. I taught myself embroidery in the past few years. And I just taught myself how to thread my daughter's sewing machine today. Does that count?

15. Adopted a child.

16. Had food poisoning. Thank god, no.

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty. How high can you go up? Her head?

18. Grown your own vegetables. Tomatoes. I have visions of a vegetable garden but for now that's what they'll stay...visions.

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France. I think Blackbird mentioned a long line. If that's the case then forget it. Still, though - a short line and I'm in.

20. Slept on an overnight train. I would LOVE to travel this way with the kids.

21. Had a pillow fight. A bunch of us teenage girls had a slumber party and we were all in our bras and panties....HAH! Not! Not as much fun as it looks.

22. Hitch hiked. Nope.

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. You bet. I went to Martha's Vinyard and went to the beach.

24. Built a snow fort. Still do.

25. Held a lamb. Aw, who wouldn't want to hold a lamb?

26. Gone skinny dipping. Yep.

27. Run a Marathon. Longest distance ever: 5 miles. And that was years ago.

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice. I'm thinking this would be smellier and dirtier and not as fun as it looks like in the movies.

29. Seen a total eclipse. I'm pretty sure I have. I'm bolding.

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset. Not many sunrises, except when I've been up all night.

31. Hit a home run. Once. In elementary school. An infield homerun. Not the same.

32. Been on a cruise. Honeymoon. Yawn. I mean, it was okay. But I wouldn't go on another one.

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person. How have I never been here?

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. My parents? Yes. Grandparents? No, it's far into Maine. 12+ hours away.

35. Seen an Amish community. We went to Pennsylvania when I was in Junior High School. Saw the buggies. Wasn't interesting at the time. I'm sure I'd appreciate it more now but maybe not.

36. Taught yourself a new language. No thanks.

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. Oh, yeah. With my husband laid off and my work hours set to NEVER increase? Not likely anytime soon.

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person. I'd like to see this.

39. Gone rock climbing. On one of those flooky indoor rock walls.

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David. I'll include this as part of my trip to see the Tower of Pisa and the Mona Lisa.

41. Sung karaoke. Drunk and only as a back-up singer.

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.

43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant. Okay, I'm bolding but really - I've only paid for someone's coffee at the drive-thru.

44. Visited Africa. No, and I have no real urge.

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight. That question about sleeping under the stars? Same guy.

46. Been transported in an ambulance. No, thankfully.

47. Had your portrait painted. *snickers* A caricature.

48. Gone deep sea fishing. A few times.

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person.

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Apparently, I'll be busy while I'm in Europe.

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling. Snorkeling. And I hyperventilate. We were with stingrays. Good times.

52. Kissed in the rain. To be young...

53. Played in the mud. Yep.

54. Gone to a drive-in theater. We used to go all the time when I was a kid. There are a few around here now, around here being a forty five minute drive...I've been meaning to take the kids...

55. Been in a movie. I'm going out on a limb here to say that home movies don't count do they?

56. Visited the Great Wall of China. That's what aerial photography is for.

57. Started a business. Good god. NO. I would be an utter failure.

58. Taken a martial arts class. Yawn.

59. Visited Russia. See number 37. Basically I'll probably never get there. Still, italics.

60. Served at a soup kitchen. No, I haven't. I'm not saying I want to. But I wouldn't be opposed to it.

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies. As a girl scout my dad took the form to work and I cleaned up. As a mom - once. And I sold the bare minimum.

62. Gone whale watching. Dismal failure.

63. Gotten flowers for no reason. Yep and I think they're kind of a waste of money.

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma. I went once and they turned me away because of my tattoo.

65. Gone sky diving. No freaking thank you.

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp. I'm not sure I could do this. I don't do well with memorials.

67. Bounced a check. Not recently but yes.

68. Flown in a helicopter. Once. Great fun.

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy. Little People cruise ship? Barn? That big green inch-worm? Got them.

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial. This type of memorial doesn't bother me. But The Wall? Or something like that? I just burst into tears.

71. Eaten Caviar. I loved it. Or convinced myself I did. I was a kid and it was so EXOTIC. I haven't had it since.

72. Pieced a quilt. I just learned to thread a sewing machine. Today.

73. Stood in Times Square. Once.

74. Toured the Everglades. I sort of italicized this one for the kids - THEY'D love it.

75. Been fired from a job. Sort of. I was offered a job change where I was working and while I was on vacation I was told not to report to back to work the next day - they were auditing my work at my previous position. When all was said and done what they thought they knew was totally WRONG and I was vindicated. And then I resigned.

76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London. Something I can skip during my EuroTour.

77. Broken a bone. No, never - thankfully.

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle. Once. And never again.

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person. I would love to. I've heard Zion is better, though.

80. Published a book. I can't even write regularly on a blog. What on earth could fill the pages of a book.

81. Visited the Vatican. Eh, maybe.

82. Bought a brand new car. Maybe next time.

83. Walked in Jerusalem. Do they make kevlar for tourists? No thank you.

84. Had your picture in the newspaper. During my illustrious days as a brownie scout.

85. Read the entire Bible. No but the LOL Cat version is damned funny.

86. Visited the White House. From the outside. Long lines.

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating. I won't even help my husband clean a fish.

88. Had chickenpox. Yep.

89. Saved someone’s life. No.

90. Sat on a jury. Once, I was like ten people away from being questioned during the voir dire. It was a horrible, violent case. I go again on February 3rd. - it's only trial court this time.

91. Met someone famous. For a split second.

92. Joined a book club. Still in one.

93. Lost a loved one.

94. Had a baby. Two.

95. Seen the Alamo in person. I have!

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake. No.

97. Been involved in a law suit. Only a class-action suit. For which I recieved a check for, like, three dollars.

98. Owned a cell phone. Uncharged and at the bottom of my purse, but yes.

99. Been stung by a bee. Yes, but not recently. The trick is to close your eyes and repeat "Bread and butter, bread and butter" over and over until the danger has passed.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

I love hockey but sometimes I wish he just played golf

This is nothing. Just a vent.

I saw my kid get leveled tonight at the rink.

A hit from behind. Boarding. Normally that's a five minute major and a possible suspension but because the time keeper had mistakenly stopped the clock with 4.9 seconds left - the freaking game was in actuality OVER, the refs waved off the penalty and they didn't write the kids name down on the score sheet.

My boy was against the boards digging the puck out of the corner and the other player skated full force at him and nailed him in the back. R's head whipped forward and slammed into the glass. Hard. And then he just sort of slid down the boards. It was right in front of us so as a bonus I got to see the look on his face during the entire incident. Oh, and the sound it makes when your 75 pound son gets hit against the boards like this? Still hearing it.

Granted, he got right back up - within a second or two - and skated to the handshake line but my stomach was sick. Never mind the fact that I wanted to go all mama bear on the other kid. I hate dirty hits. Hate. Them.

My boy came out of the locker room half dressed to see me and say hello to his grandparents. The minute he saw me his eyes welled up and he hugged me and told me that his head really, REALLY hurt. A hug? In front of his teammates and their parents? You know it's bad.

He went back to the locker room and apparently he was joking around and laughing with everyone and within minutes he told me he felt better. None of the coaches even suspected he was hurt, at all - his father included.

It's been a few hours. We watched him tonight, he seems fine - he says he feels fine but damn, I certainly don't.






Saturday, January 03, 2009

This was supposed to be the Organization Vacation.

The kids had two long weeks off. I had two days of work over the entire two week period. My husband, being laid off and working sporadically, had about the same.

I was going to clean the kids rooms out, clean our room out. Conquer the eaves behind our bedroom and make a few trips to Goodwill.

I managed to clean out my daughter's closet. I went into the eaves behind our bedroom and sort of semi-organized it. As well as you can semi-organize something that is basically a tunnel like crawl space with no place to turn around and entirely too much crap. Only it isn't crap. It's our stuff. My Eskimo doll from Alaska. My dad's old coins. A bin of pictures. A bin of books. It's not going anywhere so it just gets reshuffled according to what I think I might need next.

So basically I went O-fer. Getting one job half done - the closet. And one job - the eaves - I just pretended to do.

Instead of Organization - it has been the Pajama Vacation. Days spent in pajamas, only to get changed into clean pajamas after dinner. Trying to fit in all of our errands first thing in the morning so we can rush home and re-pajama.

Absolute perfection.

I know there's two days left of vacation and I could try to get some stuff done. And I may.

But I wouldn't count on it.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Stolen from Dawn and I think Mig did it too...

1. Name a TV show [or] series in which you have seen every episode at least twice:
Twice? Probably none. I watched Gilligan's Island and the Brady Bunch pretty regularly when I was a kid but I can't even be sure I've seen all of them. Oh, I've only seen every episode of Veronica Mars once but LOVED it and totally would watch them all again.

2. Name a show you can't miss:
Hmmm. I've lasted for a season and a half with the Hills. I most always watch Survivor. I watch both OnDemand though so I've actually already missed them and just end up hoping that Comcast doesn't go changing their service before I catch up.

3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to watch a show:
Brody Jenner. I'M KIDDING. Robert Downey Jr. is good, but does he even do TV anymore?

4. Name an actor who would make you less likely to watch a show:
Just one? David Caruso, I guess.

5. Name a show you can, and do, quote from:
My quote repetoire is limited to "Survivor's Ready?"

6. Name a show you like that no one else enjoys:
Sixty Minutes. Well, just my kids don't like it...I'm sure there's a few other people in the world watching.

7. Name a TV show which you've been known to sing the theme song:
Gilligan's Island.

8. Name a show you would recommend everyone to watch:
The Dog Whisperer, Vernoica Mars and Bruins hockey.

9. Name a TV series you own:
Arrested Development. It's the ONLY TV series I own.

10. Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium, but has surprised you with his/her acting chops in television:
A television actor? This is hard. There are actors whose singing chops surprise me but rarely does it go the other way...Jennifer Hudson was great in DreamGirls, that's a movie but it's my answer.

11. What is your favorite episode of your favorite series?
When Tobias joins the Blue Man Group. Or some of the episodes when Buster comes back from Army. Good stuff.

12. Name a show you keep meaning to watch, but you just haven't gotten around to yet:
Mad Men. Is that the name of it? The ad agency guys? Hustle is pretty good too, but I always forget about it.

13. Ever quit watching a show because it was so bad?
All the time.

14. Name a show that's made you cry multiple times:
Extreme Home Makeover or whatever it's called. Sob fest.

15. What do you eat when you watch TV?
Sometimes dinner, sometimes popcorn.

16. How often do you watch TV?
Every day. We're watching a TON of hockey this year, the Bruins are phenomenal. And generally I watch an hour of something every night - sports or whatever else catches my eye. If not, I read or Wii or Sims.

17. What's the last TV show you watched?
Cash Cab.

18. What's your favorite/preferred genre of TV?
I'd have to say sports.

19. What was the first TV show you were obsessed with?
See question one. Maybe Little House on the Prairie. Obsessed is a pretty strong word....

20. What TV show do you wish you never watched?
Grey's Anatomy. One and a half episodes too many.

21. What's the weirdest show you enjoyed?
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Although it's not my definition of weird, it might fall into that category for some.

22. What TV show scared you the most?
Movies scare me, TV shows - not really.

23. What is the funniest TV show you have ever watched?
Arrested Development.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

A New Year

Okay, so I've got no idea what a feed reader is but I'm thinking it updates when I do - so I guess, phew, because I've been gone for awhile and I'm fairly sure no one is checking back here too much by now.

I tried Facebook for a day or two. Fail.

The kids started the New Year with a definitely New Englandish dish....A pie plate filled with freshly fallen snow mixed with maple syrup. Actually, they started the new year snuggled on the couch with me watching the ball drop but we all faded pretty quickly after seeing some of the acts on the Rockin new year's eve special. Horrible stuff, that.

We hunkered in yesterday during the snow, playing some games and making pizzas. My husband told my daughter (who had never made it until midnight before) that the whole world stops for just a second or two at midnight. And that it hurts less if you freeze in place for a few seconds. The boy? Jumps right on the lie bandwagon freezing like a stone at midnight and trying to freak her out, although to her credit...she didn't believe a word.

Until today. When her lovely mother asked her if she froze (to which she replied that she hadn't) I may have said something like, well then - everything will always be a few seconds late for you this year...your birthday, Christmas...only a few seconds but if you don't freeze next year, they'll add up.

She totally bought it (what is WRONG with me?) and got all worried. I only let it go for a half a second because I could see her brother ready to jump on my lie bandwagon and the poor girl would've been worried to pieces. Really, it's a wonder my kids are normal.

Today? Our friends brought over a prime rib so we could watch the NHL Winter Classic in style. And High-Def. Seeing as they have regular DEF and according to the guys? It just doesn't compare.

They're right, it doesn't compare - it's just funny to watch the husband S. conspire ways to end up at our house to watch a hockey game. Here's some of what they brought: Prime Rib, butter, seasoning, hot chocolate mix, marshmallows, dip, crackers, wine, beer, chocolate chip cookies, shrimp cocktail, snow gear for two kids, a portable DVD player, new movies and a corkscrew. Somehow, it all worked out wonderfully.

Except for the fact that my husband had to go out and load trucks with snow at 7:00 p.m. - putting an early end to the entire day. He has my sympathy - there is no place I'd rather NOT be tonight - in a front-end loader, in a deserted grocery store parking lot - trying to stay awake all night between truck fill-ups. Poor guy. I'm totally thinking of him as I sit here in my jammies, contemplating between reading a book or wondering if I'd be able to stay awake through an entire movie.

I do wish he was home, but all in all? A happy new year.